Andymann

Get her one of the aircooled 125's or 175's. They are really easy to ride, very forgiving and if she has a bit of an oops, parts are still available. The LC parts are becoming pretty scarce.

All Done. Went out for a test ride, no issues. Running really well but I took it easy because it's a new engine. It's probably a bit loud for 50yo Andymann, but 17yo Andymann would probably have put on the full Bosson system and not just the tailpiece and thrashed it everywhere he went. Ironically, my 85yo Father who will be riding it in the rally behaved like a teenager yesterday and kept on blasting it up and down the road. Something about running it in and it needs to go through heat cycles etc. Apparently these old guys know a thing or two because when I rode it again later its really flying now. Gives the 175 a good run for its money.

A little sneak peek - it's not done yet but I just had to see if the idea I had worked. Just needs some gold rims now and it will be perfect!

I'm eagerly waiting to see what bike Giant has designed for Kristian Blummenfelt for the upcoming sub-7 challenge. There's been some grainy pics of something pretty radical - but all hush hush from Giant

And then, just because it was looking a bit tatty I sent the Tank, Sidecovers, Rad guard and Headlight cover off for a paint - going for a mini-YZM500 look....

So I decided if we are doing this, we need to do it properly - the little 125 was running well but it was a little rattly and when I bought it the nut on the end of the crankshaft had come loose and damaged the threads so it was on with Loctite. I had collected all the spares so it was just a case of engine out and rebuild. Nice and quick. I also decided to put on the Bosson tailpipe I had bought years ago.

I'm doing something completely different in May - I usually join my Dad on this rally http://www.ncmc.org.za/natal.html on one of the classic bikes - but his back is not that great anymore and age is catching up - not so easy starting a 500 British single and riding it with crap suspension and terrible brakes. So I've convinced him to do the rally on DT's - I'm going to ride my 175 and he's going to ride the 125LC. Nice and light, easy to start and the long travel suspension will be easy on his back. Going to be a hoot I think!

Thanks. The Revel is a Medium 29 and the Liv a Small 27.5

My Parent's neighbor in their retirement estate is cleaning out their garage due to her husbands unfortunate illness and she is wanting to sell her Husband's Giant Revel 1 and her Liv as well as a Thule rack. Someone in the Estate told her each bike was worth R4000 and the rack must go with the bikes for free. My mom asked my opinion, and I thought that was a bit of a cheeky offer so I thought I might get some opinions here from those that know (I'm a bit short on entry level bike prices). From the pics they don't look used at all and in really clean condition, but they are obviously very entry level. Any comments?

When I read about how tough it is for a South African cyclist to make it in Europe it seems like we are too protected here - big fish in small ponds. DR has done the team thing and let's be honest it didn't really open up a bunch of paths for South Africans to get over to Europe. Maybe he needs to bring everything he has learnt from running a team in Europe and set up an Academy here in SA where he can prepare riders for what it takes to make it as a pro. Somewhere remote where the riders are away from home, have to cook, clean and fend for themselves and basically live in conditions similar to those they will experience in Europe. If you read Jens Voigt's book both he and Jan Ulrich were part of a Academy where they were identified from very young. It's great that he supported Malawi, Eritrea and Rwanda but I bet there are a whole bunch of Nic Dlamini's right under our noses here in SA. MAybe we need to be a bit selfish and develop our guys first. I suppose not having races in SA is a challenge and funding is always going to be an issue but I suspect there might be more interest setting up an Academy in SA from SA companies than sponsoring a cycling team based in Europe with very little African ties.

Ralph Pitchford is the Chairman of the VMC Club and he was chatting to me at one of the meetings about when he was part of the Red Bull VW Touareg team for the Dakar. He had to present himself at the Red Bull Fitness Center in Austria (where all the Red Bull sponsored Athletes train) in October three months before the Dakar started for a fitness test before he was even allowed to start driving.

I'm taking a bit of licence here because it does have a picture of a motorbike on the cover, but RIP Meatloaf. And he did have a few bikes in his collection so it does count.

We run the GoSport Cross-Triathlons at the Cowhouse and we are very cash-strapped - no fancy frills, no split timing, basic waterpoints and it's held off-road and in a pool to save costs. We even do the swim lap-counting ourselves and then when everyone is done swimming, we become the sweepers and ride the routes to help any stragglers. At R350 an entry if we don't get 15 participants we lose money. It's a very fine line to try and hold a professional event which people want and expect, and to keep the entries realistic. What we try and do is market our events purely for beginners to get into the Sport - that way, we can control the things that are important (but free!) like teaching the correct rules of Triathlon, but we also don't create an expectation of an IM standard of organization. R750 is expensive, but if you need10 lifesavers on the day, it quickly adds up.

I'm afraid it didn't. If I recall the program lasted about two years before it was cancelled.

They were also commenting on Maud's core body temperature rising and her HR dropping and the concern was that she was going to blow in the final few kms. And Garmin posted on Twitter a few screenshots of Byron's stats up the Climb so you're 100% right - lots of extra stuff that we never got to see. And I still can't think that a Pro Team is going to just carry someone who won a contract in a competition - they are going to want their pound of flesh from whomever is riding for them, so I'm certain they had a preconceived idea of the type of rider they wanted.

I actually went and did a bit of googling and also now follow him on Twitter (he doesn't say much!) and I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know he is already riding in Europe. I just went on what the two guys from GCN and the Performance Manager from Alpecin said - pure climber, pure climber etc. He's clearly not just a climber and I really hope he has got good exposure from this - I wonder if other Teams also watched?

I know when I had delusions of grandeur about making the Zwift Run squad there were a bunch of things that were sponsored - the big one being a treadmill, so I'm sure they probably got to keep all the kit - doubt if the bikes would have been given away though.

And here's where we are so far - it's looking nice - long way to go still but we are making progress!

It's not original - the original one would have been made out of a hard rubber, but this was just something that I have had in my head for all these years, so I decided what the hell lets do it from wood.

So back in the late 80's my Dad bought an old Oak desk from Iscor which he had converted into a coffee table. Part of that conversion was to have the legs cut down so it was less desk, more table. My Mom of course was disgusted that he dare cut the legs off an Oak desk so she made him keep the four pieces "just in case". This was also about the same time I got the Velo, and in my mind I was going to use one of the pieces to make the wooden ball on top of the gear selector shaft ( remember this bike has a hand-change). I kept the one piece safe all these years and last week the Apprentices got a new task.....

Nope....... still skew 😉

My Father-in-Law runs the MTB trails at Cowhouse. When you are ready to get off the Trainer and back onto the trails drop me a PM and I will arrange a pass for you. Seems like Cowhouse had special memories for you both so would be brilliant for you to be able to get back there sometime.

I watched all 5 episodes - really enjoyed them. I didn't think Byron would win though - He didn't do badly at all, but I think it also depends on what the Teams are looking for - Byron seems like a pure Climber - not sure if Alpecin-Fenix was looking for a Climber. The dude who one - Alex - he's impressive but I just couldn't get to like him. He reminded me of a certain Vegan on Bikehub..... Tell you what though, the girl who won - Maud Oudeman looks very mature for 18 and rode very well - going to be interesting to follow her career.

Don't worry - I follow a few people on Twitter and you aren't the first one to get caught out! The stuff that account posts is just enough to make you think Noakes might actually have posted it - it's that close!

I think that's a parody account