cat-i

or the shoes. cycling shoes just don't seem to go well with the corporate suit.

my first few nightrides was with a petzl headlamp, and then for 2 years a cateye form the bikeshop (around 400) was my main lamp - now that i have a proper one, traffic kind of cut me off.

yes, that one, and ride 2 rhodes. some of the best singletrack you would find anywhere, and on ride2rhodes you'll meet and ride with some of the legends that do freedom challenge.

Doubt it was kids, eggs. From the itemised billing reports that i generate every month - (a few million worth of calls from simcards that physically cannot dial these numbers - e.g. tracking devices inside cars) - it looks like Smartcall Online (and some others) submits bills for randomly selected numbers. The way I understand it, they submit the bill electronically to the provider (cellc or vodacom) and then the provider bill the client and get a cut of the income. We never have a problem with getting refunds from the providers, but that's probably because we can prove that the simcard is physically unable to make those calls. We get refunds the moment we complain, so it doesn't make financial sense for us to waste time and money investigating and pursuing this in a court.

that's just gross noneking, love your avatar!

my favourite section with the bridgies next to the river is closed other side of the road too. last rides on 9 august.

i was thinking more mountainbike party ... nothing that would cause you to not arrive at your dainfern-do in one piece like maybe riding the black route at 8 and after a loop on the other side of the road, stop for coffee & chock muffin. then by say 11 or shortly after, do the blue route with another loop on the other side of the tar, then stop for a chickenburger. then the green route, possibly not do the other side of the road, and end with a huge orange rock shandy. i dont' know if they'll still be open on 9/8 - i can try to find out tomorrow?

9th. so we'll have to have a teak party this weekend?

can't see much harm if singletrack is congested because events are filled up to capacity and then some? why not? would you be willing to spend a few weekends scouting & organising a race, and then go home with a loss or a break-even if you're lucky? i used to ride tar till it got too congested on the road. then i switched to mountainbike because it was way more fun ... until the tracks got congested. then i discovered trailrunning ... and now events seem oversubscribed ... so i dabbled a bit in adventure racing, which would have been the answer ... was it not for the sleep deprivation with the speed at which events sell out, and the numbers participating, i dont see cycling going downhill very quickly ... except maybe downhill, which is not a bad thing at all due to the nature of the sport, it's much more fun riding a non-crowded event. I'm not attracted to oversubscribed events and queuing for singletrack.

i have a very long list of things to do and places to see and tracks to ride once i'm done with this studies. the list just got a bit longer

and if you have a frame that can take disks but you put vbrakes on, then you can use that diskbrake-hole to attach the pannier-rack on that side, and then you only need to make an adapter-thingie for the other side where there's no holes. you probably won't ride too much of technical singletrack with panniers on, so you'll get by without disk brakes fine. my hardtail survived some technical singletrack on the great glen way with v-brakes (the panniers & the slick on the front wheel was a bigger issue - here's pictures of it https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/98899-time-to-say-good-bye/)

nothing wrong with making brackets - if it's a hardtail. my mountainbike toured around ireland and over scotland (on some gnarly singletrack) with a bracket to make the pannier fit. It came loose on a downhill in the baviaanskloof but nothing a few cableties couldn't sort out. it was a schwinn, and before that i toured with a giant sedona, also a rigid - that one went from amsterdam to paris and from joburg to capetown, both also pannier-tours. both cheapish bikes; one cro-moly and the other aluminum. both strong enough to carry panniers, tent, cooking stuff & other needed for touring. when i was in the himalayas last year (without panniers) there were 2 guys on touring bikes. they are beautiful. and fast on tar. but useless on the yak-tracks and the hiking trails one day when i have tour-time again, i'll take a mountain bike again - i still have the rigid. now, on the other hand, if you want an excuse to get a pretty new bike, malawi would be all the excuse you'll need

lights are charging, weather's been beautiful ... but i caught the office-bug and may miss tomorrow night's ride

was searching for the 'like' buttoe and couldn't find it. great feedback ... and pictures

