georgev

Stolen: silverback Splash 1 2014 When: 1 May 2015 Where: Cape Town, Western Cape Theft of wheelset off a locked bike Get further details about the incident in the Stolen Bikes section

Thanks man. Keep an eye out for this retro golden bullet on next years Argus. She is going to be teaching all those ridiculously expensive carbon machines a thing or two about riding in style. All I need to find now is an old team Rossin jersey, some matching silver/gold lycra bibs and a sony walkman and I am set to do some serious damage. Yeah baby!

Howzit guys/gals - Die Burger was a great race this year - I recon the course was faster as the clay in the vineyards was much more grippy and way more fun to bomb than when its dry - only problem was I burped the front tyre on a super fast corner and ended up dropping too much time to stay in the batch. Here are my gripes though. 1) Saffas descend and ride single track like girlies - its a fact. Whenever the fun starts I end up having to hang onto the brakes because the superfit hardtail climber who trains all week on his roadbike infront of me descends like my wife - please guys - ride more single track, and learn to descend and bomb the singletrack - you have no idea what you are missing. When I did the BC bike race last year I realised I rode like a girl too. Came home and realised that we all ride that way. Every time you touch your brakes you are wasting energy/time so learn to trust your bike and give it horns. 2) The really *** part of the race is when most of the 60k riders have to sit in the queues behind the slower 40 k riders on the last section - and these guys are reeeally slow - this isn't fun. It would be better if the organisers timed the route differently or sent the other routes elsewhere so we can get the times we deserve!

hey Guys, only found this thread today, check out my latest project at https://www.bikehub.co.za/gallery/album/1116-rossin-prestige-retro-italian-steel/ right here on the hub. Its a beautiful bike with new gruppo that rides like it's on rails. Whenever the weather is peachy she takes me for a ride over Chappies and Suikerbossie and back - man it's good. Every other bike I pass by looks like a plastic tin can that will be in the trash 5 years from now. I am curently building up a stunning Merckx stada OS for the wife - will post some pics of this baby in the albums section as soon as she is done, managed to save the original decals and paintjob - she is just awesome. Steel is real baby!

What works for me on multiday rides. After finishing a stage head straight to the bikewash and clean my rig properly and check for damages. Next grab bag, get tent and head off to the showers early (less congestion) - I wash my outfit in the shower with shampoo, hang it up and its good to go the next day. Next stop is food, start eating early to get insulin levels up to aid tissue repair and muscle buildup. Next - take out a mat, put on pressure tights and settle down with mates and beer and stretch, stretch and stretch and talk lots of ***. Next - check and lube rig and make double sure everything is good to go for the next day - book bike in early if it needs work. Next - suppertime - eat and drink some more Next - make up Perpeteum, fill water bladder and put out clothes for next day. Next - zopiclone and lala land (I usually take along a bivvy bag as well - if the campsite is noisy, hot or crowded I just find a nice quiet spot under a tree somewhere and rather kip there. Other things that work for me- pre ride stretching aids recovery and helps to prevent injury. Start each day slowly and warm up properly before giving it horns. On long days only give it horns (if you still can) when you are 3/4 through the days ride. Drink when thirsty, take in fuel every hour. If there is lots of hectic single track climbing, a small section of foam taped to the top tube can save your knees from critical small bangs that can easily flare up into full blown bursitis as the days go by

I agree, last year out at the BC Bike race all the top guys basically race as low as they can go without burping on tubeless setups. Soft tyres grab like velcro and are way more comfortable. For those of you who believe a harder tyre is faster offroad read this bit of research (http://www.mtbonline.co.za/info/mtb-tyre-rolling-resistance.htm). I weigh 70kgs and run a fat 2.3 Rocket Ron up front at 1.4 Bar and a 2.2 Ralph in the rear at 1.6 Bar. Never had a problem. Key is good tubeless tyres and rims - decent wheels are the single best investment you can make to improve your ride and times!

