Scramble to get downhill freeride event on track

BUILDING an international standard-specced downhill freeride obstacle course takes some doing, and the team of builder-riders from across the world have been at it for the last two weeks on the Vuurberg Estate on Helshoogte Pass between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.

From earthmoving equipment to buckets and spades, it’s hard toil under the Cape Winelands sun, where temperatures reached 39ºC yesterday.

And, like most construction sites, it needs water.

“We know the Western Cape is in the grips of a devastating drought,” Ryan Franklin from Monster Energy, sponsors of the DarkFEST freeride event this weekend, said.

“We have to be sensitive to the fact that we need to be waterwise. This farm has its own dams and reservoirs, which is why it was considered to host this event. They recycle their own water here, so we’re not using any of the municipal supply.”

Under the African sun, the ground baked hard and dry. It’s so dry, in fact, that there appears to be no more sand left – in its place is a talcum-fine powder leaving its mark on the vegetation and exploding into clouds of dust at the lightest footfall.

Due to the conditions and fine silt-like dirt, the compacted ramps and bikeways carved into the Simonsberg mountainside can easily crumble under the impact of a freerider landing a 40m jump and slamming on the brakes.

For this reason, the entire track needs to be hosed down before practice rides and the event this weekend.

“They don’t even pump the water up,” Theo Erlangsen, the only South African freerider in the field, said.

“What they’ll do is pump the water from one of the reservoirs into a massive water tanker, and then they hook that up on a trailer to a 4X4 and then basically drive around the course spraying just a fine mist of water on the track.

“If you don’t do that the track will just disintegrate, but it’s amazing how little water you can get away with using.”

Some of the world’s best freeriders will ride alongside the 22-year-old BCom graduate from Stellenbosch on Saturday.

Tickets are on sale at Quicket and start from R150.

WE KNOW THE WESTERN CAPE IS IN THE GRIPS OF A DEVASTATING DROUGHT. WE HAVE TO BE SENSITIVE TO THE FACT WE NEED TO BE WATER-WISE