After the climb there is some pristine flowing singletrack for a few miles that eventually dumps you out onto a super fast decomposed granite fire road. A couple miles of drifty corners and it’s back to single track in the form of our local DH race course, followed by some swoopy single track and then a steeper bit of switchback track to the finish line. One thing I think a lot of the racers liked is that there are about 3 places on the 12 mile course where you’ve got a chance of a flat–So if you are cautious there you’ll more than likely get a clean run.

The race basically doubled in size this year to around 130 people which in & of itself is pretty cool. Mark Jordan from Decline Magazine showed up to cover the event & throw down a fast race run for himself of 37:52 to win the Semi-Pro field. Mark Weir of course won the event overall for the 3rd straight year–this time with a smokin’ fast time of 35:22. Here’s a link to the full Results. I spent a good deal of time getting advice about my broken wrist from Eric Carter & Ariel Linsley who have both suffered the same break and recovered from it (slowly but surely). Ariel’s still sporting a trick carbon fiber wrist brace from OTS, and Eric gave me a bunch of cool tips like cold lasers & bone-up. A bunch of the good folks from up the Friends of Capitol Forest crew made the trek down & had a great time. Everyone I talked to loved the event so I’m predicting it overflows 200 racers next year. Not hard when we had perfect weather–I’m talking blue bird skies, easy temps at the top for the start, unlike last year when we had freezing blowing fog at the top with about 150ft visibility. A little dust but not too bad. No snow drifts, no mud, no wind. Dirt was a good mixture between low rolling resistance & descent cornering traction.

Not racing sucks. But I did get some good pics of the race action.

Go Get em’ Lars!

From there, Lars flew to Barcelona to meet up with fellow Fluidride/Virtual Descent team riders Sven and Anka Martin. The trio then headed to Andorra for this weekends World Cup race. The riders will continue on to Fort William and then to Italy for the World Championships.

A special thanks goes out to Fox Racing for helping make Lars’ trip possible; thanks Fitzy and Elayna! Dave Weagle also made a very nice contribution to the trip through e-thirteen; thanks Dave! Thanks also go out to Iron Horse, Crank Brothers, Maxxis, Sunline, Red Bull, Troy Lee Designs, SDG and Shimano for their amazing support. This trip wouldn’t have been possible without all the great people behind these companies. Stay tuned for updates from Lars, Anka, and Sven as they travel Europe. Good luck guys!

“What were we thinking?”, we kept asking ourselves this question on day 4, 5 and the rest of the Epic. It was done though, no turning back at this point. Our spots were booked and paid for and our air tickets were purchased. Our Epic was going to be continued for four more days in the saddle, only this time with armed guides amongst the elephants, giraffe’s, lion’s and countless other African wildlife.

We managed to rest for two days, and then re pack all our bike equipment, it all seamed very routine like for Megan and I, just packing up for another week on the bike. We had this dialed by now. It was going to be a breeze. Only four days with slow, mellow cruising on elephant singletrack for 3-4 hours a day, gourmet meal’s followed by afternoon siesta’s only to wake up to jeep drive’s, more animal spotting and sundowners overlooking the beautiful African plains.

We were picked up at Johannesburg airport, and then we had a five hour drive to the South African border. There we had to cross over into Botswana. This was no ordinary crossing. You get into a little cage foofie slide thing in the air, and you get pulled over the mighty Limpopo river with all your bikes and bags (and gasoline). This was a first for all of us, I have never entered into a new country in this fashion before. Once on the other side, we were met by the Mashatu crew, our bikes were loaded up and off we went. Our adventures were about to begin!

After driving for about ten minutes we started seeing animals, they were everywhere. We saw too many elephant herds to keep count, giraffe’s, antelope, jackal’s, the list goes on an on. On top of that, the sun was setting, and the sky was turning into the most brilliant red, orange and pink hues that is only possible in Africa. It was magical. The warm wind in your hair, the sunset, and these incredible animals as far as the eye can see. We drove for about an hour, by this time the dark had set in and we arrived at our first camp.

The camp was spectacular. It was situated under a giant, old Mashatu tree, with cots (bed’s) placed in a half circle around the fire. There were no fences, or wall’s or tents, just our open bed’s under the stars. It was magical. We each had to pull a time out of a hat, and whichever time we pulled out, was when we had to stay awake and do night watch for an hour. The animal’s stay away as long as there was some movement in the camp, and as long as the fire kept burning. This was such a primitive feeling, knowing that you had to stay awake, otherwise you and your friends could become dinner! I had the pleasure of getting the 3 – 4am slot. Megan saw a herd of elephant’s walk right past our camp without even giving us a glance, and the next morning there was fresh lion and hyena footprints all around our camp.

After some instruction from our guides, we set off on our first mountain bike ride. We had a guide with a rifle in the front and back, to protect us from whatever we may stumble across. It was so bizarre to be riding your bicycle past elephants, and other wild animals. We spotted lion’s, cheetah’s, antelope, giraffe’s and we saw these gigantic birds. Joe led us to another big Mashatu tree, and there in the middle of nowhere, they had set up tea and muffins and scones for a mid morning snack. This is the life! With full bellies, we set off again for the last few hours of riding, heading to our second camp. Another beautiful camp, some more gourmet food, the best outdoor shower overlooking the nothingness and sipping red wine while watching the sun go down. Repeat this for two more days and you may never want to leave this place.

Our time was up, and we had to leave paradise. Driving back through the wide open savannah, you can’t help but feel the tears well up in your eyes. We were all very quiet, just trying to absorb a cheetah kill that we saw earlier that morning. America and the real world is waiting for us. The experience was the most magical adventure ever, and I would strongly recommend anyone who is heading to Africa to include this into their itinerary.

Thank you Joe, Moosa, Sparks and Greg for the best trip ever. It will always have a special place in my heart.

check out their website at www.cyclemashatu.co.za

Lars Sternberg showed he’s on form with an impressive third place qualy in the dual slalom, which he followed up with a ninth place in the slalom final. Lars finished 25th in the DH, six seconds back from Minnar. “I had a pretty decent run, although I overshot the first really big jump a little which cost me a little time. It’s nice to go to Sea Otter with some fitness and racing under my belt.” said Sternberg. Fluidride/Virtual Descent racer Nathan Riddle had a good first ride aboard his new Iron Horse 6 point, posting a time less than ten seconds off the win for 38th place. Phil Weiring, Fluidride’s newest rider posted a time only a second behind Riddle while riding his new Iron Horse Sunday, which was good for 55th overall. There were more than 55 riders withing ten seconds of Minnar. Talk about close racing!