May 2011

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Riding in Kokstad

Submitted by monica on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 20:27

Had an awesome two days riding in Kokstad with Paul, Riaan, Bruce and Lionel. The second day we left Bruce's at 8am and got back in the dark at about 6:30pm! IT was really good training for Romaniacs, and we were all pretty knackered. Amazing views from the tops of the mountains, and a good two days had by all. This video is just a short clip to give you a taste of what it was like - the hill is way steeper than it looks!

The "As the crow flies" ride

Submitted by monica on Fri, 05/27/2011 - 17:04
Chris Birch South Africa Training
Chris Birch South Africa Training
Chris Birch South Africa Training Ride
Chris Birch Sani Pass Mountain Bike Training

Today a hardy bunch of Enduro riders headed out on mountain bikes into the wild of Africa and got totally hopelessly lost. We started out following a sweet fully marked single track trail and then climbed to the top of a mountain. After that it all changed, the trail we were following dissaperared. We followed the top of the mountain until the call was made to head down by any means neccessary. What followed was two hours of bush crashing, cartwheeling fun!

At least we got back in daylight...

More training today

Submitted by monica on Thu, 05/26/2011 - 07:33

I've started four days of big training on the mountain bike and KTM. Today I hit up the mountain bike trails in Howick and did four hours in the hills with team mates Will, Paul and KTM's Riaan Vanikerk. Riaan is bloody strong on the bicycle and worked us hard. Tomorrow we are doing another big ride, 100k's on the dirt is the call! Ill make sure I get some photos of the suffering.

Trials riding

Submitted by monica on Mon, 05/23/2011 - 03:48

after one crash, I managed to clean the rest of 'my' section - check my balance!

Bulwer to Hilton trail ride

Submitted by monica on Sat, 05/21/2011 - 03:02
Chris Birch South Africa TRail ride
Chris Birch Wife Monica Riding

On Saturday me and Mon went on her first proper ride. This was supposed to go from Bulwer back to Will's house in Howick, a casual 100k's or so. We had friends come down from Jo'burg too, Mark (who really is the man who brought me to SA in the first place, way back in 2008!) and his 11 year old son, Dayne. Dayne was VERY excited at the thought of a full day out with his dad and us!

Trials riding at Iain's

Submitted by monica on Fri, 05/20/2011 - 22:20
Chris Birch South Africa Training
Chris Birch South AFrica Training

 

Gary from Enduro World mag asked me if I would test a brand new Sherco trials bike. Ummm ... ok! Having a great time testing it up at Iain's today... trials riding makes for great training, maybe I should get me one

Trail ride with Mon

Submitted by monica on Fri, 05/20/2011 - 18:18
Chris Birch South Africa Coaching Mon
Chris Birch South AFrica Training

Me and Mon tagged along with Wild Will on his trail ride lesson yesterday. Mon really enjoyed it, she is even getting faster. The not so cool part of the ride was when the other girl got a lift down the hill with Will, and when we went to go get her bike - it was gone! We asked the farm boy and a couple of locals if they had seen anything and they were adamant that they hadn't...

The Red Bull City Scramble

Submitted by monica on Thu, 05/19/2011 - 06:21

Still the coolest thing I have ever been a part of.

Man and Machine DVD

Submitted by monica on Thu, 05/19/2011 - 01:34

can't wait til this comes out in a few months ... bet you all want to get your hands on this! All the best bits from extreme enduro in 2010 - it's gotta be a winner.

Those in gold ole NZ - we'll be bringing this in on www.manandmachine.co.nz (coincidence with the name!) so keep an eye on it for when we're taking pre-orders ...

No rest for the wicked

Submitted by monica on Thu, 05/19/2011 - 01:18

I've got a couple weeks of racing at the moment, which is nice as I don't have to stress about getting things sorted, but it's still pretty busy. Today I spent the morning pottering about in the garage getting E95 sorted for the next race - always a good idea to have it prepped the earlier the better!

TWITTER

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