Jeremiah (middle) and Matthys (left of Jeremiah) enjoy the GC podium

Jeremiah Bishop and Matthys Beukes join this episode of Mountain Bike Radio to discuss both of their successful weeks at the Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic. After having his "back against the ropes" earlier in the week, Jeremiah used his experience, fitness, and strong riding skills to take control of the overall and top the leaderboard by the end of the week. Matthys rode strong all week to move into the 2nd overall spot.

Jeremiah is one of the most accomplished American mountain bikers in the history of the sport. His well-rounded skillset allows him to excel at many disciplines, including stage races, 100-milers (recently won the Cohutta 100), World Cup, and everything in between.

Matthys is a younger rider who visits the US this summer from South Africa. He brings with him an impressive resume , including a 2nd overall place at the 2011 Cape Pioneer Trek Stage Race. Matthys is an aggressive rider who loves to go out and ride hard and fast daily.

Matthys has built a definite mountain biking destination in South Africa.

Here is a description off of the website - (www.MTBDestination.com):

"In 2004 at the age of 16 my parents and I moved to the farm near Oudtshoorn where I started building trails in between riding and school.
During 2005 I started racing seriously and was selected for the SA MTB Team for World Champs so I thought I should build more trails to train on.

As time went by more and more trails came to life, my experience in building grew and the trails just got better and better until eventually I fell in love with building.

Trail work in the Klein Karoo is hard, very hard and 5 years later I had about 20km trail. Building is a never- ending search for new places and ideas, progress is slow but it shows the love and passion for the greatest sport in the world.

During these years friends and even some of SA’s top team came around for some riding and in 2009 the dream of MTBdestination.com came to me.
Between training and racing, building a bike park, accommodation and more facilities there has been lots of up and downs emotionally but now I can share this beautiful area and dream with fellow riders."

Related show links:

Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic - www.tsepic.com

Matthys' website - www.beukesmountainbiking.com

Matthys' twitter - www.twitter.com/matthysbeukes

Matthys' facebook - www.facebook.com/matthys.beukes

Matthys' Mountain Bike Heaven! - www.mtbdestination.com

Cape Pioneer Trek - www.capepioneer.co.za/

Jeremiah's website - www.jeremiahbishop.com

Jeremiah's twitter - www.twitter.com/jeremiahbishop

Alpine Loop Gran Fondo - www.alpineloopgranfondo.com

Cannondale - www.cannondale.com

Tour de Burg - www.svbcoalition.org/events/tdb/