diff --git a/.gitlab/config/generate_pipelines.py b/.gitlab/config/generate_pipelines.py
index 4d75b55bd3..17b8068b99 100755
--- a/.gitlab/config/generate_pipelines.py
+++ b/.gitlab/config/generate_pipelines.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def request_dict(url):
     '-d', '--days', type=int, default=1,
     help='How many days back to search for commits')
 parser.add_argument(
-    '-m', '--max', type=int, default=3,
+    '-m', '--max', type=int, default=2,
     help='Maximum amount of pipelines computed')
 parser.add_argument(
     '-f', '--template_file', required=True,
diff --git a/.gitlab/gitlab-ci-ascent.yml b/.gitlab/gitlab-ci-ascent.yml
index 02e50f4584..c4e453df0d 100644
--- a/.gitlab/gitlab-ci-ascent.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/gitlab-ci-ascent.yml
@@ -128,7 +128,6 @@ sync-github-prs:
   only:
     - schedules
   variables:
-    GIT_STRATEGY: none
     CUSTOM_CI_BUILDS_DIR: "/gpfs/wolf/csc303/scratch/vbolea/ci/adios2"
   script:
     - export PATH="/gpfs/wolf/csc303/scratch/vbolea/ci/utils:$PATH"
diff --git a/scripts/ci/gitlab-ci/setup-vars.sh b/scripts/ci/gitlab-ci/setup-vars.sh
index 67d1435ef5..6ca88e616c 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/gitlab-ci/setup-vars.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/gitlab-ci/setup-vars.sh
@@ -38,4 +38,6 @@ then
   ci_original_sha=$(git rev-parse "${CI_COMMIT_REF}^2")
   export CI_ORIGINAL_SHA="$ci_original_sha"
   export CI_UPDATE_ARGS="-DCTEST_UPDATE_VERSION_OVERRIDE=${CI_ORIGINAL_SHA}"
+else
+  export CI_ORIGINAL_SHA="${CI_COMMIT_REF}"
 fi