tubed

Worth a read from one of Johann's best mates http://www.shanecycles.com/in-memory-of-johann-rissik-a-rogue-a-saint-and-someone-to-be-more-like/

Tribute to Johann Rissik I got to know Johann through the Freedom Trail as well as The Hub, it soon became apparent (long before we actually met), that we shared things in common via writing and stories. Johann was a clever guy, didn’t suffer fools, wasn’t arrogant and was always prepared to share his knowledge and experience with those prepared to listen. He cared deeply about South Africa and its history, in particular the Karoo/ Prince Albert district which he regarded as his home, notwithstanding the fact that he passed away in his new home – Madeira, but I like to believe his heart remained in the Karoo. Anyone who passed through his district was welcome to ask for advice or help, but especially if you were on a bicycle. His promotion of the Freedom Trail and his association with the annual Freedom Challenge are legendary (and not in the way that phrase is commonly thrown around), his support of Warmshowers was another indication of his desire to engage travellers, to share and to learn. Johann was a bike nerd, an avid supporter of the Drunkcyclist and eschewed marketing BS – for him the bike was a pure thing – a beautiful machine – simple, yet sufficient. He appreciated the top end machines, but had a affinity for real bikes, those he could actually work on, those he could make more efficient and to send people on their way with something of himself imprinted on their cycling experience. Another thing close to Johann’s heart was good coffee - preferably served out the back of vehicle somewhere in the veld, accompanied by a rusk, it represented a time to pause, to be grateful for a good brew, for each other’s company and the magical vistas of the Karoo. The last time I saw Johann was late afternoon/ evening last year riding the stretch from Willowmore to Prince Albert with Nigel Payne – due to circumstance, there was possibility that Johann might not have been on the trail last year, but I had faith. I hadn’t spoken to him, but I expected to see the Land Rover in the veld, it had nothing to do with anything other than commitment and integrity – something which was a hallmark of the gentleman, so when the Land Rover appeared in the distance, we freewheeled in and stopped to partake of a ritual. After a cup or two and the last of the sunset we set off for lights Prince Albert. Johann joined us for dinner at Dennehof with his friends, first seeing to a medical check up for Mandy in the town. We said goodbye, but the next morning at about 3:30am on collecting our bikes from the garage – it was clear that he had been over each one, leaving traces of care for the discerning eye. Take care my friend, till we meet again. Charl.

Shocked and saddened. I'll post a tribute in a bit. For now this picture, if you look closely, sums up a lot about a real gentleman.

Jip congrats on this, its a great professional recognition of dedication to careers in cycling - well done! Its especially nice to see in an Italian flavoured setup where traditionally the roles go to Italians. It follows nicely on the heels of a couple of other Saffas who are perhaps less well known in SA, but are well admired internationally such as Brent Copeland and Gary Blem. Good luck, hope it goes well and opens even more doors for you in the future.

SAIDS has imposed a period of ineligibility of 2 years, commencing on 3 March 2018 until and including 2nd March 2020. Ms Buchacher is therefore suspended and prohibited from competing and administering in the sport of Cycling as well as in any other sport in South Africa and Internationally during this time. "UTCT has always advocated fair play and a drug free sport, WADA and SAIDS are present and athletes need to be on call should a test be requested either before and/or after the event." Surely those close to here need to tell her its game over...

good call organisers : https://utct.livetrail.net/coureur.php?rech=2082 I'd add another 2 years to the current 2.

Ordered mine online via their website and then tried to forget about it as the post takes so long - picked them up from the local PO and then followed the instructions / video online - working just fine now, quite easy once you understand the threading. If you dont want to wait/ cant wait then buy locally.

Spot on here - can you imagine the 3 new signings Valgren, Kreuzinger, Gasparotto hitting those segments with the form they had at Amstel Gold this year (that was the order of the podium), I doubt there would be a strava record which survived a new top 3. Haven't been this excited about the classics potential for a few years - its now a serious classics squad, even beyond those three names. Soooo excited. Not sure what the loss of Hammond in the car is going to have on the classics, hopefully Redant is equal to the task.

saw a pic of that skinny oke from Cape Town photobombing with the team - onwards and upwards

I hold no flame for any bust doper, but I see them differently. DG took his punishment, served his time and came back onto the scene with a big dose of humility - like he should have. He is lucky to be able to ride anything again. Then there is the other cabal who have consistently denied, played the victim mentality and now show the rest the middle finger by entering events while under suspension. The worst is the don who recently got bust, to see him still hash-tagging his crap #omerta to his friends and followers - his that cocky attitude just epitomizes the cabal's approach. High time one of them copped a criminal charge for fraud or trafficking.

