Active Hobo

In 2023, Shanae Williams qualified for the Olympic pathway with a silver at the African Games. Then she got sick. Pushed through. Her heart gave in. Doctors pulled her out of training for six months — and she spent that time asking herself whether she wanted to do any of this ever again.She's now the 2025 Africa Elite Women's Triathlon Champion over Olympic distance, the 2025 Africa Sprint Champion, a four-time SA Sprint National Champion, and a Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games representative for South Africa. Not bad for someone who started out as a water polo player and synchronised swimmer, and whose first proper triathlon involved renting a bike, riding ten minutes the day before, and racing with basic cage pedals because she'd never ridden a road bike in her life.In this episode of The Active Hobo Podcast: Femme Series, Shanae sits down to talk about the unlikely path from a Cape Town school pool to the World Triathlon Championship Series, why the hardest six months of her life ended up being the most clarifying, what it takes to chase an Olympic dream from a country that barely publicises the sport she competes in, and why she's spending the next two years pointing everything at Los Angeles 2028.🔗 Scicon Sports SA — Premium eyewear and luggage for cyclists who take their kit seriously. https://theactivehobo.short.gy/sciconsports-discount👍 Like, Subscribe0:00 ★ Meet Shanae: Africa's Elite Women's Triathlon Champion2:07 ★ From water polo and synchronised swimming to the Cape Town waterfront3:04 ★ Renting a bike the day before her first World Series schools challenge9:21 ★ The decision to go all-in after high school11:23 ★ Why the swim is the hardest part — and why it made her career14:37 ★ How World Triathlon actually works (and why it isn't Ironman)20:20 ★ Commonwealth Games Birmingham 202225:00 ★ The sport nobody in South Africa is allowed to see28:20 ★ Transitions, mounting at speed, and the cost of a pinky toe over the line29:45 ★ African Games silver, food poisoning, and the Olympic qualifier that got away30:54 ★ Six months off the bike: the heart virus that almost ended it33:34 ★ Why she didn't quit — and what 2028 looks like34:21 ★ Moving home: why happy athletes are faster athletes41:54 ★ Shoes, sponsors and the art of rotating gear51:00 ★ Falling in love with Cape Town cycling culture

Wout van Aert won his first Paris-Roubaix — and we watched it unfold on a big screen at the start of a gravel stage race in the middle of the Klein Karoo. That tells you everything about this episode.This is The Breakaway's Garden Route Giro special edition. Recorded live from the stage 2 finish line at the inaugural GRG, with riders, locals, and dogs walking through shot. We break down how Van Aert outsprinted Pogačar in the Roubaix velodrome, why UAE's tactics fell short, what Van der Poel's double puncture on the Arenberg and his pedal drama with Jasper Stuyven cost him, and what it means that the most dominant rider in the world just got beaten. Then we turn to the women's race — Franziska Koch's breakthrough win and Visma-Lease a Bike landing two riders on the podium — and ask whether it's time women's Classics got their own dedicated broadcast window.But the heart of this episode is what's happening right here on the ground. Dave is two days into his first ever stage race. Oakdale High School turned out to welcome riders with songs and pride. Douglas Ryder, Kent Main, and some of the biggest names in South African cycling are all here — on gravel, in small towns, sharing beers at railway station bars. This is what community looks like when you build the right format for it. And we think gravel stage racing might just be the future of our sport.🔗 Scicon Sports SA — Premium eyewear and luggage for cyclists who take their kit seriously. https://theactivehobo.short.gy/sciconsports-discount👍 Like, Subscribe0:00 — Live from the Garden Route Giro finish line★ 0:57 — Paris-Roubaix 2026★ 09:13 — Paris-Roubaix Ladies ★ 13:20 — Upcoming Road Races★ 15:26 — Garden Route Giro★ 25:30 — What's next for Cam (Q36.5)

