Oceana

Thats the real reason. Cycling is so easy that anyone can do it.

But this particular person isn't just working for you he is the Managing Director of the new company. The previous company wasn't exactly known for its continuity of supply or customer service so it would be nice to know who is involved in the new company, and their committment to customer service.

So any idea of who the top "proper" amateurs are at this stage?

The Police falls under National Government which is exactly why there is a Commission of Enquiry presently investigating policing in Khayelitsha. The Western Cape Local Government has no say in policing in the Western Cape region.

Of course you are correct in what you're saying. My comments are very specific to the Sea Point area because I live here and cycle and drive Beach Road every day. What I have noticed with regards to the Sea Point area and specifically Beach Road is that motorist behaviour has actually improved. Motorists for the most part will move over to the right hand lane when passing and provide plenty of space when overtaking. They also seem to understand that its Argus time of the year and that there will be more cyclists on the road. You must remember that its a hell of a busy road and we also now have MyCiti bus on it as well so when they stop they also take up the whole left hand lane. Unfortunately cyclist behaviour has got worse. There is definitely more 2 abreast riding, definitely more abuse, and more disregard for the rules of the road. I don't know why this is but in my opinion and experience motorist behaviour has improved, but cyclist behaviour has become really bad, and hence my first comment why I was not suprised at the incident over the weekend.

I don't know whether you are correct or not. What I was pointing out is that firstly it is very common for cyclists to ride 2 abreast along Sea Point Beach Road (which should certainly not be done), secondly that if you try and point this out to them you open yourself to a deluge of abuse, and thirdly that hardly any groups obey the traffic lights along that section which is of course also wrong. I would expect it to be common courtesy for a single bike to not take up the entire left lane.

This is going to get a lot of coverage on social media .... already on 2oceansvibe.com

I live in Sea Point and this incident doesn't suprise me in the least. For some reason cyclists believe that they own the left hand lane along Sea Point Beach Road, and always ride at least 2 abreast. Every car has to move over to the right hand lane to pass them. Heaven forbid that you give a light hoot to request them not to ride 2 abreast ... you will get all kinds of abuse and hand gestures. The general behaviour is shocking. There are further numerous traffic lights along that section of road and in 10 years on living in Sea Point have only ever seen 1 group of cyclists obey them. Was actually going to write a post on that about 3 weeks ago congratulating that group, but never got round to doing it.

I'm not comparing marathon canoeing to XCO, I 'm comparing it to XCM, and my question was why our marathon riders don't compete well at international elite level (apart from Burry of course). The reason why we don't compete at sprint canoeing is because we don't have a spring tradition primarily because of being excluded from the Olympics for so many years. Despite that Bridgette Hartley still picked up a bronze at the Olympics. I think sprint canoeing will get stronger now that the athletes can aim for Olympic medals.

Then it sounds like there is a problem at an organisational / structural level. If you want to compete with the best you have to train and race like the best.

It is very similar in canoeing though. For the most part the guys just race the local river races, but when they do head over to do World Champs they really perform, and SA is known to be one of the strongest canoeing nations. Its very interesting to listen to the European commentary and they always have great respect for the SA athletes.

I don't think its anything that Canoeing SA is doing, but beleive its more that we have some incredibly talented and hard working athletes. Hank McGregor for instance should be listed as one of SA's greatest sportsmen ever. I think if you have an athlete like that then it inspires the younger guys to try and emulate him. This is probably where SA will really feel Burry's death the most. We also have a very long tradition of multiday stage river races which the guys grow up on, and the switch to marathon racing is fairly easy. We do have a number of international canoeists now training in SA, and a place like Lakeside in CT has become a winter base for a number of world champions. A training squad has been set up there and its possible to have 40+ canoeists out there at 5.30 in the morning - many of them still school kids. Another paddling sport where SA is excelling is surfski where we are number 1 in the world although admittedly it is still very limited world wide and Australia are our only competitors.

To deviate slightly from the thread why don't our mountain bikers perform not only in XCO, but we don't do well either in XCM which is really big in SA. If we take a sport such as canoeing we have the senior world marathon champion as well as the winner and runner up in the under 23's. XCM is massive in SA, but we don't perform at elite level on the world stage.

Anyone know who the distributors for Trek are in SA?

Indeed, after such a "shock and horror" rant that was settled remarkably easily.