Heres my std Sani2C run up at Tokai - Single track climbing up Fairy Garden, then Vasbyt then a skip over to Boomslang and Mamba - all sections are climbable with the odd detour - from there drop down a section to traverse along Boulders and then catch level 5/6 jeep track to Silvermine gate and from there up to the loop around the top of Noordhoek peak - take in the view of Hout bay and Dungeons and then bomb down all the way to level 5 again before a nice little climb up to the Constantiaberg Mast - on the descent Boomslang/Mamba/Vasbyt and the kiff little section of steep switchy My Roots completes a ride that comes pretty close to a half day on the S2C - ( http://irideafrica.com/trail-maps/) - I recon a big mistake a lot of guys make is not to climb on the steep singletrack and rather opt for long boring ass-numbing outrides - climb as much of the really narly stuff as you can in your training, its a way better workout - builds VO2 max like a majic bullet

Wow! If I crunch the numbers you guys suggest then if my average speed on this Argus on a MTB was 30.1km/h for a 3h38 time - and I got that up to 33km/h on a roadbike that would bring my time in to 3h20 min and at 35km/h I could be heading for 3h07. Sounding awfully tempting. Makes me wonder how many potential sub-3 diehard mountainbikers were out there bobbing and mashing away on their FS bikes with knobblies and all!

Hi guys. I would appreciate a bit of advice from you seasoned roadies out there. I do all my riding on an MTB and have done 2 Argus' now because it is just such a beautiful and festive ride. Last year took off unseeded at 10am and managed to cut my way though the traffic to get 3h45 in perfect conditions. This year I got a Q batch seeding and with my Anthem X2 down to 11,2kgs with slicks, front lockout and 130psi in the rear shock managed 3h38. Most of the time I could hang on but on the straights after Smits and the fast run from Lundudno I got left for dust. Also noticed that the roadies streamed past up Chappies but not up Suikerbossie? My question is twofold - firstly, by how much could a reasonable roadbike improve my time and enjoyment on this ride and secondly, if it's worth it, what spec bike is reasonable for a guy who is going to dust it off and ride only one or two races a year? Any comments or personal experiences would be much appreciated.

I guess you guys have a point here, bombed down Main Rd, Palmyra, Liesbeek Parkway, Albert Rd and finished off on the IRT cycle track today. 25 min from my doorstep to the station and 30 min to the Waterfront. No way I can do that in a car at 07h30 am. It also makes sense to bike in heavier traffic as the cars are moving slowly. Only problem now is the pollution. I recon if there was an uninterrupted cycle track all the way down the railway line we would beat the trains and all the traffic easily.

Got a nifty Giant Halfway over at Olympic cycles in Landsdowne Rd - I find it's most usefull when I travel by plane, just check it into oversize and have something to cruise around with on the other side. I sometimes catch the train home from Obs and at rush hour it can be a dogshow trying to get on. The rest of the time train/folder bike commuting is actually very easy.

Thanks for all the info guys. I been cruising google maps and have finally answered my own question and tested what I recon is the safest and flattest way into town though its MTB only and from the top of Kenilworth to the Mayors office takes 35 to 40 odd minutes. There is unfortunately a lot of rule breaking on this route but I still figure its safer than hanging around in the traffic. Take a look and let me know what you think. http://maps.google.co.za/maps/ms?msid=215290583496162019597.0004b04722a41c2417681&msa=0&ll=-33.96899,18.452568&spn=0.095243,0.105743

Hi guys. I have been trying to commute by bike from the Southern suburbs into Cape Town for a while now and it is absolutely insane - how do I complete this journey without getting taken out by a truck or a minibus or a mugger and without choking on carcinogenic diesel fumes? I have tried the contorted trail down the Liesbeek only to end up on lower main road in Woodstock dodging traffic en route to the Table View/City cycle lane. I have also tried going over Rhodes Mem - this takes over an hour and cycling alone up there just isn't safe. Tried the train with my fold-up bike but often I can't get on cos the train is so full. Has anyone worked out a relatively safe route yet? WTF is up with city council - I am trying to go green here but am going to end up in hospital at this rate. Why can't they just build a small lane along the Southern railway line - if there was such a route we could all beat the traffic easily! Even a dedicated fenced off lane along the freeways would be better!