aquaratza

I have one of these tools; they're SUPER light and really well made. Fun to assemble too. Mine came in handy during the W2W.

I have both an NX Eagle and 2x GX Eagle systems (on different bikes and across different wheels). The GX system has about 3100 km on it now and hasn't failed in any way (original chain too and there isn't enough play to warrant replacing the chain, crazy right?). The NX system is much newer and far fewer km (600km currently), however, it survived absolute hell during a rainy weekend on the Wines2Whales Chardonnay event. That thing was dipped in mud multiple times. No issues after the bike was cleaned. Maybe my bike shop is just very good.

The dinner time presentation... particularly one of the speeches/presentations given by a representative of the headline sponsor. Did I mention the cycling was fun?

Thanks man, we only decided to do it 2 weeks before the event ahahahahahaha

This was my first W2W and I got the feeling it was a bit of a money-making scheme. My friend and I had a great time because the trails ROCKED, man we loved the trails. I originally wasn't keen on the Day 2 "hamster wheel" but I think that was my favourite day now. Loved the forest trails. Huge diversity. But, as Quagga said, the water points ran out of a few things. Sweets are the devil's work . Even though they've had bad weather in past years they didn't adaquately provision for it; walkways were trashed (bare mud), outdoor areas were unusable, public areas leaked. The trails were wrecked haha. Despite the weather there was a shortage of brake pads; everyone was hunting around for brake pads, like people at a rave looking for drugs. The "luxury" tents were funny - I got my pass off bikehub. The showers would run out of water. When they did work someone would open a tap and the showers would go from fine to burn hot or freezing cold. This happened countless times (lesson is to just not shower for a few hours...). It's camping, I get it, and it was fun, but for the price you pay it wasn't good. I couldn't believe people had paid R 7.7k (?) for that. The normal tents looked wet and wind swept. The luxury tents were fine, but I'm really glad I packed a sleeping bag (despite the tents being supplied with bedding). Good points: (1) The trails were *awesome*. The actual cycling was fantastic. (2) Woolworths catering during breakfast, lunch and dinner was luxurious. (3) The trails were very well marked. (4) Staff and volunteers(?) were really friendly and just lovely. There's a general sense of the event media concentrating solely on the pros. Commentators talk non-stop and insincerely punt sponsors - imagine being able to talk to your friends without shouting the whole time. Lessons learnt: (1) Stick to smaller events (like the Houw Hoek Cycle Tour) (2) Don't stay at the venue, it's not worth it. (3) Taking all manner of spares is not paranoia. A luxury toilet: Luxury showers: Bag drop on day 1, before the wind swept away the gazebos: A luxury tent: Baptism of mud to get a bike mechanic: I struggled to find info on the event beforehand, so hopefully some of this helps future n00bs like me ^

I'm sitting in a tent now after riding today. It was very wet and fairly windy. A lot of the "trails" were rivers... but it was fun. My team mate's bike has no brakes left haha. Finding brake pads has been a problem, luckily I had two spare with me, but I don't know how long my bike's brakes will last now. The main facilities area is pretty marshy, flooded in lots of places. It's very wet. The finish line was a ghost town, just a disembodied voice welcoming us. Fun ride but facilies haven't been good.

These replies fill me with *great* confidence. Let the GEES flow? ahahahahahaha

100% rain forecast haha Can anyone suggest the best clothing (anecdotal) for an event like this? Any tips and tricks, especially for the weather? I'm a n00b. I'll pack extra brake pads A waterproof windbreaker looks like a good idea? Neoprene shoe covers probably? Light?

And on that bombshell, wow both Meerendal (Dorstberg) and the top of Contermanskloof (path to the transmitters) were an absolute dream to ride yesterday - so manicured . Thanks TMTBC!

Some time back, when I was very new to the club and MTB in general I rode from Durbanville central and back via the mast and Traverse (I had discovered that a bicycle could do more than 5 km and was pushing it). I wasn't on any of the mailing lists at the time. I had it in my head that sunset was the cut-off time. I rode back via the Traverse, clearly later than I should have been and encountered THE DOGS of BALDOUR, who decided I must die. The lady with them managed to recall them and I shouted a thank you as I quickly departed. I'm now on the mailing lists #confessions

I've been testing bicycle light, computer and GoPro battery runtimes haha Exciting but also scary.

