Greg Minnaar turned 40 a few weeks ago. An age at which most other professional mountain bikers are long retired.
After UCI World Cup mountain biking, life should be about braaing and occasionally riding trail bikes. But not for Minnaar.
The best downhill mountain biker of all time is a testament to what talent and training discipline can do. Not to mention – mental fortitude.
Age is just a number
While others are fearful of jumps and steep rocky trails, Minnaar is fearless. And skilled.
He is beyond fit, too, as Minnaar regularly outlasts much younger rivals on the world’s most demanding mountain bike trails.
But how does the apex mountain biker, who has enjoyed such longevity, celebrate 40?
Going big - at 40
Being from Pietermartizburg, which serves as his global off-season recovery base, you’d expect Minnaar to have indulged in a fancy KZN Midlands dinner. But no.
Instagram reveals all and Minnaar's 40th involved bikes - obviously. It also proved that he is recovering strongly from the injury sustained at the final UCI World Cup event in Snowshoe, Virginia.
Backflips are one of the most challenging and dangerous things to do on a bike – especially if you are tall. Even if you are ramping into water.
Minnaar proved that despite being 1.88mm, he can still backflip with the best of them. Not bad going, at 40.
An alarming sign for his rivals that Minnaar will undoubtedly be there in 2022, into his third decade of professional downhill mountain biking.
