{"id":13136,"date":"2022-09-09T06:58:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T05:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2022\/09\/09\/gravel-bikes-welcome-at-2023-36one-mtb-challenge-r8462\/"},"modified":"2023-03-20T08:51:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T06:51:26","slug":"gravel-bikes-welcome-at-2023-36one-mtb-challenge-r8462","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/gravel-bikes-welcome-at-2023-36one-mtb-challenge-r8462\/","title":{"rendered":"Gravel Bikes Welcome at 2023 36ONE MTB Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe 36ONE MTB Challenge is dubbed \u201cthe ultimate race.\u201d It is not hard to see why when looking at the simple statistics. At 361 kilometres long, with nearly 5 000 metres of climbing, it is a huge ride. Then there is the afternoon start, racing through the night and the 36-hour cut-off. All considered, completing it can be considered one of mountain biking\u2019s ultimate achievements. In 2023 that challenge will be opened to gravel bikers too, from 12 to 14 May.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"36ONEThe rolling roads of the Klein Karoo and a number of major climbs help The 36ONE MTB Challenge reach a sapping 4 930 metres of accumulated elevation gain. Photo by Shift Media Co.<\/em><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tEvery year over 600 brave riders take on the full 36ONE MTB Challenge. Undaunted by the circumnavigation of the Klein Karoo basin. They are enthusiastic, rather, to race the gravel roads of the region. What usually begins as a tight and tactical battle usually devolves into a war of attrition. The strongest on the day is undisputed; the roads, the conditions and sometimes rider equipment choices have helped determine the king and queen of the ultimate race.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn keeping with the growing gravel racing scene 36ONE Asset Management and Dryland Event Management have decided to open the full distance to gravel bikes in 2023. \u201cWe\u2019ve allowed drop bar bikes, be they gravel-, cyclocross- or even 29er hardtail-bikes, with rigid forks, to compete in the, 180.5 kilometre, Half race for a few years now,\u201d Henco Rademeyer of Dryland Event Management noted. \u201cWe felt however that there were a few sections which were too rough for gravel bikes, especially after riding through the night. In the last couple of years, gravel bike technology has improved significantly though and the discipline has matured in South Africa. The time is now right to see if a gravel bike can compete with a mountain bike across the full 36ONE MTB Challenge route.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s going to take a brave rider. Or a brave group of riders, perhaps, to take up the challenge,\u201d Rademeyer smiled knowingly. \u201cBut there are always cyclists looking for their own ultimate\u2026 completing or competing The 36ONE on a gravel bike could be it.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGravel bikes will compete side-by-side against mountain bikes in the full 36ONE MTB Challenge and in the Half, in both the solo men\u2019s and women\u2019s categories. Teams and relay teams may also include gravel bikes, as no distinction will be made between the various bicycle choices. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be interesting to see if gravel bikes are the faster choice for the full Challenge route,\u201d Rademeyer mused. \u201cCP van Wyk set the current Half course record, of 6 hours and 38 minutes on a gravel bike this year, but the accumulated fatigue over the 361 kilometre route could play a significant role in the pace gravel bikers are able to maintain.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Half will also see a route change in 2023. Having historically started at Check Point 2, in Volmoed at 06:00 on Saturday morning, the Half start will be moving to Kleinplaas next year. \u201cThe change in start venue will improve the rider experience tremendously, not only by allowing the Half racers to start and finish in the same place,\u201d Rademeyer stated.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong with the solo Challenge and Half categories, The 36ONE MTB Challenge also boasts a selection of other categories too. Men\u2019s Women\u2019s and Mixed Teams can contest the full 361- or 180.5-kilometre distances and 4 person relay teams can share the load in the Challenge with each rider taking part in one of the four legs of the ultimate race.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn order to create more excitement in the Kleinplaas Race Village, on Saturday night, the prize giving will be brought forward from Sunday morning to Saturday evening. It will now be staged roughly 26 hours into the event, right at the moment when the majority of the riders taking part for the personal challenge tend to finish. \u201cRather than riding into a quiet finish line, with only their family members there to cheer them on, the Saturday evening prize giving will ensure a packed race village for those finishers,\u201d Rademeyer predicted. \u201cThe sheer time it takes most people to complete the course has always meant that there are times when the race village is very quiet. We hope this will keep more people on the finish line and ensure that the competitive racers are there to cheer some of the less competitive riders home. They rode the same distance after all and in many ways doing so over 26 or more hours is harder than the 13 to 14 hours in the saddle the top guys manage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 36ONE MTB Challenge is dubbed \u201cthe ultimate race.\u201d It is not hard to see why when looking at the simple statistics. At 361 kilometres long, with nearly 5 000 metres of climbing, it is a huge ride. Then there is the afternoon start, racing through the night and the 36-hour cut-off. All considered, completing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[31],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-13136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-36one-mtb-challenge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13136"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62091,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13136\/revisions\/62091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13136"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=13136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}