NotSoBigBen

I am happy to be corrected but I would imagine these pros have their setups pretty good if not perfect for each course ... My summation would lean towards impatience and perhaps a momentary lapse of concentration rather than a crap bike But hey I'm old and cranky and probably way off the mark?

Thanks to Sean at Tread MTB!

There is a 'plan' .... 😎

Skinny Minnie! I read somewhere that riding as many different types of bikes on different routes as possible reduces one's risk of injury 😎

Flip okes now that's a throwback to the past 🫣 Those ghetto tubeless (slit smaller tubes as rim strips with the built in valve), even wire bead tyres. @dirtrider taught me then almost any combination of rim/tyre can be made tubeless with enough effort, time and sealant! Has stood me well, even now I have some wire bead tyres and even road rims setup tubeless (for off road use, not high pressure road) Then again legend has it he can weld wood 🫣

Rise and ride!

Some thoughts on today's ride... It is not possible to ride uphill both ways, despite what you might have been told by anyone, it is however possible to ride into a headwind both ways Today was fortunately not that day 😎

Don't be a circumlocutor bra ... Why not just get to the point and tell whom it is you want to 'avoid' 🤪

Smooth, weird, nice ... Chris Froome might find that stem strange, if you know you know 😜

I use a Samsung phone, not an iSheep 🤪, as I say in most cases I'm ok with it .... The odd occasion it loses connection I can live with 😎

Nee man .... 😂😂😂😂

Garmin Livetrack ... Yes there are very occasional times it doesn't work but the majority of time, for me, it's good enough

'off-road' royalty and yes it does ride just like a normal bike, no it doesn't feel like there's only 'half a fork' 🤪 The Lefty jokes haven't changed I guess 😎

That's one of the small things to sort out today 😁 Will put the lockout on and bleed it

Finally, a few small details to sort and then riding time!

Sometimes it's not the event but outside influence that can make a specific running of an event tougher than others For me despite having done an ACE and a few iM races amongst others ... The toughest I can recall doing are a Sabie experience, in fact one of the first ones it rained like crazy and the mud was bloody horrendous .... Doing an Audax, one of the longer ones, it was so cold at the super early morning start it was difficult to ride in a flippin straight line! But I guess it's that human trait of having to be able say 'I suffered more than you' 'one up man ship'

Know-nots .... No man bloody coffee everywhere 😂😂

Getting so close to actually being able to fit it now! Picking up a new Lefty sticker now 😎 Got a complete wheel that just needed some TLC .... Fixed a few spokes, serviced the hub ... Bonus!

Took this bike around the TT course it'll be used for to see if that gearing would be ok ... It'll do! Every so often I get asked 'why' I do the 'crazy' things I do but today I get an added 'can you really push that gear' from someone I see in the parking lot .... Short answer as always 'because I can' and 'probably no, except for short steep downhill sections' Was going to explain the 1x big gear advantages of more efficient chainline and stuff but then again it's 'marginal' so stuck with 'because I can' 😎 #ItsWhatIDo

I have no idea why anybody would need so many bikes 🤪

That is my go to bar tape on my gravel bikes .... single on the drops, double wrap on the top as you say. Not really that fussed what tape, whatever I can get my hands on at a reasonable price For the 'under' layer on the top I scrounge some leftover tape wherever I can.

No sorry, I have absolutely no idea .... It was a 26" fork from some old timer bike. In fact it has been modified (filed) to take a slightly bigger tyre I have it on a single speed steel bike now!

Thanks for the heads up! Just waiting to hear from a local who might have one ... if he doesn't let me know in the next few hours I'll certainly see if I can get this one PUDO'd to Howteng

Demmit, fricken heck .... after all the excitement of collecting the necessary goodies from the engineer chap and ready to build a wheel and install turns out the hub I managed to get is for a 2.0 fork not my 1.0 😨 (ja ja Grumpy did warn me to check that first) So now on to finding a 1.0 hub or wheel 😎

I have a similar experience to @Wannabe .... I have a road and monstercross bike with Tektro's, a set of Avid BB5's on another monstercross and then some very cheap ones on yet another monstercross I have done Suikerbosrand a few times with the road bike with no issues, done Race 2 the sun, Gravel Travel 100 with the MonsterX with the Tektro's also all good I do however find all of them a bit fiddly and I do adjust them every so often just to keep the feel I like I find the Avid's have the best feel and stopping but need more attention than the others Just to mention I do ride them as proper gravel bikes and don't go looking for 'gnarly' single track or rocky sections ... I do come across short sections like that and I just 'ease' through them!