Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Anka never did much biking growing up beyond trips to school or around the neighborhood. Her future husband—professional mountain bike photographer Sven Martin—didn’t either; he was a professional skateboarder at the time. Sven and Anka met in a pub in South Africa “when I was far too young to be in a pub,” she says, and two years later the pair went off traveling before making the standard pilgrimage to London—which only lasted six months, as it was “too city” for them. But city life was necessary, considering the needs of Sven’s skateboarding career and Anka’s desire to go to university for fashion design, and so they journeyed to the lights and glam of Los Angeles.

“It was my boardwalk bike,” she says. “Soon I noticed all these little dirt trails through the nearby fields and parks and started venturing down them. I was intrigued, and just started following to see where they took me. That was pretty much how I got into it.”

It was on the on the boardwalks of Huntington Beach that Anka’s path to professional mountain biker began. Between classes at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise and Sven’s forays into the city’s infamous concrete jungles, Anka found herself with extra time to fill—and after a friend sold her a GT hard tail, she began exploring.

“It was my boardwalk bike,” she says. “Soon I noticed all these little dirt trails through the nearby fields and parks and started venturing down them. I was intrigued, and just started following to see where they took me. That was pretty much how I got into it.”

Get into it she did, and unintentionally brought Sven with her. As she started riding more she began meeting other bikers, who convinced her to head up into the mountains and try her tires on some real trails. After hearing tales of riding with strange people and getting picked up each weekend by “a bunch of guys going to Big Bear Mountain [a nearby ski resort hosting numerous trails and races] and the mountains,” Sven decided to check it out. And while he initially thought it was boring compared to skateboarding, he eventually started down the dirt path as well.

“Whenever we looked or did something silly Rob would say ‘What are you doing! Tuck in your knees! Elbows out!’ or do this or that. He taught us about setting up our bikes, the length of stem, having the right wheels or all the details we didn’t think mattered at the time. Looking back at it now, all those people were the perfect teachers.”

Among those fellow riders were two figures in particular who would bring Anka into the race scene. The first was Maxine Irving, a British transplant and DHer who competed in Big Bear’s frequent weekend races. Irving convinced Anka to sign up for a beginner race, and every Friday her and Maxine would head to Big Bear, or perhaps Mammoth, or anywhere else hosting a race or series during that particular weekend. But despite (or perhaps because of) her full leap into racing, she still didn’t actually know much about the specifics of the sport in general—she was competing in DH and XC on the same bike, and she didn’t buy a full-suspension rig until she had ridden multiple races. And her form or mechanical skills? That’s where Rob Brown came in.

“Rob was a local we met up at Big Bear, and he sort of took us under his wing and showed us how to do it,” Anka says. “Whenever we looked or did something silly he’d say ‘What are you doing! Tuck in your knees! Elbows out!’ or do this or that. He taught us about setting up our bikes, the length of stem, having the right wheels or all the details we didn’t think mattered at the time. Looking back at it now, all those people were the perfect teachers.”

Sven was eventually pulled into the pro rider scene as well, racing multiple World Cups and World Cup Championships. As much as the technical aspects or form or competition scene, for both Anka and Sven what it really came down to was that mountain biking was fun, and—both fired up on their new shared passion—they went all in.

“We just completely emerged ourselves in this new thing we loved and put everything into it,” Anka says. “We went to races and everything but it was still just us wanting to ride our bikes. Ever since then we have both shifted our paths, changed what we were into and started to follow cycling and racing and all of that. It’s shaped both of our futures into what they are now.”

“We went to races and everything but it was still just us wanting to ride our bikes. Ever since then we have both shifted our paths, changed what we were into and started to follow cycling and racing and all of that. It’s shaped both of our futures into what they are now.”

It seemed almost inevitable that Anka and Sven would outgrow Los Angeles, and as Anka’s school finished up and Sven’s skateboarding wound down the couple made their way north to Bend, OR, to give snowy winters and rooty Pacific Northwest riding a try. Meanwhile, Sven’s increasingly successful photography career and Anka’s race and photo schedule—and an affinity for the vagrant lifestyle—pushed them onto the road, sometimes for as much as six months. This only increased as Sven was hired to shoot the World Cup Circuit and Anka—still racing both DH and XC—became more involved with the photo and guiding scene, a schedule that continues to this day.

“For the most part we are usually going race to race,” Anka says. “Sven will go off on his own at World Cups or something, and then we will meet up at some other event, or go riding on an off weekend. I also do guiding work for a company in France, so if I have time I’ll go help with that. Luckily I have family there, so we can have the occasional home base to catch up on laundry and whatnot. We stay pretty busy.”

From mid-May to mid-October, the couple can find themselves in Europe, Chile, Africa...wherever their bikes take them. This includes trips around the US and Canada, and stints living in an old camper van—or “Vannie”—picked up in Scotland that has provided many memories and miles. And despite sometimes getting tired of living out of their bags (or van), to Anka this uncertain globe-trotting is what it’s all about.

