beanz

Really cool race. The race starts off with Egbert, a distinctive Marico character with a beard down to his waist, blowing the kudu horn. The first 12kms follow the valley up the dirt road, pretty fast with some climbing. Then it turns off into the bush, crosses the river, and hits a long climb up into the kloof above. The next 30 odd ks is just marvellous stuff, with great views into the valley and great riding, fast punishing descents down slippery loose shale, several river crossings, some short steep climbs, and a nice fast section wending through the river valley. All of it rideable, with the possible exception of an uphill section halfway through that just gets ridculously steep. The last 12ks is hoofing it back on the dirt road, mainly downhill. By that stage the body and bike is a bit relieved, because it's taken a bit of a hammering. Overall a very satisfying ride. The shorter distances are less technically demanding so there's really something for everyone. The whole vibe around the event is super chilled and has that special Marico flavour made famous by Herman Charles Bosman. The community gets involved - the post race vibe at the Feesterrein is very cool, with good food made by the locals. There's marimba players and other live music, not the usual rubbish blaring out at most events. All proceeds from the race are apparently fed straight back into uplifting the community. Conspicuous in their absent are the big corporates and in general any form of commercialism. I think the organisers are just too chilled to interact with sponsors.

Anyone other than myself doing this one this year? i.e. Tomorrow?

I think this Enduro format is the way of the future. I think these events are going to start popping up all over the place. I think it's safe to assume that awesome singletrack is what people really enjoys about mountain biking, so instead of doing marathons where 90% of the event is on boring dirt roads linking the singletrack together, why not just cut to the chase and focus the event around the sections that people really enjoy. It need not be massively technical nor fly off mountains (although there's a place for that too), fun-to-ride short timed sections, predominantly downhill, but some pedaling in between is good too. Fitness vs technical skill maybe 50/50 rather than 90/10 as is the case with most marathon style races. I also see this featuring in stage races. Even multi-day races where a single day consists of several timed sections with regrouping in-between, and shuttle starts for partial gravity assistance to the increase the amount of downhills relative to the uphills. This will give people a full days riding, or several days thereof, where the emphasis is not on busting your balls for months to get fit enough to participate, or be competitive. This is the general idea: Trans Provence http://www.trans-pro...om/format.shtml If anyone attempts to put something like this together in SA, I'd be the first to sign up.

Nice work Mileage. Many thanks to you and to all those who make the spruit such a nice place to ride.

My take on chainstay length is what Brian Fantana says in terms of getting the optimal wheelbase length without compromises such as having too steep a head angle, plus: Long chainstays means the bottom bracket is further forward relative to the wheels, which pushes the riders center of gravity further forward in the neutral position. This is an advantage on steep climbs but a disadvantage for pretty much everything else. Getting the best handling possible out of a bike is mainly an exercise in getting the body weight in the right place at the right time relative to where the wheels are. And that's easier and more comfortable to do from a starting position slightly further back on the bike as it's easier to lean forwards than to hang backwards. With long chainstays, on steep downhills it's harder to get weight further back. And things like wheelies and manuals and jumps are harder to do with the weight further forward but endos and OTBs are going to be easier!

Anthem 29er for the sort of riding I mainly do. Trance 27.5 140mm for the the sort of riding I'd like to do (more of at least).

Bikebits doesn't seem to be open for business. I contacted intltrade directly- they told me they don't sell directly to the public. I'll go via the lbs.

All of the above I'd say!

I think they are different bikes for different usages. How competitive are you? I got Giant (aluminium version) and it's light for a dual suss and the suspension is great. It good on tech stuff and must be one of the most versatile bikes out there. The carbon one's going to be lighter and faster still. I'm not it the market for a new bike but if I were I'd be keen to try out the Pyga. It's more of a trail bike and is going to be heavier, but at 102 kg's that shouldn't be a problem for you. Go for the one that makes you want to ride.

Are there any XC bike riders using dropper posts? It seems to be mainly the domain of longer travel trail bikes and beyond, and on higher end LT trail and AM bikes it's pretty much standard issue. I think that having one on my DS XC bike would also make a huge difference. I like to take on some of the more technical trails. Surely the biggest effect you can have on the overall geometry of the body/bike unit must be where you put your body. The saddle is often where I want my body to go. Not to mention taking it in the nuts a few times when things went a bit wrong. Even in cases where you don't absolutely need it, just lowering the saddle a little you can take moderately technical sessions faster and more confidently. And being more freed up and unconstrained has to be a lot more fun. All this is theory to me as I've never ridden with a dropper post. I suppose I can test it out by just lowering the saddle on the trail, but it's a bit of a bother to keep stopping and adjusting. The weight difference of +- 350g doesn't seem that bad to me. I'm not trying to win, just want to have the most fun possible on the bike. So in short I think I need one. Would be keen to know from other riders on XC bikes, is it a game changer, or just a gadget that adds weight, cost and maintenance overhead?

