FrikkieMeyer87

I've got a Suntour Aion 150mm fork on my new Trance 3 and had a Raidon XC on my Spark 960. I thoroughly enjoyed both of those on the trail.

This poor dude fell his pip right off. Hope he's doing okay!

I did the short route and completely k*kked myself both days :| I'm sitting at my desk now still contemplating whether I should go see a doctor about the current state of my a$$. Evidently, the odd relaxed 8km up and down Bloemendal once a week is not sufficient preparation for BOOT. Who knew. That being said, my sole aim for this weekend was to have a jol, and finish the race regardless of how long it took or how hard it got, and I'm happy to say that I rode across that finish line both days. This was my second MTB race ever, having only started cycling in April this year. Also, I picked up my new bike at 17h30 on Friday afternoon and did not anticipate what the difference in effort would be to get a enduro bike up the hill versus my old 29" XC (especially one which has not been set up for me yet), but I must say, when the singletrack starts, all the effort of getting it up there instantly becomes worth it. The trails were well maintained and the event perfectly organised, with no surprises or glaring organizational issues that I was aware of. Everything was on time, the medics were quick and efficient and the water points were packed with the most awesome array of noms. On day 1 the last water point literally had Coke, water, Marmite sarmies, jelly babies, boerewors, chocolate brownies. It was like we happened upon a kiddies birthday party. It was awesome. And then the food that waited at the finish line was also incredible. Note how my main take-aways are stuff I could chow, hence my struggle lol A massive thanks to the organizers for what turned out to be an absolutely awesome event!

Sorry I didn't have time to shoot it on the couch since I only got it the night before the race, but here's the newest member of the family: 2018 Giant Trance 3 GE https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb8a9fxAaTw/

To the lush greens of upper Jonkershoek during this weekends BUCO Origin Of Trails race https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb8a9fxAaTw/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb-CBUkAtPo/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb9Wluzgv7T

#DED https://www.instagram.com/p/BbZnoOBg-3H/

Holy crap. That's extreme. Duly noted, but suffice to say that while it's evidently possible, it's not the norm in the residential sector then (I added that bit because I know the next dude is going to say "K*k man, my factory door can like to open for a truck's height"

a) "That" car does not go into "that" garage. That is one of two garages, and this one in particular is reserved for hobby stuff, DIY, workshop, etc. It's merely open because that's where the bike was and I took it out to check that it fits right prior to doing this weekend's rides. That being said, the garage pictured is of standard shape and size, largely determined by the Coroma 3-piece door that guards it, which accommodates most cars comfortably. b) No garage that ever existed or ever will has an entrance high enough to accommodate a bike on a car's roof, ergo it stands to reason that the confusion arises from the height of the roofrack by itself, which at a mere 20cm above the roof of the car is still much lower than the roof of your average Fortuner, sans roofrack, which fits comfortably into said garage. So the only thing that can go wrong is if I return home from a ride, forgetting that my bike is on my car's roof and attempt to enter it, which I am fairly confident will not happen although one can never be too careful, so here's to me being bright and awake upon returning home from my future rides <insert cheers emoticon>

LOL I had a Corsa Utility before this. This Kia is 10^42x better that that car haha

A whole lotta recently acquired things in one image here, some more visible than others. That 1x11 conversion, XT brakes, Kia Sportage and Thule roof rack: all new additions to my household!

