MongooseMan

Out of interest, what jersey were you wearing? (Asking because I agree, if you weren’t in a savage top or a pink top then there’s only about 4 other people who took a turn 😂)

Obviously I wasn't there, but find it interesting how polarised the stage 6 feelings are. A lot of negative in this thread (and again, I can't comment on that), but then, on Strava, from an amateur: And then Payson on instagram: Some would argue that a good gravel event has to walk that line. My feeling is that, barring the wind, there'd be a lot less concern about stage 6.

Weather played ball yesterday (assuming you managed to stay in a bunch for the last 40k into the headwind). I felt the spacing of the climbs this year was nicer (Hels slightly later, and less distance after Bothmas). Good day for our team starting in D. Managed to combine sitting in the bunch with doing some work to keep things moving, rolling in in ~5:10. Happy with that. I will maintain that OneTonner, done hard, is harder than DC. We were off the bike for less than 5mins at the top of Bothmas, contrast to DC where you'd be getting a 40min break at that point. Finish area was nowhere near as nice as last year, felt like we were fighting over limited benches in an industrial parking lot rather than the lush grass fields of last year. But there was enough beer at least

If you go do it now, while a stage is happening, and select "Live GC", then I think you'll see what you're looking for, to some extent. For some reason you can't get that view after the stage though

I honestly expected better coverage given the hype…

Pretty sure getting dropped on Adderley is a rite of passage for Cape Town cyclists. At some point, it'll happen to you 🤣

100% I've said the same about tandems, who we tend to ride with in % at 99er and Tour de PPA. They'll shoot down the hills, taking a whole bunch with them, but then grind to a halt as soon as there's an incline, so it just makes for really weird racing dynamics. With all that said, we're not pros, we're (mostly) there to have fun, so as long as I get round without kissing tar I'm generally pretty chilled about all the oddities we encounter along the way.

I don't disagree in principle, but it definitely gets messy on race day. Scenario: 4 women in bunch of men, 3 men break and one women tags on, so she's now in the break. She didn't break on her own, she escaped with the help of 3 men. So one could argue it's the same thing when another man closes down the break, even if doing so brings the other 3 women back as well.

And road shifters And 45mm tyres And an integrated cockpit And only 40mm of travel And a 48T chainring. I know it's the kneejerk response, but...

I started in %, but clearly don't have the legs I had at the start of the year. Got dropped about 15km out, only to catch back up when the neutralisation happened. Got dropped again shortly after the restart and decided to cut my losses and wait for A. The pace in A was vastly different, no one was really pushing the hills, and once we hit the headwind section it became a very chilled ride. I had nothing to lose so started throwing a few attacks after the siloes, just to keep things somewhat honest and interesting. A also had all but 1 of the racing ladies (they also having been dropped from %). Made the dynamics a little weird as 3 of them were in the same team, so as soon as 1 got in a mini-break the other 2 would sit up, but stay on the front, so you'd have to go around them to close it. Minor, but added a little stress to the last 12km.

No, it always takes a day or so for the “waves” filter to appear

My go to for Durbanville races now is to always just park 3km away in a side road. Gives me a nice warmup/systems check in to the start, as long as I don't get lost. Much less stressful too

Not all the answers, but an interesting listen nonetheless

Screenshots of the YouTube vid 🤣

@guidodg do you have any idea how the "UFO" section in the Stage 4 route differs to the long Canola Roller section? It looks quite similar (from a zoomed out arial view at least)

Those are distances to the other parkruns 🤣

An interview with the seeding "architect" 😁

I suspect something has changed, as I can now ship sram parts from Merlin to SA, whereas previously that was always blocked

@guidodg any sign of the photos? 😁

If you search Christiaan Joubert on Strava there's this profile, who also did the 130k on Saturday: Not gonna post links here, because POPI, but should be easy enough to find him.

Not entirely sure, but have a read through here: https://www.activityfix.com/user_cp?page=9 (specifically section 6) Edit, just testing on my side, you only need to link Strava to get the recording device.

If you want to set your bike based on the recording device, have a look at ActivityFix Auth it with your strava, create a rule for each bike based on the device, and you're done, it'll "fix" it going forward for you automatically (I do this based on the power meter name to distinguish between my gravel bike and my road bike, works perfectly)

A race report, because why not. I did the 130k last year, and actually just wanted a fun ride this year, hence opted for the 80k. First 20k out to the turn was largely uneventful. Group of about 20, mostly well behaved except for a few flat bars who could use a bit more bunch experience. Oh, before I forget, speaking of route markings: those giant red arrows (off to a trance festival, I think?) threw me a bit about 10k in. I know this route backwards, but I was still doubting myself for a second wondering if @guidodg had given us a last minute surprise. Made the turn, onto the first "climb" (where I usually get shelled out the back). Tried to concentrate on staying midpack here and riding tempo, and it seemed to work, first big box ticked. Was chatting with @Kom at this point, laughing about how we were still in the front group when he commented, with remarkable foreshadowing: "I've stuck my nose in the wind a bit, and I don't think it's that bad, reckon we're gonna be ok"... Past the 30k join and split points, managed to shout instructions enough for people not to turn right when they shouldn't. Group was still about 20ish on the climb to the first farm, but as we turned right (into the wind), it all exploded. We went from a mini-peloton to me not being able to see the 8 people ahead of me, or anyone behind. This section was rough, you expect it to be downhill recovery, but it's just rough enough that the headwind make it very hard work. my view as the front of the race broke away through the farm: VID_20250920_100035_050.mp4_19700101_000000_0001758371465.mp4 Then it was onto the long drag up to the 60k split. The nice thing about the 80k is that you can mentally treat 60k as a "finish line" of sorts, since it's 90% downhill from there. Managed to trade turns with one other guy until I dropped him on the last kicker up to the split. From there it was head down and hold on for dear life as we dropped through the farms and the roadworks. The other guy came back past me like a bullet, having found his legs again, immediately putting about 500m into me. Managed to slowly reel him back and as we turned left at the bottom of the hill I could see I was going to catch him on the last climb before the river. As I came past him I cramped properly, which lead to some swearing and giving him a bit of a fright 🤣 From that point you just have to put your head down and go, with 3km to go. Passed Matt Beers as I was heading into town, which for some reason gave me a nice mental boost to push to the finish. Rolled in in 2:49, 8th overall, 7th man, 3rd SV. For a "mid-pack elite" this was a nice novelty to finish in the top 10, and I was really stoked with how my legs did yesterday. Obviously there's huge caveats there ( @Jbr also came 7th, in the 130k, and he averaged about 5km/h faster than I did, so that gives you an idea of the competition). But, as they say, there's no comments column on the results sheet, so I'll take it Canolla Roller is a constant in my family's calendar, and this year did nothing to detract from that, we'll be back again next year.