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Yes. I know I am gonna rub a few people up wrongly with that statement. And everybody are entitled to their opinions. I have lots of respect for Burry. Visited his home at Port Shepstone and his memorial, and my 2 sons rode the MTB track at his home. For me there is no real or not real MTBer. If you rocket up at Jonkers with an old 26er and ride a few trails there I will respect you just as any other person that pulls off a new Spez Epic from the bike rack on his Porche. We cannot start making little cliques to classify MTBers. We all love riding our bikes on trails.

So a poor person can thus never be a real mountain biker? I have all sorts of problems with the above statement by Burry. Maybe he never knew how the entrance fees and equipment prices would spiral out of control, and thus out of reach for the average person. That statement might have held water then, but not anymore.

It is all about money now. As soon as the pro ladies finishes they land those helis because they get billed heavy for flight time I think.

I have already invested in some land at G-Spot. A few square meters after the big jump just after the road gap jump.

For those that never heard of the G-Spot trail, and those that does on how to ride it.

Just saw on the pictures now it seems my son's riding buddy at school, Callum, was part of the Toyota Specialized 91 support team.

Glad they finished at Coetzenberg. Just way more accessible. Also more symbolic of our sport heritage compared to Val De Vie.

Irish is not too bad, depending how high you go. I normally climb it to the 5th contour road. Most riders should be able to do the Jonkers meander in about 90 minutes. Upper Firehut might catch a few tired riders. I myself never ride the very top of Firehut. Just too rocky and tight. EDIT: Make that Jonkers meander about 2 hours. I see they are going to Contour 7 of Irish from that profile that Dale posted.

Rob would never be able to sit still for 1 hour, never mind 5 hours.

Nope. Just me talking **** as usual.

That is to be understood. Even local riders who are used to riding in the heat would have suffered on Stage 4. Wellington can get damn hot when the wind is not blowing. I almost never ride Welvanpas in mid summer.

I see they start the day with my favourite trails at Jonkers. And end the day with a Eden and G-Spot.

I think Nino will probably try and go for a stage win tomorrow. That is if his partner has it in his tank. At least it is a short and fun one.

My old boss used to say I call a spade a mechanised digger. I was last in the line when tact was handed out.

I am enjoying Daryl Impey and Craig Colesky's videos of the real Cape Epic. I know exactly how it feels when you have nothing in the tank and the sun wants to kill you, and every little mountain stream is mana from heaven.

I have been saying that earlier in the week but I was attacked by the Bike Hub faithful. Already with the first stage Lucas was being pushed by his partner on some climbs. Eventually if you ride outside your body limits for too many days your body will shut down.

Competition looks meh this year. Only 10 teams within 1 hour of the leaders, and the 4th team 20 minutes down.

Seeing that Fox fork, I am reminding myself that it is time I replace my old Reba.

Seems Speed Company Racing saw my comments about their performance. :-)

Clearly Nino have still not caught onto the fact that the Western Cape is littered with devil thorns this time of the year. Especially after the good rains we had last year.

Tomorrow is even hotter than today.

The Epic is still a spring chicken. A long week is still waiting. I stand by my comment.

If you have the cash you can pitch up. But the first day usually sorts out the unprepared.

Speed Company not at the level they were on previous years. I think they will fade out as the week goes on. Today will be a very tough day for the stragglers at the back.

Welcome to the internet, and humanity in general.