ambassadors
There is no way of talking about the Roof of Africa without talking about Alfie Cox. This legendary enduro biker has won the event 9 times. But now he’s switched roles and is supporting people from all over the world who are attempting to conquer “The Roof”.
Alfie, how are you supporting this year’s Roof of Africa?
For the last ten years I’ve been welcoming 20 riders from all over the world and enabling them to tackle the hills of Lesotho. In essence that means I’ll prepare a KTM bike for them, either a 250 or a 300 two-stroke which is ready to go as soon as they arrive the weekend before the event. In the week leading up to the race I’ll take them out to the hills and get them acquainted with their new machine and give them an idea of what they should expect.
Do you support them during the event as well?
Yes, during the event we have our full racing team present, the Alfie Cox Motul KTM Racing team. They support the riders and the bikes with everything they need, so they get the full factory rider experience.
Who joins you for these events? Are they hardened riders or just the opposite?
None of the riders we have this year has ever participated in the event before. Some of them have some decent experience with other events, but some are less experienced.
What advice can you give to these rookies who are participating for the first time?
The first thing I try and do is to make them less nervous about the event than they are when they first arrive. I try and make sure they understand that it really is achievable. Secondly I’ll tell them that they really shouldn’t take their time over every obstacle. Just get over it and maybe take a rest afterwards. For the Roof of Africa you have a time bar and if you’re too slow, you’re out. So I advise them to get a move on and try not to get time barred. That’s why I’ll often advise them to start with the bronze course and if they manage that, they might only get a bronze finish but at least they get better value for the investment that they’ve made. After you’ve achieved the bronze course, you can think about moving up to the silver course. I always advise against trying the gold course unless you’re a rider who is doing events every weekend.
You’ve won the event nine times. What’s your favourite thing about the Roof and what’s its greatest challenge?
I believe that the challenge is actually my favourite thing about the event. “The Roof” is so extreme and it presents all kind of obstacles. During one event we could have rain, hail and sunshine during the same race. That’s why I kept coming back. I wanted to conquer the mountain and become the king of the Roof of Africa.
How can riders prepare for the event?
Well, for me and for most South African riders it’s not really that special. We don’t have a real winter here so we can be riding for eleven months of the year. The thing about the Roof is that there’s a variety of challenges. There are some fast bits, some technical bits and all over very different terrain, so some experience of varying terrains is a plus. The biggest difference between local riders and international riders, especially those from Europe, is that here we’re used to fast desert racing while over in Europe they’re much more about extreme events, so they often take some time to get out of their comfort zone and they’ll be a bit scared to go that fast.
