'Dale

"This is Africa. Rain is a blessing" - Stefan Sahm. That is a lot of VAM required for today. And it will be slippery. Tyre choice and pressure very key. There'll be weary bodies and minds today, which can lead to delayed reflexes and errors in judgements. Hope all the amateurs makes it through safely to move oh so close to their personal and team ambitions.

E3 or 'mini Tour de Flanders today and Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday. Can the Steppers animate and place the favourites on Canyons and Cervélos under pressure this weekend?

Core, manufacturer of the Core body temperature sensor has announced an official sponsorship of 10 UCI WorldTour teams for 2024, as well as issuing an additional 150 new sensors this season to other WorldTour riders. The Core sensor is a small wearable unit that uses Bluetooth or ANT+ signals to provide accurate core temperature, skin temperature, heat strain index and heat strain scores. The unit itself is built with a Swiss-made Calera thermal energy transfer sensor. - Sauce: CyclingNews I wonder whether there are any athletes using this technology and tool during the Cape Epic. On a related note, glucose monitoring devices have been banned by the UCI recently. *** Will there be more twists and turns in both categories? You betcha. Hard to believe it's Beers and Grotto's first stage win. Pic: @CapeEpic

Meanwhile: SHORTENING OF STAGE 4 Due to extreme heat tomorrow, Stage 4 will be shortened - 88 km reduced to 73 km - Climbing 3,000m reduced to 2,550m - First start time remains at 07.00. - Spectator points remain as they were - Note change in location of WPs and addition of a Hydro point - Note updated cut off times and locations

Lots of tears of gratitude and relief today, Peoples. Prognosis excellent and recovery going well after seeing the orthopaedic surgeon this morning. I have a screw thingie in my ankle now. Spoon cast, bandaging and stitches removed from my ankle and it is looking good after two weeks of post-op recovery. Stitches on my soft tissue wound around the right calf removed as well; about 40 - 50 of them, excluding about a dozen of internal stitches that will remain and eventually dissolve. Now for the rehabilitation phase with physiotherapy starting on Friday. It is also time to ask my wife to lift me to the gym with my moon boot and crutches for next 3 weeks so I can go pomp my mossels. Light exercise will boost me mentally and emotionally. I can feel my life force is slowly returning, like a tide coming back in, and I begin to look forward to the horizon. Grateful in ways that typed words cannot express.

The more seriaas side of the ‘gees’ of the Argus encapsulated in a very wholesome interview - reflections on the ‘Covid CTCT’ ☕

MEN’S ELITE Scintillating racing today. The technical goggas also bit and the Buff’ team somehow escaped being bitten. Can the diminutive Howard G ‘ride himself into form’ and put a smile on the big guy’s dial? WOMEN’S ELITE Those cool carbon wheels of the Ghost team are running ominously smoove. On closer analysis, Candice and Mona did well to recover after a minor technical gogga when Candice bombed her front tyre after loss of tyre pressure. I was concerned that it was going to be a repeat issue. After last year’s storms and flooded trails on the tail end of the 2023 version, the sun gods rule this week.

Hello, Online Community I am interested in customer reviews of the Canyon distributor and shop in Stellenbosch as I want to trade with them. Please send me some details about the quality of your customer experience, and with follow-up service? Dankie.

Brand power Mathieu van der Poel signs an unprecedented 10 year deal with Canyon

I imagine there’s pre-recorded footage that the producer brings in for entertainment value or continuity whenever there are technical issues or loss of satellite signal to the live race.

The Tulbagh sun will test the radiators of the amateur field today, especially with the final 3 climbs at the tail end of Stage 1. This'll warm me up, hey.

Awesome ride by Bettiol, who’s having a good spring thus far

Matt looking good in his white kicks. He’s an example of an athlete typology that defies gravity, He climbs so efficiently. Reminiscent of Usain Bolt who was classified as too tall and big to sprint so fast, defying aerodynamics. Go, Matt and Grotts!

Go, Candice & Mona!

