Raymond Travers of the West Rand hopes to secure his fifth event medal when the 17th annual FNB Magalies Monster MTB Classic gets underway at ATKV Buffelspoort on Saturday, 1 June.

“I am counting down the days to yet another experience. I will make sure that I am ready to #ConquerTheMonster.”

“The Monster, as it’s referred to by most mountain bikers, is characterised by tough hills, relatively technical single tracks and an all-round awesome experience in the race village at ATKV Buffelspoort,” the self-proclaimed addict said.

“In the beginning I was relatively nervous about the race, but I have accepted that the Monster bites and that ‘conquering the Monster’ is a challenge. I have competed for four consecutive years (2015 to 2018). My goal every year is to ‘properly’ conquer the Monster. By this I mean no ‘bike-hiking’.

“The race village at ATKV Buffelspoort is fantastic. There is everything from coffee to bike maintenance and the race itself is so well marked and marshalled that it’s almost impossible to get lost.”

He added he would recommend the FNB Magalies Monster MTB Classic to other mountain bikers.

“It is tough and you definitely need what I call the ‘Big 3’ of mountain biking, – fitness (endurance) to ride the distance, skill to handle the technical single track sections and strength to actually get yourself and your bike to the top of the hills. My advice is to put in the training. If you think you’ve trained enough, you probably haven’t, so train some more.

“Be sure to add technical, rocky climbs to your training regime. Remember that bike skills are just as important so brush up on them. I have lots of special FNB Magalies Monster MTB Classic memories.”