LBKloppers

With the rains, comes grass. Lot of grass! Tall as a man, grass! Grass overgrowing the trails and hiding the hazards underneath. I've been a victim of such a hazard where a rather big loose rock was lying in the path where my pedal came down. One massive pedal strike, one massive adrenalin rush later, I am left with a broken clip on my right hand SPD pedal. What is amazing, I did not fall. Barely, but I did not fall. Well, something had to give and it did. The little spring loaded arch holding onto the cleat from behind, broke. Anyone else battling in the grass?

I have something like the Levitate and I think I bought from Takealot with one difference. There is a strap and a eye-bolt to hold the top of the bike in place. The strap can not damage the frame. The beauty of this thing, it doesn't matter if its a skinny road bike or a 27,5 Plus, they all fit. Mine is mounted nice and high so we can walk right past it without any interference from the bikes, and my garage is small. Mounting them high does mean I am the only one hanging the bikes or taking them down. My choice and I am happy with it.

I have a little saying I like to repeat more often these days. "Some people have money to buy cars, but they do not have money to buy brains". My attitude is one where it doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong. The bicycle will always come short. With that approach I don't shout and swear at fools. I cycle in a way to survive. About taxis. More than once I used them, by communicating with the driver, as a shield when crossing big dangerous intersections. About entitled Fortuners, how about those BMWs, and Audis. I recall an incident when it was extremely dry in the Cape. Calls for everyone to take care with cigarettes etc. to prevent fires were being made everywhere. Radio, newspapers, advertising, you name it. I came across this bloke in his topless Audi stuck in a traffic jam, carelessly throwing a cigi out of his car. A white car, white leathers inside and white clothes. Very entitled and very set on his image! I stopped, picked up his damn butt and threw it in his lap. He couldn't move and I enjoyed his rage while I continued on my merry way. The "I" has become too important in South Africa these days. It is not just cars trying to intimidate cyclists, it happens all over and in different ways, but almost always because the "I" has become too important.

This is a cycling health issue and I need advice from all those well-educated and experienced Hubbers out there. I am 57 and I have been cycling for eons. Through the years I have encountered some incidents that took me off the bike for a couple of weeks, and at the time I just bit the bullet and heal up all by myself. Medical aids and funds for treatment were just not available. Three serious events impacted my health. 1. There was an attempt on my life in Madagascar while out cycling, whereafter I had to start wearing glasses, and I was diagnosed with Osteo-Arthritis. 2. I broke my shoulder going OTB on the other side down Fangs1 during the Transbaviaans. 3. And I broke my collarbone going down while crossing the rails in the Cape Town Harbour. Several smaller crashes happened over the years and each time, it was just a case of HTFU and ride. Well, getting older, these things start to show up and it is slowly starting to threaten my cycling. Maybe it has become necessary to have a look at the more serious old injuries and I hope I can somewhat be mended. My question/s to the Hubbers out there, help me decide, please? When I am cycling, it feels as if the outside of my feet slope down. I ride with cleats since I can not remember anymore, and I had a fitting when I got my latest bike. Even when I try to focus on my technique while peddling, my feet wiggle and the inside of my left knee is bothersome, and it feels as if my left leg is weaker than the right. I experimented by putting a little washer as a spacer underneath the outside bolt holding the cleats and it did feel a little better, but then to top my knees (especially the left knee) started to complain. My left lower back also becomes so painful that I wish to stop riding. I used to cycle 5 to 6 times a week and it's already down to 3 to 4 times a week and my cycling is my therapy. What am I going to do!? Compounding the knee issue, I have a rather painful situation on the edge of my ribcage. This one is hard to describe. I can pinpoint the location of the pain, but there are no organs where the pain occurs. I was tested and screened for a whole bunch of stuff and there are no out-of-range indicators in my blood. When I am cycling, it is as if there is a muscle cramping at this one spot and it makes me breathing shallower with all the associated disadvantages, but the doctors I have seen can not tell me what it is and they can not help me to heal. The costs of hospitalization are just scary and to become a lab experiment is not my idea of a solution, but I do love my cycling and I do wish to continue doing so for many more years. Any recommendations will be welcome.

Titan Racing.

Dit is sulke hartseer nuus! Reinet, Die een pyn word nou vervang met 'n ander. Ek bid jou sterkte toe, want al leer 'n mens om aan te gaan met die lewe, kan 'n mens nooit vergeet nie. Ek persoonlik kan my nie indink hoe jy jou emosies en persoonlike pyn verwerk nie. Net God alleen kan jou daardie krag gee. En net soos soveel ander Hubbers al genoem het hoe Cois ons lewens beinvloed het, wil ek byvoeg. Jy Cois het familie geword. Al is jy miskien nie 'n groot fietsryer nie, jy weet waar om te kom vir hulp. Sterkte

On a more serious note. I worked in Tanzania for a long time and as such this was where I rode for 9 months of the year. There are no fancy cycling paths. No sir, you share the tracks with cattle, goats, motorbikes, pedestrians and thorns. Due to covid I was there for such a long stint that the bike's tires showed no more tread and frequent flats. So, when the opportunity presented for someone to bring in a new set of tires, it was grabbed with both hands. The friends brought the new tires over upon their arrival and I wasted no time changing them out. Those tires, both the front and the rear, looked like pin cushions turned inside out. The average thorns in the area where I rode were about 20mm in length and about 2mm at the base. The trees bearing these thorns is the favourite firewood for the locals and they drag branches for tonight's cooking from the tree to the home via the tracks we all shared. My friends said that I would have told them how bad it was, they would never have believed me. Seeing is believing I guess. And then there is the discussions about what slime/sludge is the best.... It doesn't matter. Just don't go without!

