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This one is from the 1993 (or maybe '94) Kokstad Tour. I'm the gimp in the Jowett's shirt, a few other faces there might be recognisable.

Beautiful.

Didn't me and my brother stay with your family camping for that one? In that fffffreezing cold?

That Gariep one freaked me out, it was so COLD, I remember doing the TTT and we didn't even have arm warmers or gloves or anything, with frost on the road (there was ice on the hillclimb). There were a ton of serious crashes in the U17s, I remember the 'wounded' coming in on kombis, lost my nerve before the start of the U15 RR, ended up giving my bike to Mike Nefdt because he had a mechanical and I was messing around at the back anyway...ah memories aye!!

It was in Howick and the year was 1993. I managed to win the 1km hillclimb up the Curry's Post road in the U17 category, a guy called David George came second. DG won the road race, though - I was 4th, with aforementioned Johann van Niekerk taking 3rd for the Natal team. I have a few photos from that race somewhere. Well I hope I do, be a shame if I've lost them,

I remember this race! Was my first race ever and I won the U15, much to the dismay of the late Johann van Niekerk. I also remember that white and grey Hansom of yours, if I am not mistaken it was Reynolds 525.

Bet you almost said left

Take your wife with. Go see a show. Spend one night wandering around on the strip, but then have a definite plan to see a show or go clubbing or whatever. The problem with Vegas is there is so much going on that you can end up doing nothing because it's difficult to choose. So choose and stick with it! And have a jol - Vegas is cultural appropriation on a massive and unapologetic scale and it is unique and impressive in all its gaudiness.

You okes are brave. I am far too scared to drive on the right, was offered a SL500 mercedes for the day in Phoenix, said no thank you, I will uber! Small thing but even while running I still had no idea which way to look when crossing a road or whatever...

Yep. I took my wife and younger brother there on a helicopter tour back in '11 I think it was. Here's a picture:

Yep seen on the news. I knew the one chap who was killed, Hayden - was matey with him but not mates, he used to work at the local charty club before becoming a skipper for white island tours. Pretty tragic he was a good bugger. I'm in Phoenix AZ at the moment, so I am not on scene.

This one's at the Sands too and they were nice enough to give me a posh suite in the Venetian with a lounge and separate bathroom and marble floors and two TVs and whatnot, too. Thanks AWS! haha.

Yeah Vegas is a party town...well, the Strip is (and Fremont). The rest is usual kinda rundown USA. Would probably not live here, but would easily live in Phoenix, SoCal, Florida, etc. USA is so big and diverse you WILL find somewhere that works for you, if you can get used to walking on the right! Here for the AWS conference, then going to Scottsdale for a week to hang out with my brother.

Were you in the USA? I'm in Las Vegas at the moment. It's fun all right (but LV is not 'the regular' USA, of course).

On National; I like Simon Bridges, he is a dad just like us, which I discovered when I met him at McDonalds in Mt Maunganui where we had a dad chat while watching our boys play in the jungle gym there. But I feel National has drifted too far left, especially with signing to the Zero Carbon Bill. They are also too generous with welfare, although handle it far better than the Labour lolly-scramble. NZ First? Winston Peters has always been a charlatan going back to when he first entered parliament in - get this! 1978! There are many scandals attached to his coattails and every government he has been a part of, he has also brought down (3x, IIRC). Very shady, very dodgy...and an absolute mongrel when it comes to decency especially when dealing with the press.

Haha, you're right that's not my style! As someone who follows politics closely, there is a LOT to not like about Ardern. She is an airhead, has a very poor grasp of detail and policy, has little control over her party and especially the coalition partners, is routinely loose with the truth and of course she is a socialist and 'if only we had some sort of example in history about how well socialism might work'. I will concede, she does do a very good frowny concerned face. But she is a poor communicator with all the 'and again, um ah, uh, as I've said', with shocking diction. I will vote once again for the ACT party and David Seymour. He has done sterling work standing up to the knee-jerk gun policy rushed through after Christchurch and he has been exemplary in standing up for the erosions to free speech also happening in the wake of CC, where 'offense' and hurty feelings trump the right for people to express perfectly valid, or even perfectly invalid, opinions. ACT stands for small government, low taxes and less state intervention in the affairs of people and the economy. It might be a minor party, but its values are most closely aligned with my own, and so to ACT my vote goes. Also helps that when you pop David Seymour an email, he always replies personally. And I have his phone number, too, he takes my call and I am a nobody.

The bad - the deputy PM and NZ First. Up to his old tricks, the filthy curmudgeon. Mind you I don't think much of the PM, either. She's weak, ineffective and ill-informed.

Ohope beach Top 10 is real nice; Te Kaha is awesome, Tolaga Bay worth a nosey. Gisborne, too, is fun, esp if you like vineyards and bike riding (yeh...who doesn't!) and any of the little spots between Te Kaha and Opotiki (include Waihau Bay) wont' disappoint! Sounds like a fun trip. If you hit Whaka and have time, come for a braai.

Did you get schnacked by a white tail Dave? Squashed one this morning, haven't been nibbled in 10 years here so far...

gee, untold suffering! Please tell me more children aren't going to have their childhoods stolen from them.... . These oiks clearly don't have a clue about history. You want untold suffering, try living in the middle ages...people really knew how to suffer back then. Right now, we live longer, more prosperous lives than at any time in history. But THIS time, THIS time, the sky is going to fall on us for real! The Guardian. Pah.

No wonder I'm a nobody, all I got was the personality disorder.

And yet we are assured that the climate is going to kill us all in 4000 days' time. According to Al Gore, we should already be underwater ! Cool story on that front: https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions

Haha if you don't like Auckland weather, just wait 15 minutes!

Memorable, though, like the worst holidays are the ones which always stand out. I got a Polo from Avis years ago (in SA). They tried to rush me for damage to the thing...but I had proof it was already stuffed. No more Avis for me, thanks.

Having spent time in Perth and Brissie, Brissie wins every time and Patham is on the money. Or GC or Coolangatta or Surfer's Paradise. In fact, the Aussie East Coast just has so much more than Perth does. That said, I do like Perth as I enjoy dry heat and the desert. The fake grass everywhere is a bit weird though.