Paul Ruinaard

Will be number 21 for me. I am starting training Sunday - needs to be closer to 3:30 than 4 for me.

Hmm - so totally OT is that what's going on there now? Which areas are you referring to - the Kromdraai spur up to the main road. Theres also a number of gravestones on the LHS when you turn right to the caves at the kromdraai cafe turing coming from Kloofzicht side. They look pretty old. Seems like that area floods a lot as well - the falls are upstream in the botanical gardens.. I was wondering if the gold wasn't alluvial but if they are digging in the old mine it would indicate otherwise. Zama Zama are pretty tough folks

TBH it sounds like your mate needs ERG mode enabled as without it at 500 watts he would really need to be a power house. But agreed rather use the Wahoo utilities

When last was there an actual mugging incident in the cradle. See it's not unsafe in the cradle firstly. I know of the kromdraai incident but on a Saturday morning on the core routes there are thousands of people. Secondly riding with a support car, as has been pointed out, tends to build bad habits and make people do stupid things and not be savvy - it makes for unaware cyclists and thirdly it's so freaking inconvenient for everyone other than the supported group and it puts everyone in danger.. Most people driving them are clueless . The only people who should be allowed to use them are big clubs and even then they should be limited to support motorbikes. If you puncture or need repairs a bike can stop and help you. If you need to go home you uber. That way you quickly become self sufficient #justsaying #gatvolofsupportcars #passionateaboutthissubject

go and do some googling on Zwift power. You can set the Kickr that the Wahoo App controls it rather than Garmin or zwift as well. Just download the Kickr app and then ride from within there. It's kind of all app based and designed that way. But that's a lot of power.

Cradle is actually a really nice place to ride. I love my weekend rides there TBH and have no desire to ride elsewhere as it doesn't compare in terms of safety and challenge. Its safe from the point of view of limited to no muggings as well. It's just busy. TBH I am not sure why a more entrepreneurial approach hasn't built up from the landowners and the potential to turn it in to a world class establishment been taken. Charge nominal access fee every weekend and use the money to build out trails, access etc like the Al Qudra Cycle Track in Dubai. ANd BTW if you have ever seen that then you will know for sheer challenge and beauty Cradle kicks its arse. Given the way that this was used bya. Dubai Sheikh to attract people to Dubai and live a healthy lifestyle again the right approach could replicate his model and add value to the area for cyclist, runners MTBers trail runners Triathletes etc. Theres gold in them thar hills if you really want it. Actually there's real gold mines in there - Kromdraai mine pre-dates the discovery of gold in Jhb. theres a truck load of history in the area outside of the caves etc as well. I know of a number of Capetonians who have come and ridden Cradle and are amazed because there is nothing like it in CTN. In fact there's very few places like it.

you can get Anatomics shorts up to 4 XL and they are in Saffer sizes, not Italian. Chamois is quite good. Shirts as well. I was never at 130 KGS but you can get some big sizes locally

I think the guys at Cyclelab took mine. Havent done it in a bit though

Agreed on many scores here. some creative thinking and innovation is required. Firstly i could not be asked to get up at stupid o'clock in the cold/rain/sun/wind any more and go and ride a race when i can do it in my time and comfortably around the local routes. Been there done that many times and have all the T shirts and medals. Jaded old fart I may be but my current bundle is easing out on a great ride with mates and I do maybe 2 races a year these days. But at a time i rode every weekend in a race and could do a race Saturday and Sunday - so not boasting but the medals started to get a bit tedious however if they give you warm fuzzies then so be it However the other thing you mentioned and which we did in my previous company was we used the funds we were spending on customer giveaways that was going out of SA to cheap foreign knock offs like memory sticks/trinkets and trash for customer giveaways to get beadwork done, wire keyrings, handbags from plastic bags - focusing on taking the budget and ploughing it back in to the people who were in the most need. Women, PDI's j kids homes etc. We even gave away vet plante for reduction of CO 2 debt. There are so many things you can do which will have the same impact of a medal and which will amplify the good from a small spend. Even if R 5 rather give it to the needy in the form of a mandate to make a thousand nifty keyrings, wire beaded animals, vet plante etc. If any event organisers are reading this then i would suggest the following: 1.) Medals are opt in optional if you want one 2.) if opt out a donation to a charity - and it can be a long list. And make sure you give the funds not pocket them ???? 3.) Whatever you do make it socially responsible - if they want a medal then get the wire bead dude on the corner to make them or the women crocheting to make them. Even at a premium people will go with this as they are seeing their money being used for good. Stop the money going to the big guys and plough it back at grass roots. Cycling like running is pretty democratic and easily accessible - have a bike and can ride - its pretty easy. Use it as a vehicle for good.

