Natural Defender

My wife and I were for a short while watching the men 60+ and women 50+. On one of the first laps of the race the men came past us as we standing at the Lady Loch bridge intersection. The men were racing with a farm truck right behind them and in the truck's slip stream was a hand cyclist. The race commissioner was trying to get the truck out of the way. The commissioner was overtaking the truck on the wrong side of the road around a corner where there was a solid white line. That was an accident which has was about to happen. That was a very unsafe moment in the lives of all the riders especially the para cyclist would have gone under the wheels of the truck should it have braked suddenly. The commissioner was trying to manage a situation which was totally out of his or her control.

An interesting read though.

Well said. There were guys at every gate that was open. A lot of co-operation from the land owners. I was at the front end and thanked them. One even returned the compliment by saying, "Welcome Dad".

Raced today. The track was very good with some tough climbs. Thanks Wendell I see there was a number of people taking pics around the track. Is there any chance of seeing them posted somewhere?

That is fantastic for Buys. Good luck lads. You have my support.

Thanks for the info

I checked the rim tape. It is in order

Just read a review on the Weirwolf. Seems to be a good tyre. I am in Josie, any idea who may stock them? When I was looking at tyres, I considered Ritcheys. The weak side walls put me off.

I built a 650b bike and put Schwalbe Rocket Ron tyres on the carbon rims. The front tyre has been no problem. It is grippy and the tyre went on the rims with no effort at all. The rear tyre has been a different kettle of fish altogether. It went on the rim with no problem, but the tyre would go down in the space of half an hour. The sealant was sufficient, the valve not leaking. I would then pump the tyre to 3 bar and shake the wheel vigorously on each side. The side wall would show signs of leaking, as the sealant made small droplets all over the sidewall. This process I repeated daily for 2 weeks, until I was able to go for a 2 hour ride without issue. I even changed the sealant as I thought it was not working correctly. Today I go for a ride and I get a cut on the tyre right next to the rim. This tyre has been the biggest waste of money I have spent on a tyre. When I bought them I wanted a tyre which was reasonably light, grippy and a fast roller. I have for the last 10 years being using Maxxis and wanted a change with the new bike. This has been an extremely disappointing experience. Now, what tyres are reasonably light, tough and fast rolling for racing?

What is the advantages in going for a wider external rim width of 30mm compared with 25mm? I race xco and marathons.

I know I have left it a long time. Spring is here, time to dust the winter "sorry for yourself" off and get riding again. This time last year I was riding in the Tour For Life, an event for the beneficiary of Doctors Without Borders. 8 days 1500km from Bardonnecchia in Italy to Valkenberg in Holland. It took in Alpe du Huez, Col de Madeleine, Col de la Croix de Fer and many more. The fittest I have been in years and now I am the fattest in years. It is time to "live a little" again.

I was treated by the St John's ambulance officials on duty after they were called by the organisers. I also sent them an email the evening after the accident in which I informed them I do not know who owns the horse and I was too injured to find out. I asked them to investigate and find the owners and if they did not come back to me that I would hold them responsible. I have also considered the small claims court. This does not seem like a huge issue to pursue. Their rules of the event state that if an owner is found to have his horse in that area he will be liable for a R500 fine.

Early July this year, I went to help my mate at the Fauresmith Horse Endurance Race in the town of Fauresmith, Free State. This a 3 day 200km event. At the end of the first day, when we got the horse fed, recovered and stabled, I went for a ride on my bike. The setting in this Karoo town is beautiful and the weather was very favourable. So I went out for an hour, returning just before dark. The way the area is set out, is the horses are stabled in an area which is fenced off and next to this is an area, also fenced off where the humans live. People bring caravans and erect tents on demarcated sites. ACCORDING TO THE RULES, NO HORSE MAY BE IN THE HUMAN LIVING AREA. I entered the human camp and was about 150m away from our caravan, when I saw a horse galloping at full speed along the graded road towards me. I tried to get out of the way of this obsessed beast, but was not able to do so. The horse collided with the rear end of the bike and sent me flying. The damage to the bike was a broken rear triangle of my Specialized Epic, 2007 model. The chain rings are bent and obviously the wheel is buckled. Out of interest, the tyre did not lose pressure. I sustained a severely bruised left quad, which has needed fluid being drained off it a number of times. My leg is still sore and has scar tissue damage. Need to have further physio carried out on it. I am not sure if the horse was injured. Too concerned for my own wellbeing. I left Fauresmith very early the next morning to return to Johannesburg for medical treatment. I don't know who owns the horse. I have sent letters to the organisers claiming compensation for the damages to the bike, but they say it has been referred to their lawyers, meaning I need to employ a lawyer to try get some money out of them. Hence my post in the classified section, where I am looking for a rear triangle for this bike. All I can say is that should the horse have made contact with me half a metre closer to the front wheel, I personally would have been struck. The outcome would have been extremely severe, broken bones at least. Thank goodness that did not happen.

I did a ride from Italy to Holland last year. I took my own bike. Was going to take a cardboard box, but Dunkeld Cycles kindly lent me a bike bag. Flew on Air France. The cost of the bike was R1700 each direction. It was expensive but worth it. Not difficult to put the bike together. You need to consider if you are moving around. Bike boxes take up big space. You are in unfamiliar territory. There are no bike shops in the Alps, so you need to be self sufficient. Ride the mountain passes. They are amazing. You will not experience anything like them in South Africa. The roads are full of people riding them all day long..........without helmets I must add....................crazy, as the decents are fast and can be very dangerous. Many cars give you space, but like here, I had a few narrow misses. Have a blast. Cheers

Voted to get her home

I sat on the edge of my seat during the Olympic cross country race yesterday. When Burry made contact with the leading group, I thought he was in with a chance to win. I am sorry he did not achieve his goal of a medal, but hats off to him, he battled all the way to the finish. Well done Burry, you did us proud. Cheers

I see there is a 200km Audax on 24 June. Anyone know where the ride is from? Cheers

So it is Saturday afternoon. The park is also closed. Does this place even exist or is it someones imagination? Grumpy that it was not open. I was not the only person in that frame of mind. There were numerous people wishing to ride.

I look at Audaxsa web site from time to time. There is very little info there. This 300km ride on Sunday, is it Jhb or Cape Town? No details on web?

The battery of my polar watch goes flat on a training ride yesterday. Call Polar this morning, the first time they can help is 8 May. This is shockingly poor service. Unless there is another place where I can change the battery on a 725 model it is no training recorded for almost 3 weeks. I have recorded every training session since October last year Where else can I take this watch for a battery? The arrogance of Polar is shocking. m2cw.

Who was taking the photos at the race and where can we view them.

I did and I like.

This looks like inspiation from SA Cup race in Durbanville??????

I will be racing it on the 4th so will meet you this Saturday to have a look. Cheers, Tony

http://www.cgcycling.co.za/disciplines.asp