Bub Marley

Are you racing? Like pushing for time & position etc. If you’re not racing, then I’d go for the 40. The lighter gearing will be more beneficial especially when your legs are finished towards the end of a long ride and you have a mountain to get over.

I’d say your biggest upgrade would be gearing. You’d be able to fit a larger chainring which should make a huge difference on your flats and descents.

Just on pure feel here. I have done this climb on numerous occasions. That descent leading upto the actual climb, I can definitely say the momentum gained from the descent will assist in propelling you up the initial few meters up there. It’s a pretty fast descent.

There is a bit of a downhill before the climb starts. But to get there you would still need to climb back up every time. So dont think it makes a difference.

Having lived overseas and gone through the hassle of flying with my bike back home, I can tell you that people underestimate how massive those bike bags actually are. If you dont have much other luggage then you can work around it but if you are carrying a large suitcase on top of the bike bag it makes getting around very tedious. I think if it’s a short trip then just rent a bike.

I’ve had 2 crashes where I’ve written off a helmet. One helmet had MIPS, the other didn’t. The one without MIPS was a much heavier impact, got hit by a car, and it still saved my head. So I dont think MIPS is the be end and end all. If the helmet has it then great, but all helmets have to pass a certain safety standard anyway. Of course if you have the option, then go for the one that has MIPS, but there are some manufacturers like Abus that still don’t use MIPS.

That’s never going to happen as much as we want to see it. They rely on the YouTubers to provide this content. If you want to see more of the back of the field guys, watch Craig Kolesky. He’s given you a great perspective of what it’s like. If anything it’s actually put me off it a bit with the amount of walking that would have to be done if you stuck behind someone on a climb and then also stuck behind slower guys on single track and not really enjoying the trails. I would also subscribe to Jasper Verkuijl’s channel on YouTube. He’s an amateur but very fit and finished 3rd at the epic in the Amateur category. His videos are top notch quality and bring a more racing perspective from the amateurs. It’ll probably be a while though before he edits and uploads it but yeah he’s the go to guy for amateur racing. His content on the Haute Route events are top class.

Smart this. Might even test the waters and see what type of offer I get😂

Just had a look at the results now and I see Jasper Verkuijl is riding. Awesome stuff. He’s content is especially with the Haute Route events are top notch so looking forward to seeing what he comes up with for the Epic.

what do you mean by fell flat? Rewards are based on tier level. Both husband and wife need to contribute to the total points. If one doesn’t then you wont get to a gold or diamond tier.

I agree their product is over complicated. It actually put me off recommending the product to clients because of how complicated it is. I will say the new updated Life product has somewhat got ridden of some of the complications like the financial integrator nonsense and some of the stuff. Its still overly complicated though. That is why I alway say, the product is not for everyone. You need to engage and keep up to date with it to actually benefit from it. If you can do all of that then the rewards are well worth the frustrations. But it’s not for everyone. And ofcourse you need to be active. Ive bought Nike shoes discounted by 2k, garmin computer discounted by 50% and then funded the balance with miles. I’ve benefitted from local flights with good discounts. I get on average R1500pm back from the healthy foods and healthy care benefit. I get cash back at Nandos. I got 50% back on my entry fees on the following races: 99er, tour de PPA, Argus, winelands, Old Hermon, Boland Gravel Monster, Durbie Dash, One Tonner. They’re also currently paying my Apple Watch. I just paid an activation fee. So again not for everyone but if you do engage its rewarding.

This is correct. And I think you need to preload the card if you want to book any flights. I think you have to use this card to get the discounts on the flights and pay with this card, although I could be mistaken.

If your machine packed up then im assuming you’re claiming under Accidental/Machanical benefit. With this benefit, the standard sum insured is 10K. You can choose to increase this if you want and pay an additional premium. It’s not a new thing though so they wouldn’t have just restricted the cover amount just like that. It would have been there from the start of the policy. Wrt what was told to you, I get that. But I am just pointing out that it’s not true. You can just open a credit card if you wish. The additional benefits you get with opening the full suite pertains to more cashback at PNP, Clicks etc for healthy foods etc. If you’re not interested in this then I would just downgrade to the credit card alone. I’m not 100% sure tbh if it is the savings account. But every vitality member gets a free account with no charges specifically to be used for miles and flights. Your best bet is to call them.

Medical Aid depleted means you’ve used up your savings. If you move to a different medical aid, the structure is going to be the same. There is no new clause that only pays upto 10k. You get paid for what you are insured for. If you are only insured for 10k, that’s what you’ll get out. Im pretty certain you are not understanding the policy. You did not need to open a cheque account. There are options available. You could have just gone for the credit card only and pay less fees. Discovery is not for everyone. If you don’t understand the product correctly and how the benefits work together, then it will be frustrating. Also, if you don’t want to go through all this hassles, then you’re better off with another insurer where they don’t have all this nonsense.

When Kulula folded, they needed an alternative so they created their own platform which is now part of Bank. You need to have a bank account to get access to the platform. They do have a free account though. So you can just open the free account to access the miles and book flights.

Get her an e-bike if you wanna ride together.

Was looking forward to Beers & Miller as partners. Why’d they chnage it?

Yip. You could do this if you wanted to. I initially thought I might do this and make a fun day out of it. Always wanted to do a fun Argus one year. Then i just realised the fun part would actually be stopping at the feed stations and indulging in the food and drinks there. So yeah, I won’t be doing it. Will probably do my fun Argus in 2027 given that we’d only be a few days after fast so wont be fit.

You can train if you want. Don’t think there’s any restrictions. A lot of Muslim pro’s play sport and fast at the same time. They won’t be at their best clearly but you can if you want to.

There is exception for illness. No exception for sport whether or not it’s recreation.

Just had a look at the calendar. 2025 & 2026 will be during Ramadan. 2027 could be touch and go. Even then it would be doing the race with no/minimal training. If you have an indoor trainer it will obviously help but you’d still not be race fit. So for me, trying for a sub 3 again, I would have to wait until 2028 🤦🏻‍♂️

Not sure what people expect going into programmers like this. Discovery are not gonna just hand out free money for nothing. You need to engage with the program to get rewarded. If you do actually engage, then it can be really beneficial financially and health wise. If you’re not someone that’s interested in this, then Discovery ain’t for you. And of course they want to lock you into their ecosystem. It’s good business sense that. Apple does exactly the same with their products. I will also just add that there is a free bank account option for members who just want to use the bank for miles. Every person who has a vitality membership qualifies for this.

My discovery bank charges are 250 per month. I get around R1500 back from them every month. To each their own I suppose. But out of all their products, for me i get the most value out of their Bank product.

Anyone delved into the stats yet and compared to previous years? How many sub 3’s? Seems like much less sub 3’s.

Even if you get a great seeding, you still need to be very fit🤣