Brave MTB riders test their mettle in weekend races
A few Mambas enjoy just being out in the bush, sun on the skin, wind in the hair and generally enjoying the outdoors rather than being in shopping malls.
A FEW brave Amanzimtoti Cycling Club souls, namely Cindy Theunison, Shaun Tischendorf and Liezel Davies tackled the Trans Drakensberg MTB Challenge with mixed success last weekend.
The route weaves its way through untouched valleys and mountain tracks of the Drakensberg, near the Van Reenen’s area and covers either 203kms or 153kms.
If one chooses the further of the two distances, one gets 24 hours to complete the race. “The first 115kms were a breeze,” said Cindy. “But then the heavens opened and all hell broke loose. At times, we were ankle-deep in clay and it took almost an hour to cover 2kms.” A lot of people did not finish (DNF) but Cindy, together with her team partner Sarah, managed to come first place in the women’s race in a time of 12 hours.
In 2016, the Sappi Howick Enduro event was introduced. It takes place the day before the classic event, which is the oldest race on the KZN mountain bike calendar. Enduro is a relatively new format which appears to have taken some inspiration from both car rally and motorbike enduro racing. Mountain bike enduro is essentially the competitive side of the mountain biking format often referred to today as ‘all-mountain’. It is a stage-race format where the winner is the rider who accumulates the lowest combined time from the various timed sections, in this case single track sections within the Karkloof Valley. Howick Mountain Bike Club boasts some of the most technically challenging and tough single-track in the country. Due to this varied combination of features, enduro racing is increasingly recognised as the truest test of the all-round mountain biker.
Bearing this in mind, Amanzimtoti Cycling Club is very proud to report Wayne Sives not only braved this race but came fifth in his age category, and 15th overall.
A few Mambas enjoy just being out in the bush, sun on the skin, wind in the hair and generally enjoying the outdoors rather than being in shopping malls. On Saturday morning, the hills in Illovo were alive with the sound of much heavy breathing and gear grating. With the upcoming Hill2Hill race only a month away, it doubled up as some excellent hill training too.
On Sunday morning, some riders tackled the ever-popular Rocky Bay and late on Sunday afternoon, a group rode the route from Scottburgh to Umkomaas and back ending with some much-needed carbo-loading at Enzos. A great mountain biking weekend was, once again, had by all.
