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5 minutes ago, Skubarra said: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.
Comic Sans: Please don't give medals... I have a number of them I need to chuck in the bin, but want to recycle or something like that. Give a fridge magnet/a bottle opener/an event photo/a leather key chain/anything useful that doesn't just sit in a drawer. But I always have the option of not taking the medal...
Enough loo's and water/drink on route, play some music at the waterstops for vibes.
And know everyone will complain about something.
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12 minutes ago, Mtbiker404 said:Yes I need to be sure that a small town is really for me. I would like to live close to a good woolies food shop. This makes Swellendam a bit less attractive. I need good nutrition or else Nino and Matt will leave me behind.
What Swellies does have in this regard is a Checkers and Spar, both were recently refurbished and then a new PnP opening by the end of this month.
You like cheese and other diary? This is your place, Lactalis and La Mont, etc have you covered. Meat, get to know the people and find out where they source what. The one area I found lacking/expensive was fruit, but The Earth Centre has you covered.
Take a trip and ride the trails before you make any moves. Ride the gravel and road as well (great options on both).
I'm obviously also biased, but shoot a questions if you have.
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I don't think many outdoorsy places in the WC are cheap compared to the Big North. With that being said, Southern Cape towns all offer some sort of riding (mtb and gravel).
Swellendam/Greyton/Hermanus/Stanford/George all offer a mix of riding, but have different levels of ammenities. Driving 1.5/2hrs for a Woolies or to get your Landy serviced can be tiring/expensive/time consuming.
Talk to the townies and get a feel for what it's like living there. From experience, even trail politics can take place in these lovely places. Also consider the general age of the population and how comfortable you are to make new maats.
On 3/26/2024 at 7:39 AM, Vetplant said:Literally all I want to see from this Classics season is WvA taking Paris Roubaix... It is time.
MvdP and Pogacar can share the balance of races between them, but let Wout take this one please. It is similar to those years where Sagan in his prime kept missing out, until he properly smashed them.
Eina, seems like WvA's chances just took a massive knock😟
20 minutes ago, ephemeric said:Snip
@thebob @RobertWhitehead @sirmoun10goat:
@RobertWhitehead @Koos Likkewaan 2
- @Skubarra:
- @Rowl:
- @agentorenge:
- @OVERDRIVE:
- @Sandro:
- @The Ouzo:
- @Andro:
I am so grateful to CL for their service. They really do stick to their customers. I even had "Engela Atkins and I am Head of Merchandise and E-commerce at Cycle Lab" reach out to me via mail and offer assistance. Before I could call her, Jaco called me and asked for me to come in and resolve the matter. Thank you sir.
Am I bitter towards CL? No. Have they lost a customer? No. Is the relationship ruined? No. A BH member said "never go back". Life is all about relationships, they are hard work as all the married people will tell you.
I am going to buy a biltong, nuts and fruit hamper for CL and drop it off in the week to say thank you.
Very lastly: let us not pillorie, lambaste or speak falsely of CL or anyone for that matter. Here or elsewhere. Let us all be kept accountable for our words and actions, myself first and foremost.
Thank you.
Tip of the hat to you, and CL.
Good luck, hope you get back on a bike soon!
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Does Gerald have a cold?
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5 minutes ago, Vaultboy said:Nino's so bored at the back he has time to fool around while Fini is struggling, shem.
Nino and Sofia would both like to trade-up their partners...
14 minutes ago, BaGearA said:Was very lus to write them back something when they did it to me recently
Unfortunately people are desperate these days and I bet they get lots of bikes through this crappy way of doing business
I know of one friend who recently sold to them just because he wasn't lus for the schlep. Cash (and convenience) is king.
However, don't call me, I'll call you...
2 minutes ago, INDABUSCHE said:In my opinion the same as Bike Market
It is Bike Market...
For interest sake, does anyone know why Vera and Alexis are not up there? They don't share their Strava rides and I don't have other socials.
