Jigghead

I'm not saying he was right or should be put on any sort of pedestal, in fact in my previous post you will see that I mentioned that I believe that any form of cheating should be met with an automatic life time ban. The point I was trying to make was that his participation in these events could possibly be allowed in the event that the participant is doing so in the name of a charity of for a greater cause. Personal enrichment in these cases like sponsorship for the individual, be it cash or equipment, or any other personal gain should be prohibited as should any formal recognition of the participants placing in the event "competed" in, be it medals, prize money or anything else. Participation should be limited to allowing the race to be run and nothing else. Irrespective of where the money raised by Livestrong is going, a lot of it is going towards a good cause and as long as this is happening, I think he should be allowed to raise this money in the only way he is able to do so. Testing should still be done, at his own cost if you wish, and if positive, then no further participation, even for charity purposes, should be allowed. As I have said, I am not of fan of his and I despise the fact that any of these guys decide to use doping to further enhance their performance or recovery, but if they do good work, surely there's a case somewhere to allow them to do so. I don't think the recipients of their charity should be made to suffer further as a result of their lack of ethical racing practices. I'm all for these guys having to pay back prize money and fines (possibly a percentage of their sponsorship & endorsement monies received during that period), but the banning of the individual from any participation also affects many others and this should also be taken into account. Let him run "unofficially".

OK, I'm not an LA fan. But to be honest, their work, although not research related as I thought, is still good (as per this article). They "spotted" a greater need for support funding for cancer sufferers as in their opinion, research was well funded already, with close to $3b coming from only sources already. As far as using the foundation for self promotion is concerned, the foundation exists because he does and as mentioned in the article, when he has been out of the spotlight and out of favor, the income of the foundation has declined. It is therefore in the foundation's interest to continue to promote their reason for existence. Perhaps, if this amount or percentage is not spent, they will be unable to adequately punt the foundation? Who knows, I do not think the author is in a much better position to comment on the need for such expenditure than either of us are. If you look at many charitable organisations set up by companies and well known individuals, they all get some sort of mileage out of their "charitable" work. Be it in the form of tax deductions or positive press (advertising & self promotion), most of them do not do it because they're just a bunch of nice guys. Self enrichment on the website issues is just wrong, the guy has made a bucket of cash and should keep his personal and charitable financial affairs separate. As for the doping "benefits", this is just me playing devil's advocate. I still think some sort of unofficial participation in sporting events needs to be considered in the name of charity, be it Livestrong or any other charity a banned "athlete" attempts to promote.

Could have been the entries, cyclists/cycling suppliers are often money hungry, every time I go near a bike shop, my card gets maxed. On a serious note though, most banks will refund you pretty quickly. I had around R20K spent on my cheque card recently and had the money back the next day (FNB).

Let me start off by saying that I am very against doping of any knid in sport. It's wrong and I believe that these 2-3 yr bans are nonsense. Doping or any cheating for that matter should carry a lifetime ban from any professional sport. Where an individual, like Armstrong starts to participate in events for charity/fundraising, he needs to justify his participation on those grounds, and still be tested. If still doping, no further participation, even for charities. Results in these events, if won or even placed should be disregarded due to the competitive ban, even if clean. So no prize money, no recognition etc. My thought is this, if everyone in cycling was, as it seems and by the admission of a lot of them, cheating when LA won all his tours and other races, the playing fields were level, so he's still a machine. A cheating machine, but when in Rome..... I still do not agree with it and think that if he was cheating, he should suffer the punishment, but the guy is still a hell of an athlete. I wish he'd pursued his defense, just to expose the evidence (or lack thereof as he claims). He does some awesome work for cancer, I hear he's raised around $250m for research. So, don't ban him from raising funds the only way he knows how, allow him to do it, but don't allow him any medals/recognition. His finishes should be "unofficial", but let him raise the money for those who need it! My 2c, for what it's worth!

There's a telephone number you can call - 0861 400 800 - call these guys, they're from the traffic dept., give them the name and reg. details of the car, as well as the date, time, location and nature of the infringement and they'll send the offender a letter. They don't get a fine, but apparently they're told off and warned that their actions could have consequences some day. I did ask once if they were allowed to tell the driver he was a po~s, but they said no. For what it's worth.

I agree, this type of behavior is so unnecessary. Up here in JHB area, I'd kill for that type of "untouched" space to ride in. All this serves to do is ensure that at some point, the parks people are just going to say no more visitors. They ruin it for everyone. Looks like they also just dumped their unwanted old bike there as well. The litter just adds insult to injury

What's the best way to clean these? I use the polar and only rinse mine after each exercise. I also use the same strap when swimming, will this keep it clean enough or should I clean it separately? Can one use soap to clean them?

