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Jeez Maxman, ur photos are superb! More More! The coloring & composition is fantastic. You definitely have an eye for detail.

I must also applaud Nic for an brilliant course. The utoob video does nothing to justify the course. In fact, on Tuesday before Masters a 3-time world champ ballie from canada fell on the last drop (that was taken out eventually). He was fkd, didnt know artha or martha, put his tooth completey through his bottom lip. Think his blood is still on the ground. Spoke to him on wednesday & he said he entered after watching the video & if he knew it was this tuff he would not have entered coz he was going to italy to compete from here. Now thats out the window as well. We were made aware of 24 hospitilisations on tuesday alone! I must admit i also took the b & c lines all week of practising & only on the saturday practice rode all the a lines exect the double jump & log drop off. Everything considered I had a whale of a time.

Did my 1st last year & managed to come in 2nd solo rider. 17h48mins. Have to train long miles, full race distance not required at all. Start is at night which is great coz most of riding is at night - can't see the hills. Nutrition is crucial! Pacing urself crucial. To climb Rooiberg pass after u've done 280kms is a bitch & the pass is ruff. Its very cold in the early hrs of the morning. Lights: I rode with a magicshine 1000L & it lastest me 12hrs45mins. Only used settings 1 & 2. 2 only for going downhill. Rode start with light off, enuff lights around you.

I will be the first to buy a Rotor ring for xx1 if they make one. Have been on q rings foreva. Q ring will give you 2 rings in one due to what happens at your power & weak points. for example, a 30 tooth will cover 28, 30 & 32 xx1 rings all n one.

I emailed their headoffice & they responded saying they are presenting xx1 specific chain rings at Eurobike end of august.

Been on it for bout 3 weeks now. It is faaantastic! Only thing is the gripshift which k@kked on the 3rd ride. Apperently its a problem, check out mtbr. Started with 34 blade, gone to 32, I'm a big guy not built for climbs. Its really great . Put it on a tallboy & it rocks. Thinking of getting 28 blade for masters world champs in august.

The stand from Mica is a Torq Craft I think. Will go look in garage. Bought one, its great, R699, comes with a device that holds handlebar straight as well. Will post pics.

Has anybody recovered their faded saddle? If so, was it succesfull (did it look goodas new?) & where did you have it done?

Hendrik at SAWheelworks is great. Maybe the only wheelbuilder with an actual spoke tension guage! Drove out to him just to get my wheels laced.

Take extra kit with, dont wanna ride in sweaty kit all the time. That goes for shoes & helmets if you have as well. If you have 2 helmets, pre-rig the one with a headlight so you dont have to sukkel when the times comes to night ride. Just swap over.

2011 in a team - got 6th overall. 2012 solo & got 2nd (same lap count as 1st - 30 - but his last lap was a faster time than mine. No intention of going 4 podium, was training for epic. Rode 24hrs solid, no sleep, ride 2-3 laps, eat something, ride, etc etc... In a team of 4 you are looking to ride every 1.5 hrs or so if u guys do a lap each. At night do 3 laps each & u can get couple hours sleep. Night time is the best coz the course is quiet & u can fly. NB, the brighter your lights the faster you can go at night. Headlight essential for singletrack. Meurant said he wants to take out that last little etter of a climb, replace with another switchback instead. Biggest obstacle was driving back home sunday with no sleep. At night scared/inexperienced/slow riders do hold you up on the singletrack but just take a chill pill & enjoy it coz its gr8.

I think i've got a similar problem. I have fitted a dt swiss carbon shock on my tallboy. Had a machine shop make me alu bushes to make it work. It works but I think what happens is that dirt gets inbetween the bush & wall of the shock, dries & then makes a k@k noise. Wd40 takes noise away temporarily. How do I get theses polymer bushes for my dt swiss shock. Please help. Thanks!

Has anyone had any success in stopping the excessive rattle on your R1 brake levers? Apart from keeping a finger on them all the time, please advise how you did it. I've mailed Formula directly but they dont seem to understand what I'm asking them.

Same here, although I ride a tallboy now, I rode my 29er large anthem up & down anything. This year alone did oakvalley 24hr, epic, transkaroo, transbaviaans, karootocoast with alot of training miles in between. Frame is solid!!! Friends of mine have cracked 2 each of xl sizes, they are now on the carbon versions. I've stripped my frame to the bare aluminium to investigate if there's any visible cracks but nada.

What tyres are u guys riding with on sunday. Low rolling resistance? Not much grip needed I suppose. Spez renegades 29x1.9 would do the trick?