HenryS

Here are the DMR pins. These are the proper shin eaters that you need on flat pedals. ride-flats-with-traction-pins.jpg

The pins on those Amazon pedals don't look grippy at all. I have a pair of Crank Brothers Double Shot 1 and the flat side is terrible because of the cheap plastic pins which offer no grip whatsoever. Those DMR pins are the real deal and I would spend that extra money.

Today was the Bloemendal wine run. Apparently wine tasting over a 5km route!

E-bikes were only in the Pinotage event.

They just looked at my printed copy and gave it back, so I would imagine that phone should be ok.

This morning, my partner was chatting to Eugene of Bike Inn fame who has done both versions and he reckoned that the switchback route was tougher overall. If that's the case, then I definitely want to do the regular route. I've never seen anything negative said about this event, and after the last few days I can see why. The organisation is impeccable, the food is excellent and it's generally just such a lekker vibe. The water points also have everything you need including mechanics (which is what I needed on Monday). I had an interesting issue with my brakes. On Saturday before the race, I put new brake pads in and all was well until about 40 k's in on Monday morning where I was really battling until I realised that my rear brakes were engaged. It then released and I continued on my way until the start of the big climb at Botrivier where it happened again. The only way I could get going was to remove my rear brake pads and ride like that. At least it was all uphill to the next stop. At the last water point, the mechanic drained a bit of the brake fluid from each brake and all was sorted, or so I thought. The next day it happened again with both wheels and we eventually realised that the brake reservoirs were getting hot in the sun. I then tied a buff around each one and the problem went away as they were out of direct sunlight. Apparently this is a known issue with Sram Guide brakes and the reservoir needs to be replaced. The lesson to be learned here - never change anything just before a big event without having time to test it properly and make sure everything works!

The fact that everyone there regardless of vaccination status had to produce a negative covid test at registration should have allowed us a few freedoms over the 3 days like maybe just a once daily temperatures check.

I understand why it's all necessary, but it was a bit annoying having to get temperature checked every single time we went to eat, shower or enter the chill lounge.

I've never done the normal route, but I just could not imagine going up that portage section. Down was bad enough.

No new stickers for Pinotage. Luckily I saw the distances from a buddy that rode Chardonnay.

It's probably going to take a while. They only have access to work on the trails there one day a week.

You were right. They changed the route to avoid Lebanon.

This was on our Whatsapp group from someone that was riding with him when it happened. "Tragic news. Yyyyy lost his life in an accident this morning after riding into the back of a parked van. He died instantly without suffering. Condolences to his family and friends, especially his wife Xxxxx."

There's actually a rule against doing that. You can't even put the rides on Strava. I have no idea what would happen if you do. 12.7 GPS Data. No rider may distribute any GPS co-ordinates in respect of the Race route at any time (including but not limited to, uploads onto online platforms such as Strava), unless expressly authorized in writing by the Organisers.

It's only a 2 seater, so 2 bikes will be fine. My other half can take 3 on her bike rack, so we're sorted if we go to the trails with her kids and mine. I've been googling for some ideas of how to set it up inside, but so far I haven't found anything useful.

I'm going to get another bike stand tomorrow and then I'll take a pic with them in.

This is relevant to cycling because I got the van specifically to transport bikes. My old car pictured below was rear-ended last week and if my Thule carrier and bike were on the back, it would have been a total disaster because they are not insured and together worth more than the car which was written off.

They had an event there at the beginning of October. It may be from that.

It was nice to finally put a face to the name this morning. It was me that greeted you at Bloemendal.

I'm no expert in road bikes, but you can get newer bikes with disc brakes, wider tyres maybe even tubeless ready etc. in the same price range. While this may not be your size, here is a good example of one. https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/road-bikes/503237/fuji-gran-fondo-25-full-carbon-road-bike.

It happened at 2:30pm

The day 2 route map shows otherwise

You were supposed to go up Malanshoogte road instead of going into Hoogekraal. It seems that the 45 km was actually 53 and the 60 was actually 65.

I see they use SASeeding. Does anyone have any idea how to see your SASeeding index and what races they used?

There's no simple answer to that. It all depends on the seedings of all the other entrants. Very basically, they take everyone in order of seeding from best to worst and then divide them into x number of equally sized groups. The more people that enter that have a better seeding than you, the further back you will start.