Bruce Turvey (partnering with Warren) – The 2008 Swazi Frontier Champion writes exclusively for Pedal Studio.

The Swazi Frontier ~ founded by our good friend Brett Foss

Mountain Biking is a helluva thing! Having done the Swazi dice, I’ve got people asking me why we do it and what’s it like etc. Cos we are usually pressed for time, the response is something like…”it’s a little bit technical, you have to know how to use gears, it’s a little bit tiring, there is the odd shot of adrenalin, quite a lot of pain, plenty falls, some bleeding, bruising, blunt force trauma, personality and friendship testing, its expensive cos bent parts need to be replaced…and so on.” Having delivered the overview, people then tend to ask…”so why do you do it again?” And the answer is always, “cos it’s the most fun you can have in your spare time.”

Swazi was just that, unhinged fun. Spanking it through mountains and tranquil snippets of Africa on overpriced pieces of tin is amongst the best experiences one can have. The beers at the end of each day (especially day three) are also right up there. But I digress.

How it started is that Warren (my partner) and I have recently retired from international rowing. Filling a gap like that takes some doing and in order to prevent ourselves from slipping into over sized, couch dwelling Pringle-gobblers, we decided we had to enter as many events as we could. Goals are important and fitness would be a spin off. Fossil has been nagging for years for the lads to play in the mountains with him (on bikes this time) and left excuseless, we entered.

We had no idea what to expect, some of the mates were giving it the “you okes are fit, you should win it.” Usually followed by some hysterical laughter, so who knows what that meant?

Night one needs special mention. About 50 Mountain bike nuts all sharing a converted horse stable, snuggling up to their newly purchased soft-tail (and by that I mean mountain bike with rear suspension). I don’t think there were any tail-gunners on tour, though one can never be too sure. The sound of tinkering with parts (again, bike parts) could be heard late into the night, mingled in with the tranquil sounds of flatulence and midnight Vietnam flashback fits, the scene was set.

Day 1
Superb! After the first in a line of Fossil’s briefs (the term “brief” being relative), that included talk of there being only 5m of track the whole day that is not rideable, our falling, running and climbing skills were tested to the max. Basically what won the day for us was a dose of good luck and some chivalry. Having nipped over “Brutal” we were doing a bit of a fence hop. Being gentlemen, we waited for the pair behind us; last year’s mixed category winners, Karin and Mark, to offer some assistance with their bikes. This was fortunate because as became his trait, Warren had thrown away the navigation card and we were soon at a serious decision point. Left up some crazy angled hill, or straight? I interviewed Mark on the spot. “You done this before bru?” “Yes I have,” he replied.” “You any good and do you get lost often?” He answered “We won last year and I’ve never been lost.” “You are my boy!” I rejoiced and said to Warren, “we are going with this oke.” And what a choice! Turns out we took the direct route as per the navigation card over Too Brutal, which should be renamed Baby Brutal. I’ve seen steeper speed bumps in Parkhurst. We ran up that, got to the top and some dude with an overabundance of Pepsi told us we were in the lead. I downed 1.5 litres of the stuff (cos I had inserted my camelback bladder in upside down and ran out of lube before Brutal…there was a bit of thirst at this stage) and said to Warren….”We gonna win this thing.”

There was some major activity, wheel spinning and dashes of speed as we headed with enthusiasm towards a destination we hoped was the finish line. Being in a navigational vacuum at this stage didn’t help, luckily Warren had remembered the name of the target town and a bit of local interrogation got us home. Unreal to have won day one. A complete fluke? Sure it was, but good humour.

Day 2

The previous night, having listened to Fossil for two more hours and being asked repeatedly “what’s this rowing again?” we were off. Warren and I had decided, in his words “to win this *&%$ing thing.” We had gotten the taste and on Day 2 the gloves were off. Having navigated the slippery steps of death, we were comfortably with the leading pack going up a cheeky little forest hill. We were on top of our game saying stuff like “this mountain biking story is easy and we aren’t even working, give me a real challenge, the Turbo Jockey (Paul Cordes) and his goose (Yolande Speedy) are gonna pop any second I can tell” blah blah. Then came the downhill and the skills were found wanting. I couldn’t believe the pace with which some of these okes descend. Not wanting to relinquish our lead I decided “no brakes” would be the strategy. My cornering not being what it was at age 12 on a bmx (Mongoose, silver front fork), turns out I failed to turn at upward of 50km/h and went spanking over the edge of the road. Tiny scenes of my life flashed before my eyes, as well as various items in quick succession; grass, sky, road, sky, bush, sky, rock...intermingled with sharp pains and acute disorientation. The experience came to an end to the cries of “Rideeeer doooowwn!” as some guy shot past me. I’m sure I saw a grin on his face. Bas*&rd!

