Bub Marley

All these pics are amazing. Really tempted to give this a bash but also a bit skeptical with the weather. Already had old Hermon cancelled and now I see paarl bike fest postponed as well. So will probably decide the week of the race. Fingers crossed most of the bad weather is done after this coming week.

Yeah if you struggle to open your valve then the sealant is clogging it up. I have the same issue right now with my bike when pumping the wheels just haven’t had a chance to sort it out.

Wow, this sucks. This race was on my list events for the future. I think the closest race to this is the Prince George 100 miler. Maybe someone that’s done both can comment on the differences.

Is this legit? This all seems very shady to me🤣

Following on from my initial post, I see the shipping cost has now increased from 20 to 50 euros. It might be worth your while to find out a bit more about this because with that sort of price jump, you’d asssume its not a post office but a proper courier delivery.

I keep hearing people say this but to me last year felt worse. I dunno if it’s just the memory of last years Old Hermon that has left me scarred completely, but I felt like last year it rained even harder and the proof was basically all the damage in Franschhoek and other areas.

Honestly so over this poor weather already.

I would keep the men’s race at 3 weeks but shorten the stage lengths. You don’t need to do over 200km just flat. Those are pretty boring bar the final 5km’s. But the men’s race is way more advanced in terms of the entire field. In other words the fitness level across the whole field is a lot more consistent. This isn’t the case with the ladies so essentially what would happen is the less strong women would really suffer if it it was longer than 7 days and you’d have this select group that is just way better than the rest. This is already evident just in the way teams ride in the women’s race. It’s a lot more individual compared to the men. One thing I have noticed in the last 2 years since the start of the women’s Tour de France is that the women find it much harder to control a breakaway and that’s mainly because the teams as a whole are not as strong as the men’s.

Totally against this. I think the fact that women’s racing generally is shorter (stage lengths and stages) compared to mens, makes the whole event more exciting. I dont wanna get into the whole men vs women debate and don’t really wanna hit some nerves. But physiologically, men are stronger and faster than women in general. I don’t see what benefit a longer tour will make. Stages will become more boring and the winners will be more predictable.

Honestly, the forecast during the week seems pretty clear besides wednesday. If stays like that, I’ll happily take a bit of rain on Saturday. Last year it poured the entire week leading up which completely flooded everything. So fingers crossed, but everything looks good for now.

Wow what a race. We spoke about earlier about how SD works poor tactics could cost Vollering and obviously it played a part but looking back now, Vollering took so much time to sort herself out and at the end we’re talking about 4 seconds. I know it’s difficult to put yourself in their shoes but I just think she lacked so much urgency to get back on the bike and it’s cost her a grand tour now

Ashleigh called them a complex team. I think they’re right up there with the dumbest team ever. She was just being nice. If your leader in the yellow jersey is not next to you, you stop and wait for her and protect the jersey. Plain and simple. You don’t need a radio for that. Wiebes literally says she saw the yellow jersey fall. So is that queue for her to go and sprint for 10th? I have never seen a team as clueless tactically as this team.

That’s the convenient excuse.

Bike24 are German based. So the DHL is the local post office service they make use of. It’s not DHL Express which is what you want. I’m pretty sure that if you order from Bike24 it’s going to come via post office.

Yeah then just take it easy down there. It’s not really the steepness that’s the issue. The road surface is bad so very uneven and like jbr said will be very rutted. Regardless, it’s just a small section of the race and any time you lose to the mtb’ers there will be made up quite quickly on the rest of the course.

Which brand TPU you get?

Okay I think it’s a bit deceptive then as I don’t recall it being that steep but maybe my memory eludes me. That downhill stretch is a bit uneven and bumpy though and if you’re on a gravel bike then depending on your skill level or can be a bit sketchy. If you’re on a mountain bike you can fly down there but definitely take caution. i will say though that bar that small section, nothing else on the route was remotely technical in any way. So yeah, just take caution for that 1km and after that is smooth sailing again.

Where do you see this?

I don’t recall seeing this option when I entered.

So anyone entered for this event? Hopefully better conditions this year after the mud fest last year. Forecast looks decent for now the next 10 days but it can change quickly. This event was pretty well attended last year despite the horrid conditions so hopefully we get a similar turnout again. I am surprised at the lack of promotion for some of these events. Bar 1 facebook post, there’s nothing else about it.

I have no words anymore wrt taxi’s. They have no respect for any laws or anyone for that matter. They don’t wait at robots, jump stop streets, drive in the yellow lane, stop wherever they please, drive on the wrong side of the road. It is getting so out of control now to the point where lives are being put in danger. It’s no longer reckless. It is dangerous driving. When they tried putting a stop to it and impounded vehicles, we had everything disrupted with strikes. Seriously, what is gonna take for these guys to obey laws?

Finally back on the trails this weekend…and new bike day as well which probably wasn’t a good idea. Tbh I thought the trails would be drier but was clearly wrong.

Im always weary of this coming into camps bay and sea point. Honestly becoming so dangerous and mainly because it gets busy so quickly and drivers take chances because they can’t wait. People might hate on this but when there is no shoulder i never ride all the way to the side. I will ride more towards the middle even if the cars have to wait a bit and then pull over when it’s clear for them to pass. If you ride all the way to the left, you have cars trying to pass you when it’s not safe and you have the risk of parked cars opening a door or pulling out of the bay.

Till what age do downhill racers normally compete? Greg is 42 years old so perhaps that came into their thinking. It does leave a sour taste but perhaps they offered him a different role but he was insistent he still wanted to compete?

I know this is marketed as a gravel groupset. But honestly with 13 gears, I would happily throw this on a roadbike. The argument with 1X on a roadbike has always been big jumps in gears going back to when we had 11 speed. But now with 2 additional cogs, surely that eliminates most of that issue. Just give us a 48T & 50T chainring option and you’re sorted.