Jean123

No worries. Enjoy!

Have a chill pill man. I was referring to said rocky section... No need to be condescending about someone else's technical skills. Clearly yours are vastly superior and well done to you on that! But just because I found it tougher than expected doesn't mean I don't spend time on my bike and/or worry about the stuff you mentioned. PLEASE don't bring the roadie/surfer aggressive vibe to MTBing! I enjoy trail riding & ride it as often as I can. Normally it's not a weak point for me, so maybe I just had an "off" day skills wise today. Still enjoyed the day & look forward to tomorrow.

Sheez, I didn't think it was easy... Some of the single track stuff was as or even more difficult than anything I experienced on W2W. In short, it felt longer than 65km and more climbing than the 1350m claimed. But I might be wrong as I don't use a GPS. I might also just be feeling a little sorry for myself after a bad tumble when riding on one of those section that run on a ridge. (I HATE those things! Why can I cycle in a straight line on level ground, but ride like a drunk bastard as soon as the trail is on a ridge?!) Anyway, I'll take a teaspoon of cement tonight & HTFU to be ready for tomorrow.

I'm really looking forward, but a bit nervous too I have to admit. By the looks of the comments on last year's event it was seriously tough...? (Saw a pic of a handlebar that had cntr-alt-delete pushed on it) Did they change the route or are we following more or less the same stuff?

Are details of the routes available yet? I'm curious about the total elevation of the 57km and the 38km events.

Hi Maximis, just a quick follow up. Did your conversion work well? Did you leave the red (existing) tape on the rim when you applied rim tape? I have the same Wheelset & I'm planning a tubeless conversion too. Bike shops charge an arm & leg & I'm all out of arms & legs.

Keeping a close eye on the weather forecasts... I'll suffer enough even in the event that the weather is perfect, so it'll take some serious motivational speaking to get me to do it in the rain. Total ascent looks brutal! Did Oyster Festival 80km, and if that was 1300m of climbing as they claimed, this 1900m is going to be a b*tch!

Took my bike for a wash 'n lube yesterday. Friendly guys, great prices so I wish them all the best! Some real bargains! Very happy with the feedback they gave after wash too. Online shop should do nicely; service prices very competitive. Thumbs up from me!

Update: the info on the website has been updated. If the mistake I think they made (labelling "road race" info instead of "mtb race" info), has been made, the total ascent looks to be between 1300m & 1400m. Have a look on the site...

Thanks for the feedback! Must be honest, its not an easy decision. Waiting on prices for the GT Karakoram 1.0... But I don't know which will be better if they came at the same price. http://www.gtbicycles.com/2013/bikes/mountain/trail/karakoram-1-0 Oom Kaspaas, is your Merida also the 2013? If so, where did you buy?

Hi guys I'm in the market for a 29er with decent specs, but nothing spectacular. Due the need for an XL frame, I'm unlucky in that there aren't that many floating around the classifieds section... I've started looking at buying a new bike & just getting on with it. I've come across two deals that both look good, but I'd like some advice about which is the better deal. I can get a GT Karakoram 2.0 (2013) for R7000 Specs as follows: http://www.gtbicycles.com/2013/bikes/mountain/trail/karakoram-2-0 I can also get a Merida Big 9 TFS-500 (2013) for R9700 Specs as follows: http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_za/bike/2013/52/MTB+Hardtails/Big.Nine+TFS+500 Your opinions on which is a better deal?