Bub Marley

People complain every time but I get so much back honestly. Even this year, they’ve introduced personal health pathways and are giving you money if you do certain things. Between me and my wife the’ve given me R 7,000 back already to use for medications or consultations. I don’t have an MSA but it’s almost like I do now. The only thing my wife was asked to do was visit the dentist for a check up. I’ve had to nothing.

Is Candice choosing to go the privateer route? I find it hard to believe that not one team picked her up after all her performances last year.

I was amped as well. But lets be honest here, if you’re not at the elite level its gonna be a pretty miserable day in the saddle. And honestly 35 degrees in Wellington, out in the trails, it’s gonna feel like 40plus. If my initial target is 7 hours, that takes me to 1:30pm in the baking sun. If it’s 35 degrees, I’m probably looking at 8 hours in the saddle in the baking sun.

I see they allowing you to carry over your entry to next year as well. Seriously considering taking up that option.

Im still not convinced on the shorter cranks off road thing. Longer cranks give you better leverage and for really steep and rough trails i feel like you need that extra leverage for traction. This is not based on any scientific analysis. This is just what my brain is telling me.

Yeah but i enjoy gravel and mtb.

Lourensford Classic also same weekend as Karoo2coast and Canola Roller. Kinda sucks that!

Yeah tbh I only have the oval because the crank i bought came with the oval ring. I didn’t specifically go out and choose it. So I just thought let’s just try and see it if there’s anything different. And honestly if you just ride, you wont feel anything different especially off-road when the terrain varies all the time. Maybe on a road bike on smooth tarmac it would be more noticeable. But i gotta be honest even when i ride on my mtb on tar I would need to really concentrate on my pedal stroke to actually feel anything. I personally would not waste money on oval if you’re thinking of upgrading. If you are already thinking of changing rings then perhaps. But dont spend just for the sake of getting ovals.

I think if they actually used more than one race for seeding it might alleviate some of the issues. The way the system works now, is if you do 6 races for instance, you only need one good result to get that seeding. Using a 6 month average i think makes more sense. Then at least consistency is been taken into account.

I have an oval ring on my mtb. I have no idea if it makes any difference or not. I will also say that after 5min on my first ride, I couldn’t even notice any difference between round and oval. People have this assumption that with oval it’s gonna feel weird or something. Honestly, it’s barely noticeable.

Looks like 35 degrees on Saturday in Wellington. Will probably feel like its over 40.

Stairway to heaven is just before Dorstberg at Meerendal. I assume for the epic you will come up to Dorstberg initially from the jeep track so not the normal route club members will go. Epic Route: Meerendal start > Top of Dorstberg > Down into Faircape > Cross over into Hoogekraal > Down shake rattle & roll > Cross over into missing link > Back to Meerendal > Stairway to Heaven Recce Route: Meerendal start > Stairway to Heaven > Top of Dorstberg > Back down Dorstberg to start > Traverse to Hoogekraal > Down shake, rattle > Cross over into missing link > Back to Meerendal. This will cover around 80% of the route, albeit not in the same order.

By the way… when I say accessible im referring to accessible with a permit. Get the holiday pass if you dont want to do full membership.

The only part you cant access is once you get to the top of Dorstberg. That gate is shut so no chance of getting in there. However the rest of the route is accessible. You are essentially only missing out on the Faircape part which links Meerendal to Hoogekraal. You’d still be able to do a decent recce of the route.

Now we just need them to overhaul that website. Or essentially merge Racetec with FinishTime. It would actually be nice if we had 1 website where all our races can be seen. I have results everywhere with all these different timing companies.