Mountain Bru

Is mohair similar to merino? I figured they were completely different (apart from both being wool based)

Sorry from Merlin. CompetitiveCyclist seems to think R1000 shipping is acceptable whenever I try to buy something from them.

In a joust between someone that's done the epic, and someone that's done the munga, who gets hit first?

I'm considering doing the Munga next December to completely maximize the "bang for your buck" approach. ????

Shots fired! But I think this is actually a big factor in winning a 3 week GT. If you look at recent GT winners like Froome, Pogacar, Bernal and Roglic (who are probably the best GC riders of the last 5 years), they all have a kind of stoic temperament and are these kind of quiet, super focused kind of guys. Obviously they all have a relaxed mode too, but when it comes to the way they race and the way they approach GTs, they're all super focused and race very clinically. Very few flashy attacks, almost very little panache, but very calculated. You never see them being overly emotional in interviews, never see them throwing their hands up and getting frustrated during stages, it's like you never see them out of control. I feel like the most emotion I've ever seen Froome show in a stage was looking flustered running up Ventoux, and maybe when he punched a spectator or 2 that were running next to him. If you contrast that with the recent top French riders: Jala - Probably the most flashy rider in the pelo, maximum panache, rides on feeling, amazing to watch and in 1 day races. Wears a $120k watch during races. Pinot - Man looks like every GT is a constant emotional rollercoaster for him. Bardet - Probably the best of the bunch, but still seems to be emotional from time to time. Barguil - Seems to be a hot head. Was kicked off sunweb for not listening to DS. I think in the modern era where everything is so calculated and professional and when the margins of winning are so small, there's no room for flashy riding or allowing your emotions to get out of hand, and that doesn't suite the French riders.

This wouldn't surprise me at all. I'm actually genuinely surprised it doesn't already exist

I see a core Merino T-Shirt is R1000.... A normal cotton T-shirt is like R150..... Quick Dry T shirt is maybe R200.... I've heard great things about merino wool stuff, but is it really 5 or 6 times better than a cotton T? Or to put it differently, would you rather have 1 merino shirt, or 5 or 6 cotton /quick dry shirts? (This is a 100% honest question. I've looked at merino stuff often, especially base layers, and always concluded that it's not worth it. Am I missing something?)

Bought a di2 groupo from them in Feb last year. No problems at all. Got a really sweet deal on a Wilier frame too. Absolute bargain.

I'll probably only ever do the epic if I'm 100% sponsored. If I had a 120k rolling around in my wallet, there's no chance I'm spending it on a 8 day bike race in SA. Would so much rather travel or bike pack across New Zealand for a month or do the 2 weeks riding in the Swiss Alps story, and then come home and buy an amazeballs coffee machine. What's amazing for me about the epic in particular though is how unaware the non-cycling world is about the costs (or at least the people I know). I've had the conversation so many times with people where they ask me if I've done the epic, I say no, and then they ask why not? And then I say because I don't have a spare R150k lying around. And then people are absolutely shocked and horrified that the entry is at least R100k.

This thread seems popular.... admins are gonna shut it down any second.

How many bottle cage mounts does the frame have? ????

Awesome! Thank you!????

Anyone else doing this? Any suggestions/insights on the route? Is Van Gaalens one of the more technical routes? The profile looks quite intense with some nastiness late in the race..... As always, anyone have a GPX file of the route? (Don't hate me if you don't care about such things, just let it go) I'm doing the 67km, how many liters of water do I need in my camelbak? (This is a joke)

As long as you don't confuse Slovenia and Slovakia, and start thinking that Sagan and Roglic are gonna be on the same team at the World Champs, you're ahead of half the cycling world ????