My partner was off down the hill, I got my stuff together, denying myself a health audit thinking it would add no value and resumed the chase. Every man and his dog came past me on the downhill. I had lost my mojo and confidence was way, way down. I eventually made it to the bottom of the hill to find one angry partner. Some expletives and cursing and 20 mins of panel beating (turns out I had bent the back wheel in the fall and rode the hill with the brakes on) we were off. This time with the anger! We rode the valley like it was a bmx track trying to make up the aeon of time we had just handed over. This hurt, I think we ate all our smarties and had small amounts of juice left for the closing stages. We managed to find ourselves level with the Turbo Jockey and his hill eating wife with a few Kms to go. This was a good sign, and we were back on track. Until Wappo’s Steppes. I was a bit behind Warren and I saw him disappear completely from view. Next thing I saw was two wheels in the air, and Warren’s face planted squarely on what would be Wappo’s Landing – the bit below the step. There was some wholesome language, unrepeatable here, even in a Hustler column, to which I replied “what the $&^% you doing down there bru?” This took our sporting relationship to new depths. We then hit BMX mode again to try and catch the Psycho Climbing Bike Couple from hell.
The last “little hill” took us apart. Hallucinating and hating life, Warren took an imaginary turn off and cycled into a fence. I think he was hoping like hell it was the Pigg’s Peak off ramp. In the process he fell off the bike and, as usual, donated the map to the Swazi landscape. We rode on in anger. Then got lost, could not for the life of us work out where to find Orion Pigg’s Peak Hotel. Interviewing a German on the road didn’t seem to help and we eventually found our way to the finish.

All personality and humour was lost, until Les told us we were just a few minutes behind the mini matching couple in white. Things were better and we went for beers in the pool.

Day 3

Having called in a million favours to replace a back wheel and sprocket (thanks to Rob, Willy and Fossil for the help), day three was the decider. We had a 10 or so minute lead and the game was on. A cute little hill cut the pack up nicely at the start, some pacey descents got us down through a dense forest incident-free. Peach section of riding though! The hints and tips Warren and I had picked up in the pub the night before were paying off and the cornering had improved dramatically. We were with the pack at the halfway mark and things were looking good for the Osama B’s. Then Swaziland threw some proper climbs at the problem. At this stage the turbo jockeys got the jump on us, but were in view. Climbing was tough but sustainable while we were crunching numbers knowing we only had to be within 10 mins of these guys to win. Things were going according to plan until Mickey unleashed his Madness on some wanting bike skills. A little crash that induced cramp and a sprained ankle didn’t help. Warren was screaming at me “What the &*(% are you doing?” continually…the pressure was beginning to tell. We made it through the insanity gorge only to narrowly avoid killing myself on a neat flower bed at the Maguga Lodge entrance. Turns out we hung on to the lead, and it was beer time.

Prize Giving and dinner was a beautiful blur. Never had beer tasted so good and a dance floor been so inviting. Apart from a bit of abuse from Wappo who brought our masculinity and sexual orientation into question, things were good. He seemed to have a problem with the amount of time we spent off the bike, pushing. He left me alone when I told him if he practices, one day he might be able to ride as fast as we walk.

Major congratulations to Les and Fossil for a top event! Big up yourselves. We will be back next year, there is no doubt. A top experience and peachy all round. Catch you all there in ’09.

Down Hill Write Up by Andrew Clayton

I'm writing from the Ben Nevis gondola, heart pounding , hands aching - holly crap this is an adrenalin rush. Just completed 4 down hill runs.

The world down hill record is held here by Greg Minnaar in 4:43:52 ! Like me, he is from Pietermaritzburg - must run in the blood, but I take 3+ minutes more than him :-) He is a Pro and I've never done this before , cut me some slack!

So the key rule here is to not touch the breaks says my pro coach James - easier said than done !

This is serious down hill - the boards at the start say Extreme Down Hill riders take this on.

