ccc2

i fell on my m*** at yesterday's training session. sore hip, elbow and bruised ego will not stop me from doing Die Burger

its probably been sorted by now

our group swerved out just in time on Sunday. gave me a fright as i was about 4th bike. take it up with City Council.

what's that about tit

i think u read the post wrong - it's still in S'dam but has been in montagu and ceres in the past and various other venues closer to CTown.

agree , no matter who is in your team you will always get one or two individuals who think they know how to ride a bike and then go about it by showing how strong they climb up every little hill, suck wheel for an hour then ride off the front and look back with a shrug as if to say "what's up", race off the front in the last 5 k's. imho the event is too big and too expensive. i still hope that all who took part had fun.

i'm also in D.i just can't get myself motivated to suffer up Hels with the bunch so i just ride till i'm caught by the next bunch. my times over the last few years have been ± 2hr.50 ish. i'm not sure in what bunch i rode last year, it could have also been D or maybe C but i have been going backwards since i stopped racing seriously.

i personally would avoid Constantia Nek both ways. its just too narrow to take a chance. you have sufficient options between Fish Hoek, S'town , Kommetjie. their are various loops with a nice climb on each if u do Ocean View / Kommetjie or the first section of OKW , left into silvermine Rd and left onto the Noordhoek rd or FHoek / Black Hill loop. enjoy the sun becos when u get back u won't.

just ride ride & ride, with your son and you'll stop being an idiot. it worked for me.

i've entered so no turning back now.

mtb'ing is the new golf (u have to walk, sometime)

you might be refering to the race ref and 1 support vehicle. i am not a race comm but from my experience the race ref should have neutralised the women when u guys passed them and instructed your group to push up the pace a bit to create a reasonable gap - this would have taken only a few minutes. then the women would have been able to resume their racing. if they had still then caught your group then he should of applied the same conditions to your group. ideally the race ref should be driven so that he can convey instructions to riders. that the support vehicle behaved the way you said it did is totally unacceptable. drop me a pm with all the details

i want to see a tongan,fijian,samoan or an argentinian referee take charge of a test during the 'outgoing tour'. i dare the irb to try it.

scan the o/seas online eshops

i was thinking the same but we run the CC Crit for them and they sponsor the event.

we were alerted to a few cycling billboards in Century City so we had a look on our club ride and found a few familar faces.

Hello Africa, its been bucketing down here today. Yet inside the velodrome its really warm. Bernie’s Kerin was just one of those things as during the heats, although having draw 1, once the derny left the track, the back riders came forward and boxed him in. Not quite sure of this was tactical and intentional, but this effectively neutralized Bernard. In the Kerin Repechage, a tough fought battle saw Bernie earning 2nd place, effectively eliminating him from the Kerin. My son travelled up from Hemel Hempstead to come and say hello and support SA., whilst Katia Bernard’s wife has also joined us in our cubical. This lovely young lady brought us an awesome tin of biscuits from Belarus. Thanks love, much appreciated. Theuns van der Bank rode his Individual Pursuit about and hour ago. Although riding a personal best of 4.40.23 “Dave’s Time”, its my opinion that he was worth more, especially as he didn’t follow instructions and did the first three laps too fast, by a second a lap. This would have cost him 5/6 seconds in the last kilometer. Nevertheless a valuable and worth while learning experience for our your SA Champs. Kellan hasn’t been feeling on form, and although he did an awesome job in the Team Pursuit, Dave feels that he is under recovered, and as such made the decision to withdrawn him from the Points Race and enter Evan Carstens in his place. Next up for the second round of the Points heats is Evan chat later Rog

Sorry but we have been having internet problems here. Yesterday was an off day for many of the riders, as such I along with “Jeanne, Jean and Kellan travelled through to visit the Dolan factory/warehouse and shop. This was about a 45-minute drive away from Manchester towards Liverpool. This provided us with the opportunity to touch base and meet our sponsor, this being Stephen and Terry Dolan from Dolan Bikes. Please see the photo of Jeanne Nell holding his new bike frame as donated by Dolan Bicycles. Thank you soooo much Terry and Stephen for this kind gesture and your support of Cycling SA. In the interim, the other lads had a roller session, at the velodrome, and I believe met Terry Dolan whom had traveled through to Manchester. The team spent the balance of the afternoon relaxing in their rooms, whilst I worked on a power point presentation for addressing the Team Managers that would be present at the managers meeting. We met at 19h00 for supper, which we had pre-ordered, with everybody retiring early for the evening. The rain appears to have stopped today. Dave and I left at around 09h30 for the track accompanied by Kellan and Bernard. Registration was between 10h00 to 12h00, with us being in the queue sufficiently early to be leaving the Velodrome at 10h40. Shopping at ASDA for lunch, which mostly consisted of salad pack of chicken and bacon. We departed for the track again at 12h30 for arrival by 12h45, allowing sufficient time organizing our area and team warm-up which was completed just after 14h00 in time for our allocated time slot of 14h00 – 15h40 Dave and I returned to the track to be present at the managers meeting, which was held at 18h00. Whereas the team were keen to eat at an Italian restaurant, the once we selected on the Internet had been closed, so we returned to the hotel for an eat in supper. Lights out by 21h00. Please see the attached schedule for tomorrow’s team and individual participation Best regards

