khwela intaba*

So we had our second trial run/experiment for the mate’s races, funduro, enduro what have you this weekend. But before we get the nitty gritty – here’s some background.

We all like riding bikes, we all like pushing ourselves on singletrack and unknown trials & we all like to race our mates. So why not combine all those aspects. We’re not doing anything new, just bringing in a few aspects from other types and styles of races and also not limiting ourselves to one discipline. Well actually that’s not true – we are limiting it – to mountain biking! It’s true that the sport has diversified over the years and grown so far from it roots in some respects that its at times maddening to see and at the same hugely gratifying that our little sport is growing up. Its pretty fair to say that at times riding a mountain bike and being a mountain biker are sometimes not one and the same. And maybe cos we’re old skool we all harken back to the those early days where you arrived at a race with one bike and did all disciplines on the same steed – from hill climb, to downhill, XC, bike polo, slalom, you name it. Hence the idea of creating a type of racing that is flexible, varied, challenging and at the top of the list – fun!

Currently its early days – so we are working out the kinks in terms of setup – timing, transitions, liaisons etc. But judging by the grins and whoops at the end of the stages it seems to be working. The idea is get it going nationwide too … but its early days yet.

Sunday’s event had just 2 stages – one from the very top of Jonkershoek – above the saddle and down to the DH and ending near the gate – a 1 hour 45 or so climb and a 10 minute descent! The second stage was a nice technical singletrack on a much gentler slope – so a good mix – not favouring one rider or bike.

Results? Who knows. Someone rode of with our start sheet – but we’ll get them up somewhere soon. But for now the winners are the trails – all the monies raised go straight back into building and maintaining trails.