dear mrclean, have you never heard of the north shore or wistler or wales? ...

[EZRider]

 

 

I think us in Mpumalanga are blessed with 1000's of trails. There's so many trails that's not advertise anywhere. We can ride for hours next to the kruger park fence. Even the farmers have opened their farms for the mountain bikers over weekends and during the week. We dont have to travel for hours to get to a nice place to ride. you just get on you bike, and within 8km's your in heaven. I mean, we are 70km from Swazilnd and 9km from mozambiquen border.

 

Same here in Tzaneen, point your bike in any direction and you are on a mountain.

[Lexx]

I think those "STADS-JAPIES" are so jealous right now,lol

[EZRider]

I think those "STADS-JAPIES" are so jealous right now,lol

 

Sabie, Barberton, graskop, hazeyview, you lot are even luckier than us.

[Lexx]

We are really blessed. Even Mankele is close by. And we got this awesome 65km route that takes you through Marloth Park right next to the Kruger fence.

[kosmonooit]

The Epic has got a lot of international air time, thus drawing more attention to itself and SA. There was a 20 min summary on Auzzie SBS 'Cycling Central' recently.

 

What slight irks me is that the imagery of Epic trades on/ punts the whole wild animal thing of SA - and we all know that's not really happening in Western Cape (beside the occasional wild Leopard and them Baboons), and the rest of SA has a lot more to offer, and that's the great thing about being based in GP - lots of options. Mpumalanga just down the road, as is KZN and Limpopo not forgetting the Vrystaat, Swaziland and more.

 

But foreigners must realise this - WC is limited options.

[Lexx]

OH I CONCUR

[Guest Omega Man]

We may not have one single park better than the likes of whistler but collectively the quality and quantity of our "wild" tracks alone puts us up there - lets not forget the "parks"

No dude. Really now. Have you ever done any riding abroad?

 

I've only ridden in the cape and a tiny bit in pietermaritzburg but nothing I've ridden here comes even remotely close to riding in the alps.

 

But I agree with AM statements about SA becoming the Hawaii of mountain biking. Overrated, Over crowded. Sounds about right.

Edited May 20, 2012 by Omega Man

[jmaccelari]

And the hub (sic) hits a new low...

[Lexx]

Thats why i'm glad i dont live in the big cities where the parks are so over-crowded every weekend. But i tend to agree with Omega Man, Massive Ego's, Bunch of dicks thinking they own the place. Especially if they come down from Joburg and stay in one of our small towns to ride our trails.

[EZRider]

No dude. Really now. Have you ever done any riding abroad?

 

I've only ridden in the cape and a tiny bit in pietermaritzburg but nothing I've ridden here comes even remotely close to riding in the alps.

 

But I agree with AM statements about SA becoming the Hawaii of mountain biking. Overrated, Over crowded. Sounds about right.

 

Read posts above: there is much more to riding in SA than the Cape or a tiny bit of Pietermaritzburg.

How much riding have you done abroad? Don't compare way you have not tried. Much of the Alps is snowed under in winter hence many of the European stars training here in SA.

Overcrowded? You haven't been to Limpopo have you? Or Mpumalanga? And you can't rate what you don't know.

There is more to SA riding than Tokai!

[Guest Omega Man]

Read posts above: there is much more to riding in SA than the Cape or a tiny bit of Pietermaritzburg.

How much riding have you done abroad? Don't compare way you have not tried. Much of the Alps is snowed under in winter hence many of the European stars training here in SA.

Overcrowded? You haven't been to Limpopo have you? Or Mpumalanga? And you can't rate what you don't know.

There is more to SA riding than Tokai!

 

I agree with you about there being much more to riding in SA than the Cape or a tiny bit of Pietermaritzburg. That is why I said that to qualify my statement. I've only ridden in the Alps and I'm going back in a month. Really not attacking you in any way. But South Africa is not the epicenter of mountain biking. Please.

[EZRider]

I agree with you about there being much more to riding in SA than the Cape or a tiny bit of Pietermaritzburg. That is why I said that to qualify my statement. I've only ridden in the Alps and I'm going back in a month. Really not attacking you in any way. But South Africa is not the epicenter of mountain biking. Please.

 

Didn't take it as an attack, was just giving my point of view

SA may not be the epicentre of MTB or anything else but its pretty dam good. We have freedom and a generally tolerant view towards land access, at least here where I live. We have a huge variety of events (okay, mostly marathon and stage racing but that's what most seem to enjoy) and incredible variety of terrain.

Take part in the Sabie Classic, Magalies monster and Trans Baviaans and you will find 3 completely different worlds of riding. Try Freedom challenge, Epic, Crater Cruise, Tour de Tuli....

Hold on, maybe Mr. Clean is on to something.

He never said we have the best trails for downhill (even though we got a world champ), the best XC course (ours isn't bad) bout we do seem to have a lot of everything.

I have family in Europe and spend some time there and things are very different to internet clips with access issues, weather issues and a lot of red tape for just about anything. Very few staged events for the general public and they are expensive!

Canada in summer? Must be good!

USA? never tried.

But come on, do something here (MTN series, Wild Ride, anything) instead of saying we are over rated!

[Guest Omega Man]

Thats why i'm glad i dont live in the big cities where the parks are so over-crowded every weekend. But i tend to agree with Omega Man, Massive Ego's, Bunch of dicks thinking they own the place. Especially if they come down from Joburg and stay in one of our small towns to ride our trails.

I removed that last bit from my comment. Little bit ott.

[Guest Omega Man]

 

But come on, do something here (MTN series, Wild Ride, anything) instead of saying we are over rated!

Nah. I'm off to Tokai now for a little wet training. And then in a month I'm off to the Alps. And I'll be going to the Alps for as long as I can afford to go. You should to. It's AMAZING!!!

[EZRider]

 

Nah. I'm off to Tokai now for a little wet training. And then in a month I'm off to the Alps. And I'll be going to the Alps for as long as I can afford to go. You should to. It's AMAZING!!!

 

He he, I go there for skiing, it's an epicenter for that.

[patches]

I think it's all relative to the type of mountainbiking which one does.

 

As TZmtb said, our scene here is predominantly focused on the XCM and stage race varieties. And that's because the majority of SA MTBers are into that. Cater for the market.

 

BUT, the statement was made with respect to the whole world. And the whole world of MTBers isn't XCM crazy.

 

Yes we have beautiful trails, a huge varience of terains etc, and some of the best stage races in the world. But we also lack a lot.

 

We have no equivalent to Megavalanche (both the France and Reunion versions). We don't have an equivalent to Port du Soleil (a fairly concentrated area with over 650km of signposted trails for all types of riding).

 

It's all relative to what one wants. In the MTB film Follow Me, Gee Atherton and Stevie Smith say that Queenstown NZ has the best riding in the world. But they're World cup DHers. Mr McLean is a is a marathon/stage race man. So SA offers the best for him. The top freeriders like Semenuk etc would probably say that BC holds the best trails. Wildhaber and Clement (enduro legends) would probably opt for the Alps. Again, all relative.

 

So yes, SA is great for the majority of SA riders... but it doesn't have it all.