eddy

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As I understand your position, a small ding on a frame should, like a ding on a car door, lead to the frame being replaced rather than repaired, and the insurance company should do this. Everything is insurable at a price and you should ask your broker to find an underwriter who is prepared to accept such risk and to quote you a premium. The premium will however be commensurate with the sum at risk.

The bike will be worth around R2500 and R3000 when he is done

Dankie Johan Sal hom sommer vroegoggend kaf draf....

We rode via High Level, Camps Bay, over Suikerbossie and Chapmans to Noordhoek and back. Breezy, but nice. Thanks Skubarra, Mongoose posted a route which we have loaded and will ride it early on Friday or else Saturday morning.

We've ridden there before, Pie run etc. But it is a bit far for a morning away. We'll be back though.

I'm in Cape Town, staying in Green Point and would like to do a gravel ride in the vicinity - maybe as far out as Paarl/Franschoek. We're happy to drive out and make a day (or half day) of it. We're not looking for trails, but a quiet, safe dirt road we can do around 50km on an out and back or loop.

I broke a hand when a woman ahead of me stopped at a 15cm drop-off in the footpath along the river.

Time to dust this baby off....

Easy for you to say. I did my first one on a 26" Epic some guy in Halfway House palmed off on me..... 2014 on a SS rigid P29. Should never have sold that bike.

I remember this well. Did my first one in 2011 and a few more thereafter. I think that it lost its unique character when the manne derided it as a "dirt roadie" race and they responded by adding more and more singletrack - i.e. congestion in the sandy footpaths next to the river - into the event, making it less and less special. The climb over Eben's hill was lekker but eventually it became a wannabe MTB event. It was held in September and October and it was so hot, dusty and congested that its only saving grace was that every other event that season could only be better. It was the original 100km gravel race and something very different until they messed with the formula. I hope it reverts to something that can be done on a gravel bike, in which case I look forward to giving it a go again. I loved the first one, but maybe that was only me. Oh, it also had a halfway stop where you could have a swim in the river and the clock stopped. I think you were given up to 15mins or so before the clock started again.

This is the solution. Cheap, convenient and safe

This ^^^^^^^ I haven't had time or inclination to do all three, so I have been focusing on Nutrition and Recovery only. I have eaten enough to last me until August 2026 and put in solid 24/7 recovery since April 2023. I suppose two out of three is better than nothing 😉

Intercape bus. Check if you can take a bike, if you can it is an easy option. A mate used it in December and it was fine.

Just a small comment. I remove the pips and replace them with salted roasted almonds. It somehow makes it less sweet and improves the palatability. Also has a bit of salt and some healthy fats.

Just be aware that even if you have a Sanparks Wildcard which gives you free entry into the reserve, you have to pay around R110 to take your bike in.

Solid Sub-4 as someone described my 3:03 for the 112km edition over Ou Kaapse...

I'm not riding so I suppose the conditions will be perfect. Enjoy my contribution to your ride.

I have a new Conti tubby. PM me if you're interested

This is not likely to be a popular post, but hear me out. There is no doubt that if money was no object we would all have a R250 000, carbon fiber, Di2 XTR equipped, dual suspension, carbon hooped super 29" bike as one of the bikes in our stable. But that is not your situation. However, you can still have what was once such a dream bike, albeit not a new one. As you will have seen on the Hub, nobody wants to ride a 26er anymore which is why secondhand ones can't be given away, and they thus provide absolute bargains for someone willing to pocket his pride and wait for one in the classifieds. I bought, for my daughter who wanted to get into cycling, a professional level 26" bike (SID, XTR all around, Mavic rims, DT-Swiss spokes on Tune hubs, Thomson cockpit and seat-post, etc.) for not much more that you are likely to have paid at Makro. The bike was 10 years old at the time and had hardly been ridden since the owner bought the first of her 29ers shortly thereafter. Everything on my bike is serviceable, I fitted new tyres, spares are available, the bike fits her perfectly, probably weighs 50% less than yours, and is likely to outlast me. She enjoys riding it and when the time comes to move up, she will probably buy a secondhand 29er with a lower level of components which will likely cost 10 times as much and we'll sell the bike for about the same as we paid for it. Until about 2010-2012 every mountain-biker rode a 26" bicycle, and guess what, they managed. So unless you can do a sub 7-hour Attakwas it is unlikely that it is the wheel size that is holding you back, as people did that back in the day. What I always find amusing is when people say: "you are tall and must therefore ride a 29er". 26 refers to the wheel size not to the frame/bike size, and frames came in a wide enough range that even very tall people could be fitted to an appropriate frame (just as very short people can now ride a 29er). Jaroslav Kulhavy is 1.87 and won the CX at the Olympics on a 26er. Nobody said he was too tall to do so. So think about it, a champagne bike for beer money that won't let you down.

Helmets. Everything else is optional.

I'll be braaing halfway up Jan Smuts and handing out abuse to all laggards....

The other side looks like this, Robert:

Lucky them. I've been trying to get one from the local agents since 4 September last year. They have obviously had a consignment of cranks from 4iiii as they are enticing people with a launch offer on the new models, but couldn't be bothered to get a small plastic piece added to the consignment.

Hi, I posted a photo above.