1000km later....

Best of luck to the two Mules about to embark on 1000km of bottom-punishing biking through the wilds of South Africa.
Here's a cheesy 'good luck' style image....
Hasta amigos.

MULE BAR safe and sound in South Africa in Knysna

The safe is full! All vitals are safe and stored away! Note the chamois cream!Knysna loves Mule Bar and we've been talking to plenty of people. The town's rammed with riders, some more serious than others. Jimmy has vowed to beat the world number 1 and you never know.

We're just off to register.

Big hello to the team at home!

guess who's riding the CAPE EPIC this year?

2008 sees the most competitive field ever in the history of the Absa Cape Epic presented by adidas. Since many pro riders who rode the race last year had excellent results in the UCI MTB World Cup, many top athletes use the race as preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. One of the top contenders is Christoph Sauser, the reigning World and European Mountain Bike Marathon Champion. Sauser, who has eleven World Cup wins to his name and won the Absa Cape Epic in 2006 with his friend and fellow Swiss rider Silvio Bundi, will team up with Burry Stander this year, the current African and South African XC MTB Champion. Other top riders racing in what is billed to be the most competitive MTB stage race on the international racing programme for 2008 are: the first Olympic Gold medallist Bart Brentjens who teams up with the 2006 Marathon World Cup winner in Mont Saint-Anne, Alban Lakata (Dolphin); last year’s Absa Cape Epic winners Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm (Bulls); former Absa Cape Epic champion and multiple World Cup winner Roel Paulissen racing with the reigning U23 XC MTB World Champion Jakob Fuglsang (Cannondale Vredestein 1); multiple Swedish Champion Fredrik Kessiakoff who teams up with the 2004 Marathon World Champion Massimo Debertolis (Full-Dynamix-RSM); Rune Høydahl who claimed eleven world cup victories in his career and Truls Haugseth (Høydahl 2); the living mountain biking legends Thomas Frischknecht and Tom Ritchey (Project Rwanda); former Pan American Champion Jeremiah Bishop and Chris Eatoph, winner of the 2007 BC Bike Race and of six 24-hour solo world titles (Trek VW); multiple TransAlp Champion Carsten Bresser and former Team Telekom star Udo Boelts (Rocky Mountain/ Cube); marathon specialist Pia Sundstedt and multiple World Champion and World Cup winner Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain Girls); two times Pan American Champion Susan Haywood and X-terra triathlete Jennifer Smith (Trek VW WSD); last but not least South Africa’s top contenders, Kevin Evans who placed third at the 2005 Absa Cape Epic and three-time Giro del Capo winner David George (MTN Energade 1).

AND the lesser known Jimmy and Alex, just arrived in Cape Town and now in Knysna. (The above must be quaking in their boots!)

Bikebins pass the test

For anyone who has ridden the Salisbury Plain Challenge before, in winter, they will know that you have to take a lot of kit to keep warm; tea and coffee etc.
Jimmy tested a new pannier design system by Bikebins in January and as you can see by the image, they had a multitude of uses....

Damo kicking up above Chesil Beach

The last of winter riding on the south coast - Moonfleet to West Bay via the Hardy's Monument