Category
Adventure and Travel
The joy of exploring by bicycling.
Ride report: Old Mutual joBerg2c Day 6
Day 6 saw us leave the tranquil grounds of Clifton School and head to Glencairn Farm in the Underberg. The lead out from Clifton School. Photo credit: Em Gatland I knew it wasn’t going to be a great day for me when I had to reach for a gel five kilometres into the eight kilometre […]
Ride report: Old Mutual joBerg2c Day 5
Day 5 of the Old Mutual joBerg2c started with the routine I have developed over the past days. Tent life has become a routine by now. Photo credit: Em Gatland. The morning starts as I wake up before my alarm, sometime between 4 and 5 am, to the rustling of my tent neighbours. I head […]
Ride report: Old Mutual joBerg2c Day 4
Day four of the Old Mutual joBerg2c saw us leave our scenic camp next to the Sterkfontein Dam and head towards the escarpment before dropping down to Emseni camp. It turned out to be my favourite stage in the race so far. The Sterkfontein Dam was impressive in the early morning light. Photo credit: Em […]
Ride report: Old Mutual joBerg2c Day 3
Day 3 of the Old Mutual joBerg2c: they warned us that it would be long, and they were right. Endless kilometres of open, flat dirt roads. A blessing in the sense that they allow you to cover distance quickly, but not exactly my strong point. Once again the day started with a neutral zone of […]
Ride report: Old Mutual joBerg2c stage 2
Day 2 of the Old Mutual joBerg2c took us from Frankfort to Reitz via a 93 kilometre route. As predicted, early morning conditions in Frankfort were icy. I stayed in my pyjamas, and downed coffee until the last minute to keep warm, before heaving my bag to luggage truck. The Wilge River was once again […]
Ride report: Old Mutual joBerg2c Day 1
The Old Mutual joBerg2C covers 900 kilometres over nine days from Heidelberg, just outside Johannesburg to Scottburgh on the KZN coast. It’s going to be an incredible journey. Riders en route. Photo credit: Em GatlandDay 1 saw us assemble at Karan Beef, Heidelberg, in crispy cool conditions. Hopefully the trickiest part of this adventure will […]
Race Report: Subaru Cape Town WC XCO MTB Series #3 Bloemendal
The third event in the Subaru Cape Town WC XCO MTB Series took place at Bloemendal wine farm in Durbanville on Saturday. We headed out at the crack of dawn to join in the fun. Darryn Stow on his way to second place in the Sub Vet men’s race. Photo credit: Theo Bruwer. The track […]
Tranquilitas Mountain Biking: Do it Right
Ruth and I are standing in the kitchen of the Tranquilitas Farm House, trying to fry falafel. Mike Behr, Ruth’s husband, is not impressed with our apparent lack of skill in this regard. “NO! Just get out of the kitchen and let me do it, you guys are stuffing it up!”. A litre of boiling […]
Trail Daze | Jungle Fever in the Garden Route
About an hour’s drive further up the coast from last month’s Trail Daze destination, we re-visited the now world-famous Garden Route Trail Park, to round off our trip up the N2. Nestled at the foot of the Outeniqua Mountains and the Karatara River Gorge, lies one of South Africa’s top mountain biking destinations. Proper trails […]
Pure Savage Race Report: Tour de PPA
While in Flanders the classic season kicked off with Omloop het Nieuwblad, this weekend also saw the last PPA event before the Argus. The Tour de PPA which always serves up some spring classic inspired crosswinds. Breakaway of A group – Photo credit: Double ST The Savages lining up in the A group were limited […]
Race report: National MTB XCO Series Rhebokskloof
On Saturday 25 February, Rhebokskloof wine farm outside Paarl hosted the first 2017 LOAD National MTB XCO Series, in combination with the second event of Subaru Cape Town WC XCO MTB Series, and the World Junior World Series. The UCI points on offer, combined with the fact that a large number of pro riders have […]
Report: The Night Harvest 2017
The sun disappeared on Friday the 24th February, the lights turned on, and the people arrived for the 5th annual Monster Energy The Night Harvest, and they arrived in full force. With a crowd of over 1500 stoked spectators, this marked the biggest Night Harvest yet. With the best of the best professional Mountain Bikers […]