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DieselnDust

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Everything posted by DieselnDust

  1. And the T-shirt you wear to bed so your partner knows you’re Ironman
  2. Only if they cook they own food otherwise it just garden &home
  3. Well that’s the only crowd that can afford it!!
  4. 2023 had a hot few days in the middle of the event. Prologue was at Meerendal in temperate conditions, chilly wind blowing. 2022 Had the Prologue and Stage 1 at Lourensford and it was super hot on both days. Stage 1 took out close to 100 teams, might have been more. Thats the year Speed Company won it. Stage two went to Greyton into a headwind. Easy stage but peeps in the mid to tail of the field didn't train to ride that many hours at tempo and for some reason the Gantouw Pass killed a lot of legs. another 40-50 teams left their dream behind on the gravel 2021 was in October, featured a reduced COVID protocol field of 600 riders and the easiest route ever.
  5. Sorry I think we’re saying the same thing. Alloy is only available later this year so if you want lefty it’s the carbon for now
  6. I discarded 2021 since it was an easier route in a cooler part of the year (October). less heat stress less exertion overall less obvious impact of covid after effects. ps: after effects aren’t limited to heart attacks and strokes. There are respiratory and metabolic after effects also
  7. Ah I was not aware that the alloy ocho 120 was ready for release yet hence only in carbon for now. Back end of 2024 for the alloy is the info I have
  8. Well said. i will add that there a great many people who are just not prepped to be able to ride the techs stuff but fit in the wide open trail. It’s about stress. One gent told me in 2018 that his heart rate would spike on single track due to anxiety. the main beef I read here is the peeps who ride hard on the flats to get to the single track first then walk it because they’re trying to stuff your race for 400th place. they exist in numbers while those who will let you by to have your own race with yourself are few
  9. Phillistine, ….It will be available with Sid Select + , SiD Select or Lefty 120 (which is only available in a carbon chassis) FA equipped +R250k bikes only later in the year. There’s a lefty reason for that
  10. I heard from the media guys that very few rode the first bit of that descent and many walked the entire thing from the climb to the descent 😂. there were some angry mountain bikers
  11. Ya because it’s a miracle they made it down the first vainglorious track on those 67 degree killing machines of 2023!!
  12. That rarely happens. What happens is the less technically gifted hit it fairly hard in the prologue and get a good seeding. The prologue isn’t that technical anyway, lots of fire road climbs and groomed descents. the more technically adept riders are also often more experienced and know that going hard in the prologue isn’t a good tactic. So cardio Ken gets a good seeding group while Techie Tod is a group or two further back in stage 1. From there there is gradual reshuffle of the deck till the last day when things mostly self corrects. At this point Cardio Ken is cooked and Techie Tod is still relaxed and able to ride everything. another thing to consider is this saseeding thing that used to be used to seed riders for the prologue. That was more a loyalty system than anything because if you didn’t participate in many stage races you had a crap seeding, in 2018 I head a poorer sa seeding than my W2W teammate despite the fact that he couldn’t ride much single track. He had more events under the belt… what affects your prologue result comes down to race strategy and the time of day you ride your prologue
  13. The number of social media influencers in the event has definitely increased. The number of people incapable of riding a mountain bike over anything remotely technical has also increased but these have always been part of the event. I don’t think it’s easy to point at one particular cause for higher drop out rates the last three years other than COVID. we can’t prove that having disposable income equates to incompetent MTB skills you’d think that they could buy that also although one cannot buy commitment. we can’t prove that riders are less capable whilst being offered bikes with lower slacker longer attributes that makes anyone a Danny Mccanskill. we do know that covid has hit everyone globally with effects not well understood. If we consider the 2016 cape epic used a similar route to 2024, had longer stages in more adverse temperatures whilst suffering a lower drop out rate of riders on steeper angles bikes with narrower tyres and longer stems then it is clear that 650B was a far superior wheel size…
  14. Post Covid health impacts might be the elephant in the room
  15. Seems like the end of each column is a race stage and the percentage drop out at the end of that stage. Year colours are slightly confusing
  16. Great thanks for confirming. A very pragmatic decision wrt to the seat tube angle. It’s not too aggressive either way. A slack position of 73.5 still allows a very efficient pedalling position. wrt the geo chart for the DC I think there’s a small error in the head tube angle cup [+] at 65.5 . Should this not be 65.0? i haven’t done the math to see it there’s no change to HA but it should be at least 0.25degreed slacker
  17. That’s the first 100 teams entered. Even though the absolute demand might be lower than 10 years ago there is still sufficient demand to cover operating costs for the next year. boom
  18. Well early bird entries have opened so let’s see how fast they sell out at R113,750-00 or $8190-00 oh well I needn’t have bothered, sold out already
  19. funny but I missed the context . I do love the term snowflake. Reminds me of Lewis Hamilton
  20. Burry’s comments reflected the views of his sponsors at the time. Those statements came at a time when mtb was at a popularity peak and there seemed unlimited desire for mountain bikers to participate in. Mtb stage racing became the new golf course for Selling banking and asset management products to other corporations and well healed individuals including farmers and land owners through whose land the epic now navigated. It was all very deliberate
  21. I reckon just drop the race office the feedback and see what happens for next year.
  22. Yeah for the racing perspective the full stages are available on YouTube for your to watch at your leisure. It’s the amateur field that needs some coverage.
  23. The first 5 years of the epic had a half hour highlights package of the main race aired at 10pm every night. In that segment there would be 5mins of interviews with the back of the field , getting their views and feelings. That sold a lot of people into the event and grew its demand. In addition there was a 60min film on super sport of the whole event. Participants would purchase a dvd that contained their race photos , the highlights of each stage pro race and the weekend warrior movie. That came to an end with the shift to higher entry fees and the clover leaf format. Point is the backmarkers sold the event . The pro field wasn’t big enough to sell the event but they set the benchmark for regular Jill’s and Joe’s to measure themselves against. And that’s the ego sell that works a treat. This formula brings people back year after year so why change a winning formula? it would still be great to have a view form the sharp end of the amateur field, mid pack and those running from the hyenas. Doesn’t cost extra and gives more exposure to the event.
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