mtbee

Did our 1st TB - carried boiled baby potatoes(x5) and hard boiled eggs(x3)to munch on. We used the food at the checkpoints but in moderation and as a sweet snack chewed on a packet of jelly babies. Drank 5x750ml bottles of 32Gi and about a litre of water in the camelpak. I try to avoid too much of the party snack pack (sweets and chocolates).

Well our 1st TB or Langsbaviaans is done and dusted. We planned for 18hours and had a best case scenario of 16 hours, our final finishing time a fraction over 16hours and what an amazing race exceeding every expectation. The route was tougher than what we expected or read up on and the 22km big climb probably had me walking for 10k and took us 3 hours. However the average weekend rider who is prepared to put aside time (3 months) to train and do at least 5 weekend rides exceeding 80k with a lot of climbing is capable of finishing the TB and walking away without too much discomfort. The ride definately has been the highlight of my 3 years MTBing and matches any of the Comrades / Two Oceans runs which I did a number of years back. The seconding tables 1 and 3 were a shambles and waiting 10min at ckp3 for the soup kitchen in the cold was unpleasant (but no tummy after effects). The slap chips roll at ckp 4 was great and we did not use the facility at ckp5 and opted to check in and out riding on to the finish. The seconding vehicles were a pain to team members and after ckp 3 when you are struggling to get through the mud, being ridden off the road by and Isuzu revving through the mud was annoying. I agree with the suggestion of using a 4x4 club to place vehicles at ckp's and along the route and keep seconding vehicles off the route. Some drivers obsessed with their teams and to hell with the other 1000 mtbers on the route. I was relieved my wife was not driving my vehicle through the Grootrivier Pass. A huge thanks to the organisers for a terrific event and now I will have to pig-out on food to fit into the "L" T-shirt which was designed around a Karoo farmer and not a MTBer. Here to TB 2012

Checklist Bike packed Cycle kit packed Rider Okay this is my first PE here we come, see you all at registration - let the adventure begin

The rider made a serious ass of himself on TV and will be the butt end of jokes by riders for some time. My 12yr old daughter a keen mtber noticed his poor behaviour and I'm sure his FD sponsor will have a chat to him. Top riders can get carried away, at a recent race a "top female rider" who could not be bothered to carry her own tube threw the tube I offered her back, cause it did not have slime in it. She was promptly left stranded by the joe average riders who were trying to help her.

Agree with singletrek if you plan to "burn her out" get her a coach. At 12 let her enjoy the riding and enjoy riding with her while u can still stay with her. I enjoy every km I ride with my 12 year old, if stil has the same passion at 16/17 I'll happily get her a coach. I've spent money rather on upgrades to her bike and making her as comfortable on the bike as possible.

Riding our first so all routes are new to me, the new profile does look a bit less agressive in the tailend. The first real climb at 140k will be a good indication of those that have put in the extra miles. May need to pack takkies for those 10k's. Bring it on looking forward to the challenge.

Give Jason at Balistic Bikes the importers a call he will point you in the right direct. O718787992 jason@balisticbiketrading.co.za Cannot go wrong my wife and both on Ghosts. If he can bump his budget to around R 15K can get a great dualie.

Glad to see I'm not the only one stressing, on my way back from a 10day stint in the Solomon Islands and missing the last 2 weeks of training so will take it easy - hboli4 and your team looks like we will be spending some riding time together looks like an 18 hour bus is in the making. L

No comparison, completing a Comrades requires a good level of fitness by January and then 4 months hard training to get through on a reasonably comfortable run, my rule was always 1500km training in the bank Feb - May. With no disrespect to H2H a reasonable cycling fitness and a few weeks tweaking / training will get you through. More scared to run a Comrades than to do the Transbaviaans (234km)in 4 weeks time.