In this episode of The Active Hobo Podcast, Maddy talks about training out of Ballito, the day her chain came off at SA Road Champs and she still won, what it's like lining up against 66 girls on a European start line, and why she's skipping university to chase a UCI World Cup dream.At her first SA Championships, Madison Bateson didn't know it was the SA Champs. She thought it was a regular KZN race, showed up at Cascades, saw girls in provincial kit she didn't recognise, and only clicked that morning. She won it anyway. She was in the Sprog category — the youngest competitive age group in South African mountain biking.0:00 ★ Meet Maddy: 16 years old, 2026 SA Junior Champion3:00 ★ The school that bends for bike training4:35 ★ Getting more girls on the start line: the school series effect10:00 ★ Training alongside Tyler Jacobs and chasing the World Cup14:43 ★ Her chain came off at SA Road Champs. She still won.25:59 ★ Holla Trails, Ballito, and the sprint they call "World Champs"41:22 ★ How she ended up riding Tyler Jacobs' old bike47:09 ★ 66 girls on a European start line52:21 ★ Life after school: going overseas, no plan B

She was a law student at Rhodes University when she drew some cartoons to win a bicycle. That bicycle changed everything.Tegan Phillips is an adventurer, ultra-endurance cyclist, comic artist, and content creator who has spent the last decade doing the things most people only talk about — cycling through Africa with her family, completing a solo triathlon around New Zealand's South Island, and attempting to set the women's world record for the fastest ride from Cairo to Cape Town. That record attempt nearly killed her. In this conversation, Tegan shares the raw, unfiltered story of what happened in the Egyptian desert — losing her speech, having a seizure, and the moment she had to decide whether to call her parents to say goodbye or fight to stay alive. She also opens up about the quiet years that followed: waitressing, living with her 94-year-old great aunt in a tiny apartment, and rebuilding from nothing. Now based in Spain near Ashleigh Moolman Pasio's Rocacorba Cycling, Tegan reflects on what it means to respect risk, why comics and content creation come from the same creative impulse, and why the conversation around women in cycling needs men to do more than just not exclude.This is a story about doing hard things, falling apart, and finding a reason to keep going.🎒 Follow Tegan: @teganphillipscomics🛒 Get 15% off premium cycling luggage & eyewear at Scicon Sports SA → https://theactivehobo.short.gy/sciconsports-discount00:00:00 — "My Favourite Person in the World"00:04:03 — A Spinning Assistant Discovers Cycling00:06:38 — 1,400km to the Namibian Border and Back00:09:00 — The Year That Changed Everything (Family Africa Trip)00:13:29 — The Sedgefield 500 and Falling in Love with Ultra Endurance00:16:52 — 10 Ironmans Around New Zealand's South Island00:22:48 — Writing the Book About All of It00:29:18 — "I Think I'm Going to Die" (The Cairo to Cape Town Attempt)00:37:01 — Rebuilding in Spain: Rocacorba and a New Chapter00:43:38 — Tempering Steel: The Lesson That Stays00:46:39 — From Comics to Content Creation00:48:17 — Turning Sexist Comments into Comedy Gold00:51:42 — Women in Cycling: Why It's Not a Women's Issue00:59:14 — Exclusion Isn't a Rule — It's Invisible Barriers

