DJR

Not even Titanium? (also known as a cat-among-the-pigeons comment!) Personally, I came to the conclusion that I love both steel and Ti equally, a bit like my boys.

Woodwork on a different scale. Ds final thesis project is all about re-use, repurposing and recycling. So, naturally, he wanted to build as much as possible of his models from old balsa wood scraps and, suckers that we all are, he got the whole family, a few friends and even a couple of undergrads (as punishment for mishandling the laser cutters) to lend a hand. Frankly, if I never have to endlessly cut, glue, paste and sand balsa again in my life, it'll be too soon. But I think the end result will be worth the massive effort and save at least a plank of two from a balsa wood tree somwhere.

I agree with all the above. CoCT must first fix our donkey! If they can get it to look and work like a mule, I'll be very happy. Then, maybe, they can try getting us a couple of horses. Just ordinary cart horses will do fine, no need for race horses. I'm not at all interested in unicorns, I've heard too much about them and never saw one that was the real thing, always just a hallucination.

Dale, perhaps you should have that arm looked at.......just kidding........if you can quote from The Alchemist, you can have your arm any way you feel like!

Ha ha, vertel hom!

Sorry to let you know, but that was not the fault of the bike, the rack or the garage.........😉

That about sums it up. Edit: But I suppose we can say that about the Brits and the French too, if you look at their recent politics.

This Picture is beautiful

😁I am SOOOOO with you on this part..........and I find it gets worse as I get older.😉

Fixed it for you

And if they want to dress up in a crazy costume, just do that too! The aim is to have fun, so, just whack your own ego over the head. Just one warning, do not let them wear a costume that includes a CAPE ......... because they WILL make a parachute out of it ..........and YOU won't notice what is going on behind your back until it is too late and you are about to drop dead from exhaustion pulling that parachute for miles and miles into a headwind! So, NO Batman or Superman. Don't ask how I learnt this!

If you have a youngster who is even remotely interested, JUST DO IT! Some of my very best CTCT memories were made riding tandem with my two when they were 10 and 11 respectively. I wasn't sure how keen they would be in the longer term so I bought a cheapish second hand road tandem from the Bikehub Classifieds. A couple of years later they were both keen to ride on their own bikes, so I made the only mistake of our whole tandem experience, I sold it! I should have just kept it, because before too long (around now?) I think they would enjoy riding tandem with me again......this time with me as stoker! Because school sports kept them too busy for a proper cycling training programme, and they had a decent level of fitness, we simply did every Sunday PPA race from about this time of year until March. We started with the shorter (50 - 60 km) races and built up to the 100 km ones. It also helped that I was in great form at the time and could basically do all the pulling. If there was an open week afternoon, we did shorter rides on the MTBs. The training was not very structured and I went to a lot of trouble to keep it fun. Ice cream afterwards, stop for cold drinks and stuff like that. I also cut rides short if I saw that they were suffering or getting gatvol and I pushed very gently if at all. I found that especially my one son ran out of energy very suddenly and had to work out the right kind of nutrition / energy drink for him and keep reminding him to drink and eat jelly babies regularly or he would just bonk suddenly. The other one never struggled with that. One also has to watch them for dehydration and overheating, especially on those hot summer rides. For race day I got us special matching jerseys and our aim was simply to go have fun and finish. We started very late, so knew we were going to be out there in the worst of the heat and the wind. We packed sandwiches and stopped near Cape Point for a stretch and lunch and cheered people riding past before continuing. Up to that point it was all easy. From Chappies onwards they got a bit quieter and I knew it was time for a boost, so we stopped in Hout Bay for Coke, a MASSIVE treat because they were not used to Coke......and that gave the energy that got them to the finish with a smile. It's not called the Red Ambulance for nothing!

You'll get a 6 hour!😁

Can I book this one without the South Easter?

Out on the road, I certainly feel like that more and more..........and it is not a good feeling.