Cape Town’s Matt Beers, who won the Brewery to Brewery mountain bike race on Sunday, will now target the national cross-country championships and sani2c. Photo: Martyn Mulder
Matt Beers seized the opportunity to get in a lengthy ride by participating and winning the Brewery to Brewery mountain bike race in the Western Cape on Sunday.
The 26-year-old from Cape Town said it was the perfect antidote after the disruption of the Covid-19 lockdown as he prepared for the national cross-country championships on November 7 and sani2c from December 3 to 5.
“There was a great vibe and it was a really good route through the district roads and farm tracks,” he said of the 85km race from Greyton in the Overberg to Hermanus.
“It was a chance to get in a longish mountain bike ride as I prepare for the national champs and sani2c, which are the last big races of the year for me.”
The NanoTime pro finished in a time of 2:48:00, ahead of Lourens Luus and Nico Davel.
Once he has completed this year’s commitments, Beers said his attention would switch to the big stage races in 2021, with specific emphasis on the Cape Epic.
“Hopefully next year will go according to plan and the Cape Epic and the African jersey is a massive goal,” he said.
“I will also be targeting the national marathon championships, which weren’t held this year.”
Beers, who spent time in road racing with UAE Emirates last year, said his focus remained on mountain biking and he was pleased to be back after the shutdown.
“Of course, like everyone else, I found it quite a difficult period,” he said.
“I spent a lot of time on the indoor trainer, trying to stick to a routine, and I set myself goals of what races I wanted to peak for.
“But that was also tricky because you didn’t really have any specific dates to work on. Hopefully that is behind us and we can now get back to regular racing.”
