Squier

Looks like a nice family affair. Will chuck the family in the bakkie and be there. 240m of climbing over 60km? I've never ridden anything that flat!

Wessel, how rideable are these mountains? I.e. just steep or steep and rocky? If I remember correctly Vodacom hill is quite gnarly towards the top.

Sounds like another eina one! Like this past weekend's Van Gaalens. Looking forward!

Looking forward! The good ol' Frosty game! My last two teams were dismal. Hopefully this year they pull up their socks!

Essentially, yes. But Brailsford made it clear that he selects the squad and that the squad has not been finalised. Chances are slim at best though. He hasn't been on the same training camps that the probable Tour squad went to.

What a great day of racing! Quick question; did Saxo and Sky not realise that Talansky made it into the break until it was too late or did they just not care thinking that they'll catch thrm later. I can't fathom how you would allow someone with only 39 seconds on you to get into a break, especially such a big break. Like mentioned, the SS coverage started too late so we missed the actaul move. Contador is looking like he's back to his old self. Pretty sure it was the fall that hurt Froome. The two of them were toe to toe on the first 3 days. Shaping up to be an exciting Tour.

Is it just me, or does the link to the event page not work?

Even though I decided before the race that I'll walk the descent, I didn't... when over the handlebar twice and then walked the descent. Tough day out. The first 40km is proper tough mtb marathon terrain. Climbs were hard but rideable. That descent though is not fun. Sense of humour failure on the last bit of Oom Piet, but that river singletrack put a smile back on my dial.

Living the dream man! Just living the dream...

6 categorised climbs today, although nothing bigger than a Cat 2. Doubt it'll be a day of fireworks from the GC contenders. Perhaps a day for the break.

Check your spam folder. Mine was there. I'm in D with an index of 40.

Nice to see the bio passport system working. Thing is, they detected suspicious levels, he never tested positive, if I read correctly. Makes you wonder how many more there are that is getting away with it.

Stop thinking about it. Just enter!

Also look at your week leading up to the race. Some short but high intensity intervals the night before gets the muscles going and makes a huge difference to your starts.

Oh yes!! Welcome back! This was my very first race ever. I've missed the last couple before it was stopped as it was the weekend before sani2c. Looking forward to this one again! Booked and entered!

Congrats on the win dude!

I did?? I honestly can't remember. What I do remember is that I definitely didn't ride last year's descent. I had a 1 year old at home so my medical aid was long gone! Couldn't afford to take any chances. ;-) This year I'll be klapping a portage again. I now have a 2 year old and a 3 month old, that broken clavicle won't go down well with the folks at Discovery. No shame in going for a leisurely stroll down that mountain.

Interesting that the XCO guys keep on whipping the Marathion riders. I understand that their conditioning will be tops as we are smack bang in the XCO season but surely the Marathon guys would've built up to this race. I guess the fact that the race finished with a large singletrack section in Cascades also played a big role.

Great showing by Daryl. 22nd in a strong filed takes some doing. Getting straight into it today with a summit finish on stage 1! Should be a cracker! Today will already give a lot away in terms of who'll be wearing yellow in Paris next month.

Sjo, big move!

I saw that Vulture trail photo on instagram. Looks pretty hectic but the views look sweet. I have no idea where that trail is though, but if Erik says it's gnarly I'll stay away. I remember not thinking much of it when he said Pofadder is tough... It was an eina day... (with some awesome views)

Sani2c makes you fall in love with smooth, manicured trails. All our trails up in GP are really rocky... still fun, but rather tough. I've come to the conclusion that Sani makes you soft...

RESULTS: Marathon jcza 03:16:18 - GC 89 Ferret69 03:18.20 GC102 RossW - 3h21min57s GC 128 TooTall : 3:25:50 GC : not good enough Blitzer 3h31 GC 202 DomP - 3:40:57 Squier - 3:58 WezGK 4h12 davetapson 4:16 GreatGusto 4:22 Half marathon Corrie Kuilder 02:00:14 GC 195 Mr Winter 02:01:03 GC 212 Riaan Coetzee 02:01:52 GC 223 Nickc 01:57 GC 165 DeCleated 02:08:41

I'm in. Looking forward. I rode 6 hours on the Nissan Marathon last year. Snapped my gear cable early in the race and rode single speed for most of it. Needless to say, I'm still not keen on joining the ss revolution. Looking forward!

Some really awesome shots! It just keeps on getting better. Let's hope my little guy can pull this one through!