Fat Bike Project

To develop and establish a corporate identity and branding system for a fat mountain bike stage event along the Sunshine Coast beaches from Port Elizabeth to East London. The event mirrors the longstanding Surf Ski Challenge route. The client is Red Cherry Adventures, a Port Elizabeth based Events Company. Fat Mountain Bikes (FMTB) are a recent phenomenon on the SA mountain bike scene. FMTBs are currently more of a curiosity than a serious mountain bike category/discipline. FMTBs are pricey and only the most keen mountain bike enthusiasts actually invest in buying one, although almost everyone would like to ride one just to see what they are about. There are currently no events that are specific to the FMTB category in South Africa. Red Cherry Adventures intend to offer the first dedicated FMTB event in South Africa in a multi-stage format. South Africa has experienced an explosion in mountain biking as a sport and leisure activity as well as in the number of events being offered throughout the year. A uniquely South African aspect of MTB events is the popularity of stage events (consecutive days of racing). Currently the Cape Epic is generally regarded as the world’s toughest, most prestigious stage race. The reputation of the Cape Epic and the fact that South Africans seem to thrive on endurance challenges has been a catalyst in the popularity of stage racing. There are generally at least 6-8 stage racing events per month on the South African MTB calendar which implies that events compete heavily with one another. To be successful requires the right combination of: • Route scenery/difficulty

• On-trail support – feeding stations, technical support, medical

• Social experience both on the trail and in the race villages

• Logistics • Media and marketing strategy

• The right price point

Since I was born I grew up on the farm and beach which is one for me. I’ve always been inclined to watch out for birds and eggs and many other little animals while driving along the coast on our farm. Since this project is about an emotional connection I want to connect to others so that they can connect through nature. My concept is quite simple in this fat bike journey I want to guide people through the piece of nature that they are going to ride through. I want to convey my passion into their interest. In order to do this I decided to look at endangered animals on the coast lines in the Eastern Cape. I want this whole journey to be about the little things and the five endangered animals which I will choose three from, why? Because at each camp site for the three night I want to “honour each animal “name the camp after them, their scientific name to make fit in with the whole mechanical vs nature feel” Dik koppie, we have a lot of them at home but they only come out at night so it would be rare to see.

Dik koppies mate with their partner for life. They eat insect’s mostly small snakes and spiders and without them a lot of things will fall away. Blue bottles, another thing that is very common in the Eastern Cape. There seem to be a lot of them but they are indeed endangered small but still needed.

Jelly fish is one interesting animal, they can’t die without being killed and yet they are endangered and wash up ashore more often than one would think. African black oystercatcher is one bird I know very well at our house on the beach there are a few, they very interesting birds they only produce two chic’s a year where one might not survive. And their eggs are impossible to see which is why sometimes they don’t even re produce.

Plough snail, there are so many yet so little people think that they just another small thing but what would happen to all the yells fish and blue bottles well plough snails dispose of them very quickly. At the start of this adventure the 120 people will be divided into 12 groups (10 people) where each gets a go-pro to alternate between the people in the group (where they need to find on their journey one of the chosen species).

At the camp site each night the “films” will be shown, on the last day each film will be edited and uploaded to Facebook to create world awareness. The fun part is each team gets a different colour shirt and go pro, along the beach there would be post of interesting fact put up regarding the animal that has been chosen for that day where each person that passes has to sign and gets an animal bracelet (different colours for the teams the next day. Every day new teams will be establishes so that it becomes a social event. Logo: I want to create a simple logo that would represent a guide through nature with the fat bike or interact the two (one animal and bike) and how endangered these animals are.