Dirt Tracker

Any deals on medium Gravel bikes?

Found Black Friday a very 'meh' experience this year. I'm renovating and have got better deals in the weeks leading up and in normal times. I was also looking for a gravel bike today (budget R20K - R50K). Phoned 7 local CT shops and asked if they had any discounts on or special and each one pretty much said 'nope, but we can sell you a new 2021 one'. Think I'll hope online and get something from overseas at least they have some offers going on.

everything is a 'maybe' in the zombie apocalypse... except Le Tour. Le tour gets visits from French PMs, discussions in parliament and a mass event / final stage in paris while the rest of the city is the reddest of red zones.

Yup... no cobbles until April 2021

This is brutal. Pog and Rog are warriors going at it one on one.

I never liked the older style of Ibis bikes but these new ones are looking amazing. We'll need a full review shortly.

In different Sam news. Sam Bewley of Mitchelton had to abandon today as well. Hilarious rest day banter and Tour inside goss featuring Impy with the usual suspects.

Not to spam but I've had to put my Orange P7 29'r, Reynolds 525 up for sale. Check the classifieds.

That is great news. Thank you. I was looking for 130 or 140mm. Frame is recommended as 130 but I would like to have it at 140mm.

You should hear the story Jonesy tells on The Social distance Podcast with Sam Bewley and George Bennett. One of the best cycling ones out there for some inside goss, on bike fights and general banter. He was rooming across from Wiggins room by chance and said it went off between Brailsford, Wiggins etc and he had a front row of the action. The they all came out to the next press conference with tight smiles and 'it's all good' line.

Thanks so much. Will do.

I am getting bit confused on the difference on the 29+ forks from Rockshox. Firstly, what are the major differences over a standard 29 fork and can they be used happily with standard 29 wheels running standard 2.6 tyres? Not sure if there is anything over the fact it must all be a bit bigger. Secondly, can you change the travel on a 29+ Rockshox fork just by swapping out the air shaft? There seems to be some confusion around whether you can increase the travel from a 120mm on an OEM RS 29+ fork or if it's set.

I had a really bad one one that started when I hit a certain speed going down on suikerbossie and damn near killed me. This was just after I had new tyres put on and they hadn't been seated correctly on the rear and that actually had them out bowing out a tiny bit at one spot. They were tubeless road tyres and the shop had to pull them apart and reinstall them. You could see a tyre / wheel do a little wobble when you held it up and span it fast. I guess at 70km odd going down that little thing turned into mayhem!

What are your thoughts of Sepp Kuss being used up and kicked out of the Jumbo train with 37kms to go?

And all of France sighs and sheds a little tear with Madiot.

And Pinot seems to be struggling again. This year doesn't seem to be shaping up to be his phoenix moment after 2019.

The Grenadier pub in Belgravia, London where the guys from Ineos decided to make a 4x4, name it after the pub and from there rename Brailsfords team for this edition of the tour.

Every team interviewed has said that wasn't in the equation but you have to think that is the reason that Jumbo are pushing on today. Take it today, defend tomorrow and see what happens on the rest day. It's such a complicated scenario this year, it's not how you'd want to win it but they have been fairly all over the stages and the race as a whole so far. A lot of commentators speculating that Ineos are letting other take the strain for the first week and let Egan and Siv' recover and also let Jumbo do too much and burn matches. Come Monday we'll see if the race carries on and who comes out of it the best into the following week. Enthralling chess game happening around the action on the road.

1) Eliminator / Slaughter combo for if you want grippy and good rolling all-rounder 2) Aggressor / Ardent combo for a quicker ride (even an Ardent Race on the back might be a good pick). Would really depend on your trails and what you ride. I don't consider an Assagai a trail tire but some do. I think it's very sticky but at the cost of being a very draggy and slow. Some trails are very flat and an aggressive XC style tyre might work best for you. Width is all dependant on what manufactures you go with as it seems no one in the industry can measure the width of a tyre the same.

With 5000m of climbing in that one so not too sure how many fast men will be left going for the line in Imola.

Hangover from the crash and a change of focus on the Giro?

1.20pm on GCN today.

Having served and done my time in the forces and being the owner of (sporting / hunting) firearms the idea of riding with a side arm and thinking you could react fast enough in an ambush situation is ridiculous. Even highly trained personal freeze or are overcome very quickly in an active situation where there is one and only focus. Training for professionals has to be constant and rigourous. Being on a bike, clipped in? Not a chance. You'll be very lucky if you don't have your weapon used against you. Even if you see a couple of people you think of as 'bad guys' 50 meters out you then have to do a risk assessment and take proactive decisions to elevate the situation to a lethal footing. That is a big decision for a normal person and if you act in the wrong way, without strong cause, there will be chances for fatalities and long lasting repercussions across many lives. Even in a combat situation there are rules and repercussions. It's lives, not movies and you have to be utterly responsible for your actions. In any situation you look to defuse and extract with the smallest of incidents. If there is a person who wants something and you can close the threat off by complying then that is the option. If possible I'd rather give away a bike than a firearm. The reports are not conclusive as to if there was a firearm taken but if there was then that is another weapon in society and there will incidents linked directly to that. I'll caveat my comments above by saying that I am a gun owner and having access to any firearm comes with big responsibility. After all my experience it's simple, a pistol is not a close quarters weapon and in almost every case. In semi trained hands, the outcome will be not be good. I would not carry a weapon during any recreational activity in a public situation. There is a big difference between what people think they can do in a moment and what they are actually capable of. I think what happened to him was disgusting and hope the assailants are found and punished asap. I hope he recovers well and can get back to a normal life despite this. Trauma after such an event will be large despite what the victim says and guys are terrible at dealing with aftereffects. I've seen too many lives blighted by thinking they have it under control and not. Thoughts go to Nick and his family.

I'd say it's an issue for Ineos as well as Jumbo unless they have given up on GC!

Unfortunately that was never going to happen. Not too sure why they took so long to take that decision. As we were told, a while back by the ministry, that we won't be able to hold any large or mass participation events before March next year. Shame for all involved. Are they going to offer entries, a new event or a refund to all those who entered?