BigGuy

He does not have helmet hair?! And thank you, now I have the show's intro tune stuck in my head!!

Azonic ek verstaan jou frustrasie. Die oplossing is dat enige IT projek ten minste 'n projekbestuurder en BA moet he, en hierdie persone mag nie jy of jou baas wees nie. Maar dis nie hoe dit in die regte wereld uitdraai nie... Enigste oplossing blyk te wees om jou baas van seksuele teistering aan te kla.

Colonel, I agree with you on that one. Tuesday I had a nice ride, this morning I had to use one gear lighter on all the hills. I did not feel tired, I just could not push the same gear at the same cadence. Obviously I produced less power today, but one cannot simply lose power in two days. So maybe it was something else, like diet, or the wind, or the heat, or the tire pressure, or the saddle, or the vitamins, who knows what. Where I think it could be of benefit is obviously for someone at pro level, where detail analysis can help to achieve better results, or for someone to track his progress via a standard fitness test, let's say once a month on a stationary trainer, when you can witness the trend of heart rate vs watts over time.

Collin, for how much do your gels retail for?

Nothing to worry about. You can climb stairs with a granny and a 32. I made myself a little spreadsheet to see exactly what combination of crank/cassette gives what speed at what cadence. Cassette tooth count: aqas283234252830222426202123181820161617141415121213111111 Typical crank combinations: 484436322622 The gear ratio is simply the crank teeth count divided by the cassette gear teeth count. To work out the typical speed at a given cadence: cadence x wheel circ (i use 2.068m) x gear ratio x 60 / 1000 BigGuy2009-01-07 07:54:30

Oom, ek sal na jou raad luister want jy het ten minste die tan! Al is dit net deur die helmet. Ek verstaan ook dat daar 'n tekort aan skeermesse in Angola is. Miskien is ek bevooroordeeld. Miskien raak ek te oud. Maar ek kan op 'n afstand sien of daardie glibberige mond mannetjie die laaste 6 maande naby 'n trapfiets was, terwyl hy die lofpryse besing van hoe goed die nuutste Scott Genius Limited is. Al wat ek aan dink is hoe ek my haelgeweer oorlaai wanneer hy vir my dogter wil kom kuier.

So you shop at Cajees now? Never been there before, but I might just pop in this year. I have heard that there is a new Solomon's in Woodmead. I am pretty happy with my bike at the moment. Most of the stuff I have bought was from hubbers. It's mainly tires, brake pads and chains that I am replacing nowadays, so these are the items that I stock up on when I find a good deal. My best investment last year was the park tool chain wear checker. Point in case, the boutique store wanted R330 for it, I got it from Mervyn Dinklemann for R100, CRC quotes +- R90.

What irritates me the most these days are the youngsters that work(?) at bike shops, especially the boutique ones. The advice they sometimes dish out is horrendous; "Sir, this Kenda Nevegal is a really fast rolling tire" or, "This Sigma light is brighter than anything else on the market". Fortunately I have learned to research and decide what I want and need before I go into the bike shop. I have filled in lots of those little white postcard thingies at FPC (when they do not have stock of some particular item I need), and I have yet to be contacted. I also find it difficult to accept advice from some pimply, pale-skinned, overweight person regarding any cycling related topic. So I just don't visit these shops anymore. In fact, I cannot find any compelling reason to renew my boutique club membership this year. Enough ranting now, I am actually having a good day.

Going down from Bergplaas, the descent is fast and furious. With about 20km to go, the rolling hills tend to be more downhill than uphill, crossing water streams frequently. Andrea and David hitting the water. Kathy's bike weighs more than 15kgs, but she somehow manages to do the climbs! Respect. Time to get out of the saddle because the butt is taking strain. The end is just 3 short hills away. Andrea patting the 2 "jack russels". Johan (left) and Cindy-Lee (front) proud parents of John-Lee. We repeated the ride on Dec 31, with John-Lee, his girlfriend Arien and Ashley, and a few others whose names I have forgotten, joining us for the fun. I felt much better second time around, eating and drinking enough along the way. BL was not there to take photos, but Kathy took a few. I will try and post them tomorrow.

The climb back to Bergplaas is worse from this side, even steeper and more erosion and rocks. It is about 9.5km from the bottom up to Bergplaas. Looking back on the climb. The owner of the caravan asked that we take photographs of his ordeal. BL turned around to get more photos. At the top at Bergplaas, the views were stunning.

Going up one of the spikes. The first one is about 2km long and very steep and eroded, the second one is a little bit shorter at around 1.5km. I was beginning to suffer badly. At this point BL forced two horrible tasting gels into my mouth. Dare I mention that it was fastfuel? Did not really care much at that precise moment. Gritting the teeth. There was not much wind to help with the cooling, it felt like sitting in an oven. Up to this point I have not used the granny gear, but had no choice, it was just too steep for me. Drinking water from a stream, and washing the glasses just before hitting the big climb. 9 At the bottom of the climb, a 4x4 pulling a caravan(!) having problems with traction. The first 100 metres or so of the climb has a gradient of around 20%! The biker could not believe his eyes as we passed him.

