Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2018 i Bicycling South Africa

JAVI WAS DISTRAUGHT. It was the hottest day of the ABSA Cape Epic, and yet the shortest day, at 39km. But Javi was done. HIS LEGS AND HIS MIND HAD GONE. IT WAS OVER. He had survived three days of 100km-plus, and today was the final straw – when it was supposed to be the recovery day. // Up on the mountain, the temperature had reached over 40 degrees; even for a Spaniard, that was too much.Javi’s girlfriend Raquel tried to console him, knowing all the while that she was running out of time to reach the final checkpoint before the cut-off. IT WAS RAW EMOTION PLAYING OUT ON THE TRAILS, IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. // Eventually, Raquel had to leave Javi; she raced up the long…

yasss! Olympic bronze medallist Henri Schoeman won South Africa’s first gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in the triathlon. Countryman Richard Murray finished sixth after a tight tussle between the main contenders over the half-distance course. Schoeman took the lead in the run leg. The e-Bike revolution continues: The Telkom 947 Cycle Challenge will officially allow pedal-assist e-Bikes to participate, as long as they are not ridden in any racing categories and do not attempt to qualify for prize money. The organisers of the Joberg2C have also given permission for a limited number of e-Bikes to participate in their event. Thanks to Ariel Cableway Hartbeespoort, Hakahana Trails – Gauteng’s enduro and DH mecca, and the venue for this year’s SA DH champs – have recently had a cableway installed, to…

eTap is SRAM’s take on electronic shifting, utilising proprietary Airea wireless tech in conjunction with ANT+ for peripheral devices. eTap was also solely the preserve of SRAM’s road drivetrain... until now! The rear derailleur on Nino Schurter’s bike during the World Cup in Stellenbosch showed a similar battery location to the road set-up, and the shifter looked to be not that different to SRAM’s traditional thumb-operated trigger shifters. After we spotted the new tech at Coetzenburg, SRAM’s engineers were quick to remove the shifter at race end, as it had yet to be launched. Besides the bling factor, there are plenty of other elements that make wireless electronic shifting appealing: lack of cables, ease of installation, fewer moving parts to be maintained. Mechanics acknowledge that current electronic groupsets require little…

“I broke my collarbone three days before riding in my first Olympics in London in 2012. I’d worked harder than one can ever imagine preparing for the Games. It happened while I was training on the course. It was my first Games, but it wasn’t my last. I have a long-term plan to go to four Olympics. It was my first injury as a mountain biker, and I also cracked two ribs. I’d grown up in a super-rugged lifestyle, and I thought I was invincible. Luckily the collarbone was just cracked, and the doctor said I was safe to ride. It was up to me if I wanted to ride. I knew there was no way I wasn’t going to take that opportunity, given how hard I’d worked. I had…

Evie Richards had a dusty baptism to her 2018 season, with a bronze medal in the U23 women’s race at the opening round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series in Stellenbosch. The 21-year-old specialises in XCO and cyclocross racing and is the current U23 cyclocross world champion, in addition to her podium in Stellenbosch. Her bike of choice on the Coetzenburg track was the Trek Top Fuel 9.9. Bar a few custom tweaks, her bike is pretty much stock standard – close to what anyone can buy off the shop floor. 1 Frame The frame and swing-arm are both Trek’s OCLV carbon. 2 Wheels Bontrager Kovee carbon wheelset with Bontrager 2.20 XR1 tyres front and rear, for fast rolling. 3 Drivetrain The SRAM Eagle XX1 gold takes up…

THERE IS NOTHING COMPARABLE TO ONE WHO IS AWAKENED. –THE BUDDHA “DO YOU HAVE A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE?” Of the many questions I expected a psychiatrist might ask me, I hadn’t expected that one. I was in his office seeking help for my depression, anxiety, and irritability. For more than a year I’d been struggling with some of my personal relationships, but most especially with my wife Shana and our young sons, who are 8 and 5. I could go from calm to explosive almost as quickly as a firecracker. My boys thought me angry, sometimes mean. Shana and I had been distant for months; I couldn’t recall the last time we’d kissed. At 53, I had already been through four depressive episodes. I had always resisted taking medication, wanting to…

I’m into eyebrow-raising rides, where people are like, “You did what?!” It started after graduating from university in 2007, when I asked my mate Sammy if he was stupid enough to ride 130km on our fixies. Surprisingly, he said yes – we’d been riding for about six months, and we weren’t in shape. We wore cut-off jeans, T-shirts and Vans. I was running 46x18 gearing, so the climbing was slow. I’d never cramped like that in my life! But once we saw the finish, all the pain was gone – we’d made this insane idea a reality. We were wrecked for days afterwards, but it was an eye-opener to see how far a bike could take me, and what I was capable of. Sammy and I did our first real…

A secret training method? Super-hard intervals? Specific hill repeats? Or some exotic magic bullet? It’s a lot simpler than all of these, and nothing needs to change in terms of training. A group of professional cyclists was asked what the most important aspect of their race preparation was – and the answer was ‘body weight’. Granted, they ride for a living; but within each of us is a desire to perform as well as we can – and body weight is undervalued as a performance booster… or inhibitor. Here’s an example. You’re on the start line of a race, you know you’re fitter and more powerful than the person next to you – but their svelte shape means you’re going to get hurt on the hills, or even get beaten…

While Merida are extremely established in the world of XCO and endurance racing, with Olympic and World Champs titles to their name, they’re relatively new to the trail and enduro markets; but on this evidence, they’re set to stick around. At a recommended retail price of R59 999, the Merida ONE SIXTY 5000 is a carbon front triangle mated to an aluminium-rear-end frame, and is sleek and sassy in appearance. A ‘Float Link’ rear suspension system with a vertically mounted shock drives the single-pivot design, and none of the manufacturing appears over-designed or over-built. In fact, we’d say it’s rather functional and sleek in appearance, with well-thought-out, minimalist engineering on the rear alloy section. Very much on trend are the deep, sloping top tube (providing ample stand-over), a steepish seat…