Thor Buttox

DD!!

In terms of helping Barry defend himself through conflicting requirements?

The deeply thoughtful, metaphysical response I have received from my own personal "Deep Thought" (hence it being deeply, thoughtful) is........ .... .... I agree.

In principal, . There's just this flea scratching at the back of my mind telling me you're opening the door for people to game the system. Having been in a very competitive environment in another sport (strictly amateur) and having put in many, many long days to see unbelievably strange sudden performances that will never get picked up, it's disheartening. Maybe I'm just looking at it through a "not-just-cycling & protect the amateur youngsters from the drugs" view by putting strong disincentives down.

Totally agree in principal. If you could get people to sign a "We promise never to compete competitively ever. Seriously... I mean ever" document, and get it contractually binding, we'd have no problem. I just don't think it's going to fly legally. People's minds and circumstances change.

Howdy, it seems we haven't been party to a discussion in a while, and you think I've lost my marbles?? No, of course I understand that there is a massive difference between a pro and a non-pro. Let's assume any discussion of employed pro's as a moot point. The issue that still stands is one of stratification in the amateur ranks, or the semi-pro's. Perhaps someone in the Epic comes a hundredth and is far down in the list of achievers, and then goes to a local well-sponsored race and cleans up? In terms of the Epic, it means nothing, but to the local oke who is taking his cycling seriously, it matters. Perhaps it's simply a professional/amateur decision as Wonder Woman says. But in my book a young amateur looking to compete as a pro needs as much regulation as the pro's themselves. It can become very convoluted. An when you start getting into "People over 35 who have never competed professionally, but who might in future want to compete in a professional Masters category at a local race, but not at a UCI sanctioned race" type scenario for deciding where testing is necessary or not, it's just stupid. Unless you follow the logic to it's conclusion, keep it simple. What I do SERIOUSLY agree with though is that there are PED's and their masking agents and then there is cough mixture. So I don't believe it's black and white either. I just think the rules need to be as close to anti-grey as possible.

I don't disagree with you entirely, but apply point 2 to the Tour de France, and not the Epic. Should the same rules till apply or do you now need a different set of rules for different classifications at different events - to take it to stupid lengths, should we not bother testing the Lantern Rouge because he's just busy meandering around France taking a drink or two? That was what I was trying to say about defining one set of rules that everyone can adhere to, and not having even more complicated rules that allow loopholes everywhere.

Been reading this thread since it started off and on, and to me it boils down to a very simple question: "At what point between Barry the Back-marker, and Christoph or Cool-Harvey the Champion do you stop caring who to test?" It's about perspective, cos I'm fairly sure the 4th placed guy who misses out on prize money would care if the third placed guy cheated. I'm fairly sure a very dedicated amateur who puts in hundreds of hours of training would care if some guys ahead cheated and he couldn't compare himself accurately with his performance. And unless you can define a point that it doesn't matter anymore, the fine/testing fee should be seen as a deterrent. (the othe issue here is that 2,500SwF is nothing in Swiss-land. We're only arguing on value as Saffers)

Good luck... the only other similar thing that has worked was a few turns on the gear cable tensioner on the rear derailleur. My problem was that it kept trying to settle on the second smallest cog, so it sounds similar. (I'm speaking under correction cos I always get this confused but I think I had to tighten my cable so that it "held" the derailleur out towards the small cog.) If that doesn't solve it, it's probably wear and tear cos I once had one of the middle cogs that slipped and it was uneven wear.

I have taken many beginners on rides, and not one of them has ever returned to flat pedals after trying cleats.

I yield to those with more knowledge, but I had the exact same problem and it turned out to be the limit screws on the rear derailleur

I tried entering the numbers from my last computer into my Garmin and it was a disaster. It kept saying I was doing 60kph on my road bike for some reason. I found the GPS is very accurate and I don't have to worry between switching between bikes either.

I'm glad you persevered! (And had fun!) If by the "drop to the bridge" you mean the one down to the bottom concrete bridge, just ride around to the left of the drop and come in from the less steep side... you'd be surprised how easy it is... and then you'll realise how slowly you can actually do the steeper one and how much grip your tyres have if you just relax, and don't panic with your hands!

Oct is for 8, and if you rearrange the "avian" (or "bird-like") into the "na'avi" from Avatar... gees, you could really be onto something!!!

It's a funny thing, and strangely pertinent to the topic of this thread in some ways, that two weeks ago when the truck broke down by the Paddocks causing a monstrous traffic snafu, I for the first time understood what it would take to get me to get out my car, rip off my wooden leg and beat someone to death with it for being an absolute *&**(&^ who sits in the middle of an intersection while my light is green. So I kinda get what Arch say about harassing some chop who may well need to be terminated. I only worry about the poor schmuck who doesn't see him as he comes around the corner and ploughs into him. (I don't have a wooden leg... )

Are you sure you're only talking about "road users"?

As much as I understand why Hairy's original comments might, on a bad day, be misconstrued, if someone, by his idiocy, is endangering the life of other road users, he DOES not have the right to ignore the advice. He has an OBLIGATION to other road users to use the road responsibly, and in not heeding that obligation, he cedes all rights. That is at the center of most jurisprudence involving the "reasonable man" concept.

No worries at all, Hairy! Sometimes it's the smallest bloody things that cause the arguments and obscure all the important stuff! I know from the other threads! Keep up the good work.

You did absolutely the right thing, no doubt... I just have a feeling that the words you used on page 2 - "... can't wait to see him again" - have contributed to this thread going a lot longer than necessary, and might have been misconstrued as aggressive.

The tarred road sections are much steeper than the Alpe but there you don't have the contour road flat sections to give a bit of rest. The true test of climbing is the Ventoux though. 22km, 1800m climbing. Also meandered up there in a car, and there were serious riders at the little shop at the top who had taken 2:30. The record is about 56min

Gees, that's really impressive!

I haven't personally ridden it but had the pleasure of driving to the top, and at the top there was a team of semi-pro's who were doing time trials up the mountain for training, and they rode in the area a lot. They said that anyone who can get up the mountain in under 60 minutes is a world class rider. Just to compare, the Mast in Tokai is 10.2km with 780m of vertical climbing up the road from the car park, while the Alpe is about 1100m in just over 13km.

I would really like to come help if my some chance you guys have days during the week or on public hols - work ruins most weekend afternoons when you guys seem to do your stuff. I'll volunteer for the chicken run/non-jump design team! And on the first photo I love that angled contoured section - it's like the snakey section at Oak Valley or at Meerendal where you can get up some serious speed while having to negotiate the corners as fast as possible. I'll never do downhill cos I can't afford to have a serious crash but it's enough adrenalin for me!

That whistle seems a bit non-committal... the only reason you should not be committed is if the asylum is full!!

Mayhem, you guys are legends! I've never ridden it but I saw that "Pofadder" (??) section out near Grabouw on TV as part of Wine to Whales with the wooden bridges and a chicken run... now dare I dare to dream?