Mushilele

Medac's bibs are the business according to my guy. www.medacsport.co.za. Great price but if you want to spend more, for extra comfy-ness, you can have them custommade if you really want to too.

My waiting list number has gone up by 200 places putting me outside of that golden 650 group. WTF? Sani2C makes a fuss about the planting of trees to off-set their carbon footprint, and then expects entrants to pay for them? Why not out of profits?

If bought off the website, at $190 per rack plus $70 for a 3-bike receiver the total would be $640 = R4,480 (at a conservative R7/$ rate) for a three-bike holder (currently R7.20 so more like R4600). Excludes shipping etc. Holdfast do a three-bike Sprint for considerably less (just over R2500). It already has lights and a number plate holder to make it legal, and frankly, by the looks of it, is more stable and is easier to load.

I love my Cebe's - have three sets of lenses. Superb - look great and perform well. My partner has the photochromatic ones. Mine cost less than R500 and my partner's cost under R1K. (They come out of the Bolle stable - the sports range. French. They know their stuff.) I was given a pair of Adidas Evil Eyes but they are pretty ugly (although ugly seems to be in fashion). And they started delaminating. Urgh and urgh - read the thread on replacement lenses and well, decided not to go that route. (Flippen' expensive.)

Well done Hullabaloo for responding so quickly! Ouch about the 'raw' website - they don't deal directly with the public but support LBS etc. They've brought Rocky Mountain back to the country - as well as Syncros etc.

Fantastic event. Loved every minute. Wishing I was out there pedalling at SRT now. Can't wait for next year. Will post some feedback soon. Yay Dryland - you hit the mark!

Hot spots? You have redress with Medac, if redress is the word for great service. You can get the outlet that you bought the garments from to send them back with your proper measurements and Medac will re-cut the product to fit your individual shape. Or contact Medac directly. It's a gratis service. I like that Medac has introduced that tailored/bespoke service mentioned above - we are all different and have different requirements and they now make up individually sized shorts and bibs too with a choice of six chamois nogal.

Can recommend Rockets from Medac www.medacsport.co.za (Medac makes lekker shorts and bibs too.)

Take the break, rest your body ... you're sick for a reason and your body needs to recover. My cycling doc friend tells me the ONLY way to sort out a cold or, in my case, bronchitis, is REST REST REST. Fighting illness takes a lot of energy and your body needs you to give it what it needs. I've always found that if I give myself enough rest and get back when my body really is ready, I pick up almost where I left off. Unlike when you get back on the bike too soon - and put yourself RIGHT back. The Baviaans will wait. Really. Get well soon!

To add another name to the mix .... Medac (check out Medacsport.co.za - they'll make a bespoke pair for you too, if you so wish). I looked at a pair of shorts but thought the silver impregnated material they used was quite stiff but they've changed their material and have seriously upped their game. Their bibs look great!

I'm about to convert my old Bridgestone CB0 into a handy run-around but am also 'challenged' by the top bar issue ... I'll get over it (literally) by riding in shorts or trousers (with elastic bands or clips ... heh heh). Re Silverback, last week I saw one of their retro-styled bikes at Johnny Koen Cycles in Mossel Bay. Very cute.

I buy Bicycling on subscription through Vitality ... I like it, although it is obviously an 'adaptation'. I always turn to Style Man first, for some reason, and love the reader tips. I don't like Ride - the layout give me a headache. Too much stuffed in? I subscribe to Do It Now but it's also too much ... even though it's free! As one poster has already indicated I'd like to see more about the other aspects of cycling, not just road and MTB (which I love) but also commuting and life with bikes generally. I am enjoying Tread (subscriber) and I've signed up to receive mtbmag online (www.mtbmag.co.za). Now I'm off to go find my copy of Tread to see how bad the paper smell. Hasn't noticed before.

My friends and I used to do the middle-distance route every year ... and then life got in the way. This year, we're starting our Hex habit again. Hope the weather's good!

