Li Mu Bai

Marathon: Tough race, the climbs up the first hill were quite a challenge. Descents went fine. Thank goodness the climb back up the 2nd hill was easier, yet steep. Enjoyed it. I found the last five km rather mindless, just dragging back and forth aimlessly on that gerotec 4x4 track - VERY BORING, compared to the rest of the race Ride time 3:57, official 4:01 (with 1 quick 3 cup stop at the last water table this still mystifies me) Good event, thanks Wessel, will be back again.

Well the race is sold out, so it should be a full house of batches. B start for me.

Any demo bikes available to try for a few hours, from say... 7:30 on?

Um, that is no excuse. there is a long list of medicines on the banned items list, a simple find/search and cross reference of medicine names and you know if its ok or not. Those days of I didn't know are loooong gone...

Crest is not good for heavier riders, flow is a heavy rim. ArchEx is the way to go if you are 90+

He was referring to dropping Chester from the team

Day licence... um, no R35 per day...

like anything second hand, you have absolutely no knowledge of the items history and whats its been through. Whether its been ridden hard, or suffered a "fall-over" standing parked against a lamp post. and in the case of carbon, not getting the warrantee passed over is a problem, because you are on your own when it finally does decide to develop that little hairline crack.

I thought the tree crossing was GREAT. something fun and different to do, tricky getting off at the end, and added to the adventure of the race.

Agreed, that unrideable single track climb above Oom Piets was an exercise in frustration, really spoilt a great ride for me. Rode the whole Satellite descent, tough and scary, but my mantra was "this is rideable" and i just went for it. Happy about that. wrong chainring on my 1x10 made the climbs tough. Used a 34t, should have stuck with the 32t. The whiteknuckle floating bridge was fun - i think i only breathed again after getting across! thanks wessel and team, definitely a tough day out there. The final Single track along the river - really excellent riding, good fun.

thing is in other sports the consequences seem less... athletics, rugby etc

Sani2c is a velvet highway, over-manicured, and stripped. VG is proper. that sattelite decent.... just sucks. It seems that aweful unrideable donga is out (after greek church) is that correct? Greek Church is quite picturesque, enjoy riding up there.

HAH! Rode there on sunday this last weekend. Started at 7am along the river, it was -5.6 degrees. hands were burning like the clappers.

nice

My experience of the "megastore"... same shop as before with just more bikes and more clothing on the floor. Still very litte diversity, high prices, and nothing to go back there for except collecting race numbers. I dont understand the idea of "we will match anyone else's price". does this mean CL has adopted a stance where anyone with a bit of savvy needs to bargain for an item they need? the old Cajees style of marking up all your prieces by a good margin and then catching out the first and second time buyers who dont know any better and are trying to build this 'relationship' spoken of earlier? A Simple example, the Taya red/silver 10 speed chain. Nice bling, CL price = R499.00, CWC price R380.00. WTF is with this rediculous markup? Do I need to double check everything before going to CL to see what extra I am going to pay, and sit and haggle with a sales person who would rather be somewhere else? In my opinion its these unrealistic prices that drive me away from CL rather than wanting to build a relationship...

Summit (at Memory Lane) Cycletech (BBQ Downs) - sometimes it is better to travel an extra 15mins for value.

me me pick me!

Im sure Tyrone can help out with this?

Well I have ridden with you and enjoyed your company, so I hope your bad luck with this whole saga is turned on its ear and you have nothing but good times on your new bike. enjoy it, like all things in MTB, we pay it forward as what goes around comes around, no matter how small.

Deposit made. All the best with your new frame M.

Superb route, really good fun, single track flowed nicely, and the section in the donga was excellent. 5 punctures, serious sense of humour failure after watertable 4 - thanks to the Torq tech guys for fitting another tube for me, their smiles calmed a frustrated moment. Looking forward to next year, serious unfinished business.

There like a bear. Hopefully no punctures, Rooiberg was uber frustrating.

Numb hands? change gloves and handlebar tape. Seat:- Best thing to change is not sitting on your knob.

a good level of fitness removes this too. Proof will be in seeing what the pro's go for, dropping every last bit of weight to get as much advantage as possible usually decides.

Lucky you. Unfortunately on some items shipping options do not exist. Your experiences are not shared by many others.