linnega

Not sure of the relevance of Hunter not being able to get away from Rasmussen has to do with sprinting ability? Road sprinting is a very specific skill to stage finishes - especially after long stages. Hunter used to be known as a man for the small group sprints, but not fast enough to get big wins out of big bunches, but his TDF results last year showed otherwise. He was right up there. Even his Argus win is a clear indication of how far ahead he is in sprinting in SA. There was mass confusion and Hunter had to sprint around 300m (far too long in the wind), but still was a bike length clear.

Nothing wrong with the CroMo frame. Will be heavy by modern standards but probably fine to ride. I will assume the frame actually fits her - what size is it? The biggest issue is probably the spacing for the axle. To accomodate more gears, frames were designed with a wider gap between the seatstays from the early nineties (probably a little earlier - but I didn't know about it). Test the width by seeing if you can fit your rear wheel into position. If you can no problem, if not, you will need a frame builder to help widen the space safely. I happen to have a good condition 10 speed groupset I could send you - nobody wanted to buy it dirt cheap, so I'm happy to give it away. You will need a new cassette and chain though (but you can get reasonable aftermarket chains and cassettes from KNC and BBB). You still need to get hold of a decent wheelset (or at least a rear wheel). Don't have spare of those I'm afraid. Let me know and I'll PM details of what I have.

That really sucks. Ewep - hope you recover soon and the motorist buys you a new Colnago (plus a spare for the inconvenience).

That's love - proud that your man is watching Robbie Hunters butt?!

Looks like only one rider and I think his sleeves are folded up rather than the jersey being sleeveless.

That many people bailed, I imagine. I believe 550 teams took the start on each of the days. A good few crashed out and I think some took another route to the finish on day 2 (ambulance, helicopter, sagwagon). Some returned for day 3 as "unofficial" competitors.

"Serenity" is direct translation from French or Italian often. Usually in context being calm and not facing undue interference.

someone read the new rideGot my Ride mag yesterday - see there is an article on the white stuff. We drank plenty milk at Sani2C (thanks Clover). Can't really tell if it helped me as I didn't ride very hard (thanks to broken bike and a few nasty abrasions). Recovery after day 1 was very good though.

Drink milk

Have to say that the guys at Sani2C adventure were very good about not littering. D-R: Saw you around a few times, but wasn't really up for conversation. Had to find a replacement frame and mend what is now a very septic wound after my frame broke in the slippery forest on Day 2.

Andrew - all you need is the crankset. Just make sure you buy compact cranks compatible with the BB you have. Shimano don't have any real range of options but other brands like FSA have a huge range of options for just about any BB type and pocket.

That isn't strictly true. All airlines have special rules for oversize "sporting goods". They do not count towards your checked baggage allowance. Also its usually 2 items of checked luggage. In any case, whenever I have travelled with my bike (which I imagine will still be free generally), the combined weight of the bike bag and my other luggage is significantly less than 20kg. The last time I went to the Argus on my own I only took carry-on luggage, plus the checked bike (which in the bag weighs around 11kg). I am not going to the Argus this year, but I know from previous years that the "rules" for the Argus bikes are only released around now. How can you expect someone who booked a ticket in September to now pay extra when if you look up the FAQ's on the SAA website in September you would have seen that bike transport was free. I assume that both Comair airlines are free as usual.

Mango = SAA = Mango, so there policies should be much the same. SAA should have advertised earlier, they cannot expect payment now after setting the precedent of transaporting bikes for free for so long. When I last flew in Europe it was free. Easyjet flew me a number of sectors with no additional charge for "oversize sports equipment". I have no problem with airlines charging, but they need to make it public when the flight is booked ie they cannot change the rules once the ticket is bought and paid for.

Save Ride/Bicycling for toilet reading and read the digital MBA when you are online. For you, the good thing is that you download the full version and read it offline. That way you internet allowance won't be affected.

It is interesting that we still have this debate. The foreign mags (particularly CycleSport and Procycling, to a lesser extent) talk of the late 90s and last five years as years that may as well be written out of the record books. The shift in attitude is absolute. It seems that the consensus is that the results are simlar to those that were achieved by the East German Olympians years ago. Although the records still stand and there was no official striking of the results it is commonly known that those results are more based on illegal drug regimes than sporting prowess. I don't believe that cycling will be able to look at the past ten years any differently.

Spacing is slightly different, but it will probably work fine. Campag tends to have a little more tolerance to the spacing differences than the other way around.

I bought these for about R600: http://www.specialized.com/media/equip/6127-1038_-1148_d.jpg Here they are going for about R1k. Comfortable enough to walk around in all day and then ride home in the afternoon. Tough enough for any MTb racing you might want to do.

First pic is from last year's Tour de Langkawi. Don't think the guys was injured at all - managed to get his arm away before the car ran over it.

I got mine pumped up without sealant with a rubbish old floor pump?!

Bob, my friend, lets try and be constructive. When someone points out that you are incorrect in your assumptions, simply apologise for getting the wrong end of the stick. If you had seen SuperCycling reasonably regularly you would know that both Dave Bellairs and Lawrence Whittaker have been on the show in recent times. You would also know if you listened to the show and read Carinus' reply to the posts here what his responsibility areas are, and that he would have loved the opportunity to expand on what had been done. What has been done is that we are further done the road with an effective licensing system than ever before. A standardised seeding system is also imminent - as in it just needs cyclist results (data). Again something that has not previously been in place. Those are the areas that Carinus' was tasked with.

But then again I am sitting in my office, after just meeting with our CFO, in my takkies, jeans and a t-shirt. Didn't shave this morning either. Didn't seem to bother anyone?

Government in most countries are always a bit overdressed. As mentioned doesn't mean they should be taken seriously. Our CEO very seldom wears a tie (only when he is addressing suits from investment banks etc). I don't think a sports programme of any sort is an occasion for a suit.

As I said in my post' date=' I am sure he is a great guy, and I have no doubt that as you say he is a strong character. My point, is that he is the COO (thanks for the correction) of a major sporting body that deals with millions of rands of yours and my money. We as share holders in CSA rely on him to grow the business/sport to all of our benefits. He should dress and act the part. Quirks and eccentricities do not sit well with people who write multi million rand cheques.[/quote'] It really depends on whether you are talking to a stuffy suit at a bank or some of the more "eccentric" execs at say MTN or Mr Price, both of whom write multi-million rand sponsors cheques.

Whenever I have "sold" my entry I do ask for the amount I paid - and its never take more than 30 minutes to get a taker. The fact that the Cycle Tour Trust expect the new entrant to pay a further amount is really a problem that should be addressed to the race organisers.