big up to CTG's for calling a meeting. they did the ppa's job for them. fun rides take place on public roads, safety should be of paramount importance especially for the younger ones who take part in the shorter distances. are the short / medium riders informed that they must keep as far left as possible because the longer distance riders might be passing them?

they say no news is good news - but it's hard to tell. i believe the minister of sport is taking up the fight on behalf of track cyclists. other than that no news

Good evening, An earlier evening and more relaxed day today as we settle in at the Diamond Lodge which is about 3.5 Km from the track, if that much. The weather has been rainy for the past couple of days, hence we have been taking the lads to the track and back in the vehicles, lucky pansies”J “Shame, wittle Theunsie wencie didn’t bwing his bootie wooties, and is too afffwaid to wyd on his own…” On our arrival at the velodrome, I collected all of the accreditation cards which are now required for track entry. Thereafter I collected a road bike that had been arranged for Nolan’s use. Instead of a road ride the team all did a roller session at the velodrome and were back at the hotel by 10h30 for a short relax before our official training time slot, which was between 12h20 and 14h00. Whilst they were doing this, I completed the daily shopping needs with us arriving back at the track simultaneously. This was to be the first time that Nolan had trained with the lads, and is also the first time that he has ridden with a front disc. In his own words, he was a little jittery for the first time. Training went relevantly smoothly, with the sprinters doing timed efforts, which Dave has recorded, I did the one 150 meter effort in which Jeanne Nell did a 5.45 for 150 meters, and Bernard did around a 5.22 whilst the endurance squad did two flying 2000 meter efforts at race pace. 7.49, 15.06, 15.10, 15.42, 15.21, 15.18, 15.71, 15.75, 7.76 = 2.02.68. This was a bit fast as we were trying to control that at around 15.5 second laps 7.76, 15.63, 15.16, 15.21, 15.49, 15.29, 15.65, 15.79, 8.07 = 2.04.05 which is a more realistic pace. To obtain a best performance from a team is an exercise, which is not quite as easy as observers may imagine. During our rest sessions which were 30 – 35 minutes in-between efforts, I obtained a whole host of supplements which were donated to us by British Cycling, These included a box of Protein Shakes after exercise recovery drinks, two boxes of elite gel max, two boxes of elite energy bars, one an oat bar the other dry fruit and cereal. Once again, many, many thanks to our guardian angle and his staff of coaches and mechanics. After training the majority of the riders tucked into the salads that I had bought for them, with us leaving the track at around 14h30. After Dave and I dropped the team off at the hotel, we went to go and swap our van for a more maneuverable car. This is another story L, yet whilst we have a lovely new vehicle, it didn’t save us any money as I was hoping. All had a relaxing afternoon with us meeting in the dining room for supper, which we had pre-ordered at 14h00. The team are very happy as here they are permanently on free wi-fi. Tomorrow is an off day, yet a couple of the team will be in attendance for a light session in our allocated time slot of 09h00 – 10h40 Love from a cold and wet Manchester Best regards Rog

