openmind

SRAM is either 10/50 or 10/52 Shimano is 10/51 I prefer the Shimano ratios, they don’t have the “bail out” gear philosophy, the ratios are spaced out more evenly so you can use the whole block.

It is spectacular, my son's school had their MTBing end of year party there this week. Drove past today and the big parking lot looked full! Way to go.

My WhatsApp group has the story: "Morning Jen. Just have to share with you in particular! My Brother Gav had an extraordinary bicycle accident last evening involving two porcupines! He was riding along the False Bay fenceline, when a big bugger came bolting under the fence and into the road in front of him... he braked, and went over the handle bars where he landed with the porcupine entangled in the bicycle between his legs .. he was completely disorientated and next thing another one came out from under the fenceline and attacked him in defense of the other one it seems. He got peppered with quills, most of them not deep except for two which were properly embedded in his front ankle. He was lying there when he saw two sets of headlights coming toward him. Lo and behold the occupants were a doctor in o e vehicle and a plastic surgeon in the other, the latter having full medical kit. They gave him a local anesthetic and got all the quills out on the side of the road, during which time a local farmer also joined the scene and took him and his bicycle home! 🤣..amazing story!" and.. "All the quills were in my legs and a few in my hands, that first impact is what put that deep one in my ankle. The craziest thing was the other one that came and tried to smoke me while I was lying in the dust. Really interesting that it's mate would come and help it seems."

I just take my bike right into the meeting. Most people in Stellies ride too anyway so no problem!

Sorry to hear about this. That’s my backyard, so to speak - please give more details about what happened.

With a unique third bottle cage!!

You’re just riding the wrong trails. Or you just need to go faster 😁

Stan takes the best pictures https://adobe.ly/3P9E82X

Freedom ride on Wednesday - Berg River dam outside Franschhoek.

I have not done the Epic, but I raced them in last year's Wines2Whales and have been using them ever since. I live in Stellenbosch and ride all the local trails (incl. Jonkershoek) and they are fantastic. I don't think the Epic is harder on gear than that. I am pretty gobsmacked myself as I thought I was taking a chance with them on W2W, but they were flawless. Much more grip than I expected. No sidewall issues. I previously rode Icon/Ardent Race and Schwalbe RRs before that. These are faster (according to my Strava segments) wil no downsides (except mud!).

Hollow pin chains are stronger than solid pin chains because they can peen the pin more (look it up). So it's not that.

Not sure what you mean. I paid full retail for the tyres and they work well. Happy customer. All I meant to say with my post was that the Aspens are not a bad choice for the Epic. Nino either just had really bad luck or he has some custom version of the tyre that is less durable than the stock version, which obviously then was a bad choice.

I ride/race Aspens, including W2W last year. I’m 80kg and run them at the same pressures as above (2.4” tyre on 25mm internal rims). Zero issues in 6 months. They are great tyres, fast and good grip in the dry.

Absolutely stunning, congrats and enjoy the build! Would you please post the geometry numbers on this frame, and explain a bit how you decided on them? This post has got me a lot closer to giving Dave Mercer a call for my next build!!

I have an English thread Chorus tapered BB if it will work - spindle length = 102mm If it's the 111mm you need - https://www.bike24.com/p22649.html

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CXD8cFel75v/?utm_medium=copy_link

My point was that with a budget of over R3m they could have made prior alternative arrangements with other authorities to fall back on in case of a problem with Plan A. I'm not saying they should have called a snap route change on the morning of the event, of course that's impossible. But have it organised up front just in case. That is the responsible thing to do. The Argus managed to reroute with short notice when there were fires. And they have 10 times more entrants, and in a dense urban setting. Just have a plan and communicate. Heck, they could even have said, sorry race is off boys but go ride to Ashton and back and we'll stand up a waterpoint at the halfway mark. Just try something. Maybe it's just a Covid thing - we've all been beaten into being so risk averse we can't do anything edgy anymore. I for one was looking forward to riding in a rainstorm for 200km. Beats sitting at my desk shouting at the Internet.

The conditions in Swellendam on Saturday were nothing like that at all. We had lots of rain, but mild temperatures and not much wind. That is not a fair comparison.

No it's not pointless, let's discuss this because it is important. The DC is not some local fun ride, it's one of the best events on the calendar, a monument if you like (our Milan San-Remo?). It's an institution with a lot of history (and the entry fee to match) and the organiser needs to respect that. I do have an idea of what it takes to organise events and I know that sometimes stuff happens and you have to cancel. But a big event like this with a huge budget and a major prestigious sponsor must do better. As I said, the least they can do is communicate.

