Andymann

Very interesting take on The Race Podcast. They are saying if anyone should be canned it should be either Horner or Marko or whoever made the call to put Lawson in the seat - they knew exactly what they had in Tsunoda, Ricciardo and Perez yet made the decision to take a risk on Lawson. They knew it was a risk and are now blaming him for a situation which admittedly is worse than they expected, but not totally unexpected. I think the exact words were along the lines of you can't put someone in a car who is not a Verstappen and then blame him for not being a Verstappen. If I was Yuki I would tell them to get knotted - he's probably going to follow Honda to Aston anyway and why leave a car which is working really well for him to go to a situation where it's pretty toxic, and where they didn't think he was good enough to go to in the first place.....

Well I'm guessing with one eye open for the next week or so......

So I also had a good old fashioned Ja Ja whatever when I heard Floyd claim that back in the day and then just last week I listened to one of my Mr Ballen Podcasts about Medical Mysteries and this one was about Chimerism. Read this if you have time - https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/case-lydia-fairchild-and-her-chimerism-2002 The poor woman was almost sent to jail because they suspected her of Welfare fraud - turns out you can actually have two sets of completely different DNA in different parts of your body. Very rare, but not impossible. Was a long shot but not as far-fetched as it sounded back in the day......

https://www.trizone.com.au/simmonds-tests-positive-blames-boyfriends-bodily-fluids-2/ Don't have a bonk before you race, people......

Chinese Carbon frame - think it's a cross between a Scott and a Felt landed for R4000 in 2018, second-hand fork off the Hub, second-hand Roval Carbon wheels off the Hub, 3 x 10 XT Groupset, Chinese Carbon bars, Thompson Alloy seatpost. Absolutely love it - climbs like a rocket and on the flats when you hook the 48x10 at the back there's not many 1x's that can keep up.

My wife is the Junior High Performance Manager for TSA and this is one of the biggest challenges she is facing - there is very little focus on how to manage the emotions of young Triathletes. Lots of excellent coaches, lots of great race opportunities but very little in the way of mentorship and programs on how to prepare yourself for what happens when you don't reach the expectations that have been thrust upon you. Seems like that is just pushed to one side and left to the parents to manage. Sadly not a unique SA problem either. A lot of Triathletes are speaking out now on podcasts about mental struggles they had after feeling like they had not lived up to expectations.

Oh and I might just have bought in my World what I consider to be a Holy Grail. In 1984 my Dad bought me 3 x DT's - they were scrap bikes from ISCOR and I think he paid R20 each. That got me into bikes and started my love for Yamaha DT's. From those 3 I built two - a 125 which I learnt to ride on, and a 175 that I sold to my brother for University. When the time came for me to find University transport it was of course a DT175. I always felt that if I could find another original one I would consider it - and over December I did - so I did a quick trip down to the South Coast - Uvongo and bought it. One owner and very very very original......

It's not even the real deal - when I was in 2nd year I think, we all got given a beta version to test and I have just kept mine. If you think that's old, you should see the Laptop I am running it on - Windows XP because it won't run on anything later than that! But as my Dad used to say, sometimes the fastest route is the route you know and for the small drawings I do I really couldn't be bothered to learn a new Drawing package

Some Engineering today to stir up the grey matter..... my '31 GTP was missing these headlight stays. No way was I going to ever find any even in the UK so dug out my ancient copy of ACAD R14 and copied something as best I can. Got the Apprentices to make the jig for me and during lunch we all gathered and bent some SS bars..... The Anoraks will say they are nowhere near the shape of the originals but I think after I paint them you will be pretty hard pressed to spot the difference.....

Only took me another 3 years 🙄

I sold a perfectly restored Venom which was licensed for this. My Dad bought this years ago, in boxes, and was going to be the last bike he built. He never got round to it, so I have decided to finish it for him, and I'm going to spend he better part of the money I got for the Venom to do this. This bike will be the best restoration I have ever done and will be a tribute to him. Watch this space!

So I did something pretty crazy this December. In 2001 I bought a Velocette Venom 500 - I had just sold my MG and I wanted something that I could ride with my Dad (there's a pattern here!). I paid R45000 for it - it was restored by a guy who had money and time and was largely viewed as the best restored Venom in South Africa and probably in the world - no exaggerations. It was my bike, but my Dad loved it. In fact he rode it more than I did. Problem was, it was never really mine - because someone else had built it, I never really felt an attachment. And with my Dad gone, it just stood in the garage. So I sold it..... Now for the crazy part.....

Same as the AG200 - the Farmers need to get off and on quite quickly and if they are on a camber they need a stand on both sides to allow for whichever way the camber is sloping. AG200 also has a locking mechanism on the clutch so that you don't need to find neutral - you just pull in the clutch, lock it and then let it idle in gear while you hop off and open the gate....

Will a Clamp-on MTB FD work for you? I'm sure I have a SRAM X9 FD lying in a box somewhere.....

I've just seen the page number and it reminded me about that time Kawasaki couldn't be bothered trying to sort out the midrange on their ZX6-R so just said screw it and added an extra 36cc.....