Fearless brothers take on mountain biking world

Barreling down a dirt road and jumping over boulders might not seem fun for everyone but for the fearless Kanis brothers this is what they were born to do.

Joshua Kanis (16) and his brother Michael (13) have been cycling since they could walk but during the lockdown, they decided to build themselves an off-road cycling track, complete with jumps, in their backyard.

Not only did the brothers enjoy it but they had a natural talent to manoeuvre through difficult tracks. Their mother decided to enter them into their first off-road cycling race and after finishing in first in second place in their respective age groups, they have not stopped.

Joshua explained that they take part in enduro races, a type of mountain bike race where the downhills are timed, and the uphills are mandatory but not timed, which consist of many technical features like rock gardens as well as Cross-country Olympics (XCO) which mainly consists of an off-road circuit.

On June 24, the brothers competed in the third South African XCO Cup and Joshua finished third in his youth age group while Michael bagged second place in the sub-junior group. On June 16 they competed at the Thaba Trails in the Gauteng Championships where both brothers won their respective age groups. On July 2 they also competed in the Cross Country Marathon as part of the trail seeker mountain bike series at Sandela.

This year they also plan on competing in the SA Enduro Cup where they have to do six downhill lines and the fastest riders win.

They explained that part of preparing for a race like this is riding the trail beforehand. While Joshua has training four to five times a week, Michael just enjoys getting on the bike. Joshua plans on going to Italy to compete in 2024 and said he would love to be selected for the world championship next year. Michael said that when he becomes a junior rider he also wants to follow in his brother’s footsteps and be selected for the world champs. Both of them want to go pro one day.

Joshua’s favourite thing about this sport is training every day, getting outside, living healthy and travelling. He enjoys the race day atmosphere the most while Michael loves being on a bike and getting to know new people.

To become a good rider Joshua suggested one eats healthy and work on any technical skills not to mention training regularly and keeping your bike clean.

“A clean bike is a fast bike,” he said.

He added that starting you don’t need a new bike but suggested borrowing one and seeing if you like the sport and what disciplines appeal to you. His favourite rider is Nino Schurter, a Swiss cross-country rider and 10-time world champ while Michael takes his lead from Greg Minnaar, a South African world champion mountain bike racer competing in downhill cycling.