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We had a session last year where we did just that - is a massive confidence builder to raise the skills. Thing is for Enduro, unless you know teh trails, you are riding them for the first time in a race and you then have to use those skills on unknown terrain....

An interesting summary of the Tl/R v UST tech out there... http://www.bicycling.com/mountainbikecom/bikes-gear/pssssst

Cap, thats interesting - could well be the case, then again, the Purgatory is not a proper UST tyre so the fact that it burps does not really prove its the rim, no? I see a Maxxis UST tyre at the back as a test in the near furture... or maybe some second hand Easton UST rims...

I have a front wheel solution - its a HD Super Gravity - wide, stiff and grippy. The back tyre is still a problem. I am currently running a Purgatory 2.3 tubless at the back on DT E540 rims. Its a lot better than the Nobby Nic but not really up to being pushed really hard into corners and off drops. I pumped it pretty hard before descending on my ride yesterday but it ended up trying to burp off my rim and eventually lost 50% of its air with sealant everywhere. Seems to me that it cant stay on the rim properly when landing drops on the back wheel or pushed hard through berms or on off camber fast descents like Vasbyt at Tokai. Its as if the tyre grips the ground better than the rim and tries to come off the wheel. I never had this kind of problem with my XT UST rims and Maxxis UST tyres which seated in the rim groove with a pop. So, is it the rim not holding the tyre on properly or the flimsy bead or sidewall of the Purgatory? I have been advised to try the Purgatory on the front and the HD at the back, but I love the HD where it is. I have also read that the Minion DHF works a treat as a back tyre - anyone know where to get one and which model would be best as a tubeless set up - UST presumably?

NR, how was Dan's skills course on Sunday at Tokai? Recommended?

No doubt the pyga 140 650 will be a beaut but not cheap. You are looking at 10k + over a Reign for the same or more basic build. That said you wont get a new 2013 Reign anywhere. I had to wait 4 months for mine to be made and shipped here... next years Giants will be 650 b and possibly less than 150 mm travel and probably more expesnive than 2013's. August is the release date I believe.

watched the end of first run and the secpnd runs. Great comeback by BS after that crash. Have never seen so many skinny jeans getting ripped in a competition before...

Lol - are you suggesting I take up road riding by any chance - or maybe indoor trainer riding with POV dh riding on the big screen?

The big case is on the court roll 9 July 2013. My bet is not very much will happen then though...

Great Pics there Mr GT. I agree on the trail maintenance - they need some - but those ruts and erosion - which was pretty minor really, did add a bit to the challenge. The course at Welvanpas is not exactly world standard enduro - waay too smooth and for the most part not steep enough. I'd like to see us having to find lines and manage boulder gardens periodically - ie a bit more like Tokai and Jonkers, maybe without the bigger jumps...That said I can't wait to hit Welvanpas for another ride. Read books for skills too - you can't beat Lee McComacks book on bike skills - check out leelikesbikes.com for how to buy it and some online info.

That's hard to say. All I know is my 11 year old BMW is far better built and has better technology under the skin than my wife's slightly newer Golf. Both do the job, but I'd rather be sitting in the one with the badge on it. Actually I'd rather be in my 02 Mazda MX5, sadly sold last year...

So brand sluts have helped make the CE unaffordable for most people in SA? Comparing the CE to a BMW is nonsense, in my opinion of course. You pay more for a high end car because it is built better, lasts longer and drives better than a cheaper one and that is the reason why the brand has value . In what way is the CE quantitatively a better experience than the CPT, BC Bike Race, Trans Rockies, Trans Alps etc?

And to be fair to the Epic and its contesntants it has some pretty gnarly bits in it now and then and the pro's handle them well. Nico Pfitzenmaier raced the Enduro on the weekend and finished in the top ten ...

In my opinion, of course, but based on some observable facts and having hiked around most of teh W Cape mountains - we have some pretty damn steep mountains here, not as high as the Alps, but steep. Whats lacking is a trail network and a market for said network...

Thanks, but I knew that :-)

No not at all, the problem here is we have a culture of mathon riding so there isnt a market for real fun trails - ie technical steep stuff that require skill development beyond being fit and able to ride over a root or two. There is scope for this kind of riding here for sure, especially in the Cape and trail builders are slowly creating some amazing routes - try Welvanpas for size...

And the Cape Pioneer Trek - also boring - much cheaper and sounds plenty exciting to me? In fact, I was referring to the attitude and ethos of the event organisers rather than the route. I'll agree that the soft terrain of KZN isnt a match for the rocks and mountains of the Karoo and winelands, but all that dirt road roadie bunch riding is K@k in my opinion.

As a local you can ride the same or very similar trails to what the CE covers whenever you want to. The foreign marathon snakes cannot so it is quality mtb to them. The kind of riding OM is referring to is proper AM riding and DH with lifts, multi km descents and an adrenalin rush of note - not a multiday slog largely on dirt roads. By all accounts KV forgot about the local mtb enthusiasts who helped him get the race going by entering by the second or third event and was only interested in hobnobbing with the pro's. Contrast this with the ethos of the S2C which is all about guaranteeing every entrant has a total jol, racing hard or not, and you will understand why so many people have a negative view of the CE. Good business tho and well done to KV for making a mint and putting us on the map.

Or the Abracadabra

Lance, all the stages are part of the Welvanpas trail system - some newer than others - all brand new to me. Local knowledge does help....

