Cruz Addict

ok so i finished my first half, Om di Dam with little to no training in the last 6 weeks due to illness, only did a n 8km half run half die last Monday. very pleased to say i actually finished the race, time not great but for my first half and the longest run i have ever done i am pleased. now to enter my next!!

RIP, never knew Tumbleweed but sad to see a fellow cyclist go in such a way. condolences to his friends and family.

i registered my frame when i bought it in 2015, this was obviously done on the international site as SC in SA was not really an entity. will i receive invites to the owners club events etc as well? sorry forgot to mention, it was bought in SA through the agents at the time.

hmm, maybe if his front wheel was running true he could have gone faster? still an awesome achievement though. frikken maniac.

ok so initially i was in for running my first 21km in 7 or so weeks, this being the Om di Dam, but now i have entered on a whim the PWC 21km on sat this week. while my training has been going well i think i may have pulled the trigger a bit to soon. i think i am going to hurt lots and am actually sh*t scared but am looking forward to it. will feed back on Monday if i live.

just pulled the trigger and entered Om di Dam half in 10 weeks time, going to be a challenge as i am not a runner and although i can run 10km now, thats not a 21km. going to have to train hard before then.

some shots taken in December with my iphone 6s, with a little bit of Photoshop color and exposure corrections done on the phone.

so i wasnt there for the whole event as i had to work on Friday but went through for the weekend, here is my 2c. the ski lift is a nice way to get to the top, at that altitude even walking a bike is frikken hard work but its a bit of a hit and miss as to whether you stay on, you have to consistently pull the T-bar into your body so as not to fall off, added to the fact that the bike is being steered vs being pulled/ carried on a gondola type rig can make for some eventful trips up the mountain, but as i say it beats walking or riding up.the trails are quiet steep and fast in places and yes there are some big drops, my first trip for maluti mahem, i didnt even attempt 1 of the drops on Gooi meelies but this time round i just threw my weight back and rolled and they are very easy, no real speed is required as its very easy to overshoot.the dirt is very strange, its very grippy and allows for real confidence inspiring speed but once the sun has a chance to bake it becomes a little dusty. still grippy but following very close on the heals of another rider does make for some interesting approaches to jumps, berms drops etc.there is nothing quiet like this in any other African site i have come across, the trails have been well thought out and they allow for each rider to progress as your confidence increases( granted some obstacles just require a set of brass balls the size of bowling balls) but still.the dirt is very forgiving when you do come off, i bought several pieces of property and did nothing more than dust myself of with no real injury to speak of.the food is frikken awesome, the sky bar is great, all be it a little expensive, dont get me wrong its not take your breath away expensive but its not cheap.the booze is very cheap!!!!! considering there is nothing anywhere near there they could charge a fortune but they dont and its very good value for money.the accommodation is well priced and comfortable enough but could do with a little more upkeep i guess if you want to be anal about details.the staff are super friendly and are always willing to go out of their way to make you feel welcome.once the wind picks up the riding does become rather unpleasant as we all found that our wheels and bikes were being blown all over the place. its difficult not to be scared when on a 1.5m drop you end up almost a meter to the side of the line you started on.from a bike perspective its a tough one, i found i managed everything ok on my SC nomad but could definitely have done with more suspension to help from a forgiveness point of view. my mates on their DH Bikes definitely seemed to have more fun, i now just have to find the amo to buy one i suppose.as far as the exhibitors go i was impressed but it would have been nice if even one of them actually had a DH bike to test rather than only trail type bikes. its not really a criticism as such but on a trail such as Afriski a DH bike just makes more sense in my opinion.once again i must state the riding is frikken awesome, me and a mate took a look at the intercontinental DH track but decided that, that is just for stupid people that have no fear of death. this is my second trip and i honestly cant wait to go back, its close, its relatively affordable and all in that makes for a very cool trip.

bwhahahaha only pic of me is standing on the platform scared out of my mind!! what an awesome weekend, highly recommend the trip for anyone keen on pinning some very very good trails!!

