African Epic: The Untamed Mountain Bike Race By Justin Fox
African Epic: The Untamed Mountain Bike Race
The Definitive, High-Gloss Photographic Compendium and Master Archive of the Absa Cape Epic
The Definitive, High-Gloss Photographic Compendium and Master Archive of the Absa Cape Epic
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: African Epic: The Untamed Mountain Bike Race
- Author: Justin Fox
- Publisher: RamsayMedia Custom Publishing, Cape Town
- Publication Date: 2009
- ISBN-10: 0980265529
- ISBN-13: 9780980265521
- Edition Details: First Edition, First Printing. Deluxe Large-Format Photographic Release.
- Binding: Original publisher’s premium heavy-gauge cloth-bound hardcover casing with crisp spine lettering and custom landscape endpapers.
- Physical Format: Large Quarto (4to). Lavishly enhanced with a magnificent repository of full-colour, double-page action plates, panoramic single-track visual landscapes, and complete stage-by-stage tour itineraries mapping the race's history.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Used - Very Good Plus (VG+)
- Exterior / Boards: The original large-format hardcover boards present in beautiful, structurally sound condition. The panels sit flat and square, keeping their structural firmness. Storage contact is restricted to minimal, microscopic shelf-rubbing along the absolute bottom edges from standard safe sheltering. The cloth binding remains unyielding and the spine is perfect, showing zero linear shelf-lean, vertical structural collapse, or page signature sagging under the weight of the heavy text block.
- Interior: The internal text block is exceptionally clean, bright, and tightly bound. All high-gloss pages and premium color plates are entirely intact, crisp, and immaculate. The leaves are completely free of traditional user highlighting, underlying annotations, library processing stamps, owner name inscriptions, or dog-ears. A beautifully maintained copy that has clearly been looked after thus far.
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The Dust Jacket: Used - Very Good Plus (VG+)
- Condition Detail: The original illustrated paper dust jacket is present, whole, and completely intact. Shows only some very limited signs of minor storage wear and tear along the topmost outer edges from safe shelving. It comes fully protected with a premium Cellophane cover, which guards against future handling while presenting an immaculate, high-gloss display profile on a collector's shelf.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 2009—capturing the race during its legendary formative years as it permanently cemented its status as the world's premier mountain bike stage race—African Epic stands as an exceptional visual and narrative archive of the ultimate off-road cycling challenge. This magnificent photographic collection captures the raw allure, unforgiving terrain, and human drama of the iconic Absa Cape Epic, the Untamed African Mountain Bike Race.
Author Justin Fox strips down the race to document the profound stories of personal triumph, intense inspiration, honour, the settling of old scores, and rising above adversity that define the event each year. Shifting seamlessly between the dust-choked trails of the Western Cape hinterland to the elite, professional team strategy loops at the front of the pack, the narrative follows riders as they push their bodies to the absolute limit. Capturing the race right at the turn of the decade, this scarce large-format used collectible book serves as both a primary historical record and an inspiring visual blueprint for endurance athletes, mountain bike purists, and collectors of classic South African sports literature.
Author Profile: Justin Fox
Justin Fox is an exceptionally distinguished South African author, travel writer, novelist, and veteran photojournalist. The former editor of Getaway magazine, Fox holds a doctorate in English from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Over his illustrious career, he has authored numerous critically acclaimed bestsellers, non-fiction chronicles, and travelogues, winning multiple global travel journalism accolades for his sharp narrative pacing, meticulous investigative depth, and deep understanding of the African landscape.
Fox’s unique literary talent and profound access to frontline sports photography loops ensure that his visual anthologies cut through standard commercial clichés. His expert handling of landscape aesthetics, human endurance stories, and narrative-driven prose transforms a brutal multi-stage race into a highly polished, definitive primary historical record of South Africa’s rich outdoor sporting heritage.
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