I finished in 2011, leisurely 21 days IIRC. The 2 things that really stood out for me in the race: 1. The attitude of the people who do well. Martin D cam into Ntsikeni with a respectable gash on his shin needing a good couple of stitches - this after doing PMB to there in one push, Yet he remained positive and upbeat throughout, and that positive state of mind, taking whatever happens and shrugging it off, was common with all people who overcame the odds. Conversely, others planned everything down to the last detail, and when this started to wander off the plan, as they are guaranteed to do, they panic and lose focus and motivation and thing spiral to the point of abandonment. Take it seriously, but know things will go wrong and accept it, readjust your goals and keep moving. 2. (Almost contrary to the above) People drop out due to real horror stories, make no mistake... But if you trace it back, in a lot of cases it started with small issues that were left to fester, not attending to issues with you lights, sorting out the shifting on your derailleur etc, that leads to hectic situations days later. Sweat the details, attend to minor issues, because they don't go away by themselves. This comes down to requiring meticulous prep beforehand My recipe: I really studied the route before, MANY nights spent on Google Earth covering ever meter of track. I rode hard in the day making sure I get in before dark - I'm confident I had one of the fastest moving averages that year, this allows you to sleep 8h at night and recover well for the next day, so you can hit it hard again the next day. I did no tricky nav at night (I think I only came in 3 times after dark, never after 9pm), as even the most experienced riders get hopelessly lost at night. You want to avoid that at all cost IMHO. After spending a night out it takes days to recover, I've been told. I rode about half the route alone, it worked for me. Be very weary of riding in a group, its easy to lose 2-3 hours of daylight in a group because every hour someone needs to stop and faf, and then all of a sudden night time catches you, All the costly nav mistakes I made were done in a group environment with experienced RASA riders. Looking back it's tempting to say I'd have been better of alone. Simply put, my plan was to cover max ground in the day, recover at night. It worked for me and my goals. All of my advice can however be null and void depending on your race strategy. One thing I am 100% sure of, its the real deal, it is the soul of mountain biking, you traverse holy ground.