Shredding berms!!

sheesh i am riding 800mm wide bars on my Nomad with a 50mm stem, ride very tight twisty single track and never have any problems, took me a while to get use to the super wide bars but now i cant ride anything else. rode a mates bike with 70mm bars and felt like i was going to fall on my face.

Had an off and landed on my head, bell super let me walk away without so much as a concussion but suffered in the process, been through the crash replacement warranty and now have a new Bell Lid.

peach, when are you going to do an advanced-advanced coarse, you know so the Fanta can learn how to be faster and more "stupid" i mean braver actually i just need to learn how to be faster than Jenkie down and enduro line

ooooh thats great, betters my chances

i use the Polar H7 strap (+-1k) with polar beat, the app is actually quiet nice in that there is just about every sport you can imagine( Strava never allowed me to select a stationary bike). you dont need an actual Polar device to create a Polar account which you link your iphone app to and that uploads the H7 data to the cloud which is directly linked to Discovery. i dont much like the reporting you get from the app though so i pull all my stats and information from the MypersonalTrainer site, Much prefer the application reporting functions in Strava so use the 2 at the same time and use Strava for stats etc directly from my device rather than having to go to the site.

thats foot porn that is!!!

treated myself to a new set of rims build is a set of Easton ARC 30 rims onto my existing Hope evo2 hubs. maiden ride tomorrow, cant frikken wait, i am like a kid at xmas. as always big thanks go to J-Hound at the Trailhead for awesome service, professionalism and quality workmanship!!!

Have just coma across this now: Effective from 2 April, Discovery will delist adidas miCoach, Moves, RunKeeper, Strava, MapMyFitness and Timex as recognised apps or devices, and members will no longer receive points if they track their activity with them. the full article here: http://www.htxt.co.za/2016/03/02/discovery-vitality-drops-strava-runkeeper-and-mapmyfitness-from-active-rewards/ thats a problem for me as i use Strava for all my activities, i do make use of my polar heart rate strap with it but that doesnt help if its not recognized.

my problem and solution found to cramps, ( yes i am a freak but it works like a bomb for me) https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/155811-cramping-solution-tequila/

some riding stills taken from my Iphone 6 slow motion video recording of me and my mate Jason playing at the big red barn..

Some of the pics i took over dec on my folks farm. used iphone 6 with some on device editing after

Picked A set of 5.10 hellcat shoes today

Ok guys, I have some feedback on the latest set of tires I have fitted to my Nomad and how they have performed. While I have had no real issues for everyday riding on my WTB setup (this being a trail boss on the back and a vigilante up front) I have now come to the conclusion that they are just plain **** for enduro/ technical type of riding!! My reason for this is the basis that I have had many falls where the front tire has crept while cornering and on several occasions let go completely. Yes I know this may be a skills issue but it is an issue none the less. With this in mind and the fact that we were attempting the Trailworx big Air event over the weekend I decided to pull the trigger and give the ONZA Ibex tires a go. I fitted an Ibex 2.25 FRC on the rear and an Ibex 2.4 EDC up front. The EDC is the Downhill version so the rubber is very tacky. my first few runs on the DH coarse at Trailworx I was tentative as I did not know the tires, but after that all my reservations were left behind, these tires are pure magic. Never in my 7 years of mountain bike riding have I felt more confident on my bike. The tires never even once left me feeling like they were creeping or were even close to letting go. In fact I felt like I was cheating I had so much grip. I cornered harder than I have ever done before and found myself leaning hard into berms in order to get a faster time thanks to the grip. I confidently pinned every single corner I could find including the off camber stuff which generally makes me very nervous. Over rocks, loose sand and hard pack they performed exactly the same and left me confident to just plain ride the damn bike. for every day riding they are very slow with a high rolling resistance though and I did struggle to peddle however if I was to fit a faster rolling tire on the rear with the 2.25 up front I am sure it would be good combination that would leave me with confidence for every day riding. If you are looking for a new front tire that grips to the trail like welded steel I would highly recommend the Ibex!!

Yeah that was the total vat included.

Just for clarification my $209 order had a clearance fee of R521.68 from FedEx as i asked for them to facilitate the pre-clearance for me. the VAT on the invoice from FedEx shows as R312.90