Aldon Baker......one of Pietermaritzburg's greatest exports

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JonW

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Pietermaritzburg is well known for producing a few motor sport legends. Guys like Alfie Cox, Jon Ekerold and Rod Gray spring to mind, along with a few others.

But who here has ever heard of Aldon Baker?

Up until very recently I hadn't. That is, until I was watching a YouTube movie on the life of Ryan Villopoto and I saw them interviewing a guy called Aldon Baker, Villopoto's trainer, and I thought hang on this bloke sounds South African.

A few google searches later I discover that Aldon Baker is from Pietermaritzburg.

He was a South African mountain bike champion, qualified to go to the Olympics in Sydney in 2000, but then when shafted when the South African Olympic Committee eliminated mountain biking from the SA team.

He then went to London and became a personal trainer and ended up taking over the training of Ricky Carmichael, and went on to train riders such as James Stewart, Ryan Villopoto, Ken Roczen, Ryan Dungey and Marvin Musquin.

He currently owns and runs his own facility in Florida called Baker's Factory, where he has an exclusive contract with KTM and Husqvarna to train their riders.

He is currently described as being one of the most influential figures in the sport of motocross over the past decade.

Not bad for a mountain biker from sleepy hollow.

https://www.dirtrider.com/bakers-factory-florida-supercross-training-facility/


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YXsxFaLqHA[/youtube]
 
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