Letting the riding do the talking is what its all about with Tiaan. He is the real deal, just read his list of wins from 2009…

Photos from round one of the nationals courtesy of Morne Odendaal

NSRMTB: You are a pretty big guy for your age. How old are you and what class are you racing in this year?

Tiaan: I am 15, turning 16 in November, this is my second season in Youth Men (15 -16) I was 14 last season but they take age as at 31 December.

NSRMTB: I notice you think a little more about lines than most riders. What is your approach to finding the ones that work best for you?

Tiaan: I need to look at all the options and try find the smoothest, fastest easy line there is.  It is not always the shortest line as sometimes that line is not the fastest.

NSRMTB: At the one prize giving I saw you walk away with quite a few trophies. What exactly did you win in 2009?

Tiaan: At Provincial level I won the Youth Men 1st in the Greg Minnaar Racing, Mongoose, Cup Series as well as the most Improved Rider 2009 Cup. For the MTN SA MTB Downhill National Cup Series I won the 1st Youth Men Trophy. I also won the Youth Men Championship title and got a SA MTB DH Jersey. In July we had the African Continental Championships at Mankele in Nelspruit where I also got 1st Youth Men Category. I was very happy to end the season as 1 of the top 20 in the SA Nationals. My mom said that Grevile from Great Time that does the timekeeping and have the stats said that I was only the 5th actual 14 year old, at race time, to reach the top 20 in the last 12 years, Greg Minnaar, Jonty Neethling and Burry Stander were some of the others.

NSRMTB: This question you can give any shout outs to sponsors or folks that help you out:

Tiaan: I would mostly like to thank my mom who takes me to races and always helps where ever she can. Then a very big thanks to Mr. Jeff Minnaar from Greg Minnaar Racing for the assistance with my bike, good advice and the maintenance sponsorship, from Greg Minnaar Racing Shop.

NSRMTB: Do you think its all about the bike or all about the rider?

Tiaan: I think it’s about both because you need a bike that can handle well and the rider is just as important, as the one without the other is nothing.

NSRMTB: Would you rather watch a full length MTB DVD or a web clip?

Tiaan: I would rather watch a full length MTB DVD.

Tags: tiaan odendaal

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 10:42 am and is filed under Interviews, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.