I’ve been down this road extensively - weight feeling too far forward when pedaling.
Counterintuitively for me - has been more a factor of saddle too far forward and too short of a stem.
Is the saddle pretty much in the middle of the rails - newer bikes have a steeper seat angle which can push you forward.
Take note of the current saddle position and move it back by 10-15mm and see if it feels better / worse.
I’d avoid the first one personally (no shoulder on roads and not the best areas) but it’s one of the safer areas to ride in SA.
Get out and explore - from Hilton towards Howick and out on the Karkloof Road is stunning.
And as above re around Grace College - park at The Avenues Centre and seek out some singletrack.
https://strava.app.link/on02RjxBB2b
Gravel bike / MTB?
For this use case 11 speed is perfect as he shouldn’t run out of gears at the top end (fast) and the races are quite short.
As mentioned way cheaper to maintain / replace, lighter etc too.
Accommodation hopefully booked in Three Anchor Bay - thanks for the recommendations.
Asking for a friend...does anyone ride the race route with a little detour to do the full Mast Climb in Tokai for fun?
Not going to be fast on the MTB anyway so may as well do extra some cool stuff...my friend says 🤣
The two year old is currently one of those rare small creatures that DOESN'T sleep in the car so we're going to have to split the trip over three days to maintain sanity haha.
Hopefully she changes by next year...
Thanks in advance - road tripping with little kids though the Karoo to arrive 2-3 days before so own car but it seems the main challenges of this race are surviving registration / expo, getting to your batch to start and not getting kamikazied by a rogue ebiker 🤣
Thanks for this - we’ll have a car likely so registration admin we’ll tie in with a Cable Car trip or Platteklip mission if I really want to murder the legs before the race 🤣
But yes that area sounds really good an the train ride vibes would be awesome I’m sure 🙏
Talking about 14th March 2027...
Say that I wanted to try out this CTCT thing.
Where is the best area to stay that is slightly out of the carnage of central Cape Town / Sea Point / Greenpoint and would allow a simple ride in to the start and back to accommodation afterwards?
Not scared to have a good day out, so 20km ish "warmup" and 20km ish "cooldown" would be ok.
But for a country bumpkin what area / routes to the start offer the least traffic / chance of getting mugged / lost etc please?
I'll be on an MTB -maybe try fit in some of the gravel / trails that go around table mountain?
Thanks in advance.
Well it was one of the best stories in endurance sport that I can remember - 2 guys and one of their dads in a camper up against the might of the factory teams.
Why do we feel the need to knock people when we’re behind a keyboard?
I will always support them for being human and for the passion they bring to our sport.
I cannot fathom how deep the elites can go with hours left to race, recover and go again.
I have like one all out effort and that’s me limping to the end of a race / ride 🥴
Does anyone know if there are any hardtails this year?
Would love to see a “different bikes of the Epic” feature - hardtails, older bikes like that guy who finally got a new Scott last year’s old bike, cheap bikes etc.
If you aren’t racing might it not be better to squeeze on a 36t (if possible) and some Aspen STs and use what you have?
I owned a Scalpel Si and it was a truly great bike as an all rounder
Surely just make sure you’re in the bunch at the end - after having to pull back in.
Hope brains win out over adrenalin and hearts for Matt and Tristan
