The Ouzo

Straight into this, at 36km/h A few of us were trailing the main bunch by about 20m, there was a large puddle to the left with some potholes around, 5am and cloudy so not great visibility. We had moved to the middle of the road to avoid the water and potholes, at the last second the guy infront of me moved left and I was greeted with the kerb dead centre. I really thought I was going OTB, but somehow the front wheel climbed the kerb, i was no longer in control, just trying to stay upright whilst looking for the best place to fall, again, miraculously I stayed upright as the bike went down the kerb on the left, ejecting my water bottle into the path of my rear wheel. How there is no damage to the bike or me is beyond me, but it certainly made me a lot more cautious the rest of the ride.

so here's the thing though, how much later are you going to get to work because a group of cyclists inconvenienced you ? And this is not aimed specifically at you, its just that you happened to mention it. It is the type of logic that prevails on our roads, which is why we have aggression and impatient drivers. change those cyclists to a slow moving car/truck/bus, does the motorist still feel that same ? most of the times not so much.

your history of posting on this forum is very troll like, but, for the sake of this discussion I will bite. Years ago in SA, only motor cycles had lights on during the day. Why? for better visibility. Enter late 90's early 2000s and Volvo, a brand that prides itself on safety, determines that a car with lights on during the day is more visible and hence safer. Hello daytime running lights now fitted to the majority of vehicles. A distracted driver is a distracted driver, but lights have been proven to make a vehicle (motorised on otherwise) more visible on the road. I would rather carry the extra few hundred grams and be ever so slightly less aero in order to be more visible, than take a chance and risk being put into a grave.

I've definitely seen the difference when I commuted. The days that the read light was dead, I had more close passes than with the rear light flashing. Also from the front, those drivers that are not distracted by cellphones definitely give more space. Having said that though, there is a short section of road where I need to turn right at the traffic light, it is dual carriage both directions with a painted island separating the oncoming from the other side. Because this road is sometimes busy, its not easy to cross from the far left to the middle in order to turn right, so I generally ride on the painted island in the middle. There have been enough occasions where an oncoming car has started moving over onto the painted island heading directly for me, only moving back when I raise a hand. So front light is no guarantee, but I feel is certainly does help

the latest season of Silo seems much darker than previous seasons, we're struggling to get through it.

you see, I was taught in the automotive world many many eons ago that hot discs and water are a recipe for warped / cracked discs. So when I see water being poured on bicycle discs or hear of advice to do so I get the hibby jibbies

similar to what Sprocket has suggested get a little speed (20-25km/h) and then slam on the brake in question, only release just before you come to a stop, repeat. basically like you're bedding in the brake again.

whahahahaha, it certainly does feel like it.

glad the incident was not any worse, hopefully these guys get caught very soon.

same incident I assume ?

I've received reports of a bike jacking near ORT Airport by the railway lines this morning. Group of 7 were ambushed with rocks thrown at them, they grabbed one guy and his bike, when the group gave chase the perps started shooting. Everyone is ok, but they lost a bike and a cellphone

if I could afford to run 2 sets of tyres, or even better, 2 sets of wheels, I'd have the Pirellis for training and the something fast like the GP5000 for race day.

it all depends on what you're looking for in a tyre, for me I'd rather sacrifice rolling resistance for puncture protection

an alternative to the GP500s that everyone is suggesting is the Pirelli Cinturato Velo. Excellent puncture resistance and wet and dry performance.

been watching Lioness, its decent enough to keep us entertained and coming back for more.

there was another small get together of cyclists to raise awareness some 45 odd years ago that some how evolved over the years into the largest timed cycling event in the world.

its possible they could have been available in blue, the ones I used to have were black. looks like a more modern version of what I used to use

now if you could get the cleats for those pedals it would be a winner

look, cycling is my lifestyle, like NSBB said earlier, its not just about the physical fitness, but mental too. If I'm off the bike for to many days I get grumpy. The motivation I speak of is for those off days, the waking up early morning and the weather is rubbish or like in my case you've had insomnia that night and you just dont feel like going out. These are the days where having a measurable time based goal helps to push you out the door. For most of the other days the only motivation that is needed is being on the bike. Heck this morning we had a minor crash, a lady that punctured and we had to stop 3 times for, cut the route short because of time constraints with all the stops and still it was a great time on the bike

water is HARD at high speeds, I got battered a bruised a number of time, fortunately only the one broken rib though.

I do lover my early morning rides, preferably in silence though. even with our group rides, you'll often find me tucked in in the middle in dead silence whilst everyone around is socializing.

very much so, and I do prefer it to later in the day, but when you suffer from a bit of insomnia it does start to take its toll

it helps that he doesnt HAVE to get up at 4am to go ride before work

An interesting perspective, thanks for this.

hence me starting the thread. I'd love to do DC, but at this point I'm selling off things just to fund a quick trip to Cape Town for the CTCT, with family commitments and other nonsense happening this year, setting DC as a goal is not feasible. But without any targets / goals I know I'm just going to skip to many training sessions. Not directed at you Dexter-Morgan This is a discussion forum, maybe your ideas/thought dont work for me, but they might work for someone reading this thread. I'd also like to see some input from the likes or @'Dale as I'm sure this touches on his skill set.