Sid the Sloth

I was in grade 11. Haha. And Matthys Beukes came top 10 on a vintage road bike the first year I did the race as well after a long day in the break!

So for my personal race day split it is only about 30% of the time I spend on the skinny tyres. And training I always like the bigger tyres for our gravel (mountain biking) in the Southern Suburbs.

Swartberg races (2 on the calendar), Garden Route giro, gravel burn, any of the Gauteng gravel races I’ve done, ceder, are all wide tyres. Greyton area, Caledon, and Hermanus are better on the faster tyres. I haven’t done Stanford but I think apart from the sandy sections it’s better on a faster rolling tyre. So to me it’s 50/50 but I understand the further away races are a bit less frequently attended.

To be honest if you want to enjoy it I think the wider tyres are almost always more fun. Especially if you don’t have serious racing ambitions. The only races I would still run 45’s are the ones around Paarl, wellington, and Riebeek Kasteel, and at race to the Sea. The rest are all better on wider tyres!

Man needs an anonymous account so people don’t know he’s planning on doing winter training outside.

The first loop is quite fast rolling with 4 small sections (about 20km or less total) of chunkier single track and rough gravel where you will need to be careful on 45’s. the final climb is half tar so is quite a bit faster on the skinny tyres. I used a 50 Tracer front and a 45 Pathfinder rear, and I was happy with the combo.

Yeah that was super bleak, it's one of those tragic watches where you are left with more questions than answers, in my opinion. What on earth could drive someone to behave like that?

The boys are back in the lead group

RIP anyone on the wheel

To be honest I already have yours. 😜🥰

I’m in! Super keen for this. Great route and always a fun time when Dryland is involved.

He actually wins though

If you need a size large shirt you probably aren’t going to be getting much exposure (except there can be more branding on the shirts)

I tried - I’m too slow.

If anyone wants a list minute partner, I’m here 🤣

Unfortunately I am not nearly good enough to even hang with the pros on a mtb, haha

If there’s no prizes why host a prize giving 🤣

There’s a lot more than 20 women, and to grow the sport you need to actively encourage women’s racing. Even gravel races can get it right with no support. It’s more a matter of integrity for racers, and providing a safer racing environment for the women. I’m speaking on behalf of my girlfriend who is new to the sport and finds racing in b batch men’s group quite intimidating and honestly pretty pointless because of the way it nullifies the racing amongst the women. Imagine you started elite men with e-bikes, how upset they would be. I guess it doesn’t matter that much because we have the comm cars interfering with the racing at massive events like cycle tour last year anyway.

you just tell them, and have a commissar. It’s better than just letting them draft and having a “who can hang the longest” race. But what do I know, I’m not a woman. I just enjoy having our own race.

Not ideal, women deserve their own race. It’s really not that hard.

Is there a women's race this year? My girlfriend was seeded as %, not sure if that is the group behind dollar with or without men.

I got confused by the end of the first sentence

you will probably find a nail regardless so run the tyres you are least sentimental about

No I’m too slow

In other exciting news, local team Tshenelo pro cycling has just attained a continental racing license. This forms a path for SA riders to race for a local team and represent it on the world stage for the first time since Protouch, which is a path to international racing that hasn’t been available for the last few years I’ve been racing. Very cool to see.