This episode opens in a place none of us wanted to go. Another cyclist lost on South African roads. Dave, Cam and Sarah speak honestly about what that means as riders, as parents, as a community — and what actually needs to change for the laws to protect us.Then: Tadej Pogačar wins the Tour of Flanders and becomes the first rider in history to win four consecutive Monuments. The crew breaks down the race, the Pogačar-Van der Poel-Evenepoel dynamic, the railway crossing controversy, and why the women's race might have been even more exciting, with Demi Vollering putting on a masterclass.And the heart of this episode: a viewer-suggested deep dive into the psychology of suffering. Sarah breaks down the real difference between pain and suffering, why your pain threshold and pain tolerance are two completely different things, and how the art of distraction might be the most powerful tool you've never used on race day. Cam and Dave share their own dark-place strategies — from breathing resets to finding familiar faces in the crowd. 🔗 Scicon Sports SA — Premium eyewear and luggage for cyclists who take their kit seriously. https://theactivehobo.short.gy/sciconsports-discount👍 Like, Subscribe, and share this with someone who needs to hear that suffering is temporary.00:00 — Welcome & Coffee at Active Hobo00:02:17 — The Conversation We Need to Have: Road Safety in South Africa00:06:04 — Situational Awareness: What Dave Taught His Son on Their First Road Ride00:11:11 — Consequences, Laws & What Needs to Change00:18:22 — Don't Stop Riding — Why the Fight Is Worth It00:19:36 — Tadej Pogacar Wins Flanders: Four Consecutive Monuments (A First in History)00:28:07 — The Record Nobody's Broken — Can He Win All Five in One Season?00:29:10 — Women's Flanders: Demi Vollering's Decisive Move00:36:28 — Same Day, Different Races — Should Women's Classics Be Separate?00:41:27 — The Railway Crossing Controversy00:45:00 — Paris-Roubaix Preview00:46:28 — Mental Health for Athletes: The Psychology of Suffering00:47:51 — Pain vs Suffering — What's the Difference?00:54:30 — Pain Threshold vs Pain Tolerance (And Why It Matters for Everyone)00:58:08 — The Art of Distraction: Your Most Powerful Tool in a Dark Place01:02:11 — Breathing Resets, Small Wins & Marginal Gains for the Mind01:04:12 — Chappies Update: Easter Weekend Edition01:04:37 — Garden Rijero Preview: Live Daily Podcasts From the Race

He failed most of his subjects, raced mountain bikes on three different pro teams, and still never had the breakthrough he dreamed of. So at 23 years old, with R15,000 and a plan scribbled after six months of marketing studies, Jurgens Uys walked away from everything he knew — and started making socks.Ten years later, Versus Socks has sold over 6 million pairs, employs more than 50 people, and runs community events that draw 20,000 signups. But this isn't really a story about socks. It's about what happens when a farm kid from Lourensford with ADHD, a competitive fire, and zero backup plan decides to build something that matters — one brick in the wall, every single day.In this conversation, Jurgens sits down with David Jenkins to trace the full arc: growing up watching the Cape Epic roll past his front door, the heartbreak of never quite making the podium, the moment his business partner said "let's go 50/50," and the wild ride from a parents' garage in Stellenbosch to a world-class production facility in Kuils River. He talks about running a business like a sports team, why there are no side hustles allowed, the viral banana socks moment, and why he still believes the best is yet to come.🔗 Versus Socks: https://www.versussocks.com📲 Jurgens on Instagram: @jurgensuys1🧦 Support our friends at Scicon Sports SA — get 15% off with code ACTIVEHOBO at https://theactivehobo.short.gy/sciconsports-discountIf this story inspired you, subscribe, share it with someone building something of their own, and leave a comment — what would you build if there was no backup plan?00:00:00 — Welcome to The Active Hobo00:01:20 — Growing Up on a Farm Where Cape Epic Rolled Past00:02:05 — ADHD, Ritalin, and Finding Identity on a Bike00:02:49 — First Pro Contract: A Small Salary and a Dream00:05:02 — "There Was a Monopoly" — Spotting the Gap00:07:48 — Going 50/50 with Hanno: No Side Hustles, No Backup Plan00:09:26 — 260 Orders Before They Had a Product00:12:34 — The Sportsman's Warehouse Breakthrough00:17:00 — "The Most Loved Sports Sock Brand in the World"00:19:01 — How Paul Roos Shaped the Man Behind the Brand00:23:03 — 50% Motivated, 50% Scared of Losing00:25:06 — Kevin Evans, David George, and the Heroes on the Doorstep00:29:52 — Choosing Business Over the Yellow Jersey00:32:40 — "We're Not a Family — We're a Sports Team"00:39:05 — When Cycling Saves the Leader00:41:02 — R15,000 Each and a Boot Full of Socks00:46:27 — The Swiss Knife Partner and Learning to Let Go00:51:57 — Knowing When to Fire Yourself as CEO00:55:57 — Banana Socks and the Moment Versus Went Viral01:03:19 — Nerdy Sock Tech: 200 Needles and Seamless Machines01:06:42 — The AI Sock Designer That Changed Everything01:07:24 — 4,000 Pairs a Day: Inside the New Kuils River Facility01:17:18 — Why They'll Never Be an Events Company (But Run the Best Events)01:22:05 — Back to Base: 20,000 People, 50K in 10 Days01:24:02 — The Versus Road Run Party: 7,500 Runners in Stellenbosch01:25:51 — "What If There's No Ceiling?"01:27:06 — The Floodgates Are Open

