leona

i adore my epic but i just wish id known what an absolute nightmare it was going to be to maintain. this is only (so far as i know) true of the s-works bike which is apparently not designed for joe bloggs who doesn't have a full time mechanic. strikes me as a bit stupid that they sell them to people if its so unsuitable. its an amazing bike though, if i was buying again id just buy one down from s-works. its such a well balanced bike, its brought my riding on so much as i really can trust it. do it!

Does anyone know when/where registration is?

who wants bloody medals for every event? i want a medal if i podium at a decent race. i've got a gold and bronze for regional cyclocross champs from home and those are cool and have value to me but couldn't care less about a finishers medal. some local races at home you get a trophy for podiums. there comes a point when you don't collect them coz they have no value when you get them so often (v small fields so often just finishing means podium). id rather a tshirt or failing that, less entry fee and nothing at all! sorry, i realise that sounds quite aggressive! didnt mean it like that

mine came with 690, i would definitely not go narrower on a 29er. ran 580s on my 26in which were fine but big wheels need big bars for steering. i got 710s with the idea to put on bar ends but now I'm used to the width it felt too narrow with bar ends. 710 feels perfect to me and my epic is small. I'm prob 157cm tall or so. mine are 710 flatbar with 9deg sweep id say to her to stick with them for a bit and see how she gets on before chaining anything. its a different bike so she needs to get used to it. no sense changing anything yet.

i should be going but gonna drive from hermanus.. 4am start is cheaper than staying the night before

You doing 24 or 6 hour? Impossible to answer without knowing that!

Who won in the women's race this am?

Funny, I thought today was really disappointing after yesterday. Highlight was g spot but yesterday was so full of highlights I don't know what was best. Horses for courses I suppose..

What would you like then ideally? I've only done a few races here so I haven't got much to compare to. I thought the climbs were worth it for the descents. Much prefer longer less steep ones mysel and don't mind a bit of walking every so often as it takes a bit of strain off my legs ad shoulders.

I was just really thankful the commentator was wrong when he said 2300m climbing. Not sure where he got that from but thank god it was wrong! Hard day but so good, really enjoyed it. Some of those descents were soo steep!

having trouble downloading the route map/profile. not sure i really want to know but how much climbing is in the 120km?

Sh*t. Plans to drive from hermanus both days not idea really!

Nope, longer route. The flyer seems to say 9am which is why I asked.

Fantastic! Was bummed that it didn't feature in the national series for next year so this is great. A week is fine to get over attakwas. Itl have to be!

is it really not starting til 9 each day and how comes friday? don't think theres any holiday on? just a random week day race?

I've got to say i really didnt have any issue with the start time. if there had been more climbing (i thought 900m was advertised but only did 700) then it may have been an issue but as there wasn't, i don't think there was any point when i felt really hot until prize giving. the water points were great, i hate having to stop so it was brilliant on that front. i do agree about the course though, having riden the eselfontein race the day before it was a massive disappointment as that had so so much single track. I don't mind a bit of tar but there needs to be something interesting in there too to offset it. real shame everyone left so soon after, there wasn't really any atmosphere there.. great prizes though and such a lovely location. i suppose my real gripe is the fact that i didnt know the a and b were being set off together until 1 min to go! when was that decided?! i thought the bike wash was great. my bike was minging from the day before and they did a really good job on it. didnt have to wait that long and could wait in the shade so no complaints there!

i don't normally listen to dance music unless I'm running but i downloaded Aviicis album and I can't get enough of it. listened to it continuously though both races this weekend.. the best track is called 'hey brother', i listened to it sometimes 4-5 times in a row. made me pedal harder each time it got to the main i guess climax of the song.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3mYhXl3OMQ best bit starts from 1.30 in roughly. imagine climbing and just as you get near that part of the track you are just coming over the top of a massive climb and you can see for miles and miles around you just mountains as far as you can see. thats what I'm always going to think of when i hear this song.

easily missed

oh for gods sake. you should all try racing in a british summer in the cold and wet. that will teach you to appreciate the heat!

it says on their website lack of sponsorship. http://www.grapeescape.co.za/index.php/press-release/

sounds brilliant but not sure how i can get there for boxing day! bit far to drive in the morning..

so is there any way of linking it up?

ive emailed the race organisers but no reply. id really like to ride the day 2 route again but not sure if I'm allowed to ride it all or not (obviously not the bits inside buildings). any ideas?

is there any way of getting some basic directions? i don't know the area at all and haven't been able to find anything to help me!

i know! isn't it great! and i'm having a second summer so winning all round really