Martin Zietsman

Can't wait for this!

I have travelled on Emirates on numerous occasions since making this original post and never had an issue again. I wrote this post in panic and frustration after being told by the Emirates help line that I will get charged (as it seems they have told other people on here too), but the staff at the counters never bat an eye-lid and just check my bike on. Very confusing that they tell you one thing and do another. Thankfully no charges incurred yet...

Yup, that's correct. I have confirmed 4 rounds for this year (Madeira, Colorado, France & Italy) and am on the waiting list for Ireland. Unfortunately I don't have enough funding to race the whole series so am concentrating on a number of the Scottish and Welsh races.

That's correct, it has been cancelled. Fortunately, Enduro is massive over there and there's pretty much an enduro race every weekend of the year. I will now focus on the Welsh and Irish series too.

So bummed to be missing this event! Will definitely be making plans for it next year....

I had a bash at taking the KOM yesterday. Did a little edit of my effort if anyone would like to watch :

Bummed to be missing another one but it clashes with a WP Enduro race. I plan to be there for the next round and check out all the awesome work you guys have been doing...

This post got a bit more people talking that I expected. Here's an update from my trip: Flying out of SA, I had a bag @ 23kg and my bike box @23kg which was larger than 150cm but smaller than 300cm. They didn't say anything and didn't charge me extra. I suspected the new rule is so new they haven't started enforcing it yet. Flying back to SA from Nice in France I didn't want to take any chances and didn't have money to pay the expected $250 fine so I threw a lot of stuff away (tires, supplements, wasted shoes etc). Had 35kg of luggage (bike box @20kg and bag @15kg). I expected to be fined but they let me through. The lady at the kiosk did um-and-ah a bit before letting me through though. She did measure my bike box to make sure it was smaller than 300cm. I think I got lucky, or maybe they're not enforcing the new rules too strictly yet. Either way, I'll be reading the fineprint more closely next time

Please share this very urgent warning to all South African athletes, especially cyclists. After the trauma I have experienced in the past 24hrs, I hope no one else falls into this trap. If you intend to travel overseas with your bicycle, or any other sporting equipment of a similar size (surfing, wind surfing, paragliding etc). Please please PLEASE don't book your flights with Emirates!!!!! You will regret it as much as I am doing now when you pitch up at the airport with your bike bag/box and get slapped with a $500 US (R7500) charge to have your bike on the plane. Emirates advertises a new baggage policy (effective April 2016), with an impressive 2x 23kg pieces of luggage per traveller when flying from/to Africa. What is hidden in the fine-print however, is that they limit the size of these pieces to nothing bigger than a medium sized suitcase. You try fitting a bike, kit, clothes and everything else you need to compete overseas with, into 2 suitcase....in fact, just try fitting a bicycle into that space. Emirates has effectively banned all athletes from travelling overseas on their airline and I am sure there are a lot of people who's travels and plans are going to be horribly ruined in the near future. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SHARE!!!

This is a seriously sexy looking bike. I look forward to giving it a go some time. Having ridden the 150mm travel 'Insurgent' for a few months now, I'd like to add to the climbing conversation that I spend most of the time in the fully open position on the rear shock, even when climbing. Evil's suspension design, more specifically the DELTA system, is surprisingly good at pedalling and climbing. I can only imagine how much better this bike must be than the long travel enduro bike.

Does the entry include accommodation for the evening?

Love these trails. Can't wait to get back racing there later in the year. Awesome article as always Ewald and gang

Awesome insight into the team and professional racing guys, thanks

There is a round scheduled for 7 Nov at Cascades Manor if I'm not mistaken

Hi Riaanoster, I thought I would answer your first question by explaining my Cadence usage. This is as suggested on the Cadence website: Rides longer than 2hrs, less than 3hrs: 750ml of Marathon and waterRides longer than 3hrs, 750ml Marathon for first 90mins, followed by CarboFuel for the remainder of the ride, whilst always sipping on water in-between.High intensity efforts (intervals or marathon races): I follow the above steps as well as consuming 1x Energy Gel per hour. Make sure to drink plenty of water when using any Gels.XCO races: Cadence specifies 3x Energy Gels/hr. I use 1x Energy gel every 25-30mins coupled with Carbofuel carried on my bike. I sip on water in the feedzone at the end of each lap.Post-ride recovery: after easy rides I use Classic Recovery/Revive. After harder sessions, I drink Protein Fuel. Always within 30mins of the end of a ride.I hope this helps. With regards to weight gain, from my understanding of the products and their intended uses, it shouldn't have that effect, especially if used as suggested.