Literally just had another scammer contact me about a Gumtree item, mere minutes ago. These are usually identified by people offering to buy stuff they have never seen straight away without even trying to bargain on the price. The offer you what you're asking straight away and usually want to collect on the same day. This is already a red flag, unless you're selling an Xbox for R5.75. Secondly they'll ask who you bank with, then ALWAYS end up banking with someone else. That way they use the fact that settlement will only occur the next day as an excuse for you not seeing the money in your account after they "pay". They'll even send you a pretty POP to show that they've paid, and once they've sent that, they'll immediately want to collect. If you just mention that you "won't be home tonight so might have to postpone it till tomorrow" or something along those lines, they'll either become aggressive stating that they need it now and that they've already paid you, or just ghost you and stop responding to your messages/calls/etc. I told my latest scammer that I bank with FNB, to which he responded that he banks with Absa. I then mentioned that I also have an Absa account which he can use instead, after which he fell silent and never responded again. Check mate The convo, for your enjoyment: [14:27, 9/26/2017] : Good day[14:28, 9/26/2017] : Iam keen to purchase the sound system[14:28, 9/26/2017] : Regards kevin[14:28, 9/26/2017] : Hi Kevin[14:28, 9/26/2017] : Where are you based?[14:29, 9/26/2017] : Iam based in sea point currently in saldanha with work but can arrange with my cousin to meet up with you on my behalf[14:29, 9/26/2017] : His name is Allan[14:29, 9/26/2017] : Are you able to meet up today[14:29, 9/26/2017] : Let me know[14:30, 9/26/2017] : I'm at work unfortunately, but he's welcome to come collect them at my house this afternoon? I get home around 18h00[14:31, 9/26/2017] : That's where the speakers are located as well.[14:33, 9/26/2017] : Ok cool[14:33, 9/26/2017] : Will get him to contact you to set up a meeting[14:35, 9/26/2017] : Cool stuff no problem. Are you going to pay him directly and then just have him bring cash along?[14:38, 9/26/2017] : He does not have cash with[14:38, 9/26/2017] : I will be able to pay via eft[14:39, 9/26/2017] : On what bank are you with[14:41, 9/26/2017] : I am with FNB[14:44, 9/26/2017] : Ok cool[14:44, 9/26/2017] : Are you able to send me the banking details please so that we can conclude the purchase[14:44, 9/26/2017] : Who do you bank with?[14:49, 9/26/2017] : With absa[14:49, 9/26/2017] : Will be able to do the payment and send proof of payment same time once effect payment[14:49, 9/26/2017] : Awesome, I have an Absa account as well which will probably work better.[14:50, 9/26/2017] : That way the funds will reflect immediately. If you pay from Absa to FNB, it will take a day to reflect.[15:01, 9/26/2017] : Ok cool[15:03, 9/26/2017] : Awesome. That way you won't have to do a costly immediate interbank payment, so as soon as the money reflects in my account, you're welcome to have your cousin contact me for collection.[15:16, 9/26/2017] : Ok cool[15:16, 9/26/2017] : Will do the payment once you meet up[15:17, 9/26/2017] : Are you able to send me the fnb banking details please[15:19, 9/26/2017] : If you are with Absa, it would make more sense to send those details. If I send the FNB details, the payment will take 24 hours to take effect meaning that you would have to make the payment today in order for him to be able to collect tomorrow. If you make the payment to the Absa account instead, the payment should only take an hour or so to reflect. Either way, you will have to complete the payment prior to meeting up, seeing as neither of those scenarios will result in money immediately reflecting in my account, and I will obviously not release the goods to whoever's collecting until I see the money available in my account.[15:20, 9/26/2017] : Iam thinking of doing the payment from our copmany account[15:20, 9/26/2017] : They are fnb[15:21, 9/26/2017] : Cause got 7600 which this company owe me[15:22, 9/26/2017] : So will your company be doing the transfer today still?The transfer will have to have taken place prior to collection, meaning your company would have to make that payment in the next hour in order to still be able to collect tonight.[15:58, 9/26/2017] : Yes they will be doing the transfer today[16:00, 9/26/2017] : Kevin, for the sake of both of our time, I should come clean. I've been working in the banking and payments industry for more than 10 years now. I have seen everything you can imagine in terms of payment scams, and having seen so much of it over the years I have learned a thing or two about the general theme and flow of conversation when these proposals come around. Let's be honest for a second. Your name is not Kevin. It's nothing close to Kevin. It's most likely a lot closer to something like Nqobile. You are not a South African national, and the number you are using is one of many prepaid accounts reserved specifically for contacting unsuspecting sellers off Gumtree that you select based on items sold that are easily transportable and easy to get rid of. You constantly reflect as online yet take so long to respond because you are having the same conversation with a whole lot of other sellers at the same time, some of which will unfortunately not be as experienced as I am and in the process lose a lot of money by falling for the fake proof of purchase you were going to send me right before insisting on collecting the goods today still, before the funds would have cleared, thus meaning that by tomorrow when the funds haven't cleared and I no longer have my speakers, you would have disappeared and I would have been R4,500 poorer. You initially lost your poker face when your grammar started slipping when I led you outside of the parameters of your usual conversation, meaning that English is not your first language though with a name like Kevin, you would expect it to be. That together with immediately being willing to purchase an item this costly without viewing it, not trying to negotiate, being willing to perform an EFT of said large sum to someone you don't know within the first minutes of a conversation and insisting that you make the transfer upon meeting up suggests an ulterior motive that's throwing red flags all over the place. So for the sake of avoiding all that nastiness, even if it's just for me, let's just assume that the speakers have been sold and are no longer available. I'm not in a hurry to sell, and you are not worth the risk.[16:06, 9/26/2017] : I cant understand this long story[16:09, 9/26/2017] : I imagined that you might not. Aaaaand crickets...

