GLuvsMtb

I like the following: - Great to watch riders following other riders - You all seem to have a good time, always great watching people having fun - Full sections of trail gives the viewer a good feel for the ride Things to consider: - What are your objectives with the videos? Are you creating a bit of an online riding diary for you and your mates, are you looking to get others to ride the trails you showcase, or are you looking to create content and attract followers? - What you have currently is great for your friends and family to view - If you are looking to attract others to ride the trails you are showing: * Show the sections you ride on Trailforks / Strava and putting the links in helps viewers to go and find these sections to ride as well. - If you are looking to create content and attract followers, consider the following: * Try to make the videos a bit shorter. Unless I know you, or you are Greg Minnaar, I probably will not be watching 18 minutes. You rode a couple of trails, so try to split these into separate clips.

Tulbagh showing off again today.

A decent mid-spec bike that does not break the bank would be the Titan Valerian Carbon Elite. Shimano 105 all round, carbon rims with formula hubs shouts makes it a good mid-range option.

I assume your wife's setup is a 3x8 setup. First of all your Freehub needs to be 35mm in length. Below video explains why: Assuming your freehub complies, you then need to check the Bottom Bracket for compatibility with cranks you will need to convert to 1x10. https://wheelsmfg.com/bb-standards?srsltid=AfmBOortFal3cT8fA-eL4-xsVDcMfCXwmtcPWc_EnQe9g2yeO_KDM-1X Assuming its all in order, what you will need then: 10 speed cassette: 10 speed chain: 10 speed shifter and derailleur: 1 x crankset: 1 x press fit or threaded BB (depending on your current one): suitable size chainring (a 32t chainring should work fairly well): If you can find a 10 speed groupset, it will cost around R8k new for SLX or similar spec.

Piastri is on fire right now. He is probably Zak and Lando's biggest headache right now. It echoes 2010 with a young Vettel upstaging Weber. Lando's interview after qualifying showed some cracks. No doubt the paddock and (Non-British) press will pounce.

Buchu Trail Tulbagh. The autumn chill is definitely in the air

Bikes and gear lose about 50% of its value as soon as it leaves the shop floor. You'll end up getting between 25% and 40% of retail value for a 7 year old bike, provided it's well looked after.

It's a simple announcement that there are say 3 deviations from the planned route with the pre race briefing. Put extra markers and marshals at these deviations on the day to guide riders accordingly. These deviations are mostly small detours or shortcuts. I can count om my one hand when routes required wholesale changes on short notice. These are usually weather induced and then it usually means a shorter than advertised route.

I am yet to meet a land owner who is against people staying on the marked route on the day. This argument may have washed 10 years ago, but these days we have so many options in terms of trail access that feeling the need to trespass should be moot.

I honestly don't know why each organiser don't just publish the GPX files. I like information that you can get on the fly from Garmin such as distance and ascent remaining. It certainly beats trying to get some poor volunteer at the last water point to try and give you accurate information.

I've also hit the 10k km mark on Strava in 2024. I can ascribe this to needing to destress a lot in 2024. Most were e bike kms and being able to stay in zone 2 for the bulk of the kms certainly did wonders for my base. Go2Berg was comfortable, as was PE Plett and the other events I did. In 2025 I am feeling strong enough to hit the analog bike again and I have 3 main goals: 1. To manage my blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol to be consistently in the healthy range 2. To lose at least 1kg a month to get me back to my racing weight 3. To do my 5th Attakwas in 2026. I haven't done one since 2017 due to a torn meniscus late 2019, covid in 2020 and a series of large work related projects. to achieve my goals I have the following targets: 1. Focus on my eating plan 2. Get enough rest (7 hours of sleep a night, with over 70 sleep score) 3. Get quality training in. Junk miles were mentioned in this thread and I guess I did a lot of those in 2024. With a decent base to work from, and being fully recovered from my meniscus I will be swopping my e bike rides for more analogue bike rides. 4. I find that entering for a few smaller events helps to keep me honest and gets me on the bike on days when it would be easy to give it a skip. My approach is by no way scientific, but works for me. After 19 years of proper cycling (excluding school and varsity when it was essentially a mode of transport opposed to a training / lifestyle thing) I can happily say that my success rate in over 50 endurance / extreme / multi day events is about 98%. Success being measured in finishing comfortably. The events I did not finish were: a 3 day race called the renosterveld 3 day race (I succumbed to heat exposure), 1 Tankwa Trek (I did not train well enough and was overweight) and Cape Pioneer Trek (my partner and my goals were not aligned, so I rode way too hard, and coupled with a stripped freewheel body on stage 4 I elected to put my bike on the pissie-bussie that day rather than walk-running the last 18km that day).

Rule of thumb... start at 50% of what the new price is and work your way down from there.

Imagine every golf cart and mobility scooter applying for a license. The queue at the local municipal office would be longer than the one at home affairs or the SASSA queue.

I'll just leave this here... the free market is a wonderful thing.

