sias

i just phoned them and kakked on them from a dizzy height. ffs!!!

speak to Arno de Beer @ 0721519541

According to our calculations he would have been 2nd. But that's the way it goes... Maddox - this is much, much tougher than TB. It doesn't need anything else than the "longer and hotter". I can highly recommend it for a total mental and physical challenge you will not soon forget!

Byron - very well done! I see you missed out on the 15 hours you set as target, but now you know what you're in for next time! I recall mentioning not going too hard in the first 2 stages... Dion and Byron - you would have ridden with a friend of mine - Dana Schutte. He was rider 1019 on a black Felt Hardtail, tall guy and would have had a racing cap under his helmet. He came in with Byron and Christo in 17:20:39. He got lost at checkpoint 5 after missing the turn out of the river and rode for 6km before realising he was the only one going down the river! Chris Lotter - ek dink ons was saam by die laaste waterpunt waar ons van die pyplyn afgeklim het - ek het ingekom saam met die ou met die moerse tires op sy oranje fiets. Volgende jaar moet ons met Aidan praat dat hulle die paaie skraap, maar ek sal my Vipa bring met 2.4 bande vir die sand en sinkplaat. O yes, I managed a "middle of the pack" 20:45...

Lekker my gat gesien vandag! Ek moes eerder in die bed gebly het. En daai 30 grade C waarvan hulle gepraat het was seker in hulle drome - dit was baie nader aan 40! En wil jy vir my vertel daar is nie een werkende donnerse padskraper in die hele flippen Vrystaat nie? Ten minste was daar lekker koue water en koeldrank met ys by die waterpunte... Hoop more se 40km gaan beter...

Yip, matches mine from last year.

Read my reply to vicanza, post #32. Technical is not a function of the vertical ascent alone.

Absolutely no comparison! I did a 4:28 last year on the 106km. For van Gaalens I did 3:58 on the 70km and for Hakahana I did 3:35 for the 61km. The only "technical" bit is the downhill after the Suikerbossie climb, which itself is rideable. The last bump up the granite boulder is also steepish, but very rideable.

How do you get the altitude displayed on your polarpersonaltrainer files? I got an RCX 5 as a gift and rode with the GPS. It shows the map of the ride, but I cannot get the altitude to display and I did tick it in the personal profile, so it should show.

Sharkie, how did you do on the 65km?

Ride the Hakahana, they said. It's easier than Van Gaalens, they said. They lied! Bastards! I had two ungraceful "dismounts" and bent my rear wheel about 15km from the finish. I lost my sense of humour somewhere in Gerotek with those loops, but still finished in 3:35.

Mr Singlerack and I ended up in a small little group of about 7 guys and we came in at 2:45. Wind made it interesting...

Well, it's in my back yard, so it'd be rude not to... I'll be taking the 29er for some speed work and to iron out the bumps left in the road after sanral "fixed" it...

I heva a solo number available if any-one knows any-one who would be interested in joining us.

Polar 725 and Pyro lights? Thought I was the only one with that problem!

Solo riders do the full 370km. Teams ride the first and last stages together, but alternate riders on the 2nd to 5th stages.

For one, it's bone dry! Not a river crossing in sight and it hasn't rained in the last 5 years I did it... Then, it's 140km longer (obviously), but for a two man team that should not be an issue as you will each be doing only 220km/229km, depending on who does what stages. This is a relay, not a team event as the Baviaans. For me the Baviaans was much easier...

Going for the win, I see! Just to give you an idea - Dan Craven did it in 14:54:33 last year with the help of a 4 man team that rode with him... Just saying...

Helpmytrap - What time are you going for?

Hehehe, not really... There is about 2900m of climbing of which 2100 is in the first 175km of the race. The biggest climb is in stage one - 10km up the Kupferberg Pass. Pacing yourself - survive the first three stages and see how you feel. Not like me, blowing up after stage 2... Riding with others - not so much. We were very spread out in the last few years - just you, the cars, the dust and the dark. Take some quality music because it gets very lonely at 2 o'clock in the morning. This will be my 5th attempt and the second at the 370km. Hopefuly I can make it 3 out of 5...

Got wet, got dry, got wet again and as I put my bike back in the car, the sun came out in all its glory. Started in DL on my 29er and basically did a 110km time-trial on my own to finish in 3:23.

Tim - The two un-manned water points on the ultra and 75km did not have any water! It was just a big green drum on a table! Fortunately some medics and techies had some Coke and water at the second one where the 75km and 105km routes joined. It seems a Continental Race King is not the front tyre to have on this type of route...

I did a 2:46 from B batch.

Be very wary of the EA90 wheels! I have a set and had to replace two sets of bearings and eventualy both hubs had to be replaced. The rear hub is not sealed as Johan said and when the dirt got in there, it made a moer of a noise. The front hub failed totally after the bearing apparently seized ! So far I haven't lost any spokes... Make no mistake, the wheels are light and very, very fast, but I had to wait more than a month for the agents to make up their minds if they were going to replace under warranty or repair. They wanted me to pay!

I know!! It was during the Desert Dash when the bike was loaded on more than one car and things were hectic and I was not always on my best... Lesson learnt...