linnega

Sad that bells are seen so negatively. Always better to let people know you are behind them. Just because you ring the bell doesn't mean you are expecting people to dive for cover on the trail/road.

You can use those snap-on pacing charts as an indication of pace, or the watch as a stopwatch only. Honestly, most of the other functions are pretty useless during Comrades especially when "one foot in front of the other" becomes a mantra. The best alternative though would be to borrow a watch with a 12 hour battery for the day.

Very sad news indeed. Barry and I never met face to face, but we had many discussions on this forum, publicly and privately. Condolences to his family. May he rest in peace.

Why would you waste money on a dropper on a hardtail???? Not to mention that extra 300g... Just kidding - all bikes should have droppers as standard kit. I have on my trail bike and my hardtail.

Awesome - thanks Nigel. Looks like what I was expecting. So SP1 is start at Great Fall, onto the normal trail, past the dam, down gravity dice and all the way to the bottom. SP2: End of Tonto's trail down the reverse section to the river, up onto the Shaymoya drop onto the narrow track. Then I assume we go as far as the tight switchback and ride halfway back and drop onto singletrack heaven near the middle and then do the flat run to the river trail convergence. SP3: Looks like a straight run along mainline starting with the easiest high point start under the pylon. Assume then its the new fish and chips and onto homeward bound down to the lawns. Assume SP3 is the uphill section in the middle of mainline. Only part in reverse is the top of SP2 which makes it easier to ride the routes.

Sounds fun Nigel. Any hints on routes? Keen to get a few practise rides in as I'll be on a demo (thanks YT - waiting for my Jeffsy to arrive). I'm on leave on Friday next week but would really like to ride some of the routes and try dial in setup before next weekend. Happy to post some Go Pro footage for all - plan to do that on race day anyway.

I see there is a new format for the Giba Gravity enduro on 9 July - 3 longer runs for qualification and then two shorter runs to separate the men from the boys. Since I am only capable of sticking with the boys (the ten year olds all beat me last enduro at Karkloof), any clues on the routes for 3 initial runs. I assume they will be less technically demanding, but hopefully still fun.

Can take a good few days if you used EMS (Royal Mail) or Parcelforce. Can be a day or two with DHL. I wouldn't worry, but maybe make friends with your local international mail processing guy at the post office. Helps get things out quicker.

Thanks guys. Will try tomorrow.

Just broke my chain on my 11s SRAM. Anyone know where in East London is the best place to get a new 11s chain or a quick link or two?

Hey Matt. Glad to see the numbers - do we have any longer standing "Hubbers" with their original username still (vaguely) active in the (bike)hub than me? Just curious.

I'm sure I'm missing it somewhere, but I haven't seen much written about mixing and matching Shimano and SRAM 11 speed incarnations except for the 11-42 discussion and hence questions around the cassette. I currently have an XT crankset (triple with a 30T single chainring), and XX1 for the rest. Have no reason to change the dérailleur and the trigger shifters were one of the revelations of my bike build this time last year. The only minor issue I have is that the chainring is quite close to the crankarms so when there is a build up of chain gunk the chain plates push through the gunk. Whether or not this causes any additional chainwear or degradation in performance I'm not sure, but I would prefer to keep the chain running clear if I could. With Shimano now releasing a decent 1x11 option, I was considering replacing my XT crank with the new M8000 XT crank. My concerns are: - Is the M8000 crank and chainring compatible with SRAM 11 speed chain? Not a big concern as I can just fit a Blackspire chainring with the correct BCD. - Do i need a need bottom bracket? I know there are new BB's but it sounds like these run different bearings. If the diameter is the same, I wouldn't need a new BB? I am planning to buy online and from the US as I am putting a 4iiii power meter on the crank and they need the crank shortly to do the glueing for me.

Cool day out on Saturday. Anyone know where the results are being posted?

Dave/Nigel - I know you guys probably cringed as soon as you saw the topic started, but what can we expect for stages at the Giba Enduro. Got some time off the week before but will be away for most of that time, but keen to get some practice runs in.

Have been out of town - any hints on which side to start for my early ride at Giba tomorrow? Will probably still be too dark to notice new stuff on the way up.

Nigel / Dave - any reason for the registration to close so early. Wasn't planning on a run on the day before the event, so would rather be getting up to KK at between 11.30 and 12.

Thanks for the advice Nigel. Got my ride in and glad I saw the course now rather than doing a practice run in 7th. Not sure I can climb those climbs twice. Are you guys going to leave the easy routes open for the Enduro? On Jewitt's I'm less likely to hold someone up if I do the easy route at the top. Chances are 50/50 I'll make an error on that one. The second split on Jewitt's looks okay, but I nearly fell on the easy route as I was looking at the hard route instead of concentrating. On Rennes Rumble it may be a good place to allow someone to pass near the bottom where it splits.

I'll know if I'm on Lebanon - difficult to erase that from memory. The guy I'm riding with knows the trails better than me so should be okay. Thanks for the info.

Thanks. 40km is no issue.I thought it might be further but haven't ridden that way for many years.

Quick question to those in the know. I'm riding Karkloof tomorrow - do I park at the club and then ride out or is there somewhere closer I can park and then hit the trails for the Enduro?

Firstly thanks to Nige and Dave and co for all the work done to put the series together. Secondly, I am local, sort of (Durban), but will only see the trails for the first time tomorrow, so some of you upcountry folk will have ridden the trails more than me by the time the 7th rolls by. Personally, I'm not sure I'd enter if I had to ride the trails blind - need a little look to make sure I don't bale out on race day. I understand for some of those challenging for podiums you might want a level playing field. For me I just want to make sure race day is as fast and fun for me as possible.

Cheapest option is to get a 13-26 8 speed cassette for the back. Like this from Wiggle: http://www.wiggle.com/shimano-hg50-8-speed-cassette-road/ Next upgrade is to a compact crankset. Sora works fine and there shouldn't be any hill in SA on the road that needs more than a 26 at the back.

If you want to play at Giba just a little (jump the table tops, ride down Fern Hill etc) then the Trance is a better option. The wheelsize I think is irrelevant to your height. My Anthem 29er handled most of what Giba can throw at you (did last year's Enduro on my Anthem), but there is no doubt that my Niner RIP9 is better suited to those same trails and my much improved Strava times are testimony to that. I have a Trance too (warranty claim - perhaps from jumping on the Anthem) that I have recently built up, which is better than the Anthem. I don't quite understand why you are concerned about carbon v alu from a durability perspective. Having broken two alu Anthem's I'm definitely not convinced that one is more duable than the other.

http://www.polar.com/za/support/contact_us/email_polar

Awesome guys. Hope Garmin paid a pretty penny for the tech and all the hard work over the past few years.