Daideron Posted October 25, 2013 Share No stress my good man! My apologies if I was abrupt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyatt Earp Posted October 25, 2013 Share @Stretch, if you read the first post on the first page, the question was asked "have we ever had?" The question was asked in relevance to someone under 30 years of age.I also can't recall if Kim toured with the entire World Cup circus, if she did, apologies for not knowing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyatt Earp Posted October 25, 2013 Share Why there are no women freeriders / slopestylers? (Anywhere) They say one needs balls for this (this comment is not to be taken as serious as good beer consumption at an opskop) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daideron Posted October 25, 2013 Share @ Wyatt Earp, I know she competed in the world cups. I knew the family pretty well, and I remember her father telling me all about it, as well as showing me pictures of her with the other competitors. (Which lets be honest, validates nothing!) I didnt know you referring to ladies under 30, for which I apologise for any misunderstanding.But I stand by this, she still competed and should not be forgotten. People like her should have been approached to further the sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyatt Earp Posted October 25, 2013 Share @ Wyatt Earp, I know she competed in the world cups. I knew the family pretty well, and I remember her father telling me all about it, as well as showing me pictures of her with the other competitors. (Which lets be honest, validates nothing!)I didnt know you referring to ladies under 30, for which I apologise for any misunderstanding.But I stand by this, she still competed and should not be forgotten. People like her should have been approached to further the sport. No problem man.I must say I do feel like an absolute tjop for forgetting Kim, she was exceptional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daideron Posted October 25, 2013 Share Well, now we remember her and she was exceptional!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelhicks Posted October 27, 2013 Share hey Guys Sorry i was out in the bundus in PE and then at a wedding yesterday. So to get to the variation of tracks - firstly here in KZN I try to keep our provincial tracks easy enough that anyone on any bike can ride it, but the faster you go the harder it becomes. Also the tracks will have small and big jumps that riders can hit or ride around dependant on their skill level. HOWEVER - jumps need to be built correctly defined by speed. The faster riders need to be taken into account as a jump becomes dangerous when it is too small. So this needs to be remembered. But also this last year was very different as KZNMTB wanted to punt Cascades so all the events HAD to be run on the World Champs track or parts of it ... For next year I am trying to get us to use other tracks that are easier and have more variability. It is good to have jump parks etc to learn how to jump. But again as SA is so Marathon focused most (if not all) parks or trail builders will build tracks for the majority of riders. 99% of riders in SA will be too scared to hit a jump on an XC trail even if it is a tabletop. So these jumps need to be built at a specific location. I would think that Grebels idea of a jump track at Lahee is a good one - and this is already in the pipeline.So keep an eye out for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelhicks Posted October 27, 2013 Share The comments about lighties racing is also a good one - but the issue is that again the focus in SA is marathon, so the exposure for DH is not represented at school level .... all lighties are bought XC bikes and taken to marathon events as this is what the ballies do.... which is fair enough ... so the kids are not exposed to DH as the ballies are not interested in it.... We need to have a schools level DH class at Regional races ... but these can only be on easier tracks so as to get the riders into it before they go up a level to bigger tracks. We are also looking into this for next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Omega Man Posted October 27, 2013 Share hey Guys Sorry i was out in the bundus in PE and then at a wedding yesterday. So to get to the variation of tracks - firstly here in KZN I try to keep our provincial tracks easy enough that anyone on any bike can ride it, but the faster you go the harder it becomes. Also the tracks will have small and big jumps that riders can hit or ride around dependant on their skill level. HOWEVER - jumps need to be built correctly defined by speed. The faster riders need to be taken into account as a jump becomes dangerous when it is too small. So this needs to be remembered. But also this last year was very different as KZNMTB wanted to punt Cascades so all the events HAD to be run on the World Champs track or parts of it ... For next year I am trying to get us to use other tracks that are easier and have more variability. It is good to have jump parks etc to learn how to jump. But again as SA is so Marathon focused most (if not all) parks or trail builders will build tracks for the majority of riders. 99% of riders in SA will be too scared to hit a jump on an XC trail even if it is a tabletop. So these jumps need to be built at a specific location. I would think that Grebels idea of a jump track at Lahee is a good one - and this is already in the pipeline.So keep an eye out for it100% Also. It's actually incredibly difficult to get jumps right. We've built a jump line at Steilte using a JCB to do the heavy lifting but it's actually a pretty bad line of jumps cos we (me) got all of the lengths and gaps between the jumps wrong. So instead of the 7 jumps we have there currently we're going to cut 3 in half and move the dirt into 4 bigger jumps. Of course the problem we have now is that mother nature has turned the tap off for the next few months so it becomes a hack to get the stuff wet enough to compact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelhicks Posted October 27, 2013 Share as for sponsorships .... as i have mentioned before - sponsorships are hard to come by for DH, but are not totally out of range. Anyway we need bigger sponsorships to add more races to our calendar, but again we need other people to help with event organisation too as Morne and I cant do everything ourselves - we try but there needs to be a change where each event is actually organised by a different person, or club. This is how it used to work and it was pretty successful. I would love to have more events, but just dont have the time or resoruces to organise more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelhicks Posted October 27, 2013 Share @ mazambaan - I never said that Burry and Greg were once offs .... I said they are a rare breed that come around very occasionally. Especially someone who goes on to be a multiple world champion There will be others who come out of SA - but they need to be identified early on (16 years old or so) and sent overseas to experience and grow with the international scene like Greg and Burry were able to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazambaan Posted October 27, 2013 Share Agreed Nigel; I'm ever hopeful. I'm not even sure how Greg got into downhill after quite a promising start in junior MX (and jumping cars at the Royal Show!). There is quite a crossover from MX & enduro already into bicycles so hopefully one or two young hopefuls can get hooked. You guys are doing, and have done, a great job. Keep it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stretch Posted October 27, 2013 Share We need to have a schools level DH class at Regional races ... but these can only be on easier tracks so as to get the riders into it before they go up a level to bigger tracks. We are also looking into this for next year. I want to help...even if that just means organising some exposure through Roag...but would like to help build etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grebel Posted October 27, 2013 Share @Nige, I am keen to lend a hand with the Lahee Park jump park/line. (As soon as my shoulder is better) should be good to wield a spade in January if everything goes according to plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danger Dassie Posted October 28, 2013 Share @ mazambaan - I never said that Burry and Greg were once offs .... I said they are a rare breed that come around very occasionally. Especially someone who goes on to be a multiple world champion There will be others who come out of SA - but they need to be identified early on (16 years old or so) and sent overseas to experience and grow with the international scene like Greg and Burry were able to do Earlier even, 11 is the time to identify talent that can be developed and nurtured. France is by far the best example of this, clubs and schools have one of the best systems around cycling. The key though, and Andrew Mclean has mentioned this a number of times. Cycling needs to become a formalised sporting code in schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stretch Posted April 7, 2015 Share dont mean to flog a dead horse....but...the results of the ladies downhill this last weekend at the pmbmtbfest... OVERALL WOMEN: 1.Sabine Thies (7:14.120) 2.Tamryn Taylor (9:21.394) so..two competitors and its won by a 13 year old in junior school in contrast i see things like this on instagram in the off season: http://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/10/93_foxhunt.jpg Im not blaming anyone and I'm one to speak as I have done zero to assist...but...clearly something needs to be done...because that commitment by the british cycling federation and the cyclists results in this http://ride.io/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ladies-podium.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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