WaldoZ

Kudos for those making the call to go home. They did announce that if you feel unsafe and you can't see yourself handling a bike in that wind you shouldn't ride. 🤪🤪 Us other mal, adrenalin okes had a jol. Disappointed the wind didn't live up to the hype in the end but hey... was some hard racing and a good day out.

Joburg a summer rain region right?

Ahh good times at this event... but with the clash of Boland I'm rather doing Boland.

I'm a bit hazy on details but wasn't there an agreement between CSA and PPA? Maybe I am thinking of something else

Hmmmm, might do what I did for Baviaans then and add a smidge more grease where I can. Maybe a mud guard too.

I'm stil recovering from Transbaviaans 🤣 #oldballie

I forgot, Friday is only tomorrow

Don't eat all the pies before I finish please!!!

With batches emailed I went and made a whole lot of popcorn so I can come read comments... now I have a whole lot of popcorn but no comments here yet 🤦‍♂️

Memories made! I will always have a soft spot for this race just because I have shared this experience with so many friends and family. You all helped me gained the experience of this route to know exactly what to do where! @milky4130 and I came close in 2019 Repeat with a mechanical costing us. This year I had Du Toit dragging me through there and what a powerhouse 🙌

Not well enough, hence the date change 🤪

Not just MTB but yes I have committed doing Transbaviaans

The new date clashes with other events so now I cannot attend this one. But such is life. A support the decision though.

Yeah the gravel bits are proper gravel and sandy sections just before and a technical downhill after Bains climb where MTB's pulled 30s lead on the rest of the lead bunch as far as I can remember. It's a very diverse route, quite liked it to be honest.

There are 2 cases like that, 7/8 Oct scenario and then 2 races on same day 22nd Oct which could be a decider depending on how points works. I am merely interested in this and can't see myself traveling for all this. Any bit of excitement added is welcome and a series def has potential.

That makes more sense EDIT... erm wait this just raises more questions with 2 events on same day. Also the dates on this image and dates here are different: https://www.cyclingsa.com/national-road-cycling-series/

haha, if anyone thinks the tar on this course is just free miles I can't wait to see their faces on race day and with a bit of a spicy wind direction 😜

I would have wanted to swop for a proper Gravel bike setup yes.

I feel like I could pick up some bargain gravel bikes after yesterday… DM me if you selling or swop it for a HT MTB 🤣🤪

This profile looks like it was drawn by hand and while doing so, the person fell asleep and his hand slipped upwards.

I have hookless rims. Not gonna stick with higher pressures... that said I haven't tried but have heard of others trying and not succeeding. EDIT: 50mm might actually be possible because of the volume but a 2.1 tyre is 53mm so same same

Yeah I think it was like that last year. The race is now part of the WP gravel series and all others don't limit bike choice. I mean my bike is 100% gravel except it doesn't have drop bars (no suspension). I'm sure a definition of what a gravel bike is will pop up somewhere but if guys are using "road bikes" at the world champs then that might get tricky. Some gravel bikes actually has more compliance than what I have hehe, but if you pitch with a full sus MTB then good luck with that!

As far as I know not limited to "gravel bikes" there is no UCI definition of what that is yet. I'll be there with my rigid fork hardtail with flat bars and try get into that single track first!!! ...out the back on the last climb but who cares 😂🤪

I'm on Aspens (2.1) at the moment but also looking for faster rolling tires. My rims won't fit gravel tires so narrow MTB ones is what I look at. This looks good. Let me know where you find stock. Not really ideal for our winter and I would probably use the aspens if it rains but would have loved to try these at Ronde van Riebeek and even Gallows.

I can confirm I also enquired and also got a reply that start will be 10am. Directly from EcoBound. Looking back at the last one where everyone froze their bits off it looks to me like you needed to start at 5am in order to avoid the coldest part of the day, which is just before sunrise. The 7am starters was the unfortunate ones that needed to deal with the weather AND these cold temps on the open roads and was a mess. If you started at 5am you will be in the kloof by the time it is the "coldest part of the day" and sheltered from the wind (and windchill) that you would get on the open road. By moving it to 10am again it would be warmer cause sun would be up. Logistically it makes sense for anyone with accommodation a bit further away and also it means everyone should in theory finish after sunset, which is what this race was originally about.