Ceres

My garmin from last year says 917m climbing.

Look I know its not a given to have lube at the water points. All I'm saying is not everyone of the 400+ riders is going to have a bottle of lube, not every rider has put wet lube on, not every rider knew they were going to ride through the Amazon two to three times, but the organisers knew how much water was on the route (and remember it wasn't raining on the day so how was people to know they were going to ride through so much water) thats all I'm saying. We do it on the Eselfontein race not every person uses but the people who do use are thankful. Not trying to say it was a rubish ride, I enjoyed it, all I'm trying to say is how they could make it better.

Yip comes back from a ride with her brother on Eselfontein this morning tells me "theres a dirty bike in the back of the bakkie".

I have done it to my bike you need about 18mm of clearence top and bottom. No of a few bikes it cant be done like the anthem and some of the Meridas. Remember tyre choice is also limited but the American Classic wheels are cool not to heavy.

Nice race and weather just a few points they need to ponder. 1. The track is not best mantained when riding the first forest a few of us had to stop and find the track. Also some of the track is grown closed. 2. Single track is not flowing enough. Just going nice then you have to get off to go through some rocks. 3. The organisers knew it was going to be wet with river crossings why did the water points not have lube? Otherwise a nice race with a good vibe. With a great acsent from the anouncer.

Wow CatGirl can you come teach my wife how to wash and lube.

Hi guys just converted my Pina to 650b the wheels fit perfectly just had to steal my wifes Fox fork and gave her my SID. Will be doing the Tru Cape this weekend so I will let you know how it goes. The only problem I might have is the tyres can't get UST or snakeskin tyres. The plus side is they are lite will be taking a tube with though. The wheels are American Classic 650b which are about 1700g. Got Racing Ralph tyres 540g each. Here is a pic of the bike.

Remember as well you probably have had a few punctures (thorns) and did even notice the sealant work. Alot of thorns break off and leave the sharp part still in the tyre.

He is the inform flyhalf at the moment if he was Australian he would be playing.

Amazing how short the guys from Pretoria's memories are.

It will be the same as "how do you know if someone went to Bishops?........don't worry he will tell you."

Can't do it havn't got a 29er.

I think there would be more chance of me doing it if it was an individual race. Spoke to alot of guys who have done it, the weaker partner doesnt want to do it again with a stronger partner and the stronger partner doesnt want to do it again with a weaker partner.

The way we do it on Eselfontein is we send Deon Malherbe out on his KTM motor bike a few times, then my friend and I come through with our farm labour (and ourselves) and clean it up with spades, pruning shears and a weedeaters. Rocky sections I found a good 5 kg hammer works wonders clearing unwanted rocks.

Yes but as you say it took you 3 - 4 weeks to get used to it and climbing on your 26 er again you probably had no problems getting used to it. Just kidding with you guys I would like to go 29er route but I would lose to much on my 26 er. I think if I bought a 29 er now I might wake up and find the top tube and handle bars cut off and lying next to me in bed. So I'm going the 650b route.

Was thinking of going the 29 route but the money I would lose on my 26 er would be way to much, probably got R57 000 in the bike would be lucky to get R27 000 for it. Just checked my Pina can take 27.5 wheels just need to swap my SID with my wifes Fox and I'm good to go. Waiting for stock on the American classic, so I will let you guys know how things go.

Angelina Jolie's?

Where do you put your water bottle? Very hot though.

Yes because he is pushing from the back on the highlights on SS showed alot of him pushing her.

These marketers are clever they got alot of people changing to 29ers and now they coming out with a wheel which will fit on alot of 26 inch frames so now the people who didnt want to lose alot money trading in their 26 ers now just have to upgrade wheels damn they clever. I will see if it fits on my bike. Might have to change to a fox shock though.

I dont think she won I think she was a finalist

I know two teams that finished the epic last year and both teams said yes they trained enough to finish but what they would train alot more this year is pushing bikes up 25 % gradients. This year the one team did alot of "push" training and they are doing great in the top 150 from near the bottom of last year.

Thats a great bike my wife has the spark 30 same bike just with xt not sram. The great thing about that bike is its carbon frame (pretty much the same frame in the carbon range till the RC)so its easy to upgrade to make a cool racing machine. I think you made a great choice.

I dont know why he is cheesed off if they didnt pull in the front like he said then I think it was the decent thing to do was not to sprint. I would have been more pissed off if I did all the work in the front and then they sprinted past me at the end.

The problem also is nobody wants a top carbon 26 inch anymore and alot of guys dont know how these bikes depreciate. I saw a guy I think yesterday trying to sell a 2010 scott spark 30 (the three shape back one) with SLX crank for R23 000 now that guy might think he can almost get what he paid for it.