Dirt Tracker

Unlike the W2W crew. They don't tell you, nothing so crass. They just wear the W2W jersey when on the on the dirt bike, the spare jersey on the road bike, the tee to the braai, the soft-shell all winter, the buff when running, the spare tee to the do the shopping, the sock to pick up the kids from schoo, the bag to the gym... ????

After wondering the same thing I got a load of core stuff in a sale as it was about 60% off and was quite sceptical to pay full price. After having kit for a while now I can say it's 110% worth it. One thing to look out for is the % of Merino in the mix of the fabric. I bought some Fjern Merino tops from the UK and the mix is under 55% actual Merino and that makes a big difference in the longevity and quality of the item.

The epic knight will take a while looking for his best model horse, find some where to park his camper and horse box, get the horse a full massage, wait for his mate to finish the same and then ride out for the contest. The Munga rider will get a very reliable nag with alot of saddle bags but won't make it to the contest as he's still got 300km to finish, hasn't had any sleep and the lance was ditched in favour of a survival blanket that weighed far less and doubled as a tent, rain cape, poncho, mirror, water carrier and general friend / therapist for the journey.

I thought the yanks bought out the Iron Man Group in 2020 off the Chinese and took the Epic in that whole deal. Could be wrong tho. Edit: opps didn't read to the end of the fred. See it's been confirmed.

So that is the majority already and being owned by an international company that will only be more. It's a US owned company now and part of a larger group also having worked for US companies and knowing the corporate culture the focus will be squarely on the international market. It's the only thing that matters. It's got the Hors Categorie from the UCI, it's part of the 'Epic Series Global MTB' and even when they launched the 'Africa's Untamed' tag line that was not for South Africans... it's in the western cape, not middle of Angola. Yeah it's a hell of a ride / race but that is selling to an international audience. My point was rather that the event is being pitched at getting more overseas riders rather than there is more overseas riders but it seems to be going that way already.

Many reasons. From it being a bucket list goal through to just because. Same as how can you justify a GWagon over and normal SUV. Because you can afford it and you like what it's offering for you. To be honest I'd say most of the epic is now being pitched at international markets because with the exchange rates it's still a good value life goal and a tick list item that is billed as the 'Tour De France of Mountain Biking'. It is in Africa and that still holds status as a dream destination for many people, you can combine with an amazing family holiday after you bro-cation on bikes, it's a unique place to ride in a world famous race, it' exclusive and gives people the chance (illusion or not) to test themselves on the same terrain, at the same time with the pros and be part of that bubble for a while. A week on the indies trader all in is going for around R85,000 odd I think at the moment before flights, boards etc.

Core stuff is great. I've got a fair few older long sleeve t-shirts but in the heavier knit before they went thin and they are awesome. I have their Have them on rotation almost all winter and they are brilliant. I did talk to them quite seriously about making mtb / gravel kit like Mons Royale do but that died out over lockdown / covid. I've also got alot of stuff from Aus' and the UK. Places like Patagonia and Fjallraven have alot of Merino in there range but it's not a local producer. Outdoor warehouse do icebreaker and Decathalon do quite a bit of Merino and even Woolies have a few select pieces. I'm guessing Cape Union would have a few bits aswell. Other local guys are Runderwear who do a couple of tees / baselayers. Covita do a cycling specific base layer. Vertigo gear have a few pieces. There was a company that was cape town based that did some of their own kit, they had a pretty dodgy logo of the table mountain plastered on everything but I think they might have been a victim of the pandemic as I couldn't find them when I had a quick look.

Seems GreenEdge have gone a bit off the tracks since that Manuela Foundation debacle and then there was a house clearing by Gerry Ryan in management after that. Seems the introduction of Copeland and McQuaid, the salary cutting, riders they've let go / missed developing and signing of Bling has seen them go backwards in terms of team and strategy. Might not be a popular opinion here because he's from here but Copland wasn't exactly kicking down doors when he was at Bahrain either.

I think Yates was the last holder of the Vuelta one back in '18 when it used to be the white jersey. Personally I used to love the old Tour combination one not sure why they ditched that.

VENGA, VENGA! Makes me smile every time. Man I hope they bring the venga boys back for a 3rd instalment of the MS doc. Love that series.

Shame for Matt Holmes. He'd got pretty sick on the last rest day and tried to keep going to the end. How many Movistars but be down to 5 riders now. Is the collective noun of Movistar riders a 'confusion'?