This is tough work , every rock and drop off shudders up through the arms , through the neck, down the back and down out through the legs.
The back really absorbs most of the bounce but the hands get so sore I finally battle to hold on tight and pull on the breaks ( maybe a good thing - refer above to James' tip, it's the speed that glides you over the rocks ).

Just to set the scene. I've never worn body armour nor a full face helmet before. I've never ridden a custom made down hill track ( they are usually 2 to 4km long) let a lone a down hill bike. They have much more travel - think big springs and shocks. There is no real need for a seat , although I like to ride with it clenched between my knees to help guide the bike ( my knees and thighs will still be bruised for a week or so later) as I bounce down the mountain. One of the biggest differences for me is no cleats on my shoes! (that's my shoes 'attached' to the pedals) Bouncing around I find it tough to just keep my feet on the pedals which is key to giving balance to the ride. Looking down trying to get your feet back onto the pedal platforms can be tricky and very costly! Sadly my bike , hired from the shop is a medium frame, they did not own any larges ! It will do although on my 3 ride down the chain just broke right at the start of the run. I completed with no chain but on that gradient it is not a 'must have' although useful to power over and out of rocks - my third run was to get pictures and my speedy second run was already in the books leaving me very satisfied (and James the coach I might add!) so not having a chain was not too much of a problem.

One of the big keys to down hill racing is reading a line and keeping up the forward rolling momentum. Stopping will almost certainly guarantee a fall! The track is very narrow and no matter the line you pick it will be tough but unquestionably there are better lines to pick and this has to happen at high pace often as you pop over a tricky rocky section that lays bare a scene that looks unconquerable ahead of you and usually well below your eye line. Remember this, 100's of bikes have done it before you so it must be doable .... for the bike at least :-)

So how do you read a line ? I was chuffed with my riding not really knowing what to have expected , this is after all the Expert Pro World Champ Down Hill course ! I road the champ course 3 times and the red run 2 times and stayed up over everything it threw at me - no falls (big bonus) Sure I did not hit all the ramps made for the big air stuff on the flatter section and I never cleared the gnarly stuff by flying over it as the champs do , but I road it all none the less and at good speed ( you have to speed as oddly enough it is your friend in this type of stuff) making jumps where I could , and trust me jumps help clear the gnarly stuff so it is a very worth while skill to have but you gotta be confident to land . Know this though , no matter your ability, these bikes can ride it all even if you can't. Sure picking a line helps but sometimes riding hard , weight back from centre and keeping momentum is worth more than the best line! You gotta just go for it , ride by the seat of your pants with your hair on fire !

Big no no's are riding up to a tough rocky down hill section ( note- the entire down hill is tough but certain sections tougher than others) stopping at the top to see whats ahead and then choosing a line. Sounds crazy but you loose the momentum - you need to trust the bike, it can do it and now u have to as well. Apply skill - weight back , let the bike roll - the front wheel will roll through pretty much anything ( this is where the pros just 'cheat' and clear it - okay controlled landings are tough ), hold tight on the bars but be loose with the hands to let the front wheel pop over and around rocks, nooo front breaks here - better still no breaks if you can. Keep balance , even pressure on the pedals , you may have to help lift the front wheel a little - don't loose your nerve, eyes up looking ahead - always head up focus on whats up ahead- where you look on a bike you will go ! You should find your entire back muscles are put to good use as you control the bikes movement even when the entire back of the bike may be in the air - you have to control the bike ensuring it rides where you want it to - you are boss of the bike !

But trust me you do not want to be the dude who rides to the top of a tough section , where cameras gather , then stops and looks before backing up to ride it . I rode the whole down hill section without stopping and looking first , I knew the bike could do it ! Had I stopped , as I did on my third run to get snaps - the momentum is gone and u can't clean a tough section from a standing start , you have to roll into it - balanced , weight back , comfy , adrenalin pumping, movin forward with a bit of pace . When u stop at the top of the gnarly stuff you end up walking. Blind if there are cameras around, as was the case as I waited on a rider to take a snap of him as he looked to be flying down only to yank on anchors at the top of the gnarly stuff and walk around and down - blind, I took pics just so you folk can see the big - no no !!!

