Dubber

we need a full review. Also good to know estimated costs for those looking to bite the bullet. Looks great!

Thanks. I have a friend who can't ride. Want to take over his entry, but don't see any options on the website. Will try mail/ring them...

subs still open?

Agreed... When doing the N7 bit we had the marshal next to us asking everyone to stay in the YELLOW line...

I'm with Sanlam - never asked for S/N... I had a bike shop do a valuation of the bike and gave that to them - with photos of the bike. No questions asked...

Off topic, but what type of diet you following?

If you plan on riding 'loads' then annual membership is the way to go. Average trail cost is around R50 - and you can easily do three trails in 1 day. So, 5 days riding and you break even. And you get to use all the links/traverses etc Just do it!

Agreed. I finished top 20 twenty in the group. But the time/index is nowhere near the next seed group. I think there should be a 'free for all' seed group. Only requirement is you do your turn at the front! I'm sure this Group would be faster than most of the groups - not because of seeding, simply because everyone in the Group is working to a common goal

I'm 0.1 off the next seed group

In it's current form I agree. But, I do believe, as avid cyclists it is our responsibility to contribute to the health and wealth of cycling in the country. Health that supports new events (or recently launched events) and wealth that goes to development of young riders and funding of national riders. This should come via the national cycling body (or another national body of some sort). I will gladly pay my R250 a year if the above was happening. I have no interest or need for additional health cover, discount car hire etc etc. Sadly, in the current CSA form, this is not happening and I (an I assume most others) are reluctant to stump up the money to pay for someone's new BMW (assumptions I know)...

I hear you Andrew. Having been involved in Clubs of different sports at various times I know that 95% of all the work is done by the same 5% of members every year. It's a thankless task. But each year, those 5% volunteer again (with hopefully one or two new faces. Why - because they love the sport/club. I do think there are enough cycling passionate individuals in this country that could make a better run of the CSA than the current lot. Yes, I'm sure that some of the staff/volunteers at CSA are breaking their backs trying to make it work, but I suspect some of the more influential/higher ranked officials may not have the same agenda. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that, should the top positions at CSA be advertised as vacant tomorrow, you would have 3 or 4 applications for each position by the end of the week. Their paper qualifications may not be on par with the current 'leaders' but they would have cycling as their first priority. And quite frankly, I doubt they could do a worse job than the current leaders.

I want CSA to work. I really do. I think there is enough talent in SA to be a force to reckon with on the international stage. And one way (not the only way) for them to get to said stage is via a national body. Unless our young riders see a well marked out path to success, they will either leave for greener pastures or follow different sporting codes... That said, CSA are showing no signs of changing their ways (that I can see). The fact that they still show Rob Booth as their financial controller even though he is now in Australia just gives me the feeling they are trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. Disclaimer: the above statement assumes Rob has indeed moved to Aus and assumes he is not working for CSA remotely ;-)

same thing on my side. Not sure if payment cleared?

Edit: It is ridiculously flat https://www.strava.com/activities/1108245134 374 meters elevation over 160km?? Wow - that's like riding through the freestate ;-)

I can smell the thatch from here :-) Looks like a nice set up. I'm hoping you have a big stacker or sliding door off to the right where you can enjoy the evening thundershowers while you ride.

Didn't Carbon29er from TheHub take up a financial role at CSA shortly after the *** hit the fan? (To sort it all out - he had nothing to do with it). He struck me as a fairly straight up guy who didn't mince his words. I was hoping we would get some progress reports direct from the horses mouth - but see he hasn't been on TheHub for a couple months now...

We had the same scenario. B group just didn't want to work together. So we went through at (what I felt was) a fairly sedate pace. About 50 from C group did catch us (don't think it was whole of C). Enough to swell the bunch to a size where a number of riders chose to go over the white line at numerous points. The upside to the pace was I still had some legs for the finish and had PB's up all the climbs. A good ride. Weather played along. Marshals were all great. Organizations as good as could be. Thanks 99er TEAM!

Got to add something about the EXPO in there. And maybe a question or two about what deep sections to run on newly tarred chapmans decent ...

yep - I'm sure I could come right with one of those. Thanks!

I don't need that one specifically - any brand will do for now. It's a one off project that I need to measure some angles...

cheers - thanks. I was hoping to find somewhere local where I could pop around and pick one up. But if I don't come right at least I now know where I can get a decent one at a reasonable price. Cheers!

Not woodworking specific but thought you guys would know if anyone does: Where can I get something similar to the image below (builders protractor - not sure of the exact name)... Tried the local hardware stores with no luck.... Thanks

Hey Skubarra - do you have a link to the new tariffs? Cheers

I'm not a runner - but from mates that are, it's all about intervals :-) I'm sure the runners will give you some more advice.

It's a good article and makes for interesting reading! Clearly a lot of work and effort went into it. A great addition to the article would be a year on year cost comparison for entries. For example 10 years ago (2007) the long route entry fee was R160. This year it was R350 - around 110% price increase. Is that too much? Are there more/less/same number of riders out there - but fewer entering events because of prices? Is the drop off in events because of fewer entries or fewer riders actually entering. I agree that the number of junior numbers is a worry. Could it partly be attributed to the competitive nature of youngsters who want to race by nature - but events are limited? Conversely, it appears mtb jnr numbers are increasing and this could be attributed to the increase in number of school events (spur league etc). Lots of questions, not a lot of answers...