The Bull Shark

Money. Product placement to sell even more e-bikes.

The afternoon sun on those mountains is going to cook quite a few tail-enders today. There is also no wind at all to cool the riders down. I know very well how that feel myself. You just want to cry and lie down in the shade of the biggest rock you can find.

Weather the coming week looks brutal for the late starters. Medics are going to be having a busy week with all the dehydrated riders. https://www.yr.no/en/forecast/daily-table/2-3360396/Republic of South Africa/Western Cape Province/Cape Winelands District Municipality/Tulbagh

Pacing myself early on in a race to match my training, and having some Rennies for emergency use.

I wonder how many of these will be written off on company or practice tax.

Be glad the CTCT is not tomorrow. The doctor she is gonna blow. On the other hand the Cape Epic starts tomorrow.

It is a 2 birds with one stone thing. I am thinking very hard about doing some proper gravel races.

My next frame will most definitely be a gravel bike frame. When the money allows. I need to build me a 2 wheeled manually powered version of a Fortuner to handle the New Souf Afrikan roads.

Yes. All of us have some old frames. I can fit 25mm tyres only just on my frame. On my son's frame we can only fit a 25mm on front, 23mm on rear.

That road after you crest Smits makes me wonder every year how come there not be more bad crashes. That road surface is demonic if you ride a road bike with 23mm tires pumped to 8 bar. No way I would even reach for a water bottle.

2013 the weather was damn near perfect. It was also my son's first race.

Yes. Got our blue medals.

O, btw, I finally finished my 10th. Between not finishing the 2021 race, and not starting the 2022 race because of post-COVID heart issues, this should have happened years ago. Chuffed that that milestone is done and dusted. My son also finished his 10th. He will be 24 in 2 weeks, so he definitely can do his 21st before he is even 40, Bloke that finished behind me finished his 44th.

Goddam. That was a hard ride for me. Something was off with my nutrition as I felt thirsty the whole ride. I emptied 2 bottles of water alone. And that wind was not ayoba. I get to the top of Chappies and instead of freeing down I have to peddle to make headway. Virtually prayed the last 10km away.

My Polar did the exact same thing. Did not track distance or speed at all. It only showed elapsed time.

My son competed for many years in WC XCO and SA XCO races with a set of Crests.

Forget it. You would be hard pressed to get 2 good Alu rims for that price. Like me dad said: "Skryf dit op jou magie en vee dit met jou hempie af."

The competition at the top is just to fierce for any single rider to dominate.

At around $2000 US I just do not see how the Classified Hub is viable for any weekend warrior. For most of us our FD is good enough. Would rather spend the money elsewhere. My Campag Record FD has never let me down in the past 12 years that I have been using it.

I have a 2015 BMC FourStroke4 02 which means it will not be UDH compatible. Which means I will not be able to fit any of the new AXS groupsets. Unless I up my TIG welding skills and modify the swingarm. On the 02 the swingarm is Alu while the rest of the frame is Carbon. I looked at new bike prices and instantly developed heartburn.

Yes. Looking at new MTB prices I can see myself having to ride what I have. Most average spec MTBs are now just below the 100k price range. Anything slightly decent and you are looking at 120 - 140k.

OK, so if you have an older bike pre-UDH you are pretty much screwed as far as future proofing is concerned in the SRAM stable. Am I correct or not?

Sadly not an event I will ever be able to do. Not that I do not want to put the hard yards in for the training. I have more than enough tech skills for it. What I do not have is the body. I am 6 feet and weight 85, but my biggest issue is that I have insulin resistance and my body shuts down as soon as it gets too hot. I currently have no idea how to fix that. Give me a cool day and I can pedal for miles and miles over the mountains. But give me one day in the mountains with over 32 degree heat and no wind and my body cooks and the power goes poof. And with the Epic you have no say on which weather you prefer so you have to be prepared for anything from rain up to 40 degrees in the WC sun.

Ah, then I be one squirrel, as I think I might have to dismount a few places on Armageddon 8. I have never ridden to the very top of Irish. Too damn lazy. The very first part of Fire Hut might also be a bit sketchy for my skill set.

I believe as an entry requirement to the Epic all riders must be able to ride up the Irish climb (maybe to point 5) and then down Armageddon without dismounting.