Andymann

lol - I'm old enough to remember that with the Chopper there was also a Chipper - a small Chopper for kids. And a Mean Machine from Western Flyer And then Raleigh Bombers which I guess were the first MTB's and the Black and Gold Challengers (or Dikwiels) which I suppose are Gravel bikes now....

Our dog's name is Froome. Super skinny, long legs and keeps on slipping on the tiles and falling over.....

I looked at that bike and instinctively clamped my legs together as the memory of me crushing my nuts on the gear lever back in '78 is still very fresh in my mind

I know of one here in Gauteng if you are serious - it's a later model Prolink one but dressed up to look like the earlier ones. It is absolutely beautiful - the guy is a perfectionist. Has a 6 into 6 as well....

I'm sure you got your Stryd from Niel - Dinamic Coaching right? That's us

I do my runs in bike mode so I can set upper and lower power targets.

I know right. I did a 40min run yesterday which included a 5km TT to get power figures for the run. 2km Warm up. 5km TT 2km Cool down. Logged the 5km as a separate exercise because I needed accurate power. Zero points

If you are part of Discovery Bank, I did mention that in my first post.

That sounds like a lot of hard work while lying on the beach holding a cocktail 🙂 Jokes aside I realised a long time ago I that I am not Discovery's target market for exercise, and to be honest the only cool thing I get from me reaching my targets is UCook every 4 months or so, depending how lucky I am. So I'll try what I can, but if I lose my streak I guess its just one of those things!

Yup - except I am in the Philippines with no Laptop and limited Wifi. No way to take a snip of the results which you need to mail them as a jpg to accompany the link to the official results. I am familiar with that process. I will only also only be getting back after the cut-off on Wednesday the 1st May. In fact, I am not even 100% certain that my Watch will download the points in time.

It's going to be tight - I need 1200 of which I should get 600 for the Bike or the Run on the Sunday. That means I'll need to do at least three runs of 200 each before Friday. Monday won't happen and most likely not Tuesday. So three consecutive runs of 40mins on Wed, Thurs and Friday. It's doable I guess.....

I'm on a 211 week exercise goal streak and doing a 70.3 in the Philippines on the 21st. I plan to recover for a week after in the Philippines, so dropped a mail to Discovery to see if I could pause training for that week while I recover. No chance said the Lady. Who then tried to get me to join Discovery Bank, where, if I did, I would be able to take a rest week. I did in passing, ask the question that as a Medical Aid company, didn't they think is was risky expecting someone who has done an extreme event, like the Comrades, or Iron-man to not take a rest week to recover if they would like to keep their streak going, and offer no alternative, other than to exercise on a smashed immune system and risk getting sick? Silence of course is also an answer.....

You won't be sorry - we had to make a call and stop my Dad from riding some of the really old Velocettes (the pre 1936 bikes) and when one of the guys came round to collect he saw the "Special" my Dad and I built almost 20 years ago. He made me a really attractive offer, but I declined because it was the first Velocette that my Dad and I built together and I just don't want to lose those memories. Shame my Dad was quite emotional when he heard me say that.

Ah - a Hesketh. Lord Hesketh wanted to try and revive the British Motorcycle Industry by building something which owners of Vincents could relate to. I think they only made about 150 of them before the factory closed its doors. Really rare!

Talking of Jos Verstappen, I quite enjoy the Eddie Jordan and DC podcasts - a bit different, and not completely F1 related. In the one episode, Eddie Jordan mentions that he believes Max's talent didn't come from Jos, but from his Mom, Sophie. In fact, Eddie Jordan reckons that the fasted Verstappen out there is neither Max or Jos, but Sophie who should have and would have been very competitive in F1. Interesting.

Wow no wonder Jos is a bit grumpy. And I guess we know now who also leaked the messages. But yup - how stupid can Horner be if those messages are genuine - why would you get involved in something like that when you are happily married. Unless he isn't.....

So last year my Wife made it into the last 10 of the Zwift Academy Tri and we were pretty sure she stood a good shot of making it into the team based on what we thought were what they were looking for - everyday people who were good enough to race in KONA but had never had the opportunity to be coached correctly. The final ladies that were selected were all semi-pro, were all already sponsored and I think if I recall 2 had already raced at KONA and won their Age groups. What they weren't were amateurs that had never been offered an opportunity. ZA is marketed as an avenue for everyday people who are good enough to make it to a pro team, but really everyday people don't stand a chance - I think they know from the start who they want. ZA Tri was cancelled for this year, and I see the ZA Run team was also not announced.

I've met Maddie a few times - my Wife used to coach her during her Triathlon days and we were all in Avilles together for Duathlon. She's really cool and I hope it works out for her. My gut feeling tells me though that the Team is looking for decent all-rounders and not specialists so I don't know if she's what they want.

And to be fair - those that know their bikes, a Hyosung GT650R is at best a spirited commuter bike. It's hardly a bike that only comes alive at 180kph.

A couple of years back I hit a car on my Motorbike on the way to work - the cars were stopped at a red light and I was filtering slowly down the right when the guy decided to do a U-turn. I hit him and broke my ankle. I claimed from the RAF and eventually it went to court where I was awarded only a percentage of what my lawyer claimed - the Judge was quite firm and said to me that some of the blame was on me because even though what the car had done was wrong, and filtering is legal in SA, I had put myself at risk by doing it. It was quite an eye-opener for me because in my mind I was doing nothing wrong - but in the eyes of the law I was putting myself at risk by riding a motorbike in that position. So yup - I agree. My gut feeling would be that if this went to court and assuming no-one was drunk, the blame would be apportioned to both parties for putting themselves at risk for doing what they were doing. Sometimes the law is like a Doberman's left leg - it's neither fair, or right.

As someone who restores old motorbikes with unobtanium parts I have had a few springs made at Weblor Springs in Edenvale. Even a few custom springs where I crudely bent a piece of wire and asked them to replicate it. It might be too small for them, of if it isn't, you might need to accept that you will need to order a minimum of 20 possibly, but If it was me, I would take a drive out to them with the sample and see what they say. STARCO springs is another one you might try - they made us a clock spring for one of our old Drilling machines here and it was perfect.

We've been experimenting with them. On the long training rides (3hrs+) I find they work really well. The Apple and Cinnamon one is really nice. I also grab one for a 10am snack especially if I have done an early morning session

Been wanting to post these for a while. I accidentally dropped the 660 when I was taking off the rear wheel (Rookie mistake I know!) and broke the plastics on the RHS which were the only undamaged ones. The LHS ones were broken and badly repaired when I bought it so I was on the cusp of ordering a new set of reproduction plastics from Aus when I thought to just try Custom Creations here in Krugersdrop. What a brilliant job they did. For reference, the tank is still original, They somehow managed to touch up the OEM stickers and repair the damage to a point where you really cant tell they have been repaired. Super impressed with them!

Talking of SA Champs, I see Maddie Le Roux is down to race the Ladies Elite race. She is one of the finalists for the Ladies Zwift Academy Team - I'll be holding thumbs - My Wife used to coach her when she was a Junior Triathlete and she was with the team when we went to World Duathlon champs in Spain - the same year that Emma Pallant and Richard Murray won the Elite race. She's really chilled - nice and grounded so I hope she does well.

Yup - and she's full of praise for South Africa - loves it here. I even think she tried to change Federations so she could try and represent RSA in Triathlon but sadly that didn't work out.