Thats big question. TBH its becoming very crowded and very much everyone makes up their own rules - the new thing is now the running race organisers (one every weekend now) cordoning off their drinks tables and turn around stops with cones in the yellow lane? You ever seen what happens when you hit a cone on a bike? Then next was runners now are trail running the wrong way up the MTB trail, because that's what you do. Seen plenty recently. There are even some indignant walkers who are now walking in the yellow lines two abreast or on the MTB trail - and when informed they told me"its public property" It will die down and I get that its public space but its why i won't ride the spruit any more as well. Everyone feels that its theirs and shared use doesn't seem to be on anyone's minds. And I think It's only a matter of time before somebody gets badly hurt in a high speed running/cycling accident, if it hasn't happened already. then we will hear all the voices crowing.....

That's good advice Where do you get it done and how much was it - did medical cover etc?? I am 58 and do fit the profile - certainly not inexperienced but have a body weight 10 kgs more than what i want and cholesterol a little high. I know of many cases where guys my age, all super fit but hadn't had a check up, had heart attacks and in most cases are deceased. Too many to mention. Possibly a good idea.

I used to ride with Midrand Cyclists. Anyway in one of the 94.7 races the one guy , a back marker and rank amateur who was outside cutoff was told not to continue by medics at a water table as he wasn't feeling that good - think it was near the zoo - that route . He decided he had done so much he wanted to carry on and finish regardless even if outside time, and then had a heart attack and died. For some reason his wife decided to return his chip to the MCC guys and came through after the normal crew of guys had finished the ride that following Sunday and were having tea at the one guys house like we usually did. She came and handed over his chip etc and they decided to give her a finishers medal in honour. Needless to say there wasn't a dry eye in the house - it was very moving and sad and poignant - I never forgot as i was also more interested in PB's where he had literally given his life for one of those medals. TBH i suppose you can become blase about it all and don't realize what an achievement it is for some people or how much it meant to someone to do it. The training and the life changes that these stories of their first ride all have - sometimes you need to sit and listen more.....

Cool story - in that case you take your medals. I think TBH they should have a tick box which says "donate the R5/10/20" for the medal to charity and that way i would probably remember them better. I think the only ones i really was interested in keeping were the photos over the years rather than the medals

I agree with you. I ride there almost every weekend and coming from the Fourways side i am a bit wary of the roadworks so i park at one of the coffee shops or locations in the cradle to avoid the roadworks/choke points, but used to ride in from home down Cedar. Normally on the bike by 6:30 am or 7 if its a Sunday (sleep in) so i am out there pretty early and often. And it's simple. Its a sh*t show. I am amazed there aren't more dead people and road rage incidents. THis Saturday the guy on the narrow roadworks section who took over the middle of the road intentionally on the Northern timber climb. Black kit, fancy bike at about 6:15 am. Rode uphill at 9 kmh with him and his mate talking to each other intentionally blocking the traffic including the taxis. Taxis who are not really that tolerant. Taxis who are also ferrying 16 to 20 people to work or are going to collect another load at Diepsloot. You sir are an entitled twat. There are always so many more, lots of noobs who i am willing to forgive as well - they are really starting out. But it is the guys in the know that P!SS me off. Like i am in a 2 ton bakkie and am about to get so freaking frustrated that i am willing to turn them in to bonnet ornaments. Imagine how the average person feels who doesn't ride a bicycle. I can tell you - they actively hate you. I can't tell you how often i have been intentionally buzzed by motorists out there. I then see the **** that happened on Bowling Avenue and people wonder how we got there. I can tell you. Go and drive around the cradle on a Saturday morning as a motorist. Its really just a recipe for conflict and in normal Jhb/Saffer style the F$ck you option is the first response of everyone in the conflict - not the "tolerate and accommodate, think of others etc" So sad - doesn't have to be like this.

what do you do with them? How many do you have?

Yep i get it - work fast and break things as a mantra. Things like security, data integrity, privary ????

