Sydd

She spent the last 2 years training at the World Cycling Centre in Switzerland. Tailoring your accent so you can be understood by multiple nationalities and trying to clip the rolling of words the way South Africans do, becomes a habit I suppose.

This should be pinned for the next few days 😁 - I hope that everyone gets behind Maddie and follows the episodes as they are shown on the Eurosport YoutTube page. Fingers crossed for her!

Have a look on buycycle.com you will find some good MTBs on there. They are based in Germany, but you can buy and sell across Europe. I've sold 3 bikes on there in the last few months, to people all over the place. Their platform works similarly to Bike Hub Pay and I have had good experiences on there. I prefer it to Marktplaats personally as it's more aimed at "sports cyclists" as opposed to Marktplaats where it seems much more common to buy/sell your commuter bikes.

You'll be able to see the ice usually, it's just shiney and glassy. It's super interesting to see how the soil on the top of the ground rises now when it freezes and everything that was a swamp last week is frozen hard today. You will see white speckles like someone spilled chalk when roads have been salted. If they spray after it froze, the road will be wet where the ice melts so you'll know. Then next week when it rains again it's going to make a filthy grey mess on everything. If you have a car, remember to wash the underside of your car at the car wash! And buy a windsceen cover at Praxis or Action. There is nothing worse than coming out the house precisely on time to leave, and you have to spend 10 minutes scraping all the windows covered in ice... They also salt the bike lanes. Last December everything froze so badly that when I'd walk to the bus stop for work, the only way was to walk in the road because the paevements were like ice rinks. Be careful even if you go walking on a gravel path when it's frozen, that's often when you don't see the ice and it's like a super rink. Walk on the grass, it's the safest. And fascinating how the grass here defrosts and stays alive, not like Joburg grass that goes brown and dies after frost.

@AntVanR also try Vittoria Tirreno Dry. BikeInn usually has them at a good price. They are gravel tyres but perfect for the conditions here. Relatively low rolling resistance but enough surface contact that you will have control in the usual soggy conditions here. Keep warm this week, proper winter is finally here.

My husband commutes about 25km each way in NL. He has a hardtail that he built up to commute on. Some bike lanes have a weird rubbery composite material and the combination of this and the tar can really eat your tires up, so some sort of commute tyre or honeycombed gravel tyre with low rolling resistance works well. It's nice having some extra grip for when it's rainy. His bike takes a back rack (we bought some nice racks that take panniers that clip on/off that we can also use for longer bike packing trips) and he puts his clothes and lunch etc in these. He has somewhere secure to store his bike inside at work - bike theft is a big and real thing here... Having a dedicated commuter will be a good idea - I wouldn't leave this bike outside at the shops or use it to carry groceries home. Also remember in the winter there is salt on the roads and bike lanes for when it's icey, so you need to be religious about washing your bike properly on a weekly basis if you commute. The gunk thatcomes off the roads and bike lanes when it rains is unbelievable. If you are going to live in the East (from Hilversum/Utrecht eastwards) or far south there is some nice MTBing, and lots of great riding to be done in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and beyond. If you live in the Randstad around Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, prepare to be extremely disappointed when it comes to MTB or gravel opportunities. Not very interesting at all... Put the 34 or 36 on, but keep the 32 for when you do some adventure trips.

@ChrisF all the startlists are published on the CSA website, here: https://www.cyclingsa.com/sa-championships-startlists/

You could look at Seven Seas but that might be too large a space for what you want to send home. Otherwise a company called U Bag sends excess baggage - it's not the cheapest but easier than carting it all over the world with you