I cycled from Johannesburg to Capetown once, on a rigid with panniers. was a long time ago, when the burger sanlam was still a big-ish event. i did it solo. the days get long and you'd crave some company. i went in november; not a good time as there was galeforce winds in my face from kimberley almost all the way to cape town. panniers add a lot of wind resistance; fighting the wind is not fun. the best part of the route was from beaufort west till oudtshoorn. i know i said don't go alone ... but i totally didn't mind cycling that bit alone, it's really pretty, very little traffic, and mountains all around you. the silence added to the greatness of that day. the worst part of the route was from oudtshoorn to barrydale into a galeforce wind. actually only the last bit from ladismith - the first part was very scenic and the wind maybe wasn't as strong. the good part that day was that i looked so wasted, the hotel put me up in their honeymoon suite for a quarter of the price of a single room there are advantages of riding solo: people are very curious and very friendly. For years afterwards i still had contacts with a group of cyclists whom i met outside a small town on their training ride - they brought all kinds of luxury items to the campsite and visited till late. i took a sunseeker isodome, a 4-person tent - was the only one i had, but if i do this again, i'll definitely invest in a smaller lighter tent, or get buddies who can carry part of the tent. i never felt unsafe. the first time that i felt a little bit uncomfortable was at the ultra city in worcester when a man in a bakkie kept on asking questions about where i'm going, what route, what time. Other than that, a very safe ride. enjoy, take lots of photos - and come post them here!

I have a full time job & I study MBA part time. i had to give up a lot of cycling-time and almost all events, simply because there is no time to train sufficiently and not enough leave to attend classes and do races. I use unpaid leave for when i have to attend more than 15 days of classes in one year. I knew it before i started, and it was totally my choice. 3 years from now i will hopefully have the degree and lots more time for riding. and you'll have more money to enter all the events that you want to. How is the fact that you study, or what you decided to study, the race organisers' problem?

i put them opposite directions and then drop the saddles as far as they would go. with a pool noodle between.

that is one seriously good looking bike!

heard some rumours of gluhwein at tomorrow night's ride. unfortunately i wont be able to make it

ww sometimes it's difficult for trailmeisters to juggle their things so that they can be there. but if there were 5 people, it's enough for a safe ride - and if you dont know the routes, make it up as you go

it also (almost) clash with cape pioneer ... too many races, too few weekends ...

by the time we arrive, you'll already be in bed snoozing - not because we're so slow, but because of all the rumours i heard about you & sani2c cant wait

naaaah ww go for the race! that way team clueless might not end up totally last

team clueless is entered

chickenrun - there is no good way - that's why i can't concentrate at work. freedomchallenge have a twitter-feed that is quite handy - especially once the first people are finished & the regular ride updates stop being so regular. there sometimes articles on the state of things on the website (i also get it via email), and then there's the tracking website and the individual blogs. theres also a spreadsheet with who is where, but it's huge & difficult to read. the daily ritual goes like this: 8:00 get to work 8:05 read all the press releases, updates, twitters since last night. 8:55 search through individual blogs for any updates 9:20 search on trackingsites for who is where 9:55 read weather reports for yesterday 10:10 read weather forecasts for today 10:30 teatime 11:00 check updates for blogs 11:58 read a few work-related emails 12:04 check updates and twitter feeds from freedomchallenge website 12:20 do some work, but gets interrupted with an email from freedomchallenge ... you get the idea here's some of the individual blogs that i follow: http://letsmakeitsnappy.blogspot.com/ - last year's 'one giant ride' - this time on a steel bike, but still rigid and still singlespeed. http://beit2cape.blogspot.com/ - jaco strydom, who started in beit bridge 2 weeks ago, and from PMB this morning http://mikewoolnough.blogspot.com/ - mike woolnough, half of the tandem=pair that managed to break the roehlof hub http://dash4freedom.blogspot.com/ - rasa in 2009, this year 'only' going to rhodes http://derekhj.blogspot.com/ - rasa in 2009, this year 'only' going to rhodes there's also some links to other riders' blogs from the freedom challenge site. good luck!