They broke it bad last week - looks like its fixed now but most Macbooks with a GPU were off Zwift for a bit with some pissed off customers. me included.

Handheld GPS's and watches are good at finding you on a flat plane but the GPS receiver required to do vertical calculations is much larger, more complex and requires a lot more power and you have to have more satellites connections (read bigger receivers) than the smaller ones on your wrist, or this is what my geologist mates tell me who sells the ones he uses for geophysics for tens of thousands of rand. Look TBH lets be grateful for them - they are amazing little pieces of kit that ten years ago were in the realm of science fiction. the amount of tech you have on your wrist and what its doing would have needed a laboratory ten to 15 years ago. we freely throw around HRV, VO2 max, FTP etc like its run of the mill. Use the correction features of your software which has been mapped by the big GPS's mentioned above.

Congratulations on the finish. Its a super tough race and unless you have bene there you can't really describe how its a step factor above everything else you see or do. No Sani or W2W will prepare you for the gruelling climbs day after day and the relentless toll on our body and mind. the front looks like a normal stage race. The guys at the back who are just trying to finish look like a ward out of the crimean war with all the bandages and scratches and cuts and bracings etc. It's a pity they only reflect the winners rather than the real inside story of the struggle to survive most people have. It's a huge commitment to even arrive on the line of that race and the weather always throws a curved ball in to the mix.

you can take them to Cyclelab and they give them to the hospitals who give them to kids having chemo - at least thats what i did with my bag.

Why do we need medals. After your first or second participation what do you do with the medals? I eventually had a bag of them that i took to cyclelab. Especially in this day and age when we reducing costs be done with medals other than for kids races. You can do so much more and if you want you can print out certificates etc. This is so last year and so wasteful. Same with goodie bags, expos etc. All are paid for by you in advance in the fees so you think you are getting a lekker goodie bag but all they are doing is turning your entry fees in to cheap tacky samples. Whats the point. You can easily do it all by chips and or number boards like MTB. No expos, no queues, fees reduced. Its a racket to drive people to retail and to keep prices inflated.

This is my pet peeve. If you look back on my posts you will see me complaining a LOT about this. It endangers everyone and then makes the people in the bunches with follow cars ride like knobs all over the road. Never mind the runners have now taken over the cradle as well and run two abreast in the yellow line. So you get a follow car following a bunch of cyclists passing an oncoming bunch of runners and they are either passing you or you passing them? Cars and bikes all over the road. There was an accident caused by this at caves with a truck with Club 100 a couple of years ago. Guy escaped major injury. Another rider killed when doing a u turn hit by a motorbike. There are lots of crashes. Now i see trail runners and walkers have taken to the MTB tracks as well. Follow cars should be banned by clubs. Use a follow motorcycle for technicals and fix the bike on the side of the road. All else fails call an Uber and you can get home or to your car. This is making an overcrowded cradle a lot more dangerous. It's only a matter of time before one of two events or both: - cyclist hits an oncoming runner at speed and injuries are very bad. - cyclist run over from behind by a follow vehicle whilst in the yellow line. I can't wait until after the events when all the people leave and it goes back to normality. Now you know why the cradle is great in december or in winter , although TBH the amount of new people cycling has really lead to a continual large volume of traffic in the cradle. events need to be limited as well, the area is a public area so no permits to run events outside of the public land or on selected weekends should be granted. Oh and BTW week before CTCT the running clubs took it upon themselves to put red cones around their drinks tables in the yellow line therefore cordonning them off and pushing the cyclists in to the road? Under what authority and permits etc? This is a public area and the area should be shared by all for leisure, not for the exclusive use of some riders/runners in an event because they pay an organiser for access. I get there are big events etc which can be planned but it's the small random events that are now springing up every weekend with some guy who has arranged it and then oh boy got his mates in a follow car behind them "because it will be safer". What about all the other people who you are endangering and inconveniencing with your behaviour. never mind the driving on the way in when the guys are lats for their meetup with the club.

BTW interesting feedback post cycle tour - the longest ride i have done with the new setup. So a 20 watt FTP increase on Garmin. That coupled with no foot pains and also shoulders and neck a lot less painful the next day. Very much money well spent on that setup.

Yep i unfortunately believe you are right. I am busy getting the arm warmers out and the wind shells

ha ha SE wind in Simonstown starting to increase in speed :-(.