Jaco Steyn

Nope, working at Sasol. Will be there for 35 years on the 6th of October.

I hope that they have something similar at the end of October. I am getting some long service money and will be in the market for a decent entry level MTB. This will mostly be used to commute to work and back. My Cannondale have served me faithfully and faultlessly for about 8 years, but it's time for something new.

I have a MASSIVE saddle bag on my road bike, and would not have it otherwise. It has space for three CO2 cannisters, three tubes, three tyre levers, master links for 9, 10 and 11 speed chains, a chain breaker, different sizes of cable ties and short pieces of 9, 10 and 11 speed chains. The last items I keep mostly to help out those that feel it isn't cool to carry a saddle bag, and have encountered problems with their chains. I have helped out numerous felllow cyclists in getting them back into the race. I almost stopped hellping out other cyclists after encountering THE rudest youngster at the Telkom Satellite Challenge a couple of years back.whose chain broke, and I stopped to help him by using one of my master links. He kept on rushing me on, telling me that he was in a hurry to get back to his bunch. After I helped him, he just sped of without any word of thanks.

My guess would be to visit their official website? https://www.capetowncycletour.com/

Lucky for me I have access to an ultrasonic bath, which REALLY cleans out all of the grit and gunk from the chain. I do this every couple of months, and after it's been cleaned out properly and completely dry, I lubricate it well after putting it back on the bike.

HaHa! My "boy" actually is just over 30 years old, but he has fairly recently adopted my loving of cycling. He has however hinted that it perhaps is time to get some decent shoes and pedals. When I gave him my old bike, it actually had some Shimano SPD R540 pedals on, but he said he wasn't feeling very confident about cycling with cycling shoes. We still have them and he probably will get proper cycling shoes in the not too distant future.

To add on to this, kudos to my son for improving from just under 6 hours (05:41)for his last cycle tour to 04:11 this year! He also lost 36kg since then, and also started doing marathons. He "quickly" worked in a 1/2 marathon the weekend befo re the "Argus", finishing it in 1:53. He is currently riding with my 2008 Raleigh RC4500 with sneakers and strap in pedals.

That's exactly how I understood it to work, as it was explained to me by a Racetec official. Since then I have always started my Garmin the moment the start signal goes off, and stopped it when I crossed the timing mat at the finish line. My recorded time and official time on the Racetec website usually corresponds very well.

My son and I arrived back home yesterday evening after flying back from Cape Town. This, without a doubt, was my best cycle tour ever! Not best in terms of time, but because of how much I enjoyed it! I am by no means in the league of most of the cyclists here on the Hub, being a middle aged (55), slightly overweight cyclist. My best time ever was 03:57 WAY back in 2007 and this year my time was 04:26. This was my third best time ever. After finishing without having to stop even once for water, and thought how good I felt after each of the climbs I realised that i could have pushed myself a bit harder and maybe even achieved a personal best. But, I went out with the intention to go out and enjoy a day out in the saddle enjoying the views, scenery, camaraderie and the awesome support from all the spectators. Without them this race would just not be the same. My thoughts goes out to the families of those that have succumbed doing what they loved. Hopefully I will be back in another year or two, but I am limiting myself after I have done 10 in succession to only once every couple of years. At about R10K for a couple of days in the Cape it isn't a cheap thrill!

Thanks!!

I turned 55 yesterday, and my son and I went out for a ride from Sasolburg to Parys and back, which is almost exactly a 80km round trip. We pushed it a bit, seeing it will be our last longish distance before the CTCT. Our bicycles are going down to CT this Thursday. We did it in under 3 hours, and I got 13 trophies on Strava! 10 of them was PRs. I was quite chuffed with myself! Ha Ha!

I got myself some sunglasses at Dischem which has built-in reading glasses that works VERY well for my cycling needs. It cost about R140 and they're on the same rack where the other normal clear reading glasses is. I can even see 3 fields on my Garmin Edge now!

My son is riding with my old Raleigh RC4500. Red, yellow and black. He did not do as good as last year (He came in at 7th last year with a time of 1:24), but he currently is focusing more on the Sasol marathon in Sasolburg which is this Saturday, the 3rd of February. Thereafter he will concentrate once again on cycling, and he is hoping for a PB on the CTCT.

I also did the shorter route with my son, which kicked my ass! He came in at no 37. But I am satisfied with my results. I rode almost the same time as last year (±1.46), but improved my overall position from 111 to 93, slightly worse in my start group position (from 17 down to 21) but again improved in my age group of 50-59 down from 28 to 17.

This is exactly why I stopped riding this race. I cannot drive from Sasolburg to JHB for number collection and then again the next day. about 3-4 years ago I have e-mailed the organisers numerous times to find out if I can collect my number the morning of the race, but I was completely ignored. With that attitude I have since then never entered an ASG organised race again, and will not enter one until they have an morning collection option for us "out of towners".

Damn! What\s the distance now? And what's been cut out?

Is anyone having any luck with the live streaming? I'm not hetting anything! http://www.capetowncycletour.tv/

My personal opinion is that is a bit late. Things tend get very hectic at the starting chute, so I always try to get there at least 2 hours before my start.

Not to mention that they are actually breaking the law. Here is an informative piece on the Arrivealive website explaining it all. https://www.arrivealive.co.za/Compulsory-Helmets Here is a short snippet taken from the article "In October 2004, regulation 207(2) of the National Road Traffic Regulation became effective after being passed three years earlier. The regulation orders the compulsory wearing of a protective helmet that is properly fastened and fitted while riding a bicycle or being carried as a passenger." I even wear an helmet when I commute to work every day! There is absolutely no reason not to wear it.

The last couple of times it cost me on average about R10K per trip down to Cape Town to take part. This year I did not go down because of salary freezes and will unfortunately not go down next year again. Maybe things will pick up and take part 2018 again.

I wonder if my son perhaps got anything worthwhile on camera at the finish line that could assist in resolving or addressing this concern. He works for the company Mardo Photos and he was there to do the "photo finish". I wasn't there at the finish, so I am not sure how many cameras were set up, and what angles he recorded. If needed, I can ask him to have a look.

One of the best, if not THE best organised race on the calender! Deffinitely my favourite race here up north. Pity I cannot make it after the good news it has been moved to this time of the year. Will try my best to do it next year. My son will be there, but in a non-cycling capacity. He is one of the photographers doing the photo-finish.

Wellllll, my 53rd birthday is coming up on the 24th of February........ Just saying.

Done!!

I see the Garmin Varia has been listed by Time magazine as one of their top 10 gadgets for 2015: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/gadgets/150393-top-10-gadgets-of-2015.html