Berg and Bush 2013

[madmarc]

are you the guy who goes to cadence? or is that your partner ? saw you in your plumblink kit after day 3

 

I'm the cadence guy.

[Mike Bike]

ha ha...a mate's heading off to the great trek now with a pair of hardtails...I reckon puffadder on a hardtail must be quite bumpy

i did it on a hardtail...no problems..

[_David_]

i did it on a hardtail...no problems..

 

+1 to quote a prevision thread "Never thought a Puffadder would put such a smile on my face"

[Stretch]

+1 to quote a prevision thread "Never thought a Puffadder would put such a smile on my face"

 

that section from puffadder to the water table before that steep bit (forget what its called) is some of the finest track out there

[TucknRoll]

 

 

+1 to quote a prevision thread "Never thought a Puffadder would put such a smile on my face"

+ another 1, I did on a HT with a rigid fork, it was awesome :-)

[Ratty]

Just a comment about the water - if you are out of water 27km into a race, esp when you know the weather is hot, are you carrying enough water?

 

Normally I'd agree with you, but this was different.

 

We had loads of traffic in the first bits of the singlespeed course so it took a lot longer than it should have, then finally when we were free from traffic we turned into a gale-force very dry headwind. The first 20km's took over 2 hours. By then it was over 40 degrees and the liquid we were carrying was hot which doesn't help to cool your body down at all.

 

Then you get to the famous Spionkop and have to get all the way to the top to get water.

 

Remember this is after people spent many hours in the heat the day before which made a huge difference. Think a lot of people were suffering from heat exhaustion.

[Ratty]

Hear Hear ,how do you run out of water on Day 2 when all you had to do was ride +- 23km to to the top of spioenkop. FYI it took some guys over 6 hours to to do 40km of which 15km was straight down hill - maybe its time to have quailfying criteria to enter multi day races (just like two oceans and comrades) - I think a lot people were way undertrained !

ha ha...a mate's heading off to the great trek now with a pair of hardtails...I reckon puffadder on a hardtail must be quite bumpy

 

Puffadder isn't the same as last year, a lot of rocks have disappeared :-( Was really disappointed, although it was still fun. Last year I was called a maniac at the bottom and this year someone said I was like a bat out of hell on the one long downhill.

 

Riding a hardtail, I found Day 1 the hardest. Bezuidenhouts pass (nice long downhill) is rather bumpy especially at speed and some of the grass tracks......

[Ratty]

Hear Hear ,how do you run out of water on Day 2 when all you had to do was ride +- 23km to to the top of spioenkop. FYI it took some guys over 6 hours to to do 40km of which 15km was straight down hill - maybe its time to have quailfying criteria to enter multi day races (just like two oceans and comrades) - I think a lot people were way undertrained !

 

And what would that qualifying criteria be?

 

For a lot of people it was technical abilities and not fitness that was the problem. My dad had a mechanical which we eventually got fixed on the top of Spionkop, but it meant we were the last to leave with the sweeps behind us. Quite surprisingly we finished more than 30 minutes ahead of a couple of teams.

[MK Killer]

Great race... in fact unbelievable... feels like people will complain about anything... the forecast was that it was going to be hot... so should have packed two bottles and a camelbak (ie maximum)...

 

There was so much right with the race and almost nothing wrong... why harp on about the few things the minority had a problem with

[Sniffie]

I must say what an awesome event! Just some random comments:

 

1. Hats off to Gary, Sollie and their sons and the whole team for the well marked trails. It must have been a difficult decision to make 4:00 am Saturday morning to re-route stage 2, but after the wind we experienced it was obviously the right one. One of the local farmers remarked that it was one of the worst days wind wise he had ever experienced in his life. Hendrik, Sollie's young son was already on the trail at 4:30 Saturday morning marking the new stage route.

