Skubarra

Not sure what you mean, I thought support cars are not allowed? Or are they?

Yes I agree those days are gone forever... In the WC If you are a casual rider into road cycling join a club and do the club rides, serves the same purpose as a funride if you are not racing for time anyway. For the more serious riders there are still enough races to do between the WP League rides & the few funrides that survived until now.

Think its part of the challenge of the one tonner? If you want to stick with your group till the end make sure you have enough water with you (or a team that will pull you back if you have to make the stop) - one of the reasons I rate this race to be tougher than the DC

Didn't want to be facetious but couldn't quite put 2 and 2 together in the OPs post - so should we be rescuing tortoises crossing the road or are we only making things worse when we do so?

Cape Duo Challenge - event survived about 2 years

I think it speaks to the fact that participation in cycling is evolving, its not only road cycling events that are having struggles attracting entrants? And good point on the insane expenses, 15 years ago something like the Epic was actually affordable (even though it was never cheap) to the average mtb'er. That younger generations can't do it now has probably far more to do with affordability than "generational preferences"

Wow - looks amazing!

I think Du Toitskloof is ok if you do it relatively early in the morning on weekends. I ride it occasionally but of the 3 big passes in the area probably my least favorite. Just never fully comfortable cycling on a national road and the R101 stretch can be a bit hairy with no shoulder and trucks going past. I would say the best option for a longish ride would be Bainskloof to Wellington & back or Nuwekloof->Wellington->Bainskloof, maybe with a detour through Slanghoek if you want to add miles.

Will just say this - the reasons for no races happening over Ou Kaapse weg and black hill do not include "Nobody thought of this before" & "Peeps are too scared of the climbs"

Thanks for the tip - organisers ignored my online request & emails - but at least I got a response from the whatsapp. They are "experiencing a high volume of re-seeding requests and will get to my request in time". From the posts on here and on social media it appears the seeding is somewhat of a stuff-up this year..

Out of interest - few years ago when the Burger/Stellenbosch Cycle Tour still attracted something like 8K riders (and was probably the 3rd or 4th biggest cycling event in the country) organisers tried to get full road closure but the Stellenbosch and Paarl municipalities flat out refused. They couldn't be convinced even though the existing event already had the numbers to justify it. So I think the idea of more events with road closure is a non-starter. Also something like the Langebaan race had closed roads for most of the route & interesting scenery as it goes through the nature reserve in spring - still died off due to lack of interest. Multi-day events like the Tour du Cap really struggle to attract numbers so I don't think that is the way forward either. My slightly cynical view is that organisers are not doing anything wrong, cycling habits just happened to change over time. Casual riders now spend their time on trails and gravel roads and not the "boring" & unsafe tar roads. Also casual riders don't need relatively expensive events to participate. Road racing now appeals to a smaller niche crowd that just want to race and are less interested in the bells & whistles. I don't think there is any obvious thing road races can do to attract casual riders again, other than organising a gravel or mtb along with your road event.

Also asked for a re-seeding and not a squeek & they are also not responding to emails. Will give them a call later today - let us know if you hear anything

Don't know about bags - have never seen it but in theory it might be possible. The easiest solution though is a roofrack...

How often even when there are break-aways peeps would patiently wheelsuck in the dropped group and then still do a heroic sprint finish to beat their fellow dropped riders from Z bunch... 😂 That said imo if you are one of the stronger riders in the group and wheelsuckers annoy you its up to you to make certain there are as few as possible of them around by the time you get to the finish line, very rare that there would be no opportunities to break-away in a race like this.

Then clearly you are an Epic rider as well because that is what they buy...

I have zero issues with drafting someone to my goal time, isn't that the whole point of cycling in large groups? But yes, I don't see it becoming a thing in cycling - think finish times are much more weather & conditions dependent than for running, and the majority of people in the bunch wouldn't care about the same time goal.

Cool tx. I see there are a lot of groups and C bunch is pretty early, would be nice to be re-seeded with the vets but not going to make a fuss.

Flying up to Joburg for this one - somehow missed my seeding email, see I still had up to today to ask for a re-seeding. Did a 2h50 CTCT earlier this year but I am seeded in C - is the field just really strong or is the seeding system wonky?

The start and finish yes - the rest not so much

Will give Rietdakkie a try next time I do Bainskloof - Calabash just disappoints every time... Resurfaced Bainskloof now my favourite road ride to do in the area

Was my experience as well recently when looking for a second hand bike on the hub, lots of overpriced bikes on here in my biased opinion. Some people asking more than what the bike cost new few years ago. On the lowballers, I guess if you do it 100 times and it work once it's still worth the effort if you have no shame? 🤷‍♂️

The way I see it you will either hate cycling and the bike will gather dust in your garage or the bug will bite and you would want to upgrade within the next few months anyway. So my advice to a new rider would be to not to fret too much about getting your first purchase exactly right (because by next year it won't matter anyway). And when you upgrade you will have a far better idea of what type of riding appeals to you and be able to make an informed decision. Personally I found the second hand market to be daunting when I was new to cycling, for me it was easier to start out with an entry level bike from a reputable bike shop and only later on I started looking for good secondhand deals.

What @Tomik said... I commute in Bellville but Bellville not set up for bicycle commuting at all. However there are safe options if you plan your route, some of the larger roads have wide shoulders and there are options through the suburbs on quiet roads that you can figure out over time

5km of gravel on your road bike. Sounds like something that could add a few war stories to your cycling holiday... 🙈

Did it for the 1st time this weekend, sitting in pain at my office desk today because of a wipe-out on a technical downhill - so yes, maybe too technical 😂 I agree that Eselfontein has a great setup. I think with they way the organisers approach the event they are more sustainable in the long run than the events going for the "5 star luxury" market. Will definitely go back in future.