Today reportedly a 46.133kph average speed, which would beat the 1990 edition – 45.806kph – for the quickest Milan-San Remo ever. *** “Chasing Tadej after… I had to react one more time and it was really painful, and Jasper came over to me on the descent and said that he still had really good legs… and we are honest with each other, so I knew what to do… we can be really proud that we win San Remo twice with the team. ~ The Rainbow Jersey Pic: @CA_Ita

MSR: The final hour will be dramatic, as always. I have a soft spot for Mads Peterson and want him to podium at least. Nibali was the last Italian a few seasons ago who broke away and stayed away. Ganna gonna do it, although he’s more of a turbo diesel than an explosive dragster? Weather, according to The Inner Ring, a cool 8°C and the start and reaching 17°C by the finish and sunny most of the way. Almost no wind, just a slight 7-8km/h onshore breeze along the coast which means a slight tailwind for the Cipressa and Poggio. The SA jersey looking beautifully minimalistic - Gibbons is an important servant for Mads as he stated during interviews around SA Champs.

29 mins of art - stunning

Kevin’s restraint-of-trade lapses in a few months. I suspect that he will come up with another product. Gonna be an interesting space to watch.

Cramp is most likely a sign that you have reached your physiological limit. Every now and then on the Saturday flight club endurance rides where we throw the kitchen sink at each other, I am on the verge of cramping (twitching sensations) and I treat this as a measure that I was on my limit and may have pushed my limit further out. I then assume that I stressed my physiology to the maximum and, in turn, will elevate my capabilities with good adaptation when recovering. Key remark: just ensure that you have rested enough before those big, hard, get-to-your-limit training rides, otherwise cramp will pop up due to fatigue / underresting. Watching video clips of Usain Bolt doing sprint repeats and then comes the vomit response near the end of his interval set. This indicates that he maxed with his effort. Thus, increasing his sprinting powers. My suggestion is that to treat cramp as a positive signal of bio-feedback and not as disaster or failure. Cramp lots in training; cramp not in racing. 😃

The oldest Classic race. That was a magnificent win. I watched it live. 30 kms out, attacking like a bat out of hell. Couldn't even get caught by a 4 man Bora' train chasing back. Very reminiscent of the Bettiol that won Ronde, I think, in 2019. He's been struggling with gut issues and a few other health issues. Seemingly, he has worked out his medical and mental challenges. He looks determined and gritty.

The questions you ask about improving your performance are important. In fact, you ask on behalf of many others. A dedicated thread will extract more value for you and, declutter from the views and opinions on the 2024 CTCT event.

@Phillippe Coetzee Please open a separate thread for your personal quest to improve your CTCT performance. This thread is dedicated to the CTCT event. Sterkte met daai challenge.

“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.” - Charles Bukowski Big day today - wound dressing day! This is a routine about every 4-5 days. The big threat is infection and the possibility of a skin graft for the right calf is still in the medical picture. The ankle surgery was successful and I wil be walking with crutches for an estimated 5 weeks. My mind is like a garden. It can be beautiful and colourful and I have to watch for the fast-growing mental weeds of negative self-limiting thoughts. Pessimistic thoughts can delay recovery; optimistic thoughts can promote recovery. I do not miss my professional world of working in high performance settings even though it is highly meaningful to me. What I miss most is taking my son to school in the morning and going out on sushi dates with my partner. Soon, soon, soon. Several people of this online community have reached out, visited and offered help. Dankie baie. Be safe out there, Peoples. 💟

The Slovenian superstar stated in his post-race interview that he made some changes to his preparation during the off-season. I wonder what that could entail. In any event, here is a reveal of his stats through Velon. That'll warm me up.

These characterisations, yoh. What matters most that you had the courage, tact and transparency to tell them about your service experience? Customer feedback is precious to any service provider, especially as the cycling community is a relatively small space. No people in a business or service organisation wakes up in the morning and ask: ‘Now how can I be a wise-ass at work today, annoy concerned athletes and potentially dent our reputational value?’ Working in the high performance space, I heavily rely on feedback loops, solving complicated problems and really want to avoid this kind of brand exposure. I sure hope you gave them feedback, allowing for them to respond and enhance their offering.