Li Mu Bai

Interestingly the humble potato is so easily overlooked and forgotten. Boil up a few small baby potatoes, skin on, salt them and loosly wrap them in tin foil. take one each hour on the hour. suppliment with a gel every 90mins, and drink every 20 mins. great sustained energy throughout your event, no matter how long. cramps are generally a result of lack of training, and the bodies way of saying you have pushed too hard for the training you have done.

haha, good marketing isnt it.

Argus is 15km longer too.

What rubbish, a sub 3 in the Ride 4 Sight, and Berg n Dale races is a well earned effort. In fact, most 100km+ road races, doing it under 3 hours is a good effort. even 94.7 has enough hills and wind at times to make a sub3 a worthy goal.

no R180 for 1 stage, R420 for 2. do the math, 3x180 still doesnt = the 3 stage fee. seems like the more you do the more you pay, usually works the other way round...

keep it clean, always. they say its every 100hours of riding between services.

Yes my good m8 Jacques was hit side on by another rider at 60km/h. he went down really hard, i dont think there was a spot on him that wasnt scraped. Shaken, he got up, got bandaged, and got back riding, finishing in 3:13 - quite remarkable. Fit SOB! His bike was quite damaged. when we finally saw him at the CL hospitality, he was still ashen faced. what an ordeal.

What you say bugs me too. Will it change? not unless the organisers police or secure their barriers, or provide a side access passage to each batch load point.

Aw come now. They have earned the right to start in that group, are you really going to deny them that if their group hasnt taken off yet? traffic, parking etc are a multitude of reasons that they couldnt thread their way through from the back. And also if there is not a clear passage demarkated or cordonned off for getting to your batch makes the prospect of threading your way through to later batches to get to yours almost impossible. The race info did state that batch loads would be closed 15 minutes before starts so this should be enforced by the organisers. It seems better organised at the Argus, access up the centre aisle to each batch seems to work better than tunnelling your way up woodmead road through hundreds of guys in your way...

mine seemed fairly accurate mat to mat.

its quite an expensive decision not to ride for 10000 people, especially on a day like yesterday which was almost perfect. Its not KZN where the guys seem to stay home on bad weather days because they have such quality riding all the time. I suppose the chip thing might account for some, but then others may sneak a 'rock up and ride' and add to the numbers too...

I have just received a notification for the Jock Cycle race next year. I am a bit concerned. Since ASG has taken over the entry fee has increaced by by 50% in 2 years. Is this reasonable? R720 for the 3 satges (in one day) Not only has the traditional route changed (assumed because of the Barberton road works) but the goodie bag doesnt even include the fleece jacket from 2012. It seems a real pity, and I would like to know why is this race suddenly costing so much more? Stadium hire? any thoughts?

its because ALL events are counted as 1. the actual roadrace never really gets over 20k people. Well done Carpet and Wyatt - the 3hour barrior was broken well.

WATERMELON?

too expensive

Evobikes sells the Birzman frame protectors, and cheap R45

I think its more a case of the numbers and $$$ earned. VG attracts a lot of souls, Barberton less so.

Imo, the Barberton event is better than Van Gaalens. I imagine Van Gaalens was added as it attracted more numbers in its proximity to JHB. Also, although Dulstroom is a really special place, the rational that it provides a family get away is odd. Most families are still recovering from the december/january summer vacation (and associated costs). Looking forward to Dullstroom though, should be a real test at altitude. Also surprised that Capetowns events was reduced to one? Are cape tonians less interested in mtb racing? Why not another event in KZN? the riding there is far more spectacular than GP, and GP has the trailseeker series to entertain anyway? All in all still looking forward to the new year...

Yes, I would also like to know what happened to Barberton.

this year you get a Half waterbottle

honestly all the gripes about parking. park up at the mall and walk down, its FREE. as for the Expo, it was rather disappointing. No problem with number collection, but where are all the big names in cycling? Sram seemed to be a part of Solomons shop, or vice versa, ASG wes there with their new dual sus, Trigon and Giant had 3 or 4 bikes, but i cant honestly remember aanything else... Too many sports drink and arb stands, and not enough cycling specific. Are they charging too much for exhibit space? Where are the new 2014 bikes for us to drool over? Thule was there as good as usual. My highlight was leaving with a good salami...

OMG, you get a bonus and still complain...

the older version of the XTR pedals were great - no issues whatsoever. But I agree, no difference using new XT pedals, excellent for mtb riding.

you cant make that statement before seeing some of the lady riders.

you should find a bar fridge in your room...