River Rat

Man I'm so disappointed that I'm going to miss this years race due to work commitments. Really going miss those bush tunnels! For the lucky ones doing the race race enjoy, for the noobs your technical riding will never be the same again after three days you will be on a new level.

What a boytjie!

I have been thinking about this for some time now and I am convinced that something has to be done otherwise we could find that our access to trails will be restricted in time. However, a simple name and shame could be open to a abuse which in turn could discredit the process and what we're trying to achieve. I think a complaint to the race organizer is the way to go and if they receive more than one complaint a race ban should considered for the culprit. I am also in support of addressing the issue directly with the individual but we must recognize that this may not work all the time. Another suggestion is for the race officials to appoint riders (volunteers) that they trust to act as race marshalls on the day and to give their word more credence in terms of sanctioning the offenders.

In for the 2 day!

It was on the half marathon and reading this I"m sort of regretting not doing the marathon, sort of....

Normally, I finish in the last 20% of the field, I am fit but not fast but I have one thing that I do relatively well which is when the going gets technical I am in my element. Will I beat a very good technical rider? No, but yesterday I beat 60% of the field which really shows how tough the course was. What I could observe from my batch which, was C by the way, was that many of the riders encountered this sort of terrain for the first time and they were clueless. Body position on the bike was way too far forward, no momentum, hesitation instead of attack, head position looking where they should not be going They fell, they got up, they complained, they laughed and some even cried but you know what they finished and they learned. My own race was also not flawless I had a little off when I tried to get onto the single track adjacent to the railway line. Thinking that I had spotted a gap in the disused railway way line I tried to bunny hop to the left but hidden in the grass was a length of railway line which caught my rear wheel and it slid out causing me to take tumble in front of a young rider from Affies fixing a puncture. With a huge grin on his face he asked "is Oom owraait?" Having seen this same youngster as well as some of his school mates eating dirt earlier I responded by saying "wat lag jy, julle Affies manne is manne is meer affie bike as oppie bike". We both had chuckle and got on with the ride. What impressed me most about yesterday's ride was the shear courage displayed by some of the female riders, the number I saw taking big falls was scary, but I did not see one giving up and that's what makes heroes in my book, well done to all of you! To be fair yesterday's conditions suited my skill set but I know that for the rest of the year I am going to get my butt kicked so if you see me walking around with a grin on face this week be happy for me, because it won't last!

I would suggest that you adjust the derailleur cable tension either tighten or loosen it.

Riaan the worst of it is that I trying to recall about 10 seconds of my life. What I do remember is that it raised it's head above the bush at the edge of the jeep track as we we were coming around a curve. It defintely slunk off by first lowering it's head as it moved and then seemed to melt into the undergrowth. You are right in that I fully expected it to come out of the bush for a peek at us but it just disappeared. Only observed one print but then again I did not really track it thinking that it was a dog. Who knows what it was? Do you want the coords .

Looked like a large dog's but I can't remember seeing claws or not. I'm really regretting not paying more attention to my son's doubts now.

And we're still debating it! I'm starting to convince myself that it was not a dog and if I look at the report and my Garmin log it would appear to be about 1km from the spot of the last sighting.

On the the 31st August my son and I rode in the Sabie forest around Klein Sabie when we spotted a large animal. I was in front at the time and I was convinced it was a very large black dog. My son was less convinced and we rode upto the spot where it had slunk off into the undergrowth. The track was elevated above the forest floor but we could not find the animal and we hung around for about 10 minutes. We decided to carry on but continued to debate whether it was a dog or something else so we dubbed it the werewolf of Sabie. Until my son came across this http://sabie.co.za/blog/?p=912 could this be what we saw?

Grip shift

Or maybe a swalling is a bird in hand...

Proof that one swalling does not make a summer!

There you go! That should be more than enough without changing the front derailleur.

I am a fan of the triple but that's because I have no choice but to spin uphill but I love downhills and I often spin out on my 44 x 11 combo usually at about 65km/hr. However, it is highly unlikely that you'll get many of the fairer sex doing that ( although not impossible as I've found out on Sabie earlier this year). So a 22/34 combo should do the trick if coupled with a 36-11 cluster. I am guessing but the 34 x 11 should give you about 45km/h which is plenty on most MTB rides. In fact you might get away with a 22/36 combo but shifting could be problematic.

just did the Lindani stage race this weekend. www.lindani.co.za very lekka!

It's a great ride but if you're hoping to see any game it won't happen on the ride if last year is anything to go by. It seems as if the game clear the area where we cycled we saw more game on the bus ride to the start.

I am not sure what your sister in law's condition is but I was unable to sit in a car seat or in my canoe for that matter for longer than 30min before my legs would go numb coupled with an excruciating back pain. After about 6 weeks of core strength exercises my doctor eventually relented and allowed me to get on a MTB. His reasoning at the time was that I had a long history of doing endurance sports and I was in a reasonable physical condition. It was a slow process and it took me about 3 months before I could do a 45km race but the good news for your sister in law is that I have completed 6 stage races since then albeit finishing at the back of the field. I still get backache but I have learnt to ride with it and as per the recent X-rays it has not caused any further damage. My problem now is that I am struggling to come to terms with the fact that my race pace would suggest that I cannot even begin to think of a Joberg2c or an Epic for that matter. I am also running out of partners with sufficient patience to wait for me on the uphills and then ride like the clappers on the downhills.

Thanks for the replys. Marc it's actually not possible to be slower than I am on hills so I doubt if I ever had the pleasure of passing you on an uphill. GOG the fact that you had a positive outcome is just the news I needed to hear and I have an appointment setup with a spine specialist in 4weeks time. The hard part is trying to be patient once you have decided to do something about it. Boyracer can I take a rain check on your advice until after consulting with the specialist?

I have just been to the radiologist to check out the condition of my spondylolsis. My condition relates to a fracture in the facets in the L5 and currently manifests as a acute lower back pain. I was diagnosed with this condition in 2009 and I have been unable to paddle since then. This is hugely frustrating as I'm a mere 3 Duzis shy of my 20th. I tried all sorts of physio treatment and core exercises. I eventually resorted to MTBiking out sheer desperation to get some sort of relief from the boredom and ultimately the pain. This has worked a treat and although I can't get back into a canoe I have really enjoyed my MTBiking and I am leading a normal life without any chronic back pain. However, I have noticed that in recent races that my inablity to ride hills is really taking its toll and my leg strength has reduced my hill pace to a pedestrian spin in my lowest gear and believe me I look for the lowest possible gear ratio available. Fitness is not an issue and I comfortably finish a Sani, Sabie or Mankele stage race albeit at the back of the field. This lack of leg strength has forced me consider whether I am doing more harm than good when it comes to cycling and I have decided to have it checked out. Today's X-rays confirm that my condition has not deteriorated nor has it improved which is concerning considering the effort that I have put in. I am off to see a spine specialist as soon as I can get an appointment but I was wondering whether there are any other spondylolsis suffers out here and how you have coped.

I was thinking about describing this incident with a bit more humour along the lines of the three piggies and then I remembered this story.

Thanks for making the effort it really is an inspiring journey!

It's a new fashion for wild men Loin-cloth when you can't fit everything into baggies!

With pleasure!