![](\"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Greg-Minnaar-C.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>\nCan you explain what downhill mountain biking is?<\/h4>\n
Downhill mountain biking is a time trial \u2013 one rider at a time starts at the top of the mountain, negotiating rocks, routes and corners down to the bottom. The fastest time wins.<\/p>\n
How did you get into the sport?<\/h4>\n
I got into the sport when my parents bought a bike shop in Pietermaritzburg. I was racing Motocross at the time. My sister took to mountain biking and I used to watch the events. I hate watching sports, I\u2019d rather compete. I kind of enjoyed it and made the switch in my mid teens.<\/p>\n
At what point does a sport like this become a full-time career? Was this always the path for you?<\/h4>\n
I think once I joined Honda in 2004 things became quite serious. I won the World Cup in 2001 and I was having a good time, but when I had a bad season in 2002, I realised that I would need to put a lot more effort into training and into working on my weaknesses, so it was actually in 2003 that it started to become like a full time career. It\u2019s really become more of a career than it was because of social media.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had quite a few injuries \u2013 shoulders, legs and knees \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t really phase or scare me and it doesn\u2019t turn me away. I grew up racing Motocross, where you have massive crashes and you\u2019ve got to get up, keep going and do the obstacle or whatever it was that caused the crash, again.<\/p>\n I think growing up with that has helped me to deal with the injuries \u2013 the hardest thing about injury is coming back from it. I see rehabbing properly and getting full movement and range regardless of the injury, as a challenge.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve had a lot of big crashes but the most recent one happened when I was in testing in Val de Sol, Italy after the World Champs. The track was really blown out and rough and we were getting pretty tired towards the end of testing. Mid way around the course I came into a rock section which had a right-hand turn. I was coming in pretty hot and as I took the corner on the right hander I kind of hit a rock quite square.<\/p>\n My hands slipped off and I ended up riding the handlebars. I managed to avoid hitting a tree with my shoulder but hit a tree with my hip and while I was slumped over the bars I spun out and had this massive crash. I laughed as I got up with absolutely no injury \u2013I couldn\u2019t believe it, as I should\u2019ve walked away with something.<\/p>\n Greg Albertein \u2013 the South African Motocross rider \u2013 I used to love watching him and following his racing.<\/p>\n Mountain biking in South Africa is really based around marathon and it\u2019s more about how far or how long you ride, as opposed to what you\u2019ve ridden. I find riding abroad is more about the quality of the ride and how good the trail is and not necessarily about how many miles you\u2019ve clocked up, so it\u2019s a very different experience.<\/p>\n My Fort William this year was super tough. It started to rain, so I had to think of where on track I\u2019d be able to pull a tear (the clear film over my goggles) off. So, I was trying to plan the run in and to understand and figure out a safe place, not knowing what the trail would be like in the rain and not knowing how bad my vision was going to be.<\/p>\n I was planning to pull a tear off just before I got into in the rockier section. During the race run, I decided to push onto the next position because I was going to lose about a second at least pulling the tear off. My next area to take a tear off was before I went into the woods, which is a super tricky, and I wanted clear vision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The section was a little rougher than I thought but I think it made me push super hard down to the bottom to regain the time I had lost. It was a really tough race for me, trying to catch up the time that I had lost pulling a tear off and riding the top with not super good vision.<\/p>\n My usual pre season training day starts quite early. I meet up with a group of mates at 5 am, go for a 7-8 kilometre run and then have a coffee and a laugh afterwards. I then head home for breakfast and normally get out on the cross country or road bike at about 07h30 and ride for two to three hours. I gym in the afternoon three times a week and I ride Motocross once a week, so it\u2019s a busy schedule.<\/p>\n There is a lot of discipline and determination involved. I would say more determination on my side \u2013 I enjoy a good time, so my determination suits the discipline I have. When you are determined and you want to reach your goals or succeed at something, you are going to be naturally disciplined and will put all your attention into what it takes to get there.<\/p>\n In my opinion, I\u2019m not the most talented rider ability wise on the circuit and because of this, I pay a lot more attention to the technical stuff and try to ride it faster than the other guys \u2013 I find it more challenging.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I challenge myself to hang with the guys where it is more technical or where the track is not supposed to suit me \u2013 that\u2019s just the way I am. I\u2019m not a very positive person but I find that not being so positive makes me put more into my racing training and everything else.<\/p>\n Actor to play you in a biopic?<\/strong> Harrison Ford. gregminnaar.com<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n For more delicious recipe inspiration\u00a0subscribe to the Findus newsletter<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em> If you think careening down the side of a mountain at breakneck speed sounds like a manic thing to do, you\u2019re not alone. But, for Greg Minnaar, it\u2019s a way of life and it\u2019s the sport that he loves and excels at. Greg is a professional downhill mountain biker and races for the Santa Cruz Syndicate; his list of achievements is staggering, having won gold, silver and bronze medals at World Champs for the past fifteen years. He\u2019s achieved to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4582,4098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brand-page","category-general"],"acf":[],"brand_slug":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Greg](\"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Greg-Minnaar-E.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt seems like a sport in which the participants would be very injury prone with lots of opportunities to fall; does this ever scare you, or is it part of the adrenaline?<\/h4>\n
Speaking of falling, can you tell us about your gnarliest bail?<\/h4>\n
Who was your sporting hero when growing up?<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nHow does the downhill mountain biking experience differ in SA to those in Europe and North America?<\/h4>\n
You finished the last Fort William World Cup in a time of 4,40 minutes. Can you explain to us what goes through your head during a race like this?<\/h4>\n
Can you give us a bit of insight into training for an event like this; what your regime is, how you prepare mentally etc?<\/h4>\n
Being a professional sportsperson means that you have a lot of discipline and determination. What would your advice be to someone who is less sporty but wants to be more active?<\/h4>\n
Quickfire Questions<\/h4>\n
\nFavourite way to relax?<\/strong> Surfing.
\nGuilty food pleasure?<\/strong> Burgers.
\nLast book you read?<\/strong> I don\u2019t read.
\nMountain bike trail still on your bucket list?<\/strong> There isn\u2019t one really.<\/p>\n
\n<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"