Power to the Whyte!

Presumably he locked out those forks!

LOTS OF TIRED RIDERS MUST HAVE TAKEN PART IN THAT RACE OR THE GUY IS SUPERHUMAN!!

It's clearly not about the bike!

All the same its a good story, shame on those roadies...!

Can't have been a particularly high-level race at 75km - the kind of distance set for junior women's championship races in SA. My guess is the race was a local chipper and that he was riding well below his category. Obviously a good ride, but let's not get too excited. Wonder if he could do it in a quality field over 195km.....

Zipp 808 deep-section carbon wheels must be really worth the cash then...

I thnk this is great! I ride both road and off-road and I klnow that I can keep up with some local roadies on my xc Specialized Epic, so it proves that it's not always the equipment.

I just want to say congrats to Luke for doing it. Rocking up at a race when guys are rolling in on carbon frames and deep dish wheels must of been off-putting, but then he chased the break-aways and was in the sprint to the line. Regardless of what class the other riders were, if you'r on your XC bike and racing guys on roadbikes, they're got a big advantage. But to win that race is rubbing salt in their wounds. Excellent Luke. Admirable!

Quality !

I'm a roadie, mainly, and this just makes me laugh. Well done Luke. I'dve loved to have seen their faces, especially when they heard the hum of the knobblies coming past them, ha ha ha.

If memory serves me, there was a Raleigh team rider back in the 90's who raced criteriums on a mountain bike fitted with drops?

Class.

but was his biggest ring a 44t ? if it was how d hell did he do that,when rodies run 52 ?

Fair fu@ks to him.

Luke I love you, i want to have your babies! ;)

Fat Fignon,

Wasn't that Barry Clarke?

this made me laff out loud lol,

this would be epic for the Tour de France

But what was he doing in Botswana????

Priceless !!

Am I cynical or is this the kind of publicity money can't buy?

It just seems a bit weird that he discovers a road race in Botswana and subsequently wins it on his WHYTE 19 mountain bike.

Just count the Whyte 19 name checks in that story as well.

Maybe I'm just jaded but I don't think it all adds up.

I love the story..........he must be one fit MTBer, I know of people who ride with rodies on MTBs too, but they are also roadies themselves and know over further distances or long spells at %90-100 capacity would see a rider on an mtb left behind, its a simple matter of physics, true if he was a lot fitter than the rest of the field its totally possible but with similar riders I would put money on the roadies wining hands down, still love the story though, the pro rider must have been some what embarrased by it all.

I would only have been impressed if he'd won on a six-inch travel all-mountain bike. Lovely as it is, Botswana isn't known for any kind of cycling pedigree... Nice story and proactive brand marketing though.

Ah hats off to the guy - i race on a cheap single speed over here in Aus and let me tell you - the aussies dont like being beaten on home turf by a 'pom' - let alone a gearless pom.

People are so shocked an suprised that you can actually do something on what people would deem un-race worthy when in reality its what the soft squishy bit on top does that really matters. I can associate with the feeling you get when you roll your 'lesser' machine down the car park to the startline with people murmuring to themselves - quite intimidating.

Articles and bike reviews will keep telling us that we need Zipps deep sections wheels, and that we must have the newest stiffest carbon bars and stems and that if we dont, we will implode in a race - but for the average bloke i think banging in the miles does quite considerably more to your riding performance than a bike component ever will.

Sure its always nice to have some pretty bike parts to polish and shine :P

Well done to luke - allez allez

What's the make of the bike?

That's nothing, I once won a school swimming race wearing only underpants!

Seriously though I'm suprised that he could do this with off road tyres on, well done. Half of me thinks that those other guys couldn't of been very good!

So to cruise at 20mph how many less watts should a road bike use than a MTB then? It bet it's closer than we are led to assume.

@ ian munro - not sure fi your question was directed at me - but its giant bowery.

hmmm, @ likewoah - with the upright riding position (therefore higher drag coefficient and a greater shape coefficient), the higher roller resistance, greater mass of the bicycle - i would presume it would all add up - though with not looking at sustained power efforts of mountain bikers on the road - i couldnt tell you! Maybe the race was a mountain decent? *shrug*

interesting one though

Brilliant, i love smoking roadies when i am out on my Marin.

Suspicious, you say? Maybe it's a case for Precious Ramotswe.....