Skubarra

Covid year 2020 organisers switched the starting sequence from fast to slow, was the one DC I did which actually felt like a TT. I was in a fast-"ish" team, there were very few instances were we passed teams or were passed, and on the odd occasion 2 teams combined extremely easy for marshals to police & separate the teams. Downside to this was it was havoc in the bottom half of the field where the social teams were out for long hours in the sun & wind, many did not finish - was very clear the event would be killed off quickly if this format continued. For me its obvious the organisers sacrificed the non-drafting ideal in order to host a mass participation event. Format of starting teams from slow to fast, sorry drafting is inevitable, no amount of moaning and appealing to ideals of fair play is going to change that, its just impossible to avoid. Might make myself unpopular here but I'm fine with the format & drafting. If you are in contention for podium then yes, play fair and don't draft. For the rest use whatever advantage you can get to race the 200km because others are doing it anyway. I do like the idea though of maybe having maybe the top podium contenders start very early (essentially what they are doing for the top ladies & mixed teams) - would probably solve a few problems and avoid hub moans.

Lots of mtb & tar options in the Stellenbosch direction but very limited gravel routes. For the week from Glengarry the Spes Bona/Occultdale loop towards Malmesbury probably your best option. For longer rides the roads I mentioned above and then towards Paarl there are gravel options to get to 100km (best option probably the Paarl Mountain Nature reserve)

What are the distances you are looking to do? Tygerberg not really suitable for "standard" gravel riding (as in it is mostly singletrack and not jeep track. Around Durbanville actually less gravel options than one would imagine for farmlands. Mostly rides will be a mix of gravel/tar. Close to you there are Spes bona and Occultdale gravel roads that you can link with tar to do about a 40km loop from Durbanville. Further east to Paarl's side you have the waarburgh, eenzaamheid, lanvlei, slent roads from which you can do a roughly 80km loop.

Not sure if RDX qualify but if they count as North probably them. Then second Joeys Vleisprodukte and 3rd CMC

Think those e-bikes caught me when I was cramping/crawling over the last b&tch - also wasn't amused by those motors and low cadence flying past me.

They only start a minute and a half behind you so they just have to catch you and latch onto your wheels 😉

My money is on "Joey's Vleisprodukte"... very appropriate name for a team based behind the Boereworsgordyn.

not sure I would go with that... Looks different to the official table

I hear you - but on the upside, this is the one race where having a slightly worse than planned seeding is not necessarily a bad thing

I ordered from here (was a bit cheaper in June) https://www.mavericksales.co.za/products/lcd-screen-and-digitizer-full-assembly-for-garmin-edge-530black In hindsight I should have tried this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007703105140.html I'll admit I'm slightly nervous about the waterproofing, but it is a bike computer not a watch so should be less of a risk (and the previous screen had a hole the size of my pinky finger so I am sure waterproofing has improved regardless)

Just some feedback - I am a complete DIY retard, had a similar situation & same temporary solution. Ordered a new screen online months ago but postponed replacing the screen as the tape was still holding and I don't trust my DIY abilities. Then this morning on a training ride I hit a cat-eye and the screen came completely loose and stopped working altogether. Got home. took out the replacement screen and swapped screens in 2 minutes. Garmin looks as good as new, it was flippen embarrassingly easy - didn't even need to watch the Youtube video. Actually makes me more angry with Garmin's policy on this, completely replacing units on an issue that can be fixed in seconds.

Unfortunately there have been one or 2 incidents there as well (near the squatter camp at the dump), but yes for the most part way safer than the alternatives.

Front half of D did 5h10 and better, I would say that is pretty decent for 180km

If it's out of warranty no point sending it to Garmin, replacement unit at a small discount is the best you can hope for. My suggestion is watch YouTube for instructions, order a replacement screen online and fix it yourself.

Sorry what I'm getting at - were the cones like in the middle of the road and the long route people had to go round it or was it in the middle of the road and a hazard to everyone who were keeping left?

Hi there -can you just give me some details on where/how the cones were placed - will give it through to the main organiser so that they can fix it for next year. A bit surprised that someone thought packing cones where the routes split is a great idea..

I guess all this just shows how tricky it is for woman to race each when mixed in a group with males. Can't blame them for negative riding because attacking would rarely be rewarded. That said I see the lady that won was the only girl that managed to stick with the front of % when the group splitted, so well done to her 👊

Is it just me who think this is not exactly a great endorsement for his own brand (Curve)? If I pay R100k for a bike I would like to think the guy bringing them in actually prefers riding them 🤷‍♂️

Good point - obviously riders will miss out on the many established trails they had around Paarl & Stellenbosch this year, but Montagu will bring something different. Agree that the rocky jeep track in the area will bring its own challenges

tx for the heads-up. Will let the organiser know. Apparently the email is correct but will ask them to update the website

Hi guys - the route @milky4130 posted is for the 99er, similar but different 😀 Route goes over private property and there is an agreement with owners to not give out official gpx routes, but here is a link to the Strava activity of someone that did it last year... https://www.strava.com/activities/12634112364#3280082065712834726 Some differences to the 99er route, less tar, no singletrack, no A-frame bridges. As I recall about 70% gravel roads, no big climbs and I see the winner of last year averaged 35km/h so it will be rather fast..

I did the Doornlaagte mtb race few years back, very tough, lots of climbing, lots of rocks but not much singletrack that I remember. Montagu trails around town are also very limited? But if they are reviving old & unused trails for the race that's a great thing

Camping there in December - will definitely go hunting for some "revived" Epic trails!

Love Montagu and love doing gravel rides there. But I don't know much about trails in the area? Not exactly a Stellenbosch or Paarl in terms of trail centres? So is someone in the are building trails in the area for 2 days of 100km mtbing, are they going to do jeeptrack mostly or am I just unaware of the number of mtb trails in the area?

interesting - if that's the case then indeed it was an unfortunate argument in hindsight...