Pax_

...sorry thought I could help with above, but misread the issue...

The new map shows the route staying on the R102 from Kabeljous to Fountains Mall. The climb is about 100m in 3km (with the last 900m at 5%), before levelling out to the finish. https://www.bikehub.co.za/gallery/image/5725-tb-finish/

http://www.actionphoto.net/ but the event is not yet listed there. Also some photos on the event's Facebook page.

The Trans Baviaans site (http://www.transbaviaans.co.za/page/trans_baviaans_route) links to here http://tracks4africa.co.za/maps/specialmaps/ Not KML but GPX.

It depends on what you want to do. I used to MTB quite a bit some years ago and then took a break until Nov last year. I dragged my old bike from the garage and started MTBing again, so in some ways also a fresh start. I realised that I wanted to ride relatively competitively, but also in comfort. My old bike (a decent enough 26" did not give me this, so I upgraded to a 29er dual suspension. My ride is comfortable and I can realistically aim to finish in the top 30 - 50% of the field. I would not recommend that you buy a 26er and further recommend you consider a dual suspension. You really need to decide what is important to you and then decide.