only in SA

[sadamhussein]

We have ZERO all mountain / enduro / super D scene - and there's a lot more people in that classification than what we realise... am I making any sense?

 

 

 

people are scared of the unknown. to get something like this going you need people to participate so you can market it. the problem is people only see xc stage races on tv, so they are sceptical of doing an AM type vent. it's a chicken and egg scenario - without lots of participants you cant market it, and without marketing you cant get participants.

 

why cant we see

type events here?

go down sani pass, or somewhere near sabie (i recently discovered a 12km "never ending" downhill there)

 

but still, even if we did have events like these, how do we get Momentum and Absa and supersport to get involved???

 

Edited May 15, 2012 by sadamhussein

[Beer4Recovery]

your average rider is not too interested in acquiring those skills/equipment.

 

I am, and a quite a large group of my mates are interested in acquiring those skills and equipment.

 

Think I need to move to another town, getting gatvol of of this flat earth here in gauteng need to ride more forests and mountains!

Edited May 15, 2012 by FuelEX

[Tubehunter]

Most XC bikes will perform more than adequetely for the average person venturing into the realm of anything off road. Very few socialfun riders will come close to riding beyond the abilities of this let alone the additional travel of an all mountain specific machine.

 

They whole setup with PPA and the races available in the Western Cape will dictate that the exposure to do something more than just riding with mates, means that people looking to do some form of events will most likely get swallowed up in the events hosted by PPA which are primarily XC events. Will take something very creative to get the average person to get absorbed into other disciplines!

Edited May 15, 2012 by Tubehunter

[Eldron]

I agree with you... mountain biking is so much bigger than any discipline. In fact, when most of us say "XC", we're not even referring to "XC" (which is actually a racing discipline, more than a "genre" of cycling) - what we're really referring to is "mountain biking" - Mr Joe Average riding his bike outdoors on the trails, and doing the odd race here or there...

 

I think what frustrates me the lack of events for other disciplines - we have a healthy DH scene, a healthy XC scene and a healthy "fun ride / race" scene, along with a healthy marathon / stage race scene...

 

We have ZERO all mountain / enduro / super D scene - and there's a lot more people in that classification than what we realise... am I making any sense?

 

Methinks XCM (Cross Country Marathon) is probably the best label for Mr. Joe Average - a 20-75km race mainly on dirt roads with some single track thrown in to elleviate the boredom!

 

You make sense but I think you underestimate the dominance of XCM - most MTN or "big name" series races will pull over 1,000 people. I have yet to see a XCO or DH race pull those types of numbers. Enduro/all mountain etc even less.

 

Very difficult to stage a profitable event when you talk 100s of competitors rather than 1000s. It's a numbers thing.

 

Terrain is also an issue - you need a certain type of terrain to stage an all mountain event - for XCM you need a few farms or some game reserves - hell - a lot of Jhb based races are on public access land.

 

Difficult to stage an all mountain race without mountains

 

@sadam - a cyclist's fate is not chosen by the type of bike he has but by how he wants to ride. That plus that fact that an equal quality duallie will cost about 30-40% more than it's hard tail equivalent. Most beginners don't want to be dropping R15K+ on a decent duallie...

[Eldron]

I remember a quote - think it could've been Ritchey, Breeze or Kelly - along the lines of: "When there's two dudes on bikes, it becomes a race." Even on those none-too-serious weekend rides, you'll find yourself sprinting to trailheads, and switching your mate to get there first. Or, maybe that'sn East Rand thing…

 

Hahahaha - yup - more prevalent in the east...

 

One man on a bike is a training day - two or more is a RACE!

[sadamhussein]

i have met a lot of guys who, when exposed to something a bit more twisty and downhilly, you can't wipe the smile off their faces. it's like that kind of riding NEVER actually occurred to them!

 

they would normally ride breedts nek, yet enjoy the twisty single track of van gaalen WAY more!

but they are reluctant to venture outside of their peer pressure induced comfort-zone, and then very soon thereafter return to riding what they think their peers expect of them (from what they see on TV)....and so it's back to breedts.