I think if the .tcx file contains turn by turn directions, the GPS device should beep and give you an arrow pointing which way to go. Hopefully slightly in advance. I don't think you can create these turn-by-turn directions using the Edge 500 by itself, but if you export the data (probably a .fit file) to somewhere like http://ridewithgps.com you can add the turn points to the route, and then export it as a .tcx file with these cues. Problem is you it looks like you need to sign up for their premium offering to add these cues. If you just save a course from one of your own rides you'll just see breadcrumbs. I can't say i've explored this all fully myself. The best thing would be if anyone who's done the Dusi2c using an edge 500 could chime in. According to the Dusi2c website, "The only way you can follow the route is by using any Garmin Edge device or Bryton Rider 50 GPS with the very precise route map of the Dusi2c".

I'm doing it - I'm pretty sure you can do it with an Edge 500. I've got no plans to upgrade. Obviously if I was pulling the trigger on a new GPS I'd go for the 800 now, but I'm sure the 500 will be more than adequate. Especially if the organisers can create TCX files with custom cues (ie.e turn by turn directions). See http://ridewithgps.com/edge_500 But I would also rather the route were marked.

I think there are still events like that, the trailseekers are just not among them. Too big, too crowded, too commercial.

Is the VG trailseeker route all rideable, or are there portages and queues? I've heard it's tough.

Is the VG trailseeker route all rideable, or are there portages and queues? I've heard it's tough.

Oh yea, saw a rather large buck nearly take out a guy just in front of me. It was like in that youtube video that went viral. I saw the buck flying across the veld at serious speed from a long way off, and thought oh **** here come another youtube. Fortunately the buck just missed him, because that one could have ended really seriously badly.

Hey Hope really sorry to hear this. I found this race pretty tough, mainly because I did it last year, and paced myself accordingly. I had no idea what we had in store for us - maybe I should have looked at the route profile beforehand. I was pretty much done by the final water point, so the last few kms were pure pain. Converging the routes at about 47kms just before the water crossing - what was that about? I don't mind the last 10kms, but there were nearly 30kms to go with people going at different speeds at times was a bit dangerous. Some of the sections through the game reserve were really pretty and the new route is much more scenic than last years. But as for the riding, I found it generally either unremarkable or unrideable. Not enough really nice interesting single track sections. It quickly goes from dirt road or jeep track to gnarly technical that you can't even try ride because everyone around you is walking. For the most part it misses the sweet spot. I don't think a race with so many people should involve so much portaging. But I do understand the organiser's difficulty in plotting a route (actually 4 routes) that are scenic, have the right level of technical challenge without being too hardcore, that flow nicely etc. It's a real challenge. Hopefully they can find a way to keep the routes more separate in the future. I finished in 3:37 but my name is not on the results on the spectrum sports website.

I wonder if Sani2c 2014 is also going to be GPS navigated.

From what I can gather, a fourth event is out of the question due to helper fatigue.

Has anyone signed up yet?

Take up kitesurfing - ok it's a bit out of season right now, but if I lived in Melkbos that's what I'd do. Then go ride your bike when the wind's not blowing and you feel like it.

That's good to hear. As for the entry fee, you can count on 10-15% year on year across the board.And once a race establishes itself (ie fills up) they can jack it up even more. As long as the sport is growing (and I think it is massively and nowhere near peaked) it's a sellers market. The cheapest strategy is going to be to do races when they are new and not established and move on.At this point Lowveld quest, PE 2 plett, that kind of thing. There's a real herd mentality in operation.You going to pay a premium to do the races that everyone wants to do even if it's not better riding.There may be some bitching and moaning, but the race will sell out. Next year or the year after they'll be able to remove the solo category. So if you want to do it then just pay the extra K or 2 and enjoy because the price trend is only one way.

If they're not marking the route, surely that's a sizeable cost saving to the organisers. Clearly they're not passing these on.

This sounds pretty reasonable - it's 8 hours on the longer stages. As for the GPS, can you do it on a Garmin Edge 500? Anyone do the Dusi2c on one? Or do you need to upgrade to the 800/810?

What do you mean? Cutoffs?