Thor Buttox

You have a great opportunity to do exactly what you suggest, and a perfect chance to defend your cycling club against your small group of hooligans. I think all of the people on here would be most impressed if you came back in a few days, and told us who had been verbally bliksemed and that it won't happen again. It's never about how things happen, it's how you respond to them. Good luck! Genuinely.

Yup... like I posted on the Durbanville race thread, the Cedar club also could teach their youngsters a few things about etiquette from a safety point of view, and some of the older Cedar guys were actually screaming at them to stop it, but racing up the outside of the white line en masse isn't the same as pushing kids off their bikes (allegedly )

I've never had the misfortune of dealing with a group of the kind described by the OP, and any Cape Town Giants riding in the higher groups have never been even vaguely aggressive as far as I have seen. But I also think that if the above mentioned behaviour is even slightly accurate, you or whomever has authority at the Club should be jumping all over this. This is a safety issue, not a political one.

Ag, a few minutes here and there don't phase me, cos the exuberance of youth has metamorphosed into the "impending bloody crash" of middle-age the times are very, very close... might get a ridiculous seeding since we're only 12 or so mins behind the winners.

In the West Coast Express, the One Tonner and yesterday, it just seems the E/F guys have never had the teamwork of the guys who come flying past, although yesterday we were going quite slowly as a group even after the G/H guys joined us. Towards the end,the short route guys on the side made it a bit hairy though.

Don't think they were as organised or as fast as usual yesterday, since i clung on.. I think i will have to join them just for their secret handshake... (Or just start in a later group, which is probably easier)

Yeah it is a bit embarrassing when the G/H's catch us so quickly,but those sneaky Outriders seem to try it on purpose! And there were a good number of other A and B seeds in with them too. Also my first time to finish with the Group! Good feeling at last! Those Cedar kids are also going to cause a massive pile-up one of these days!

I gave a lot of thought to not pitching because the race was 40-odd km's passed any previous ride, but in retrospect, I'm glad I rode, because I had a frustrating day with punctures and a lot of solo riding into the wind to catch the only group in sight, but I finished feeling quite strong. So now any 100km race is going to be much much easier!!

Hardest thing I have done... 2 punctures and a solo into the wind for a good long while. First ever punctures in the middle of a race... Thank you so much to the two guys who stopped to lend me their bomb adaptors! It is greatly appreciated!

Nah... haven't seen that one if it was in the last two weeks pm'ed you about helping.

oh, front fork!!!! I didn't realise what I did there! Uhmmm... just avoid the massive, huge, knarly tree at the bottom.

That's exactly the point... now you know you're really not nearly as nervous as you thought!

Many, many kudo's to you guys, as always... are those boards on the Roots trails also pine? They seemed fairly sticky when I was last there in the dry, but would hate to come down there and get a snot-klap... or is that slime-klap??

The little drop off after the troll bridge on the way down Fairie Garden. Beginner's panic!

Three weeks my friend broke both his arms coming down to the concrete bridge... both in plastar. Bum wiping impossible.

I have got up to the last double step up near the top and then both wheels hit a rock and that's that... there will be blood. And if you think I have the multitasking skills to contemplate going both left and right of obstacles at the same time... my skills don't extend that far!

Nah, the people contributing to this thread are not the Friday crew... from experience, these are the sane ones who remember what it's like to be scared sh*tless by pointy rocks, and jittery skills! (Although I've never seen Mayhem this vociferous before!!

Don't worry, I also take it coming down from the top side! I've never seen anyone I know who can ride up that section... and the one guy who was a super hero and tried in front of us, came off rather worse for wear

I'm appalled to admit I rode the new line around that Boulders rocky section the other week... I look forward to your wrath!!

I'm 186cm and ride a large... do not buy a large. Amongst other things, you will experience physical pain in places you do not want to, as you stretch for the handle bars, and rotate your pelvis too far, even if you are seriously flexible.

Check out "circadian rhythms" - what you are experiencing is entirely natural, and happens to most of us in a 24 hour cycle. (Not of the "on the bike" kind! ) Your sleep patterns, amount of natural light and diet will all affect it, but most of us have a dip in the early morning and late afternoon naturally.

If you guys are logging onto Garmin connect, and it is doing the auto correct on your upload it provides the wrong data. There is no need to do the correction on a barometer controlled Garmin device like the 500 or the 800. I have tested mine against actual map heights - the smaller height is definitely correct. eg in the Burger 60km mine was 1,260m in the other guys who uploaded were saying +-1,900m. Test yours to the Mast at Tokai from the car park - it's about 760m of climbing on a map. Or even Chappies - it's +- 167m from sea level. then upload and see what happens/

I rode slowly with a friend near the back, and the slower guys had a terrible, terrible "ride"/push. Poor beginners who did the 30km Burger, and who thought this 28km would be similar! My first time on those trails and where they were well maintained, they were fantastic! But some seemed really neglected? Now I understand why the Epic guys were pushing up that one hill where they had the TV camera in 2012 in the Prologue!

+1 I did the 60km for the first time after previously doing the 42km for a number of years! Gees, I found it really really tough compared to the 42km, but the single track that you don't see on the 42km is sublime!! What is the farm/area/name of that single track after the 60km turn off? I didn't see any trail markings at all. Is it open to the public?

Last year was 921m.