Hiya,

This is my first post to the blog, if I get it write it should be the first of many…

Just got back from the 2nd round of the MTN SA Cup Series in Mankele, South Africa. Mankele is a bike park 1hr away from Kruger National Park. The park is very well laid out with XC, 4X, All Mountain and DH trails that cover everything you want to do on a bike.

Coming from Cape Town it is easy to forget that deepest darkest Africa is on our doorstep. After a 2hr plane ride and 3hrs in the Taxi we where at our Hotel, we arrived at night and had no idea where we were. First light showed that we were perched on a mountain top surrounded by indigenous forest, the worlds largest Dolomite cave (Sudwala) and HUGE insects. We talking foot long and scary as @#$%. Anyone who loves bikes, the bush and the African sky should stick this spot in their GPS.

The course is an interesting mix of High and Low speed, Grass and Trees, Mud and Rock. Probably the steepest course I have ridden in SA, a bit tight and 1 lined in places but still looked to be a good tester for my Makulu and me.

I have had the Makulu for just on 2 months and haven’t really had a chance to experience how it reacts under real race conditions. The 1st round of the SA champs was fun but the course was pretty smooth and didn’t really stress the edges of suspension which separates good bikes from great bikes. I was looking forward to putting the finishing touches to my suspension setup as there was a great range of conditions it had to handle.

Practice started with Wet Screams (been raining up there since 18^th of December), the course felt too tight and really didn’t flow well. As the course dried out in the 30 degree Celsius heat the speeds went up and it all began to fall into place; drop the forks out a little, a few clicks more compression front and rear and switch back to Minions and there where happy faces down at Quantums (2 SA Taxi’s that the 8 of us rented).

The smile disappeared from my face after smashing my Crank Bros into a coffin sized rock that bent my axle, bruised my hip and battered my thumb. Grumpy G then got stung by a Hornet (small assault insect with a Flame Thrower as its primary weapon) on the way back up the shuttle.

Race day rolled around with a 6:30am wake-up call from 2 fighting Monkeys who where tripping from eating Sugar and Cremora down at the open air breakfast buffet (no kidding).

Punched out 2 practice runs, thumb was OK and all systems where go for the race. In SA we do 2 race runs with the fastest run counting.

Race 1 went down and I just never really got going, felt like a slow practice run and my 2:16 was good for 7^th overall. Andrew Neethling was 2^nd fastest with a 2:09 and Johan Potgieter was fastest on a 2:08.

Andrew, Jonty and I all felt that we never really got going in the run and were looking forward to Race 2.

In Race 2 I just focused on the spot 5 meters in front of me and felt like I was being pulled down the track. I had a good run and took 6 seconds of my time for a 2:10. Andrew battled back with a 2:04 and Johan had a slightly slower 2:09. Jonty also dropped 6 seconds for a 2:11.

In the end we had a great weekend. 6 riders, 3 medals, 1 Speeding Ticket and 0 bad injuries.

Thanks to Gary, Tom ‚ÄöMens Health‚Äö Pierre ‚ÄöPrime Time‚Äö Andrew ‚ÄöNeedles‚Äö Jonty ‚ÄöJonny Tang‚Äö Vanessa ‚ÄöThe Mexican‚Äö and Mark ‚ÄöChoppie‚Äö for a great weekend. To Morewood (Pat put down his welding torch for the weekend and won Sub Vet), Fox (Kyle, despite a ‚Äötreecheotomy‚Äö didn‚Äö crash) and Rush Sports (Andre, being the nice guy he is didn’t ride while he lent his rotors to XC pinner Roan) for their ongoing support of a married Dad who is still trying to ride bikes and to Noonie and Summer for being the best fan club in the world.

Words by Gary Barnard

MTN National Cup in association with MiWay
Downhill ‚Äö Round 2
Mankele, Mpumalanga
Leading results
MEN
Overall
1 Andrew Neethling ‚Äö Trek World Racing 2min04.54sec
2 Johann Potgieter ‚Äö Cannondale 2:08.56
3 Gary Barnard ‚Äö Fox Morewood 2:10.18
4 Jonty Neethling ‚Äö Fox Morewood 2:11.64
5 Hayden Brown ‚Äö Mongoose 2:11.65

All pics by Gary “Flipper” Perkin

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