We rode out to Thaba early this morning for the first time and hit almost all the 'little' blue loops with a vengeance and all I can saw is WOW! Challenging in every respect, with descents that demand concentration and commitment and short sharp uphills that keep your heart rate and legs pumping, And on the Green route there's some really fun flowing single track. By the time we left the car cark was looking quite full. Well done to everyone involved in making the trails - you really have created something very special there - thanks!
That's what I'm going to ride. But I think a ride on the course on Friday will decide for me which is the best ratio to run. I saw Grant last night and they're bringing down loads of spares and accessories to sell at SSWC so at worst I can invest in another Endless Cog from him.
You're right - let's leave the roadies out of it. They absorb too much energy from the car momentum - let's just smash all 'Tuscan' <spit> <SPIT> buildings instead.
Posts like this always make me laugh - you're telling us you've never speeded on a suburban road, never overtaken on a white line passing a truck doing 20km/h on a straight road, never forgotten to indicate when turning, never rolled through a stop street when you can see the road is clear, never ridden your bike through red light when there's no traffic etc etc? Careful about implied selective morality - it's a slippery slope to hypocrisy.
I think the roadies weren't too bad to be honest, but if you do see them again and feel the urge to knock them over please do so properly and smash them through that wall and then into that tasteless 'Tuscan' <spit> monstrosity of a building. I can deal with Jo'burg's roadies but Jo'burg's pseudo-Tuscan buildings offend him no end. Don't even get me started on Monte Casino - hey maybe you should take out the whole Cycle Lab bunch one morning as they ride past that monument to low-class taste?
I watched some 37 year old Canadian doing some insane things on a Unicycle on ESPN last night! Cycling along a narrow handrailing on a bridge 80 above a river, and jumping 1m gaps on a massive cliff face, and riding single track Greg Minnaar would love Hopefully you guys will be equally impressive and entertaining at SSWC
Gotta love these one word answers. "Spark", "Epic". How about engaging your brain and providing the OP with some insight into why you chose a particular brand?
You can't go wrong with either to be honest but purely terms of bang for buck you're getting better value with the Scott. However buying a bike is partially objective and partially subjective. Objective Price Warranty Service Components Weight Sizing Subjective Riding enjoyment Looks Brand appeal Good luck!
My setup is also approaching 20 years old now and needs an upgrade but at the time it wasn't bad given that I had little money: Denon PMA250III Amp Denon DCD825 CD player Technics SL7 direct drive turntable B&W DM602 speakers
Or just do MTB races and not worry about tactics, oncoming traffic, taking your turn, potholes, bunch crashes. You, your bike, the trail - he who's fastest wins.
OK gents - how about Crater Cruise 2012? For athletes of your abilities this should be around a 4 hour ride, so even if it's an ultra marathon in distance (105km) it's more of a marathon (80km) in terms of time. There's a lot of flat district road riding which will test stamina (XCM) and speed (XCO), some steep technical (ish) climbing and descent in the middle to check out some basic bike skills and some bone jarring corrugations and veld sections to see who can suffer the best. Best of all it's only a month away and it's local for both of you.
All good and well if you weigh less than 85kg else those Crest rims are far too weak and you will break them. There's no case of shallower head angle is better. It all depends on your personal preference on the bike's handling.
I rode probably 2000 I spent 2000km on the Elixir 5's at the start of this year and eventually got rid of them in favour of 2012 SLX brakes with XT ice tech rotors. The difference is night and day. The Elixirs were always noisy the minute the trail gets dusty or wet, they faded completely on long fast downhills (descending the Mast in CT neccessitated a stop on the way down for the brakes to cool down so I could at least stop the bike further on down the mountain). The caliper casting quality is so poor that squaring up the front caliper on the fork takes 10 mins of fiddling. The levers feel cheap and nasty. I'm told they're a PITA to service. To the OP: You should be able to negotiate a better price for 2012 stock from your LBS which should make the price difference bigger. I would then buy the 2012 (much better fork) and ask them to do a deal for you on swapping out to some 2012 SLX brakes rather.
Luckily yous not a small oke so yous belt can like to be long enuf to sommer fit on yous bike. Us skinny okes would has to join our belts togever to makes a drifv belt and then tow the ovfer oke with the geel slang.
I rode the northern section (Transvaal side) yesterday. The route is indeed a rock bed so lower tyre pressures are a must if you want to avoid permanent blurred vision. But the rocks aren't an issue from the perspective of cutting your tyres. I'm running regular Rocket Ron's on my training wheels with no problems there and if they can survive those rocks then anything can. The heavy rains on Saturday night washed loads of sand across the road making for tough going, but this would've cleared by the time Crater Cruise happens. I can't say that the corrugations will be any better though
One good thing about how strong you are is that you will be a long way ahead of me at SSWC. I don't want to be in front of you on any downhills - I'm not saying you can't ride a bike it's just that gravity is an irresistable force and my 85kg loses out to your X? less 120kg
Nice to see Momsen being smart and saving weight/money fitting a rigid fork. Those suspension forks fitted to kids bikes are completely pointless - heavy, no control in the suspension movement and let's be honest the kids don't need them at their weight and their age.
Sabie is a tough ride but if you're advising your client/s rather consider the Garden route 300 which is the same weeekend as Sabie. 3 days, 300km, 5200m of climbing - that is certainly not a full-dress rehearsal (not much is), but it's a lot more than Sabie. Probably the best 3 days racing I've ever done.
