Sydd

Chain Wizard is based in Sunninghill and offers pick up and delivery services. It's owned and run by a former Pro Tour mechanic, so worksmanship is top notch.

Not sure on this one in particular, but the Compex massage gun is fantastic

Unior is definitely the way to go!

I have an allergy to rye grass - mostly causes terrible sinus and chest issues but does sometimes result in a bad skin rash. I have urticaria as well usually flaring up with other things... Have you tried rubbing aloe sap onto the rash? I get terrible reactions to bee stings, mosquito bites, spiders, flies, anything that moves. The only thing that works is aloe gel, even a cortisone cream or oral cortisone (with TUE's etc etc) in extreme cases doesn't come close to help.

Can you be more mindful on posting such left field, hilarious comments in the middle of such a serious thread on a weekday. I just laughed out (really) loud in my very quiet office.

Can't believe what I am reading. The bus was on the yellow line (he was further away from the line and then magically was on the line when he was right next to the cyclists as is so often the case with people trying to give us a scare, no matter how law abiding we are) and then HE HITS TWO HUMAN BEINGS AND DRIVES AWAY The argument of "should the bus have moved to the right and taken out a family car instead" is absolutely moot. What the bus should have done if there wasn't space IS WAIT TO OVERTAKE! But, funny that, the cyclists weren't even in the road. What's the rule of thumb on how often you are supposed to check your rear view mirrors? Surely he would have seen what he did if he was driving like someone that is supposed to have a PDP is supposed to be driving... I have seen the most spectacularly stupid things being done by people on that piece of road. Also, to put into context. If memory serves me correctly, the speed limit on that piece of road is 80km/h. There is an intersection to the right a little way down, and a petrol station and another road to the left just after that. If the cyclists were doing 70kph, how fast was that bus going? People drive like absolute lunatics there. Just as Willie says, you never hear a bus coming .Their engines are at the back and you only hear the engine noise when most of the body is past you. I'm terrified of buses. This whole situation makes me sick. Someone who goes out of his way to do good for others and really doesn't deserve things like this to be happening to him. And certainly doesn't deserve to be victim blamed for the situation he is in. Perhaps the blamers would feel differently if it was someone they actually knew, and could relate to as a human.

What about if there is a major accident? Where is the nearest capable trauma centre? Nelspruit? Not sure if you are severely injured, but not so badly injured that you don't meet the protocol for being airlifted, that this will have a great outcome.

HI there, What are your ride times now that we are beyond 31 August? :-) Also, will you be having a group ride on the Heritage Day public holiday (and potentially the Monday too, I suspect many people will be taking time off on this day?) Looking forward to joining your group rides.

I have a Compex SP4 (the wired one). I've also used the SP8 (with the pods) which is a nice to have but prohibitively expensive for at home use. It's absolutely worth the investment in the device. I don't get tangled in the cables, I've just figured out how to set it up neatly. It helps me enormously with my daily training recovery. Used it successfully for my husband with lower back pain and neck pain (he is on his feet all day and works with his hands, standing at odd angles). It's a great tool to use as part of your warm-up before an event for muscle activation, and to target areas with imbalances. Yes, it's pricey but it pays for itself over and over.

Last year I flew to America with Emirates with my road and track bicyles. They broke my road bike on the way there - couldn't care, claim from your insurance. On the way back, suddenly they decided the dimensions of the bike boxes were "oversized" and tried to charge me $250 per box to come home. Eventually, I only paid for one and was advised to claim the amount back from them on my return to South Africa, since I hadn't been charged an over size charge on the way out. Still trying to get this money back, 14 months later. The boxes were also searched by TSA and they tried to pry the batter cover off of my Power2Max and broke the casing. Que a replacement query with Power2Max as it's integrity was finished. On the same trip this year, we built bullet-proof "plastic cardboard" boxes (I don't know how else to describe the material, but sure you get the idea) with PVC tubing frames inside to prevent anything being squashed. We got the boxes down as small as possible to still fit a bike inside. I managed to get in writing from them that they would accept the boxes with the stated dimensions at no extra charge (and they aren't the 150cm total dimensions either...) so my return flight check-in was fine. On arrival in Joburg, the boxes had been opened by TSA and one of them was never re-sealed so it arrived with flaps wide open. Everything was still in there by some miracle, but I don't think I've ever experienced such a sinking feeling seeing the box coming out wide open. I don't think I'll ever fly with Emirates with bikes ever again. They are beyond un-helpful. Their call centre is manned by a bunch of robots reading off a script and can't give any more information on anything than what they have on their website.

