Ceres

Well if you are a bulls supporter we don't want you at the race anyway.

Here is the elevation for last years 65 km. That climb looks bad but it isn't the gradient is about a 9% average maxing out at about 12 %.

Weather on the morning doesn't look too bad so I'll be going down for a ride.

I think the problem why this TDF is a bit boring is that it is so close to the Olympics. All the sprinting teams seam like they don't want to chase brakeaways. The GC guys just want to do the minimum, it seams the top three are just happy to be where they are the only two people with some balls is Sagan and Voeckler.

I think it depends where you lose the weight. I think wheels make the biggest difference in rolling resistance and weight. Got a scott spark with mavic training wheels with maxxis lust tyres (heavy) then my race wheels are 650b Amereican classic 1690 g with schwable 540g a tyre. The difference in weight is 1.1kg and it makes a huge difference.

I have got a Scott spark 35 with 650b's American Classic wheels. I have got Schwable 2.25 on and I am getting rid of the back one as it is the second one I have put on which warps and then rubs against the frame and yes we have tried taking the tyre off and putting it back on. Just ordered the Pacenti Moto so I hope that sorts it out.

Been riding my Spark 35 for a while now with 650b and they work fine, thick mud is a problem as a have 2.25 tyres on the back what size are yours Notsobigben?

Thats the area I cycle up the Swaarmoed pass.

Put it to you this way if we were doing the trail this year we would have come about 13th. We did the adventure and we came 34th. Now if we did the Race we would only have come 240th. So the trail and adventure are very close as the Race is way more for the racing snakes but there are slower guys doing it. For the first one you do I would do the Adventure it was a total joll as we did consume the most beer. If you are a half decent rider and get a bad seeding you will only be held up on day one, but its not too bad. We started in G on day one as my partner had done it the year before with his wife. Got held up here and there on the single track but it was not too bad. Day 2 we were in B nice seeding as we weren't realy held up on the big downhill and on day 3 we made it into A thats just balls to wall race down to the beach.

Now these guys are hardcore. I think people must stop asking (if you mountain biker) "have you done the Epic"? It should be "have you the balls to do the FC"

Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt the race longer than the adventure?

I think you are making a good choice I just swapped my wifes Fox for my SID. If you are going to wait I would wait till they bring out a 2.10 back tyre as I am running a the Racing Ralph and it a 2.25 back tyre and as Johan said when you do go through mud it does hit the side of the frame. I also have the Scott Spark Carbon but it has a alu. back triangle (unless you have the RC) so a little paint off now and again is not too bad.

I have been riding 650b wheels on my Spark for quite a while now they are faster on the flats than a 26er. As Johan said you are a bit higher off the ground and it is a little harder on the tight twisty stuff (not too bad) but don't forget you probably still have your 26 inch wheels like I do, so when I ride on Eselfontein with lots of single track and tight corners I just use my 26inch wheels. I would say 80% of the races I ride I will be using the 650b. Rode the Sani 2C on the 650b and you can stay with the 29ers on the flats but my partner (who is stronger than me) had problems keeping up with me on his 26er, he has a Volcan and he has ordered his 650b wheels after seeing what mine did on the Sani.

She sounds very nice I am sure she doesn't have any emotional baggage.

I know what you trying to say but if you have ridden Eselfontein before you would know that if you kept your pedals level when you passed over obstacles you wouldn't get anywhere there are so many.

I agree not pedalling doesn't make the bike go. Go figure

So today I test rode a 29er Scott Spark elite on Eselfontein, thought it would really be a problem in the tight and twisty stuff to my suprise it was not bad, short steap climbs also not a problem. The only problem I had with it was the length of the cranks my pedals kept hitting little rocks and when going on a track with a bit of a camber the pedals would also scrape along it (never happened on my 26 er). Just want to know if this is a problem with all 29 ers or are the cranks on this bike just too long (and no I havn't messured it so I don't know the length). Do they drop the crank for a lower centre of gravity?

Had a great ride not technicals or cramps the only problem we had on the Adventure was the lack of water at the first water point on day 2 only coke. (clover truck broke down) Finished the last of my water about 5 kms before the Nandos climb but my partner helped me out otherwise no complaints.

Thats what I'm getting at, there is such an explosion of new riders they havn't learnt how to ride technical bits yet.

I agree also remember you cant get into the Sani2c thats with almost 4000 people riding already I think if they added a 4th race they would sell it out. Epic pre entries sold out in under a minute. Every race I go to there is more riders than the year before and I mean alot more.

Could Andrew Mclean mabe mean the explosion of mountain biking in SA (didn't hear his coment). Don't know about the rest of SA but here in Ceres we have had a huge increase in people MTBiking. You can't drive down our road without seeing somebody riding towards Eselfontein. Or mabe he's talking about the biggest events ie: Epic,Pioneer,Sani,Joberg2C,Nissan series etc etc etc.... don't know about you guys but 4 - 5 years ago one event every 2 - 3 weeks, now every week.

What a great race. Did the Adventure with a friend who had done it before with his wife so we started in G I must say I agree with some of the coments here that some people have to brush up on their technical skills. Past alot of riders and started second day in B my partner held us back to conserve energy (thankful now) and after the Nandos water point we started pushing the pace had a great day and started in A for the last day. Then its just balls to wall on the last day and we eventually ended 34 for the adventure. Felt sorry for the guys coming in at the back of the field on day 2 the look on their faces when they see you lying on the Itconnect beanbags with a beer in your hand is priceless, come on guys put in the training and you could also been there. I will do it again in about 2 - 3 years time and again the adventure the race seems too serious and the trial not enough LOL. Also I hear the adventure consumed the most beer and bought the most trees well done guys. Great vibe great organisation and great track makes for a great three days, thanks Sani worth every penny.

Yes it does you might just want to wait for the 2.10 tyres to come out first as the sides are a bit close.

Its one of the easier 30km out there not very technical and its about 27km.

I rode the tru cape on he weekend for the first time with my 650b on a 26 inch frame. It is not as nible in the tight stuff and takes getting used to, but on the longer open areas its much better than the 26 inch wheel you can feel the difference. So what I'm going to do is keep my 26 inch wheels and use them on the more technical races and then use the 650b on the more open marathon races like the Karoo to Coast and I will be using them on the Sani2C next week.