BuffsVintageBikes

Yeah, this ride states "16 historical cannon sites" not "all" the cannon sites in the WC. If that was the case we'd need a few weeks, there are cannons scattered all over the mountains around CT. I own a rather interesting book called "The Muzzle-Loading Cannon of South Africa". At the time there were something like 720 odd cannons placements recorded in SA.

Myself and a few mates including @leon_pro took on this challenge this past Saturday. It turned out to be a truly epic day out on the bike and a challenge I can highly recommend to anyone who enjoys these longer distance events. At times we felt like we were taking part in one of those "Amazing Race" episodes, having to navigate and find clues. The views of the Cape along this route are simply incredible. It was a reminder to ourselves that we live in a beautiful place. A stop in Kalk Bay for lunch was very welcome and gave us a chance to rest the butts and legs. A mate of ours, Tom Bishop, had done it previously and his only words of caution were... "this ride only starts at the top of Kloof Nek at around 130km's, so keep something in reserve" and boy oh boy, those words were spot on the money. Table Mountain was the testing ground of our resolve as it included a rather nasty hike-a-bike portage that was hell on tired legs. We started the ride in the dark at 5:30am from East City Cycles in town and finished in the same spot, 12h39m later, just as the sun was dipping over the horizon. Here's a few photo's of the day to help motivate others who might be considering taking up the challenge.

Eish, wake up call indeed. I had one on Sat while descending Chappies towards Noordhoek on a wet road on my gravel bike. It's the only bike I own where my brake lever are swopped around. I always have my front brake on the right to match my motorbikes, but here it's on the left. I've been meaning to change it for ages but just haven't gotten around to do it because it's hydraulic and a bit of a pain to do. I was fully in control going through a tightening left hander until my rear tire let go and started sliding. My mind thought I was applying front brake so I squeezed the front harder to scrub off speed but making it worse because it was rear. I missed the apex of the corner, went over into the oncoming lane, which very fortunately had no traffic in it because it was still early and almost went over the retaining wall. It was only many years of riding motorcycle that saved my bacon because I immediately started modulating both brakes to scrub off enough speed to stop me going over wall. I was lucky, it was my mistake, I shudder to think the consequences if there was an oncoming car or worse, I went over that low retaining wall 😲 I almost gave my mates behind me heart failure as well because they saw the drama unfold.

Possibly because it's in the height of summer in SA and everything spoils in this heat? In their defense, almost everyone in my family was down with that tummy bug in Feb, it was brutal. It just takes one person to arrive their with the bug and boom, it's a shitshow.

Being a Capetonian road biker and not knowing who David Garret is says more about you than it does about David 😄 He's a legend of the Cape road bike scene and has been around for many years competing at the sharp end of the field in his age cat. All the best with your recovery David, trusting you'll heal up well and be back on the bike soon 🤙

As someone who's ridden and then worked at the Epic as a motorcycle rider for the camera crew, I can tell you that there are numerous medics on motorbikes that are posted all over the route that can reach all the places that the mtbers can go and then some. As hectic as those conditions were, a scrambler would have no problem coping with them. In places where the medics struggle on bikes then the camera bike riders can take them up to injured riders. All the bike riders are existing or ex Offroad & Enduro racers and skilled at their own sport.

Is your concern rolling resistance? If so, I don't think you should stress it when you're riding at touring pace. I did the whole ride on a set of 45C gravel tires without any issues whatsoever 🤙

Yeah, please do as I say and not as I do, we don't want to give cyclists a bad name... and stop at traffic lights 🤙

Started in 2B... my seeding has taken somewhat of a dive over the years now that I don't do much road racing.

Guess this is old news now but I'll put it out there anyway. Here's a little edit my daughter put together of my ride this year. Maybe it'll help or inspire others for next year. PS... racing snakes need not watch, I race in slow mo 😊

Here's a little edit my daughter put together of my ride this year, it'll help you prepare for that Sub 3 😄

I noticed that fleecing as well. What makes it worse is that this is the first event on the Marathon calendar so it's not like you can just sit it out if you're going for points. I'm trusting the goodie bag and water points are going to be pretty damn spectacular for that entry fee.

What a gorgeous old girl, I fell in love at first glance. I agree fully with the others sentiments here, just clean her up and give her a fresh service and she'll be good for many more years. I can hear those bearings begging for fresh grease. A great bike to use at the Eroica event in Montagu next month as well 🙂

Spot on, I ride an Oiz and my only gripe is that I constantly find myself pushing myself back on the saddle to activate my glutes. It feels like I need one of those Thompson laid back posts of old. But that could just be my riding style, I'm old school after all 😊

Did this one for Achmat after he noticed this thread. He needed one rim stripped of the Green and matched to an existing rim in White & Silver.

Sorry, that should have been BMFs... Big Mother *******...is that your total contribution to the incident?

A mate of ours got mugged of his bike, cellphone and GPS on Fri morning at 5:45am on Bottelary Road at the Kraaifontein junction. 4 x BMs kicked him off his bike, forced him onto the ground and made him look down while they robbed him and then made off with his belongings in a Taxi that stopped for them. He's a bit bruised but made his way home safe in another taxi. Case has been opened for SAPS. Keep on eye out for a black Trek Fuel on FB or Gumtree please.

Your thread is bringing back some wonderful memories. A friend and myself did this trip unsupported in April last year and it was honestly the hi-light of my entire cycling career 🤙 I can strongly recommend it to anyone with an adventurous spirit.

Terribly sad thing to have happen to a new bike, I feel his pain. A similar thing happened to a mate using Prepsol on his KTM 690 (it's my go to cleaner as well). Instructions say to leave on for 5mins before rinsing with water. He sprayed his motorbike down with it, went inside to put the kettle on and sadly forgot to go out and rinse it off. The bike stood for 2 hours in the sun with the product on and his screen and plastics all got damaged 😒

I'll be the devils advocate. The customer is at fault. Unless the product had no instruction labels and/or the customer is blind. I wouldn't put anything on a new bike without reading the instruction label first, especially if I bought it from a bike shop.

Yup, my daughter has set herself up in a little vinyl cutting sideline business so she can do a set for you, no hassles. Whatsapp me on owe72 six0734double7 🤙

My worst falls have all been while going fairly slowly, both on my bicycle and motorcycle... moral of the story... SEND IT 🤙🙄

I did this for a friend some time back. That's cerakotes silky black. The design was laser engraved and painted. Total cost around the R1500.

Bit early to look at weather predictions for CT considering they change hourly here.

It was indeed but those photos on IG don't do that colour justice at all, it needs to be seen in the light of day to appreciate what that blue pearl does 🤙 Yours looks smashing as well... Yoh 🤤