leona

Yes you could bnb but you have to factor in extra time getting too and from the start/finish. With wpic if you want to be there for dinner/prize giving/briefing that could mean having to Go back to the bnb to shower etc then come back or have to bring stuff for the shower at eh race though i don't know if that would even be possible. More hassle I recon.

Camper is the way!! I hve been very very lucky to camper for both epics I've done. You can't beat it. My advise would be book ahead. For epic book as soon as u have the dates because it was a nightmare finding a camper even in October when we booked ours. the only prob was that the person who drove for us didn't bother to plug the camper in. Otherwise there are no down sides at all!

Glad I did both the marathon and 1/2. Very different experiences. Found the 1/2 more technical which I preferred. So beautiful up there. If I wasn't going back to England I would definitely be back next year. I'm not in the results for the half.. Hope they sort it

The solution is to send any of these people to England where you can't race on public land and no farmers will open their land up so we hve no marathons...

that was the first tour i really got into and i remember thinking how amazing he was. my view of road cycling was marred forever when he got done.. bloody idiot

so back to my question... do you actually need a 120mm travel bike for the enduro section or are they just covering themselves?

this enduro route.. it says 120mm travel bikes. how realistic is that?

is sunrise earlier up there? i got up at 7 this am and it was barely light. just wondering why its such an early start if sunrise isn't earlier?

i saw one thing that said 2000m for the marathon but looks like only 1700? its the altitude thats the problem..

looks like its going to be freezing in the morning!! 3 deg on thurs night! re accommodation.. i gave up on clarens. found somewhere 15km away. you need to widen your search!

id say the first option may work out better for you

thank you! that is very nice of you to offer.. that would not happen in england

any idea if there'll be anyone selling bombs etc there? such a pain flying and having to find someone to borrow one off or buy one.

i saw one person on their own. could see the lights from a distance but not what they were til i was really close. saw a group though, that was a much safer option!

saw a few people riding there and back. seemed like a suicide mission on the way though, those roads are so dark!

it was nice. i liked the route but the last 10km not so much.. my only real issue was the marking. there were a couple of junctions where i couldn't see any markers and i managed to go wrong 3 times! once was where people seemed to be cutting through rough grass, no obvious path or anything and the markers i could see were right on the edge of the field. i went out there and then the other group disappeared. 2 junctions tho, one there was no sign at all, 2 of us went left then realised it was wrong. you could see a marker about 300m down the track the other way. the other was a road crossing, no sign i could see, marshal on the left stopping traffic and a woman waving her arms but not really making any sense! a cople of us went wrong there too! it was nice though, shame about the cold start but nice to see another part of the area and the finish atmosphere was nice even if i didnt get anything in the lucky draw

i cant find where this is.. the ppa website says church square philadelphia but googlemaps doesn't help me.. help! this does not help... "GPS co-ordinates S 33 º 40.033 º & E18 º 34866 º"

for a reason i cant remember, i booked my flights for next weeks clarens race to durban. i am planning to leave clarens after the race on sunday for durban or that area and have the monday half day to spend. i will be racing the marathon and half marathon so wont be looking for anything massively taxing on the monday hence asking for advice for those in the know so i make the best of the morning. id actually rather go white water rafting but as I'm on my own no one is going to want to take me..

sooner race for an hour and a half in 'winter' than do a marathon..

course open the day before? never ridden xco in sa, from the courses I've seen it looks way too technical for me compared with at home but i know that area a bit so I'm hoping itl be ok. id be keen to ride there the day before if i can

helpful.. no funny? yes

why do they burn it at all? not sure i understand that.

thanks very much 'isn't bad' isn't enough to justify a flight/carhire/accommodation so il look at the kzn one. looks like theres a tonne of riding to do in the week between but i mustn't get carried away! not every day you go to a world champs

is there a link to it anywhere? I've got no idea where it is or any times or anything. at least i know not to fork out for a day license to be gridded this time. what a waste of 50 rand..

seeing as the mtn series seems to have a boycott on the western cape (tulbagh excluded), its not possible to do all of them as the cost would be ridiculous. I'm doing clarens next weekend but not sure about the rest. i was thinking to do the one in kzn in june but that would mean paying to stay up there for a week for the world champs. my very limited experience of gauteng suggest the pretoria route might be a bit flat and dull but I really don't know. I'm keen to see limpopo but if i fly twice in may i cant do either of the june ones. looking for advice realy from people who have done those races or know the areas? il be leaving for the uk straight after the worlds so id rather go somewhere interesting if I'm having to fly.