silvertemplar

I get the cheapest via Kulula + Vitality when i book about a month+ ahead. Flying at some odd times can also drop the price drastically (i.e. like flying out at midnight on a sunday or midweek flying). Also, flying from Lanseria is cheaper than OR Tambo on the same airline. If you're willing to give up on social convention, flying on 25th Dec and 1 January is as cheap as flights can get in peak season I'm flying JHB-CPT in Nov, paid R1100 (return flight) on Kulula+Vitality , and there wasn't a special. That's already cheaper than Safair. So not sure why everyone is raving about that R795 one way price, even Mango got cheaper flights.

There's way too many "tracking" apps these days. As someone suggested, do something new. I for one, would like an app that shows me all the events/races in an area , with a map and links to details. Then, similar to what's going on on the hub, a way to comment/like/rate that very race or event . Add to that regular tracks/routes/places with their details. I'm not talking Strava segments, but actual "places to go ride" . You know like Groenkloof / BigRedBarn / Van Gaalens and info on that. All of above of course using your GPS and Map to show you what is nearby.

Last year i did it with my MTB and slicks, and i must say, my back and shoulders and arse has never been this sore (and i raced only 4hrs, done that time and longer often in normal MTB races) .The main reason (imho) was the sitting position and how a big part of this race you're flying down long stretches of downhill road and kinda sitting in that "crouching tiger" position to get less air resistance going. I swear like 40km+ of this race was me in that position and then trying to go halfway up the next hill with the momentum. So at about 85km, when we were discovering how hilly the N14 really is , my lower back just stopped working, was a very painful last 10km and i wasn't even that tired in terms of fitness. So i suppose you can just remain upright and pedal normally down all those roads and it should be ok, but when these roadies come flying past you at 60km/h and "freeing" up the next hill, it kinda gets difficult not to see the problem

/sigh These studies are just constant fear mongering. I bet there is a study that states your risk of dying from paranoia and anxiety after reading a study increase by 500%. Fact of the matter is, if you drink red wine, you might get cancer or you might avoid a heart attack. There is probably a pretty high chance you will get cancer from the sun long before the alcohol kills you. ;-)

Also on a side note, i was pleasantly surprised with the goodie bag. We got socks, the plastic rhino horn , stickers and free Bavaria during and after the race . For a charity type of event we got more stuff than even Nissan Trailseeker events!!! There was one section i distinctly remember wasn't clear (unless you stopped and inspected closely). I saw parts of the arrow sign lying on the ground, so i guess it fell off and got ridden over, however there was still a painted rock . It was a section where everyone was actually zig-zagging (about 35km mark) , so saw a few people being sheep and following whoever they saw, skipping entire sections (there was a track straight down ). Other than that, didn't have particular issues, especially since alot of the race was on jeep tracks it didn't require as much marking as the Nissan last week.

Considering how many people are riding groenkloof, i won't be surprised if that is the case. As was mentioned if people want a more a rocky, technical experience, try Voortrekker Monument just across the road. Of course VTM is quite a bit more work too as it's not exactly as flat as Groenkloof

Just finished this race (+-45km in the end for me) and did the Nissan 35km last week. Definitely big difference. This one was easy and quite fun in the end. They literally cut out all the "walk-a-bike" sections and replaced with long flattish jeep track. So the distance was longer, but i never once had to get off my bike. Most of the single track sections were the same (the fun parts of both races). Considering the 70km from last week was even more gruesome, i'd say if you did the 70km last week, the 50km today would probably have had you falling asleep in the middle of the race, or at least giving you ability to look around without feeling broken. So all in all, much more "fun" version of the Van Gaalens race than the Nissan Trailseeker version . There were a few long not-so-steep climbs, but i don't recall anything remotely gruesome. It's interesting how the same venue can have such a different race experience, hence why i suppose some people would say Van Gaalen is a breeze and other would say it's total hell. I've had both experiences now It also wasn't as hot, but a pretty hectic wind blowing, however i'd take the cooler weather + wind over the heat from last week.

