HELLO RWANDA!

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ULTRA RACING ON A FOLDING BIKE

We always knew our Max bikes had potential beyond the city. With our new A-MAX, we're ready to show you exactly what we mean.

We took our favorite folding bike to a gravel race. For 1.000 kilometers around Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills.

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THE RACE

Race around Rwanda is a race held yearly, it start and stops at Kigali and goes all around the country - through mountains, jungle, volcanic landscapes and fabulous roads.

1.000 KILOMETERS ROUTE

And an unforgiving 18.000m elevation. We will stop in guest houses along the way, while Stuart manages his food and shelter as he goes.

Discover the race here

AN AHOOGA FOLDING BIKE

Stuart is riding an A-MAX. It's the same frame available commercially, but premium brands have joined in the project to make the bike more endurance friendly.

Check out A-MAX here

A FABULOUS TEAM

Stuart's adventure were documented by Alix, our Marketing manager. Stuart's wife Holly also joined the adventure to support and drive. Jonathan, our fixer, helped us navigate Rwanda.

Read Stuart's report

MEET STUART, OUR ATHLETE.

Stuart Jefka is our sales rep for Germany. Earlier last year, he offered to race on our Max. If he's crazy enough to do it, we're crazy enough to support him!

Stuart has the legs. He has bikepacked all over Europe and North America. With thousands of kilometers under his belt, the real challenge was to complete this race on a folding 20inch bike.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

In a nutshell, it was unforgettable. The landscapes, the people, the adventure. Stuart made history as the first rider to reach checkpoint 1 and 2 on a folding bike!

HUNGRY MUZUNGU

Muzungu means foreigner, traveler, white man. This one spent an incredible amount of energy on his smaller wheels - and food access was few and far between. Pictured: day 2 breakfast, his first bite of real food since lunch the day before!

A TRUE ADVENTURE

Riding as hard as you can until sunset catches you, wherever you are. Sometimes that means a rudimentary hotel, or a cozy jungle nook.

UH-OH

Since day one, Stuart's navigation device kept freezing. He missed several turns and had to line up extra kilometers to find the course again. Tough on the legs and on the morale...

EASY PEASY

At least for the bike. Imagine tackling this terrain on your mountain bike, that's already quite the sweat! But it's all part of the adventure and the bike is holding up amazingly well - Stuart rides onto the twin lakes.

LOCAL WISDOM

Villagers were always curious, friendly, and eager to share directions to stay on course. However, at day 5, with 1 day left and 3 checkpoints ahead - we decide to leave the race as competitors and to finish on our on terms: with a splash!

JUNGLE CRASH

We take off to Nyungwe forest to get a taste of the famous peanut butter mud. Stuart had a taste for sure - his first crash happened that day. But don't worry, the only casualty was his last clean t-shirt.

THE FINAL RECAP

After 6 gruelling days, we finally meet all the other riders at the finish to share drinks, laughs, and crazy anecdotes. Stuart howls, for one last time... "AHOOOOOGAAA!"

We go to bed exhausted, in a haze. Our tummies are full of butterflies, our heads are full of memories. And soon, you'll be able to see it all!