I FLY

Never leaves the area. We live about 5 kms away and we often see them harvesting the pigeons we feed in our garden. It’s now breeding season so they are territorial and will be so for a few months

Levo Turbo SL COMP - not sure whether the carbon or aluminum . Will only know what's available when the shipment arrives.

Thanks but I know that:- 1. most of these comments are tongue in cheek anyway 2. The proper keyboard warriors won't be on the trails so I will not meet them 3. I grew up in a sport where sledging was a thing before the Australians started playing cricket. I was the team's designated sledger as I was closer to the batters than the rest of the team. 4. I love the sledging/banter.

I have ordered a Specialized 😃

My wife was always the stronger rider but due to health issues she is struggling to do longer rides with me. ( technical skills gained from 25 years of mtbing have not disappeared) .So I have ordered her an ebike so we can continue to ride together. I would be unhappy if we were forced to ride separate events. Maybe this will cause us to stop entering events

Was my 1st taste of XCO racing and I decided Mtb was going to be my new sport

Once again I was humbled by the exploits of other riders this morning. We were going up the Polkadraai hill and I saw two heavily loaded bike tourers. I stopped and asked them where they were going - Cape Town ( overland from Germany) They have been on the road for 9 months and today they will reach their destination 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 They did say that they were going to fly home and not pedal back.

I went home. I cut my early morning ride short as I was clipped from behind by a car as I was turning right at a 4 way stop street. Driver claimed that the brakes failed. Some bruises and a sore thumb from the handlebars whiplashing backwards. Bike looks okay. Not looking forward to trying to get out of bed tomorrow morning

Looks like Somerbosch Winery and the Winelands trails. We are heading back down that way after our two week stint in JHB.

Would this be much of a deterrent? I don't believe that the majority of cars are insured . I know that one has to prove insurance when a vehicle is financed but I have never being asked to provide proof of insurance thereafter.

Also had re introduction to the South Easterly " breeze" on my road ride yesterday in Somerset/Stellenbosch. We have been working in JHB for past 6 weeks where the wind is not such a factor.

And no pies?

And that's just the entry fee. My mate kept an detailed record of everything he spent on his Epic and it was double the entry fee.

https://www.strava.com/segments/10161312 And this one in Helderberg Farm . Every 50 m there is a diagonal drainage slot deep enough to stop a bike

https://www.strava.com/segments/10161312 This one near Bruma / Cyrildene ( Johannesburg ) is always hard for me.

“Funny “ story. I caught my creditors manager defrauding the company. As the amount was greater than R100k I was also obliged to report this to the Hawks she was fired and court found her guilty. My md asked for a suspended sentence instead of 5 years in jail. 3 months later I got a call from another company asking me for a reference on her

Both my wife and I had zero side affects from our first two jabs and rode the next day at normal tempo. Just had our 3rd jabs today. Be interesting to see if we have side affects this time.

In my opinion the fact the motor bikers do have a hardcore image and can actually catch up to errant motorists makes motorists think twice about doing stupid stuff around /to them.

Local security company apprehended 5 suspects this morning in Firgrove - Somerset West - after a bike hijack incident the suspects had pistol, machete, scissors, two big knives and a hockey stick there had previously been a couple of bike hijacking’s by a single person with a machete in our area

A late afternoon ride on Thursday after the rain had cooled things down. View from the vineyards towards Stellenbosch

I wonder where Alan Hatherly spent his day on his bike. I saw him leaving the estate we live in at 8am this morning looking splendid in his South African Champions jersey and gleaming white and black Cannondale I on the other hand had to spend 9 hours at my computer before I could take my road bike out for a little loop around to Stellenbosch and back

Went and did Thaba Trails this morning nice and dry

I am nearly at the end of the road in terms of funding the education of my daughters A timeline of 15 years at a private school in total Older one - 5 years full time varsity and two years of articles. luckily her company paid for MBA Younger one - 11years full time varsity. Bsc; Msc and Phd We hired some of the Levo SLs recently from the Specialized Shop in Stellenbosch. It was an interesting day out on the trails. one of the considerations for me would be the benefit of an ebike vs the weight. I will live in 1st floor apartment when I retire next year. Carrying a 12kg bike vs 18 or 25kg ebike up stairs is a big change

My experience was in 2010 when the rain and mud started a week before the race and continued through the 3 days. That was also the year the organizers added an extra hundred teams or so. ( about 850 teams really put a strain on all the facilities)

I have done Sani2c ( in the worst rain and mud) Jhb2c twice my wife has done the full set including Berg and Bush I did not like the crowds at Sani2C and preferred the middle section of Jhb2C as I prefer the most technical riding aspect my wife enjoyed all 5 of her Berg and Bush races. Also did not enjoy Sani2C