I dislocated my AC joint in July 2017, training for a major goal event. I was fortunate to see a wonderful orthopedic surgeon at Fourways Life and he completed a surgery to put a hook pin in - initially the doctor in casualty advised us to leave it. Because my husband dislocated his AC joint previously and his shoulder has never been the same since, and I was training for a major event, we searched for a number of opinions for the most pro-active treatment that would have the best long-term prognosis for an active person. I was on the trainer within a week and was in a sling for 6 weeks. I was able to compete get back on track for the events I was aiming for. The hook pin must be removed within 3 months (it can be a little bit uncomfortable whilst it is in, I felt pressure on my sternum where it articulates with the clavicle). I completed the physio (very very important!!) and briefly worked with a biokineticist to get a strength programme going as well. I have previously broken the same humerus and still have a plate and screws the shoulder from that, so I have a good understanding of how important the rehab element is. I have no pain or problems 5 years later. I can race ultra marathon length MTB and gravel events with no problems, madison on the track and am able to carry out all of the movements required in CrossFit which can be heavy on the shoulders. I have about 95% of the mobility of the other shoulder so I have to work on lots of stretching and mobility exercises, but I think this is likely due to having also had previous surgery and still having the plate in (which can't be removed). My husband dislocated his AC joint about 10 years ago and it was treated by being immobilised for a while in a sling and then left. He is still very active and it gives him endless problems. Constantly seems to be subluxating and he has a lot of pain. There isn't much that can be done for him surgically now - he's had the joint and the area cleaned up and he is likely to battle more as he gets older. He often laments that he didn't know better at the time.

Lots of nice routes out westwards from the Cradle area if you are still looking for mileage. Almost no traffic and there are often groups hitting out that way. It's mostly district road so not overly technical, and you can make it climby if you want to. Happy to share GPX files if you want.

I would change your saddle. I used to battle with the same issues, and was spending a huge amount of time on the bike. I have an ISM saddle on each of my bikes - selected differently for each bike depending on discipline and the resulting position you will sit in. Personally, I enjoy the Ciovita bibs but with the correct saddle I can now ride in just about whatever bibs I want without any of the problems you described. Nothing worse than spending the day racing and not being able to go to the toilet or have a bath afterwards...

And a track frame...

There is just something about riding a gravel bike that puts the biggest grin on the faces of even the most seasoned cyclists that I have ridden with. I don't know what it is, but they are just SO MUCH FUN! I for one don't argue that it replaces a mountain bike for awful corrugated roads. But horses for courses. There are many, many rides where a gravel bike that is well configured (thinking tyre selection, correct bars etc etc) just can't be beaten for the fun factor. I'm very excited about the Gravel World Series!

We have thoroughly enjoyed the events in Gauteng where you are supplied with a GPX file and set off when you are ready, and get some jelly babies and a naartjie at the waterpoints. Most of the events we have done have been on district or open gravel roads so they are re-useable and great for future training rides. I love riding new routes! I really just want to race criteriums. Those are great for staggered starts, and you can avoid having too many spectators by streaming the event. In general they can be a great solution to many of the problems we have with road races such as extended road closures and the related costs, as well as road safety issues. Track racing is alive and reasonably well in Gauteng and seems to be a good outlet for people desperate to race at the moment. Central Gauteng was even a bit innovative and has spread the Provincial Track Champs over 3 Saturday afternoons instead of condensed in one weekend, to keep the numbers of people at the track a bit lower. SA Omnium champs are coming up on 11 September at Hector Norris Park and looks highly likely to be streamed. This will be great for the sport and also give the sponsors some nice return. Maybe it's time for people to be a bit flexible and try something new if the events that they are used to are not available in the same format they have grown comfortable with. Never know, you might find something you didn't even know you enjoy ????

Where you used the words "still exists" - I used to manually import my .fit files onto my Garmin connect profile, from another device and I was always credited with the points. Because I legitimately do the exercise.... But this seems to have stopped working some time in March, and Discovery pleads ignorance at what I am querying. I assume that they can now identify that the .fit file comes from a different brand device? I refuse to buy another Garmin, my experience with all interactions with them has been beyond poor and the devices just don't perform well when compared to what I'm using now anyway. Won't be bullied into using a piece of junk. They can't tell that I actually use a different HR strap and not a Garmin (because, surprise, so many of those have failed that I refused to replace it with a Garmin strap and bought something more reliable that still sends the same data to the Garmin) but they won't allocate the points to bully us into buying their partner device. I haven't trawled through all 629 pages of this thread, but wonder if anyone from Vitality has ever had a read here and cares how frustrated they make people? I really do think that if you "engage" well with their platforms, you can get a lot out of it - and I have really earned an enormous amount of points and spent many miles on things that were huge luxury items for me that I wouldn't have funded entirely from my own cash as I saw them as indulgences. But sometimes they really look like they want to spite people.