This is when I want to add 50 laughing my ass off emoticons. I just saw this in my mind and it cracks up. Everyone in the office thinks I am crazy.

Dude, I've riden in Africa for over ten years (South Africa is slowly starting to become dark too). Dark rural Africa! And when you fall (you will if you're a mountain biker) Lycra vaporizes, leaving very little to nothing for the imagination. Even riding with Lycra that's a little worn are way too revealing to the locals and you have to respect the locals! Baggies have kept me decent and I learned to enjoy my riding more than to pose. Baggies have pockets and it wears down much, much slower than Lycra. Baggies does have some extra drag, but you're a mountain biker FPS! And BTW, I am not worried what other people think. It more about respecting them, their place and their traditions.

The tree has been removed.

I went for a casual ride on Saturday, pushing just a little against myself, but mostly just trying to enjoy the outdoors. The greenery after the early rains is so....just lekker, but guys, you'll need to sharpen the track maintenance as it is going to become overgrown if you're not careful. An overgrown track does not go down well and negative news will spread like wildfire. Just check out the forum for the Meerendal trails. I do not consider Modderfontein a difficult place to ride. The slopes and technical bits are generally not too challenging, but there are definitely some spots one could consider dangerous enough to be marked. The trails going up the river and through the ruins especially has one or two spots that could cause injury. There are some places where one passes underneath something (trees or structures) are so low that when I am as flat as I can, still scrape through touching my Camelback. At some of these spots, it come upon you quite suddenly and for the unprepared, it could cause some serious head injury. Another place passing through a doorway where the passing width literary catch my handlebars both sides at the same time. That one is a stopper! On Saturday I had a crash in an area where there shouldn't have been any risk! No, I did not fall, I crashed into a tree hanging over the track. I just did not see it! In general I would not have any warning in this particular spot, but I did crash quite heavily into a tree hanging over the track. It is possible this tree fell over during the storm passing through the Friday evening. Again, this is a nice flowing zig-zag bit where any dangerous bits are not expected. Signs of the recent fires are still evident and the fires may have weakened the flora. The tree hung over the track with branches caught in a tree on the other side of the track leaving the one part of the tree inline with the visor of my helmet. I was gunning a little uphill and looking at my typical 6-10 meter ahead, going at about 22-25km/h when I hit the three head-on! I came to my senses lying on my back looking up into the sky. Luckily there were some other cyclists around (I don't know who you are but thanks guys) and they made sure I was okay and helped me to wash most of blood of my face. I rode back to the car feeling fine, but the thought of emergency procedures did come to mind. I do not think it fair to expect Modderfonein the have ready and cover all eventualities, but I do think the clients (walkers, runners and cyclist) do need to have some from of emergency arrangement ready. I didn’t and it could easily have been more serious.

I am not so sure the trees surrounding you is keeping you safe. We've always been told NOT to hide under trees during a lightning storm. It not that you're likely to be hit, but the proximity of the strike may have dire consequences.

I will smell

I once read somewhere that the safest way is to dismount and sit in a bundle with your feet together. I had to do that once in the Namaqualand as I was the tallest think for miles around. I am still here, so it must have worked. The thing is, I also read that it is not necessarily the tallest structure being hit. Lightning is an electrostatic thing. I don't think its easy to predict where the static discharge is likely to be.

Cycling is a passion for me. I am too old and too casual to try and win races, but I do ride more that most. Since the summer raining season appears to have started in Gauteng, I was wondering how my fellow Hubbers feel about cycling in the rain and especially when there is lightning? As much as I like cycling, I am dead afraid of lightning. It my phobia and I will definitely not ride when there is lightning around.

I am a heavy rider. That means I am hard on my hardtail. My Crests did not last 3 years, but the WTB KOM 30i are great. I had mine built by the Wheelbuilder. Solid man, solid

In South Africa of today, sadly, it appears there is enough money to buy cars, but the gray mater is still lacking. You don't have to be a cyclist to observe that.

I have had a rather expensive experience with these racks. Although the ball is rather tough, the tow bar and the way it is mounted on the vehicle has restrictions that a vehicle owner is not necessarily aware of. Any tow bar mounted on something like those Land Rover struts should be fine, but many are mounted somewhere down there where it is out of sight and out of mind. Do not be caught out! Remember having bikes at any offset from the ball is a lever. Your rack may be rated for 60Kgs but you drive along the roads going through the bumps and potholes, those bikes on the rack exert a force many times more than the rack's rating. And when you add the bike rack to towing a caravan or a trailer, that force and load adds to the strain a tow bar must bear. My tow bar broke of underneath the car on the road between Mariental and Windhoek. Long distances and a steady slow metal fatigue doing its thing. Just be careful.

Postcard beautiful!

Hi guys and gals I am in Tanzania and the only cycling I get to see is those old steel Chinese jobs with lever brakes, F##k#d saddles, worn red tires and BIG ring gears when they pass me on a cattle track while lifting a BIG momma. And I watch the tours on DSTV. I have noticed and the commentators commented about those 3 wheeled Yamahas. I wonder what is the Hub's take on those machines?

Many, many moons ago NAC flew in the north western Cape area, specifically the Namaqualand. It used to be called National Scarelines. The fog on the west coast made for some interesting approaches and landings.

I will agree with anyone that a Bugatti is an awesome car, but it is butt ugly.

No, a rubber band stretch. A steel chain link does not. I don't care what legs you have and what wattage you push, you don't have enough to stretch even one link. It has been stated already, the measurement appears the chain has stretched by wear between the link-pins and rollers. I say this to everyone taking part in the discussion. If you want to argue technical points, you have to be technically correct.

BUT she is not arrested yet! I bet she is not smoking

Full gas MALARIA. Flu is a picnic. Tanzania