ShaughnK

RIP Burry. This is terrible terrible news. Words fail me.

OK Sorry. I have edited my original post. I was trying to say he stopped them for a reason, not because he was "hungry or thirsty'

So I heard a story that on Saturday morning a group of cyclists out for a club training ride in Umhlanga were pulled over by a Traffic Cop and given stiff fines, the leader of the group was arrested and taken off to Jail and the support vehicle was also stopped and fined. It sounded like he fined them for obstructing the road and not riding in single file, etc. which seems a pretty dubious reason. I havent seen it mentioned on the Hub anywhere. does anybody know details. Reasons for the fines etc ?, perhaps a crackdown on Rude Roadies ? I heard it was a big Afrikaans traffic cop that arrested them, no racial incidents involved and he certainly wasnt going to be open to financial 'inducement'.

I dont think Jan from Clearwater goes that far down the coast. anyway it isnt a day trip from The Haven back to Port Edward as you have to go via Umtata. Maybe call the hotels around that area and ask them, e.g Hole in the Wall. Haven, Coffee Bay. They will be used to riders coming past and can probably hook you up with the contact details of whoever organizes the rides. They probably wont mind sharing a bit of local info with you. Alternatively they can possibly recommend day rides starting from their hotel. Enjoy. Its a great part of the world. Re safety. Put it this way, most (not all) rural folk down that part of the country normally simple,friendly types. December can be a bit on the edgy side as city slickers/workers return home to Transkei for Holidays. Drink too much, time on their hands etc. Hijacking an mtb slowly trundling past might be a fun way to pass the time and show off. I would suggest not riding alone if you can avoid it or just be bloody careful if you do.

Done. Will try and encourage my cycling buddies to do it as well. Edit: I saw the home page had a FB share. good idea to share it on FB.

I was in SportsMans Warehouse yesterday and at the Thule stand they have a big sign warning prospective purchasers that you need to ensure your number plate is visible after fitting any of their bike racks. Thats fair enough I think.

Sent you a pm

Holla trails or Giba are always fun, just not on your own. I suppose it depends how far you plan to ride in those 3 hrs :-) Us weekend warriors will ride 35 odd ks in that 3 hrs with a suitable coffee break in between. Probably a good idea is to call Storm Ferguson. He can see you right with a Temp cane licence and possibly hook you up with a group that is at your level. We trundle along at a non Sani2c pace, but I know a couple of his mates are training for the Ride to Rhodes and the Freedom Challenge. I will forward you his weekly email to the email address in your profile if you like.

Up till now I would have always said that a GPS will be damm accurate, but last weekend I did a Cane ride with a friend. He has a Garmin Edge 500 and I use a Bryton 35 . We both hit the Go button as we rode out on a 38 Km course. When we got back we compared distances travelled and there was a 500m distance difference. ie. mine read 38.7 Km and his 38.2 Km. Yet we had ridden together the whole way. So not so sure anymore on accuracy.

I have had the 35 for about 6 to 8 months or so. Works well for me as a weekend warrior. Especially enjoyed being able to set up the screens to display the data I like to see on the main screen and move other stuff to a second screen. Upload the rides afterwards to the Bryton Website which auto drops them into Google maps. hmm.... Although it takes away the coffeeshop... the "yeah reckon I did a hectic 50ks today in the tropical heat " and replaces it with "erm yeah... 32.25ks at a gentle gradient not exceeding a rating of 1 with an average temp of 25 deg c. " I have the cadence sensor and Heart monitor but havent tried them out. Bryton have done multiple Firmware upgrades as they iron out the bugs. Nice thing is that as you logon to the Bryton website it automatically upgrades the firmware on the GPS.

All good Advice so far, also check if any of your Local Bike Shops (LBS) have any 2011 bikes for sale that they are discounting. The son of a friend picked up a large frame 29er MTB for one helluva discount a couple weeks back because the lbs was keen to move it to make room for 2012 stock. Once you have your bike enjoy riding We have some awesome places to ride in Durbs and if you are really quick you might still be able to pick up a 2012 EMBA licence.

http://www.clearwatertrails.co.za/ Go through to Clearwater Trails in Port Edward. I dont think they open that early, but they will probably let you pay on exit.

I remember this guy clearly. I think Carte Blanche or perhaps SKy did a show on him some years back. He used to do his beat on an MTB. The local criminal populace hated him because of the amount of arrests he used to make. I hope he pulls through.

Buy Tread Mag. Havent missed an issue. Ride Mag, the odd edition.

No idea what make/model of pedals they were. So they might not have been spds. Its a story he often repeats when the subject of cleats comes up. If I remember correctly it was a bike he was keen on buying and took it for a test spin from the LBS. He ended up walking back up the road to the shop in his socks. luckily not too far.

Loosen the cleat spring a bit. I purchased some new Shimano pedals this weekend put them on my MTB and then rode round and round the garden cleating and uncleating, stopping and adjusting with the allan key to get it just right. Remember to adjust both pedals. Do it a turn at a time. Remember that it does take practice though till it becomes 2nd nature. We all fell a couple times at first till we had the hang of it. :-) Reminds me of a mate that forgot to adjust the cleats before his first ride, he jumped on and sailed off down the road, when he tried to uncleat at the first stop he discovered to his horror that nothign would get his shoes loose. Eventually he lent against a stop sign and unstrapped his shoes to get off.

Tread Mag I buy religously whenever it comes out. Always enjoy it. Love the recycled paper idea. Ride mag I buy a couple times a year. Only buy Bicycling if I am stuck at the Airport and have already read the other 2.

The Giba annual licence is good value for money as already suggested and why dont you go in and see the guys at Mavericks cycle shop in central Hillcrest. They are exclusively MTB and generally have group rides a couple times a week. If you join their Mavericks club they will might also be able to get you a cane licence in the new year.

I am keen. how much and where ?

Perhaps mention where you are from. Probably find somebody can recommend a Bike shop in your area that is newby friendly.

Did you also purchase a 1000 Lenovo's to enable you to make any proper comparison at all....... or are you just the normal prejudiced Hubber??????? Good point Mr H. Actually, the answer is yes we did. We used Dell for about 10 yrs and then for the last 3 years we have bought Lenovos. So I am making a direct comparison between Dells & Lenovos Service and support. I am not commenting on HP's, Siemens or Apples because I have no experience with them in large numbers although my wife uses an HP.

Best ride I ever did, but we did it in Aug, so the rains hadnt arrived yet, helluva dry and dusty. looks nice and green in those pics though. Would love to do it again in a couple of years.

I was looking around for my kids and Gumtree has some bargains, in fact bought them both decent 2nd hand bikes off Gumtree, but you need to be patient until the right bike comes along and also make sure you dont get conned. Genuine Bargain stuff starts at around R2k it appears. less than that is generally el-crappo makro stuff somebody is trying to unload. Something else to take into account is that you are going to need some decent riding gear and a proper helmet if you dont already have kit. good luck.