sias

Will see how I feel after the Dash in December - maybe take a week or 2 off and then decide on entering or not.

Ride the dual and lock out the rear shock when you climb? Best of both with a small weight penalty...

Might be so, but the average joe spends much more time in the saddle during the event than Bekkenk, Viljoen and Day... Only 19 (male) riders finished under 17 hours but 110 riders took between 17 and 22 hours and 186 riders took longer than 22 hours. You can decide for yourself what you would like to ride for 20 hours + Just saying...

Last year's road conditions weren't too bad, but a dual will definitely be a better choice. The whole thing is mostly on provincial/local gravel roads with long climbs and downhills. The obvious issue is Rooiberg and at what time you go over it, but you can pace yourself to the top. The descent on the other side might be a bit sketchy, depending on the rainfall in the weeks prior to the race. The "rolling hills" after Calitzdorp can also be real killers in the heat with 280km in your legs. At least the last 10km into Oudtshoorn is on tar...

He's 71, how fast can he be?

Those aren't his! They're too beautiful!

Why? Poochie was riding in the back of the car, saw a friend running alongside and decided it would be fun to join in. Probably a 1:1000 chance of it happening and poochie and owner have been doing it countless times and nothing ever happened... Poochie misjudged the speed of the car and landed on his face...

That engine isn't going to last long and it will fall over sooner or later...

All the guys that just bought the new 3.0 Amarok must be going "FFS, there go my bragging rights for the most powerful bakkie!" 192kW and 550Nm for the 350D - I don't even want to know what that will cost...

That looks like some "corrective" tattoo-ing if you look closely

And for months after that, years even, I refused to close my eyes under water...

Where was the MTB worldcup?

Is there any other commentary than the manloving, d*cksucking brundle and co.? PLEASE!!!

Well done on finishing! I think the above might have been what got you in the end. I kept reminding myself to slow down when I felt everything was going too easy. I saw a lot of people going flat taps in the first stages and leaving me in the dust and then later regretting it. Pacing yourself from the start and not getting caught up in all the excitement and trying to stick to faster bunches, is as important as the training you put in.

And the early bird entries are open...

I had a good ride and managed to finish with a reasonable time. After the scary stories of Rooiberg descent being washed out and rutted and all the warnings to take it easy, I couldn't really see what all the fuss was about. I went down the other side just as the sun came out - maybe the sun blinded me and I couldn't see the ruts... I carried too much speed down one of the passes and hit the side of the mountain hard when I missed a turn. A few scrapes and bruises but nothing broken - it hurt more when they cleaned out the wounds than the actual crash! Three dogs had a go at me on the way out of Calitzdorp but after I kicked one in the head they kept their distance. That slog out of Calitzdorp and the "rolling hills" after the 2nd last waterpoint really tested my sense of humour and then my front wheel started going flat and I had to bomb it twice in the last 20km. To cap it all, the significant other buggered off to go do some wine tasting and I had no one to welcome me home, just the commentator with "Dit was 'n lang dag op Loftus, well done!" Waterpoints and checkpoints were excellent and nothing was too much trouble for anyone. Those date-balls and marmite sandwiches were life savers... We got home at 22:30 last night and back to work at 05:45 again today so haven't really had time to be tired yet...

Bring sunscreen!!

If that was a p*ssed off bull charging for real, there would be two very broken BMW's at the bottom of the valley and two men in ICU...

Looks like a half moon...

How are the conditions in Meiringspoort? Will be able toe get through? Then, more importantly, what does Rooiberg look like?

for the 360km???

Something like that! I think I'll be fine for the first few km - the last 355km will be a struggle though. I might make it on muscle memory and general knowledge...

And here i thought that was just a nice photo of a smiling pussy cat...

Funny, they remove a photo of a nice pussycat, but the photo of an erect d i c k head can stay...