Ratty

The green route at Oak Valley (Grabouw) is a nice one if you don't mind a bit of singletrack (its not technical). Jonkershoek in Stellenbosch has a nice 8km jeep track loop.

My previous hobbies were horse riding (had my own horse) and skydiving so mountain biking in comparison is cheap! A horse costs over R2000 per month to maintain. Before I first started cycling I was going out at least 4 nights a week spending more than R100 per night on drinks. So on a cheap week I'd be spending R500 on alcohol, times that by 52 = R26000 per year. I got to a point where cycling was more important than partying and now spend hardly anything on going out so in my mind, cycling is actually saving me money!

Great news. I loved watching him in the Tour de France. That boy can climb!

You are lucky, your kids clearly wake up a lot later than mine! My son is up between 6 and 6:30. If I get up earlier, he normally wakes up as well. Clearly got my early morning genes.

My version of this is also my favourite photo. Really nice action shot with a stunning view in the background.

Day 1 - Hot, red and suffering and this was only at the Great Wall Day 3 - Think I was enjoying the cooler weather a bit :-) I won't post day 2's pic, you can see too much of the suffering in my face....

So my garmin was out by 2-3 deg C then. It was 39 for around the last hour of my ride.

Too easy this year, hell even I nearly made it all the way up and I suck at climbing (had to walk the rocky section with everyone else, but my lungs were happy). Don't know what they had in those jelly beans at the waterpoint.

So you are saying the car temperature was wrong as well? The suburu registered 42 and that wasn't at the hottest point.

Garmin registered a lot lower in the camp than on some points on the trail. It had dropped to 39 at the red bull run on day 1.

And what would that qualifying criteria be? For a lot of people it was technical abilities and not fitness that was the problem. My dad had a mechanical which we eventually got fixed on the top of Spionkop, but it meant we were the last to leave with the sweeps behind us. Quite surprisingly we finished more than 30 minutes ahead of a couple of teams.

Puffadder isn't the same as last year, a lot of rocks have disappeared :-( Was really disappointed, although it was still fun. Last year I was called a maniac at the bottom and this year someone said I was like a bat out of hell on the one long downhill. Riding a hardtail, I found Day 1 the hardest. Bezuidenhouts pass (nice long downhill) is rather bumpy especially at speed and some of the grass tracks......

Normally I'd agree with you, but this was different. We had loads of traffic in the first bits of the singlespeed course so it took a lot longer than it should have, then finally when we were free from traffic we turned into a gale-force very dry headwind. The first 20km's took over 2 hours. By then it was over 40 degrees and the liquid we were carrying was hot which doesn't help to cool your body down at all. Then you get to the famous Spionkop and have to get all the way to the top to get water. Remember this is after people spent many hours in the heat the day before which made a huge difference. Think a lot of people were suffering from heat exhaustion.

We were also wearing our B&B shirts on day 2. I would never think of drinking water from the dams, but they sure helped cool us down. Had to laugh when 2 guys were swimming and a local told them there were snakes in the water. I didn't care, I was too hot and got in anyway. We also came across a round cement block with a tap on day 2 just after the top of the first climbs. I made full use of that as well.

That's us :-) So now you know who we were, who were you? Reading further up you were at the same Jojo tank as us. Really think the organisers need to go top up their water supply!

We saw a guy fall badly on day 1 when exiting the bridge under the road. He decided to take the more direct exit and rode straight off the cement bit into the water. Reckon there was some glass or something as he was cut quite badly. Medic car picked him up shortly afterwards.

I LOVE this race!! Some of the most awesome singletrack and scenery in the country. Yes, it was exceptionally tough, lot harder than the Great Trek last year even though I was fitter and stronger, but I still had a blast and I proved that I am mentally stronger than I thought. What impressed me is that even in 40 +, the water points on day 1 ALL had cold water and ice! We were allowed to fill camelbaks and water bottles with loads of ice. 2 other big races (Knysna MTB and Argus MTB) when faced with extreme temps ran out of water which is extremely dangerous. Those criticising people for not being fit enough / prepared, that's not fair. It was over 40 at 11:00am already. By 1pm, in certain sections my garmin registered 48.1! We took a lot longer as we were cycling from shade to shade to try keep our bodies from overheating. Health is more important than what time we finished. My only criticism is that they should have organised water before the top of Spionkop on day 2. Those who started late, were in the heat from the start and once at the top of the singlespeed course, we into a very strong and dry headwind. A few of us eventually stopped at one of the villages and the guy let us fill our bottles from the JoJo tank which was a lifesaver. Not sure if it was due to the heat, but there seemed to be a lot more bad crashes this year? I know of 2 people with broken ribs, saw the guy with his whole arm in a cast and loads of people with nasty looking roasties. I woke up this morning and the first thing I thought is that I have to do this race again!

We are staying close to the start, will pack everything we can the night before so thats not an issue, but I cleverly planned a bad seeding, that way I start a lot later :-)

2 1/2 more sleeps for me. I have to be at the airport at 5:00am on Thursday which means getting up at 4!

Only way I can push myself to train harder is to enter races that are beyond my current fitness levels. Its not stupid, you have given yourself a goal to work towards. Just remember nutrition. Its important when you do longer rides. Good Luck!

Check the cool cycling tops the ladies are getting. We are so spoilt.

There is a classified ad looking for a female partner.

Wind looks a lot friendly than the wind we had last year for the Great Trek. The boat crossing was interesting....

Accuweather says between 29 and 33 max temp. Final night of the descent looks cold with temp dropping to 3!

SirJody, I am entered and will see you there. OH doesn't do wine tasting, plus, he will be kiddy sitting Are we allowed a pit stop at Welvanpas ? They have a really good 2009 Shiraz :-)