Sniffie

Leaving for the race in 5,4,3,2,1... Happy and safe riding everyone!

No not crazy at all. We are a group of 6 seasoned mountain bikers, neither of us has GPS's, also planning on following the crowd. We are in the race, should be plenty of spoor to follow after roughly 3000 bikes passed on the route.

I have had my fair share of niggles and injuries over the years, and thus developed my own criteria for deciding whether to risk an injury for an event or not. If after 45 minutes or so on the bike, and after you have warmed up properly, and the first endorphins starts flowing, does the pain from the injury still feel the same as at the start, or is it better or worse? If it is worse, you know you should not risk it, and rather pull the plug. If the pain is better or staying the same, I think it is a small risk worth taking. At the moment I am struggling with some sore ribs / intercostal muscle pain after an OTB incident last weekend. If warmed up properly, the pain actually subsides a bit. Actually only hurts when lying on my right side, so I think I should be fine for Sani. The sleeping on the thin mattress in the tent worries me more than the riding!

Me.

J in the race. There should be enough tracks laid down by then to cope without the GPS?

Was there any teams / solo riders riding without GPS navigation, and if so how did they cope?

Just a thought: How long is "a nice long run"? Perhaps you are running to far for your current running conditioning? You may have the cardiovascular fitness from cycling to cope with a long run, but your muscle and tendon conditioning might be lacking? My 2c worth.

The climb out of the Umko valley especially after the adrenalin rush of the single track decent into the valley. Pace yourself and hydrate properly, it can get very hot.

Sad news is the R74 over Oliviershoek pass has been earmarked for rebuilt more than 6 years ago. Work started and then suddenly everything grinded to a halt. Don't know if the contractors didn't get paid or if they went bankrupt or whatever. Everything has been standing still for years now. The only people benefiting from this situation is the traffic controllers manning the stop and go's. Meanwhile the local farmers and businesses like hotels and lodges are losing income.

The pass itself is not to bad, it is the stretch alongside the dam and leading to the pass that is in terrible shape. It is rideable, but at extremely low speed like 30 km/h. This was 6 months ago, I am sure not much has changed. This might help you make up your mind: http://www.runtheberg.co.za/r74-route-condition/

http://www.wheretostay.co.za/dumbe2 Dumbe is Sollie Prinsloo, the famous farmer turned trail builder's, self catering cottages. The views and tranquility are some of the best in the berg! What's more; "Great wall my china", "Mineshaft", and "Sollie's Folley" is literally a stone's throw away.

I would still do the longer rides, but at a slightly reduced effort in the first hour or two. Much nicer to finish strong.

There's another possible crack. On the inside of the right fork leg, just beneath the arch. Especially visible on the second picture.

Those hairs sure are gross arn't they? Almost as thick as the tiny tick's legs. Argh!

Ouch! That looks like a very bad gash? First of all I hope you make a speedy and full recovery! You were polite with the owners up till now, but now you must make them pay for every expense you suffered due to this attack. If I were in your shoes, I would srongly concider legal advise.

There is also the gravel road option between Clarens and Fouriesburg. It goes down towards the Caledon river, and for a while you are quite close to the river with Lesotho a mere stone throw away. You will pass by the spot where the delivery tunnel of the Lesotho highlands water scheme crosses the border on its way to the Ash river outfall. From there it is tarred, but very quiet, back to the R711 between Clarens and Fouriesburg. Patchelicious, I am afraid a long weekend is going to be to short!

For some hardcore mountain biking visit Camelroc just before the Caledonspoort border post. The 30 km trail is technical in parts, and the climb to the top is very tough, but it is a rewarding experience. Camelroc guest farm is about 40 km from Clarens. WRT road cycling the R712 from Clarens to Harrismith offers a good climb and is very scenic.

Buy new. The lifetime warranty on a Giant frame (for the original owner) is worth much more than a couple of thousand Rand you can save on the second hand.

There is more than enough speculation that links glyphosate with health problems like cancer to make me very careful when handling this, and in fact all other chemicals used in the production of grain crops. It is a fact that glyphosate and most other weed killers are not poisonous to humans, so I have no doubt that if you so wish you could take a swig and still live to a happy old age. When atrazine (one of the first weed killers introduced into the maize industry in the 1970's) was launched, some chemical reps also drank a shot or two to show farmers how "safe" this new product was. The problem with these so called "safe" chemicals is, is that we don't know what the long term effect of continuous low dosage exposure would be. Some times these problems take decades to surface and show itself. Take lead for instance; it was not very long ago that it was deemed "safe enough" to incorporate lead into all sorts of every day products. I use glyphosate on a very regular basis on the farm, and because I am so regularly exposed to it, I take every precaution to protect my workers and myself, by wearing overalls, masks and gloves when handling and mixing chemicals. We also use glyphosate on our local Two River trail (with permission of the landowners) to control re growth. To clear 40 km of single track on the banks of the Vals- and Vaal rivers 2 to 3 times a year with brush cutters is a massive task. While I would not argue that the use of weed killers on MTB trails might not be in the best interest of the environment, I think the overall impact on a global scale would be so minuscule in comparison with other daily pollutants that it could be excused.

Welcome to the hub. This is where you want to be: https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/140870-sani2c-2015/page-5?hl=%2Bsani&do=findComment&comment=2555981 Enjoy the ride!

This whole debacle is such a shame. SBR is such a special place. Apart from its natural beauty the place is rich in biodiversity, and it provides a bit of a green belt in Gauteng. I am not sure if it still does, but SBR used to have the biggest Eland herd in South Africa. Furthermore it has a rich and very old cultural legacy, from the stone age up until European settlement, surely this needs to be conserved for future generations. Opposition parties should really take the cANCer government to the courts if they mess this place up. What is the chance of SBR being declared a national park?

Ftech is an italian company, dont know if the Italians are so small, but I know from previous experience to go at least one and possibly 2 sizes bigger.

Relax! You can arrive an hour and a half late for the start and still make that sub 3!

Shifting problems and gears slipping are often caused by a bent hanger. Quite often it's not bent enough to spot with the naked eye, but just enough to cause problems. Park tools has a nifty tool for checking and straigtening hangers. http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/rear-derailleur-hanger-alignment @ Op; Ask your LBS to use it to check your hanger before you spend more money. If they don't have the tool, perhaps its time for a better LBS.

I did the 60 km mtb in about 2h50. The organizers must be doing something right, because the whole weekend of events draws huge participation each year. I must say I am amazed at the amount of entrants for the mtb event each year, regarding that Ottosdal is quite far from Gauteng, and, in my opinion, without being over critical, it is quite a boring route. I know the main purpose of the event is fundraising for the local churches, but how about taking some of the profits and investing it back into the mtb event? I am sure the local livestock- and game farmers in the area will be more than willing to have some decent single track cut on their properties? After all it is them and their community which benefits from a fundraising event like this. There's enough hills around Ottosdal to create some challenging and interesting mtb routes. A lot of mtb'ers these days demand more from an event than the simple dirt road, jeep track with the odd graspol in die hol stretch, type of events. Come on organizers give us some decent trails, or we will be spending our money elsewhere in the future.