janneman72

Read the thread. Rattlesnake said: "No I was one of the one's that started near the back and probably whipped you" with a smiley face, and I responded that if they were in the main bunch they might have whipped us with a "thumbs up". Before that I also mentioned that the first 25 odd tandems this year were faster than last years overall tandem winners, which is awesome!!! The only thing I said about the social tandems was: If the "tannies" wants to jump the line at the start, they must consider social tandems. And I think everyone will agree with that. We rode a sub 2:30 like mentioned before. Just read the thread the properly next time before getting all psyched up.

Maybe you whipped us, maybe not. If you were one of the first 10 mixed tandems in the main bunch, then my apologies, if not, well then we whipped your arses. All good fun though

I think they started at the back of the bunch and didn't run to the line, then they only came "alive" and into play at the top of Witkoppen and rode off alone from there and in the head wind of the N14 to the finish line basically, all on their own. Truly a strong team! The rest of us tried to catch them without any luck and ended 4 or 5 minutes behind them. Due to that, the first 25 or so tandems ended up with a faster time than last years overall tandem winners! A hard ride and I can feel my legs today!!!

Are you one of those who RAN for the start line???

It is hilarious to see, trust me! They look like a bunch of amateur hooligans, its actually an embarrassment to everyone who starts in a group like that and very unprofessional, its something meant for the social tandems group. I wonder where this thing started, we were so startled and couldn't believe our eyes!!!! They really needed every bit of advantage they could get because they are hell slow against the climbs...

What the freak is the deal with the racing tandems, especially the mixed tandems, that when we moved from our block to the start line after the Elites left that the wifes, about 30 of them runs to the start line to secure a frontline position when the yellow rope is still up for the block??? Its not my problem if you arrived late. They really look ridiculous and like a bunch of kids running for sweets. The worst of it all is that they dropped out at Joe Slovo so what were they really running for actually??? I think it very childish and the next time I ride in a group like VA and will run to the front of the start before the rope is being dropped and ask a friend to bring my bike to me later.... However, the real tandem guys and girls moved together and fair to the starting block and I really appreciate it.

@patches Thats exactly what I used today and it works better than purple extreme based on a quick "review". The chain makes less noise so there is probably less friction?!?! Due to the canister I think it also gets more "into" the chain. Perhaps not as environmental friendly as that Epic lube but my chain doesn't drip all over the show while riding in nature?!?! Will try it out some more :-) @chukky, I had to use squirt at one mtb race at the water point when we ran out of lube in the rain and squirt sucks big time, it even stains your frame if you ride too long in the sun. Thats for the replies guys, I will see how it goes and will let you all know, so far so good!

I ran out of my Purple Extreme oil and being a motorcyclist like many other MTB'ers I decided to lube with Motul Oil before my ride this afternoon. Any real technical/chemical feedback about Motul Oil on bicycle chains as I just figured if it can work on a motorcycles' chain it must work on a MTB? I will test it out today and provide feedback when I get back, maybe it will become the new "thing" :-)

Great club!

Spend time in the saddle, do long rides over the weekends 2-3 days in a row. Try aiming for 12-15 hours per week the last 2-3 months before the joberg2c and you should be more than fine and also be able to enjoy the ride more. No need for a trainer imo, just listen to your body.

Me and my lady team mate ride a lot and are quite competitive as a team with races like the S2C, J2C, GR300 etc etc. I've been sourcing/building up her bike and here are my 2c worth: - Girls are normally lighter so get as light bike as possible, a bike which is lighter than 15-20% of a womans body weight in ratio with a guys body weight is better to ride. You can't expect a lady who weights 50kg to ride a DS bike that weight 16kg which comes to my next point. - If you are planning to ride MTB, rather go for a Hardtail than a dual sus. Ladies have normally less power than men and dual sus bikes climbs harder than hardtails. If you do long races like J2c, I normally inflate her tyres to about 1.5-1.7 bar which gives her a comfortable ride, no pains afterwards(girls are lighter so they normally dont need dual sus as deflating the tyres works like a charm) - If the bike shop tells you that a mens small or medium 29er is too big for you, just trust your instincts and buy a 29er. Easier for the climbs, you can run a lower pressure in the tyres and you will do just fine on it. My girl/partner up'ed her game instantly by 2kmh average more and are riding with the A group men of well known mountain bike clubs as the only girl who can keep up. - A ladies saddle is absolutely NB, you are built differently than us and a very good ladies saddle is really important for those long races/rides. - Girls normally prefer shorter handlebars and stems, but like mentioned above, start wide and cut off 5mm at a time, not 50mm and end up too short.

