ed ’ s letter SO MUCH TO CELEBRATE !
IS THERE EVER A DULL MOMENT LIVING IN SOUTH AFRICA ? If it ’ s not a snake in your garden , it ’ s one on the news being exposed for corruption . Both are generally only visible if you are not in complete darkness waiting for load shedding to end , or if you can see the grass under all the rubbish . Still haunted in many ways by our chequered past we Saffas have become incredibly resourceful and resilient – we make a plan regardless of what life chucks at us .
Let ’ s be real , none of us hasn ’ t thought about a better life overseas where things work and you aren ’ t always looking over your shoulder . It looks so much greener on the other side , but everyday we hear of those who have tried it and have come home craving reawakened souls .
I ’ m neither on valium nor a habitual zoll smoker who sees life through rose-tinted lenses . I think my source of joy and optimism as a Saffa is simply from the cool places my bike takes me , and the smiling faces riding alongside me . Putting this autumn issue together was like seeing a shrink . After five months of research , interviews and shoots , paging through features to keep in the final mix or drop , I experienced an epiphany – a clear vision of why life here remains so richly fulfilling .
In November last year , weeks after putting our summer issue to bed , I rode Wines2Whales with our nutrition writer Kirsten
14 | MTB | proud as punch
Flanagan . Kirsten is 26 years old , an ex world champs podium paddler who is now a top-level mountain biker . Days before the race we saw a social post preaching doomsday for stage races , saying they were fast becoming an obsolete pastime for ageing generations . This post was shared on almost all the cycling WhatsApp groups we are on , as if the lights were about to go out , yet again . For some reason doom surfers like to share bad news . Anyway , off we went to spend four days away on sweet trails . I couldn ’ t help asking younger riders why they were there . Their extremely positive response and rationale is shared
in detail on page 130 .
A trip to the fabulous fourday Colin Mayer Tour on our Indian Ocean neighbour island of Mauritius reminded me how mountain bikes open up our world in ways our feet and 4x4s can ’ t . You see , feel and smell so much . Now when I smell incense burning I ’ m instantly transported into a leafy green mountain dream . The sensory experience aside , it was time away with some like-minded South Africans ( including rugby ace Joel Stransky , pro rider Theresa Ralph and commentator and wine aficionado Paul Valstar ) that reminded me of our powerful shared appreciation of simple pleasures . The trails are much rougher than our groomed local ones , and it ’ s humid and hot – but also unique and very special . Read about our island holiday on page 82 .
I was invited as an event MC to Swakopmund in the Namib Desert and despite often wondering what was beautiful about mountains of sand , I was blown away by a blissful bike ride through the five-million-year-old dunes . The beauty lies in both the
Paul and Matt Lombardi amped to explore the rad new skills park at
Polkadraai .
“ MOUNTAIN BIKING CONTINUES TO EXPLODE FOR TOURISTS ”
infinite silent space and mostly unnoticed , minute detail of a healthy ecosystem thriving beneath your pedals . There ’ s a small appetizer pic on page 20 to look forward to the feature in our next issue .
Probably the most moving experience I ’ ve had on a bike was our recent trip to ride in the battlefields of KZN . Veteran athlete and sports photographer Jon Ivins and I headed deep into remote Zululand over countless passes and small villages lined with smiling barefoot kids . If we ’ d had storyteller teachers like the wise and learned Mphiwa Ntanzi who talked us through terrifying accounts of the Anglo- Zulu of 1879 , I would have aced history rather than hating it . To ride your bike among zebra in long summer grasslands , passing eerie white cairns where thousands perished in a gruesome battle was a visceral experience I can never do justice to here . For a taste of the powerful Juluka anthem energy that needs to be experienced , read all about our time out at Fugitives ’ Drift on page 66 .
Most recently some of our close shredder friends joined us on a mission to discover the myriad of trails literally on our doorstep in Cape Town . Apart from races on sections , we hadn ’ t explored the 1300 + km trail matrix so full of hidden gems . It ’ s been worked on extensively over the past five years as mountain biking continues to explode for sunshine- , natureand wine-loving tourists . Wow , if there ever was any doubt that South Africa is the global HQ of mountain biking , it ’ s been answered . Our rad cover shot of Zandri Strydom , who ’ s returning to XCO racing , was shot just before a strawberry , coffee and tomato breakfast chowdown at the Polkadraai Bike Park , which is possibly the world ’ s biggest skills park , in the heart of this trails utopia . Read more about the park on page 28 , and lap up the Wine Lands Trails on pages 46-58 .
There ’ s so much to be grateful for . Just get outside and breathe it in .
Mountain Bike SA
@ mountainbikesa
PHOTOGRAPHS MATT DU TOIT , OAKPICS