“It is our way of exploring new places and experiencing new cultures. That is what I love most about my bike, the fact that it has given me all these opportunities to go to so many different places and meet so many amazing people along the way.”

“To me traveling and riding go hand in hand,” she says. “It is our way of exploring new places and experiencing new cultures. That is what I love most about my bike, the fact that it has given me all these opportunities to go to so many different places and meet so many amazing people along the way.”

Meanwhile, while spending the off seasons in Oregon, Sven and Anka were realizing the wintry (and rainy) side of mountain living was not their thing, and geared up to head south—sub-equator south, escaping gray winters and snow-covered trails during the off-season. After a trip to New Zealand, that destination was suddenly clear. After 15 years of wandering, they had finally found a place to call home.

“We fell in love with everything about New Zealand,” Anka says. “We had an amazing day of riding in Nelson, the sickest single track with such a good crew of people, and ended the ride with amazing food and delicious craft beer and that was that. Best decision we have ever made.”

The mountains above Nelson are riddled with backcountry trails, and as Anka and Sven began exploring they realized there was one thing the area lacked: while numerous guid- ing companies frequented the easier trails around town, none offered the necessary shuttles or services they were looking for. Anka, no stranger to guiding, and Sven decided to set up a small operation, sharing their beloved area with like-minded riders. After two summers, the company now offers shuttles by land, air and—in some cases—boat, ex- ploring their little slice of paradise.

“It’s not about who can get to the top of the hill first; it’s more about packing a bunch of sandwiches, your camera and going exploring for the day. I really just enjoy taking people on new trails and experiencing that with them for the first time.”

“It’s for people that know how to ride, who don’t mind a bit of hiking or pushing and want adventure-type biking,” says Anka. “It’s not about who can get to the top of the hill first; it’s more about packing a bunch of sandwiches, your camera and going exploring for the day. I really just enjoy taking people on new trails and experiencing that with them for the first time.”

There has been plenty in New Zealand beyond guiding to keep them busy. Anka and Sven’s new home came with quite a bit of land, and during her (rare) free time Anka has built up an impressive garden. They camp along the numerous hiking trails, and since their house is near the beach, swimming and kayaking have become regular off-season activities. Anka also teaches Vinyasa yoga classes for calm among the madness, and a decade-plus since the boardwalk Anka still finds peace in riding solo on those little dirt paths through the forest.

“As much as we love what we are doing right now, it’s not something that either of us want to keep doing forever.” she says. “We’d both love to not be away for months every year. Ideally, we’d take a few trips here and there, but the guiding here is something we could offer year round. It’s something we could build to where in maybe five years it will be my main focus, along with coaching and clinics. There’s still so many trails and places to explore out here—it’s pretty endless.”

“The enduro thing became popular, and my sponsors started telling me, ‘That’s the kind of stuff you’d be good in!’”

Despite her late start into the sport, Anka’s career has been an extensive and accomplished one. She’s experienced in nearly all aspects of the sport, spent time on podiums and photo shoots in dozens of places around the world, and made friends in all of them. She’s guided, coached and encouraged thousands of riders, and after over a decade of racing has recently been thinking of moving on—and then enduro showed up.

“The enduro thing became popular, and my sponsors started telling me, ‘That’s the kind of stuff you’d be good in!’” she says. “It’s ironic how I was nearing the point where I almost had enough, and suddenly for the first time everyone’s saying they’ll support me on all this stuff. It’s definitely made me giggle because it’s the kind of thing I’ve been waiting and working for all of my riding career.”

Ironic or not, her sponsors were right. Anka has been incredibly successful on the enduro scene, winning races and attracting a whole new round of attention. But top-tier finishes aside, she’s still not a huge fan of the term. After spending the early 2000s riding short-travel bikes on DH trails (be it for training or because she didn’t know better), she says it’s just another title for something people have been doing for years.

“After a year or two, you don’t remember your results anymore, and who cares about it anyways. If I was fourth or sixth or whatever, it just becomes a big blur, but those adventures you have on your bike with people, those are the memorable things that stick with you forever.”

“If it’s good for the sport and gets more people riding bikes, then that’s great,” she says. “But there’s definitely a part of me that gets annoyed when people say, ‘Ah, it’s the new best thing.’ It’s been around forever, and we’re all still just riding our bikes.”

Even as she blows up the enduro circuit and suddenly finds herself living the dream she’s worked over a decade for, her passion for biking has always been—and still remains—the adventures that come from being on a bike, be that on the boardwalks of Huntington Beach or the forest trails behind her new home in New Zealand.

“After a year or two, you don’t remember your results anymore, and who cares about it anyways,” she says. “If I was fourth or sixth or whatever, it just becomes a big blur, but those adventures you have on your bike with people, those are the memorable things that stick with you forever. That is what I like and that is why I ride.”