I'm not sure you have perspective of who some of the other athletes are, what disciplines they race or what they sacrificed in terms of travelling all over the world with tiny budget to make sure they can gather the points they required. The three track athletes for one, definitely were the athletes who gathered the international points required to qualify these slots. ANd qualification was wholly determined by international ranking and points they have collected. Whilst they might not be medal contenders, they are for sure not there for the holiday and deserve to be there after 4 years of continued focus and sacrifice.

Armour ride https://armour-ride.com/ has an agreement with Chain Wizard Workshop in Sunninghill for fitment in Johannesburg and surrounds: 1 Kikuyu Rd, Sunninghill, Sandton https://chain-wizard-pty-ltd.business.site/

Mekseb Debesay from Eritrea won in 2019. I can't recall if they managed to race last year. It's usually in March and things started going pear shaped around then. Yes, in terms of UCI rules the Continental champions jersey will supersede a national champions jersey.

Bearing in mind he will be wearing the African champ jersey for the year, so even if Ryan wins SA's he won't be racing in the SA jersey internationally.

Chain Wizard workshop in Sunninghill does installation of Armourtek.

I’d recommend ISM. Their saddles are game changers! I started with on on my track bike so I could get comfortable in the pursuit position, and it’s equally well suited for my bunch racing position. And then put one on my road bike (a different style/fit) and it’s also incredibly comfortable. You can’t judge it on the first ride, because it basically cradles the pelvic girdle so you are sitting on a totally different part so there is some soft tissue bruising almost on the first ride. But after that you can literally ride for daaaays without any discomfort. They have a number of different styles and widths, depending on application so you’d need to get some good guidance and a fit before selecting the ones you want. And get someone knowledgeable to do the setup, it must be set up quite differently on the rails to a regular saddle.

HA :-D you win! That's hilarious

For sure. I feel though that since it is such a massively costly event, I've never felt right justifying trying to ask someone else to pay for it for me. But then I've never been great about asking for people's help to pay for things in my racing career, even when I've been going well and racing internationally. I wish it was in my nature to ask for help :-) I have however been privileged to work with some UCI teams at the Epic and some other stage races. I find that very fulfilling. You get to enjoy the vibe without the race pressure to perform (just the pressure to carry out your job without a blip at any moment) . You work like a dog and feel pretty rough most of the time but it's still incredibly fun. If I had the choice between getting to race it once or work there a bunch more times, I would have a real battle choosing...

To your point of 50k per rider. For households like ours where both of us are very keen competitive cyclists, the possibility of my husband and I being able to ever race the epic together is slim. Having the stars align to get a lottery entry, or have cash at hand to drop on the day the entries open plus all of the cumulative expenses of training, servicing equipment, nutrition etc for two people all out of the same household becomes something of a pipe dream unless you are ultra successful.

Yeeeeeesss!!!! This is such an important type of racing and it can benefit all different categories. I agree on the seeding by ability/strength. I don't understand why South Africans are so hesitant to race criteriums. I would definitely support this and would urge as many people as possible to support and get involved as will listen :-) Please don't make it a Saturday afternoon - there is track league at Hector Norris Park on a Saturday from 2pm. Would be so great to encourage people to support both. I know your criteriums won't be sanctioned, but imagine you can encourage the "culture" that was around about 10 years back where people would race the Dome parking lot criterium on a Tuesday afternoon, ride Engen to Engen on Wednesday mornings and then do the Delta Park MTB night race on Wednesday evenings. Being able to do all of it was something of a badge of honour, but at the end of the day actually building your racing capacity (and bike handling) significantly. Well done to you for taking the initiative with this. Will definitely support!