Michael S

These threads are classic, every year. 1) Debate why entry fee is so high and higher than back in my day. 2) Seeding chatter 3) Early weather and wind chat / where to park 4) Expo is worse than last time an goodie bag complaints 5) More accurate weather chat 6) Fantastic day out, definitely back next OR the bunch didn't have experience and caused my wipe out or ruined my day so I fellback

Wait until we can see the 10 day weather look ahead

Noted, will do coach.

Also curious. I get the Biogen "Pure Carbs" from Dischem (Which is malto) https://www.dischem.co.za/biogen-pure-carbs-1kg-898?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17931507049&gbraid=0AAAAAo1J0Tyer3vfh1emvgc2eNibkNxdB&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtfXMBhDzARIsAJ0jp3AH4aZbxkDES22AFaxGZaVIGmDsMdl7WU7IvcNigHxFeoQ-ijQb6hAaAqRdEALw_wcB R180/kg is expensive but as I do Dischem orders anyway monthly it works out to be the same as from the craft beer shops when delivery is factored in. CraftBeerSa or CactusCraft it can be had for R50 odd per kg. If you are close to one of those shops, the cheapest for sure. Fructose is easier to get, I usually grab the lifestyle foods one from Dischem, again for convenience at R160 odd per kg. Use a similar mix than Katze, works well. (When not prodding along at Z2)

With no idea on race to the sun, I see one can now get 50mm pathfinders which are very intriguing.

If you have learnt the ways of navigating a Garmin device woth buttons, no. If you have not, and are impatient with learning unintuitive UI, then yes

Only teasers on their insta as far as I know.

I see. The difficulty seems to help quite a lot. I've only done Race to the Sea the last two years for seeding and that beta really helps quite a bit.

Is there any advantage to doing a "official" seeding race for the CTCT compared to other events that are also used for seeding? Or is it just that you know that they will actually use those results for seeding?

Jip. From the Spez podcast with Sofia and Keegan, Sofia was not keen to do it without a 'proper' team mate to go for the win which they could not get (assuming Anika is not available). They did not want to unnecessarily detract effort from the mens attempt.

They sure are

This is a spicy team. Still got my money on the Spez lads. Hoping Tristan and Marco can build off last years success as well

Also, sounds like Sopfia is hinting at no Specialized women's team this year...

I see the World Champs in Aussie this year is on the same day as Little Sugar, which will compromise a Big sugar the week after and with only one Lifetime "drop race" it could cost you your Lifetime overall. Silly UCI. But interestingly, Keegan seems to be keen to pursue some more rainbows, which will surely surrender his overall Lifetime chase.

Keen to see Keegan and Matt, now riding for the same team and with some wrongs to right, go this year. Listening to Keegan on this podcast, he is taking it seriously and Specialized takes it very seriously so they will be raring to go. My money will be on these two. Wonder if Nino will come around around? Any other early teams anyone knows about? The SC boys will surely be here.

More like this

I bought some gravel carbon riser drop bars (counter intuitive I know) from Aliexpress and they work great if you need to tweak fit later on

Interesting, after how many years did battery go bad, and was it one or both? Garmins XC200 are: R20.9k MX2-Pro from Assioma with shipping & tax: R14.5k Sigeyis are about R8k landed here. I went with Assiomas instead of two (or more) spiders as it also removes the "which one is accurate" problem. So you have one source of truth between all bikes and trainers.

Has anyone seen a weather forecast yet?

Assioma MX2s are cheaper, better and can take 120kg. So you only need to lose a few. Or take it a bit easier while you are still working on it. Order it direct from them online, cheapest anywhere even witb shipping and taxes taken into account and promt delivery

For the sake of transparency, my bike spent the night in my tent with me that evening, so not fully frosted over 😮. Buy yes day one was a brutal on the bikes. The damage count after the week was BB and headset bearings from all the pressure washing and thunderburt tyre that was full of plugs (the raceking up front did not put a foot wrong).

Same same, but Assos

I've built up a chinese direct order grav bike, very happy with it, did Gravel Burn on it (Tideace GV201 or Tantan GR201) Don't buy a gravel bike with less than 48mm clearance, 50 preferably. As noted above, chinertown and the weightweenies forums are great resources.

If you do want some rise. I run these Balugoe chinese bars from Aliexpress. Pretty good. Ran them for Gravelburn and did not put a foot wrong. (I am 93kg odd) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003707117885.html?spm=a2g0n.order_detail.order_detail_item.2.548df19cDTHGOD&_gl=1*1dkp0pv*_gcl_au*ODY4MTE4MzU2LjE3NjQ1MjYzMjk.*_ga*MTM4NTI0MTM1Ni4xNzY0NTI2MzI5*_ga_VED1YSGNC7*czE3NjQ1MjYzMjkkbzEkZzEkdDE3NjQ1MjY2MjckajEzJGwwJGgw