THE ED waxes lyrical

LOCKDOWN, COVID-19 & SILVER LININGS!

I’m sitting here completely shell-shocked by what we are currently living through. I’ve usurped my wife’s home office and just had a WhatsApp/Skype, or whatever other app we could connect on, meeting with my colleagues and eerily my favourite band Kings of Leon are singing The End while I’m writing! (please insert your favourite shitshow expletive in here ___!)

The world is upside down and the country is in the midst of a “lockdown”. This not only has meant our industry has ground to a halt but also after decades of encouraging and getting our society to embrace exercise we find ourselves completely curtailed.

Of course we can’t ride our bikes and to a lot of us that’s been a huge challenge – Zwift has become the new coffee ride, trainers of all types have been dusted off – with some people finding ingenious ways to exercise – I know a good friend who is a brilliant carpenter and he has made a set of rollers out of wood in his garage (see story (link) ) – what we will do to keep fit hey! We are also in new territory because, as things stand, no-one can go into stores to collect the newspaper or take part in events. As a result we have been pushed over the digital precipice and this is our very first digital e-magazine – mind you not a pdf digital copy – we have always been on Issuu and will remain, check out the archive on our website (insert link) – as you can see this is a fully interactive, bespoke designed digital magazine for all platforms. We believe it is the first of its kind in South Africa! I really hope you enjoy it and will support it as we enter this new digital phase.

For the record, we haven’t dismissed the newspaper entirely, we will make a final decision as to whether we will go back into print once things have reached a vestige of normality again. That said, Full Sus continues to need the support of the much beleaguered cycling and aligned industries, destinations, supplements and events. It is a tough time to even consider marketing but, much like

THE TEAM

our decision to go onto this digital platform (which is a dollar-based software), it is going to take brave marketing to foster and re-affirm your relationship with your customer base - in what is going to be a very different economic landscape. So, as much as we are asking our readers to support the local bike shops and retailers, we as a leading voice of #mtb need advertisers’ and marketers’ support to ensure we maintain a strong, loyal and credible medium going forward.

We definitely still welcome stories, features and comments from all of you. We are constantly looking for news – local news and not just the press releases that are shotgunned to all and sundry – news and stories that we as Full Sus #mtbers and readers can relate to and enjoy.

I for one can’t wait to get back onto the trails, onto the amazing dirt roads and tracks that criss-cross our wonderful country. I can’t wait to warmly hug or vigorously shake hands with my mates and fellow riders! To enjoy an ice cold Corona when it once again only refers the brewski! To smell the fynbos, forests and dust as we carve our way through the amazing trails our much underappreciated trial builders have lovingly carved out of the earth’s crust for us.

I can’t wait to see you o n t h e trails!

The Swartberg 100 Gran Fondo considered SA’s premier gravel bike event. Photo by: Peter Kirk.

FEATURES

02 COVER FEATURE: The fallout. Seamus Allardice looks at how Covid-19 LD is effecting the #MTB landscape. 11 THE ED waxes lyrical

NEWS: The local #MTB skinny A DECADE of MTB EVOLUTION. How things have changed. Who remembers bar ends? KING of the KOM. Brett Fourie never loses! FUNCTIONAL ART: Rudy Zuidema makes beautiful wooden indoor rollers. SUS THE BIKE: Robin Moore tests and reviews the new TREK Supercaliber.

33 HELMETS: Shayne Dowling looks at how the helmet has evolved through the years. 37 TULBAGH BONE TRAIL: Not for sissies, regular trail guru Jacques Marais tackles the Schalkenbosch Trails.

REGULARS

41 GEAR 42 NEW! F-STOP: Professional and amateur photographers show their work and give some insight into how they got the shot! 44 STEF GARLICKI : Even Gravity can change. 46 BEN CAPOSTAGNO: Modern tools of coaching. 49 EVENT CALENDAR: There have been major changes – support our local events!