Any event should have a disaster plan - not only for things that might go wrong during the event but also for things that might jeopardise the event itself, like the situation seemed to be at 5am on Saturday morning. The organisers took north of R3m in entry fees - they should not be allowed to get away with simply cancelling the whole event because of a bit of rain and wind. Some suggestions: Plan B - Limit the field to experienced riders, e.g. allow the fastest 50% of the teams ride and cancel for the slower less experienced teams. Plan C - Change the route - have a backup route, e.g. the route used for the SA champs earlier this year. Out to Ashton and a few loops through Bonnievale. No passes, less traffic, much safer. Plan D - Move the event to the Sunday Have these backup plans in place beforehand, agreed with the authorities. Put it in the T&Cs and let everyone know. Keep everyone in the loop so we know what to expect. With an entry fee of R13000 for a team, this is not too much to ask. And please communicate!! Two days later we're still in the dark as to why the event was actually cancelled. Reports are that the route was clear, there was no flooding, the wind was mild. etc. No issues!! So what was it then? Sure, there was a lot of rain early in the morning, but what does it take to just drive the route beforehand and report back to HQ? With another hour delay the roads would even have been mostly dry. It was apparent to anyone watching the sky that things were clearing up. Without more info I can only assume lazy organisers who feel they can take the easy option 'cause the event will just sell out again next year anyway.

I rode the Meerendal trails on Saturday and was very disappointed. Our group paid R190 for trail fees but we headed off after completing just one loop as we could hardly even ride some sections due to vegetation completely covering the trails. Some signage is missing and the trail surface needs attention in places too. It's such a spectacular venue with great facilities (and good coffee) so it's such a pity that the trails are not being maintained. Cyclist drink wine too you know. Anyone know what's going on?

I have slowly become convinced that Squirt is the best for a MTB chain - one of the most efficient (low drag) drip-on lubes on the market and it repels dirt sufficiently well that grit stays out of the chain (and it's local!). BUT: they are very clear that you have to strip the chain of factory grease first to get these benefits AND you need to lube your chain after your ride, not just before the next one. I assume that it is good enough at getting where it needs to go as I find that with this routine, I get clean, long-lasting chains. For my road bike however, I still use an oil (Finishline wet) - maybe I'm a traditionalist, but it just feels right, and with care (not too much; clean often) drivetrains last nearly forever.

Here's a race report of our four-man masters team: About 30km from Willowmore on Friday at 2pm the outside temp was 2deg and it was snowing. We had booked accommodation in tents at the showgrounds and the mood in the bus was grim. I got on the phone and called the Willowmore accommodation wrangler Billie-Jean to see if there were last-minute cancellations and she managed to squeeze us into a B&B across the road from registration! Frostbite averted, spirits lifted and we started to look forward to the ride. It even stopped raining! We started at 8am with the elites and other racing cats to be in contention for the maters category but even then it was sub-zero on the start line. I don't know how the 5am starters did it. After a fast start trying to hang on to the leading bunch but giving that up in short order we settled into a good pace with an icy headwind blowing directly off some snow-capped koppies in the distance. It was incredibly beautiful. Things got a lot better when the sun came out and we dropped down into the kloof with a wonderful tail wind. This is one of the best parts of the ride, fast and twisty through magnificent rock formations. You have to see this section of the kloof at least once in your life. Checkpoints 1-3 passed in quick succession with the tailwind and freshly scraped roads. We stopped at each CP and sampled the cuisine - very good sosaties and wors at CP3!! ("Sosaties, wors, innnie blink potte!!" was the refrain that still echoed in our ears long after the Langwater crossing.) The climbs were mostly ok except for the MAC. The steepness just gets to you at some point and you need to grit your teeth and grind it out. CP4's soup and change of clothes was very welcome. It was still damn cold, so we dressed up like polar explorers again and hit the long downhill for some freewheeling recovery. Back along the river the pace was fast and steady, with our team doing the through-and-off nicely. CP5 popped up and we sampled and ditched the chip rolls like everyone else (organisers: they're terrible - try something else!!). As we left this checkpoint the cold set in again and the magnitude of what we were doing became very real. A long way to go yet, dusk approaching and very dark clouds on the horizon. Luckily the Neverender was not too bad, we hooked up with a few other riders and tapped out a steady pace. By CP7 was realised we were nearly home. Jaffle-fueled we set off with a bit more enthusiasm. This was killed off completely in the last few k's when we hit the mud-fest of a trail next to the railway line. Those dark clouds had done their bit and soaked that trail a short while before we got there! The finish was a relief in many ways. 12 hours on the nose. A bit longer than we hoped for but we were all together in good spirits. Good ride all round in the end. Good luck to all doing it this weekend!

Just give up - they are Vogons. I'm pretty sure that if you do get through they'll start reading you very bad poetry.

I’ll try again later.