Hey guys! It’s good to be back writing to you guys here! October and November has been 2 incredibly busy months, but now December has arrived and that means some holiday time and hopefully a lot of time on the beach as well!

2023 has been a super good year for me. I won my 7th South African champs title, had a successful campaign in Europe, and above all my twin girls were born.

The reason for being so busy the last couple of months (off course you can add having new born twins into the mix haha) I think has been the weather mostly. I spend most of my time in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and to be honest we had a very bad winter in terms of rain and trails being closed sue to flooding and damage, so the mountain bike scene has been real quiet this winter. However now that spring and summer has arrived, everyone is getting back on the bikes and it’s back to off season youth camps and skills training in full force.

The racing season kicks off pretty early in 2024 with our first local race being held on the 20th of January already and our first national race in Sabie on the 27th of January. So basically what I am saying is, it’s just a couple of days off then training starts again in full force haha! No rest for the wicked!

Plans to go to Europe is also in the books for next year with a full season waiting for us so I am really excited about that as well. We will be doing races, coach at some of the youth camps over there as well as do a bunch of media stuff.

I currently have my team mate from Germany, Erik Irmisch, with me in South Africa. He is enjoying some of our sun and beaches and off course we are doing a lot of media and riding while he is here.

Like I said earlier in this column, skills training is back in full force, so if you find yourself riding in the Cape Town area over the coming holidays, you might find me doing some skills training somewhere on the hills and mountains and I am looking forward to seeing you guys out on the trails.

When I write to you next it will be in 2024 and then I can give you guys the low down on how the first couple of races went down.

Until next year!

Johann “Pottie” Potgieter