This week's Breakaway hits a nerve. Dave opens up about something a lot of cyclists won't say out loud — the moment a week off the bike becomes two, then a month, then you're not sure how to come back. Sarah breaks down the coaching side: patience, accountability, and why consistency beats intensity every time. It's the conversation you didn't know you needed.From there, the crew recaps Sarah's first full Savage ride and her sub-10 Chappies attempt on a gravel bike, dives deep into the Garden Route Giro stage breakdown as Dave prepares for six day stage race, relives the electric sprint finish at the inaugural Red Hill road race, and gets into a proper GOAT debate — Pogačar, Van der Poel, or Pidcock?Plus: Jonas Vingegaard is back firing, Ryan Gibbons is coming to Cape Town for a Scicon-supported group ride and feature, and the crew tries Moodhouse adaptogens live on air.🔗 Scicon Sports SA — Premium eyewear and luggage for cyclists who take their kit seriously. https://theactivehobo.short.gy/sciconsports-discount📩 Got a story? A question? A wager idea for Dave vs Cam at Garden Rijero? Drop it in the comments, DM us, or email — we read everything.👍 Like, Subscribe, and share this with someone who needs a reason to get back on the bike.⏱️ Chapters:00:00 — Something Different This Week00:02:14 — Sarah's First Full Savage & Chappies on a Gravel Bike00:10:00 — The Savage Ride Breakdown: Ben Tables, Sprints & Secret Segments00:15:58 — The Conversation Nobody Has: Getting Back on the Bike00:19:08 — Patience, Accountability & Consistency (Sarah's Coaching Take)00:23:40 — Post-Epic Blues: "What's Next?" Isn't Always the Right Question00:25:38 — Upcoming Races: Sondela, Berg en Busch & Cape Pioneer Trek00:30:01 — Garden Route Giro Stage-by-Stage Breakdown00:45:30 — The Active Hobo Is Going to Garden Route Giro (Daily Podcasts, Come Say Hi)00:48:30 — The Dave vs Cam Wager: Suggestions Welcome00:50:29 — Red Hill Is Back: The Inaugural Road Race That Gave Us Chills00:57:39 — Jonas Vingegaard Returns & The Classics Are Heating Up01:00:00 — Tour de France Predictions & The Alpecin Problem01:04:07 — The GOAT Debate: Pogačar vs Van der Poel vs Pidcock01:11:10 — Ryan Gibbons Group Ride & Feature (Thursday 9th, Scicon x Active Hobo)01:18:09 — Moodhouse Adaptogens: A Wine Replacement?01:23:00 — Wrap Up: Keep the Feedback Coming

He was given a 10-year life expectancy at eight months old. At 19, Jason van't Slot became the first person with cystic fibrosis to finish the Absa Cape Epic — the toughest mountain bike stage race on the planet.But this isn't just a story about cycling. It's about what it means to live inside a body that fights you every single day — chains around your chest, breathing like you're pulling air through a straw, eating 8,000 calories just to keep up — and still choosing to line up at the start.When a miracle drug called Trikafta finally reached South Africa after years of fighting, fundraising, and a community that refused to give up, Jason took his first unrestricted breath at 28 years old. He describes it as "mental chewing gum" — no pain, no caging, no chains. For the first time in his life, he was free.Now he's got his sights set on something nobody with cystic fibrosis has ever done: representing South Africa at the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Japan. The road there runs through the Cape Town Cycle Tour, a top 25% finish, and rebuilding the fitness he set aside while he was busy doing something he'd never been able to do before — just living.This is Jason van't Slot. And he's not done yet.SCICON x Active Hobo Discount Code: https://za.sciconsports.com/discount/ACTIVEHOBO

