My friends from Stellenbosch organized a 4 day river rafting trip over New Years. We paddled South Africa’s biggest river- the (not so) mighty Orange. It runs through the driest part of South Africa and made for a truely memorable experience. Pine runs African Rafting and is a friend of a friend, so all 20 of us knew each other. Read on …

“It was a dark and stormy night…”

No, just kidding!

“It was a bright and sparkly morning… Six of us - all friends and family- got together for a little informal XTERRA training camp on our farm near Lydenburg, Mpumalanga. Uh, thats South Africa.

These guys are all relative newbies to sport. Sorry Gustav- rugby (even provincial rugby) is still a “game”:) Over the past few months while I was in the US I have been peppered with training questions, equipment questions, diet questions, I instructed on converting tires to tubeless and I even ferreted some Suunto t6 watches out from the US. These guys had a thirst for knowledge even the Encyclopedia Britannica couldnt quench. So once I landed on the farm they were onto me, and we had this fun impromptu training camp. It went so well, we’ll have some more in the future. (MTB camp end of Feb 09) Check www.StoltzRacing.com shortly

L to R: Gert Stoltz (aka Tarzan)- also my dad. Werner van der Merwe,  Johan Pieterse, me (aka Caveman), Shelly van der Nest, Gustav Klingbiel.

I did quick bike fits, suspension tune ups, lectured on tires (a dangerous topic!) and helped one person put their Read on …

I just got back on the farm after riding 3 of the 4 days of Sabie Experience. Sabie is only 80km from our farm and when my good friend (and Specialized Factory team damager) Bobby Behan said we were invited to ride, we couldnt say no. Despite still being in the midst of “ice cream and beer season”.

Turns out were were guests of Ian van der Walt and his newly formed DCM racing team. What a fun group of characters. After 3 days of hanging with these guys my voice box hurt more than my legs. Not they they are slow - its just that the amount and intensity of chatting, cajoling and prank playing was significant.

Read on …