![\"ccs-62657-0-22234200-1425565793.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-22234200-1425565793.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nSipho Kupiso is one of the many RMB Change a Life MTB Academy riders to have put his hand up early on in the 2015 mountain biking season as the Valley of a Thousand Hills setup looks to make a big impression again this year. \/\/ Photo credit: Supplied\/ Gameplan Media.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was extremely impressed with the way the guys handled themselves over the festive break, not eating too much Christmas cake,\u201d explained academy founder Martin Dreyer. \u201cThey had been allowed to relax and recharge over December but they obviously kept ticking over as they returned to training in great shape!\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThey have been hard at work in training and are super motivated to take their fitness to higher levels. It\u2019s great to see the RMB CAL Zulus producing great results so early in the season!\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Ntuli\u2019s run of form has been a slightly more extended one than the rest of his team mates after he charged to a hard-fought fifth place in the 369km FNB Desert Dash in Namibia \u2013 the longest single day mountain bike event in the world \u2013 in mid-December.<\/p>\n \u201cJohn (Ntuli) rode a phenomenal race at the Desert Dash!\u201d said Dreyer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe race starts at three o\u2019clock in the afternoon and goes through the night so that participants avoid the majority of the desert\u2019s heat.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJohn positioned himself well and was third coming out of the final water point with forty-five kilometres to go when he missed a right turn in the early hours and ended up going four or five kilometres too far.”<\/p>\n \u201cJohn turned back however two other riders had already gone past and he finished fifth.<\/p>\n \u201cPost-race he was understandably disappointed however that\u2019s behind him now and it has been great to see him bounce back at the past two races where he has been our top rider in the RMB CAL Zulu camp!\u201d<\/p>\n While marathon racing is what comes naturally to Dreyer\u2019s charges due to the natural playground of big hills and contoured paths that the Valley offers, 2015 will see a slight shift in focus for the RMB Change a Life setup.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year we\u2019re also looking to try our hand at some cross country riding as the technical, skilled nature of that type of racing will almost certainly contribute positively towards the overall riding performance of our riders.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has also been fantastic to have the support of Patrick Morewood this year!<\/p>\n \u201cOur top eight riders will all be on his PYGA 650B carbon machines, which we\u2019re really excited about and having Patrick\u2019s knowledge and advice has been a great asset, as he is a true bike scientist!\u201d smiles Dreyer.<\/p>\n As the Change a Life setup has grown so too has the level of riders within it, something Dreyer is also eager to address this year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe trained a lot as a group last year but with varying levels of rider\u2019s abilities, we\u2019re breaking up into smaller groups of similar abilities and hopefully this will see the guys continue to push themselves even further.\u201d<\/p>\n This exciting grass roots development project would also not be possible without financial backing and in Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), the Change a Life MTB Academy has tremendous support.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great to have the support of RMB! We\u2019ve developed a fantastic relationship with RMB, so much so that on numerous occasions RMB have hosted their cycling clients down into the Valley of 1000 Hills to experience mountain biking in its purest form with the RMB CAL Zulus!\u201d said Dreyer.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving a sponsor who believes in your cause takes away one of the major hurdles of operating a non-profit setup and for that we are extremely grateful for RMB\u2019s generosity!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday\u2019s Illovo Wartburg Classic was another successful day in the saddle for the RMB Change a Life MTB Academy as no fewer than three top ten finishers and five of the top 15 bore the colours of the Valley of a Thousand Hills setup. MTB captain John Ntuli was the fastest Change a Life Zulu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4364,2474,4363,4365],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-illovo-wartburg-classic","tag-john-ntuli","tag-rmb-change-a-lifers","tag-wartburg-classic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20410","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=20410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20410"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}