"without the approval or license of Omnico (Pty) Ltd" - what a sanctimonious load of bollocks - the competition has just eaten you for lunch and you still come with a superior attitude - perhaps someone should point out that if you cant compete on price then you should offer a better service or some other aspect to customers, but to suggest that Walmart need your approval or license, clearly you don't understand the term competition or you need someone else less sensitive and more pragmatic to word your press release

thanks for clearing that up - like I said - its hardly likely that his trajectory as a coach would be risked on any one athlete - regardless of their potential still cant get my head around the risk/ reward trade-off going on here, I am sort of hoping that its a horrible mix up - but then all of these cases seem to have that element to them all said - I am glad the system is working - if for nothing else that those who are honest might be feeling that it is worthwhile

So sad on so many levels. What does strike me is that this may have happened under the nose of arguably SA's best coach - not that I think he would stake his growing reputation on any one client (so nothing inferred there just to be clear) - but if it can happen there then it really begs the question what aspirant cyclists are getting up to for a bit of pocket money and some fleeting fame

Wow Nic! this sums it up - a proper chase around the deep South. Just revised my Epic predictions - that's some serious effort showing the dedication of proper training. Looks like if you lads can keep the equipment functioning the way it should ( I think you are due some good luck in that department), then this might just be the year. Looking forward to following your Epic dream this year.

I sort of had an idea like this,ie leave home at 2am, ride to start (20km), do lap 1, finish at about 6:30 (coffee and eat) and then line up for lap two and ride home (25km). Instead I did 140km ride to Philadelphia for coffee and back and then rode to start and home after 1 lap on Sunday, ended with 296km in 2 days. This silliness because I entered another funride in June which now requires some training. What makes all of the above very doable is perfect weather Sat and Sun - add some wind in there and more than 1lap of anything sounds uninteresting.

I hear you - there will always be people who have the ability to compete for the absurd - regardless of the risks. As organisers, I wonder if they are not at that point where they (with the info they have), are putting people at too much risk. Keep in mind we are only hearing of the fatal accidents - how many more were there which have been potentially life changing if not really serious? In the 29 rides I have done, as I went past the Wynberg Hill scene, the presence of police meant it was more serious. So the police will open an inquest/ inquiry and the organisers will have to give their account. My point is - how many accidental deaths is OK before someone says lets look at this properly. Just like they did when we stopped racing over Constantia Nek, OKWeg etc Ok enough from me

useful contribution to a serious issue

Probably going to get flamed for this, but two trauma related deaths is too many, heart attacks are another story altogether, equally as sad, but I'd like to focus on the avoidable trauma deaths. At this stage both appear to involve speed in fast downhill sections - Blue Route/ Wynberg Hill and descent past Llandudno, the point is that bunches/ cyclists with varied levels of skill, most at max threshold and max of their skills is not a good formula. So perhaps its time to stop the 'race' and turn and it into a funride - the field size cannot in my view cope with the race element - its a recipe for tragedy and the responsibility for doing something sits with the organisers. I think most people who 'raced' yesterday will have to acknowledge that they were lucky, few I imagine will claim to have been in control most of the time while they were riding in a bunch, whether its your moment of inattention or the person next to you - you were hoping it didn't end in disaster. So maybe its time to stop timing the event, to just let people ride 'car-free' around the peninsula for a day. Sure there will always be those that want a sub3 or to be at the front. But maybe its time for a new era. If you really do want to race - there are plenty of alternative events which still allow for possibilities which in my view the 'Argus' has outgrown. My 2 cents.

My old man is 82 next week and still riding, albeit with the help of some epower nowadays. At this stage I'll savour every single ride I can with him - who knows how many more we have left.

Jip, just thought I'd point out the irony/ hypocrisy. Its hard to be consistently principled when you rely on free entries and 'sponsorship'. Like I say - I'm all for second chances to just be able to ride - after all that's what 99.9% of just want to do.

