River Rat

Ranger at the beach for the first time, he is 40kg and thinks he's a big dog. But when you see the sea for the first time and you're only 5 months old it's a scary place. It took two trips but he eventually braved the waves simply to be with us and now the sea is his favourite place. This going to be one huge Ridgeback!

Yoh those are big dogs, so your boy's size seems in line with the breed and his parentage, as a matter of interest what is the breed standard weight? In my case Ranger is already more than halfway to the breed standard for a Ridgeback which is 40-45kg. He was way bigger than his siblings and considered too large by the breeder for a showdog. Like you I'm hoping he grows into his skin and paws, but in the meantime I'm rather enjoying this gangly teenager! As an aside there is a debate in the Rhodesian Ridgeback circles of how the demand for larger Ridgebacks is growing as a result of the safety situation in SA. In the US and UK owners seem to be satisfied with the breed standard as it is. Who knows we might be witnessing the evolution of the breed in SA

Check out these ears ????.

Seems like we're on a similar time-line. Ranger weighed in at 28.6 kg at 16 week.

At least you had fresh breath whichever way you "breathed"

My mate Pieter Strobos eventually had three pairs of cycling shorts on at the same time. This issue nearly ended his race and it took a huge amount of vasbyt to finish when two days in he was looking at a top 20 finish. Anyway I'm teasing him about his Munga Bum. Like you he's a tough bugger!

This not my recollection of the origin of the name, I believe it was a play on the word Ironmonger to Ironmunga to just Munga.

So here's the emerging plan (Slowbee read this). 1. Have a chat with my man Pieter Strobos about the Munga, (after he has soaked his Munga bum in the sea over christmas) to get an understanding of the event. Bearing in mind that Pieter is a very different rider to me as he has a very good cycling pace where as I'll be slow, but his insights will help me understand the requirements of this race. 2. Get my back sorted out by Christmas. 3. If 2. above is sorted do Joberg2c. 4. If 3 above is a success target a 180km ride under 10hours. 5. If 4. above is a success enter Munga. 6. Then train like hell,

Anyone seen the official results yet? I am interested to see how they have dealt with the riders that went off course.

When you just want to be one of this gang of heroes! https://www.facebook.com/231971583921574/videos/303884553396943/

He has definitely finished, I spoke to him just after he crossed the line just before 8 am this morning.

I think it reflects where the tracker was deactivated. So they could have crossed the line and then moved to their backup vehicles which is where the tracker was deactivated and that's the position you see.

RDK also over the top 17k to go I think he'll be our last man over the line with about 30min to spare.

That's a 0.046% error

LF over the top of Bains RDK not updating

RDK & LF just have to get over the top of the climb before 11:00 and they'll make it. It might be bitter sweet for RDK thanks to his nav error.

If last year is anything to go by unless she turns back and rejoins the race where she left it it's DQ.

JH seems to be back on track with Ryno still off piste, man to blow it so close to the finish must be soul destroying

So now we focus on the last riders, Karina has done an amazing job of just sticking at it and she's going to go home with huge respect and kudos for showing how tough she is but 180km in 6 hours is simply not possible. Louis Fourie and Ryno de Kock are in the mix 80km in 6 hours..... that's possible. They just got to get over the Bainskloof climb within the next 5 hours.

Less than 20km to go for Taito

I think you're going to "pop" a number of times on this race. I think the simplest strategy is that you must ride while you can, if you can't ride then sleep.

Netjies Vetseun, that was an awesome ride!

I can't see Karina Britz or Louis Fourie making the cut off, well theoretically LF can but it means he can't stop at all. Which means that our last finsihers are from the 4 currently holed up in or just leaving Sutherland. Guiseppe, Max, Ryno and Pieter are in for dash to the finish . As Sir Alex Ferguson used to say it's squeaky bum time!

Karina is definitly speeding up, she has finished 590kms but at her average moving speed she can't take more than 4 hours rest for the last 480kms.

Monday midday.