tombraider

Two of my buddies have those brakes on their Scott 29er Pro's. If they see rain, the pads are gone! There seems to be an issue with pad clearance. And they are very noisy. I have the 2012 Elexir 7's on my Giant. They seemed OK, till I swapped bikes with someone who had the M775 XT's on. What a difference. The Xt's have far beter modulation and less effort is needed to get the same result. I immediately installed my old Xt's from a bike i wanted to sell.

That vertical line in the profile is no mistake! This climb was specially included for al those riding 29ers on a 2X10 gearing. Good luck and take along your sense of humour, you WILL need it. For those who regularly do this race, think back 4-5 years. Maybe you have blocked out that part of your mtb career. Take care with the part on the wine farms. Those off camber turns are slippery as hell.

Hi, and welcome to the hub. I actually had the same problem and found the answer right here on the hub. Search for "fixing MCDs" in this forum, and you will find a good post by Johan Bornman with pictures and all. My fork is like new after the treatment. Good luck.

Coke gives me one hell of a spike and if I don't finish within 30 min or have another Coke, I fall in a hole energywise, sort of what you explained happend to you. I have learnt to stay away from Coke during an event and enjoy it post ride. Another big no-no is to flush down a gu with coke. Instant cramping!

So you're saying that the organizer is relying on the support vehicles to help. This is a fact. Quoting from the race rules: " Permitted support vehicles and drivers will be required to assist with certain event functions at checkpoints !! These may include, but will not be limited to, the transport of retired participants, equipment, and other emergency situations." I would be the last one to complain, when I am stuck in the Grootriver gorge and need medical assistance, because there was a complete lack of marshalls, medics or any kind of official along the route. The only marked offical car was a medic driving up and down between Grootriver and checkpoint 1 in a vehicle not suited to go through to checkpoint 3. Then there was a quadbike on the Never-ender. I wonder if he caught the 2 support vehicles that travelled up the Never-ender at about 19h30? Years ago the rules were strictly applied and their teams would have been disqualified! I get the feeling, that the number of entries has by far outgrown the ability of the events emergency plan to assist the riders in case of an emergency. Just imagine it would have started to rain at checkpoint 3 around nightfall? Exhausted, cold, hypothermic... I don't want to be negative here, but we as participants need to know what we are getting into. Surely the budget of this event should allow for a self sufficient emergency team. I also share the view, that team vehicles don't belong on the route.

I think it is wise to sit back and give the body a chance to recover before putting fingers to the keyboard! We had a good ride and were fortunate to that the one fall wasn't serious and that our partner could continue the race. I don't even want to think what problems an emergency down at Grootriver could have caused. How do you evacuate somebody in the dark from there? I did enjoy the new route from a scenery point of view, although it was definetly harder than the Baviaans we know. They did compensate a little on the last section though. The waterpoints where disorganized. A lot of effort went into checking in and out, but the service to riders (offering help with filling the bottles and lubing the chain) was lacking. Especially the 1st point couldn't handle the bunches arriving. I would suggest that they switch between the routes each year, as it gives the race an extra dimension. I wouldn't have seen the Grootriver gorge, if it wasn't for this event.

Years ago (I try to block out that muddy mess), we entered a 4 man team and eventually rode as a 3 man team. When we registered, they adapted their records and we got a team finish. Don't expect a refund or the goodybag for the 4th rider.

Guys on 29ers should have stopped training a week ago! This gives the rest of the team a chance to catch up the 3 inches. Seriously, this years Baviaans' make or break will be in the head and not so much in the legs. Get a good rest on docs orders and take it easy up to the event. Get better soon! PS: This 5am training makes one sick. That's why I rather stay in bed.

The 55 was quite tough! This is full-sus terrain. Thumbs up for the waterpoints. Allthough I only took on some Coke at 1 of them, I counted 5 on the long route. Why do arrows always point toward the mountain?? Saw a bike on the back of a bakkie with a broken Carbon bar. The rider seems to have some serious injuries to his arm and shoulder. This just shows again that we are entrusting our wellbeing on fragile technology.

This topic got me to register and post my first reply after lurking for a while, so Hi to all of you out there. <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I too was considering giving up my place in the queue after 30min and grab my bike and ride, as this is my home turf. Fortunately I did persevere and, after starting at the back, had a super ride catching a lot of riders from the seeded groups. The course must have been one of the most balanced routes I've ridden with a bit of everything. Never was I in any doubt where to go and the locals were friendly, to say the least. Surely the registration was a disaster and the start was cramped. The organizers cannot say they didn't expect the turnout, as this event was a hit in pouring rain last year. The whole PPA/CSA issue must have been discussed to death. I stopped my PPA membership a year ago, as I was getting no benefit as a mountain biker. The timing is usually a mess, because some chap bailing the long route was first and messed up the seeding. I felt that I rather support AMARIDER, as their cause seems more in line with what we mountain bikers need. I believe that the PPA with their seeding system has NO place at Mtb events FULL STOP. Mtb seeding is done by having a loooong wide gravel road climb before the <?: prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /> first ST section. Mtbiking is growing at a fast pace and it is of utmost importance to find more trails to ride. Access to private land is a sensitive issue and projects like Wellington are so important to build bridges between landowners and mtbikers. Those farmers, with beers in their hands at the marshal points, were warming up to the 2-wheeled aliens in their funny attire and are less likely to point a double-barrel shotgun at one of us caught trespassing on their property. I do support bospadjie in his effort to open up the area to mountain biking and will accept the R120 as entry fee. What I got for the R30 is another story. I am sure that they will overcompensate next year and make this event even better. Look what happened to the much criticized Stb Mtb challenge. The course is too good not to be ridden!