Ok, I'll say it. Ex doping offender gets profiled for this event, partners with a chap who is as yet innocent, but previously ridden with dubious partners. At the same time last year's winner of this same event who is very very quick to call out other event organisers for allowing convicted dopers into events is suddenly silent, hopefully not because he is defending champ and a statement would put him at odds with the event organisers. Its all very complicated. I'm all for second chances myself, as far as being allowed to ride is concerned, but the profiling of ex dopers doesn't sit too well, as Epic found out.

I know navigation and connectivity are useful for instance to keep away from certain areas more than anything else, and if you need to find accomm, then tripadviser etc I find helpful. At the same time I find part of the 'adventure' is not being so tech enabled that you take the fun out of it, by that I mean ask a farmer or a storekeeper where the road goes, is there a quieter alternative, is water available? etc, those things you wont find on many maps other than a Slingsby. For my ride I hauled out one of my dad's 1:250 000 maps of the area, printed in 1970, the year before I was born, so it didnt have the westcoast road or some of the other newer, faster alternatives, but those dont really matter if you are touring. It mainly showed the older roads and the farm boundaries, which is quite interesting because very few farm names change, so its quite nice to ride from farm to farm and read a bit into the route. If there is a Slingsby available for any part of your route, then that is just so worth it, the info on that is just incomparable. I put an old bike computer on my bike for this trip just to record the km's - apart from that and my phone thats about as tech as I get.

http://www.bicycleca...icroadventures/ Very cool, thanks for sharing. Did a bit of an unsupported ride myself on the 28th, 29th, 30th of last year - the very hot days. Route: Day1: HoutBay, Waterfront, Milnerton, Cape Dairies, Old Malmesbury Rd, Malmesbury, RKasteel, Zonquasdrif, Gouda, Porterville. Found a guest house for the night. 180km Day2: Porterville, Piketberg, Redlinghuis, Elandsbaai, Dwarskersbos, Veldrif. Camped on Guesthouse lawn, 190km. Day3: Veldrif, Hopefield, Malmesbury, Old Malmesbury Rd, Cape Dairies, Milnerton, Waterfront, Hout Bay, 215km. Couple of comments:Weskus people were complaining it was too hot - then it must have been v hot, av speed was 18km/h, ditched the helmet for parts of the day and was large floppy hat, sooner die of heatstroke or melanoma than falling off at 18km/h.If you think you need to fill up with water then fill up, drank loads, dont pass an opportunity to fill up.Sunscreen works - if applied properly. Veldrif has squadrons of mozzies despatched as you arrive.Coastal towns are packed with people accom is hard to find at that time of the year - tent option a must.Uber drivers are a hack - sea point and camps bay are their turf now, expect no warning. A relatively flat ride, but there are rolling hills and you will have a headwind and a puncture combined in the last hour of your ride - its just the way it is.Ford Ranger drivers are generally speaking the new 'rednecks' - speed and power and no effs given.Weskus people are still friendly.Alcohol is a problem in the Swartland and Weskus - sad to see people have no control. A great three days riding, lots of open roads and just a time to unwind.

It seems Kevin has been stung (see Facebook Epic feed) by some of the criticism re the doping past of GH. If my comments were personally offensive, I apologise. I have said numerous times I have great respect for what he has done. I still do think its a whole different ballgame now, but if not now,then soon.Capital has been invested - a return is required - that will change things. Back to GH participating, I have no problem with Udo, Roel (even if Chiarini his partner was popped in 2014) and others who are able to participate. But I think where the Epic has misread things is that GH is being promoted by the organisation. Sure you dont have to turn down his entry, but neither did you have to celebrate it. So I think the Epic has read this incorrectly - GH is a big name - he should be allowed to compete within the rules, but to use him as part of your publicity is where I think you have got it wrong.

"Wanda has built a full industry value chain that includes event organizing, athlete representation, event marketing and rebroadcasting, which will greatly enhance Wanda's influence on the global sports stage and accelerate Wanda's strategic advancement in the industry." Epic took a different direction some time ago, but it didn't crack the major league in terms of money potential, it did remain principled. Ironman/ WTC/ Wanda represent a whole different league. That suit that Kevin wore once a year to the route launch is about to be retired for a whole new wardrobe, the Chinese like suits. Got to hand it to him, one of few deals in sport last year that seem to bring in foreign capital. About principles and policies - well I think you just need to look at ASO, nobody wants to see the 'best' riders sitting on the sidelines, sure huff and puff at them because of a failed test here or there, but they have to be on the start line. Welcome to the big league.