Time off

Here is the cause for my 6kg weight increase:

Two and a half weeks in Madagascar

Riding with Sarah - Epic Stage 3

What a coincidence - these are Sarah's photos - and we are lurking in the background...
This was our bad day - and now we have photographic evidence.
(sorry for ruining the photos)

World MTB Champs

Italy is hosting its third UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships - this time in Val Di Sole. Go check out the website and cheer for the South Africans taking part:

XC Mens Elite

Johan Van Zyl
Justice Makhale
Ben Melt Swanepoel

Downhill men elite

Greg Minnar

Andrew Neethling (Somerset West local)
Jonty Neethling (Somerset West local)
Greg Saharin

4X Elite men

Greg Minaar

XC Women elite

Sara Muhl
Yolanda Speedy (I was at school with her)

XC U23 men

Renay Groustra
Burry Stander

Junior men XC

Rourke Croeser
Adriaan Louw

Junior Men DH

Hayden Brown
Luke Davis
Pierre Van Der Merwe

Junior Women XC

Caitlin De Wet
Mariske Strauss

We stand a good chance of getting some medals this year, which shows just how SA cycling is improving

Some pictures:

WP Downhill photos

Before I begin, just let me state how crazy these chaps are. It is certainly impressive to watch, but I have no desire to do what they do. Utter madness (I know people think that what we do is mad, but this just takes the cake).

Before the downhill, we did a bit of a ride in Grabouw - nothing hard, just searching for singletrack, and having fun. It was good to be back on the bike, and surprisingly I didn't feel that unfit.

The dam at the Grabouw Country Club

Anyway, here are some photos from the WP Downhill Champs

A drop off about 1,5m high

The big jump, with big air, and big crashes!

Gutter Road

My personal photographer (Bonte) took these pictures of my most favourite piece of road in the whole world. If you have already forgotten, read all about our daring move on Stage 5 of the Epic.

I think I want to have my ashes scattered alongside this road.

What a thing of beauty!

Now why couldn't the whole Epic be on roads like this?

Trans Baviaans

Since most visitors to this site (real visitors, not my mom and various other friends) seem to end up on Velo Tales after having searched for some info on TransBaviaans. With my fifth Baviaans coming up this year, I thought I would put up some handy tips and hints.

Here is an email I got 5 years ago (copied verbatim), and I still use it as a guide:

1.Spare battery or light

2.Spare clothing if it gets wet

• 3 pairs on cycling pants
• warm clothes for the evening
• rainjacket
• halfjacket for windchill
• armwarmers
• booties for cold and rain
• 3 pairs of socks for ride
• extra socks in evening
• earwarmers
• balaclava
• hoodie
• 2 pairs of gloves - one for warm and one for cold
• legwarmers or long bike pants(leotard type)
• newspaper can be used in early morning and discarded
• plastic bags for shoes if it rains.

The guy who wrote this was quite worried about getting cold - half of that stuff is overkill, but rather have too much warm stuff, than too little.

3. Camelback drinking system or water bottles

4. Energy drinks and bars - get not only sweet ones, but also muesli type - one may get sick of sweet stuff, so consider potatoes, sandwiches,coffee and rusks, fruit.

5. Spare tubes, chainbreak, spare link, spare tyres, pumps, chainlubrication, spare chain, puncture kit

No wonder it takes the back markers so long - they are virtually shipping an entire bike shop through the Baviaans bit by bit. Remember, it is a team event - each person doesn't have to carry their own spares.

6.First aid kit

Somehow this has ended up in my CamelBak for 4 years now. Thankfully we have never had to use it yet

7. Camera

Nice to have - the scenery is quite spectacular, and now that the backup vehicles don't go through the Baviaans anymore, proof that you rode it is harder to get.

8. Tents

Some people do sleep along the way, or you can sleep at the finish. Obviously, this goes in the backup vehicle, and not in the CamelBak.

9. Water - in the backup vehicle

10. Bakkies

Although with the vehicles no longer going through the Baviaans Kloof, any vehicle will do.

11. Trailer

DO NOT TAKE A VENTER TRAILER THROUGH THE BAVIAANS KLOOF. Been there, done that, destroyed a trailer. And it wasn't even ours!

12. Space blankets

13. Gas stove and gas for coffee

No wonder it took us 18 hours

14. A light that works off either gas or car battery.

15. Wood,grid and meat,bread/rolls - you could do with it after eating energy bars all day !

Very sound advice - why isn't this #1?

Probably less likely -

16. Sunscreen
17. Sleeping bags
18. Prozac and condoms
19. Only joking
We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into
20. Helmet and sunglasses
21. Towel and toiletries
22. Spare legs and neck

2004 - Wet

2005 - Dry

2006 - Super Wet

2007 - Dry

So, it looks like we might be in for a wet one this year.

On final thing - lights. Get the best light you can afford. But don't be silly. It is a team event, mostly on big wide roads, so the combined light of the team is usually more than enough. I rode two TransBaviaans rides with a head mounted Cateye halogen light that took 5 C batteries in a holder in my CamelBak. It wasn't great, but it did the job. It didn't cost me an arm and a leg either.



I spent a small fortune and got myself an Exposure Enduro from USE in 2006. I haven't looked back. It makes such a difference.
The better the light, the faster you go.

The race is very weather dependent. The best ride we have had was 12 hours, and the worst was 18 hours.

Oh yes - one last thing. Make sure you read the map. Otherwise you WILL get lost. You only have to make 5 turns throughout the whole race. Just make sure you make them at the right places. You have been warned.

WP Downhill Champs

Not that I have any intention of riding. I am unfit, lazy, and useless on the downhills. I just got this in my email and thought the picture looked nice.