Jewbacca

I can't promise anything but I will definitely do my best!

I DO! 20 inch for life!

I'm in the first batch. After my only seeding ride since this one last year was a 5:30 CTCT, I am not surprised I look forward to a chatty, chilled 30kph group.......

1st gen KOM rims were hard as nails! The WTB version before that was cheese. We have become pretty spoiled these days though. Building wheels with wider profiles and significantly more material really has made things easier. Early 2000s to 2012 ish if you took more than a quarter turn borrow per round you got significant side pull. I remember building a set of WTB i23 circa 2013 and thinking 'holy moly, this thing has not MOVED!'

All these arguments regurgitated from when 29ers came onto the scene. WTB were a big part of that too. MOOTS have been building frames for a long time, I'm pretty sure they know a thing or two about how to fit it all together. Anyway, you guys either didn't read the article or are too worked up to realize you've been clickbaited hard. It even says in the article that the wheel size proto types were made AGES ago and there are no plans to produce it commercially. Yet. This thing popped up at a boutique, custom/hand built bike show showcasing weird and wonderful creations in the bike spectrum. The journo has sucked you guys in hard! As an aside, I think the bike looks beautiful. I'd bang

MOOTS and WTB....... two small companies who have been pushing different things for years. MOOTS have always made different, alternative bike frames as a side project and WTB were one of the first production companies to make wide rims, big tires, gravel tires, 650b plus gravel tires etc.... This is hardly the industry trying to create a new standard. More like two industry dorks building a side project

hahahahahaha there is something in that. Some say suffering, some say fun!

Best one I ever did was IM Wales..... It's hilly compared to pretty much all others, which is why I enjoyed it. Highly recommend the entire experience if you're Europe based

Aren't you supposed to make the comments in the survey? Seems silly to make them twice, especially as the survey will be read BY CoolHeat while the thread comments won't............

Can you not ship the bikes boxed to Plett and then get there via plane, assemble and go? Or hire a car and just drive there?

I know it's a completely different beast, but I love the absolute change in tune with the two/multiple leader 'solution'. JV do it successfully once or twice and suddenly it's brilliant, but Movistar did it for years with nothing but hate..... If JV get it wrong, will everyone blame form, fatigue and bad luck or will they point to the multiple leader setup as the culprit, as everyone did with Movistar?

OR..... hear me out here..... POWERBAND BRACELET!

Wagon wheels!!! Outrage! Wheelsize debate! Roll over, Inertia and momentum science! I can't wait

hahaha you know what I mean! I think I may. Lets see how the next few months go. I am super keen

Splat, where are you taking your frame to be sprayed?

Awesome. When will we get our seeding/procedure emails? I just want to know what time of night I need to wake up to get there in time to get and pin my number on...

I am more suggesting I have no real expectations. Not sure what the group will look like or how well it will move and I'm not going off the front from the neutral zone this year. Really really looking forward to it though. See you at the start. Hopefully it isn't as cold as last year!

I guess when I look at the race websites or event pages it always talks about the prizes, the racing, the winning times etc yet seldom has any info on the support (if any), cut off times, seeding requirements etc So by just focusing more on the information shared to the back markers/enthusiastic casual cyclist it will already make it less intimidating. I didn't even know a non competitive, but amped person could enter the Tour du Cap. It just focusses on racing and uses the word racing way too often. I would have entered every year. Start there, it's a simple focus shift and immediately makes events more approachable and less intimidating to average people. Get the PPA fun rides out there to the non racers. Those seem to be held so close to everyones chests and info is scant at best. From there, just starting to break those walls down, new/different people will get keen again.

I guess being sucked into 'crit' racing is different from 'lap' racing. But yes, I hear you. It's not just a case of creating these races and marketing them at the racing end of the spectrum. I just think that more and more road races will stop being hosted due to safety concerns, road quality etc so a solution does need to be met IF cyclists want to keep doing races and having options. Many of the mid/back pack mamils are turned off because they want to ride the 'full' route but take all day. They wouldn't possibly enter a short route and build up fitness/skill. So Lap racing shows one up more as you get removed when lapped or just lapped. It exposes one more, which is scary. So it takes me back to the mentality comment I made earlier. It isn't bought into here for many reasons, one also being the fact that these long races have always existed in the past, so it's 'the norm' now. Changing the way people thing about bikes is the first step. Creating viable, sustainable, safe events that are marketed at the right people the next. Imagine how cool it would be doing a loop race in the West Coast reserve right now? You'd get to ride past the pretty flowers 5 or 6 times! Truth be told, since I got sick last March, I have done 2 races..... Velddrif222Velddrif and a very casual CTCT. The existing Crit series (and most of the traditional, smaller road races) focus their marketing on the racing end, which isn't the end that pays the bills. Making less competitive people feel welcome at these things is the way to keep racers racing.

Times?! My goal is to finish before it gets dark!

hahahaha I am fully not into the Beer/Booze association with sport, especially kids sport. I'm wasn't meaning to sound dramatic or alarming It probably makes sense financially, but the fact that it is seldom 'one' under the gazebo and generally involves cars and driving afterwards puts me off. I am fully into trying to get a CX and Crit series going. It also helps massively with race smarts, handling skills and making sure you're in the right wheels, so the kids will benefit hugely. I cut my teeth in the rain, mud, sleet, cold and slop of winter racing up north and I LOVE it.

The thing is, it's been tried but people just don't buy into it. SA bike riders are obsessed with owning top spec bikes, so buying a cheap alu frame CX bike with disposable drive train doesn't appeal to many. Laps seem to be a swear word. Look at how poorly the XCO scene is supported. There are 500 back of the pack MAMILS on big budget bikes lining up for Darling Brew or some random Grabouw marathon, but 7 vets at a brilliant XCO event. Just look at how much flack the lap circuit at Glasgow worlds got on this site prior to actually watching it. It was amazing racing The mentality needs to change from the ground up. Schools are a brilliant place to start Get the kids racing XCO/CX/Crits and they can then take that forward with them. One thing I won't get behind is a school event sponsored by a booze company. Parents boozing at kids sport is so weird. Then hopping into the SUV/Urban 4x4/Bakkie drunk with the kids and driving home 4 ton death machine piloted by free brandy with kids in the back..... met EISH

Adding to this topic, I have no idea why lap racing in SA is so frowned upon Crits and CX is the future. So easy to set up, so easy to spectate, easy to second, support. The same sponsor banners get seen multiple times, the noobs can choose to race 1 lap, 2 etc.... One can use existing school fields, parks, secure roads, tracks etc and it isn't a logistic nightmare. For some reason if we aren't traversing huge distances along massive stretches of road, people here just don't seem interested. If we want to keep racing alive, we will eventually need to embrace circuit racing a bit more. It really is super fun, super tough and easier to manage as everyone races close to the medics and in a controlled environment.

Absolutely. Or take the Hyrax, ride the valley and surrounds and hire a DH bike for the 3 or 4 times you actually ride the big stuff in the park? Either way, it's an amazing trip and you want to enjoy it Working out the best way to do so is always tricky

I'd rent a DH bike while there We simply don't have the same level of steeps and features in SA to understand fatigue and constantly being on the edge It also eliminated the hassle of transporting a bike safely across the globe and will give you peace of mind that you will be on a suitable bike But up to you.