On why the French can't win a GT.... I'm sure the pressure is a big factor, but I think it's also self inflicted by the French being so overly, almost delusionally, patriotic, especially lately when they just don't have great GC riders. Out of interest, I looked up when last a Belgian rider won a GT, and found out it was 43 years ago in 1978! (https://pezcyclingnews.com/interviews/the-last-belgian-grand-tour-winner-johan-de-muynck-interview/). That's almost more shocking for me than the French considering the strength of Belgian cycling, but it doesn't seem to get as much airtime. I've never heard anyone talking about WVA or Remco as the rider that can break the drought for Belgium, but that's often said about Bardet, Pinot, Allaphalipe, maybe even Gaudu. The fact that this is even a thing for me point's towards a very French way of thinking that they even should be winning GTs. Like I get the feeling that they legitimately think that they're a superior cycling nation and so they should be winning every GT, and so there's this whole no French GC wins thing. I don't think that's the norm in other countries. I remember being in France a few years ago and lots of the Frenchies I spoke to genuinely believed that Peugot, Renault and Citroen were the best cars you could buy, and were better than a VW or BMW etc. Clearly that's absolute delusion, and I think they apply the same thinking to their cyclists and then expect them to win everything.

Slovenia also has Mohoric, Tratnik, Polank, Mezgec.... Pog and Rog are the poster boys, but Mohoric is currently ranked 8th on UCI points. Not bad for a country with a population less than half of the Western Cape that's probably covered in snow for half of the year.

I think their financial issues are a bigger problem than we realize, and are probably part of the reason they didn't renew the contracts of some of their best riders, and signed Matthews, probably for a bargain seen as he was desperate to get out of Sunweb/DSM and hasn't won in a while. But my other completely unfounded opinion is that the team has lost the fun vibes they had in the early Back Stage Pass videos, and since then, their performance has been mediocre at best. It seems that in trying to become a GC team, they became far more serious and the riders seem to be under more pressure and performed worse.

Have to agree. Yates look really strong today. I think he might have had a chance of a podium spot if he sacrificed the win and just pulled Roglic up the mountain once he'd gapped Haig by a few bike lengths. Roglic would probably have even given him a turn or 2 knowing he can take him on the line. Instead Ineos come home with peanuts with Yates getting nothing from the day, and Bernal loosing buckets of time because he didn't want to pace Lopez back to Yates' group He can maybe be forgiven for sitting up after the first 1 or 2 attacks if he wanted the win, but when he saw that Roglic and Mas have his every move easily covered, and Haig basically gets dropped at every acceleration and then claws his way back when they sit up, I think he really needed to reassess the situation and see his chances of a win are small, but he can get on the podium.

Are you watchin it live somewhere? SS coverage only starts at 15:50 ????

Good call, especially with Hamilton in the mix too. Should make for a cohesive breakaway with 3 DSM riders, 3 AG2R riders and 2 UAE boys. Gonna be interesting to see the dynamics between Storer and Bardet for the KOM jersey. Storer is on 59 pts, Bardet on 54 pts. Wonder if they'll sprint against each other for points, or if Bardet will let Storer keep the jersey

Padum is overdue a big performance.....

I think the feeling many of us have (including myself at times) that Ineos have had a poor season despite winning loads of races proves how important the TDF is. They've actually had a great season, and are sitting 2nd in the PCS team stats, only beaten by DQS, which is really impressive considering that DQS wins every second sprint. But they could only manage a somewhat unconvincing 3rd in the TDF (which is quickly forgotten), and therefore the general feeling is that they've had a sub-par year.

Thats so intense. So could it potentially be "career ending" if a rider gets covid and doesn't recover back to 100%? Does that change anything in the way you approach races or plan your calendar? It almost sounds like it makes sense to limit the number of race days pre-tour just for the sake of covid risk mitigation

Yeah. But I also think that the parkour plays a big role in these equations. For Bernal to win, there needs to be minimum TT kms, and maximum high altitude mountain top finishes. The TDF he won had loads of high altitude climbing. And also long climbs with steady gradients. I don't think he can out-kick Roglic or Pogacar, but I think he might be able to do a higher watt/kilo for 40 minutes, so he needs to be able to use that to his advantage. He struggles with surges and covering attacks but can definitely freight train up a mountain better than most. Where for Roglic or Pogacar, max TT kms, and maximum short punchy finishes will serve them well, especially when they can use their ridiculous 1 to 2 minute power to take time by going full anaerobic at the end of stages and leaving the field behind them.

This year??