Mountain biking in South Africa continues to evolve. There have been significant changes over the past five years as the sport has adapted to economic conditions, a generational shift, the Covid-19 disruptions and the broadening of mountain biking’s sub-categories. But one thing that’s unchanged is the value mountain bikers put on the stage-race escape. Here’s what we mean by this…
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If you have done a stage race, you will know what the stage-race escape is. You may not have realised it at the time, but you were given a chance to train for and complete a mountain bike stage race. You took that chance and made the most of it. Some people get to enjoy a stage-race escape regularly. These people are incredibly privileged.
The stage-race itself is just the pinnacle of the stage-race escape. It’s the end goal. Depending on who you are and what stage race you commit to, your stage-race escape actually starts weeks, if not months before your goal stage race. Most of us that love mountain biking don’t have to tell anyone how happy it makes us to ride our bike. It’s pretty obvious to our loved ones. We return from a ride in the best mood.
When we say to our loved ones we are keen to enter such-and-such stage race, they know that it means so much to us. They also know that for however many weeks leading up to such-and-such stage race, we will be compelled to ride more to train for such-and-such stage race so we will enjoy emotional and physical benefits as we fine-tune our condition.
Our loved ones know that this journey is going to be life-improving for us and, indirectly beneficial for them too. Remember that only a very tiny percentage of people actually have the opportunity, capacity and desire to complete a mountain bike stage race. We can’t just rock up at a mountain bike stage race with no preparation and expect to finish it. Even if we’re not a natural athlete, our consistent training for a stage race puts us into a very niche category of South Africans.
So, when our training for such-and-such stage race begins, our stage-race escape begins. This includes our loved ones either accepting our request for support or offering their support to give us the freedom to do our training rides. This can involve anything from a simple task, like feeding our pets, to something as significant as looking after our children. It’s essentially freeing us from certain responsibilities to give us the opportunity to train – regularly – for such-and-such stage race.
We may not all realise it, but each of these is a mini escape. Add up a whole bunch of mini escapes over weeks or even months and we are winning at life. With support, we are on a journey of self-improvement. If we were to ask our loved ones to help every week so that we could take time to go on dates, take long social lunches/dinners or boys/girls’ weekends away, they’d tell us to snap back to reality. But for some reason, training for such-and-such stage race is different, so appreciate that support and tell them/show them we do.
The such-and-such stage race itself is usually an incredible escape where we remove ourselves from our daily grind and all responsibilities to go and conclude our goal. Everyone that’s helped us in some way to be able to train will be giving us their moral (and likely actual) support to ensure that all we have to do is pedal our damn bike!
To just pedal our damn bike for a few days in a beautiful place on specifically prepared trails with full route support, medics, delicious meals and high-quality beverages among people who value mountain biking as much as we do, is one of the greatest escapes we can ever achieve.
Dryland Event Management has significant experience in creating great South African stage-race escapes. The Momentum Medical Scheme, presented by Biogen Cape Pioneer Trek and Tankwa Trek; and the Glacier Storms River and Cradle Traverses are prime examples of premium quality Dryland Event Management stage races that take you on a journey of self-improvement, encourage domestic travel and create magic memories.
In May 2024, Dryland Event Management’s newest three-day South African stage-race escape will take place and it will be at an incredible location less than a three-hours’ drive from Gauteng. It’s probably a bit soon to start training for it, but it will have a limited field so start priming your loved ones well in advance. Tell them you’re keen to enter such-and-such stage race from 3-5 May 2024. The full launch of such-and-such stage race will be made in early May. Stay tuned!
