Chris NewbyFraser

Camping at Drakensberg dams in winter! Are you all masochists? Even with copious quantities of OB's the nights must be horrendous?

Now.................if a second C2T over two days can happen for the true weekend riders (not the weekend warriors). That way the real beauty of the route can be appreciated in daylight.

Can you provide a route type description please. How much is single track, or farm roads or district roads etc.

What sort of terrain does the route cover? OK for gravel bikes?

Correct

Oops! Sorry. I used some sections on this past weekend on a G-bike. My apologies. It does look like it is going to be lekker. Thanks to the council for this generous gift to cyclists

Sjoe! Am I flattered or what? Never been called a speedster(I only averaged 20.7). At 62 yrs, speed is only attained in a mineshaft(or on a dark corner in a trendy part of town).I was a bit surprised that I was the only official G-bike to line up at the start of the 38(40)km. Would have enjoyed some company. The route was not G-bike friendly(it is, after all, a mountain bike race). Grass knobs are not lekker, even for an mtb. Fortunately I have the Thudbuster seatpost that took out about 25mm of impact and the 40mm Kenda Flintridge tubeless tyres (35 and 30lbs pressure) worked well to absorb impacts, and worked especially well in the corners where they gripped nicely. What was apparent was the ease at which I rode up the occasional smooth slope, riding away from mtb'rs. This is where G-bikes have an advantage over mtb but trying to ride at reasonable pace on fast single track was a challenge because of the hidden rocks. Nevertheless, a lot of fun but organisers really should try find tracks with less grass tracks - or this could become a problem for getting return-riders at future events. Thanks, organisers, for letting our new category get a good start.

Trying out a set of Kenda Flintridge pro 40c tubeless. What a bugger to get them to seal. Spez road rims are difficult to seal and it seems these Axis Elite gravel rims are no different. I'll do a report on the tyres(as well as the rim drama's)

Any idea of start times for gravel?

Rode my gravel bike up Breedts(well, almost to the top) showing off my bike bag, camelbak, uv sleeves and sporting a helmet peak. Not a pretty picture on what is essentially a long chassis road bike, but functional! I did get some odd looks from the mtb'rs.....

Any gravel bikers from 'upcountry' doing this. The organisers say it is perfect for G-bikes. If I manage to do OK on the Berg100 this may be a logical final ride before I go into winter hibernation.

Any Gravel Bike category? I rode an event there last year and it was good territory for gravel tyres

Had my boxing day early ride ruined by some insufferable sod who did a breakfast braai, not far from my house on the way out. That smell of marinaded lamb 'tjops' and other non-vegesetarian goodies dedtroyed my on-bike snacks.

You say the ad has been amended to reflect the new date? No change yet on your entry page. What is the correct date?

The event page says that gravel bikes are catered for

Uh! I think they mean the Drakensberg mountains, unless Limpopo and Hoedspruit have moved house?

Do the Berg100. They are looking at a gravel bike category.

TANDEM entries. I have not ridden Le Tour since 1994 so I am not clued up on entry processes. Are tandem entries submitted in a single page or must the two riders enter separately?

Like almost everyone in cycle race organisation and administration worldwide Vermaak pays lip service to stamping out doping when it really matters. The owner of the Epic is Ironman. What does this say about their attitude towards doping?

Now that the Nationals have dropped the Ultra as a category- you still doing it?

Looks like they have used the Specialized licenced Horst Link rear suspension. When done properly this a superb design. Any info available on this?

Any update to my earlier question on the caravan park and ablutions? Some years back the tiny ablutions were a huge negative to the camp ground. There were also lots of thefts by crooks accessing the ground through the non-existent fence

Now this is racing!! Those long stages of the Epic and TdF are so (yawn) long.... Give us shorter intense marathon racing that is televis'able and worth going to see. Good one, Dryland!

My MSC Zion full suss tandem came with this Spanish company's Freedom Rotation crankset - a transmission that allows pilot and stoker completely independent pedaling. It proved a bit of a nut-ache on technical terrain and was also not watertight so the multitude of bearings got very gritty and noisy. Changing gear was more miss than hit and chain jump was common. So I brought in a Truvativ tandem crankset from the UK and put it on the bike. Immediately I wanted to scream like those brainless American (and local) girls who scream "whoooooo" at any passing celeb. What a pleasure! (no I don't mean screaming brainlessly). We now ride in sync with perfect, snappy (for a tandem) gear changes and it's light, like a crankset should be, probably half the weight of the MSC stuff. So, those other 43 MSC Zion owners in SA, do yourself a favour - change the crankset if you want to really enjoy your tandem. I have also ordered a longer rear stoker stem that extends to 200mm to enable my short stoker to sit more comfortably.

How would this rear suspension stack up to the older Gary Fischer Superfly (before Trek introduced the rear axle pivot mechanism). I am wondering if this bike still exhibits too much 'bob' when ridden with force, which then has to be controlled by a stiffer shock setting resulting in a too firm ride. I currently prefer the Horst link used by Specialised and the Maestro by Giant because it does control the bobbing well without compromising suspension travel