Skubarra

Exactly - you dont have to take a medal but I can promise you there is a vocal minority who are passionate about that little trinket and will make themselves heard if they don' get one. And don't even think of replacing a medal with something actually useful like a bottle opener or bicycle bell or whatever - if its not a medal there will be complaints. Also forgot to add, don't do goodie bags if you can avoid it. Its a crap load of admin and labour to get right, can quickly get expensive and people will complain anyway about the contents.

A few tips from my limited experience: You need a strong team around you with people you can trust, on the day things go wrong and its chaos, you literally can only direct people to help and wont have time to solve big problems yourself. Assuming its a mtb race make double/triple sure all permissions with property owners are in place (owner initially said yes, farm manager now says no or some buffalo now moved a camp - suddenly there are endless problems) Plan properly to open and close farm gates. Route markers - start early with the marking, make about 2x more markers than you think you'll need, check it again on the morning of the race. Nothing else cause as much chaos and conflict as a misplaced or missing/stolen route marker. Afterwards make sure route markers are removed (by peeps that know the route), property owners hate old route markers lying around on their property. Give medals - a significant portion of participants like and expect medals and will crap on you or on social media if there are no medals. Especially in summer make sure there is enough water at waterpoints and a backup plan to get more water there if a waterpoint runs out. Participants will hate you and your race if they get thirsty to a waterpoint and there is no water.

And just like that the needle that's in this thread lately makes a whole lot more sense!

I managed to get hold of the owner. All sorted out 👍 Sadly they are closing, a proper mom & pop shop that took personal interest in their customers. Will miss them a lot!

First problem is actually to just to get hold of someone to communicate with regarding the issue

Luckily its my spare 12 year old enty level road bike (which ironically I bought there) so no hurry really - but lack of communication makes sense if it was the sheriff that locked the doors. Lets see...

Very sad to hear. I have been going there for more than a decade. Now I just need to find a way to get my bike back that was there for a service.....

Any Kuilsrivier hubbers on here that might know whats going on at the Cyclosport bicycle shop? Have been trying to contact the shop for more than a week now, shop locked up when I visited, phone is not being answered. Website looks like its down and social media not being updated...

Also respected that - still got hate on the hub though for not ratting out his drug suppliers. Nothing will ever please the hub mob 😁

I base my opinion on how amateurish it was done rather than on the believe that he had a great moral compass in his younger years. Not sure one can read too much on what happened the day David was busted, wasn't it based on new tests that were done on old samples? Sure the same tests would have been done on Kevin's samples as well My theory but that said, not exactly a hill I would choose to die on.

Personally I found it more likely that Kevin started doping at the tail-end of his career when age & failing health started catching up with him. The amateurish way he went about it makes it very unlikely that he was getting away with it for a long time, definitely not Dr Ferrari level stuff going on.

The Tygerberg marshalls I know are paid-up members who volunteer for marshalling duty. Don't know if there are exceptions but I hope not, can see how that would create problems.

I was always under the impression marshals also have to pay their annual club fees? Is this some kind of special arrangement for certain individuals?

This is my pet hate of Tygerberg, and the big reason I never invite friends from outside the area to ride Tygerberg with me. Although as I understand this is more driven by the property owners than the club, and we have access to the trails thanks to their goodwill so I just zip it and mumble to myself.

As someone living on the Tygerberg trails doorstep I am instantly offended by this comment. But I did ride bottelary a few weeks back for the first time in years, certainly was a lekker ride and I enjoyed the singletrack. (directions as confusing as always though...)

Not sure why they changed their mind, but I'm positive there would be enough time to clear the route before next Sunday

SMS said online entries are open, I think till wednesday

There would be a safety officer, and it will be that person's call to cancel the event conditions are unsafe. Only happens occasionally though, weather have to be extreme for event to be called off.

If mtb trails are your nr 1 priority (and woolies foods nr 2) - with respect to the other options - I don't know why you would even bother to look outside the Somerset-West/Durbanville/Paarl Winelands "triangle". More trail networks in the wider area than you would be able to ride in months even if you tried. And if you can't find a neighborhood that is quiet/rural enough for your liking you are not trying.

LOL! You can have my entry if the prediction is still monsoon on Saturday night

Yes - very disappointing. Will make a call Sat evening but I have no intention of braving a storm just to mtb.

Exactly what a scammer would say...

Kind of with Milky on this one, guess one can try to work the insurance system but wear and tear not technically insurable. Not sure one will always get away with that approach.

I was one of them! The early gravel bikes also didn't convince me. Took me a few years to come around 😁

I think its a decent low cost low risk plan to get into gravel riding if a mtb is what you have and you don't have the budget for a gravel bike now.