Murrob

It’s actually super at the moment as a lot of the jeep tracks were graded for the Epic. So super straight forward you can head up either northern or southern side of Paarl to get onto Jan Phillips drive and then you get to a turn to head up into the reserve. If you stick on the jeep track you won’t need a permit, but if you plan on hitting any of the single tracks in the mountain then you would need one. For the best climbing you can start at Frater square, then head up the road to the Taal monument and get on Jan Philips drive from there. Could look something like this, but you could add on by heading to paarl rock as well. https://strava.app.link/ydwx3I7S3Rb

Come to Paarl, Wellington. Paarl mountain has gravel roads where you can do a good bit of climbing. Then of course you have du toits kloof and Bains close by, tar, but great climbing!

Yeah, long may it continue, I am firmly in the Garmin ecosystem with all my devices used and then sold on without any issues. Tactix, 5pro, 6pro, 7xpro, edge 530, index scale etc. Now running the Fenix 8 and edge 840 and 1050. With varia lights all working beautifully.

That’s why I like leaving my bike racks on the car.

Yeah, also caught the pics and videos just before it was taken down. Bang out of order and the cyclist needs to face justice. Of course this will spread like wildfire and be another reason for motorists to hate us. But indefensible from the cyclist. I did see that (I think) Lynwood cycles made a comment to contact them shortly before post was removed. Hoping the guy is trying to make right here for all our sakes.

Super well organised in terms of collection of course. Good parking for bikes and cars. Goody bag is pretty much meh, with maybe 2 items I would use or try. Expo was I thought a bit light with a weird mix of things. Monton has a big stand. Ciovita has a huge setup, with all the tour stuff being their stuff as well. When I arrived I was a bit hungry, so did a quick walk through and then found the Kaui had a bite and then did another couple of walk throughs. But definitely much less in terms of stands. Weirdly no Sox stand, no 100%gloves- glasses yes, gloves no. No Mucoff, no assos…only bike brand was Cabal. I am a huge Garmin fan, found their stand a bit frosty though, not friendly at all. The highlight for me was having a long informative chat with Mark from 32GI at the Dischem/32gi stand. The downside, other than the definite reduction in exhibitors, was the incredibly annoying shoe cleaning product sales guys that seemed to have multiple stations/locations all over and were determined to get me let them try their stuff on my shoes. By the 40th no thank you I started getting a bit twitchy.

This also happened on Friday in Stellenbosch. I did suggest to the gent to post here. So I will take a liberty hopefully with a view to help get the word out

I went down the rabbit hole…also found the Topeak digital gauges that I got initially under read by almost .5 bar. I now have 4 digitals, including a pretty eye watering expensive digital floor pump. I have cross referenced them all against each other and have got my accurate ones now. I’m even guilty of double checking against my cars tyre pressure sensors…🤓Which are actually quite accurate. Also always inflate just before a ride and I use the SRAM AXS tyres inflation app for recommend pressures, which works great. Also religious about keeping sealant topped up/fresh - Hubtiger helps with the reminders.

Cura X all the way, super happy with mine, the stopping power is nuts. In my case I found them a bit too hardcore, so calmed them down a bit with Shimano rotors. XTR are great if you are less than 85kg, don’t understand why there is such a difference between XT vs XTR in terms of stopping power. The Cura X are super bling! Titanium fitting and Kevlar hoses for the win! But you knew that already I’m sure…

My process for eliminating creaks - start with seatpost, saddle rails into saddle and seatpost mount, headset, pedals, bb, and lastly through axels. Clean lube and reassemble with appropriate grease. Be careful with carbon assembly paste on a seatpost, I find it creates noise after a while, a good clean post with a bit of white ceramic grease in the frame area where seatpost goes in, careful to avoid actual clamping area works well. This tip came from a well know Campag guy. Works a treat.

I found stans dart to be less than useless, with the applicator or dart breaking when trying to push it through the hole on a road tyre, so have been using Dynaplug. Also I find making sure your sealant is fresh and top upped or replaced on schedule makes a huge difference in its effectiveness. I’m currently running Mucoff on road. But be warned it is a bitch to get stains out of kit or marks off of high gloss finishes if it dries. So rinse off quickly after fitting a tyre and if you get a puncture and it winds up on your kit try rinse off asap.

For mtb, I find Stans Race sealant to be the best. The race sealant has fibres and a grit like substance which seem to work really well at sealing. Check it every 3 months and top up or replace as needed and you are golden.

Yeah, gotta say, if I’m stuck in that situation without knowing what’s behind me. I’m hitting the door and praying for the best.

I absolutely believe that flashing lights during the day make a huge difference. So both mtb and road have Garmin varia lights front and rear. I ride fairly set routes in the week and I can see the difference on the odd occasion where I did not have lights. I do note that the rear varia does seem to have a moth to the flame effect with some motorists who for no reason that I can fathom actually pass closer on sections of road where I am on the shoulder and head back to the center of that road after having past. I don’t agree that the colour of the kit makes much of a difference, but keeping in mind there are reflective pieces on shoes, zips, bibs etc which reflect light quite sharply which is good, otherwise we need to ban all dark coloured cars also no?

Yeah, another unpopular action. I will go to the middle of the road in sections where it’s narrow and I have to worry about being doored or with lots of concealed entrances/exits. Also no matter the time of day I ride with flashing lights front and rear. I try be polite about it and will move left as soon as safe to do so with a thank you to vehicle behind me. Condolences to the family of the deceased.