Vaultboy

I would appreciate info on any mtb events (names, dates, price) associated with National Parks, and a bit of a review/race report? I know of the Sylvester Ride at Karoo, and Trans Augrabies, but only just became aware that Marakele also has an annual MTB event. It also looks like Mokala has one as well. I haven't done any of these events, but would like to start ticking them off.

As mentioned above, the Rook bicycles are solid. I've done over 4000km on my Scout, without any issues (although half of that has been on the trainer). Their presale service was great. Got my bike the same day, nicely set up. I can't say the same for their after sales service, though. They're slow to reply on whatsapp. And I only serviced my bike there once. Had to wait a week for an appointment, and then another week for my bike to be ready. This was probably due to having only had one staffer at the time, who was store clerk and mechanic.

Not an option. I forgot to say that I can take 47mm max. All of Evo's other options are sold out, unless I missed something.

Same problem as the OP. I have a Rook Scout, and need 650b tubeless gravel tyres for winter, and I can't find any locally. Merlin only has the Schwalbe G-One, which has less tread than I want, but has a very appealing price. Ideally, I want the Conti Terra Speed 40 (rear) and Terra Trail 40/47 (front), but that's going to cost me R2000 on Amazon, before shipping and duties. My second choice, the Pirelli Cinturato M is even more expensive. Any leads on local suppliers? Or other ideas? I have toyed with testing 29' gravel wheels, but that's a whole other level of expense.

Yeah, even AI is confused: Little Sugar not listed on the official website, though. Although they haven't even updated the results table after Sea Otter yet, so who knows.

Thanks for that correction on Crusher. Little Sugar MTB is a week before Big Sugar Gravel. Little Sugar was not part of the LTGP, and won't be for this year either, as far as I can tell?

Matt in amongst all of the regular challengers, despite this year's finishing times looking faster, on average. I dont think he got a podium in any LTGP event last year, so this bodes well for him. But still, Keegen Swenson looks set to continue his domination. Were his previous two (poor) outings in the Epic purely down to Lachlan Morton not being strong enough over 8 days? It looked like he was holding them back, if I recall.

Its not a flaw. You're just not the target market. Vitality isn't aimed at rewarding 'real athletes'. Its designed to reduce Discovery's potential payouts by getting their members to be reasonably healthy and reasonably fit. .

My typical trainer rides are around 60-90 mins. I use Rouvy, so I tend to listen to audiobooks or podcasts while I ride, given that I often have nice scenery to look at. I have done a few 100km rides on the trainer. I prefer to just watch youtube or netflix for long rides.

1x11 probably meets 90% of all use cases, but it really depends on how much climbing you do and how often you carry extra weight (bikepacking, or just long days out riding). You might need a few higher gears. Also conversely if you race you might need a few lower gears. I have a 1x8, 38-34 max gearing so I get the worst of both scenarios. As much as I prefer a 1x, I think 2x10 is probably going to be the sweet spot for me.

I agree fully. My gravel bike runs 47mm, which I really like the feel of. I think Dylan Johnson was on to something when he said that the ideal tyre for gravel bikes are thin casing 2.2 MTB tyres.

Nino's so bored at the back he has time to fool around while Fini is struggling, shem.

Mona looks absolutely shattered already.

I'm also in this boat. I hit my goals pretty much every week, and cap out my 30 000 points for the year, but its only good enough for Silver. At Silver, you only get 25% off flights etc, which isn't bad, but I've found similar discounts elsewhere. I reckon spouses need to earn at least 15 000 out of the available 30 000 for the year to make it into Gold, which is where the benefits get good; plus they at least need to do the annual health assessments. I even struggled to get my wife to do that, but she did in the end. that said, even at Silver I get at least R1500 a month back for my R465 monthly vitality fee, so its still worthwhile to jump through the hoops.

You are correct. You have to use your Discovery account to make payment, so you need to preload it with the balance (after subtracting your miles).

I've got a free account. No banking fees. Its a virtual VISA 'transaction' account; its not a credit card, i.e. it always has to have a positive balance, but I can enter the card details into any credit card payment facility. So its like a prepaid credit card. You also get a free savings account bundled with it, with a 5.9ish interest rate. Its just Discovery wanting you to give them more money to pool.

Yup. They are all slowly but sure migrating to Discovery's structure. I used to be with Bonitas, who offered superior cover, for far less. But now its pretty much the same as Discovery, without the benefit of Vitality. So it was a no-brainer to move. (I did the math on Vitality long before I joined). Bestmed still looks like a good alternative, but they're also offering less cover for more fees than last year. They will get to parity with Discovery soon enough.

Genuine interest: For how much of that time do you feel like you're on the verge of puking and how do you deal with it?

@Titan Racing Bikes when will the 2024 alloy Switch models be available?

Your initial post below indicated you were thinking of buying two bikes - either Gravel+Hardtail; or Road+Hardtail. I expected you would keep that nice Titan Cypher you built, so I suggested only buying one bike instead of two - a gravel bike, with an extra set of roadwheels. If you need to sell your Cypher to fund the purchases, then I would suggest a get a trail hardtail and a roadbike. I imagine you want to be able to do XC, gravel and road riding, so I was thinking of two bikes that cover all three disciplines.

Honestly, if you go to the south of Italy, you would think you're somewhere in South Africa. Potholes; faded road markings; trash on the side of the streets. No working public trains. I felt right at home.

You've already got a very nice dualsus, so instead of getting two new bikes, I would recommend getting a really good gravel bike, with an extra road wheelset. Then you're set for XC, gravel and road.

I am aware. I prefer a totally separate account.

Exactly this, provided that the behaviour modification is worthwhile. Getting a free bank account was a plus for me - i treat it like a petty cash account, linked to my phone, so that my primary credit card is safe(r) from fraud. I was already house-trained to fill up at BP from my prior rewards programme, so being able to fill up at BP and Shell opened up options. I already shopped at Woollies and Clicks. Already primarily ate out at Kauai, etc. So there was no behaviour modification required. So, Vitality looked like a no-brainer. For R450 p/m, I would get at least R1500 back per month in miles. My miles go straight into vouchers, so its literally disposable income.

I saw quite a few ebikers pass me who did not have the orange ebike sticker on their bibs. So a number of them won't even be picked up by the organisers. Also, what does the penalty of a DQ really mean? You will get your medal before the DQ is implemented. It's not as if you get yanked out of the race. You will get your Discovery refund for finishing; (and even if you don't, what is R400 when you can afford an ebike?).