Good evening from Manchester, Apologies for the late newsletter, but it was rather a late night last night, with us booking in at around midnight, at which the local time was amended by an hour here in the UK. As such we are now two hours behind South Africa. We were up early yesterday morning, as I had arranged breakfast for 05h30, with a scheduled departure of 06h00. The previous evening I had purchased some French loaves, ham, chicken, etc., etc., so made some fresh loaves for the team to snack on as we travelled up to Manchester. It rained for the first half of the trip, with it only becoming daylight at about 07h30. We arrived at the Manchester track as scheduled just before 10h00 and off-loaded the van. I was lucky enough to have arrange that we could source our storage container that we would use for the World Cup. As such our equipment is all safely under lock and key. Registration commenced at 11h00, whilst racing started at 13h30. In summary today was a combination of highs and lows. Maroesjka started the day by riding the 200meter sprint and qualified in eight place. Next up were our two sprinters, “Janie and Smittie” whom both rode personal best times of 10.41 by Jeanne Nell and 10.64 by Jean Smith, which I believe is an awesome result. Both felt a little unhappy, as they wanted better, whereas yours truly was ecstatic. Smithies’ lines could have been smoother and tighter which would certainly have improved his time. Endurance followed with Evan and Kellan riding the point’s race for Rouleur, which is a bicycle magazine. Both lads rode a highly commendable race for the first third of the bike race, when unfortunately the monkey climbed on Kellan’s back when he tried to take a lap. At this stage, Kellan was actually on top of the leader board with eight points, whilst Evan had three points. Evan finished with the bunch earning ??? Points whist Kellan’s, who never gave up, along with his monkey was lapped a couple of times. Neither “Janie nor Smittie” made it through to the final qualification of the Kerin, whilst Evan rode the flying lap on behalf of the endurance team in a time of 14.25????? The organizers had arranged supper for the invited competitors, for which we were hugely appreciative of. This allowed the athletes to relax and enjoy the delicious salads, lasagna and beef stroganoff with rice, before laying down to relax and recuperate. The evening’s session started at 19h00 – shoo, what a vibe as the velodrome filled up with enthusiastic spectators and supporters. Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to video our team at the head of the Revolution Team introduction, but please see the attached picture of the Rouleur invitation team which was made up of two elite riders (Evan & Kellan), two future stars girls and two future starts boys, all under 17 years of age. There were 10 team in total, which each category earning points for their team. Maroesjka’s was wasn’t having a great evening, not feeling herself, was the first athlete eliminated from her elimination race, which was followed by the Minor Sprint finals for the elite men, where Janie had qualified in eighth place and had a sudden death ride off against Matt Crampton, just the type of competition that he needs J. Event 16, men’s elimination, after a heavy two weeks, both athletes had made the decision to save their legs for the up-coming two events of the 1Km Madison and Scratch races, as such opted out early in the race. The Kerin minor final for the elite men was an awesome race won by Jeanne Nell – please see the videos on uTube the last lap can be seen on , whilst the final 50 meters of the sprint can be viewed on – The Kerin ended of an evening of racing which provided and awesome and much needed experience for our young sprinters.Maroesjka had a more pleasing scratch ride, finishing just behind the main bunch. Thereafter competing in the 1 kilometer Madison for the first time ever the duo of Carstens and Gouveris posted the credible time of 58.4 to be place second in their heats and fourth overall J, Sitting in the wings, well… not really in the wings was young Bernard Esterhuizen. Bernie was awesome as he used his professionalism and passion in support the lads as our mechanic – it’s awesome to see our focused young lad relaxed and in his element. The men’s scratch race was a fast hard event, will Kellan deciding to up his gear to 101, which backfired a bit. Evan had an awesome ride finishing fifth overhaul and was the second non-pro rider home. We packed our equipment into the storage container as quickly as possible before departing for our hotel accommodation, which is the Airport Hilton, two minutes from the airport. A very special thanks to Phil West and James Pope for facilitating our invitation, as well as Sarah Fletcher for arranging our accommodation. Thanks Revolution organizers for the awesome experience and hospitality that you have afforded us. Bless you. Sleep tight all best regards Rog

Cedar High School formed a club Cedar CC

i would think that you dropping down to ride with a family member (i've done it with my son & daughter) is a bit different than a group of e-f riders dropping down to M and then riding as fast as they can. another problem that crops up is that they pull the 'dropped ones' of the group ahead back. this just makes the groups bigger than what the start marshals originally intended and compromising safety. the West Coast Express was a classic example of 3 start groups merging and swamping the entire R27 in both directions.

i've been following this thread and i think everyone misses the point. ppa don't organise races, Brogue can vouch for this & ppa have stated this in a court of law. so i don't know where racing etiquette or competitive events comes into the equation. it should be just about pure road safety and good manners. i have been a ppa member for a long time as well as a competitive cyclist - i know racing etiquette and it doesn't include asking slower riders to 'keep left'. it is up to the ppa to enforce their safety rules and take bad riders to task. i know it won't go down well but maybe they should force riders to ride in their designated seeded group - like for like. faster seeded riders dropping down so they can dish out the pain are imho just bullies. i would have liked to have seen these riders at the lights by linea race that afternoon tryin to do the same.