Sid the Sloth

Imagine we got a freshly graded road up to the mast, it would be epic to make it a bit more gravel friendly.

I reckon the light was perfect, it’s just user error. It’s not super heavy and it’s super bright when you get it right. The reflex functionality boosts the brightness with built in accelerometers based off your riding, which is really smart. The problem with a hard tail is you’re almost back to the crux with tyre clearance (I don’t think you need 2.35) with some extra weight, questionable aero (unless you run drops which alters the geometry), and extra weight for the fork. I’d be super keen to try a gravel fork, and if you were to go full mtb perhaps a drop bar World Cup / supercal style bike.

Also keep an eye on the saddle angle when you change between the forks as I think it adds some extra stack on the front end!

Do you need that much hose for the suspension fork or could you potentially trim it and then use a cable tie to tuck it away on the side of the steerer and behind the rigid fork?

Thanks. Stoked to come away with the win and really enjoyed the race and the route - what an epic adventure. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who loves riding their bike. It was a truly unique experience. I was kindly loaned my light by Kevin Benky so I was a bit unfamiliar with it - I don’t do enough fast, off-road night riding to have invested in the equipment for it yet. I used the Exposure Sixpack, which has multiple programming modes but having it mounted under the bars with a massive number plate above it, I couldn’t tell which program and mode it was on. I actually started with the light on in program 3, in low mode which should have lasted 24h, and going to high at night would have taken that to 12h, (-3h pf low so effectively around 10h, which I forecasted would have been enough). Somehow I managed to mess this up when flicking between modes and ran out at the bottom of rooiberg but luckily had a spare small Ryder 900 light mounted in my frame in case of emergency. I made it to the aid station fine but my dad and I couldn’t get the clamp open due to dust, which resulted in about a minute or so lost. The gravel bike behaved itself for the course, I consulted my eyeball aero expert Matt and went for a deep and wide Roval Rapide CLX II, with a 2.2 Specialized Airtrak mtb tyre front, and then a shallower Terra CLX on the rear with a Specialized Tracer 50mm tyre on the rear with a Vittoria Tyre liner. Both 80ml sealant from Endroseal. A mountain bike would have saved some energy on the more rocky farm roads in the farms as well as down Rooiberg but I think in general the time saved with the weight and aerodynamics of the gravel bike makes it faster. I’d like to experiment more to see how comfortable a drop bar mountain bike could be for the course but I think bigger chainring size is another element that favours the gravel bike. As for age, I just channel my grumpy old man energy, and try make the race as short as possible! I do think there’s a massive amount you learn about yourself and dealing with your competition over such long distances as you age, so I am looking forward to taking this experience into long stuff going forward as I certainly found out a lot about myself and my abilities. If you have any question or words of wisdom let me know!

Supacaz Sauve SL is the best I’ve experienced

When you’re good, you’re good.

Sworks pathfinder 42. More compliant tyre than the pro. I also run lower pressure than you I think. I also have the mirror saddle which is softer.

I have never had this issue, maybe it is a function of my shallow wheels.

Specialized Crux comp. With shimano GRX 1x12 and upgrade the wheels. I’ve been riding my crux for 2 years and it’s flawless. I currently have a 2.2 mtb tyre on the front and a 47 on the rear. Not many gravel bikes have that kind of clearance. It’s also incredibly light. My girlfriend has the crux comp and it comes in very competitively weight wise with my sworks when we swap the wheels to carbon hoops. It sets you back about R75 000, if you are interested you can reply to one of my ads and I’ll see if I can help you out.

Now this is quite something

It’s definitely a pretty different race from what it originated as. I will miss the 245 dearly, it would be cool if we still had a 245 option in October. As far as I understand, It’s basically the same route as the 140 this year. That stretch from the top of uitkyk to the low level bridge is pretty rough and they were doing road works last year. So hopefully they have finished those road works and the road has been graded as that’s now included in both directions on the route. And the descent without road closures and with construction vehicles probably won’t be so fun. I’m not sure what the road closure situation is there though.

Vastly different events - both have their place but you get a lot more out of desolation than you do out of canola. Both are amazing events I will attend next year but you don’t quite get a free community dinner afterwards, a stacked goodie bag, pre race social rides and opportunities, post race support, professional photography, etc. follow vehicles, all of which come at a cost as you’re obviously well aware. And the quantity of people entering canola make the economies of scale way better than a tiny race very far from anywhere else. I’m sure the profit generated from canola isn’t too shabby running the numbers on total revenue with sold out entries this year. To my knowledge Desolation barely breaks even having chatted to a lot of people involved - it’s a true passion project drawing together our cycling community and the Graaf Reinet community Hopefully the international classification attracts more riders as it’s easily one of my top 5 SA races having done most of the local gravel over the last two years.

Unfortunately for me it’s become increasingly hard to win these races without a team, other strong individuals do not want to contribute to chasing so you have to make sure you get in the right move with the right composition of riders from teams. I had a few options to try and get it right but unfortunately they didn’t pan out. Nice work @DieselnDust for a solid result. From Botmanskloof onwards the convoy and lead moto played a massive role (negatively) in the race as they continually gave draft to either the bridging group or the main bunch after almost every effort to get away. There are also videos on social media of riders making it back through the convoy after Bots, which happens pretty much every time we have done that climb in a race in my 3 years of racing that climb. It basically became a pointless exercise attacking as cars or the moto would bring everything back together, and the rest of the race was history. I played one of my cards attacking with 2km to go as I didn’t want to contest that extremely risky right hander onto paving sprint for 150m and luckily it panned out as I was allowed a gap.

I’m glad I get to train with him, pushes the level up nicely. And always fun encouraging him to ignore @J Wakefield😜