“My name is Michael Ramashamole.
Chief of Ha Simeone.
I will show you the past.
Before trucks and busses.
We only had our trails.
The soft passing of foot and hoof.
These paths allow the mountains to breath.
They are our communication.
They are our economy.
They are our veins.”

 

These haunting, poetic words echo life in Lesotho. A kingdom where ancient trails criss-cross the highways of the inevitable future. Riding up a storm on these trails is Leputhing Molapo, a 20-something Masotho horseman. For a week in April 2017, he rode a 180 km mountain traverse with two legendary mountain bikers hot on his heels.

Canadian free rider Kevin Landry and Swiss ex-downhill racer Claudio Caluori, set out to discover why we claim that Lesotho is Africa’s #mountainbikekingdom. They followed Leputhing on ancient paths carved by a thousand horsemen for a world to come where men and women ride on steel and carbon.

The Lesotho Sky team was lucky enough to play a small role in this amazing project. And with the Lesotho Sky 2017 stage race around the corner, we are stoked to show mountain bikers from all over the world why Lesotho should be the bucket list destination for anyone who is serious about mountain biking.

Following the Horsemen proves that the intimate encounters between riders and community, bikes and trails, humans and nature can be achieved. What Claudio and Kevin experienced on this timeless encounter, is what we hope every rider at the Lesotho Sky 2017 stage race will get to experience. That is why we keep the numbers small, teach our riders how to honour the local communities through which we ride and why we refrain from interfering with nature’s way of building trails.

 

FOLLOWING THE HORSEMEN from HAVE A GOOD ONE on Vimeo.

Production: HAVE A GOOD ONE. Following The Horsemen is a film by Tobias Steinigeweg & Maximilian Stolarow. Photographer: Dan Milner.