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Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. Devastating news. Barry haven't seen you for many years but this really hurts. We'll always remember you as a bloody good bugger. Rest easy mate.

Thanks for the pics; looking for another update with hope in my heart. No news is good news. Keep at it Barry, buy you a beer when you done.

Ah no. C'mon Barry. One day I want to sit up top of Maritzburg with you again and enjoy a quiet one and a laugh.

Yeh but I am good at that ;-)

I'm far to aware of what I am good at and what I am not good at to give kite surfing a go. Flippen dangerous sport that. I also won't ever attempt paragliding, hang gliding or any other sport where lack of skill can result in death!

Thanks for the updates, great to hear that progress is being made, one step at a time.

Heh, slightly related, but a dude on an ebike wiped 3 of my KOMs in the local MTB park last week on an ebike. What made it sting a bit more is that the chap in question is tubby, approaching 60, a lawyer and this was his first Strava ride ever. Those motors obviously do make a difference .

On behalf of myself IanJ thanks to you and the other people 'on the ground'. Easy to click a few buttons and send some money, harder to make sure it is being put to use and harder still to actually be there and do stuff.

Will have one of my brothers contribute some dog cash on my behalf; keeping most of the powder dry for when Barry's fund is established in due course.

When the time is right, a number of us are keen to put together a fund to help Barry out. At this point the general consensus is to let Kevin and the rest of the fam deal with the immediate fallout. I'd suggest we all dig a bit deep as we know this is going to be a long, arduous and expensive road to recovery. Thanks for the updates - keep on fighting Baz.

I bet half the NZ hub's interest in the classifieds just spiked.

Checking in on ya Tumbleweed. Hang tough buddy. Thanks for the updates, Barry is on our minds all the way over here in NZ.

Heh, another one of those unexpectedly funny Hub threads, makes for a good Friday.

Trust me on this, with a surfing wetsuit, make sure the zip is on the back. The first time I put one on, I didn't know that - man, I looked like a complete tool

Yeh a mistake is forgetting where you left the car keys, spending decades mainlining your own blood isn't quite in the same sort of league. Also, all these confessed dopers continue their careers at the same level but quit the dope conveniently 'years ago'. Yes, they seem trustworthy, don't they?

Jeepers dude that's horrible, made me hartseer, also got small kids. My late brother once had an epileptic fit in his sleep and landed on a heater, his left hand ended up looking a bit like that. Thinking of Baz. Hectic situation. As others have noted, standing by for a/c details to send a bit of material assistance when the time is right.

Must have been epic Patches, nice one. I need to see the country like that sometime.

Nothing wrong with domestic racing. To make it in Europe, it is likely he'll need to break that pact with God on the doping front.

I think we should do a whip around for Barry; with a setback like this, he is going to need a bit of help. If someone SA side can set up an account, or get his bank deets, that'd be grand.

Ah no man. C'mon Barry, get yourself sorted mate, need your wit and humour back in Hubland.

Awesome, good on him. Cycling can be a funny thing, when it becomes an obsession it can ruin your life or make your life.

I'd a pretty interesting character myself after a breakfast of hard drugs...

Summed it up perfectly WP, right down to the panic induced zigzagging

The fans love the old dopers man, get with the program!

Oh ja and some more ugly, although this is self-inflicted. Last Friday I went out for an awesome dive and evening fish under an almost-full moon. Beautiful. Then, coming back in over the Whakatane bar, a bit of cloud and rain drifted in, making it a hell of a lot darker than I'd anticipated. Crashed my boat into the rocks HARD, stuffed the lower unit on the motor, bent the prop and put hectic gouges into the fibreglass bottom. Hit it so hard I totally forgot that my hull is CPC rated (which means even if holed it won't sink) and went for the natural reaction of panic mode. Made it back to the ramp OK, with some serious zigzagging, turns out the boat wasn't taking any water. Thought I would be in for a merciless ribbing from my mates/all and sundry, but the chaps have been uncharacteristically forgiving on this one. Apparently it could happen to anyone. Damage of around $20 000. Thank goodness for insurance which even covers acts of stupidity. Good thing I am not an aviator, their experiences of 'controlled flight into terrain' tend to have more dire consequences...