And the topic was - Race organisers - I hate you!!!! I am starting to feel the love between cyclist in this thread..... Fruity - sorry to break this, this is as good as it gets. Start the car payments, bonds, kids school fees; doing a real days work with responsibilities and then still not affording to do races. The bright side is there are plenty of rides and trips to be ridden at no cost or on a very limited fee. Enjoy them and select your races.

Bike races are expensive to organise. If it is not up to standard then you will have an irrate rider placing posts on The Hub about your C#@p race. I have just been involved in organising a small race with 350 riders over a 50/19/5km route set-up. It cost us in excess of R 30k to put on the race, this does not include any of our time which if charged at our professional rates would add another R25k to the race costs. The entry fees R140/R80/R20 did not cover the race costs and a minor sponsorship covered the losses on the race. Before posting and complaining about race fees, commit yourself to helping organise a race and see what goes into preparing and presenting an event. Race fees are only going to rise as fewer riders are prepared to take the time to helping and setting up races.

Is that the model with 26 or 29 foot blades??

In all the years of watching the TDF on TV this had to be the best tribute to the race. Thank goodness for PVR have recorded and could watch it a few times over. Could not imagine getting our tractor drivers to co-ordinate that.

Purchased a Bryton 50 a few weeks back. It arrived with the SD card and a CD with various countries including South Africa which I loaded. The software needs some polishing and appears to still be the beta version and is regularly updated and improved. The application is fairly straight forward, once you have worked out what and how - after a call to their call centre. My only query is the altitude gains as I seem to run about 10% more than the garmins but it is good for the ego. All things considered a bargin at the price and would be interesting to see how much you LegTrap saved by purchasing out the UK vesus a LBS.

I guess this means the Nissan Lavina we arranged for our seconds is out down the river. Hell never mind a hire car is better than any 4x4.

Let's see the comments from the Freedom Challenge riders, the first guys should be passing through the Baviaans today! This is an adventure, I knew I was mad when I signed up for 230km this just extends us a bit further. My 16 hours may start to look like a dash for the line in under 24 hours. Hopefully organisers will break their silence on it. Planning an 80km tomorrow with a 100km ride on Sunday to get the legs into shape.

Sorry make that Bat-ass!! Is there a difference?

That's the kind of knowledge and info required to make you an Ultimate Hubber Bad-ass.

Any advice for a team of 1st timers to the Trans on what to carry with us during the day/night stints, we are looking at a 16hour finish. What are the seconding tables like or should we plan to carry our own food etc. What would one normally expect with repairs, other than spare hanger, brake pad, chain link, tubes. See you all on the ride

I wish the post office would misplace my Bicycling magazine, now I actually have to read it as it always arrives. My suggestion to Tread if this is an ongoing problem and the issue is at the post office. Sell the subscriptions and then give the reader the equivalent vouchers for the year / period. The reader can then cash this in and collect the magazine at the local CNA instead of relying on the post office.

To the serious riders on The Hub with shoe boxes full of medals, they appear to be a waste of time. My opinion is that medals are a great investment into the future of our sport. Giving a kid a medal in his first ride brings them back for more. The 0-20 medal group is where we grow the sport.

So in the future if my shades bother me and I take them off, and store them by hooking them into the collar on the front of my jersey will this be illegal. Surely that 10cm2 rounded surface on non essential items will break this rule as well. That must be good for 2 seconds over 5 hours on the road!

Find a mtb park nearby, we regularly spend the day with the kids exploring the single tracks at Mankele and cruizing the bmx track. The kids just have fun and develop a passion for riding.Its now standard for Birtday parties great to see kids who normally would sit watching tv riding a bike. I agree with the no formal training until 15 years old.

Shop around I am sure there are some better deals available, the 2010 Trance 2 were selling for R 16k and there have been some good prices on Ghost and Scott bikes which outspec the bikes you have quoted.

Well done to organisers and CSA on the event, 45k was the longest cross country route I have tackled. Single tracks were simply awesome, and people of the Valley great host.