Robert Lofthouse

Silly man, Harold Camping. "He said to them: 'It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.'" Acts 1:7. Why people try and figure it out is beyond me, it will happen when it happens, we just need to be ready. People like Harold Camping are contributing to the negative image the many have of Christianity by going off all cooky like this. Yes folks, not all Christians are as crazy as some of those who make the biggest noise. The noisy ones somehow seem to think they have something to prove to the rest of us, and that in itself discredits them, not only in the eyes of men, but also in the eyes of God. Have an awesome, ride-filled weekend everyone.

I think the time has come to start a "Think Car" campaign. The Think Bike campaign was launched to (and I'm paraphrasing here) make motorists aware that motorbikes are around, and everything that you as a motorist do, should be done with consideration that there could be a motorbike near you - in a blind spot, etc, etc. The sentiment has in essence moved over to include cyclists now as well. So, we're asking people in cars to make themselves extra aware of the fact that they share the road with people on Motorbikes and / or bicycles, and that disregarding this could result in an accident which could severely injure the person on the Motorbike/Bicycle. Why then, is it not necessary for people on Motorbikes/Bicycles to be aware of the reverse - that they share the roads with 1.5 to 2 ton vehicles. In my opinion, the responsibility lies in both courts, however I'll even go as far as to say that it is more the responsibility of the Motorcyclist/Cyclist to ensure he/she does whatever they need to do to be safe on the roads that they share with the cars - it is, after all, their own lives on the line. Why the rant? ... well, I've just gotten in from a short drive I needed to do at lunchtime, and witnessed a guy on a scooter (vespa-type, I think) cut from the right hand side of the right lane on a 3 lane road, through 3 lines of cars in an attempt to turn left at the next intersection. He wasn't able to complete his maneuver, because his back wheel was clipped just before he crossed the left lane. He went down in front of the car, and it was only because we were all slowing down for the traffic light that he wasn't rolled over like a piece of pizza dough. He got up, was quite ok (visibly shaken though), and his bike was still operational. He got on his bike and moved along (thankfully only once the light turned green). It could, however, have gone a lot worse. This isn't the first time (and probably isn't the last) that I've seen a motorcyclist/cyclist take very unnecessary risks through traffic and be a hair's breadth away from having a fatal accident. We need to start being aware of the fact that we share the roads as cyclists. Someone I know works with a guy who was knocked off his bike the other day while out training in the morning. He tried to cut in front of an oncoming car and misjudged the speed of the car. We may be allowed to do various things on the roads according to the strict letter of the law, but being a person bike combination that weighs roughly 100kgs should indicate to you that the guy in the 2 ton car is not an adversary that you should be toying with. So, to all you motorists out there ... please, "Think Bike" - you could save someone's life by being a little more aware. To all you Motorcyclists and Cyclists out there .... please, "Think Car" - you could save your own life by being just as aware.

Damn, if I'd only thought about this - I would have had a MUCH better race on Sunday

Eish, she would have caused me problems whether she was riding badly or not ;-) Oops, now I'm being sexist!

Umm, I can't see a single post in this thread which has made this a race issue - stop trying to find drama where there is none dude.

I saw one in the 27900's. Interesting though is that along with all the DNF's, I was late (ok VERY late) picking up my number on Saturday ... the place was already about 3/4 packed up. The boxes with all the uncollected numbers spanned the entire length of the number collection counter - literally thousands of numbers not collected. Whether these people rode without their numbers, or simply didn't ride, I don't know, but the DNS number and DNF number could easily reach the 10,000 mark if the number of finishers is taken into account.

Interesting but true - that would be the year I did my best time. Coincidentally, that was also the year (along with 2006) that I've been in the best condition.

So so with you there buddy. I wasn't specifically looking for any time, just a decent finish, but I was certainly not expecting the 6:27 I finally managed. As others have mentioned, it's purely muscle fatigue - I started with the cramps on Jan Smuts through Rosebank, and they never stopped. Every time the road pointed upward for anything longer than 200 metres, my quads clammed up. It was my own fault though - I'd done zero training, and was actually considering not doing in last week. Ego, unfortunately, got the better of me and I decided that this would be my 9th 94.7 (8th official) and being a "Veteran", I knew what I was doing. Boy was I wrong. Will not be doing it again if there isn't a concrete chance of a sub 3:30, and a chance of sub 3, together with a group F/G start and a few 100kms rides/races under my belt. This might mean that I take another 10 years to do the extra 2 for my 10, sub so be it, I'm not suffering like that again.

I now officially hate you . I klaared out in 1990, also at 85kgs (I was a lean, mean, probably slightly underweight, machine). I increased to a point where I was a constant mid to high 90kilos. I've ballooned (mostly because of a sharp drop-off in activity) over the last four years to high 120's (128 has been my highest). My Problem is that I'm 1.92m, which means I can put on more weight than most, but it shows less, hence the alarm bells don't actually ring in a timeous fashion.

All you lightweights (yes, that's all of you, but especially those who are crying about being half my weight ;->) need to stop complaining. Seriously though, I've lost 5 kgs (from 127 to 122) in 2 months, and going strong. One thing I did notice is that while the trend has been generally down, my weigh-ins fluctuated quite a bit from time to time. I put it down to extra fluid I might have drunk, food that hadn't passed through my system, etc. The important thing is the general downward spiral. I'm taking it easy to start with, doing circuit work at the gym, running and cycling. My blood pressure has been a little high recently, hence the commitment now to get myself back in hand. 4 Years ago, I weighed in at 98, and did a 3:05 95.7. I aim to get back there, and further (95 is the goal, yes, that would be 32 kgs off in total). Keep going all of you, weight loss may not be on the forefront of some lucky people's minds, and I truly hope myself and all of you can one day soon be at the same stage where healthy living, eating, and exercising is so entrenched in our lives that we too never have to be concerned with our weight again.

