RichB

Last week while riding in Italy, we came across a true classic: 205k single-stage, 80% on gravel roads through Tuscany - on a unmodified pre-'87 road bikes i.e steel frames, frame mounted shifters, toe straps, etc. 2500 riders. Respect!

Hi Pointer, there are some great rides in the area - anything from 20-120k and some reasonable hills.. I don't know of any technical track, but if its training you want, I am sure you will enjoy the good quality wide District Roads. Most routes will be on Garmin Connect or Strava. There are usually quite a few MTBers around in December and I am sure they will be happy to share their routes with you. Enjoy!

I ride a Scalpel 1 29er and it is an incredible bike. I have used it on tough double-Century MTB rides as well as 9-day/1200k/26,000m TransPortugal earlier this year - which is very hard on bikes, and it has not put a foot wrong once. There are lots of things to worry about on big rides - this bike is not one of them. It is tough as nails. I had a good look at the Vipa frame last week and it looks great and "looks" well made, but can anyone really see how strong a carbon frame is until its too late..? It is very light, which would worry me on a frame that comes from a Co with relatively small R&D budget. And so what if they will replace it for fee if it breaks? Its not going to make you feel any better when you are walking the last 50k of a race with half your bike in each hand. The other thing is that the Scalpel 29er has been around for a couple of years now, so any weak spots in the frame will have been identified and dealt with. Go for the 'dale and never look back.

Nice.. Simple..

So I've ridden this bike 3 times in 3 days since I got it - 35k, 98k and 60k Eston Race yesterday. The bike simply blew my mind. Incredibly fast on the flats and climbs like no other bike I've ever ridden. The rigid fork is more compliant than I thought it would be in rocky sections but it does make you think carefully about your line.. In summary, I feel like I'm cheating on this thing..

I have now ridden this bike 3 times in 3 days since I got it - 35k, 98k and the Eston 60k race. It's as fast as it looks and the rigid fork was more compliant on the rocky sections than I thought. Climbing and fast flat stuff - incredible! Very chuffed..

Thanks Meezo, I put on XX shifters and the Hollowgram Cranks came off my Scalpel 1 which I switched out for an XTR triple for TransPortugal in May - I wimped out when I saw the amount of climbing.. I did a 33k flip yesterday on this bike and then 100k today and it really is an incredible ride - very chuffed. Might even go and do the Eston 60k race tomorrow.

Intense Hard Eddie 29er about to go for its first ride

before our first ride - which will be in about 15 minutes..

new Black Bike: Intense Hard Eddie 29er. 8.3kg

There is a MTB group ride from Fritz Pienaar cycles on Witkoppen most Tues & Wed mornings at 5.30am. Approx 40kms. Usually 2 groups depending on who pitches. I will start riding with the guys again next week. I suggest popping into the shop some time to intro yourself and ask if you can join in. See you there.

Never liked this oke.. Especially when he whined about missing a route marker in last years Sani which cost them the stage win. The reason he missed the marker - which everyone else spotted - was because he was so close to the vehicle he was riding behind (or drafting in my book).. Watch the video from the chopper.. IMO - Good riddance, and he deserves everything that's coming his way. He's had the (false) glory, now for the shame. His statement is hardly full of any remorse either. Im just sorry about the damage he's done to the image of SA mountain biking.. Did I mention that I didn't like this oke..?

ditto everything that's been said about this event. I've done all 6 of these since the first one in 2006 with 50-odd riders - which was the best multi-stage ride I've done.. Generally I do an event once and move, but this is my exception. If you are a racing snake, go do the 3-day, if you want a chilled proper MTB experience with plenty of friendly banter (and beer), then do the 2-day. See you there..

Since riding the Homewardbound (230k/3600m/15hrs) a few weeks ago I have developed a painful and swollen tendon in the palm of both hands. I had good gel gloves on, but the grips on my bike were a little on the hard side - have since changed to foam grips. Has anyone had this sort of "injury" before and any ideas on whether it will just go away or if it needs treatment? Someone mentioned an op... Im just recovering from a shoulder op 6 months ago from a crash, so dont want to go there again.. Any help would be much appreciated..

BTW, respect to the 63yr old uncle. The man's a machine.

Hi Edgar, Yup we took a number of wrong turns (which probably amounted to an extra 3k or so) esp in the last 10k section in the forests above Cascades - flying down what we thought would be the last downhill stretch into Cascades, only to notice that we were off track and have to haul back up to find where we had gone wrong. What zoom did you have your Garmin on?

Eish! That was THE hardest one-day event I've ever done in any (sport incl paddling, running or triathlon). I'm interested to see the stats of how many finished by the 8.00 pm cut-off last night. My guess would be around 50-60%. My GPS showed a final dist of 232k with 3580m in 14.30 hrs. It had everything from massive 12k grinds, fast long winding descents, single-track (one 7km section in Karkloof after 163k), fast District Rd, catte track (in the dark). If you want to do this ride, get to know how to really use a Garmin, get a good light with at least 3hrs running time (and I would suggest a head torch as well as a bar mounted one), have a good seconding team and train your nuts off. You have to go along way to find a tougher MTB challenge.

We have entered a Team and looking forward to the ride. There are always a few glitches with these new rides, but its all part of the experience and the guys are usually open to constructive feedback after the ride. You get a special connection with an event if you were part of the pioneer field. I remember the very first Berg and Bush in 2006 which only had about 70 riders. It was brilliant - one of the best stage-ride experiences I have had - a far cry from what B&B has become today.. I let you gius know how it went..

So.. who rode and what did you think?

I know it's a bit late, a day after the race, but if you're interested I rode Racing Ralphs (29er) and they were perfect. I loved the ride for its varied conditions with hardpack, mud, rocks, mud, tar, mud, steps, mud, roots mud, ruts and a bit of mud and I found the RRs to be spot on. I was able to get up those short sharp greasy slopes that other riders were spinning out on, I was able to keep my line on those steep slippery descents where tracks in the mud showed others had slewed off the line and they shed the clay pretty quickly once you got some speed up. Very happy with these tyres and I think they're reasonably light.

what's the general road surface like on this ride? Are there lots of corrugations, rocks, sand, all of the above.. or is it pretty smooth? I guess there is no single track and very little if any jeep track, just endless kays of district road?

I ride a light carbon FS 26" and a HT Cannondale Flash 29er - both just over 10kg. The Flash frame and seat post use Cannondale's SAVE technology which has quite a bit of give - approx 3cm, which together with the lower pressure you can run on the 29er tyres (and of the course the awesome Lefty), result in a very compliant ride and I reckon the difference on rutted or rough roads is negligible. But, IMO the long haul cruising advantage of the big wheel settles the debate - esp on ultra-marathons.

Hard tail 29er. No brainier..

Ok, so I had a nasty endo on Friday arvie and am sitting reading this forum with my arm in a sling when I should be out doing my "long ride" for Trans-Portugal on 5th May i.e in 9 weeks (its a 9 day over 1150km with 24500m ascent). Training-wise, this could not have happened at a worse time, so not a happy camper. X-rays show nothing broken, but a clear "shoulder separation" and I have very little if any movement without major league pain and crackling noises.. I will be seeing a GP tomorrow to see how bad it is, but I'm wondering if I shouldn't rather see a good Bio or Sports Physio. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

I'm from KZN Midlands and going to be in Eshowe area over Christmas and keen to hook up with any group MTB rides. Any invites will be reciprocated if you are ever in my neck of the woods - Karkloof/Notties etc. Look forward to hearing from you..