Thanks for getting the conversation going D&D. I've done a fair bit of extreme cycling events are here are my 2c: Training - Book your training sessions out in your diary and say "no" if other factors try to interfere with your appointment with yourself as much as is practically possible. I have too often cancelled with myself for things that were not business critical / major crises. - Have specific training goals. This will ensure that you spend your training time productively. Whether with the help of a coach or on your own, pen these down and hold yourself accountable. - Cross train. Going for a run and doing some Yoga / Pilates does wonders to achieve your training goals. Cross-fit is no longer a thing, but good old fashioned functional body weight training never goes out of style and has significant benefits if done regularly Events - I try to line up a few events before the big day / days. These do not have to be expensive or involve extensive travel. A 100 miler on your MTB is good prep and keeps you honest in terms of training - If your event is a stage race, try and get consecutive days in. Take off the Friday and Monday and ride 4 days for 3 to 4 hours a day at level 2 - Use the public holidays to good effect when planning your blocks of consecutive training rides - If your goal involves a partner, try to do an event or 2 together. It helps with communication and getting a mutual understanding Equipment - cheap, light and strong: Pick 2. - I have been on my current mtb for 12 years and it still goes very well. Saying that, I am going to replace her for my next extreme event that I am planning for early 2026. - I will be replacing my Specialized Stumpjumper Carbon Expert with a Titan Cypher Dash. I chose cheap and strong. Reliability is key for me and the Cypher Dash components are both of these - If budget allows, I will indulge in an upgraded wheelset. Historically this has been the biggest game changer for me After a torn meniscus at the end of 2019 I have been on my E Bike often. I will continue to use the E Bike in my training opposed to the indoor trainer to try and stick to my training zones. I intend to gradually increase my mtb time provided my knee holds up. I elected for non-surgical remedies and after just over 5 years I think I have rehabilitated and strengthened the knee sufficiently to get onto my normal bike more often. The event I have decided to challenge myself with is Attakwas. I have done 4 in the years from 2009 to 2017 with a 100% success rate, and would love to get my ratel next year. I have done a number of stage races on the E Bike and tbh, will probably continue to stage race on the e bike where practically possible, but lets see how I feel after Attakwas...

Well said D&D. My own experience and ambitions to one day do the ride of all rides was buried many moons ago. I opted for more user friendly events ,i.e. smaller events that is more budget-friendly and affords me the opportunity to go for a clamping / guest house option to enable me to get the maximum return for my training and money spent. I also prefer solo events to team events as the team dynamic adds little to improve my race. The only time I'll even consider doing a W2W or S2C is if the entry is free, and most importantly, my racing partner understands that it's a team event. For ACE money I'll rather go and do 4 islands, or go do another BCBR and have a decent break for a week or so with the change. My thoughts go out to the rider who passed away. Hopefully the event learns from this. While we can't stick warning labels on everything, event orginisers have a big responsibility to factor extreme conditions and make pro active changes to mitigate these risks. There will always be the keyboard ninjas claiming that they've gone "soft" (these comments are ageing like milk right now), but these views are irrelevant when rider safety is concerned. There were many good things at this year's event. Media coverage was superb, the racing was out of this world and using so much existing trails gives the Western Cape so much exposure. Finally a big shout out to all that participated this year. You all have earned that medal and T Shirt, so wear them proudly.

I did the RVR a few years back. Same organisers. I may give this one a go, but will look at weather forecasts closer to the event and then make a call.

Buchu trail in Tulbagh. Tulbagh never disappoints.

Just heard that Willie passed away at age 62. Bought my first road bike from his shop in Durban Road in 2007. A Raleigh RC6000. Rest in Peace Willie.

Replaced my Spec Levo Turbo 2020 Comp Alloy last year with a Giant Trance E Advanced Pro 1 after riding my wife's Trance E +3 and coming to the conclusion that it handled better than my Levo. I changed out the 625 battery with a 800 battery and recently replaced the stock wheelset with Hope Pro 5 / WTB HTZ i30's. The LiveValve took a bit of time to get used to, but these days its very much set on race mode and I leave it there, unless I do a long ride on tar only, then I'll use the firm setting. Its an awesome bike at the price point, and although I've spent a fair bit on it after purchase, there is not much out there that beats it, even after adding the wheels and upgraded battery to the price.

A huge shout-out to the Urban Goat team for hosting such an awesome event. My wife and I had a splendid time. 3 days of perfect weather, the best glamping mtb village on the multi day circuit, all that Nieu Bethesta has to offer and great company made this a definite fixture for next year’s mtb calendar.

I had a nice easy ride with the missus out of V batch. Nearly had a run-in with the officials at the 80km water point when they suggested that the race was stopped. They allowed us to continue at our own risk citing the extreme heat. We were well hydrated and were riding well within my wife’s limits, so it was nice to be able to finish.

View from Botmaskop

I was also doing a bit of a discharge home. Essentially maxed the power setting from Stellies back to Somerset West. I do this about once a month

About 65% off road ride done on 31/12. We will be absolutely fine on our current setup.