Ozzie NL

Eish, that profile looks very irregular with really steep pitches. 185km there ain't gonna be a walk in the park

I initially went down that train of thought but there have been similarly hot and wet Epic previously. Have only come up with % single track as plausible explanation Either way after 3 years of ~30% drop pout rate I reckon we can consider it the new normal

I would say two things: 1) everybody has the right to decide how to spend their money ... most Ferrari owners are no racing drivers by any stretch of the imagination. 2) Due to the batched starting system, more accomplished riders will be in the earlier batches and hence in general not held back by those a bit slower. Obviously this holds for most races but as Epic stages are much longer there are way less bottlenecks. So no-one should be spoiling your experience much more than you are spoiling theirs on the segments where they are faster It is true that you will sometimes end up walking because someone else gets off on a techie climb or descent but in my experience the faster descenders are typically slower uphill as well as the revers

The unremovable bike sticker is a myth ...glo my

Your argument would therefore be that the average skills level in the last 3 editions of Epic is dramatically lower than in the previous versions? Personally I think it is rather due to the fact that the increased % of the route made up of single track vs district roads is the biggest contributor to the higher drop out rate. I have looked at correlations with total distance and ascent and found none but % single track has increased dramatically

Is there a reason you have not included 2023? Drop out was 28.9% that year

Same data, different format. The step up in drop out rate for last 3 years is striking

The argument people use is that by rotating chains like this the cassette take less strain... ie it is ridden for longer at less worn chains. PS: I do not rotate and just replace at 0.5 wear

I assume the poster means he rotates a set of chains at 500km intervals. Re XX1 chains ... I get about 3500km out of them .... so not cheaper to run than other chains but they seem to run a lot cleaner which in turn saves the cassette. I did 13000km on the last X01 cassette which included some hectic mud crunching up in Africa

I assume the poster means he rotates a set of chains at 500km intervals. Re XX1 chains ... I get about 3500km out of them .... so not cheaper to run than other chains but they seem to run a lot cleaner which in turn saves the cassette. I did 13000km on the last X01 cassette which included some hectic mud crunching up in Africa

Previously the rule was that if they put you on a drip, you're out. Meant lots of riders thought twice about going to see the medics when they had the runs. Understand that was revised last year, where you could go back the next day and get the OK from doc's to ride

Where did you see this?

That front tire lyk beetjie moeg

It's invite only

Get the distinct impression that the parting with Ironman was not a happy one

If you praat die taal lekker ... Sporza via VPN (pick server in Belgium). The Belgians really know their road riding

Used to cramp badly at anything over 70km... only remedy for has been to just keep riding past that point and then beyond the next point.... ie go'ol T.i.t..S ow not cramping at all ... including 150km+ rides

By that logic we should all be riding XT or GX groupsets ... maar dit is nie wat ons doen nie

As I have it recommended procedure is to replace sealant every 3 months fort MTB Not sure about road which uses higher tire pressures and thus might reduce the expiry period (ie need sealant to be less degraded to still plug a hole)

Not worried about PEDs ... as long as they allow the recreational stuff ... Nothing like a bunch of berms and jumps on pilletjies

Where did you score the MAAP kit brother???

Lake shoes are da bomb. Just make sure to use the correct website being lakecyclingsa.com and NOT lakecycling.co.za. It's a long story but in essence the second site belongs to the previous distributor who no longer has the rights. If you want any further info contact Kim who runs Lake locally and provides an awesome service. Her details are on the correct website.

Did 57294 km on my Giant TCR over 11 years. Am seriously starting to run into compatibility problems so am on the look out for a replacement

I tend to think of what to name the ride ... seems simple but I can spend hours on that

Don't ever accuse @Jewbacca of sweet talking Hubbers into participating in the Munga fund raising efforts... 😃