Anthem24

If you are only going to ride flat singletrack, gravel roads/jeep track, or even mildly technical stuff with no big drops etc, the Dash would be a nice light bike and 100 mm travel is plenty. Note that you have to fit your own dropper post if you want one. The other comes with a dropper but would be overkill if you are never going to do steep or technical singletrack.

What kind of riding do you mostly do? The dash is a fast racing bike with 100 mm travel and the other is for gnarlier stuff with 130/140 mm.

Those spokes look very rusted, so they're likely to start breaking. Instead of repairing one by one, new wheels would be worthwhile. It is all going to add up rather fast. If you're going to spend a few thousand, you could probably do better with a 2nd hand bike. Best would be to pop into a couple of your local bike shops and ask them for a quote so you can decide whether it's worth the effort and expense. Olympic Cycles and Bridge Cycles might be best for this kind of bike.

Live coverage of Big Sugar on YouTube now, with Matt up front with 2 others https://www.youtube.com/live/tFj9E5JkmPY?si=JrRZYLbNnL6b-P_s

Live coverage of Big Sugar on YouTube now, with Matt up front with 2 others

I didn't see any post-ride reports of how the tyre and bike options panned out, but the Toyota Cadence 10-minute coverage of Karoo 2 Coast popped up on my YouTube, and it's well worth a watch for those who don't have DSTV. The male and female winners were incredibly impressive for different reasons.

Both Google Maps and Google Earth show the tarred roads in the area (and some dirt ones) and you can check out the shoulder all the way using streetview. (Click on the little orange man and drag it to the blue lines.) The R317 does not have a shoulder but is not a hugely busy road so there should be space for cars and trucks to pass you in the opposite lane. However, they are going fast so it is always a risk. You could take the adjacent gravel road for that section, or be prepared to ride on the verge when cars approach. In other words, use gravel tyres.

Great video -- looking forward to the rest. I just happened upon this while looking for something else on the SANParks site, so the staff must be gatvol of the road conditions too!

All SANParks tariffs go up at the end of this month, I see: Day MTB permit from R115 to R122, Activity card from R775 to R822. Group discount will work out at R476.25 from next month, but well worth paying the small admin fee to Uitsig Bikepark to do it all for you, so marginally over R500. https://www.sanparks.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/TMNP-Activities-Other-2025-26.pdf

Does seem tricky. Maybe it's best if you just start a new topic (Dennis Hammar memorial?) and copy over your last few posts of photos. I presume somebody has informed his wife? She has posted on the Stay Wider of the Rider Facebook post, but you have to have been a follower for 24 hours in order to comment/reply, and I'm not.

I suspect a lot of hubbers might not be seeing these posts embedded in this CT Danger Areas thread. Why not copy all the pics over to a new thread with the title referring to Dennis and a memorial.

Are you sure you had the rekon race and not the rekon, which is certainly a bit grippier.

How come? Seems to agree with Maxxis website https://www.maxxis.com/us/tires/bicycle/mountain/

Given all the accounts on here about muggings on the roads leading into Stellenbosch, that doesn't seem like the best place to end. Rather start further east in in Riversdale or Heidelberg and get fetched in Caledon or Bot River if you don't want to end with lots of tar and traffic. Other nice options are Ladismith / the lovely Seweweekspoort Pass back to Montagu via the Klein Karoo gravel corridor, and there's lots of info about that online. https://makadasadventures.co.za/klein-karoo-gravel-corridor/ Avoid cycling in the Cederberg in the summer months obviously -- too hot. I picked up a pamphlet recently from this crowd -- https://cycling-friends.com/ The pamphlet says they have Garden Route and Cross Cape gravel tours scheduled in January and February, and do personalized tours too, so maybe worth checking out. You'd best find out who is behind those tours though, in case it's that famous guy on here!

Another option is to drive to Rooiberg Winery (at far right of image below) and do a circular loop. I plotted this route a while back from Worcester, but haven't ridden it yet. I'm familiar with the dirt road along the Breede River from canoeing days and have ridden the dirt road on the other side of the R60 in MTB events starting at Nuy. You could cut up through the Nuy road if you do a short stretch on the R60. There are some sections of tar, but a lot of gravel. You can go into streetview on Google Earth and check out the roads (gravel and tar). Here's the kmz file -- I do have a gpx too, which shows this entire loop as 82 km. Worcester-Eilandia.kmz

And gender ignorant / male biased.

But it's still not possible to go from Dornier to its neighbour Mont Marie or vice versa on the same day permit, if I'm not mistaken?

The only corridor that is open to day permit holders is the Anna Beulah one between Conties and Hoogekraal, and you're meant to buy a day permit both sides, which makes it an expensive ride.

Bloemendal would be closest and there are lots of options. Buy a day permit and you can go across the road to Hillcrest but can't ride the members-only corridors.l, including the one from from Protea Hotel near Majik Forest back to Bloemendal. There is a primary school MTB inter schools event taking place at Bloemendal on Friday afternoon, which will mean some of the easier trails will be off limits.

Bloemendal would be closest and there are lots of options. Buy a day permit and you can go across the road to Hillcrest but can't ride the members-only corridors.l, including the one from from Protea Hotel near Majik Forest back to Bloemendal. There is a primary school MTB inter schools event taking place at Bloemendal on Friday afternoon, which will mean some of the easier trails will be off limits.

Live tracking -- Matt is no 32 https://live.enabledtracking.com/leadville2025/

Matt Beers is no 32 on the live tracking tool https://live.enabledtracking.com/leadville2025/

Watching Leadville live stream on YouTube at the mo -- Keegan in front 3, haven't seen Matt Beers yet.

wrong event