Front brakes slow you down, rear brakes steer your ass through corners. Do your hard braking (mostly on the front anchors) before you enter the turn, release them as you turn, if you feel like youre still too fast mid corner then feather them lightly and both evenly. Front brakes are only the enemy if you grab a handful when youre already pitched into a corner and at the limit of your tyre's traction, ie on the sides of the tyre where the contact patch is smaller. Also, soften your front tyre pressure slightly if you usually have it quite hard, this allows it to 'mould' better to the shape of the terrain and give you more rubber in contact with the ground. The oke behind you was clueless if the front brakes are the route to an accident. Why then on cars and motorbikes are the front disks the biggest and not the rear. All the stopping power is at the front of the forwad rolling mass.
Worry less about what your back wheel is doing. Pick clean lines to point your front wheel through/over, the back will roll over most things. Keep your entire body nice n loose to absorb bumps. Stffening your arms and legs inhibits the suspensions ability to perform optimally. I'd be happy to show you Rietvlei's best/fastest lines over the entire blue loop. Send me a pm when next you go ride there. We've started riding Thaba in reverse (though only at 6am when nobody else is there), we're now riding UP the big rock that's two thirds down the hill from the highest point.
Yeah that Pyga was the race winner. Race was flipping awesome. I love my home trail, when I die u can sprinkle my ashes up at Barry's point. The route was perfect, just enough flat stuff to sort out the fast from the not as fast so that there wasn't a single bottle neck or place to get stuck behind somebody by the time we got to any climbing or technical sections. I'm really happy so many people have good things to say, must mean more people are starting to up their skill level and appreciate good, technical XC riding. Every1 owes it to themselves to keep visiting Thaba and Rietvlei to practice the fun stuff. The artist formerly known as BigBen, you rode like a madman, can't believe how your technical game has come along, at your tender age it proves nobody's too old to keep developing technical ability. ???? Thanks for an AWESOME morning's racing Wendell and co.
Not yet, I said I didn't want to accept his money if organising the board and substituting the original entrants details for his own ends up not being possible. I am holding onto it for him...
It's really just about value for money. I don't use/need half the stuff you get in the bags, but when u look at what u pay to enter, in this case R180, a bit more effort goes a long way. Especially when u compare it not only to other events where u get more for less, but to the same series last year. The goodie bags last year were a million times better.
Dunno if it's just me, and not that I race for the goodie bags, but considering how many sponsors there are for the series I find the race packs to be quite disappointing. A water bottle and a wrist band... I'd have thought there'd be more for what the entries cost. I've paid less n gotten a lot more at other events. Anyway, maybe the routes will make up for it...
From the google map Ben posted, none of the races, 20km fun ride or Toughee, will be going up to the top. Not even down to the fire station or anywhere near Wendell's Way or The Gulley or Twin Towers. On the map, the little white 'blocks' in the top left corner are the Thaba Yabatswana buildings, that you ride past going up the steep climb next to the electric fence. That part of the trail is only completely rideable by a select few ppl, so pointless having it in a race.
I have a 70km entry available, it was for a mate who has an SAS number board so you'll need your own, I only have the stickers... I'm based in JHB south (meyersdal). Just want to recover the entry cost, so R180 and a PM gets it. You are responsible for the arrangements with regards to substitutions etc with the organizers.
'sup guys. Sunday's are no good for me, I work. Gonna do a long 1 on sat but quite a bit faster than the last 1. Fasst will post when next we do another long 1 at a chilled pace.
The 100% FULL blue course including Fire Station, Twin Towers, Wendell's Way, the Gulley, Barry's Point, Yafta, Abraham, Prince, Samuel, Mzuzu, Lawrence, Dave and back...? Without unclipping or walking anything...? AFTER riding to meyerton n back...? You GO Burry...!!!
Tho the okes who do it every sat don't always keep it under a 20km/h average, or start as late in the afternoon as 7am. Specially when ones wife beats him n his mates have to "pedal boy" to help him stay out of hospital.
Yeah, that's how i'm reading it. Doesn't say Kia are timing the event. The Walkerville Classic was timed by SAS last year, don't see why they'd change it.
