The Ouzo

9 days to go, anything can happen.

you dont need to go through dodgy area to see that. Going past Emperors Palace one morning and the coroners were retrieving a body hanging from the 3rd story of the parking lot. Also seen bodies on 2 different occasions on my Sunday route to Big Red Barn

Prepare for a possible wet one again

Racetec will also give you all your past results

I was hoping my electronic records would go that far back, but they dont. based on mileage from Racetec results I'd put it at between 2000 and 2003. If I recall though we only did it for 2 years.

no I'm referring to the detour years

I'm particularly refering the "dealers" that just buy and sell and add nothing to the deal. If you trade a car in at a respectable dealer, the minimum that dealer has to do is a quality check, valet and 6 month warrantee on the car when you buy it (this excludes the likes of WBC as they operate under a wholesale system, but they at least valet and give a quality check). In this case you know you have some sort of recourse should something go wrong, they are adding value.

Its not bad for you (possibly even me), but I'm thinking of your average 45km route entrant. They're probably not strong or fit enough (those not on e bikes) for it not to be bad for them. On the other hand, there does need to be a challenge aspect, so probably not an issue. Otherwise its just to easy.

yeah different story if you run it on saturday. but that is still a fairly long, although not as steep, climb all the way from camps bay to llundudno. At least though you'll have some spectacular views out and back.

would they not then be going in the opposite direction to the longer route ? or are you thinking of routing them another way to llundudno and then joining the long route back ?

yes, but obviously not properly.

all the suffering and none of the views.

did you buy it new ?

Hospital bend going into town is no joke, especially when you are unfit, have just climbed ou Kapse weg in the blistering heat, didnt get the tail wind you hoped for on the blue route to recover, and now you have to climb Hospital bend to get back to the finish.

But unless they are an established business I can almost guarantee they did not start off by trading in 6 figure bikes ACE, I have a mate that regularly cycles with your groups and speaks well of you. Your ratings here and feedback from transactions is good, but based on your the manner in which you always pop up in these threads and try and justify the transactions of what I would term "guys just trying to make a quick buck out of the cycling boom by ripping people off" , I would not do business with you. It will most likely not affect your business in anyway, neither of us will lose sleep over it. I'd like to think you have good intentions, so maybe have a look at how you interact in these threads because if I'm thinking this way for sure the guy with 6 figure in his pocket looking for a new bike might also just be thinking this way.

I dont see it as a huge risk. Sure there is risk involved, but the guys are doing this knowing the product will most likely move. And they certainly do not start their journey in the 80k market, they have built up from the cheapy side.

I think the biggest problem is the lazy buy and resell dealers that add nothing but profit to the deals. Nobody is saying you cannot make some money, but do a little bit of work for it. On one hand a feel comments on ads would help to call out these guys, on the other hand we have seen these can get out of hand or personal. Its tough, I'm not sure what the answer is because clearly teh free market system is flawed.

So EpicRideWeather was using DarkSky for its weather forecasting. DarkSky was apparently acquired by apply in 2020. As from yesterday EpicRideWeather have switched to getting the weather forecast from Apple Weather. Apprently the data is more accurate, the downside, you can no longer do long term forecasting like this. The furthest I was able to forecast into the future today is Saturday 11 March.

love reading about these "tours" . Makes me lus to do something similar everytime I read these types of threads. Keep the reports and photos coming.

I got sine stickers with the sleeves I bought last year. My daughter, having just learnt to read, goes "Sis dad, why do you have stickers that say I heart boobies ?"

At the 947 there were a few people holding up the I ❤️ boobies boards. When I said "me too guys, me too" they looked very confused.

I'll hook onto the back of that flanel train as you lot fly past me.

When I got my new bike i obsessed with keeping it showroom clean. I found i was then not riding when the roads were damp or I'd get grumpy having to ride through a puddle etc. I'm much happier now that I'm not so obsessed. For a road bike. keep the drive train relatively clean. I wipe down once a week and lube. The rest of the bike. If I've done a ride that I've dripped lots of sweat on the bike I'll give it either a quick rinse or clean, otherwise it now only gets cleaned when really dirty or just before a race. Not sure if this is the most water effecient way, but I spray it down with a hose, then clean with a cloth and small bucket (+/- 1 litre big) of car wash in water. Rinse and dry. i do this on the lawn so all water that comes off is watering the lawn.

thanks Its this section that I wasnt sure of. Last time I went Bedford to Alberton I routed through a bit of a dodgy area that then brought me past WeBuyCars etc. and into Alberton. Your route looks safer.

looks like new research has been done its on the internet, so it must be true