After a last day push of 155 kays, Kim van Kets arrived at Khamkirri at Augrabies to commence the paddling part of Tri-the Beloved Country. She's now completed 2,500 kays on bike (her trusty Rocky Mountain Soul 29er) and the first 1,000 kays of running (from East London to the Moz border). This is Kim's Day 67 blog entry (www.kimvankets.com) (We refers to her and her support team. Kim does all the cycling/running/paddling, of course!): Since leaving Zeerust a week ago we have been heading towards the N Cape and the Kalahari. After re-stocking in Mafikeng, we headed off into the middle of nowhere and were put up once again by the SAP this time in Tshidilamolomo. The terrain is markedly drier and more sandy with more and more patches of the characteristically red Kalahari sand. From Tshidilamolomo we did a 122km day to the village of Bray on the Botswana border. Half way there we were stopped by a farmer who insisted on organising accommodation for us in Bray with the astoundingly hospitable Eloff family who plied us with food and drink and hilarious anecdotes about the village. They sent us on our way the next day with bulging bellies and a list of contacts who would put us up for the next couple of days, all of whom welcomed us like long lost friends when we had expected to be camping on the roadside. The Kalahari is really a magical place and its people are second to none with regard to hospitality. Despite the beautiful scenery and fabulous hosts, the riding has been very tough this week with long distances, very sandy and rutted surfaces and head winds. Thankfully there has been loads of rain so the landscape is uncharacteristically green and covered with flowers and the temperatures have been quite pleasant. We have had some interesting wildlife experiences and seen lots of cheetah, leopard and hyena tracks. We also saw a black mamba (freshly killed by a bakkie) of over 7 foot in the road this week but have not come across any of its surviving relatives to my great relief. Hannah [Kim and Pete's daughter] has been riding a couple of kms with us every day which has been great, I am going to have to push to keep up with her after she gets a new bike for her 6th birthday next week! We have just spent a fabulous rest day at the Vanzyl’s Rus Hotel - a totally trendy and tasteful spot in the middle of nowhere and are now stuffed with bobotie and venison pie and sufficiently fortified to head off again into the unknown for our last week of cycling that will take us to Khamkirri near Kakamas on the Orange River. As at today we have covered just over 3500km (of which 2500 have been on bikes). About 2500km to go!

Kim van Kets, mother, lawyer and wife of ocean rower, Peter van Kets (winner of this year's Out There Adventurer of the Year award) is undertaking an epic four to five month challenge which she's called TRI-THE BELOVED COUNTRY. This will see her run along the coast of South Africa, cycle the interior and paddle down the Orange. Kim set off in March (two days sooner than expected because she forgot that February only has 28 days!) and put down a marathon a day (more or less) to complete the first part of the run from East London to the Moz border north of Durbs. Kim's aim is to hug the coast and border - so she's run along the beaches and over the hills of the Transkei. She's swum or waded across the rivers, including one known to be populated by bull sharks. She did, however, choose to take a boat across a croc-infested river. In the really isolated places she's had a companion run or cycle with her ... but often she's out by herself. Kim is on the move for six out of seven days - her rest day is Saturday. At the left turn at the Moz border, Kim got on her bike and is hugging the Swazi border. She's cycling 90 to 100 kays a day. Kim says she isn't a natural cyclist and has felt huge pain the last few days. Hullabaloo (new agent for Rocky Mountain in South Africa) has sponsored a Rocky Mountain Soul 29er which she took delivery of today. She says she's looking forward to riding the bike tomorrow - something she'd never thought she'd say after her experience of the past few days. (I wonder if Kim's noticed that tomorrow's a rest day.) Things can only get better - Kim is a superb extreme athlete (and all-round lekker person). Kim's support consists of her hubby and daughter, and two young people who are on the adventure of a lifetime. People have been gracious and helpful all along the way. What really inspires me about this adventure is that it was a dream of hers ... and she's made it happen herself. She has attracted some sponsors who've been impressed that she's stood by Pete and his adventurers and is now doing hers and she's putting in some serious kays. The beneficiary is a charity to help deaf children learn to speak (the Carel du Toit Centre in East London). If you'd like to keep up to date with Kim's adventure join her Facebook group 'Tri-the beloved country' and check out her website www.kimvankets.com which has stunning photos and the blog, etc. Maybe join her along the way ... cycling, running ... paddling?

I haven't done an Argus in a few years but one of the things I do recall is that I was proud of how 'tidy' Argus cyclists were ... they would stash their trash in a way that road runners didn't (you know how there's always plastic detritus within a few hundred metres of water tables in marathons?). Well, things have changed. What disturbed me as I did my ride Sunday was the mass of gel sachet packets on the road ... and how two cyclists (one wearing Pannamor Gel shirt and a unicorn on his head) tossed away their sachets without even considering where they would end up. The wind comes up all the time in the Cape (don't we know it!) and those sachets end up in our sea ... they look like fish. Fake fish. Our marine life suffers. Waste is problem, I know, and I also know it's naive to think that unicorn guy, who can afford the kind of bike he was riding Sunday, have principles and manners. Those who don't stash, what gives? You have pockets ... use them. Or make a plan. Park them in your pants if needs be. Is 2 seconds really worth that level of thoughtlessness? You've been allowed the privilege (not the right) of riding one of the most spectacular routes in the world so it's ok to abuse it? Why should someone have to go and pick up after you, even if they're paid? And what about the litter beyond the watering points? Who is going to collect the rest ... along 110 kays? Those thoughtless cyclists probably wouldn't dream of chucking a packet out their car window. Or maybe they would. Either way, Sunday's behaviour simply gives us all a bad rep.

