Written By Elzette
We speak to race car driver, Gugu Zulu on being the "Fastest Brother in Africa" and we take an in-depth look at the Suunto Ambit 2 HR sports watch in our review.
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Written By Elzette
Throughout the filming of ActionGear.TV we’ve had the privilege of meeting truly inspirational athletes and one of them is triathlon athlete, Pieter du Preez.
Pieter, who represented South Africa at under 23 level in triathlons, was knocked down by a car 10 years ago while on a training ride and his life has never been the same. Since then he’s been a C6 quadriplegic, which means he can only move his head, shoulders and arms.
But this man, who’s wanted to be a professional triathlon athlete from a young age, has not let it get him down. He completed the full Iron Man of 226km in 13 hours and 24 minutes on 8 December in Busselton, West Australia, almost four hours below the strict cut-off time.
What makes his achievement even more remarkable is the fact that Pieter broke his left arm in three places six weeks before Ironman. The fact that the doctors told him to take it easy with his injury just motivated him to push forward and compete without.
Pieter had to train 5 hours every day, 7 days a week to prepare for the race whilst also retaining his job as an actuarial analyst at Deloittes where he’s also affectionately known as Supa Piet.
Pieter talks to us in studio about what keeps him motivated and his way of living which he so greatly embraces!
Follow Pieter on Twitter @SupaPiet
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Written By Elzette
We speak to Ryno Griesel about the inspirational journey towards breaking a record AGAIN with the Drakensberg Grand Traverse and we take an in-depth look at the Salomon Skin Slab 12 Set in our product review.
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Written By Elzette
Before I could barely swallow my last sip of take away coffee for the morning - I was standing in a FMX Freestyle legend’s backyard. His backyard is pretty impressive by the way and kitted out with ramps, berms and a surprisingly comfortable looking foam pit which I just wanted to jump into as soon as I saw it! For those of you who do not know – Nick de Wit is part of the Red Bull XFighters, GoPro athlete and:
Impressed yet? Well, we got to see him in action as he took his bike to the skies with teeth clenching tricks and flips. The first thing that came to my mind was – “crap, this guy’s poor mother”. But he landed his flips perfectly and we did manage to help him strap a GoPro to his helmet and bike tail before he took flight. Here are a few stuff we chatted to Nick about:
In September 2013 Nick de Wit executed a stunt that hasn’t been done in Africa before, alongside Aerial Acrobat, Glen Del. It was named the Red Bull OVER UNDER Project and involved Glen flying his Extra 300 aerobatics aircraft low enough for Nick to ramp his bike over it. Sadly - a month later, Glen died after a crash at the Secunda airshow. But they have achieved a phenomenal feat, which took two years to plan before executing perfectly. This video will give you chills!
Nick also featured on Carte Blanche when doing a backflip over Derek Watt’s head!
Elzette: I think we can all agree that what you do is pretty dangerous. We’d just like to know ONE thing – how many bones have you broken in comparison with GoPro cameras?
Nick: Laughs. GoPro is a very sturdy camera, I have definitely broken more bones than I have cameras. With the camera I can just dust it off when it falls and carry on – not so much with my body. That’s also why it’s so important to train (which some don’t always understand). You have to train your body to not only be fit but also to be able to take the punches.
Elzette: So, what you are saying is that you’ve taken a few falls in your life?
Nick: THAT’s why I wear a lot of protective clothing and pads when I ride but the most important ones are my CTI knee braces and my fox boots , pants, shirt and RedBull helmet. I never get on a bike without all my gear on.
Elzette: What do you like doing when you’re not hitting the ramps and giving your mother a heart attack?
Nick: I actually love mountain biking and I keep those two wheels firmly grounded – no tricks, just riding! I also enjoy hiking and anything outdoors! The other day we did the Wings for life World Run where A total of 35 397 runners in 32 countries started at precisely the same time, racing ahead of a catcher car instead of towards a finish line. We had so much fun!
Elzette: You're pretty successful, where to from here? I’d like to see a back-belly flip from a submarine please…
Nick: Almost chokes. Yea I have accomplished a lot of my dreams and goals in this sport but that's the beauty of it. The sky is the limit and I am working on a lot of stuff. Not only tricks but projects and events that will grow and motivate people in the sport. For the submarine trick – why not – I’ll give anything a try! Laughs
Because we were so inspired by him, we thought you might follow suit, so we threw together a Nick de Wit bundle of which you will receive a FREE signed hat from Nick. Remember – the sky is the limit!
