Travis Walker, one of the country’s most promising mountain bikers, has decided to put his pro ambitions on hold for a new career in yachting.
After a brief stint overseas, Walker returned to South Africa at the end of last year and immediately grabbed the headlines when he won the seven-day TransCape mountain bike race alongside Ellsworth-ASG teammate Pieter Seyffert.
Mountain biker Travis Walker has decided to put his cycling career on hold for a future in yachting. Photo: Andrew Mc Fadden
The 25-year-old KwaZulu-Natal native said he decided to take a break from the sport after the joBerg2c in late April with the view of qualifying himself towards a career as a yachting deckhand.
“I’m busy doing divemaster and instructor courses, which will finish up around February. My goal for 2018 is to work on one of those super yachts as a deckhand or a deckhand instructor.
“I then aim to go up to the Mafia Islands to get some working experience at my mother’s boyfriend’s dive charter, before I make any further decisions.
“The course I’m currently doing will set me up quite well to get me quickly promoted to higher positions on the boat. I have ambitions to be a boat captain about 10 years down the line.”
Although he doubted that he would race professionally again, Walker said he would still like to continue riding to maintain his fitness.
“I definitely still want to stay in shape and come to some of the local rides, taking part with friends and keeping that social aspect of racing going.
“You could still end up in the top three of a local race if you’re relatively fit, but I wouldn’t want to get into anything more serious now.”
Walker, who was born in Merrivale but now lives in Pietermaritzburg, said his cycling highlight was finishing second in the 3Epic marathon race in the Italian Dolomites two years ago.
In a race that included 3 400m of vertical ascent, Walker finished just behind former Cape Epic champion Czech Kristian Hynek.
He said it was an amazing experience to race alongside and beat internationally renowned riders such as Hynek, Tony Longo (Italy), Roel Paulissen (Belgium) and Alban Lakata (Austria).
“It was especially special to get one over Alban, who had just won the world champs the weekend before,” he said.
Racing overseas did however come with its challenges.
“It was difficult being away from family and friends. When I went there last year, I was alone 90 per cent of the time.
“It got really difficult to cope, so then I decided to come back to South Africa, which is when I joined ASG and rode a couple of races for them.”
Walker, who placed 10th in the 2015 Cape Epic alongside Rourke Croeser, said it was possibly the most challenging race in his homeland.
“I will never regret the challenging times though; cycling has taught me many life lessons, showed me many experiences and taught me much discipline throughout.”