Thanks, what was the down side? Really interested to hear the issues / experience. I've the bike for a while and I've been really happy with the ride so it's just the lefty I'm thinking of swapping in. Just received the Lefty, very happy. It's in great nick had a recent, full service, came with a AC lefty hub so now just needs a converter and a rim / wheel build. Might be a terrible idea in the end but fun to find out. At worst I guess I've got a fork now if I want to swap the frame back to a HT and roll around like that.

In other vuelta news: did adam yates get dubious tattoo that everyone is politely ignoring? Is it so people know him from his (better) brother? is he taking money from the UCI to advertise exactly how much is 'too much' in sock height regs? Is Ineos secretly transplanting better legs on him from their secret leg growing facility in colombia?

I've been loving that, made even funnier that everyone keeps denying it while trying not to smile.

100%. Yesterday. What was that? Back to classic meme movistar. Brilliant image when Bora were literally screaming at MAL to get his thumb out his butt and do some work and the Bahrain boys looking on bewildered. Followed up by the Mass 'attack' then MAL basically attacking Mass making it look like he wants to go for 2nd. Looking forward to today. Should be a great stage, awesome looking climbs and pretty sure Haig is going to die trying today.

I thought that might be a call to give an armchair ride for Roga and watch Bahrain look at Movistar and Movistar stare off in the to the distance not wanting to ride. Might be a call if Rog' has someone else to ride with him and be there for breakdown / wheel duty. Unfortunately Gesink, Van Hooydonck, Koen and Oomen haven't been looking that much like they can be there for him in the finals and Kuss has been solid as ever.

May be this is Ineos master plan... 1 - get Bernal to telegraph his attack in the Press conference. 2 - Get Siv' to telegraph when that is going to happen with a lengthy conversion with bernal that seems to be broadcast to everyone and covered on tv. Then get him to ride like a beast before launching in text book 'how to attack 101' 3 - This ensures Roga' goes full Slovenian, sniffs a 'Froome' special and thinks of his range of 'No risk, No glory' t-shirts / swim wear 4 - Bernal pins himself to endure Roga likes what he sniffs and carries on pinning himself for the line once Bernal cracks wasting valuable energy 5 - Master plan comes together on Thursday for a blistering Yates-a-thon of hither to unseen epic ness, proving he's been hiding like a shark and fooling everyone as he smashes the seemingly impossible deficit, win the red and then unleash his secret TT powerup from an intense zwift regime that he's been honing each night in the bowels of the Ineos team bus. Genius from Dave B, cementing his promise to fans to race differently this year!

classic.

I've learnt the hard way with those. Always worth keeping the one you have and a spare in the shed if you come across one.

It's on it's way so we'll see what it's like when it arrives. Could be some more spares on the market if it's poked. ????

Okay hubland I'm hoping that some one can shed a bit of light on the process of getting a lefty fork onto a non-cannondale frame and If you've done it what was the process like, could you get the adapts kits locally etc. Background: I'm looking to put a Lefty 1 on a Niner MCR 9 (853 steel version) that I've got set up as a gravel bike. Currently it's got a Niner carbon fork on and I came across a good deal on the Lefty and thought - 'that might be fun' - and then went 'ahhhhhh' when it arrived. After a bit of research I've seen various bits around using the cannondale 'lefty for all' kit (which seems to have been discontinued) or a Projects 321 conversion kit from overseas. Things I'm wondering: - Good idea or just too much work for little reward? - Any local suppliers fo the conversion kits? - With the conversion and the change in the handle bar height because of the lefty double crown I'm guessing a negative degree stem would work to solve this? - If you use a lefty, is there a stem length minimum, I'm running a 50mm on my bike at the moment and I'm guessing that wouldn't fit around the fork's top section. - Is the only options for a service still Omnico?

Takealot have a lot of covers at a decent price. Some full bikes so that might work. Some at R350 and some at R3500 ???? https://www.takealot.com/all?_sb=1&_r=1&_si=420711a89189a5ee011917f3e14f9281&qsearch=bike cover

There is this but to be honest the dust thrown up by wheels on some roads will get in everywhere. If there is a gap the dust gets in. Even the seats of my bakkie need a good cleaning after a week away driving up ad down those district roads. Best thing I found was getting the bike on the roof. Works like a charm and never looked back. On the back or on a trailer and the bikes will always get covered.