Steve talks to Marcus Farley about how he got started in racing, his new colleagues in the Santa Cruz Syndicate and those elusive rainbow stripes.

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Sunday, May 10, 2008
Maribor, Slovenia

The first NISSAN UCI World Cup was met with much anticipation and excitement. Websites were buzzing all week with news from the event and journalists and television crews were all over the beautiful Pohorje Mountain situated on the outskirts of the city of Maribor in Slovenia. The outing for the Syndicate was successful and dismal all in the same day with Steve Peat and Greg Minnaar headlining the highlights as they finished 3rd and 5th respectively while Josh Bryceland suffered a massive get-off at the end of the rock garden while having a screamer of a run.

Here’s how the week went: Read the rest of this entry »

April 20, 2008
Monterey, California

Santa Cruz Syndicate (SRAM) racer Greg Minnaar headlines the downhill and dual slalom winning both gravity events at the Sea Otter Classic this weekend. Sharing the love with Greg on the downhill podium were teammates Steve Peat and Nathan Rennie placing 4th and 5th respectively, with Chris Kovarik 2nd and Justin Leov 3rd. Minnaar was on the top blocks in the dual slalom with Steve Peat 2nd, Andrew Neethling 3rd and Kirt Voreis 4th. Minnaar’s double wins this weekend show that he has made a seamless transition to the Syndicate squad and seems to be getting on quite well on his new Santa Cruz bikes.

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When Greg first invited me to come out to South Africa and do a 250K off road stage race with him I didn’t really think much about how to prepare.
It especially didn’t help when my bags didn’t turn up at the airport, I flew into Pietermaritzburg airport, Greg picked me up we called at his house then left for a 1 hr drive out to Underberg where the start of the race is. Greg arranged a bike for me to borrow for the first day, it was a huge rigid rear frame called the black taxi kindly donated to me by Sam Knox a local legend who made us drink lots of wine the night before the first big day. I also had to borrow Greg’s riding gear/Shoes/Helmet/socks; the only thing had of my own was a pair of Smith glasses.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Anyone wanting to do this event for next year (highly recommended) should keep an eye out on www.sani2c.co.za website as entries fill up fast.

All Pictures property of Gary Perkin (Flipper)

The starts of these races are so early cos the Sun gets too hot during the day so its nice to get finished early too. First day we Started at 6am and were finished at 9.30am. I didn’t expect us to go at such a pace right from the get go, But Greg had done the race before and he knew what we had to do. I was amazed at how good the trails were and more importantly how much effort the local people had put in to make wicked single-track sections, all in all I think there was around 22k of single track in day one. Me and Greg were ripping on the Downhill’s and picking people off fast, then we came around a corner and some roadie with no skills got in Greg’s way, he ended up missing a small bridge and landing on his head in a ditch with his bike on top of him. Once I realised he was ok I pulled over and laughed my (his) sock’s off.

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As today is the longest day we had to get up at 4am so we could get fuelled up before the 5 o clock start, we actually sat on the line waiting for it to be light enough to go. Greg and I had made it into A batch from day 1 so the start pace was fast, I hung with them all the way to the first little rd climb (2K if that) then went backwards, all I was thinking was why did we go to the bar and this is going to be a long day!!

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Feeling a lot fresher and not as hung over and also a later start time, everything was looking good for today’s shorter stage. After my appalling performance yesterday we had been demoted to batch B for the start, we soon hit the front and started making places up, at one point we must have made it up to half way through Batch A. There was a couple of big climbs where we lost places but soon made up for on the flats and Downhill’s, The highlight of the whole event was when a pack of Wild Zebra’s popped out in front of us on a fire road in the game reserve , we managed to follow them for a few hundred meters until they shot off in to the deep bush and flattened anything that was in there way. What an awesome experience!!

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The Santa Cruz Syndicate is excited to welcome Greg Minnaar onto the Syndicate for the next two downhill racing seasons! We expect the addition of Minnaar to raise the bar even higher for the Syndicate and are eager to get the new Santa Cruz V-10 underneath him. Having Steve Peat, Nathan Rennie, and Josh Bryceland work and train together with Minnaar should elevate the playing field to new levels in the downhill arena.

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Check out these babies, myself and Lizard Skins have been working together now for some years and they have decided to run a Peaty Cheers Grip designed by myself and Nick Bayliss from Royal. I am really happy with how they turned out as i think we have got the fatness of the grip spot on for the majority of riders, whether you have small girls hands or BFG paws, these grips will suit you all.

You can even go a little partriotic if you like and run the Red/White and Blues.

Santa Cruz Syndicate is excited to announce the addition of Josh Bryceland to their powerhouse gravity squad. Bryceland, the up and coming 17 year-old from Manchester, Great Britain, is the reigning UCI World Cup Junior Downhill Champion and British National Junior Downhill Champion. Steve Peat has been grooming him for a few years now, and this year Bryceland has proven that he has the talent to play with the big boys on the UCI World Cup circuit and has earned himself a position on the Syndicate.

“I’m so happy to join the Syndicate. Steve and Nathan are two riders I have looked up to for a long time and to now be on the Syndicate with them, it’s a dream come true! My goals for ’08 are to consistently place top 15 at World Cups, keep hold of the yellow jersey, and to podium at World Champs,” says an excited Bryceland.

Steve Peat is pleased to have his protégé onboard and says, “I have been helping Josh out for a long time now and I like what I see. He has the drive to be the best and I think he fits the Syndicate mentality well. He is already an amazing rider at a young age and I think he will flourish riding along side Rennie and myself. Welcome aboard Josh!”
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