Getting there: We left Friday evening in light rain. The N1 traffic was bad until just before the 1 Stop. We stayed at a guesthouse in Wellington. Stunning spot, designer room, warm accomodating hosts - Sauvignon country lodge. I had already fitted a Hans Dampf Super Gravity 2.35 to the front of my bike and was looking forward to testing it and the Purgatory 2.3 at the back. Both these tyres pumped up tubeless as if they had tubes in them. Lovely Day 1 - "finding my feet slowly" It dawned cloudy but dry and soon cleared up as predicted. Welvanpas's lower slopes were damp and we rode up to the start of the white route based first stage through a few mud holes. After a longish warm up ride we sat and waited for ages while Mr Botha sorted his tag system. The stages flowed fast after this and there was nothing especially technically demanding. Those that know Welvanpas will know exactly what I mean. Its an amazing trail system that beginners and pro's can enjoy - up the speed and it gets more exciting, slow it down and a beginner can handle most of it. It took me the whole session to start finding some speed. My tyres were bomb proof and I could not unsettle the front tyre at all. For some reason I did not take this as my cue to ride faster and my times showed this. Day 1 also had a few fast women entrants who showed the guys up nicely and did their best to dispel any stereotypes by klapping many of the male contingent stage after stage. Only injury I heard about was a collar bone around stage 2 or so. The last stage was the best for me - a bit drier, some rocks and steep drops into rivers with slippery bridges to negotiate. I didnt set the track on fire but at times found good speed and enjoyed the trail hugely. As a top rider told me the next day, "ïts all about a clean run" he forgot to add - ...frikkin fast... and thats the rub and what makes Enduro so much fun. Its short and sharp and requires strength fitness and concentration unlike any other form of the sport bar DH. Tagging in and out is also an art and a skill to work on - the leaders were separated by only a few second and I added around 5-10 secs to one stage time after another rider stopped dead at the tag point right in front of me... Nightrider and I got a bit of a race going which he won on day 1. This is what its all about - finding your buddies and racing eachother for fun, which it is and something I find missing from fun rides and marathons. Day 2 - "this is what its all about" Better weather, drier trails and north facing sunny slopes above Bains Kloof pass. The climb to stage 6 was reminiscent of the hek to saaltjie climb at Jonkers - around 6 km but well worth it because this was the best stage of the day. Swoopy forest singletrack cut into the slopes with fast steep corners, flat out runs with your bars cm from the mountainside and drops into road gaps (no jumps unfortnately). Simply superb fun I found some speed and managed a 3m31 which was fast for me but still 34 secs off the winning time. To win at this, your riding has to be perfect - take each straight flat out, brake, corner and accelerate and that has to happen 100% of the time... Stage 7 was also a blast - different again - fynbos slopes, a few more rocks and equally fast swoopy corners. I managed my second 20th place of the day. My bike was handling well and the front tyre was amazing - it wasnt phased by late braking in corners and felt bomb proof on the rocky stuff. A fra cry from those wobbly Nobby Nics the bike came with... On stage 8 I dropped some time on some of the guys I'd been ahead of on the previous 2 stages. I didnt have a clean run - miseed a turn and got bogged in the wrong gear. I was also getting tired. Note to self - work on some fitness even though its winter. Stage 9 promised to be shortish and easy but it was here that my wheels fell off. After a nice break at the farm, I took the plunge and started up the 4x4 track climb. I stopped to use my phone and took off my right glove. I forgot to pick it up - bad move 1. I noticed this only 400m further on and decided to fetch my glove later - bad move 2. After some energy bar I tagged out and accelerated down stage 9s tweespoor start straight. I only got 100 m before I was flung off my bike. i am still not sure what happened - one second I was riding the next it felt as if something yanked my steering and I was off. I think a fynbos branch caught my bars. I flew and rolled onto some hard rocky jeeptrack. i can still hear the sound of my Urge helmet hitting the rocks as I rolled onto my back. My right hand was bloody (no glove), my glasses were off and one arm missing and I had some aches and pain developing elsewhere. I realised I could ride on but missed the turn into the singletrack and decided to cruise to the finish via the up route. My glove was waiting for me where I left it, my ribs were now very sore but although there were a few scrapes, very little blood bar my hand. I can say with certainty that my Camelbk MULE, knee pads, dh shirt, URGE Enduromatic and left glove all helped me avoid more serious injury. The helmet has some rock dents at the rear and most certainly saved me from some head trauma. I was pissed to have missed a decent time on the last stage, but despite the crash the weekend and race was absloutely stunning. I headed home after a boerie roll and beer in a bit of pain but beaming from ear to ear. Gary Barnard won both days (on his Morewood sixer, yeah) with some competition from Harry Orr, Dan Dobinson and Mark Hopkins. Nico Pfitz.... he of Epic fame came and raced day two in the top ten. What a blast.

Lets hope Greg has beefed up his tyres and Fab won't pass him again on his run. No practice should be a big leveller too.

Thats a good point but even there they are not allowed to ride wherever they like. Many SA towns have MTB routes - look at Knysna and Wellington et al. TM just happens to be smack bang in a major urban area and thatb doesn't automatically mean bikes should be allowed everywhere. There is also the ecology aspect - we have more than 3000 species of flora in the Cape alone - NZ has about 1000 in total. That said, night riding up to the dams is an amazing experience - I did it once a few years back - and it would be great if it was permitted. Its also not an easy ride so you have to be quite a serious fit cyclist to do it and the numbers are not massive. I hope a solution can be found...

Good luck finding 140mm plus bikes in shops in SA. This is the marathon nation. My Reign took 4 months to arrive. You could always get a PYGA 120 650. Saw a built up one at Revo cycles in CT yesterday - XX1 build. R50k. Thats why I bought a Reign at half that...would imagine the SC's come in at big bucks too.

Bollocks. Quite the opposite - ditch the legally clueless board members and officials and employ only lawyers and the matter would have been sorted long ago. Go and read the PPA founding affidavit - probably drafted by Lance Burger SC for some clarity on the matter. I doubt CSA has a snowballs chance in winning this one...