Awesome, I see that the 45 and high riser combo is actually an option on the site, so I'll go for that one then. Pair it with some chainring bolts and spacers for my 1x11 upgrade and I can get free shipping, whoohoo!

<hijack> On that note, would I not be better off going for THIS then? It's the same price, the stem is a little shorter still and the rise a bit higher, which sounds great to me, being 1.95m in height. </hijack> Ek noem dit "Trail Tongue"

That's unfortunately the issue with the GoPro shooting at SuperWide-angle: You lose a lot of depth perception. Right after I say "O f****t", you'll notice that I suddenly accelerate rather briskly. Having never been on this trail, I wasn't sure what to make of that drop I've actually got a brand spanking new carbon set of bars, stem, saddle and seatpost that recently got delivered after being in the post for 700 years, but sadly I ordered it before I really knew what I needed to get and what I wanted from MTB, so I'll probably be selling that and getting the right stuff, i.e. short stem and wide bars next, then fit all that together with my 1x11 upgrade bits that I've been putting together.

Some Tokai single-track footage from yesterday. Disclaimer: After the second cut, I happen upon a rather unexpected steep decline section and audibly exclaim in fluent consonant-rich vernacular. This is usually the case for the full length of the clip, but thankfully this one only had one instance and I felt confident that I could share it without much reprimand

We rode there again the other day and there was much fanfare on the trails of people loving how smooth and awesome the single track is since it's been cleaned up a little. There's such a cr@pload of trails in such a small area, together with the awesome mountain views. Jonkershoek is legend.

Also saw loads of energy gel wrappers which was sad. Surely it can't be that difficult to just stuff it in your back pocket? What I do find funny is all the water bottles always ending up like 2m after a bump in the road. That's flipping hilarious I saw at least 10 water bottles along the trail yesterday. I'm keeping an eye on the photo website for my snaps...

Stellenbosch MTB Challenge this weekend. I realized with this race that 3x9 is totally pointless. I used my middle chainring exactly once for a stretch of like 200m. The rest of the time I was in the smallest chainring all the way, and in that light, I'm pretty motivated to do a 1x11 conversion now! https://www.instagram.com/p/BXLMslyBvAz/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BXLaF1ihML8/

#ded https://www.instagram.com/p/BXLMslyBvAz/

That looks epic man, I need to go ride there!

Back to the gorgeous green kloof of Jonkershoek https://www.instagram.com/p/BW459LJhSj-/

I'm at home affairs changing my name now. The new Michelle Harvey will be collecting his bike soon Congratulations! Remember. Hightower LT. Nothing else matters.

Someone's day is about to get a whole lot better in 8 minutes...

In that case I would definitely take the Nomad. In fact, I would be sorely tempted to take the V10 just because I've watched WAAAAAY too much Rampage reruns But the odds of me using it to it's full potential or for what it was designed to do is very slim. Edit: I see that there's a Hightower, and then there's a Hightower LT. The LT is the winner winner chicken dinner. That's the one to take (to the person who wins, take that one. In yellow. Then bring it to me.)

When you say "have it", are you referring to the short period of time between collecting it and delivering it to my house? I wonder if the Nomad would be substantially heavier to ride up the mountain than the Bronson? I want the absolute maximum amount of sus travel and be able to hit DH trails eventually, but still cycle it up to the start with relative ease. And then of course there's the 27.5" vs 29" debate, which I know is as long as time itself. My 26" was quick in the berms, and the 29" is a donkey. Could 27.5" be the sweet spot?