So what is your level, I know I can ride anything, any mountain - that's not being arrogant, it is my level. I turned up and road the entire Champ Down hill today having never been on a down hill bike before let alone a DH course. How did I do this? I took lessons about 4 yrs ago in the Peak Districts and have since ridden a lot. Investing in a coach is critical , saves on cash wasted on broken bikes and bones! The Down Hill sections on the 7 day cross country stage race on www.ironbike.com It would rival this Ben Nevis DH. Being 3200m up in the Alps, you can only imagine what was thrown at us by crazy Italians who like to pride themselves on the tag they have secured for hosting the toughest MTB race on the planet ! 14 hrs a day made it necessary to ride these tough down hill sections otherwise I think I would have been out there for 18hrs a day !! That's when u learn and skill up fast , by day 7of Iron Bike I knew there would never be a down hill that others rode that I could not - u can only get so vertical ! So where do my skills lack ?

The ramping over the tough stuff, getting air and landing ! That's what slows me down. What did I do ? I hired a pro coach here at Ben Nevis, James Shirley. Boy can this 20 yr old ride. He had me pushing my limits and I repeated a few 'fly - off's ' a drop off above my ability . With his help I got it right and I'll be back for more to skill up. Hopefully in time I won't have to ride over the gnarly stuff but just know how to land properly on the other side of it.

You have to keep pushing the boundaries cause one day you will get 'MTB old' and stop testing those boundaries, nothing wrong with that but right now my learning curve is up - exponentially up - and I hope yours will be ! It is a mad rush and thrill - it's rewarding to beat the course, now it is just the clock !


At the start looking around absorbing the view up there I felt one with nature. The air is crisp and clean, birds roam the skies and the city rush is far off in the distance barely visible to the naked eye. The quite rush , the raw rock challenging me - just me vs. the mountain , it was peaceful and fulfilling. My soul was topped up again with earthly goodness.

Why I mountain bike by Aileen Anderson

Moab, Lake Garda, North Shore: famous mountain bike locations. They have developed a cult-like status amongst mountain bikers and if you have not taken your bike there yet, you should. I’ve ridden all of them and they deserve their reputation. Not just because of the awesome, custom built trails with “sweet flow” but for the experience of being in a place that attracts mountain bikers from around the world and I really like mountain bikers, in fact, I’m yet to meet a really bad one. In these places everything is catered to mountain bikers: restaurants, hotels, tourist offices: bike washes, pasta meals, glossy maps. You can arrive at a restaurant covered in mud and still be welcomed with a knowing smile. These places are the perfect mountain biking locations. But they are not why I mountain bike.

Somewhere in Wales

I’m not saying that you should not go and ride these places, you should. In fact, go and book a flight right now but they are not the reason why I love riding my bike. For me, mountain biking is about those unknown places that you find by chance and wonder why no one else is there. My most memorable rides have been cobbled together with a combination of topo maps, google earth and gut instinct. Yes, you often find yourself hike-a-biking over a pass, cursing the thorny bushes, or worse, riding tar, but sometimes you find a cattle track, an old gravel road, a hiking trail that ends up putting the most custom-built trail centre to shame. These trails won’t be marked “the spider” or “rock and roll” and you won’t find little tea houses selling scones or little red and yellow stickers showing you the way. But you also won’t have to negotiate your way around groups of road riders blocking the single track. Sometimes, you may come across a startled sheep or a terrified hiker but if you are lucky, you will get it all to yourself. Then, as you become more familiar with an area and start to see the topo map in terms or pieces of single track, you can spend hours stringing them together into perfect little circles. A few scouting trips are also important. Now days, whenever I go for a run, I spend most of the time scouting a new area for that little piece of track that may close the circle or checking if that tiny little dotted line on the map is rideable.

Forest outside Geneva, Switzerland

I’ve found these routes on the back end of Signal Hill in Cape Town, in the Jungles of Loas, in the Welsh country side, on the ocean cliffs of Kauai Island, on the fringes of urban Geneva, in the Monduli hills of Tanzania, and in the truly awesome mountains of the Pyrenees. I can’t tell you the names of the places because they don’t have names. They are just a collection of trails spontaneously thrown together over cups of coffee before a ride. I will also say that, like any art, one gets better with practice. So next time you think about going on a mountain biking holiday, drive past the trail centre, purchase a good topo map, lay it out in a place that sells a fine espresso and start planning an adventure.

Kauai Island, Hawaii