Witkop

so true, maybe we will see him asking about the road bike training rides next....

I agree, bring back the days of war, capital punishment, and public lashings. Where a man could beat his wife in the privacy of his own home. When children were given free schooling in the sweatshops and coal mines. When Oscar Wilde was able to write some amazing literature, where Baden Powell was a hero, when Shakespeare wrote sonnets to his boyfriend...... Yes bring back the good old days of Sparta.....

at over six foot, you should be looking at large to extra large. something over 21 inches. Also the bike assistant should have known that. I still cannot fathom bike shops, they simply sell what is on the floor. Go back and you six foot of persuassion to get the problem fixed.

only because you didn't invite her along for the evening......

Okay, quick poll, we all agree to the following: there is no issue regarding sexual orientation and cycling. What or who you do in the bedroom or how you do it, simply does not matter when you are on the bike. There are some people who are comfortable with being gay and will leave little hints for you so that you don't have one of those embarrassing moments like "umh I did not realise you were gay" (like gay pride stickers ext) Lesbians also do this so that straight men don't hit on their girlfriends. (Saves men from those "so I did not realise you two were also dating one another" moments.) There are also gay people that are IDIOTS that keep on begging to be made fun of. These guys troll internet forums posting topics like "Look everyone I am gay, and worried you hate me"

The life of being gay, Oscar Wilde said: "the only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about" Jung came up with the idea that we are a balance of forces (the Chinese talk about Ying and Yang), and when we suppress our feminine side, sooner or later it will mutate and mess up our sense of masculinity, and the same is true the other way. So you get macho rugby and soccer players, actually craving intimate relations with other blokes in private, and then suppressing it further by being more macho. In cycling, most cyclists just don't have gender issues. There is simply none of that confusing tetosterone display stuff in other sports, so sexual orientation is not a issue (obviously if you are on a three week across the desert unsupported cycle tour with one two man tent, and your cycling mate suddenly falls out of the closet on day 5, it could become an issue.....)

he is on a road bike. If he was on a mountainbike he would be a lesbian.

Sexual orientation and sport........mmmmmmmmm. What a senseless idea. Really stupid. But while we at it there is some room for degrading humour...... According to mountainbikers all road cyclist are fairies. I suppose it is the lycra, shaven legs, amazing amounts of bling on the bikes ext. (must be gay.........) There is even an activity called "fairy hunting" where a mountainbiker catches a road cycling group and then deliberately interfers with the paceline to see how many roadies he can wear out. Road cyclist, however, think all mountainbikers are lesbian, with all that hair and bad dress sense, they have to like women......... enough of the broad generalisations and nonsense, sexual orientation is cycling is not an issue. Sorry to say, the peleton is not a dating agency, especially in Cape Town where they are especially not touchy, touchy at all. However, if you are female and looking for a date, mountainbikers are more in touch with the feminine side, them being lesbian and all. Groenkloof is the place to be, if you are single and female....... Lets just say that the Victorian public school system gave us RUGBY. This is a full on contact sport, that is full of repressed sexuality. Heads locked in scrums, hands between legs ext ext ext. Now that is gay........

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/traffic-control-devices-manual/sign-specifications/images/r05-01-nolabels.gif

Me and another procreaus are planning a tour of the Klein Karoo in december. We plan on about 65km a day (with panniers) If you are interested, you can join us and then do some extra riding in the afternoon to to up to the distances you want, while we drink wine....

Actually, this was the first "recreational/sport" Mtbike. THe first offroad bikes were military bicycles that were used during the Anglo boer war (second application of bicycles in war), world war I and every war thereafter. Dispatch riders rode on gravel roads, but Danie Theron also expected his riders to do a bike of cross country all mountain riding were every required. He "invented" the first tyre liner as well. The Americans were the first to make "sport" out of it.

52/39 or at the most 53/39 on the front, and 11/23 (nine or ten speed at the back). If you have a ten speed and can lie with a straight face then allow yourself a 11/25. (Never admit it though, and you must be able to provide your pensioners card to buy it anyway). In "reality" there is no other cluster than a 11/23, and no manufacturer will admit ever making anything else. If you are really strong then a 11/21 can be obtained and used honestly. Style man and Pantini's ghost would call you a Mtbker if you use anything else. Don't even ask about triple cranks or compact cranks. Just don't. OKAY?!

you need compression socks.....