Allow me to ask the question, you took delivery of the bike with what we'll call lower spec parts. Did you not inspect and note at that point that the bike is not the same spec as advertised and raise it then?
Then the freehub etc has been/will be replaced under warranty? And you received good service from CL?
You mention you ride Pta East, has the bike been up to spec? Shifting/braking/etc?
My opinion, I wouldn't expect for R8k new to get anything but entry level and if things break, then just happy to get them replaced under warranty. Yes things are not supposed to break, but free of charge replacement addresses that.
So your R8k investment is still solid in my mind. But we may feel different about this🙂
FYI many 2nd hand wheel options available:
Side note: Gerald and co noted earlier they were struggling with image quality, but attending to it...
Matt punctured a couple of mins ago, as did Candice.
1 hour ago, J Wakefield said:OKes are upset when there is no coverage, then upset when there is.
1 hour ago, dev null said:Welcome to the internet, and humanity in general.
All in comic sans:
What you mean to say is, Okes are upset. And angry. And in a rush. And so on.
Just be lekker boet.
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4 minutes ago, Jbr said:Think he had a bad day ? Looked like Grotts was congratulating him on the finish line?
Also saw that. Grotts seems like a nice/composed guy.
Interview didn't give away much, only Matt saying he likes to stoot it in the rooi and Howie pulls him back.
Matt had a 1000 yard stare on the podium.
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54 minutes ago, babse said:someone please post the non youtube link to stream?
#GeoBlocked
Maybe try Pulse, haven't checked their options yet, but an alternative view also:
10 minutes ago, Frosty said:It’s not showing as Kijk Live on Sporza, so I have to test my Kodi addon for the Eurosport option.
Also need to consider this, will follow Le Hub's advice.
Just to add another nail to the DSTV coffin, MSR is not being broadcasted this weekend???😶
22 minutes ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:This WC Gravel schedule is just about impossible to following if you're a working class citizen.
Let's break it down:
3 events in May, almost back to back. Fine for sponsored Elites, not so lekka for Vets & Masters who need some recovery time. All 3 of these races are away games at Houhoek, McGregor and Oudtshoorn. Okay, Houhoek you can maybe make a day of it if you're prepared to leave home at 4am.
Entry fees for all 3 is close to 3.5K, never mind traveling costs and accommodation. So add in an extra 6K. That's R9 500 for your races in May 😲Then the same thing happens in Sept, this time racing 3 weekends in a row at events of over 140km's long. Recovery time in mid winter is so over rated 🙄 Another R9K out the budget.
Then you can only miss 1 race so best you don't get sick or injured on your 1 sit-out event otherwise you're out of the running.If they're going to present these series they need to be a little more realistic about the time & cost implications for riders. I get that it's not easy to put a race schedule together but it doesn't help to say at the end of the year that the series was poorly represented and not worth pursuing going forward when the schedule is extremely difficult & expensive to follow. I was keen to give it a bash this year but sadly that's not going to happen.
Couldn't have said it better... So many options to choose from to make up the series with at least one gravel event every month from March through September. (Both Houwhoek and the extended Pie Run are 'newish' events if that counts for anything)
I'm not a WP cycling official but can't imagine why they wouldn't have considered your/or an individual's cost point of view. But great to also have a sponsor onboard in Cannondale.
Did a quick take on the form, but couldn't see an amateur/open category championship?
10 minutes ago, Mayo916 said:
Some obvious ones missed imo, but nice to have something like this going again.
Edit: Would have been great if they could get the same hype going as what Lifetime does in the USA (better communication would be a start).
(An aside, Tirreno is also forgotten by Supersport...)
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the unofficial UCI Mountain Bike World Cup thread
in Pro Cycling
Posted
For those that also couldn't find it (the Elite schedules):
XCC is on tomorrow from 16:25
XCO is on from Sunday from 17:45