Same problem here, what I did was to keep my road bike only for full road closure races(94.7 & Argus) and the rest I ride Mtb. Also if one bike goes for a service you have another one. Like racman said, 26" FS, 29er HT and perhaps a SS.

thanks Scale. It took me ages to get the parts that I wanted but worth the wait.

Hi Face plant, you get thru axle Niner rigid forks and I think Ritchey as well. I'm riding with a rigid fork in MTB parks, Groenkloof, LSD & club rides etc and I'm really loving it but it all depends on your tyre pressure(I can run my tyres from 1.2 bar, usually they are about 1.5 bar) and a bit on your grips(ESI grips works well). Rigid fork makes your climbing awesome and your steering more precise and it weights 600g to 1kg less than a shock(My fork is about 580g). But that's just my 2 cents....

I've tried Mary's and after a lot of riding gone back to straight bars, works great for me.

My SS baby, no bell yet :-)

1.) Heals down 2.) Look into the turn 3.) Stay relaxed at all time if possible

When will the stage race rule be implemented at the local races, it is absurd the littering. At the Oyster Festival MTB race the roadies littered the Knysna Forest ssssoooo badly, its totally disgusting. Eg. Joberg2c rules state: 11. I understand that if I drop a gel packet or any other litter I will face immediate disqualification from the event

I totally agree with you!!!

Karma, I sortof agree with you. But, if the guy pushed me off then rode I would probably have done nothing or shoulted at him at worst, but pushing a girl off the road with their hands, WTF is that all about? They should pick someone their own size and calibre. However, its because of the lack of hidings these laaities think that they king dingaling chasing for a 100th position and f&$@ the rest. i've been riding MTB'ing for a very long time and who do these guys think they are? The past 2 years the attitude and respect for other dirt riders at these races decreased dramatically. I'm sorry, but its unacceptable and I'm sure that laaitjie wouldn't do it again, he hopefully learned a valuable lesson which he will pay forward. My GF could've ended up like @meentb's GF with a knee injury or worse. PS: Pushing someone in the forest into a small tree at 10kmh couldn't have ended bad in any way, I should've shoved a 29er CO2 bomb up his arse.

come on heeldrop, you know as good as me that it's not a death threat. During Trailseeker #1 70km I decided to drop back from A batch to D batch to ride with my GF as a recovery ride after the sani2c. So when we went through the Forest @ Rosemary hill some laaitie and his friends first shouted "track", sweared at all the slower riders and then tried to push her and a other few riders off the road (in the Forest section FFS) which they did, they also thought that they are faster than the riders they just shouted at so they could get away with it. Well, they got a surprise of their life, I speeded up, caught up with them and push the one laaitie who shouted "track" into the forest trees and k@kked him out, the other MTN oke got such a shock that he went off the road and bought a small farm all by himself. The real rules of MTB'ing are(this is specially for the dirt roadies out there): - You can shout "Track" which means you are coming past by your own ways and means, thus its a warning and not a order to keep left - The slower rider might keep left if possible and safe to do so, but if he/she does, its a privilege followed by a thank you or nod - If you walk, you keep as much left or aside the track as possible, on district roads just keep on the left side - The real MTB races, like the sani/joberg2c etc states that if you litter its an immediate DQ, if you litter on our shared trail or any other place in nature you should be disqualified and rather rejoin the roadies group again. Real MTB'ers don't litter!!!! - If you push someone off their bike, especially a lady, be aware of who are riding behind her, it could be someone in the A batch, you never know so be ready to deal with the consequences.

Silverback doesn't have a real R&D dept etc like the big brands, although they make it sound as if they do, even their website silverbacklab. Silverback started in SA and "moved" to Germany to make it sound better. As PhilipV and chum said, very reliable but don't expect rocket science.

Running a 32-16 in Pretoria, Rosemary hill etc all fine.

Don't worry about that stuff, its good....so just get the bike with XX1.

the question should be "who hasn't been caught"