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Bike Hub Features
Pinner’s Paincave: Unwrapping the Radness
Unveiling the Blur’s decals after today’s Stage. Photo credit: Gary Perkin. Today was a great day. It not only marked another solid effort by Team MCL on Stage 2, but also the culmination of months’ worth of preparation that came together with this morning’s global unveiling of Santa Cruz’s all-new XC / Marathon machine, the […]
Race Report: SRAM WC XCO Series in association with Tygerberg Mountain Bike Club #2 Rhebokskloof
The Western Cape is living up to the claim of being the hub of all things cycling. In the last 3 weeks, there has been a Mountain bike Cycle Tour, an Epic World Cup, the road Cycle Tour and now the Cape Epic. Slotted in the day before the Epic start was the 2nd round […]
Santa Cruz unveil all-new Blur and Highball cross-country race bikes
Today Santa Cruz has announced two new mountain bikes. The Blur, a dual-suspension race focussed cross-country bike as well as an updated Highball hardtail race bike. The Blur is built around a full carbon frame featuring Santa Cruz’s tried and tested VPP suspension design with 100mm of rear travel. A 69-degree head angle promises confident […]
Epic Bike Check: Joaquim Rodriguez’s Merida Ninety-Six
Joaquim Rodríguez had a successful career racing on the road with stage and classification wins in the Grand Tours. He is now a member of the Bahrain-Merida staff and an ambassador for the team. He is riding his second Absa Cape Epic with teammate José Hermida. Joaquim Rodríguez is riding Merida’s Ninety-Six carbon marathon race […]
Pinner’s Paincave: Danger! Gevaar! Ingozi! on Stage 1
#LightBro. Photo: Gary Perkin. Stage 1 got off to a roaring start… pan flat and on good, albeit loose surfaces. As A Batch hurtled down narrow vineyard roads, bar to bar, riders jostled for position. Every single one of the 80 odd riders wanted to be towards the front. Those who know the Epic will […]
Pinner’s Paincave: Epic Prologue
Photo credit: Gary Perkin. No matter how many Epics you’ve ridden, every rider shares a common emotion ahead of the Prologue. Butterflies. As your team number is called and you shuffle into line waiting for your turn to step up and into the start hut, your swarm of butterflies relentlessly up their tempo, swirling around […]
Bike Check: Cherie Redecker’s Head Trenton
After a tough season racing as a privateer in Europe, Cherie Redecker’s efforts were rewarded with a team ride for HEAD CICLO XC in 2018. Cherie now lives in Germany but made the trip to Stellenbosch to kick off her World Cup season. Cherie confirmed that she will be participating in many of the World […]
Win with the Absa Cape Epic Fantasy League
Win a team entry for the 2019 Absa Cape Epic courtesy of Columbia Sportswear. Put your race insight, commitment, and luck to the test by predicting the daily and overall winners in this year’s Absa Cape Epic. How it works The Absa Cape Epic Fantasy League is all about putting your race insight, commitment, and […]
Bike Check: Emily Batty and Evie Richards’s Trek Procaliber
Team Trek Factory Racing descended on Stellenbosch in full force with four riders taking part in the World Cup. Anton Cooper and Sergio Mantecón representing the team in the men’s race while Emily Batty and Evie Richards raced in the women’s ranks. Most mountain bike fans will know Emily Batty from her exploits on the […]
Bike Check: Fumic and Marotte’s Cannondale Scalpel-Si
Manuel Fumic is no stranger to South African audiences with memorable performances in the Absa Cape Epic while Maxime Marotte has been a solid podium performer on the international XCO circuit for a number of years. We tracked down their race bikes at the team house ahead of the Stellenbosch World Cup. Manuel Fumic’s Cannondale […]
Bike Check: Sam Gaze’s World Cup winning Specialized S-Works Epic
The titanic battle between former under 23 world champion, Sam Gaze and Nino Schurter at Coetzenburg Stadium on Saturday had us enthralled. Nino is the reigning world champion, and remained nearly unchallenged in 2017, so to see a close and ferociously fought battle unfolding was an unexpected surprise. Here we take a look at the […]
Bike Check: Annie Last’s BH Lynx Race
Annie Last had a season to remember in 2017 with a win at the Lenzerheide World Cup, earning a silver medal at the World Champs in Cairns, and defending her British national championship title. This year Annie joined Team KMC EKOÏ SR Suntour riding a BH Lynx Race. With a change of teams comes a […]