GuyP

Hey Crasher! Long time! I sent a reply to your note. Hope you got it!

Well done!

I found low GI seed loaf, peanut butter and syrup good for anything over 150Km and up to about 400Km in a 'sitting', from which mileage onwards you probably need more in the form of real food! Don't forget that hydration is critical because you can't eat if you're dehydrated! Lesser distances can probably do with a few real food energy bars. Race nutrition is something else though, something I'm not competent to comment on.

It's priceless doing the sport you love with your kids, in this case with the tandem gadget on the MTB at the end of the 30km ride in last year's 94.7 MTB.

XTC1, my daughter, who was always tall for her age could pretty much do it from about 3yrs, while I think my son was 4 before he could fit properly. As soon as they could sit on the saddle at its lowest point and comfortably reach the pedals was good enough for us given that they were already familiar with their own bikes (and helmets) from 2yrs already, albeit that they might have been on training wheels when they started. Like most things, try slowly, ride short distances, working with them to help them gain their confidence and balance. It was great that my wife was riding behind, thereby able to teach our kids the finer points of basic cycling while I was working on keeping everything balanced up front! It won't take long before they're capable of some fairly hectic stuff, which turns out to be fun both for dad and kids!

Yes, just add warm clothes! The rain gets freezing cold in the dead of night (even in the daytime), even more so with the fatigue brought on by a few days in the saddle!

LOL, and being caught without a raincoat too many times!

Yep, but while we're at it, maybe instead of jerseys, we should have team raincoats

As the kids get older, it gets more tricky for the in-between stages. So I imported some bits and pieces from Kansas and attached this to the road tandem so that my boy could ride with me. We could happily do 40Km like this, even though he was only 6 at the time!

They're awesome I used to hitch mine to one of the tandems and go racing/camping/MTBing and going for picnics. Highly recommended Pic is unfortunately not great - I damaged the camera on this trip through the dome!

The team SA jerseys. There were only about 16 of us between about 5200 participants from 55 countries

The prize worth all the pain and suffering, the PBP2011 medal, each one engraved with the finisher's time. It's a big medal, and quite hefty too!

Grant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One half of the Merckx brothers ! Good to hear from you! Yes, that was definitely a 'before' pic! It took two min two days to feel half human again after that. Jeepers, if you and Dave are in, I hardly feel like I can't do LEL now! I like the idea of a South African team - we can all get SA-type jerseys and have some real fun... The plot thickens!!! And please give Dave his pat on the back from me! Yes, post some pics! I'll dig around and post some of mine!

That's true walkerrr, but hopefully my turn has come and gone forever! Ultimately, do what's good for you but whatever you do, ride your bike!!

Me too, but I just want to ride my bike, on my own, whatever time of day or night. After four nasty incidents, I thought I was starting to push my luck, and saw no alternative