Sexy Suunto - love mine! And have had great support with the one 'how do I?' query I've had so far. The new distributors are apparently working hard to pick up on any service issues that the previous one dropped. Love that I can change my own battery - unlike my annoying Polar HRM ... I use Training Effect and also log my rides and performance on Movescount.

I read in the Cape Times article (front page, top, yesterday) that the one cyclist refused to press charges when the police nabbed the 'alleged' assailant. What is it with making a complaint to the police, the police doing their work and then the felon gets away because the victim didn't want to go further with the complaint?

I have a Serfas Carma on my mtb - have had it for years and I really like it. It's less sofa-like than the one I had before. Eish, that was a bad buy (the sofa). Carma is/was very reasonably priced as poster as Fish Eagle said. I looked at Selle Italia but couldn't justify that kind of money on a saddle. Would buy Serfas again. Definitely. I ride in shorts - currently Pearl Izumi bought in the States. My next pair will be from the Medac range. Very nice!! Reasonably priced and lekker chamois.

I've not done an Argus in a while and certainly haven't ridden any seeding rides (would rather be on a mountain ...) but I've done 8 and so I was happy to find myself allocated UU starting at 8.51. Well, I WAS happy until I discovered that my friend who has NEVER ridden an Argus (or any other race for that matter) has found herself in AA at 7.47 .... Aaaargh!!!

Also look at Holdfast. Sprint is around R2750 incl. Locally produced and well supported - HF has been around a long time.

Abrie of Hullabaloo (also markets Knog, Syncros etc) is the new distributor for Rocky Mountain: abrie@hullabaloo.co.za.

Not too long ago 17 and 18 year olds were sent off to the border ... and were ready to 'defend their country'. Sure, it wasn't ok then (to send kids to kill) but a generation later it puts things into perspective. 18 is old enough to make all sorts of life-decisions including how they plan to eventually earn a living, and to vote. Hope this 'kid' gets the book thrown at him. Frankly, given the spoilt nature of kids today (eish, I can't believe I'm saying that ;-) I don't hold out hope for any remorse whatsoever ... unless it's to alleviate the punishment. Well, would be nice to be surprised.

From today's Hermanus Times (www.hermanustimes.co.za): ?Worst of all was the inhumanity and recklessness of oncoming traffic just after the accident,? Billy Steyn (45) said on Tuesday after he and co-cyclist Thomas Dreyer (29) were knocked off their bicycles by a vehicle, two days before the Cape Argus Cycle Race on Friday. The accident occurred just after 05:30 on the R43 at Lynx Avenue in Vermont. The 34-year old driver of the bakkie, Jacobus Horn, was arrested at the scene and appeared in the Hermanus Magistrate Court on Monday on charges of reckless and negligent driving as well as driving while under the influence of alcohol. Horn has indicated that he wants to apply for legal aid and was given bail of R5 000 on conditions that include a prohibition on the use of alcohol. The case was postponed to 12 May. Dreyer was transferred from Hermanus Medi-Clinic to Vergelegen Medi-Clinic in Somerset West on Friday, where he remains in an induced coma. His injuries are serious. His neck is broken and he has sustained serious head injuries. One of his lungs was also injured. Possible further injuries have not not been excluded. He is currently under sedation, which makes it difficult to determine the exact extent of his injuries. He has two children, a daughter who will be three years old on 10 April and a son of six months. His wife, Marika, and father-in-law, Willem Steyn, flew down from Johannesburg on Friday morning to be with him. The accident has left the family in shock. Marika's mother, Esthie Steyn, who looked after the children, flew to Cape Town with the children on Wednesday. Dreyer and Steyn are from Johannesburg and travelled to Hermanus a week earlier to prepare for the cycle tour. Just after the accident, Steyn realised that his friend was in a serious condition and tried to flag down motorists rushing past, but to no avail. ?I took my cell phone, which was damaged from the accident and tried to signal them with the light. But they just sped past, not even slowing down to find out if they could help us. I had to jump out of the road twice and I feared for Dreyer's life and my own.? Steyn managed to phone a friend in Johannesburg in order to contact someone in Hermanus and alert them of the accident. Steyn was released from hospital later the same day with cuts and wounds to his leg and arm. Dreyer's wife, Marika said her husband will be in hospital for at least two months. ?We don't know what to expect but believe that God will protect him. The doctors operated on his neck on Friday evening and he is still in the intensive care unit.? Bernard de Necker, Dreyer's brother-in-law, said they are planning to come and support the family as soon as possible. He said the family is still in shock and praying for a full recovery for Dreyer. Both cyclists work full time, yet managed to cycle some 7 000 km in preparation for the race. Their hard work and efforts could not be rewarded, this time.

Why not support local industry, with local support and spares? Holdfast is always improving their product, and if your fave shop doesn't stock it then why not get them to support local too and order stock in.