DJR

Methinks, we need much more swift justice. Justice delayed for many months and often many years, do not serve the any positive purpose for the family and loved ones on whose behalf the state is suppose to prosecute the perpetrator. All it does is to drag out the agony, delay their grieving process and traumatise them over and over.

It's Friday, in late December, and I'm waaaaay worse than grumpy.

Can we, this time, for a change, contribute to funding a tattoo artist rather than a street artist to do a memorial for our brother-in-cycling who was recently killed by the drunk driver? I suggest a pink neon tattoo on the motherfuckers' forehead that will make him stand out like the necrotic rotten thumb that his is!

Sometimes you just have to believe and do the unthinkable.........even the owner of this informal pop-up carwash knows that !

The value of making a connection through a shared experience cannot be calculated with a yardstick as cold and unconnected to the human condition as money and numbers. If I look back, the years I rode with my father and my sons were of inestimable value, It helped to shape all of us into who we are today and contributed to bonds that even blood cannot explain. It may be only one of many things that we did together, but it made a difference that no money of earth could ever have bought. I'll bet you a few bob that your father feels the same way.

I think it was Sean Connery who said that getting hooked on the best Cuban Cigars is a very good thing, because you won't be able to afford more dangerous drugs. Campagnolo Record Ti is even better than Cuban cigars. Some habits are worth it. Love my 10sp Ti on the C40.

What on earth !?? How could you???? Just kidding Eddy.

A bit like a Land Rover (yes, that's me), if you own one for a while, you become a good mechanic..... Edit: Come to think of it, the same often goes for riding bicycles........

Build a wheel with a different spoke pattern? Just saying ....

😀Oh how I long for the days I was fit and tough enough (??????) that I could (??????) have done this.

I do NOT go to a bikeshop for mechanical work after having learnt that lesson a good few painful times. I either do it myself or I take it to one of 3 places, all specialist workshop near me: 1. Suspension goes to Stoke (the same Droo above!) 2. Mechanicals and servicing to Woodstock Cycle Works and Nils Hansen (now in Observatory) 3. Painting and restoration to Bicycle Maintenance Company (and Paint by Jared Mahaffey) There are many other good ones out there, but these 3 are all close to where I live and so convenient, that I tend to send them work I really can and should do myself ....... life and laziness!

Hi Chris Welcome to Cape Town You chose a perfect location for your stay. From there you can cycle both North and South on some of the most scenic routes anywhere. Southwards through Hout Bay, over Chapmans Peak Drive and as far as Cape Point before turning back, makes for a fantastic route. The Pedal Power Association has a regular Saturday morning group ride with 3 different distances to choose from, but they start in Mowbray, a suburb some way away from where you will be staying. Still, it may be a great way to meet a very diverse group of cyclists. There are several cycling clubs in Cape Town and nearly all of them have regular Saturday or Sunday morning group rides. I don't belong to any of them, but I'm sure some members will recommend good rides before too long. Enjoy Cape Town, and watch out for our biggest "hill" ....... the southeasterly wind! (It makes you strong)

I have run Gatorskin 28s on a variety of old classic steel frames on very rough (Eroica) type gravel roads as well as on tar. If you pump them hard, like when you want to prevent pinch flats on rocky rough roads, the ride is not really any softer. But if you run them a bit softer, like on long tar rides, it makes a big difference compared to a 23 or 25 mm tyre. There is less road buzz on the handlebars and you can sit more over rough patches of road. The extra comfort makes for less of a pounding to the body over those very long and bumpy rides. On some of my bikes I can get a 32mm tyre into the fork, but most cannot take anything wider than a 28 mm on the back. I agree with Ben that Gatorskins feel a bit "dead" compared to some other rubber, but I choose them for durability and puncture resistance. For speed and live race (It's been a long time since I raced anything) feel, I use something like GP 4000. I also have Gatorskins on the bikes I used to commute, again, mainly for reliability.

I'll be referring to ALL politicians as custard from now on ........ and to a fair percentage of Cape Town drivers ....... SA banks ........ SARS ....... good grief, this country is a proper pudding!

I see ZERO reason to build bikes in ANY other way from ANYTHING else. This is a proper thing of beauty!

Did you check for trout?

An oxymoron if ever I heard one. Just kidding. I was just reminded of something a bikeshop guy once told ne when I said I was looking for a comfortable saddle. He asked for how long I wanted it to be comfortable! Because all saddles are comfortable for the first few kms, and all saddles are uncomfortable after 100 kms and 4 hours into the wind........

That's "The City That Works For Us" ............. in a flash can paint over a memorial artwork for a cyclist that was killed by a criminal .............. but cannot fix the dangerous bike lane by removing said criminals............. I'm somme the moerin ! I hope the mayor gets hiccups for the rest of the day!

Check with Mowbray and Rondebosch police stations whether a robbery happened and was reported. My totally wild guess is that a criminal took the bike, tried to ride it, crashed, broke the derailleur and abandoned it when it was no longer a good getaway ride.

I've spent a very difficult day on the Smalblaar with the southeaster blowing me over and my flies all over the place (and particularly into the trees) while the fish were very uncooperative. Not to mention falling in the drink a couple of times. I did get 2 smallies, but did not manage to get a picture, just as well because it would have been embarrassing to show. But luckily catching big ones is no longer the only thing that makes me happy. Finding duiker and mongoose spoor and leftover otter food, counts for success in my book nowadays..

Place with a view - coloured pencils.

There is another "guerilla" way, where you sneak an artwork INTO a museum and sneakily hang it between all the famous artworks ......... who knows, I may even develop the cahones to do it at the Louvre one day? (Famously/infamously the 1st guy to do that was Marcel Duchamp, who sneaked a urinal into a gallery in Paris and called it a "fountain" in 1917.) (I dislike the Louvre, even though I know it is the greatest art museum on earth. And I'm sorry to say, but I think they deserve what they got in the recent robbery. The last time I was there, they allowed 30 000 people in per day. Even with skip-the-line timed tickets, the entry still took 2 hours because their amazing security made EVERYONE go through a single metal detector gate. The poor security guards were so gatvol of every 2nd person triggering the alarm, that they basically just ignored it. You could have sneaked in with a big fat angle grinder in your pocket and they would have just waved you through. I got so frustrated, I should have just left, hired a ladder and an angle grinder and entered through an upstairs window........)

This is a little stencil I did a while ago ...... perhaps it should be spread about the Cape a little bit? Perhaps in a reverse-grafitty form? Where you "clean" the image on a dirty concrete wall or path ?

I have done some, but mine are always eco friendly and not permanent. This pangolin stencil was done in charcoal dust on the steps leading to the Great Hall at Wits, dodging security guards, shortly before a graduation ceremony. Two hours later, after a few thousand feet walked over it, it was nearly gone ........ exactly like WE are the reason the real pangolin is disappearing! Now I am inspired to do a bike related guerilla job .........

I plead not guilty to this one.🤪