dave303e

there are better packs from Salomon for this. Remember you are going to need to access food a lot, like every hour or so, and that has no front pockets, things like compass needs to be near by, and you don't want to hav to pull bag off every time.

WAA Ultra MDS opens up big time. That pack is designed and is the official pack for marathon des Sables and has a lovely front pouch, great for accessing things on the go... http://www.waa-ultra.com/en/backpack/68-ultrabag-20l-mds.html Otherwise the Outthere AS 3 is pretty decent as well and used by many AR athletes... http://outthereusa.com/as-3-backpack/

Also please if you are right handed put your front brake on right hand lever,this whole bicycles doing it backwards is not ayoba. Most people are right handed, most of your braking done with front brake so your best fine motor coordination should be on your front brake. It's not about how hard you can pull the brake, its how hard you can pull it without locking the wheel or going over the bars...

If you read your recovery supplements correctly they have all of the vitamins you need. IMO if you are actually pushing hard you should be on some form of a protein shake for recovery or like the usn recovery pro stuff, and they have the vitamins in there already making other vitamins un neccessary. But again, my personal opinion and what works for me...

just a note, I wouldn't post my bank details on an open public forum hey...

I doubt it is arm pump, arm pump is from holding on too tight and the forces on a mtb handlebars are far to little to cause that in my opinion. Also if it was arm pump he would have described the sensation of forearms feeling swollen like someone stuck a rugby ball in them and inflated it. I used to race enduro fairly seriously and you know when you have armpump, also get it when rock climbing and is usually from pulling and hanging on as opposed to pushing downwards. on an enduro/mx bike you are usually hanging on to the bars as the bike pulls away from you. I think it is continuous downwards pressure on the wrist at the worng angle that is causing circulation issues and moving seat forward might force a more upright position shifting some of the weight from hands back to the bum.

I am always nervous of the sachets, a few of them contain alocohol, and the nav doesn't need to have that near it even at the best of times... But as you say, no substitute for sleep... the next debate is bivvy vs sleeping bag vs both(If you feeling strong)

Motul make really good fork oil as well and they make down to a 2,5w I think.

hahaha, the few dumbasses with experience in trying to push hard for days on end with little sleep... on a side note, have you or anyone you have raced with ever resorted to caffeine pills to stay awake, particularly 2-5am when the sleep monsters are on the prowl?

2 hours a night sleep is plenty but as said above, stop and take that 2 hours from day 1. At EA we took 2 hours each night the first 2 nights, and then realising short course cutoff was going to be tight we went straight through days 3 and 4 without sleep and most of the team were ok. Be very critical on time wasted doing stupid things though, if you riding with others you need to look at things like pee, jacket and food breaks. If one stops then all stop and do the same thing one time, otherwise you stop so 1 can take jacket off, then 5 mins later stop again for the next to take of jacket and so on. If you riding alone its a lot easier. Also if you decide to stop and sleep, stop and sleep! If you are not eating, sleeping, cycling or fixing your bum/feet/bike/maps you are wasting time. You will find it very easy in your tired state to faff around doing nothing of importance, esp before/after sleeping, a 2 hour sleep can easily become a 3-3,5hour stop. Same goes for food breaks. I would love to do these, but leave is an issue, and with EA there is just no budget. Also Munga, Double Moon, Wartrail, Munga Run and Expedition Africa in a 6 or 7 month stretch will hurt... A lot...

bike set up, go get someone to set up everything for you...

also remember when training, often you are building muscle and losing fat, so the scale may not change but your shape could be changing... http://www.outsideonline.com/2099916/how-tour-de-france-diet-has-changed-over-decades An interesting few articles on the food of the tour...

We had a funny Puffy encounter at Mankele a few years back. There where you go under the R539 after the first climb and that section in the forests. Anyway you go under the road in culvert and it wasn't quite tall enough to ride through, so I went through first and came out the other side took a few steps and started stretching my back out. A friend was behind me, as he got out the tunnel he stopped and stood up, he had his right hand on the seat and left hand on the handlebars, bike in front of him. At that exact moment a smallish puffy fell from the drainage channel coming down from the road above and landed between his foot and the rear wheel, that moment of shock was crazy. He paniced hard and dived back into the culvert and throwing his bike forwards towards me, luckily the snake landed awkwardly, took a second or two to figure out which way was up and then disappeared into the long grass. Was a pretty scary moment but alls well that ends well, its awesome we get to experience nature whilst out cycling...