 

it's like they dont see themselves as real mountainbikers if they dont regularly ride a 70km stretch of straight farm road.

Edited May 15, 2012 by sadamhussein

[Beer4Recovery]

mountain biking

[SwissVan]

Didnt dirt roadies invent XC.

 

Plus real MTB'ing starts @ 140 mm

 

looking at the advert below for a new film, i find it peculiar how they describe mountain biking:

 

haha, cross country isn't even included!

 

it goes to show that despite what the majority of south africans may think, there really is a LOT more to mountainbiking than turning every ride into a boring endurance race where we try and show our so-called friends that it's all about getting there first.

 

it seems we are obsessed with cross country because we lack imagination, but surprise surprise, there is a whole world of fun to be had out there people! wake up!

 

 

LOL Saddam I think you need to figure out what Cross Country (XCO) is first before you laugh so loud.

Hell did u watch the last round of the XC world cup? It even had a small double jump on it

[scotty]

I'm quite comfortable to be a roadie wannabe XCM rider.

[EZRider]

You really don't have a clue do you? Freeride. Downhill. Big Mountain. All Mountain. Dirt Jump. Slopestyle all fit into the "extreme" category of mtb. XC, Marathon are not mentioned because they're a different category. Well maybe not XC - it seemsw to heading the "extreme" route too. Some people love big jump, some people loves endurance, some people love SS, some people just love tootling around on their bikes for a bit of fun. Why can't we all just get along?

 

Those too lazy to train will always have a poke at cyclists who don't need gravity to make them go.

[Eldron]

i have met a lot of guys who, when exposed to something a bit more twisty and downhilly, you can't wipe the smile off their faces. it's like that kind of riding NEVER actually occurred to them!

 

they would normally ride breedts nek, yet enjoy the twisty single track of van gaalen WAY more!

but they are reluctant to venture outside of their peer pressure induced comfort-zone, and then very soon thereafter return to riding what they think their peers expect of them (from what they see on TV)....and so it's back to breedts.

 

it's like they dont see themselves as real mountainbikers if they dont regularly ride a 70km stretch of straight farm road.

 

I guess you could see XCM as a double edged sword - XCM gets bums into saddles. The migration from XCM rider into all mountain rider / extreme mtber is up to the individual.

 

I can see how XCM riders get "trapped" into XCM thinking but I don't think it's a bad thing. If that is where their limit is then great - as long as they're on an mtb I'm happy.

 

There are loads of other avenues of progression - XCO, SS, stage racing and the gravity side.

 

Perhaps XCM should be seen as the seed not the limiter...

[Dan Dob]

Interesting topic this. I do hate how 'XC' gets thrown in the mix when it's actually fun rides and XCM's you are talking about though. XCO is pretty frikknne hardcore technically speaking and then you have to pedal up everything too!

 

We are thinking about starting up a race or two that will be different and will hopefully get people amped on riding singletrack and getting better at it through racing, while still having a great day out with mates and family. Watch this space...

[The Ghost]

Here's my tip for the day:

Ride YOUR bike how and where it excites YOU, and forget categorizing

[Beer4Recovery]

Superenduro looks like fun

 

http://www.superenduromtb.com/

[BLACKvoodoo]

Mtb-ing is fun, It's a pity the people doing it keep ******* it up...

[wesley_r]

 

Difficult to stage an all mountain race without mountains

 

Contermanskloof, Tokai, Jonkershoek and linking together the entire Tygerberg MTB club network - those are all good venues / mountains for enduro racing. Not Megavalnche style - but more AM / Super D / Enduro stuff. At Jonkershoek you can climb for an hour and a half to blast down Fire Trail in 7 minutes, or climb for 45 minutes to shoot down Slangpad, or climb for 45 minutes to shoot down the long singletrack that includes upper canary, etc... that's 3 transfer stages and 3 timed stages - there's your Enduro right there...