2. Just because a garmin or polar registers a temperature of 50 C does not mean that is the real temperature. The garmin is in direct sunlight most of the time and will obviously register a higher temperature than a thermometer in full shade at 1.5 m above ground level, the way temperature readings are supposed to be taken. I doubt it if the temperature at Emseni on Saturday was much above 36 C. But it was hot on the trails for sure especially when the wind was from behind on some of the climbs.

3. How about breakfast on Saturday without any protein?? Not even some cheese. Just carbs, carbs and more carbs. Not a balanced meal in my book.

4. I have got pains in places in my legs I have never experienced before, but I pushed myself to the limit trying to keep up with my young partner nearly 30 years my junior and 10 kg lighter.

One of the most enjoyable 3 days of my life!

[davetapson]

Shawn, it's not the terrain, length of route or the climbs, It will be the best 2 day ride you will do. But if its hot take enough water in fact take more than you think you will need. I'd rather ride with an extra 2kg of water than go through that heat without water again. The problem is, that your use the water over your head and neck to cool yourself off as well as drink it, so you use a lot more than you would on a normal race.

 

I have a 3l camelbak that I normally fill to 2l. I did this for this race and had no probs.

[davetapson]

I must say what an awesome event! Just some random comments:

 

1. Hats off to Gary, Sollie and their sons and the whole team for the well marked trails. It must have been a difficult decision to make 4:00 am Saturday morning to re-route stage 2, but after the wind we experienced it was obviously the right one. One of the local farmers remarked that it was one of the worst days wind wise he had ever experienced in his life. Hendrik, Sollie's young son was already on the trail at 4:30 Saturday morning marking the new stage route.

2. Just because a garmin or polar registers a temperature of 50 C does not mean that is the real temperature. The garmin is in direct sunlight most of the time and will obviously register a higher temperature than a thermometer in full shade at 1.5 m above ground level, the way temperature readings are supposed to be taken. I doubt it if the temperature at Emseni on Saturday was much above 36 C. But it was hot on the trails for sure especially when the wind was from behind on some of the climbs.

3. How about breakfast on Saturday without any protein?? Not even some cheese. Just carbs, carbs and more carbs. Not a balanced meal in my book.

4. I have got pains in places in my legs I have never experienced before, but I pushed myself to the limit trying to keep up with my young partner nearly 30 years my junior and 10 kg lighter.

One of the most enjoyable 3 days of my life!

 

Indeed!

 

I looked up your results - you did a hell of a time!!.

 

My race, well it was more relaxed lets' say...

[ichnusa]

Good point: check the weather forecast - yr.no and accuweather.com (not weathersa.co.za) - and prepare accordingly

[Sniffie]

Indeed!

 

I looked up your results - you did a hell of a time!!.

 

My race, well it was more relaxed lets' say...

Thanks! Sorry for missing out on meeting you. No Vodacom signal near Emseni.

[Fireface]

This was the most awesome event I can imagine. My only criticism is that the singletrack was so phenomenal that everything will be boring by comparison. I guess I'll have to come back next year. Unbelievable stuff, the first 35km's on day 1 and the descent off Spioenkop were easily the best riding I've ever had. I think a lot of people ran out of talent on some of those trails.

The organizers were amazing, everyone was always friendly and every detail was organized so well. I never once had reason to say "this is Africa", except for the beautiful scenery and the weather. If you blame the organizers for that you really have a problem. Take up scrabble maybe, and stay of the internet?

[rouxtjie]

This was the most awesome event I can imagine. My only criticism is that the singletrack was so phenomenal that everything will be boring by comparison. I guess I'll have to come back next year. Unbelievable stuff, the first 35km's on day 1 and the descent off Spioenkop were easily the best riding I've ever had. I think a lot of people ran out of talent on some of those trails.

The organizers were amazing, everyone was always friendly and every detail was organized so well. I never once had reason to say "this is Africa", except for the beautiful scenery and the weather. If you blame the organizers for that you really have a problem. Take up scrabble maybe, and stay of the internet?

Great attitude brother....and fully agree.

 

Ag man moenie moan nie....eet jou kaas en jou polony