nishiki

yuuuuuup!

Agreed. People love to see others fail. It's why bad news sells better than good news. I guess rules these days are just there to be broken as well though. South Africans have learned this right from the top, so why should sport be any different. Same reason Burry got away with a little 'help' during the Epic. Or why we all sit in the shade of Caster's Adam's apple? Where are the days of real sportsmanship with integrity?

err, Lance took 'roids though. how is that fair? oscar is the only one with springy carbon fiber feet. How is that an even playing field. Leave MS/Stig alone though. and Bruce Fordyce, he didnt cheat but he DID have a really twatty hair style. Hansie got a bad deal, and IMO he should not have been so badly treated by everyone. He won enough times fairly to do a couple of shaky deals and get a bit of cream.

A **** load more than running around in the sand chasing a beach volley ball. Maybe next they should have thumb wrestling? Or marbles ;p My votes for some new 'updated' olympic sports: MMA (forget judo, it's lame) Downhill MTB (forget TT, it's old and velodromes are often filled with suspect people) Skateboarding (one of the most culturally influential sports of its time)

Oh please. Beach volleyball!! Sure it's a fun passtime on a hot Summer's day, but don't fool yourself into thinking it is remotely close to the heritage of the Olympics (remember we are coming from gladiators and chariot races) and skill requirement of a gymnast. Maybe we should have beer pong next.

The Olympics lost it's cred ages ago when it allowed jokes for sports like ping pong and beach volleyball become considered. when you take a look at the life of a competitive diver or gymnast, the level of skill and dedication demanded far outweighs these 'sports'. What's next? Olympic darts or hackey sack? WRT Oscar, of course it's not fair. Whether he has an advantage or not, the playing field is not level. The problem is that people don't have the balls to stand up and state the facts. The world has become a place where people are too afraid to say what they feel for fear of stepping on someones toes. Pity

why is there no "UNLIKE" button ?? the problem with your entire post here is that it's a gross generalisation. I work 14 hours a day 7 days a week to have my AC car and snazzy house, and so did my father. In fact, I'm currently classified as disadvantaged (the blacks are 'previously disadvantaged', ergo they are now 'advantaged'). my opinion on the stolen bike scenario here: why cares? just leave it be. every single day we have blatant theft and corruption shoved in our faces right from the top. just move on with your life pal, and guess what, the guy who's bike that used to be either got a new one through insurance, or he learned that living in this rotten to the core country, you need insurance.

Thanks for the input. I don't agree with your points above. I've worked on and built my share of trails in my life. This shouldn't be a prerequisite in a paid for park. Certainly not a basis for the above tone. Happy building One Day After Another And Another Meeting About a meeting.

Hmm. I'm not so sure "altruism" would be the right term for doing someone else's work for them. Each to their own though. I personally don't have the time to dig trails all day. I'd prefer to spend the little free time I have riding my bike. It's unfair of you to judge those who cannot fight your convoluted battle with you. Feel free to waste your time with sanparks. We just moved on to other venues.

Surely with the amount of unemployment in South Africa there could be an opportunity to create permanent work for several people to look after and groom these trails? This would serve the added purpose of there being a few extra eyes to look out for illegal riders (freeloaders) and criminal elements in the park. Not that it's at all wrong, but I'm just wondering why paying customers should be expected to give up free time to do the work of a trail team that should be paid and handled by the parks? It's the same as me hiring someone to move my house but I end up carrying all the boxes myself. Absurd really.

Both of these are excellent posts. Deon, you clearly have a LOT of free time on your hands in order to put up with such a tedious process. Until SANparks take MTB seriously Tokai will continue to decay, until the goose that lays the golden eggs is starved to death. Anyway, I take my hat off to you for fighting the good fight. It's a pity though that you are doing this on your own. There needs to be a stronger body of enthusiasts who take this seriously enough to force changes. Perhaps if enough riders decide to try the other parks out for just a month instead of Tokai, SANparks might feel the impact and take us all seriously. I support Omega Man's opinion though, as I hadn't been riding in Tokai for several months at some point this year. When I returned the decay was noticeable and shocking. Tokai has a lot of potential as a park and the city could do well to realise that places like this sweeten the deal when it comes to tourists. Change needs to come in the form of an improved product with sustainable results. A tall order I know as the Cape is a rough environment to keep groomed. However, parks in Europe manage to go from Ski resorts to trail parks and back every year.

Hello, I've decided to log on here to voice my opinion regarding Tokai. I fully agree with Omega Man's post. I stopped riding at Tokai some months ago as the state of the park is becoming beyond repair. We used to love the freeflowing singletrack in the forests, and at one point, Tokai was really good. All I'm reading from the above is excuse after excuse mixed with long winded bureaucratic nonsense. I don't particularly have the energy to dissect Deon's excuses above, since they stand out by themselves. The reason you have "illegal" trails at Tokai is through sheer boredom and lack of park development. The "sponsors" get plenty of money out of the riders yet it takes years for anything to get done. Deon, if you are in charge of seeing to the trails being cared for then you are doing a p!ss poor job of it. Something you'd be excellent at though is politics. We've voted with our feet long ago, and frequent Jonkershoek and other venues where the craft of trailbuilding is still taken seriously. Other riders should do the same. Take your money elsewhere until SAN parks decides to look at MTB seriously. I'm going to keep an eye on this thread, and I wait with baited breath to see some results. Do you get paid by SAN parks?