Formallyknownas Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 Not all of us have that cavalier courage. If I did that I guarantee you a visit to Vergelegen will be on the horizon. Loose rocky descents are still my nemesis, although I have learnt to ease up on the brakes a lot. Letting go of the levers completely, not yet. Come to JHB and ride Kings Kloof. If you're not better at loose, dolls head rocky descents after two or three sessions there's no hope.
SwissVan Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 Nobody touches my bike. I prefer to wash and service it myself. I have learnt a few lessons along the way. I now don't wash my bike with Clean Green anymore, I prefer Car Shampoo with Wax additive. The Clean Green goes into the pivot bearings and washes the grease out.Donna worry the epic will cure you of those concerns...cannot think of anything worse having to wash and work on bike after each stage. But yes it's risky using the free power wash operated by some bloke whose sole objective is to make your bike look new again....
SwissVan Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 Armpies I am considering doing the epic next year. Would you be interested in running a skills clinic for me and vettie please? Will pay in pizza and tequilaI can give you free tips on how to stay just ahead of the broom bus....
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 Thanks so that's a yesit's a ho hum. Not a yes at all...
GLuvsMtb Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 bike wash? there is hardly any water left in the WC and okes are washing there bikes with high pressure hoses?Do you know that a high pressure hose ends up using much less water than a normal hose? I chatted to the dude that has the local car wash. They average about 10 lt water per car. A bike is surely much less. Furthermore I will be surprised if the water that was used to wash the bikes were potable.
GLuvsMtb Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 Do you know that a high pressure hose ends up using much less water than a normal hose? I chatted to the dude that has the local car wash. They average about 10 lt water per car. A bike is surely much less. Furthermore I will be surprised if the water that was used to wash the bikes were potable.https://www.kaercher.com/za/water-wise.html
Patchelicious Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 https://www.kaercher.com/za/water-wise.htmlThose things? No wonder there were so many mechanicals.
bj horn Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 Big up to the Epic marshalls.Difficult job in very hot conditions. Most spectators listened and stuck to the rules. Was at the marshall point near the Hugenot monument when some locals got upset with a marshall because they could not get to work or because their girlfriend was alone at the guest house.Get real ,this is the EPIC ,who cares. Seeing the leading bunch of 20+ riders coming down the tar at +/- 50kmh ,taking up the whole road is frightening and awesome at the same time.Would have liked to see them do a 90degree turn in to La Couronne with a narrow driveway and another 90 degree turn into the waterpoint with the same narrow driveway.Take it nobody stopped because the chopper was moving away rapidly.
Formallyknownas Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 it's a ho hum. Not a yes at all... Trying to hard now. Moving on...
nathrix Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 Some mention of the Cape Epic in this week's show
BuffsVintageBikes Posted March 29, 2017 Posted March 29, 2017 I had the privilege of riding a videographer around for 7 days on the back of my KTM690 again on this year’s Epic. The route has changed somewhat since I did it in 2004 and the only stage which bore some sort of resemblance to the Epic of old was the one transition stage from Elandskloof. The rest was more technical and although there was less climbing than some of the past years, the terrain made for some difficult riding. Stage 1 was a mind f%$& of note and exposed all those who hadn’t prepared well enough or couldn’t adapt to the heat quickly enough. The Euros obviously suffered the worst but plenty of locals took a knock as well. I ended up staying at the final water point until cut-off time and it was heart wrenching to see the condition of some of those riders. Africa is a harsh mistress. IMHO they did the right thing by shorting Stage 2, the heat to Elandskloof was just as intense as the previous day and I think we would have seen another 200 riders out of the race on that stage if they had not shortened it. Even on the motorbike it was hard work and I was pretty buggered by the time we got into camp. The rest of the race was "relatively" easy riding, especially once the temperature dropped and the bit of rain we had dampened the sand for the following 2 stages. You could see it in the riders disposition, a lot more smiles and jokes in the field compared to the shell shocked faces on Stage 1 & 2. Groenland Berg was an absolute monster and was utter hell coming down with a camera man behind me and trying to maintain some sort of speed not to hold up the cyclists behind me. I even had to stop once to rest my shoulders as the extra weight of the person behind me had me cramping up. I missed my MTB on that descent. It was also great seeing the racing up front. Those boys don’t muck about, it’s balls-to-the-wall from the get go. Coming out of Greyton I was sitting behind the lead bunch tracking them at 45km/h on the open gravel roads. But I think the revelation of this year’s race for me was watching the Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds racing. That woman is insanely strong on a mtb and where many of the mixed teams relied on their male partners for assistance with a tow here and there, I never witnessed that once with her and Tom. On most of the climbs she actually set the tempo. Their times were also faster than the leading ladies on most days. She’s a total beast, and pretty hot as well. The saddest was seeing Karl suffering. He’s normally a pretty jovial fella even while racing but this year he took a beating. You could just see it in his disposition on the bike but he still stuck it out to the end so kudo for that. He’ll be back for sure. My designated camera man was responsible for a lot of the scenic shots you get to see in the montage at the end of the evenings 30min show so I got to see the racing up front in the early morning, the middle of the field 10am and then the stragglers suffering like dogs towards mid-day. It made for an interesting and exciting week of race watching and left me extremely grateful for the motorized transport I had beneath me, those climbs are a lot easier when you can simply twist the throttle. Congrats to all those who got their medals, there was nothing "Untamed" about this race, own it with pride.
mazambaan Posted March 29, 2017 Posted March 29, 2017 Thanks Buff, nice work; I reckon you did well on a 690. I chatted to a guy who did some camera cartage a few years ago on a GS 1200 and he suffered.
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