Wsquared Weekend away - Clearwater Trails

On Sunday 14th June we trekked down to Port Edward to do the Sardine Classic. The race was very cool although I would never have expected so much climbing for a coastal race. We stayed over at Clearwater Trails that night and went for an epic ride in the Transkei on Monday morning lead by Jan Abbot. 

It was fantastic but the pictures speak for themselves... (thanks Shale for the photo's:-)

MTB Fun and Demo Day - Bushview MTB Park

We are hosting an MTB fun day and demo bike day at the Bushview MTB Park, Lynfield Park (PMB) this Saturday 20 June starting at 14:00. The plan is to have a fun afternoon of riding and then a bring and braai in the evening. We are bringing our fleet of demo bikes along for anyone to try out so here is the perfect chance to ride an Ellsworth, Titus, Niner or Cannondale (and trust me, you want to ride these bikes…they are unreal!)

 

The emphasis of the afternoon is to have fun doing what we all love, riding mountain bikes. There will however be a few spot prizes for those who want to try post the fastest lap of the day around the 7km loop; for whoever does the most continuous laps on the pump track (it’s not as easy as it sounds); best trick on the dirt jumps (and probably a prize for the best crash as well….those are always bound to happen when dirt jumps are involved.)

 

The MTB Park boasts brilliant facilities including a 7km loop of mostly singletrack, a pump track, dirt jumps, MX and pee-wee track as well as a very nice pub located in an old railway station.

 

This is a family day so bring the whole family and join us for some good old fashioned MTB fun.

 

Directions: From PMB/Durban, on the N3 take the Lynnfield Park/Lion Park turnoff. Turn left and follow the road towards Lynnfield Park. Travel over 5 speed bumps then turn left onto the D354 (at the post boxes) and go over the hill onto the dirt road for about 1.5km and Bush View will be on your left.

See you there!

Gordon

DVD's for hire

We have the following imported DVD's available for hire:

+ Latitudes

+ Victory

+ Sevenvision

+ The Collective

+ Roam

+ Seasons

+ Fundamentals

+ New World Disorder 7 - Flying High Again

+ New World Disorder 8 - Smack Down

+ New World Disorder 9 - Never Enough

+ Clorophilla

+ Earthed 3 - Europa

+ Earthed 4 - Death or Glory

+ Earthed 5 - The Law of Fives

+ Top Soil 2

+ Red Bull Bike Battle: Baltimore

+ Elemental

Rental fee is R20 per DVD and you can keep it for 3 nights.

See how the pro's do it - you will learn a lot!

Feeding Your Cycling Addiction #4

It’s only about a week away from the shortest day of the year … and then the days will start to get longer give us more time to do our favourite thing … ride our bikes!

I am writing this at about 6am … just got back from gym where my friend Robert helped me to keep my body ready for when the long riding days come … on my way back from gym my car showed it as 7 degrees. No wonder our night rides are not attracting huge numbers. You must be a true cycling addict to go out at night in temperature below 10.

Our official shop opening has come and gone and the feedback has been wonderful. A big thank you to all of you who made the effort to join us on this important day. Sandra Sailer’s presentation also stimulated much discussion and we will have her around again soon to talk to us more about mental preparedness.

This coming weekend a group of us are going to Port Edward to take part in the Sardine Classic and we are staying at Clearwater Trails for Jan to take us across to Transkei on Monday where he has build an awesome trail of around 35 km. Accommodation at Clearwater for Sunday evening is all taken, but you are welcome to join us Monday morning for our Transkei jaunt. We aim to leave Clearwater at around 8h00 on Monday morning to be back around lunch time …

BIKES

Just too remind you, we stock the following bikes:

·         Merida www.merida-bikes.com

·         Cannondale www.cannondale.com

·         NINER www.ninerbikes.com

·         Ellsworth www.ellsworthbikes.com

·         Titus www.titusti.com

·         Ibis www.ibiscycles.com

 

This month it is Cannondale’s turn to get the spot light.

This piece below I took straight of their website … please take the time to read this. It is great and one of the main reasons we have chosen to represent this brand. Cannondale is arguably one of the most innovative and sought after bikes in the world!

Our Philosophy.

We fight to be different... not for the sake of being different but for the sake of being the best. For us, like you, it's the secure click of a cleat meeting its pedal.

It's the first pedal stroke with anticipation of a long ride churning within.
Its the first breath inhaled.
It's the precise moment just before reaching the apex of a long climb, and the exhilaration of conquering it.
It's the thrill of going down...fast.
It's finally getting through that technical section and then nailing it every time thereafter.
It's the "endo", the road rash, the challenge, the thrill.
It's staring at convention and then disrupting it all to create that unique, spectacular moment in time called your ride.
It's when you realize that between you and your bike, there is nothing you can not accomplish.

For us at Cannondale, it's building, testing and rebuilding; making it better in the process, never settling for "good enough". It's knowing it, verses guessing it and using the world's greatest athletes to prove it. It's having such high standards and expectations in how we want product to perform that we are relentless in our pursuit.

It's not about superfluous welds or fancy etchings, it's about performance, innovation, superior product. Does it contribute to the ride? Does it do what we want it to do? When we step back and look at our work, the answer is easy... it does, and we feel it everyday, knowing you'll feel it too.

Our Mission.

"Our mission is to create innovative, quality products that inspire cyclists around the world." To succeed in our mission:

• We strive to exceed the expectations of our consumers, retailers and business partners.
• We believe our people drive our success and act accordingly.
• We work together as one global team.
• We act with respect, responsibility and integrity.
• We produce a stream of innovative, quality products.
• We devise flexible manufacturing processes that enable us to deliver those innovative, quality products to the market quickly and then back them with excellent customer service.
• We limit our distribution to the best specialty retailers in the world.
• We stay lean, remain competitive and entrepreneurial.
• We promote from within whenever possible.
• We concentrate on detail, because the last 5% is often the difference between success and failure.
• We continuously improve everything.
• We govern our every deed by what is ‘just and right’.