BL posing in a tree. When asked why he is handing out his food and drinks to others, he replied that he does not get hungry or thirsty when going so slowly! Andrea trying out BL's new Anthem. Just past Rooihoek the road turned into a river, and with almost 50km on the odo we decided to turn around at this point. As we turned around we encountered some bikers, I think they were from Germany. "Yoo guyz arr fookin crazee" was muttered more than once. They were on their way to Cape Town and graciously let us have their bottled water! Andrea doing what she does best: climbing. Again, on the way back to the big climb there are two very nasty spikes, draining energy from the body. And it was turning into a very hot day.

At the very top at Bergplaas! Now for the descent into the valley. This was riviting, white-knuckled stuff. Even steeper and rockier than the climb, one mistake and you are out. At the bottom my calves and hands were cramping, never seated and on the brakes all the time. BL and David (below) playing in their back yard. Halfway stop close to Rooihoek. I did not bring nearly enough food along for this kind of effort.BigGuy2009-01-05 06:54:56

The start of the actual climb. I hooked onto Andrea's back wheel, holding on for dear life. The photos do not show how eroded and rocky the road really is. You constantly have to search for the best line. These roads are faster travelled by mtb than by 4x4 vehicles or even off-road motorbikes. On the way up. The incline varies between 10 and 18%, which would not have been so bad if the road was in better shape. Getting out of the saddle is a waste of time, it just results in wheelspin. Waiting for the others at the viewpoint, a welcome rest. 4km of the very steep climb is gone, still 3km to Bergplaas. David reminded me several times: "Not until you see the nameboard 'Bergplaas' are you at the top." Andrea still smiling, I am not anymore. View from the top, beautiful and very satisfying.

BL was hyperactive, jumping around on his bike and chasing up the hills to take photos, then riding back. He had several extra kms on his odo when we were finished for the day. We encountered this cape cobra along the way. Fortunately it was already expired. We saw several snakes during the ride. I do not particularly like snakes... The first hilly bit and I am already suffering. And this is not even the tough part yet. There are a couple of nasty hills in the 10km prior to the actual 7km climb, shortish but very steep. Their main aim seems to be to sap your energy just before you really need it. Meeting up with the ladies. Annelize (left) is David's wife, Kathy (middle) is Adriaan's wife, and to the right is Cindy-Lee (John-Lee Augustyn's mum).

Man! The last 3 weeks in J-bay have been a blast! Only drove back last night. Did some very nice riding around the J-bay area, then met up with Brighter-Lights (BL) and his cycling buddies on the 21st Dec at Heroncliff, just past Patensie. This is part of the route of the Transbaviaans challenge, the interesting hilly bit. I have not done the Transbaviaans (yet), so I was curious about the rumours I had heard regarding the nasty little climb just after halfway of the race. We would tackle the hills from the opposite side, up to a place called Rooihoek, and then back over the hills again. Sounded fairly straight forward at the time! Arriving at Heroncliff with Andrea, David (white shirt) and Adriaan (orange shirt). I'm still all smiles just before the ride. I think it is the only photo where I am smiling! My trusty Anthem served me well during the past 3 weeks. Not one mechanical or flat. Just for the record, the complete bike was purchaced from hubbers: frame, fork and groupset (Haga), seatpost (Hunter), saddle (paulvs), wheels (mtbking81), brakepads (muddee), and tires (carbon911). Thanks guys, everything worked perfectly! Andrea's fine Scott Scale; it weighs almost nothing. BigGuy, David and Adriaan waiting for Andrea to get her tire pressures sorted.BigGuy2009-01-13 06:33:02

I will bring my shovel along. And then maybe the gun as well.

There you go, problem solved.

Had a look at CRC just now and they list the Reba's weight as 1542g, much less than what SRAM's web site states. Weird. Realistically the SID should be lighter as that is what you pay the premium for. I see you can get the black SID 2009 race for about R4500. Not bad. Maybe there's your answer.

It is a Reba Race 07 with poploc. Weight according to the website is around 1700g, so it's about 150-200g heavier than what you have got.

Very very nice! I have been riding the Anthem lately (for about 2 months now), and yesterday afternoon took the XTC out for a spin after fitting a 36t middle ring. Came back all smiles! I might be willing to swop my black Reba Race for your SID, the silver will look cool with the silver paint job. Let me know how you feel about this.

And it really helps if you have an air compressor handy to seat the tire beads...

Lots of roasties though. And then the roadies complain when they get driven over by a car or lose a leg...