tinmug

@emme yes of course! Great area, great idea for an event. Will be there (if not this year then sometime soon).

This is such a great – and no doubt highly memorable – experience for a young lad. Kudos to you for guiding him so wisely, and letting him do so much of the work (and avoiding all those tempting shortcuts!). And indeed: less is more (but I will ignore the fact that I too once had all my possessions coated in stickers ... ). The personalised Martiz stickers are very sick/phat/cool/insert appropriate term for kids. Also great to see a young South African proud of his flag.

Thanks – they really only listed v2 features/design elements. Not sure how that compares to v1.

What's the difference (aside from rear wheel clearance) between the STR v1 and STR v2?

Suggestion to organisers: go shoot some (good) photographs of the route and showcase them on your burgeoning web site (and here). Sounds like what can be a really great event.

A snake expert I know won't handle a puff adder without tongs – they strike unbelievably fast. And advises that if you are pikked by a Cape Cobra then drive towards the hospital/ambulance ... you don't have time to wait for an ambulance. Luckily Cape Cobras move fast and will avoid confrontation.

It's okay Mamil, it happens at your age.

Thanks for the leads. Sounds like a great event, and will probably benefit from a well-structured web site.

I tried to find more info on this event, and instead found two nuggets of gold and a dodo. Evidently I didn't search hard enough. Route profiles? Map? Photos? A woolly mammoth? Anything at all?

It's not going to cover Clumsy-Me-Dropped-My-Apple-iThing. So getting a refurb is a pretty good deal I'd imagine ...

Funny, I had the sort of experience with Garmin (South Africa) that makes me look elsewhere for GPS devices. Happens, I suppose. The Apple refurb will look brand new, and will be at least the same model. In the camera business refurbished (pro) lenses are often better than new because the tiniest aspect of the lens is checked (on production-line units only the odd is closely inspected). Why wouldn't you opt for the Apple refurbished unit? On damage that has nothing to do with them, no less ...

Ahem. You may want to inspect your workmanship. Notably that little blue hyperlink. Test it. Click it. Take it for a spin. See if it sits right.

It's a terrible bike. Definitely get rid of it. It's worthless. Call me, I will look after that piece of . (A few 26er entries in the Cape Epic this year.Yours is a beaut, hang on to it)

I don't think the oval-wheel concept will catch on.

The UCI XC folks should read BH posts for some tips.

... assuming you have electricity.

I sincerely hope the law runs its FULL course here. Charge her for everything. Then sue her for more. This sums up what is wrong with this country: many who don't give a *ck, cops that consistently underperform; a few good samaritans that helped and are willing to pursue justice. Glad little cyclist is okay (and smiling).

Whatever I did apparently looked spectacular. My clavicle broke into three pieces. My fingers reached below my knee cap. A friend – who could not drive – fetched my bakkie then drove me to my sister (who could, more or less, drive). She burst out laughing when she saw my shoulder. First patient at a prominent CT hospital's new emergency ward/desk/whatever. They cut up my t-shirt, gave me something to swallow and the power went out. No really, the whole ward lost electricity (back when Eskom still had excess). The generators never did kick in and I was treated under candle light. Long story short: I needed an operation to set things right. Even that didn't go to plan as the surgeon lost the middle bit of my clavicle (after some digging around they found it way south of my heart). After the op he told me they inserted some titanium. Which needed to come out weeks later (no mention of this beforehand). After they pulled the titanium out they told me the operation was pioneering and highly risky (drilling blind next to aorta, or something like that). For the next 20 years I had discomfort carrying a backpack/scuba tanks out the water etc. Now that I am old and difficult everything is back to normal, except I don't do spectacular things on a mountain bike anymore. But I can shoulder a backpack. What did you want to know again?

Any maps (or Google Earth files) available of the route(s)?

Not exactly a review?

Do you have any accurate sizing info for these? (A cut-out template would actually be handy, buying gloves unseen cam be tricky)

+1 for Frank.

Gates: have a zero motorcycle (somebody ahead of the strongest rider leaving LEAVE CLOSE throw-away signs (could be as simple as a large red cable-tie ... ideally more visually prominent for those, erm, not drafting and a little more fatigued) on applicable gates? My understanding is, that for the most part, the gate saga largely only applies to part of the route. Now if Alex happens to need a zero motorbike rider ...

What he said. ^ And hurry along please, I mean how much rest can you possibly need? It's been hours already.

Thank you all for the links.