The History.

1971 – Cannondale started in a crowded loft above a pickle factory.

1983 – Launched its 1^st touring bike

1984 – 1^st Mountain bike with aluminium frames that got the industry to sit up and take notice

BUYING A BIKE FROM US

·         If you buy a bike from us and you don’t like it, bring it back and we will get you unto something more to your liking. We have a 14 days return policy.

·         If you buy a custom bike from us, you have the above benefit, as well as you will never have to pay for labour on your bike again.

ACTIVITIES

14/15 June:     Sardine Festival and Clearwater Ride (See above)

20 June:         LIFE-IN-MOTION 5 hour MTB enduro – Unfortunately we had to cancel this event as our sponsor did not come through for us. We are however still going to have a fun afternoon at Bushview MTB Park and will have all our demos there with some spot prizes. Come and join us for a relaxing Saturday afternoon of MTB fun followed by a braai.

27 June:               Giba Gorge Challenge

28 June:               Glengarry Classic (brrrrr)

5 July:                   Indlovu Super Classic (This is a great event for the whole family)

11 July:                 African Champs (This event is taking place at Mankele in Mpumalanga … it is an unbelievable place to ride your mountain bike and it is definitely our aim to have a shop weekend here!)

Every Tuesday: NIGHT RIDES

We leave at 17h00 and are back at 19h00. Riding the Cedara Forrest at night is magical! If you want to join us, but don’t have a strong enough light, drop us a line and we will see what we can do to get you to experience the magic of night riding.

Every Wednesday: MORNING RIDES

Leaving our shop at 8h30 … for those of you lucky enough to manage your own time. This ride is for the social minded … come-on, spoil yourself. Take a mid-week break, come and ride with us.

Just a reminder, we have a number of demo bikes available. Please give us a call to book your ride if you have always dreamt of owning a bike that your friends can drool over.

We are working on our website and if everything goes according to plan it should be up by the time you receive the next “feeding your addiction” newsletter. We are planning something extraordinary with our website and believe it is going to become one of the most visited sites if you are truly addicted to cycling … but more about that next time.

See you at Clearwater!!

Johann and Gordon

2009 Duzi Mfula Race Report - Mel Palframan

Being my first Duzi Mfula I really didn’t know what to expect. Even though the morning was freezing cold at the start the atmosphere was so warm and welcoming. It was clear that everyone was there to go out and have a fun day. The start was delayed by half an hour as according to the race organizers the markers on route were moved by the local inhabitants. This needed to be sorted out before the race could get on its way, as well as the clearing of some taxis on the roads. The ride was sorted into batches to avoid congestion in river crossings and single track. According to other riders this made the ride much more enjoyable and spread out.

My partner, Gregg McDonough (one of the makers of the course) and I started in batch B on day 1 (78kms). The start wasn’t fast like most races which showed that everyone was there to enjoy rather than to race. Starting on a gravel road it was very dusty but soon all the riders spread out so it was less dusty and easier to see. Probably one of my most challenging parts of day one was the grassy section in the beginning. What felt like miles and miles of riding on grass was really tiring. There were some incredible hills (Ngumeni for example) throughout the day there was always an awesome descent to recover on and enjoy.

Through the whole ride the course crossed over the Duzi meaning we would have to get wet. This made it very uncomfortable to ride with wet shoes which made it even colder too! But coming down into the valley closer to Inanda dam were some of the most breath taking views I have ever seen. This made me forget any discomfort of a long challenging ride and being cold! Closer to the finish it was tar road which was probably the fastest part of the course (although it surprised us with some frighteningly steel climbs!) The course took us on and off this road into awesome trails until eventually we could hear the music and loud speaker of the finish. After a hard days ride it was the best sound ever! Everyone was very supportive at the finish and we were welcomed home by Doug Bird and given a food pack and energy drink which was greatly needed! Greg and I completed this day in 5 hours 6 minutes. This is what we were aiming for. The day definitely had the most amazing riding I have ever seen!
There was camping at the finish of day one next to Inanda dam but we decided to stay in Kloof.
Day 2 (40kms) was a much warmer morning although the weather report said rain. Starting in batch B again we got on our way. Day two took us up probably the longest hardest climbs of the Duzi Mfula. It took forever for my legs to warm up as they were so stiff and sore from the previous day! As soon as I thought the course had started to even out it hit us with the dreaded Burma. Famous for the Duzi Canoe Marathon (where the paddlers carry their boats over the mountain as one of the portages) we had to pick up our bikes and hike up the+- 4km steep mountain. At the top we were eventually welcomed by the USN water tables where they had (like day 1) cooked potatoes, muffins and USN energy bars and juice.

After Burma the rest of the course was equally as tough and bumpy making it harder than usual especially with tired legs from the day before! On day 2 we climbed a total of 1225 m compared to 1378m the previous day!!! Riding changed completely along day 2 between the scenic inland areas, the rural settlements and the polluted areas closer to Durban. The coarse ended going through the Durban Motor Cross track and onto a golf course right next to Blue lagoon finish. Gregg and I finished in a time of 2hrs 58. Coming 80th overall.

Roan Exelby and David Leiman took the win in a time of 3hrs19 on day 1 and 1hr 55 on day 2.Carl Calverley and David Lowe came in second with Craig Stone and Nick Floris in third. Shawna Thunder (the first lady) and her partner Mathew Goetsch came in an amazing 7th place over all.