Dusty

Those are fair prices.

I haven't heard how they are dealing with level 4 restrictions. I guess if riders opt to be out during curfew it will be on them. I have heard that covid negative tests were required prior to the start and also possibly being tested along the way.

Seems that the race leader Alex, has had a fall on Politique Kraal and hurt some ribs. Hopefully he can still finish. He's got a long way to go. Only on day 2. Having said that he is at Queens Mercy on morning two, which is mind blowingly quick.

I also have a Silverback bike, not the Stratos, but aslo DUB with NX crank. The BB specified for my bike is a road BB. I'm not sure if there is any difference with seals in road vs mtb but only the road one fits. First BB lasted about 5k kms. Second one not so much after quite a bit of wet riding. They ceratinly haven't lasted as well as previous BBS for me.

This game may just go down to the wire.

@Sepia I did the Massive Eastern Cape Passes bikepacking route recently with a mate who did it on an ebike. I have attached his write up as there is some good stuff to be gleaned on bikepacking with an ebike. He does give the details of his ebike, but more importantly it does show that ebikes can work really well for bikeacking/touring. Ebike Massive Eastern Cape Passes.docx

@copperheadWhere are you staying in the Tankwa?

Cycled up Bastervoetpad Pass in the E Cape recently. Proper climb/push, but the views are worth it.

If you don't come right I can recommend these guys. We've had some custom made. Top quality and well priced. https://thermowear.co.za/#about They're not in Gauteng, KZN I think, but the courier was not an issue.

This and stretching.

Interesting. I'm going to try this.

An overnight bikepacking trip in the NW province this weekend. Got a tad hot on Saturday.

New addition to the family, Mae, is keeping everyone on their toes.

The Titan looks the best specced amongst the 3. Sid fork is awesome.

We had a bag made by https://thermowear.co.za/#about Brilliant service and good quality bag.

My experience is that any fox fork is pretty good. Rock shock do make some very entry level forks at a lower level than any fox make. If you can find out what the specific forks are it would be helpful.

Silk Road Mountain Race has similar concept. Every rider is allocated a dot watcher who literally can be anywhere in the world. They watch your dot from a safety perspective. I'm still in contact with my 'watcher'. Great idea.

We've got the same tent and have used it in snow, torrential rain and high altitudes and we survived. Brilliant for the price and easily available in SA

I had the same cassette in Kyrgyzstan when we went and I used a 34 Oval up front as I was confident that I could ride most routes with that. Big mistake. Factor in altitude and not so much. The 30 is a great idea and if you could get a 50 on the back it would be even better.

Hello Brandon If you go to the cycletouring website they have a wide range of bags and they have measurements in the descriptions. That's the route I went. My wife's bike wouldn't fit any of their bags , so for her we had to have a frame bag custom made.

I use one and that is correct.

We did a bikepacking trip around the Eastern Cape mountains in December. Nothing short of spectacular. In 5 days we saw 2 pedestrians.

I have gone that route as I figure that like steel, a cracked carbon frame can be repaired just about anywhere with some resin and matting. Alu not so much. I do wrap the frame at the contact points with my bags, with tape, to protect it.

Got this fellow on my 6 weight on the Vaal recently. I got smashed up by the previous 7 fish which were even bigger. It was a day to remember. The cats were starving!

I had some success contacting them on their international website. Shouldn't have to, but perhaps an option?