Ratty

I thought I would struggle with a 29er, not so much from the size, but more the bigger wheels and getting going. However I was presently suprised. I am a bit taller than your wife (170cm), but I ride a Specialized FATE 29er Medium. Absolutely love the bike. The only race that I wished for a DS was the Cedarberg Xperience as it was 115km's and the roads in sections were very corrugated. All the other long races eg Knysna, Die Burger etc, the 29er HT has been really comfortable and a lot faster than my 26 DS. I have also spoken to girls that are smaller than me and riding a 29er and they also love their bikes.

I got given a bell toddler helmet at my baby shower. Not sure where they got it from. Specialized however do really nice kids helmets. My son is 4 now and has the Small Fry Child helmet. For a 14 month old, you could get the Small Fry Toddler

I know someone who has look and shimano and much prefers the look pedals so maybe there is some truth in it.

No, it's fine, unless you want the bike board back, lol :-). My medals normally go in a box whereas my boards are on display in the garage so I'm happy. Didn't expect a medal as we knew the cut-off. What counts I'd that I know I finished and we were able to get a beer at the end. Thanks Knippie for organising a fantastic race.

I never enjoy the recovery drinks after a really hard race, struggle to drink them. Its more the texture than the taste. I'm now just following others and drinking a choc shake. The super M after day 2 of Sani, almost tasted as good as a beer.

I feel better about my time after seeing these results. The big boys did this race 50 minutes SLOWER than Karoo 2 Coast! I was only 20 minutes slower than my K2C time. I would suggest for next year that the cut-off gets extended to 8 hours. There are quite a few people who are capable of riding the distance, but they do it a little slower. Out of the people that finished, 10% were outside the cut-off time! While I know I am not fast, I have managed to do quite a few long events and finished well within the cut-off. This is the only event that I have no made the cut-off.

The uphill wasn't too bad, actually enjoyed it. The downhill however was rather bumpy so not that fast. I think the guys around me felt sorry for me as I was riding a hard tail.

FlyMango, thanks for the company at the back. It was nice to know I wasn't the only one suffering. My dad was still strong at that point, but suffered further on. I should have joined you on the sweep vehicle, my knee was completely stuffed, I was walking like a cripple yesterday and struggled to sleep on Sunday night as it was too painful to sleep on my side. If your wife came 3rd, that means I came 5th :-) lol. She did really well and it was nice to meet her. I didn't get a medal even though I finished, but at least I still have my number board to add to my collection (I try keep all the ones I can from the special events). Love the photos, so glad you got some. Note to self, always check the battery before taking a camera along.

Either your garmin isn't right or you somehow missed some climbs. I got 1392m's ascent and 116km's. Sadly missed the cut off (no surprise, I'm slow), but was really impressed that people kept on checking that we were ok and waited for us at the finish. Even the traffic cop was happy to follow us home along the road back to Citrusdal. The last 25km's took us a lot longer than expected. The head wind was tough. The race was well organised, water points great (although I don't want to see another potato, wine gums or bar-ones) and the scenary fantastic.

I haven't ridden since Die Burger except for a little road ride along the flat cycle track. Let's just hope the profile is wrong.

For those looking at trailers, here is the link to the one I bought from chain reaction cycles http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20682 It's been brilliant. Showed mine to a mate who is soon going to have a child soon and he is sold.

See you there. Also taking my camera. The dam is nice and full as well.

But there is less descent :-)

We have the one that you get on CRC (Can't remember the brand), but its the Adventure bicycle trailer. Got the extra kit to convert it to "running" version. Its so much better than a pram as its designed for English weather i.e rain. Doesn't matter what the weather is like, your little one is warm and dry inside. Can easily fold up as well and go in the car.

Don't worry, I made the same mistake. I promised that once I had done Sani once, that would be it, I would have done one of the best stages races and one of my bucket list items would be checked. Unfortunately for him, others got added. I'm now doing Berg & Bush, Sani next year (have to do it once with my dad) and want to do the 5 day tour in Namibia next year Oct. Don't think he will ever believe a promised again... oops.

I also was very unimpressed with the Jeep pram we had. We eventually used our cycling one for everything including shopping etc. Was just so much easier to move around etc.

32 GI is great. I struggle with energy drinks but for a different reason. All the colourants etc cause chaos with my sinus so I only use them for races and then suffer afterwards. 32GI, I have used 2 days before a race as a carboloading drink and it doesn't affect my sinus or stomach at all.

Think the problem comes in when only one person has recreational pursuits, the other is then left to do nothing all day and gets bored. My OH doesn't complain as much about my cycling when he is riding his motorbike, but if he hasn't been for a ride for few weeks, then he complains like hell.

I hope that she is the same size as you? Riding a bike that is too big can put people off especially girls. A smaller bike is easier to handle.

Can't wait for this event. Worried about the cut-off, 7 hours is quite tight for an off-road 115km's. Took me over 7 hours for Karoo 2 Coast which is only 100kms.

Bikes carry too high an import duty.

Make sure you buy her a ladies saddle! I know lots of girls that were put off because it was so uncomfortable when riding on a bike with a men's saddle.

The branded clothing matches the bike. No clash of colours etc. My latest bike is black, much easier. The Tygerberg mtb kit is orange and white so does not go well with a maroon and red bike. Seriuosly though, I just like the Specialized tops. They are good quality and fit me nicely unlike some of the other Italian brands which only make shirts for flat chested girls.

I'm not convinced either way with the 2x10. But then I ride my bike on a variety of different terrains. Having got a girls bike, its got nice easy gears (I don't know the ratio). I don't need as easy a gear as on my DS as the bike just climbs so much better. Where I'm struggling is that I'm running out of gears when I do races that have flat sections or slightly downhill. Die Burger for example, going down Old Hellshoogte, I ran out of gears way before the guys around me. Majority of my riding is on the singletrack so for 90% of the time, I prefer having less gears.

Some of the 50+- km mtb rides are harder than the 80km +- rides. Die Burger for instance was way tougher for me than day 1 and day 3 of Sani which are longer in distance. The climbing for each day of the Berg and Bush is less then Die Burger. If you are doing the Great Trek, I'll be one of the people riding at the back :-) I don't get to train during the week so am a true weekend warrior.