Li Mu Bai

omg, its the same each year. I dont know why people bother with this event.

tough one. when mountainbiking glasses get dusty, and when the inevitable sweat bead drops off your brow, they are smudged. carry some kleenex and wipe them after giving them a quick wash at a water table when racing. wipe them anytime when training usually glasses get foggy on cool humid mornings when riding at a slow pace, eg when climbing. drop them further down you nose to vent them, and pick up your pace. when mountain biking in rain/muddy conditions, glasses are very useful for keeping the bits of mud flicked up by your front tire out of your eyes, and not much else. ballance them on the tip of your nose, and with the peak on your helmet you become a modern day Knight of the Joust, peering through your visor.

Golden Rule: If you hit a dog at speed whilst riding a bicycle... you will fall.

Royal mail does not have a tracking number, hence our frustration.

The scary stories really stem from the SA POST and the poor manner in which they deal with mail. Things generally go into slow mo once the parcel hits our stores and then sits at customs. Then it gets pawed about and eventually delivered on some random schedule to my local PO. Only after much harassing and phone calls do I have my parcel in my hands. Even the delivery note that is supposed to be put in my po box is another departemenent within my local PO. No one can answer me why I dont receive these slips - its always somebody else's responsibility it seems. Same with Parcel force, all good tracking wise till it gets to SA. then the brakes are applied, and it will take so much longer to travel 80km from ORT to Midrand than it took to fly 13000km from the UK. my only advice when using Royal Mail, or any untracked service - make sure you know somebody at your local PO who can keep an eye out for you and possibly ring you when they get something - will cost much chocolate (bribes? absolutely).

The 34 is a good all-rounder (29er). its horses for courses. a 32 will be better if riding around Sabie (plenty of climbing), and a 36 will work better for this weekends Down and Dirty (much flatter, with fewer very steep climbs)

your other brother Larry?

TIM: for next year it might be a good idea if Advendurance printed emergency contact numbers on the stickers that we attach to our number boards. (much like they do on the competitor wrist bands for stage races) About 16km in, the chap in front of me went down super hard on a flat road. Did his shoulder in quite painfully. I stopped, got off and waited with him for 10 mins till one of his mates cycled back to him, and I then reported it to the next water table 2 kms on. When I was waiting with him, I didnt have an emergency number to call (silly me), and another guy who also stopped to assist battled to get hold of anyone. Enjoyed the ride. Worked my butt off to catch up and pass all those who rode on past the accident scene Dusty as hell though, my eyes are still blood shot and scratchy. lekker vibe afterwards, looking forward to the Garden Route events this coming december.

I carry this with me: http://www.swat.co.za/about_us.html

find it on the cyclechallenge website.

that is sad. Barberton had a great vibe, the marathon was awesome, damn im going to miss this event.

Its a great event, really enjoyed it this year. Got a dvd in the post of each of the 4 days this week - THANKS GUYS! what a lekker bonus. I hope the accomms in Graskop are improved though, the showers left much to be desired. But great fun, well organised, super food, Geoff, Jaco, Kark, Brett and team just superb!

usually the capability of the large blade picking up the chain off the smaller chainring by the front deraileur is worked out on the distance the chain has to travel between the two. thus for instance, changing a 38/24 set up to a 39/24 setup to get some big ring grinding advantage isnt always the best idea. In your case, you may find that the added distance your chain must travel from the new 26 small chainring to be picked up by the existing 42, might not work all that well.

looks like sombody using strava...

a good bike set up and a good strong core muscles are key. Dual susp definitely helps too

month end, cash quotas to fill, dont be surprised. business is business. if they wanted loyalty they would keep a dog

bleeding brakes can be a messy painful task, been there, done it, will continue...

me too, see you there.

Sad that you have to spend more money to enjoy your "Prize" - quite bizarre really

Cape Town I assume...

just dumb, wtf do you have to speed thru the tunnel for. aweful to cause an accident like that

I preferred it when customs was incompetent. Clothing and shoes used to slip through without duties. Now those buggers check every damn package, and delay everything quite a bit. got to love our postal and customs system, usually adds 1.5 times the shipping time on any order. #real efficiency

should be fine.

many shimano mtb hubs are ball bearings with cup n race, so no matter what you go for you will get damage to the races as dirt/dust works its way in. Something with a cartridge bearing should last much longer as you are replacing the cartidge bearing with no damage to the hub structure. Hope hubs work quite well, and dont cost the earth.

Carbon on carbon may be an issue. you may end up cracking the frame as that bit of carbon under the seatpost clamp is split and usually quite thin. better to cut out the seatpost and replace, than damage your frame. I have had a carbon seatpost properly stuck in an aluminium frame about 15cm in. I had to use kettle after kettle of boiling water to get it out. pouring the hot water over the affected area allowed the seat post to shift about 2-4mm at a time before cooling and re-sticking. (aluminium expands differently to carbon). it took over 5 hours, but i finally got it out with no damage to either frame or seatpost. General rule, dont EVER use grease on your seat post, it forms wax after a while and then acts like glue. Use carbon assembly paste and regularily service this to keep the two apart.