Bram_on_Madone

When you say "brilliant", where did you look? Windguru shows 50km/h SE gusts for Cape Point area tomorrow. Now I don't mind a little wind, but not sure I would call this brilliant

Can't comment on the other groups, but my 2011 Ultegra has proven to be rather bullet proof, requiring only minor tweaks every 2-3 months over thousands of km's. I have replaced the chain once with no problems and have had perfect, smooth shifting all the way.

Also in C - that beer bottle I hit in the Burger dragged me down a bit, but C should still have a good pace

Stop blaming PPA for everything - the race was very poorly attended last year and that's probably the main reason the school is scrapping it. PPA isn't always perfect, but I think we can be happy in the Western Cape that them. They have also scored some browny points with me this year for be example organising a near perfect Tour de PPA, when the Boland Drukpers sponsors pulled out.

I also have a "C" now - not sure how big the jump is, as I have gotten quite comfortable in "D" Don't want to get a number just to get raped in A-C... What do you guys think?

Depends how broken you are by the time you get to the bottom of Vissershok ...If you're nackered the way I probably will be, you can loose a lot of time over those last two "bumps"

+1 I saw the first guy go down, and it was a matter of too much speed into the corner - no amount of marshalling would have prevented it. The particular spot is actually quite deceptive and I think its very easy to loose control, if your concentration lapses for just a second. I hope all involved heal up well.

I have only noticed this problem with Megacoach. Never had a problem with other buses - there seems to be something specific in the culture/attitude of Megacoach. I'll make a point of taking down the number plate the next time one of them tries to run me off the road.

I've had a few near misses at that same spot also - usually the motorist sees you, but misjudges the speed of the bicycle and reckons he can still cut in front of you. On a similar note, I was almost wiped out at the Sunset Beach robot on the R27 this morning. I was cruising along across the green light (just me no cars around) and a blond chicky in a Mini comes flying through the red light. I did a quick sharp turn and she missed me by about 50cm. Was shaking for the rest of my ride

Unfortunately for the guys (like me:( ) that work at highly regulated companies that haven't updated Internet Explorer yet and don't allow other browsers, the new format is almost impossible to read....

Your talking about Beeld readers remember. I wouldn't worry too much that the last few remaining readers of Die Beeld in the darker corners of Pretoria are a representative view of wider public opinion.

Smelling sweaty makes me feel more manly

I use the bicycle lane all the time without problems. Of course you have to slow down a little more at the intersections to go over the curbs, but that's definitely worth not having to worry about getting knocked over . I have punctured once or twice on the lane, but I have also punctured plenty on roads...

Great first race of the year. The heat and the wind reminded me what its all about - didn't do too great up Ou Kaapse, but was satisfied that I felt strong up Boyes and had a nice sprint to the finish from there.

If you actually went over the mat with your chip, its called cheating.

None of you are addressing the underlying stupidty and lack of humanity in the writer's argument. He is essentially saying that the weaker members of society deserve to die - similarly if an old lady or a young child crosses a busy road she should expect to get run over by some overweight, brandy drinking, blue bull supporter (who is also clearly an avid 4x4 enthuisiast and a "skyfskieter" - whatever that is...). Ghandi said that a society can be measured by how well it treats its weakest members and that is why modern, democratic countries such as the Netherlands place a very high penalty on the driver of a motorised vehicle when they collide with a bicycle, irrespective of whether the bicycle was being irresponsible. If I am being an ass and ride my bicycle through a red robot, that certainly does not give anybody the right to kill me. Besides the fact that the punishment in no way matches the crime, last time I checked vigilante action was illegal. Clearly it is an unfair contest between a car and a bicycle and if a motorist feels a bicycle is breaking the law, they should report this to the traffic police. His further argument that you should only use public roads if you are commuting to and from work should then also be applied to him. I suggest the next time he wheels his Toyota Hilux on to the road to the bottle store, somebody with a bigger vehicle (say a tank) should drive over him, as its survival of the fittest after all.

Just kidding - that military road on the Cobra will make me swallow my words...

Rather train more and get stronger instead of fitting a compact crank

I agree that I shouldn't complain for complaining sake and admittedly I am slightly more peeved, as I actually blew out on a the sharp base of a broken beer bottle, but many of the problems (some of which I listed) are very easy to fix. You imply that it would take 3 months to sweep the route, which is absurd - there were +- 10 spots with significant amounts of glass on road: lets say it takes you a full minute to stop the car, another minute to do three broom strokes into the brush in the side of the road and another 2 minutes to get back in the car and start it. I am not a mathematician, but it would then take one individual less 2 hours to clear the glass. For more the R1mil in entry fees (never mind sponsorship money) this really is the least we could have expected / should be demanding.

So we all seem to agree on the poor organisation - anybody know who I can write a formal letter to? I don't like the idea of just not doing it next year, as we deserve to have proper races on our calender - if nobody else wants to do it, my ass could organise a better race!

Windhoek draught - that extra 110ml in the bottle really helps after a long ride!

Of course its the fault of the organisors - people have always been filling up their bottles at watering points and they should have catered for this. It is outright dangerous that they didn't and a number of people had to be taken up in hospitable for dehydration. While I'm at it, I found the organisation particularly poor at this year's event from start to finish - some highlights: - Not even a mention of a goody bag; - I only got half a cup of warm coke at the end and when I asked for more I got scolded and forcefully asked to "keep moving"; - There was glass on many place along the course and I suffered a blow out on a beer bottle (not much fun at 50km in the % bunch) - for a race this size the least one can expect is a bit of a sweep of the route to remove the worst of the glass; - The "mat" they had over the railway tracks on the R45 was a floppy fragment that looked like it came from the second world war and was much too narrow for the big bunches - as we passed there were 5 elites lying on the ground around it with one guy clearly having a serious shoulder injury - this was also completely preventable. - Some of the antics they made us do through Paarl were hazardous and poorly marked - the sand in the middle of the R45 / Old Paarl junction must have caused a number of crashes. - Traffic control was very poor, especially coming back in on the R44 - No music or any other atmosphere at the finish line. Overall this was an extremely dissapointing event and the only reason so many people ride is because of the "Argus seeding" tag. We really deserve better.

Popped into WEBIKE once en route with a small problem on my road bike - they were very friendly, but it was clearly that the staff don't really know anything about road bikes and seemed to only specialise on mountain bikes. Ended up having to fixed the mess they made when I got home myself. Mountain biking may the flavour of the month, but maybe the narrower focus contributed to the financial problems?

You gotta be really dedicated to switch to tubbies - at least when I get a puncher on my clinchers I can change my tube in about 5 minutes and still finish a race.

Use a road bike