Riding with Christoph Sauser and Conrad Stoltz…
January 15th, 2009 by Conrad Stoltz
It was “Make a wish” for 16 year old mountain biker Justin Pictor from Stellenbosch South Africa. Fresh off a great 3rd in the under 17 race at South African Mountainbike Nationals last week, it was good to catch up with Justin again.
A year ago I rode with him and some friends. His ability and enthusiasm for mountain biking was fun to watch. I raised his saddle by a massive 3cm, helped with a technical, nutrition and racing tips. He trained really well, right through the holidays, and all around he has improved tremendously in just 1 year. Its fun to watch the kids improve in leaps and bounds, because once you get to the top level, (and has been there for a while) improvement is few and far between.
Christoph Sauser, (Susi) 3x Mountain bike World Champion, Justin Pictor & myself getting ready to ride fine Jonkershoek single track.
On our way to riding fine Jonkershoek single track…
Riding fine Jonkershoek single track…
But then, carving Masons trail- some fast, narrow single track, Susi’s rear wheel slid over the edge, but then caught again, high siding him and for the next 5 seconds I watched Susi skid along the trail on his backside. I grabbed big hand fulls of brake and stopped just in time. (Thanks to the 29ers big tire contact patches, of course!) Susi was ok, but his BEhind was less ok.
His seat post bracket had broken, and he quickly applied his engineering degree to affix the saddle with a tube. Justin watched wide eyed- I’m sure his mates will hear about this story at school!
Patent pending…
One Response to “Riding with Christoph Sauser and Conrad Stoltz…”
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January 15th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Hey Big C ….. great piece & what a day for Justin - not many people get to see the “Swiss Cookcoo Clock” loosing it!!!! ….. will have to get to Jonkers and check you out on Masons!!!!