I've had a number of pairs of Oakleys. Almost all of my sports glasses have eventually had the lenses peel unfortunately, generally on the piece above the nose bridge. The casual lenses have had better longevity - probably because there is much less sweat involved! I currently have 2 pairs of 100% - the Speedcraft and the S2 (black with gold lenses, love them!). I was a bit sceptical at first, but have found them to fit my face really well (I battle with glasses sitting lopsided on my face). The lense quality is excellent, I'd be as bold as to say better than the Oakleys that I have had before. They are extremely comfortable, don't squeeze my head and don't steam up which is also a huge issue for me. And all the pairs I have came with clear lenses too which makes them great for early morning riding without incurring extra expense. I'm suitably impressed and would buy 100% again for riding. I look like a storm trooper with my helmet off though as someone mentioned above, so would probably buy Oakley casuals again if I have to replace my current frame.

Give Open Runner a try for plotting routes and calculating gradient etc. It's a bit more accurate and has some other cool features (plotting weather and wind against the route for a particular day etc which is useful for preparing for a race) As I recall, you can also search for other uploaded/plotted routes on there too.

Could ride from Paulshof, up Witkoppen and then right onto Main and stick to the very large wide shoulder to Kyalami. As an idea. Also, to me, the bit from Bryanston to Paulshof is super dodgy and I would rather exit the spruit at Hamilton avenue in Bryanston/Paulshof, ride up the hill to Cambridge road, right into Cambridge and then left into Witkoppen.

Anybody in the Beaulieu/Kyalami area that would be interested to ride to the start of Engen 2 Engen once or twice a week and do the loop with the morning crowd? I drove there this morning and there was zero traffic at the time. There are a couple of good options that avoid Main road for the return ride. Feels like such a waste driving there, when I could add some good mileage to the morning ride. Just don't think it would be such a great idea to ride there alone...

Is there anybody situated in the Midrand/Kyalami/Beaulieu or as far as Lonehill area that rides to E2E from home in the mornings? Would make it such a good loop if I could ride from home instead of drive. Rode E2E this morning for the first time in probably almost 10 years. It was nice to see that the crowd I ended up with was observant of road rules and courteous to other road users (being moaned at for stopping at a light because there was traffic coming was the prevailing reason that I stopped riding with the group years ago). I'm sure there are probably still patches of less courteous riders, but this was a refreshing start :-)

Perfect, thanks for your feedback :-)

Are there many people that drive to the start and park their cars to do E2E? It's unfortunately no feasible for me to ride alone from home to the start, especially not whilst it is still so dark in the mornings. Just wondering if there is enough place at the Engen to park, or if anybody parks across at the Post Office centre? Just don't want to miss the start :-)

My reply may be a little late to the party, but contact Casper from Chain Wizard. He is based in the Kyalami area and has a collect and deliver service. He has a very big following in the triathlon community including a number of top age-groupers and an age group world record holder as clients. His experience and attention to detail will be hard to come by elsewhere. 083 508 6490

I was really hoping nobody would see the sprint list! I wasn't supposed to start, but if I hadn't there wouldn't have been enough different nations to make it a UCI sprint competition. I wasn't even warm... Anyhow ;-)

I'm sick as a dog and unlikely to be able to race on Sunday. I'm happy to sell my entry for the original cost less whatever is costs you to substitute so you won't be out of pocket, if you'd like. You can PM if you want to take my entry.

Rode part of the new sections last week and had such fun. Also saw some additional bits today coming down from Beyers Naude towards Bidon Bistro whilst I was on the road. Also looks like a great addition. I was wondering who these trail fairies are, and what they need in terms of support/time etc to keep up the great work that we all enjoy making use of?

You can use the track at Hector Norris Park (you should also totally have a look on the VWE Track Academy www.vwetrackacademy.co.za and get involved in training and racing on the track :-) ) You can just pitch up and ride. I think there is a nominal entry fee. There are formal sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday afternoons with training groups, and league racing on a Saturday afternoon from 1. Otherwise it's generally pretty quiet. General rule, if you are going slow, stay above the white. And if there are groups training on track bikes, chat to them about what they are doing. They will normally be pretty friendly and tell you exactly what they are doing in their session, so you know when to stay up on the track and when it's ok to cruise around. All the best!

Yes! I agree. As sad sometimes as it feels when an African rider moves away from the familiar onto another team, it paves the way for these teams to begin to feel like more of a familiar environment, thereby hopefully broadening the opportunities for these riders. African cycling is rising :-)

This is awesome, and deserves it's own thread in which we cheer and clap :-) In all seriousness, I hope that conditions become more favourable in terms of the racing opportunities and publicity given to women's racing, so that sponsors feel secure enough to invest in women's cycling.

If I have company then I ride Alandale, right through Kempton park briefly and then onto Modderfontein Road, past Edenvale hospital and then left towards Bedfordview. You'd basically just keep going and would be in Kensington. My working hours are pretty flexible so could ride at whichever time you need to head in that direction.