So exciting but also a bit concerning - hopefully I haven't bitten off more than I can chew haha.

It was fun ride, much easier than I was expecting (I'm not complaining), I loved the climbs but: - they directed a lot of cars into the mud - my friends had to help push my Polo out of the mud. - the water points had a lot of sugar and not much else, maybe I missed the potatoes ? - they stuck photographers on sections where everyone piled up but when it came to the EPIC RIVER CROSSING where my shoes got soaked there was no one to capture the *magic* hahahaha, oh well, gopro next time. I avoided the food/family thing afterwards. FLEEEEE Generally it was a nice event but I think the Tygerberg MTB Club has spoilt me... I get amazing views and pristine trails every time I leave the house. I'm pretty new to this MTB race thing but I'm surprised no one has come up with a solution to people bunching up at single track climbs.

Some friends and I are in for Sunday yay. I got an e-mail, it says "NO number collections, late entries, substitutions or distance changes on race day." What is a "number collection" ? The board ? Thanks for the Strava route @ Rouxenator. -edit- I phoned them and they said the boards have to be collected the day before the race, just fyi.

Thanks for the heads up.

Hi guys Not sure if this is the right place to post this. I recently rode the Oatlands corridor and I couldn't get the gate next to Vissershok Road to open with the standard code... not sure if something is wrong with it. Looks like the signs on the gate have been damaged. Also, I just wanted to say a general thanks for all the work that's been done lately - even though the storm and the cows have already had their way with Oatlands haha (it's been 3 days).

ahahahaha, it seems to be the thing now if you bomb past someone they say (joke?) you're on an eBike .

Largely agree with @ Mamil. I joined some friends for this event. We took it easy as one of our riders was slow. The single track blockages/queues were a bit frustrating. You work hard, get up the hill and then come to a stop for a few minutes hahahaha. I feel like they needed some gating/buffering on difficult sections to improve the quality of the ride for everyone. Some portions of the trail (on day 1 towards the end) disintegrated pretty badly/erosion. I feel like a conservative ass for disliking the eBikes... but yeah. I can hear those motors working hard. I feel like the eBikes often allow people who haven't really worked to ride that event (and lack experience) the upper hand and then they clog up the trail. "Training" and then reaping the rewards of that training, for me, is a big part of why I ride. It feels amazing when you know *you* did it.

I'm booked to ride this with some friends, we're apparently going to take it "easy". Super excited.

Is there any chance I could buy a second board under my name/ID for when a friend/family comes to visit ? It would be really cool to be able to ride the club trails with them. Also, the trails rock ( ), thanks again for the hard work

He had the colour set to white.

I recently picked up my boards. I don't mind pink generally (I dive with a pink SMB) but yeah, pink was an unfortunate choice for the TMTBC boards . The older blue boards looked nicer. Also, while riding yesterday at Meerendal I came across an open gate from Meerendal to Diemersdal. It was unmarked except for a "disclaimer" board. Is this maybe part of a new trail ?

e-bikes look like a lot of fun and I am tempted to get one haha, but ultimately it seems like the coming age of the e-bike is akin to the hordes about to flood through the gates. Being fit enough to access the trails is it's own reward and relying on an e-bike to get you there feels like it diminishes that challenge/reward. It feels like a cheat. MTB carries some respect because it's self-powered and promotes fitness/health. I think this helps persuade land owners to allow it. Traditionally-powered bikes/quads are very damaging to the land/trails. But maybe you're physically incapable of accessing the trails due to some underlying condition (disability?) and in these cases power-assistance seems acceptable. I don't want the trails to go away...

TMTBC trails are awesome. I discovered MTB properly a few months ago and I almost can't believe how lucky I am to have so many cool trails on my doorstep. Also, I'm sure a lot of happy trail riders won't contribute to this thread because they just want to ride... so while it may look like everyone is negative, I'm sure this isn't the case. I'll certainly be buying next year's membership To all the land owners, thank you for making your beautiful lands available to MTB riders, you rock! And of course thank you to the TMTBC and the trail builders

Do you just upload the .fit files ? You can sync the Bolt/Elmnt with Dropbox and Google Drive, then I'd guess you'd grab the files from there and upload to Garmin Connect.