Swift01

Ok so light libation is something new us folk call it castle lites Ha Ha. Yeah come for a ride going to be a much slower but more fun that last weekend. No PR's just riding and laughs

Looks like we will meet 7.30 and no doubt get going 7.45 to 7.50 depending on the beer level tonight, determines how fast i move :-)

Yeah we going again. This time i will be riding with Kerry and Duncan if your keen. Typhoon will also be there but with so much road riding lately i am expecting him to be a little scared of rocks and roots :-)

Ha Ha we almost made a rookie mistake and had too many beers before day 1. Lucky we stopped around 10 beers or was it more.... aaaaaaah can't remember. Looks like I am taking the SS along again this year, going to be fun times

had something like that in 2002 and bought my first spez saddle. Didn't know who spez was in those days but their advert was good "hey numb nuts you need a new saddle" :-) bought one and never had a problem since

not as bad, something about the monster that just makes it tough. I would say it's tough but less rocks in the end than the magalies and the trails are way more fun.

Yeah that was you guys. Where you went wrong i didn't think much about it as he has an arrow there. Ok in your defense the arrow was rather high up in a tree, typical Eric marking style Ha Ha You much have enjoyed the first part on the downhill on those bikes

Was that you guys i came riding up behind on your way to oom piets? I was on the Santa Cruz hard tail.

Yeah when i was packing this year i just could not believe the amount of equipment and food. I still can't bring myself to eat another energy bar at the moment. But must say the never ENDER this year was nothing like that first year. Amazing how small it looks in the light compared to riding it in the dark. At least in the light you can see how far your going.

Ha Ha well you rode 5 min with me, but seems the GF and Duncan had a blast riding with you. Oh and thanx for that beer kit you presented me with when i won the raffle at the warthogs brew festival back in about 2002. Has come in handy. Small world.....

I have to say the difference from 2004 to 2013 was crazy. those days we did not know about energy juice so energade worked. We didn't know about gels or bars so ate sandwiches at checkpoints and almond nuts and a jungle oats bar or 2. We even stopped and had a full meal at the top of the MAC before we attached our home made lights running off motorbike batteries (which stopped working before the never ender so used head torches after that). i had arm warmers cycling shirt and 1 wind breaker, 26inch HT with v brakes. This year it was just race it we ha tons of equipment and food and clothing, most if which we did not use Ha Ha. Oh we did have disc brakes this time. Great for the MAC

Yeah the first ones are for the original shield, last 3 for the latest shield. May be send them this picture and say you have done 5 races but you can't make a complete shield. They could have spares they can send you to at least make 1 complete set. I have the very first centre piece from 2004 and now a 2013 medal. Talking of taking my time to re enter :-(

Yeah we can do 8. We normally get there 7.30 but chat and get the bikes ready etc.

Looks like that itch is going to grow a while :-(

I was thinking 7.30 start ride time. Was going to do strips, dagga, head to oom (although we could miss that out), church, BLIXEM, and river home via the floating bridge.... I am feeling the need for trails after all the dirt road training for Baviaans. Oh and beer afterwards...... Nice thing is if anyone wants a shorter ride then can branch off any time. Would be cool to get the whole start done together before Oom At least. What you think? Just miss BLIXEM and the ride will be easy Ha Ha

where and when you ridng VG on Sat? I am done with dirt road riding need trails bad

Weather played along for most of the race

Wow the itch used to last a year then became 6 months, now it is down to one month...... :-)

We had 6 teams from work with the last team coming in at 22hrs 22min. they took a wrong turn after the last check point. Did extra 18km. Their support guy even after the race carried in sorting their gear and food etc while they showered and slept. He finally got to sleep after 40hrs (did see him catnap for 20min on the couch). Big respect to those guys.......

Mmm little grim. Just found out why my partners daughter was giggling so much when i asked her if she could clean my glasses, which she did. Partner had cloths ready for such stuff. On problem is, it turns out the cloth was from an old pair of underpants....... No wonder i picked the pace up to the end

Arrived in JHB at 10pm last night and could already see the smog and dirt. Man wish i was on the Baviaan trails. Already started thinking there is a lot more time to be made so guess i am back next year :-)

we only turned in lights the top of the never ender. We did have our helmet lights top of the Mac for the just in case.

Agree about the stopping. We also lost an hour with check points. If i do it again it will be box 1 then next box will be top of Mac (but only emergency stuff so we may not even use it) lights real food at 170km mark and then splash at last check point. The amount of stuff i have brought back from the boxes and check points will do another 2 baviaans races

I have the very first part of the shield from 2004. Shield looked quite different back then

Almost wish i was back on the bike, eish 1100km of driving home to go. Great race, nice and fast the track this year