MongooseMan

So is anyone else entered for Gravel Monster next weekend? Forecast is changing everyday, but I suppose at least there's more tar than ATP so might not need a new BB after this one 🙈

I'm relatively certain Inov-8 is a UK brand? Happy to be proved wrong though.

Any LBS that has an account with Omnico can order from them (they have stock). Assume you'll end up paying similar to what Olympic are advertising (R440)

Dutch Cat 4 climbs 😂 By way of comparison, there's a segment in Cape Town over the N2 into Pinelands with double the elevation gain

It appears you now need to watch out for booby traps from disgruntled Hout Bay residents if you use Empire Road to get to Chappies. (This is not me, just posting what I saw on Strava)

Not sure. It's stock Rook Scout BB/crank.

Sent my bike for a (much needed) full service after Saturday's mudfest. They just sent me this pic of my BB 🙈

It actually warmed up. We finished just as it got dark (about 6:15pm)

Well that was... you know, I don't know. I went from wanting to drop at the ferry, to feeling better but having to wait an hour for them to try to fix the broken ferry, to crossing the river on a rubber duck, to feeling great with 10km to go, to hating life and mud and rocks and everyone in the last 10km. I swear at some points in that last bit I was only peddling because that's what my body was conditioned to do. But... got it done, so there's that 😁

Pure class, You choose not to win just because your opponent crashed, opt instead to wait for him, and then drop him on the last HC climb. Proper.

So if WvA wins, and Pinot & Jonas finish outside the top 3, then by my maths he wins the green & the polkadot jersey. Not sure if that has ever been done before. Edit: Of course, Eddie did it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Tour_de_France

So, about time to start looking at forecasts: EpicRideWeather looks promising: The forecast for the run-up also looks ok, though yr.no also says 6mm of rain on the day, so...

2 batches

I'm doing the 100 miler on my Rook Scout (with some aerobars, because why not )

Here's my monthly production over the last ~2 years (21x 410W panels, 15 NE facing, 6 NW facing). Some of this (mainly the summer months) is capped by demand (if the batteries are full and there's nothing on in the house, you stop producing if you're not pushing power back into the grid).

Have had no wind issues (and it's been properly tested over the last 2 years). Also no need to get neighbour approval, though you do need to jump through a decent amount of CoCT hoops to get it approved.

I'm in Cape Town, but the installer is based your side (he travels around doing installations). Will send through.

My system, installed in 2020. 3x Victron Multiplus 48 (one is a GX unit) (yes, it’s a lot, but we have a big property with a decent amount of usage, so I prefer a larger upfront outlay to avoid having to change things down the line) 21x 410W panels (15 facing NE, 6 facing NW, total of 7 strings of 3) 4x US3000 Pylontech batteries A few more pics: Total cost was a lot, but the current maths suggests the system will pay for itself inside 10 years. I will say this: if you're looking for an installer that won't mess you around, will do a great job, and will then reply to whatsapp messages on a sunday morning, hit me up: my guy is *great*. I would recommend him in a heartbeat, and this is an industry becoming more and more saturated with fly-by-night chancers.

Everyone: brutal climb, absolutely brutal. Peter Sagan:

Roglic popped his shoulder in the crash, sat on a spectator's chair, popped it back in, then rode 4 more cobbled sectors to finish 😲

Looking wet on the broadcast, could see some "interesting" corners here

+1 Got the Buzzrack 4 Eazzy, great value and works really well.

On one particularly cold morning, I stopped at a robot and found myself looking longingly at the warm exhaust pipe of the car stopped next to me 🙈

A couple of early morning rides through the micro-climate that is Constantia/Tokai taught me that my long-finger gloves were not up to the task of 3 degrees C with wind chill. Picked these up on the Ciovita sale, tested them out this morning, very nice!

How does this differ from the Hades SE, out of interest?