I don't think it is wrong to discuss the idea that man needs to believe in something, and attempt to understand this need. What will be wrong is to tell (prescribe) people to believe this or that. Just as you can study illness without being ill, or study war without being at war, you should be able to study religion without having to believe a particular religion. (Although academic distance is prefered, people often are draw to discuss and study things that they are passionate about, which only prevents them from drawing valid or accurate conclusions)

what a interesting read. The relationship between supersition - religion - education- wealth - welfare is a very interesting study. Obviously, religion fills a void in a persons life, and therefore the bigger the void the bigger the need for religion. Furthermore, the less educated you are the more mysteries are present in your life, and a greater need for some sort of explination, either lizzards (David Ike), UFO's (USA rednecks) or religion. This opens the debate for why religious insitiutions and universities are so similar? THe question of whether religion is dead or not is also an important debate. If we agree that belief (religion) is part of the human experience and that belief allows us to explain things we don't understand (ie the void) then religion or some manifestation of religion will always be with us. If you drop the idea of a god and embrass ourselves as Superhumans (Nietzche) we can then worship ourselves and our creations, such as the Blue Bull rugby team. We can also replace religion with social interactions (happiness between people) and then attend social gatherings like the Curry Cup. We can idolize our adulterous leaders, or we can worship our musicians (Laddy Gaga). However, we can take a lead from CS Lewis and Tolkien who were able to integrate their faith into their lives. As highly intelligent academics they investigated the ideas and came to their own conclusions. THe works of CS Lewis ware very interesting reading. THe great fear his that religion provides an important psychological need for people, attempting to do without religion will only result in something else forefilling this need.

obviously it will make a difference. You will be able to tell your friends about the difference, in both your wallet and your riding experience. In short show your commitment to your sport, and buy them.

and some tjop will buy this and insert about three centremeters of spacers under the stem, but on riser bars, and drop the saddle..........

Pain is a signal that something is not right in the body. To take painkillers, without addressing the cause of the pain, is a short cut to nowhere. Just as smoking and dagga are "Window" drugs to harder stuff (according to many school councillors) so are painkillers a "Window" to other "performance enhancers". If you are a cyclist you will hurt, lots, but there is a difference between DOMS and an injury. For DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) RICE (rest, ice, Compression and Elevation) is the best. For other injures a whole lot of "a long time off the bike" may be required, along with prescribed physiotherapy. Painkillers and drugs should be the last resort, not the first resort. Also the more you take, the more you will need to take, as the body adapts to dosages.

Has anyone tried these cranks out?

but is mountain biking a sport or an art?

I am from a progressive sect, which believes some comfort and trail side repairs are allowed (although suspension should be for saddles). We are not all luddites, brother.

An item is normally worth more to its owner than any prospective buyer. So what would you pay for your stuff? Subtract 20% off that and you should have a good starting price. Also remember second hand will always be less (up to 50%) than brand new.

But I want to make a holy crusade of it. You can only go to heaven on a steel framed bike, with a coil shock and one gear. Once you have seen through the illusion of the weight weenies, you can happily buy a leather brooks saddle with dual suspension and dampner coils. It only weighs in at just short of a 1KG. HOWEVER if you want the latest and greatest stuff(without having to pay for it), then you better get training and winning races. No team offer = no sponsors toys. A different heaven and a different reality.

I have been reading the book, the upside to irrationality. The author shares some research he did in Israel. They basically tested a number of injured ex-servicemen to determine their pain thresholds. THe finding was that the more painful their injures, and the more painful the recovery and the more succesful their recovery, the better they were able to handle the pain that they experienced. The experimenters got the subjects to hold their arms in near to boiling water for up to a minute. All the servicemen who had suffered extremely painful injures were actually told to remove their arms from the water, where those who had sustained minor injures pull their arms out within 30 seconds. The conclusion is that cyclists that have recovered from major injures often come back stronger as they have a higher "pain reference point", and therefore can push their bodies further in a race. Now kids don't go throw yourself in front of a truck to get this edge, but rather use this to help you focus on recovery after fate has done the dirty to you.

Why am I done with road cycling: Motorcars. Somehow I always seem to be playing chicken with on coming traffic. On the way to a Rooiwal race cars passing other cars simply did it without any care for un coming traffic (me). Having to squeeze past potholes and a broken shoulder of the road, just to survive was stress enough. Other cyclists: It is amazing that full road closure is not forced by law in South Africa. Cyclists think that if it is a road race then the entire road(both sides of the road nogal)belongs to them. having guys cycling over the solid white line (snorting the white line) is just too freeky, especially when there is oncoming traffic over the blind rise. Other cyclists performance enhancers. THe days of a stiff double brandy (or rum and coke) on the start line are long past. Now there are energy sachettes, designer supplements, after race proteins and the mythical drug called "training". It is all too much, how can anyone have a job, family, friends, watch rugby AND cycle competitively? I know that in order to compete you need to prioritise, but "training" "riding in the ice cold morning" "gym with my cycling buddies", "cycling on the rollers" and "racing" just are not as important as family, friends, WORK, and eating fatty foods.