Dubber

To everyone thinking about not doing the event because it is just not the same: If I was in a position to ride it, this is exactly the reason I would be jumping at it. This will probably (hopefully) be the only chance you ever get to ride these altered start times. It will be a completely different ride. Everyone saying this will be my sixth or 7th ride and it just won't be the same - well, this one will be like none of the others! Do it! Support Ecobound now so they are in a position to support you in 2022 and beyond.... Just think of the stories you can tell ---- "I remember, back in 2021 I had to get up at 2am in the morning..." (In all honesty, I would rather get up at 2am than have to ride until 2am...)

Are you getting this error when launching zwift ? Or does it happen during a ride? If you loose connectivity during a ride, all that should happen is you loose all the other riders around you. But your ride should continue. If it happens when you try join I'm guessing a poor wifi connection. As a test, try move your Mac closer to the wifi router (or vica versa) and launch Zwift a few times to try recreate the error. If you can't, then most likely wifi signal issue...

Hey Johan I know a few of your team members are Hubbers. I think you need to give them a shout out on here so TheHub can get behind them for the race! Good luck!

I love scrolling this thread from time to time. I like to think I have a fairly diverse taste in music. Often I'll come across an old classic on here that I had forgotten about, Even better, someone will post something that I'd never heard of before and, after listening to it, I can add it to my list of favourites. Since moving to the States I've had a lot more exposure to the Country genre. A lot of it is meh, but there is the odd song here and there that resonates with me and pleasures my musical ear. One such song is from Eric Church. Ironically, its more of an anti-country song and probably not a country song in the true sense of it. Regardless, give it a listen with an open mind. Be interested to hear what everyone thinks of it.

You don't say if you did, but I would get that 6mm piece of glass 'toughened'. Basically sent through a furnace at a few thousand degrees (or something like that). Two benefits: it makes the glass, err uhh, tougher :-) And, should it break, it will shatter into tiny pieces, as opposed to long shards that could slice some ones arm off... Much like a car windshield shatters for the same reason... The actual process will only cost a around R200 for that size. (What your glass supplier will charge you to send it away and collect is a different number altogether).

Yes! Companion app and Zwift need to be on the same network. Even though you are on the same 'home network' VPN will change your gateways and stuff on the laptop. This will break things.

There was a comment from a Hubber a while back about the ESI Chunkies. I forget the exact phrase bu it was similar to 'lazyboys for your hands'. Pretty good description IMO...

Fair enough. Given they have multiple steams of income they can justify the extra 'low cost' labour i.e. if they are not prep'ing a bike for spraying, they are washing a bike in for service etc. That is one of the true advantages SA has (from a consumer point of view, not so much a labor point of view). 'Unskilled labour' rates are crazy low. Over here, you are paying $15 to $20 an hour for basic labour. If you are any good at your trade (regardless of industry, plumbing, sparky, chippie etc) you are at $30 an hour and up... So obviously consumer end price reflect that. That aside, a 1 man band like Bogus will never be able to compete with a small/medium business like CBR. Low labor cost aside, CBR are probably making R500 a spray job at those rates. Which they will be quite happy with to supplement their other income streams. For Bogus et al, that is not enough to pay the mortgage and put food on the table... From CBR's website: How long does it take to complete a frame respray? It takes about 10 days (50 - 100 hours). I will stick with my original assessment - low prices are out there but whoever is doing them aren't making a living out them! Certainly not if that is the primary income stream.

Price per hour looks about right. It took me about 4-6 hours just to get the base coat on

How does anyone make any money at that price? I would say materials cost at least R1000 (primer, base, clear, sand paper, thinners etc). Then 6 to 8 hours labour. (Sanding, coating, polishing and packaging). I don't see a lot of money left over. Anyone charging R2500 is doing themselves a dis-service (and the industry as a whole).

I'm with Eddy on this one. Replicate the colours/design - but change the name or leave it off...

Bogus did a bike for me a long time back - before he was famous ;-) He's a good guy. I suspect, as with most 'artists', he would much rather be painting a bike than answering emails. I get that he has a business to run and that is part of it - but take that into consideration. Also, I'm not sure everyone fully grasps how long it takes to 'paint a bike'. We are talking along the lines of weeks, not days, to turn around a single bike. Granted, it is possible to work on a couple frames at once but on the whole, it is a long slow process. With that in mind I suspect he may be fairly selective in the work he takes on. When contacting him initially maybe open with a question like 'are you taking on new work and what is the current lead time? In my business line we often get an email along the lines of 'we have 10 days to turn around this project' (for a project that normally has a lead time of 3 weeks and implementation time of the same duration). These requests almost always go to the back of the line So, in short, expect a lead time of a couple months before you can even drop the bike off. And then be prepared to be without your bike for a month at least. You may get it back in a week or two - bonus. But **** happens. People get sick. Suppliers let you down. Paint runs etc etc. Anything can happen - and not necessarily with your bike. Remember, he is probably working on a handful of frames at anyone time. Anyone of these could need to be re-done, thus pushing your schedule back... I get that you are paying good money to get this done. But if you didn't think his product was worth it, then you would be going somewhere else... As an aside, the going rate for a bike re-spray here in the USA is $650 for a single color (no logos, names etc). Anything with a bit of design element and you are at $900 easily. I don't know Bogus's current rates, but when I had my bike done it was a tenth of that.

Glad to see an 'independent' review. Everything I've seen on youtube has been fairly positive - but you never know if they are 'sponsored' reviews. It's on my 'want' list for now...