Used the PO/royal mail (or whatever they call the cheap option) this month for a CRC order, it took only 2 weeks. So quite impressed with that speed.

Heh, hey, don't diss the people in their takkies. I purposely swopped my cleats with flats for this race, and i loved it ;-). I was having a nice comfortable jog in alot of places where everyone was slipping and sliding with their cleats on the rocks. Of course my flats was the proper ones with screws in it.

It's listed under "other events", direct link: http://www.renosterv...=Race the Rhino Entry is R150. Anyway, i'm doing it. I already did this weekends' Nissan race at Van Gaalens, so it would be interesting to see how this will compare (and whether i'm in for another session of pain ;-) ) .

Good thing everyone seems to want this sort of event by the sounds of it, i'm sure everyone is doing this weekends Van Gaalen (Race the Rhino) race too? http://www.renosterv...=Race the Rhino If not, HTFU? ;-)

Not sure if it counts as a stage race, but i'm doing this one later this year, primarily because for a Gautenger this a pretty cheap way to do a multi-day (2 day) race (due to not having to travel far) and pricing did not seem too bad: http://www.magaliesadventure.co.za/

Holy smokes, the heat almost killed me. There was a little cafe at about 22km, that ice cold coke saved me lol. 2km later the water point showed up,swamped with riders. Other than the heat, was fun ride, i was doing it with flats and trail running shoes, the walks were much easier than my usual cleats setup hehe. Congestion seemed to have been sorted with the 10 mins intervals, however it meant i only started at like 9:30. So i was out there when the sun was seriously making me grumpy. Loved the long reeds path at the end (partially due to it blocking out the sun)

You can also consider looking at the more adventure racing camelbaks which are more multi-use . I also used the Mule for awhile, but when i started to do trail running i had to get something different. I ended up with something i could use both on the bike and on the run, like these (Camelbak Octane series) http://shop.camelbak...ltisport/l/1230 (I ride with the Octane 18x, the site shows it in its fully expanded state, so it's not normally that huge, you strap it down with the bungee cords) And for some reason they tend to be cheaper than cycling specific camelbaks. What i like about those, is the pockets on the waist for quick to reach goodies. It also tends to have more space (flexible) combined with the bladder. I find the cycling specific ones can be somewhat lacking in flexibility in what you store in there, especially if you start considering commuting etc. Anyway each to their own, i tend to be a bit of a pack rat , especially when it comes to multiple sports. The Octane is very light though (lighter than my Mule) , so i still prefer to use it, even if i don't pack extras in it. I have a 2l and 3l bladder which i just swop out depending on my water needs, using the same bag etc.

My daily fix: The Colbert Report The Daily Show Shows i've watch[ed] recently Suits Dexter Da Vinci's Demons Continuum Castle True Blood Supernatural Arrow

There is this Xdirt duathlon in PTA : http://www.entrytime.com/index.asp?GoTo=EventInfo&EventID=3917

On a side note, for those of us who's been on Endomondo for years. I think alot of people stick with their choice of "activity tracker" because of all the history they have on there, so if you feel "locked in" with Endomondo: (Android App that Exports all your activities) : https://play.google....on.exportomondo (PC App that can do it) : https://www.bytopia....from-endomondo/ EDIT: These are for BULK exporting (you can export 1 by 1 directly on Endomondo of course) I can only confirm the Android app works and does not require an IT Degree . The PC options looks like you will need some tech savvy to get right. Anyway, since i also use Garmin Connect (again similar to Endomondo) i was already uploading to 2 services, but with Strava it is actually nice to have your history in there too , especially to compare activities (and to get that "Suffer Score") and all that (something Endomondo does not do that well).

