“OMG I really hate cyclists. They think they own the roads and the rules don’t apply to them.” Quoted from a comment on FB to a posting of a cyclist who attacked a ladies car and damaged it after he rode into her stationary car! Ok so we are MTBers but most of us hit the road to train and with SA’s less than exemplary road accident stats it should be ranked as an extreme sport. What is not acceptable however is how we as cyclists conduct ourselves when on the black stuff. For some it seems to be a sense of MAMIL entitlement laced with a good dose of intolerance towards our well known Saffers aggressive driving style – not at all a good combo. Most times the cyclist will lose. We are constantly looking for ways to make our bikes lighter, ourselves lighter and our “protective” gear lighter and then we want to take on a two ton vehicle like a boss. Really? Yes I am looking at it from one side only but we need to start taking ownership of our behaviour on the roads. As much as drivers need to chill so do we. I am not even talking about rules of the road – both parties could do with refresher courses here – but just general civility, common sense and manners. Riding three abreast in a huge peloton because you are doing your annual “training” for the CT Cycle Tour is no excuse, nor is foul language and disregard for all other road users. We all need to grow up and clean up our act!
2016 is to be the year of taking on different events and so far I have managed one in the new Stanford MTB tour, read my review on it in this issue. I am definitely planning on a few more but they don’t have to be organised events, just to get out and try different trails is brilliant and a quick reminder as to why we do this wonderful sport. I am looking forward to tackling some of Jaques Marais’ trails – perhaps see if I can work through all that he has done in last year’s Full Sus. It’s a start.
Epic mania is upon us and it’s great to see all the world’s best riders criss-crossing our trails. It’s also great to see how approachable they are, why not send in your selfies with some of these riders to the #susmypic competition and you could be in our next issue. It is a great pity that the shenanigans at UCT have led to the moving of the prologue from Table Mountain to Meerendal. The Table Mountain prologue was a great place to watch from as well as an excellent advertisement for Cape Town and SA, that being said Meerendal is also beautiful with some exciting and excellent riding in the area and having been hosted there a number of times the guys know their stuff. I look forward to seeing the best in the world battle it out! Epic!
Being in Cape Town we tend to have a lot of info on Cape based rides and events, please contact us if you have been on a special ride, have discovered a great new route or taken part in an event in a part of the country we don’t normally feature. We would really like to have regular contributors from all over SA so drop us a mail and let’s tell everyone your story!
See you on the trail
Shayne
Sus the Winners of the USN PureFit Competition
Congratulations to Thabo Mamatshele, Darren Marais, Lisa Steingold, Katt Scrooby and Andrew Tristan Martin who each won a R750 voucher from USN to be using on their online store: www.usn.co.za. That’ll keeps you fuelled for the Epic and beyond.