If money is no object - buy the gravel bike. If you have only have one road bike or multiple road bikes that don't take wheels larger than 32 mm - buy a gravel bike. If you have an old hard tail mtb that you don't really ride - convert it to a gravel bike. But one way or the other, get a gravel bike. Bombing down a dirt road a 40km/h in the drops with 40mm tires is fun. Yes, you can do it on a MTB - or even a skinny wheeled road bike - but it's not the same.

I have no illusions of getting the 9 hr medal. I will be more than happy with a finish

Yep - those are better examples. Not that I'm anywhere near those times ;-)

But it becomes my problem when he rides into the back of me a 50 km/h on the pavement while I'm walking pick up the Sunday paper ;-)

That's an interesting question. I'll ask around and see if anyone knows. The major milestone in terms of finishing time is 9 hrs. (This can kinda be equated to the 3 hr finish at the Argus in terms of prestige etc). And by all accounts this is near impossible without a decent start group - much like CTCT. It would be a bummer for international travelers not to be able to have a crack at the 9 hrs simply because they can't do any seeding rides...

Billed as the biggest gravel event in the USA, if not the World, Dirty Kanza has something for the whole family. From the short 50 km routes through to the bum numbing 565 km XL version, there is a challenge for everyone... All going well, I'll be able to report back in June as to whether the event lives up to the hype.

Event Name: Dirty Kanza When: 28 May 2020 Where: Emporia, Kansas, International Category: MTB Dirty Kanza Promotions was founded in 2006 by Jim Cummins, with the assistance of fellow cycling enthusiast Joel Dyke. At that time, gravel grinding was just beginning to catch the interest of the endurance cycling community. However, Jim had grown up in the Flint Hills of east central Kansas and had been riding gravel for decades. Inspired by some of the early gravel grinder events… and convinced the Flint Hills had the best gravel to be found anywhere in the world, Jim and Joel decided to create Dirty Kanza 200. Initially, these two gravel aficionados had no idea the extent to which this whole gravel grinding thing would grow, nor did they give it any real thought. That wasn’t what motivated them. They both simply felt their lives had been enriched through cycling. And DK200 was their attempt to give back to the cycling community. Since then, the popularity of gravel grinding has exploded and is now the fastest growing genre in the cycling industry. The popularity of DK200 has grown too, from 34 participants in 2006, to over 3,400 registered riders in 2019. And while that growth has brought with it a few changes to our format and the way we have to manage certain aspects of the event, one thing has remained constant… DK200 is a grass-roots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for our event participants. Thank you for your interest in Dirty Kanza®. We hope you will choose to join us in Emporia, Kansas the first weekend after Memorial Day. Should you have any questions about us or our events, we hope you will visit our “Contact Us” page. We look forward to hearing from you. Go to Event Page

So the plot thickens. As mentioned above, the only real way to get into this event is via lottery. And by all accounts (and their own admission) the organizers stuffed up the lotto process big time this year. In short, they sent out a bunch of 'yes's that should have been no's. The organizers haven't said how may extra yes's they sent out - but I haven't heard of anyone actually getting a 'no'. So that makes me think everyone got in. Anyway, because they are now way over subscribed, they are offering deferrals to next year. And to sweeten the deal they are willing to chuck in a free entry into any one of their other events through out the year. While the free event is cool (around $150 to $200 depending on the event), the real bonus is that these events act as seeding event for Leadville. As it stands I would be starting right at the back if I rode in 2020. This would in turn make a long day into a really long day. So at this point I'm considering the deferral, riding a seeding event and then doing Leadville in 2021. So if anyone is thinking about 2021, I've got a spare room in the basement ;-) Just remember to pack your lungs...

That is a real bummer. Will be worth it when the folks eventually make it out. Might not seem like it at the moment though.

I've managed to secure an entry for this year - not sure if that is a good or a bad thing :-) For those considering doing it in the coming years, here is a little background: The majority of entries is via a lottery system. Generally opens December before the race and close early Jan - 'winners' announced mid to end of Jan. Thus giving you around 7 months to get your affairs in order. There are a few other options to get an entry: there are qualifying races throughout the year. You need to place in the top percentile to earn an entry. There are also a few lucky draws for entrants of these qualifying events - but the odds of 'winning' a lucky draw entry is a lot less than the overall lottery. And finally, you can sign up to a Leadville organized training camp. I think it is around 4 or 5 days in July. Along with the training camp comes a Leadville entry - but cost is high - around $2200 I think. Should you win a lottery entry, your bank account will be debited on the spot - $450 entry fee. As for the race itself: by all accounts there are very few technical sections. In fact, the race has been completed on a cyclocross / gravel bike by some. There are a couple long climbs (an hour plus in duration), heat is generally a factor and of course altitude. I ski in that region fairly often and can attest to the fact that breathing isn't easy. (Try take a liqui-fruit straw, stick it in your mouth, close your nose and do a few intervals to get the feeling :-) I'll add some more info as I get it

Event Name: Leadville 100 2020 When: 15 August 2020 Where: Leadville, Colorado, International Category: MTB This is it, the race of all races. One hundred miles across the high-altitude, extreme terrain of the Colorado Rockies, this event was created for only the most determined athletes. Starting at 10,152 feet and climbing to 12,424 feet, you’ll be challenged to catch your breath — while the views try to take it away. Go to Event Page

Perfect for J2c - days 5 and 6 :-)