With a little bit of reading and research, I found that you can still race all the CSA and PPA races without being penalised. From the CSA website: Please note that the UCI rule 1.2.019 pertaining to Forbidden races only applies to Full Racing Licence holders and not to those cyclists that hold a general Cycling South Africa membership. http://www.cyclingsa.com/news-and-press/2015/2/18/clarity-of-uci-rule-12019-forbidden-races-and-csa-general-membership Only if you have a full racing license are you banned from riding. If you purchase just a membership, you can still race everything and avoid the R35 day licence fee: From the CSA website again: A member is allowed to participate in a national series event, but will not be eligible for national or provincial selection. http://www.cyclingsa.com/membership/ For most cyclists, the prospects of being called up to represent SA in an international race is pretty slim. I stressed a bit about having SA XCO Champs as my main racing goal for the year and then having pretty much no races to race (on the CSA calender in the Western Cape, most months have no races listed). I will now be purchasing just a CSA membership, will race all the PPA and Dirtopia races and still aim for Sub-Vets title at SA's. I will unfortunately no longer be able to race the British XCO #3 & #4 in June when I am over there though, as you need an International Racing Licence to participate :-( This does however suck pretty badly for the top guys wanting to race World Cups and World Champs.

It was me that posted this on the Maties group. It happened at about 5pm at peak hour. It was a solo guy and he must be very brave or very stupid trying to take on a 1.94m+ cyclist, although I don't know if he had any weapons.

any ideas who the photographer was at the event and where I can find pics?

I have a race entry available for anyone that is interested. I think you will probably be re-seeded, but it is a yellow number. I came down with flu last week and I'm still too sick to be racing this weekend. Pretty dam bummed about missing it, will make up for it next year. Contact me on 0763872490

Looking for a lift to the race on Saterday from Stellenbosch. If anyone is driving through and has a spot available for rider and bike, please give me a shout on 0763872490

Is there anyone riding the K2C from Stellenbosch that might have a lift available for me please.

Anyone know where the results for the race on 13July are posted?

It was a truly enjoyable race. I also experienced holdups when reaching the 40km & 20km riders, but they moved over or held their lines whenever I requested (a please and a thank you go a long way). Admittadly, some considerable time would have been saved had they not been there. I started in Batch H, and managed to catch Batch C riders, so obviously I had a lot of people to pass. This caused some mega holdups on the singletrack sections, but every rider out there made an effort to move over for me. Thanks to everyone that did that, it makes the riding a dam sight more enjoyable when I don't have to get off and push because someone else can ride a technical section Where the hell was all this game everyone is talking about. I think I might have seen an ant at the 56km mark, but that's about it. Giraffes, Wildebeest, Lions.......dam I was maybe a little too focused! It is very difficult to cater for every rider possible in a race of this magnitude. I personally would have preferred a much more technical track, steeper rockier descents, more churned up jeep track, tight switchback single track....we are after all mountain bikers and not roadies. XCM is extremely popular in SA due to the fact that not a massive amount of technical ability is required, I feel however, that we cannot progress if we are not challenged. We can also definately not produce the world class cyclists that we do if we didn't have races that challenged us. (ok, that long rocky climb was a bit much for the fun riders, but they did keep left for those that could climb it). I too suffered with the extra 4.5kms, but I have not yet entered a race where the advertised distance is exact. How often in life is every challenge as hard as expected. Admittadly a heads up would have been nice, but would not really have reduced the suffering at the end (for me anyway, mega cramp sesh last 29kms). I didn't hang about at the end (cramps were excrutiating), but the finish line festivites and setup was quite spectacular! Well done to the organisers. Thats me signing out, I gotta go get this crap smell out of my shoes from that swamp pit crossing........ or maybe I should leave it there for the fond memories......

Guys, the 40km and 70km is fully booked. If you know of someone wanting to sell their 70km place, please give me a shout. Couldn't register until today as pay only came in today, and now it's full. Would really appreciate it!!!