Winning a Cape Epic stage isn't just about fitness — it's about surviving the first 10 minutes, holding position through blind corners on rocky single track, and then having enough left to produce 1,000-watt kicks on grass after 4,000 kilojoules of work.In this breakdown, performance coach Reece McDonald pulls back the curtain on exactly what it took to win Stage 1 and Stage 6 of Cape Epic 2025. From the opening selection — 18 minutes at 6.1 watts per kilo on a 14.5% gradient — to the tactical patience of the mid-stage settle, to the breakaway on Stage 6 that came down to who could resist fatigue the longest. This is what race-winning durability looks like from the inside.Whether you're a data-driven cyclist, a coach, or just fascinated by what elite performance demands from the human body — this one will change how you watch mountain bike racing.🔗 Scicon Sports SA — https://theactivehobo.short.gy/sciconsports-discount📩 Got questions about training or performance analysis? Drop them in the comments — Reece might just answer yours next.👉 Subscribe for more stories from the world of endurance sport.00:00 — A week that kept everyone guessing00:58 — Stage 1: fresh legs, 35 teams, and the fight for position02:50 — The first selection: 6.1W/kg on a 14.5% wall04:30 — The settle: knowing when to save and when to spend05:38 — Final attacks and the race to the line06:38 — The sprint: 1,000-watt kicks on grass after 4,000kJ08:00 — Stage 6: what six days of racing does to your legs10:00 — The breakaway that broke the field13:00 — What it actually takes: durability, cadence, and years of training16:00 — How to get involved and what's next

She calls it "ruthlessly brave." Others might call it reckless. Jess Meniere has built her life around one principle - put your hand up first, figure it out later. And the consequences have been spectacular.In this episode of the Femme Series, Jess sits down with David to talk about what it really costs to chase a creative life in South African sport. From running the 13 Peaks with no training and no nutrition plan, to landing a dream career in sports photography before she even owned a camera - Jess's story is one of audacious leaps and hard landings. She opens up about the financial reality of freelancing, why she took a corporate job and immediately knew it was wrong, and the moment in Europe where an eight-day solo cycling odyssey through the Tour de Femme broke her completely. Along the way, there's a vegan cookie business born from spinal fractures, an honest conversation about what it's like being the only woman on the back of a motorbike at an event, and a triathlon that raises millions for education in South Africa.This one's for anyone who's ever been told they're not qualified enough, not strong enough, or not ready — and did it anyway.Part of the Femme Series — stories of remarkable women shaping South African cycling and beyond.🍪 Bitchy Bites — Follow Jess's vegan cookie business: @ bitchy_bites📸 Follow Jess: @ jess_meniere🎧 Follow The Active Hobo:Instagram: @theactivehoboWebsite: https://activehobo.com🏷️ Scicon Sports SA DISCOUNT: https://theactivehobo.short.gy/sciconsports-discount00:00 — Ruthlessly Brave, Fuck Around And Find Out02:29 — "How Hard Can It Be?" — 13 Peaks With Zero Prep04:37 — Landing Her Bum In The Butter At Faces06:05 — Going Freelance At 21 Without A Camera14:19 — The Only Woman On The Mountain22:20 — 250km Days And A R36K Disaster In Europe27:46 — The Crushing Reality Behind The Glamour37:42 — A Broken Back, 500 Biscuits, And Bitchy Bites42:53 — Twitch Bitchy: The 100K Cookie-Fueled Gravel Route47:04 — A Monday Marathon And A Near-Hijacking49:41 — The Three Gravel Events That Ruined Everything Else53:36 — Why Grassroots Beats Corporate58:05 — What's Next: Cedar, Epic, And Calling Cape Town