After taking a break from writing his ‘Living The Dream’ column on Bicycling, Oli Munnik is back with a new weekly column, Pinner’s Perspective.

Every now and then one needs to step aside and take stock of life, before shifting back into the big blade and klapping it into the cross-winds of life. After a lengthy break from writing the online column ‘Living the Dream’, the time feels right to get back into the mix.

Life has, in the meantime, taken some new turns. On a personal note I recently became a married man and, my gazelle (she’s a trail runner) and I, bought our first home in Obs, Cape Town. Awesome!

On the graft side of things, three years ago I got the Gear Editor gig at Bicycling magazine. A year later an exciting avenue opened up for ‘live tweeting’ (from the back of a motorbike and sometimes a helicopter!) at MTB events … all of which keep me pretty busy.  Fortunately I’ve managed to keep the pedals turning, carving a few berms along the way and visiting the pain cave from time to time. In essence, being a freelance journalist is allowing me to ‘Engineer the Dream’.

The aim of this new column is quite simple: to inspire readers to follow their dreams to the top of the mountain!

Over the next few months I will tackle my 8th Absa Cape Epic (March), fly to Belgium to cover the iconic, body-breaking Ronde van Vlaanderen cobbled classic in April and Live Tweet the Sani2c in May.

This is one hellva rad and critically, diverse schedule, however, before you think I’ve simply landed with my bum in the butter, it’s taken 15 years of persistently pushing the boundaries to get to this position of ‘luck’ as some may call it!

So as we ease into 2017, please join me on the journey. Stay tuned for weekly updates from the tip of Africa to the hallowed cobbles of Belgium and everywhere else in between.

It’s time to Lock n Load!

READ MORE ON: blogs