We have done a few such trips, did jhb to pmb in december, booked into backpackers along the way and even squeezed a 40km hike in up to Mount Aux Sources and back to take a break from riding the one day. Must say as an AR enthusiast I prefer going old school with a maps and compass instead of a gps...

I fly usually once or twice a year with my bike bag and here is what I have found- Emirates good luck, you will pay, went over for Trans Hajar mtb race a few years back and it was issues, ended up paying a large amount. Since then have always flown SAA, you get 23kg luggage and then for sporting goods 23kg for a bike, there are size restrictions but your usual bike box fits in easily, all of which at no extra cost, my 2c is SAA is actually worth it if you travelling with a bike. My most recent flight was to Zambia a few weeks back on SAA and everything went smooth. And remember you can never pad your bike up enough in it's box/bag, they don't love your bike as much as you do...

just add a playstation... Also maybe start running a bit...

Did a lot of that route in the dark, when it was raining having not selpt in 36 hours trying to nav with a map, but they are awesome trails...

Here's one that is very doable the 1 Zambia mtb race, beers on the sand bar in the middle of the lower Zambezi river at prize giving after 3 days of amazing rugged riding for the win... http://1zambiamtb.com/

also track your training accurately, that 1 hour at the gym is often 45mins training and 15 mins faffing( this happens 4 times a week means you have actually done 1 less hour than you thought) and that long weekend ride is sometimes only 40km it just seemed long having stopped for coffee and what not. This can affect your weight loss and fitness goals

I have to agree with this, you increase weight over months and months and then expect to reverse that cycle in weeks... Diets are often sold as get rich quick schemes, IMO rather go slightly less intense on the diet but for a far longer period of time, will also put less stress on your body. This will however take a lot more determination and mental strength though. But that is just my 2c...

Castrol DWF on everything before ride and after wash...

if it is just a service and new seals then maybe consider DIY...

This caught me out very badly this year(more than once sadly) with products not past expiration daate, but a lot of these sports drinks have taken all preservatives out of their products. At double moon by the 11th hour of racing I could smell and taste my bottle had gone off and the fluid I had drank in the hour or so leading up to that realisation had already upset my stomach. I had an interesting following 12 hours stopping to throw up every few minutes and trying to get as many nutrients into my body for the second 24 hours of racing. Needless to say I am very nervous now anything that says 'preservative free' can stay on the shelf. I often mix bottles the night before and leave them in the fridge and have been fine for years until they all went preservative free. But that is stomach issues more than dizzyness usually? I think you need to be weary about that mybulen pill before the race...

we have permanent orienteering courses set up at mtb parks up here in GP and a fun MTB orienteering series, but sadly the numbers are low and I reckon this is why there aren't any cape races really. As mentioned it is mainly the adventure racers that do this kinda thing. If you want to do it, low budget with friends for fun we have a training thing we do up here which can be fun and is good training for navigation(important for the gps generation coming along who can't read a map) . NGI-ngi.gov.za will give you a digital copy of the 1:50 000 topo maps(maps used in EA and other adventure races) for free, you must just go with a hard drive and copy it at their nearest office. We then take turns setting checkpoints just on rural dust roads and open land and often popping in and out of various local bike parks, mark them on the map, print the map or even just parts of the map and then nav them whilst running a gps to check routes and checkpoints afterwards, but it must be in backpack and out of sight. You can do the same in mtb parks but just be clever when setting the CP's so you don't go riding the wrong way and pissing off other cyclists. You can load KML files from the gps and these digital 1:50000 maps into a GIS program if you want to be very accurate in checking where everyone went. But that requires some playing around with GIS(which can be fun) can also be free using opensource packages such as QGIS. Let me know if you need help with any of that as I am in that profession.

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