It's still quite dry out there. I've found, especially in winter, that the static in my clothing sometimes sends my reading way out. I'm talking up to 250 bpm. Wear a cotton shirt under your cycling gear and this should help. The other thing I find could cause this spike is riding behind the likes of Emily Batty or some other equally alluring cycling partner. The only reason I knew mine was the static issue is that my cycling partners are all hairy and quite unattractive! (good thing they don't know my hub name... but they know who they are... )

She's blonde, I suppose she thinks it's foreplay?

What exactly is your name, I see AshramIV7

Sorry for the repetition, didn't read all the posts.

At the risk of sounding callous, there seems to be some sort of discrepancy in the girls' story here. Neither of them remembers what happened, but the chain of events where the pedophile suggested that he wanted to cuddle and wanted it filmed was reported. Now if they did not remember this, how could it be reported? I still think the parents need to be investigated for something here. What are two teenage girls doing in a house alone, drinking with a 20 year old man? But based on this story, I do not think they were as innocent as made out. Maybe, after showing the video and realizing that they were in the cr~p for producing and showing child porn, this story was made up. Either way, hope the 20yr old gets the full might of the law!

Last year I pushed my wife around in 5:30 or so, this year she's decided to give it a miss. Pity, I would still rather have pushed her around and enjoyed the day together. She's not budging, said if I want her with me I need to buy a tandem. So, I guess my new bike will have to wait while I save for the tandem, I do enjoy riding with her, even tho she doesn't have much time to train. This race is one that I like to "share" with her.

I don't like it. What's next, ABS?

I use Cycle Lab.They are not the cheapest, but they greet me by name (my bike only cost R7,000). When I started riding, I mentioned that I wanted entry level and they even tried to talk me into a slightly cheaper bike in spite of the fact that the guy earned commission. I do not spend a lot of money on my bike mainly 'cos I don't have a lot and they are fully aware of this but always assist with accommodating my tight budget without trying to pull the ring out of it. I have gone to a number of LBS and as soon as I mention my budgetary issues, interest fades immediately. I would prefer to support the smaller guys given that I am "the smaller guy" in my field and know how difficult it is to earn a living, but to be honest, I cannot beat the attention and service I receive from the guys at Cycle Lab. So, even thought it probably cost me a little more of my hard earned cash, it is a sacrifice I am prepared to make in order to get no nonsense advice and assistance!

I'm entered and ready (in my mind ). Did Bela Bela and Buffelspoort Xterra Lite this year. Damaged knee and flu hindered my 5i50 training, oh and maybe a few too many cigarettes (which have been kicked to touch even tho they were "social" items ). My swim feels great, my bike is not bad and the run terrifies me. My goal is just to finish before the gun goes off.

Are these the same pair that did the Bela Bela race? I saw them and ka~ing off myself couldn't imagine what's required to carry that extra weight. Stories like this are as you say inspirational beyond words. Simply awesome!!!

OK, I agree, what I was trying to say is that the man is inspirational. We passed each other a few times on the run and I was left in awe and humbled every time.

The old guy was 73 and did a sup 4hrs race. Makes be a little embarrassed that I only managed 3:42 :-( I almost got beaten by the second guy as well, Hats off to these two especially, when/if I get old, I hope I am able to pull off a race like this still. If I was disabled, I'm not sure I'd have it in me!

I see it was a MTB the cops were clearing. Maybe I would have shot a roadie, not a Mountain Goat tho... :devil:

That's a very strange looking thing. Looks like there are no pedals, is it a "runner" of sorts? Maybe allows one to goof off of the downhills?

This depresses me. I love these bikes and dream of owning one for each discipline, but alas, out of my reach. Part cash issues, part, well see the "My wife hates my cycling" thread... Apparently money spent on bikes and biking kit is not money well spent?

Four kids? After all that, I'm surprised she doesn't encourage you to ride more often. Maybe you should also buy a TV?

Not going to help much, but my wife is the same. I'm up at 03h50 to be on the trail by 04h25 to meet my riding partners. Lucky their wives hate them riding as well :-) Never mind the odd time I'm late due to technical issues. Don't get me started on races, I only do a race every 2 months or so, but that's far more than enough. I've bought her a bike. It's done 400km or so in 2yrs and I'm not allowed to sell it in order to fund my upgrade either. I'm thinking of "taking it for a service to Cajees" and saying it was "nicked from the workshop" and that they have this f~rking sign saying they're not responsible for loss or damage etc.

lols, just look for the guy who started in wave 3 (aged on the young end of this wave) and then got a hiding from the older guys starting in said wave. I'm entered for 70.3 in Jan and this was a huge wake up call for the lack of preparation. The flu a couple weeks before hand and an MTB related knee injury did hamper my prep., but at least I got the wake up in time to ensure my preparation for Jan is more comprehensive.