Of course it does, duh. Sorry, I've had an ultra boring day, and I'm sure it's turned my brain to jelly, that should have been obvious to me. Thanks for the explanation.

Exactly, too many people are comparing mountain biking to road biking instead of comparing the Mountain Bike to the Road Bike. The MTB can ride on the road far better than the Road Bike can ride on an offroad trail, so a road route done once on an MTB and once on a Road Bike would be the measurement you're looking for.

Please explain the bolded bit to me like I'm a sperm cell. If you're travelling at 50kph, then the surface of your tire is moving along the ground at 50kph. The air (assuming there's no headwind) is hitting the surface of that tire at the same speed - 50kph, which will be the same speed it would hit you. How can you just double that number?

Sorry if I sounded pessimistic, I didn't mean to be. I'm all for this, it's fantastic news. I just wish there was more info available than "We're having a new tour", and "Things are going to be great and world class from now on". Some specific details of what they plan on implementing regarding the intended new direction, and how they plan on actually implementing these changes would be really great.

Thanks for the insight, perhaps you could delve into your considerable vocabulary to find some more meaningful words to express why it is you think the way you do. Go on, I challenge you, although it's a challenge I'm sure you'll lose!

It's a fantastic announcement, and the plans for a tour and (from what I heard on Supercycling last night) some sort of pro league sound awesome. I'm delighted that our licence fees are finally going to be put to some tangible use, as that's been overdue for a while now. One concern - I read about the announcement on news24, with supertsport.com carrying the same story, but I can't find any other details about the plan anywhere. Is the new strategy comprised solely of just the new tour, or is there more to it than that. If there is more (and for a 10 year plan, I would assume as much), then what is it. The most concerning is that not even CyclingSA.com is carrying the story of the announcement. Now call me out for nit-picking, but surely if you're going to announce the turning of a corner in the way things are run, surely you should start by getting all the information released in an efficient manner, and at the very least announce it on your own website. If I'm wrong, and have missed the announcement on their site somewhere, I'm only too happy to be corrected, and if the new detail is not available because it's been stated somewhere that the detail will be released at a later date, then I'm also happy to be corrected and pointed to that information. As it stands though, I'm not actually that impressed about the way this very basic of steps, the announcement, has been handled.

I was actually going to start a new thread on pretty much this topic, but more oriented around asking what I need to look for if I were to purchase all the bit and pieces for an entirely new bike, but seeing as this thread pretty much covers the same ground, I'll just take it further. I'll elaborate just a bit - I've decided to embark on a little project, and that is to buy a new bike for myself, not all in one go, but rather over time. The one way I can think of doing this, which will turn it into a little project, is to purchase one or 2 components at a time, with the final few purchases being the pricey ones (wheels, frame, etc). The other way, of course, is do buy it and pay it off ... Blegh!!! My problem is the same as Sean07's - I don't know much about the technical issues that my endeavor will present to me. I'll be looking at products in the "slightly above mid range" category - ie, not cheapo, budget components, and not top of the range stuff. I'll probably be looking at a hard tail Specialised or Giant frame. What pitfalls should I be looking for to avoid? Am I being stupid and asking for too much trouble by doing this? Are Spec and Giant frames that would allow me to pick from a wider range of products than, say, 'dale or trek would? Should I rather be deciding on, and buying, the frame first and then get the components to fit? Should I be looking at other, better brands that are more suited to this kind of project? Am I being short sighted looking at a Hardtail over a Full Suss (I've been away from the scene for too long, so costing is a black hole to me). It seems the Tech section of the Hub is still a good place to come for advice, the rest of the place seems to have degenerated into a flame-fest and ego booster, so I'm pretty sure you lot that hang around here will be able to answer pretty much everything very competently. Thanks all in advance.

Too true, but then the opposite is also true ... Never say that Lance DOES NOT Dope ....... NEVER!!! ;-)

Well ... that's just not cricket, old chap!

Ex-Roadie , but I guess his history and pedigree still firmly qualify him as a Roadie, so you guys can still lay claim to him ... for now

Gobbo is a goblin in the modern incarnation of Noddy. Together with his buddy Sly, they wreck (or attempt to) havoc on towtown. Hobbits are noble beings and would never have such crass names as "Gobbo" Edit:Dang - Gobbo himself beat me to the explanation ">

I smell a troll! 2 reasons - 1) Shouting that this "new" bunch start setup has no place in a national series/seeding race when it's been done for years in MTB races as well as road races, and 2) Saying that you support seeding, but that everyone must still start together. So what's the point of being seeded ahead of someone if you're going to start together with him and 1000 of his buddies. I rode with a large group of friends, and met a few people at the race that I either knew directly, or indirectly (through the aforementioned friends), and each and every single one of those people have a result and a time that is within a few seconds of what they thought they'd done. So while in your small bunch, you found so much at fault, I found no fault at all in my large bunch. ps. the neutral zone is there to ensure the safety of you and I, the participants. I'll pose a similar question that Regard did - How loudly would you be shouting if there had been countless crashes in the first few kms because people were acting like maniacs trying to race each other when there was no space to do so.

Seems to be browser related problem. I can see the problem described on IE, but it's fine for me with Chrome and Firefox. Hmm, maybe it's just an IE thing then.

Not that it makes much difference to your reasoning, but it's worth noting that Edenglen Cycling (the club Scotty mentioned) is not the same as Edenvale Peddlers. Not that I know much about either, but I do know the Edenglen Cycling have weekly group mtb rides is the edenvale area. Not sure if Edenvale Peddlers do, when I was looking at joining them (admittedly, many years ago), they were a road only outfit. As I said, probably not an overly important detail, but a detail nevertheless.