GETTING GOING 
IN 2021

Hey guys! Best wishes for 2021 from my side. I realize this year has been off to a rocky start once again but I am hopeful that it will just get better from here on out.

I took some time off during this holiday period. Went away with my family to the Garden Route area and also spent some time at the Garden Route Trail Park. If you guys are ever in this area I can really recommend checking out the Trail Park. It has superb trails, a nice pump track and super good coffee.

Well, 2021 has been off to a lockdown start again and off course resulting in our upcoming races being cancelled … AGAIN!
This resulted in me replanning my year ahead, which is quite difficult as we never know how things can change and at this stage it is changing every two weeks. I am also supposed to leave for Germany end of April, but whether that will happen, only time will tell.

The upside to all these races being cancelled and there being no other events is it gives me more time to work with the riders. As you guys know, I do lots of skills training and camps for the youth and this period gives me way more time to do them and help the riders. At this point it is day clinics with smaller groups because of restrictions, but there are so many people riding bikes at this stage and that is amazing to see. This pandemic has been good for mountain biking as it has grown immensely over the last year worldwide. In South Africa, being outdoors and having beaches and parks closed means people are taking out the mountain bikes and started to ride more. This has also caused a worldwide shortage of stock in the mountain bike industry which is one of the big problems that dealers and shops are facing at this point.

It's so crazy to see how many families there are on the trails as well as hikers and runners. The big question is … would it stay like that after this pandemic is over? In my opinion the growth will stay. Sure some people will go back to their normal routine, but for the most part people will realise how good mountain biking is as well as how many trail networks there are close to their houses, and this will become their new “normal”.

Well, that is basically how my year looks so far. I wish everyone good health and fitness. Until next time.