Anthem24

Clockwise from Windsor, Distance 221.3 km, elevation gain 4221 m

Livestream of https://www.levisgranfondo.com/ Growler road race in Windsor, California on YouTube this afternoon. Matt Beers, Hayley Preen and Keegan Swenson defending his title. Race starts 4:15 pm our time:

And Wild Card entries Daniel van der Walt and Rogan Smart

AKA watch Matt Beers in action

Elite Gravel Race (3 laps totalling 90 miles) is this evening at 7pm (for us) and will be live on YouTube here from 6:45 pm: Full Sea Otter schedule here:

Good luck -- that looks like a heavy load to carry down Die Leer! Are you going to do one trip for the bike and another for the panniers? I see Sean Fraenkel has just posted a video on his descent of it on Facebook Gamkaskloof page.

The website is a great way to find all the videos for a trail hub easily -- I generally watch them before riding a new trail, and find them very useful. Personally, though, I was hoping for more of a one-stop shop in terms of information. Like a gpx link from those rides to get a map or an idea of distance and elevation, or even just a link to the Trailforks route -- oh, I see there's a Strava button so I guess they can be found there, and perhaps you ride sections more than once when you film. Is it worth providing a button up top for users to easily leave feedback to update info? Just looking at Tokai, for example, it would be so helpful to include all the vagaries of day permits for SANParks gates (some places cash only, some card only, but luckily an online day permit system has just been introduced: https://www.sanparks.org/parks/table-mountain/cards-permits/activity-permit ) Other feedback is that the grey text against a black background is very hard to read on my laptop screen, but great job overall -- thanks!

?? Try https://wmgoriding.com/

Thought that motorbike was going to lose it on that loose rocky climb up the old pass, but he was just waiting for the riders to catch up. Must be pretty competent to do that with a cameraman on the back. The e-bike team know what they're doing, given their racing experience. Who saw Sofia Gomez Villafane and her partner almost get taken out by the media crew in a beach buggy at the weekend? Check out her Instagram reel at sofithevilla.

Send to Howard to post to Tokai MTBTrail News Facebook page?

20-odd years ago there was an event from George Country Club in December that took us up Montagu Pass to overnight at Louvain Guest Farm, then back over the old Oxwagon Trail/Voortrekker Pass over Duiwelskop to Bergplaas Forestry station and back along the Seven Passes Road to George. That trail is spectacular, and if you're going light, it could be ridden in reverse -- but send the car round on the Outeniqua Pass unless it's a 4x4 with a skilled driver! There is a cost involved and a permit is needed, but all details are here: https://louvain.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Oxwagaon-NEW-4x4-Route-Info.pdf Don't let the cover photo put you off -- most of the route is not like that and the Mountain Passes of SA Facebook page posted in September 2024: " The Old Oxwagon 4x4 Trail between Louvain and Bergplaas has been beautifully repaired after the devastating flood damage earlier this winter." Louvain could advise on the current condition, but given that Montagu Pass is currently stuffed and officially closed, it's an option. No champagne gravel though, and better for MTBs than gravel bikes. Oh, still pretty rocky in places -- this was from the last two weeks evidently:

Trailforks -- free on your desktop -- and here : https://bottelaryconservancy.co.za/about-mtb-trails/ The map under the Access Points tab is old -- a few more have been added, and it doesn't show The Goat (Devonbosch) or Polkadraai bike parks. Follow their page on Facebook: Bottelary Hills Conservancy & MTB Trails

In 2018 the SA Blood Transfusion Service published a paper on the results of a survey. ID = iron deficiency "A total of 4412 donors were enrolled in the study. Specimens were collected for full blood count, iron, transferrin saturation, and ferritin assessment. Donor demographics were recorded. ID was indicated by a ferritin level of less than 20 ng/mL for men and less than 12 ng/mL for women. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin levels less than 12.5 g/dL. A total of 17.5% of all donors had ID, with 16.3% prevalence in women and 18.6% in men. Among male donors, an interdonation interval of less than 3 months was associated with ID." Ref: Van Den Berg et al. 2018. Transfusion. doi:10.1111/trf.15001

This happened to me too -- I started giving blood again after two decades and thought it was perfectly safe to give blood every two months, but it's not. The Western Cape blood donation services only started monitoring ferritin a few years ago -- I got all my results out of them and it showed how my ferratin crashed down to 13. They warn you when it gets below 15, although the WHO considers >50 the ideal level. I was left a couple of thousand rand out of pocket, after the GP visit, blood tests and the meds. The intravenous infusion is an option but does have some risks. You would have to be off the meds for a while before the infusion, I think -- because you can do a lot of long-term damage by over-dosing on iron. Note that ferratin is your iron storage, and that will take a while to recover, while your iron (haemoglobin) levels may be fine and will respond quickly to diet and the meds. There's no quick fix unfortunately -- at least not in less than two months.

Surely if you have done so much research, you would have discovered the alien and invasive species regulations under the Biodiversity Act, which require that pines and eucalypts need to be controlled or removed, particularly in protected areas. But I suggest you get in touch with Parkscape, which have taken on SANParks in an effort to preserve some shade trees in Tokai Forest. They may be able to provide some context.