JohanDiv

Absolutely, some of the best scenery to ride through! I'll have to get back in the saddle and start training for that Sub 6 medal!

Will the final 5km stay the same as last year? I was ready to sell my gravel bike after that haha

Flip I missed the races! Thought it was this coming weekend.. anyways, where is Allan Hatherly? Edit: Nvm, forgot he is a roadie now

Finish your Croatian Epic so we can start training for Trans Baviaans! This is the first route we riding when you are back 😎

Yes definitely

And if you only want to stay on Paarl Mountain gravel roads without permits, this is the best route: Check out this route on Strava: https://strava.app.link/L955VWU2fSb — Trans Training 2

I see they graded it again on Tuseday! Lovely to ride now.

https://strava.app.link/YJQVS801fSb Most of Paarl gravel roads and then a bit of tar to link up to the other side of the valley and back to Paarl. No permit needed for this route. This ride I started from Diemersfontein.

Hi Belinda, Do you have the Paarl case number perhaps? My wife is a state prosecutor at the Paarl Magistrates Court and might be able to do some digging once she is back at the office from her maternity leave in two weeks time.

That is literally all I rode in preparation of last year's 36One. Plus once or twice gravel roads around the mountain to Gouda, Bains back to Wellington to get some longer hours in the saddle. Got me a solid Sub 19 on the day still feeling RELATIVELY fresh over the line. You can get fit for any race by just riding in Paarl Mountain.

Yes, the belgium guy. Very sad news..

Finally a stage win for the Saffas!!

I saw a kiddies helmet yesterday where shipping was over R500 000 haha. There's an app called AliHelper. You put in the link of the item that you want to buy, and the app finds the best combo for price and shipping of that item on Aliexpress.

On a side note. I gave up on Aliexpress orders a few years ago as SAPO started losing packages or orders took 3-4 months to arrive. Tried my luck again in January on a few orders and all arrived surprisingly quick at my nearest Post Office within 3 weeks.

You must not be watching the live feed.. The Neck was already a mud fest when the elite ladies got there.. elite men just missed the rain and mud in time

Raining now on most parts of the route.. Have to feel for the amateurs having to climb The Neck in that toffee mud. Even the elite ladies pushing bikes up there now

At this point Ironman should just subcontract Dryland to organize the Cape Epic

I'm just curious, anyone know what the deal with Toyota looks like? I counted 8x Cape Epic branded brand new Land Cruiser Prado support vehicles at the start line this morning. Must be rentals or sponsored just for the duration of the event, right? Can't imagine the organizers spending R13mill just on support vehicles.

Few drops starting to fall in town now.. feels like the heat is breaking Edit: false alarm, still hot and humid

It's already hot and humid. At least it looks like there might be some cloud cover this morning. Rain only moving in late afternoon. The dust bowl race village will be a mud fest by 8pm

I see now that the organizers told Netwerk24 that it is false that they ran out of water, and that there are no fatalities.

I did some spectating today. Went straight up a 400m climb from town towards Krismis Camp. Ended up climbing 6km with Batch L on the route before turning up to the spectating point. The mood was dreadful apart from one lady and a few Ausies chatting. Sure it was hot, I needed two water bottles for my 20km ride.. but you have to question the fitness/readiness from some of the riders. I've basically stopped riding my bike since 36One last year, overweight and in my worst shape in the last decade, and I was moving at double the speed up that climb than some of the riders. There is no way I'd even consider entering the Epic in my current shape! They will have to start looking at a screening process for entrants for their own safety. Canceling was the right call. 2022 Stage 1 is still fresh in my mind where we got caught in the heat without water on The Neck climb going to Lourensford. That day someone died on that climb. I hope the rumors about 3 fatalities today is inaccurate and thay the organizers learned from that day and pulled the plug early enough today. I HOPE.

The sections they are cutting out is definitely more than 150m of climbing. Closer to 300m. Still gonna be a tough day.. will try and make my way up the mountain to come spectate the next few days.

We bought this Ravo tandem here on The Hub for under R5k. Slapped on some 32mm gravel tyres and a flared handlebar and raced Around the Pot. So much fun! Keep your eye on the classifieds, from time to time there is nice tandems for sale at low prices. I see there is one now for R8900 here on the hub, open to offers. The size would probably also fit you guys. (M/S or M/M) The drivetrain is like any drivetrain, nothing special. Just get something robust. We got XT rear derailleur and 105 front derailleur with 105 sti's and mechanical disc brakes. Next upgrade would be hydraulic disc brakes because it takes some braking to slow down two people! The previous owner replaced the fork with a cheap alu R1k gravel fork to fit the front disc brakes, and at the rear the frame has a mounting point for disc brakes.

My secretary just asked me what the prize money was for the winner. I couldn't answer her, so tried searching the CTCT website and Google with no luck. Anyone know? I remember in like 2010 there was a big discussion about how a 30 000+ cycling event only has a 1st prize of +-R15 000 vs Two Oceans with 8000 runners R150 000. Hopefully Tyler won closer to that!