It depends on whether you have canoed before? I assume they won't provide you with a boat, and most likely it will need to be a K1 (not the plastic sit on top paddleski stuff you get at the adventure races) ?. (i don't know what the boating requirements are with this event) Either way, 16km isn't exactly easy, but at least just like cycling you can coast and kinda manage your energy by simply going slower and floating along. However if you're going to be falling over alot then it'll be a bust..... As for swimming, it's also my achilles heel, primarily because i find if difficult to train for open water events , and then there is a bit of a panic factor when you're surrounded by 800+ swimmers all kicking and swimming over each other . End result, i completely lose my swimming form and swim like an idiot ending up having to swim on my back to catch my breath from exhaustion.

Yea, i've also found it annoying. Especially now with the Nissan/USN races, i mean i have my board and all i am picking up is stickers ? Why ? The last USN race did not even have goodie bags. I'm quite happy with coming earlier and standing in a queue before the race for this, that's how running works. As long as they don't allow on-the-day entries for the big races (or payments and filling in forms and other funny business) , i don't see why this needs to be a process that can't happen on race day. In fact, let the people that needs to buy boards and fill in forms drive in their lunch times to whatever random cycleshop was chosen and let the pre-entered people pick up on race day?

One of the Sasol Triathlons held in Vereeniging earlier this year also did this . I did the canoe (or rather K1/Kayak) rather than swim. The timing is definitely alot different in terms of swim vs canoe, you'll pitch up at the first transition and everyone will be gone, cycling on your own for the most part. I guess the biggest catch with the canoeing is , you can't just pitch up there and wing-it without actually having sorted your balance in a K1 out . However once the balance is sorted, i'd think it's easier to canoe longer distances without having to have actually did it before hand (kinda like not having to cycle 70km, to do a 70km event) . Swimming makes me nervous in that regard, and it's tricky to train 2km swims in a pool ;-) .

Well at least they are pretty quick on the email. So just email them and query your result and they will sort it out. Well in their defence, the actual race was still fun. I would race there again.

I did 45km under 3 hours with my own timing. Their "recalculated" results gave me 43km in over 4 hours . Geez that's pretty crappy maths going on there. Clearly if you did the full route you are getting penalised! I rather they scrap these results imho. Yea but that doesn't make sense, how do they know who rode more than 30km? Clearly they are taking your final time and dividing it by 30km to get the average. Then they calculate it back to 43km. So only the people who rode +- 30km would get a correct average... This is how they did mine: They ASSUMED i only did 30km and took 3hrs . My average is suddenly 10km/h (instead of 15km/h). Project that back to 43km and voila suddenly it took me over 4hours .

Yes, here's the reserve's website http://www.biggameparks.org/mlilwane/ I rode it a few years ago, really awesome.

Yea, definitely this. If i wasn't riding on my own, being forced to stop at a few turn offs and look for markings, i would have skipped alot of sections simply because i saw other riders coming back on a zig-zag . Very close after the 30km/50km split there was definitely a left turnoff part where you had to zig-zag all the way up the slope and then wind down again where the route literally joined back into the original section. I bet my arse alot of people went straight and skipped the entire section, especially if they saw the other rides coming back . Even though i don't use alot of the junk/sample filled goodie bags, i was somewhat disappointed to pay the same price as a Nissan race and not even get a free energy bar or bottle or sample of facial cream ;-). I wrote it off as covering payment for the Red Barn entry fee (i think it is R40 or something?). But yea, as for the results, i personally don't really care as i'm just an average rider and i keep my own time. I can however see alot of people not liking this if they actually DID ride the full distance and suddenly get their last 15kms "averaged". In the bigger schemes of things, i still enjoyed the single tracks, i was actually getting alot of adrenaline rushes going through the sections and i remember 35km literally flew by. I was just surprised how i had so little congestion considering the amount of bridges and drop offs, but i suppose it has to do with the riders skipping entire sections.

I like to take those Vital Vitamin C chewables. I eat it like candy , kinda like the Super-C sweets. But other than that, i get the rest from a shake (Evox Shakes have the best flavours).