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14 minutes ago, RuhanC said:I’m situated in Stellenbosch, but if you send me some photos and dimensions I can see what i can do
I have a 2nd home in Somerset West that I get to use for two weeks a month with this WFH scenario. So maybe I can bring it through to a convenient meeting place when we are there.
This was about number 18 for me. 1st in 1998 on a MTB with slicks, progressed to race bike , then race tandem with daughters then back to Mtb. Took a four year break when we lived in Witbank.
I doubt that there are any scenic routes in Jhb to compare with CTCT but I have enjoyed seeing parts of the city I might not otherwise get to see , plus the vibe is always good .
I have never had any issues with the organizational side of the event ( I make a point of reading and understanding the pre race instructions )and unlike others enjoy going to the Expo to get my number and bump into friends.
So far only one puncture (in 1998) and no other mishaps .
I have a small bike light from Extreme Lights . The plastic helmet mount broke and they don't have any replacement stock.
Maybe you could 3d print another one for me. The mount is in Cape Town but I will be going there next weekend.
6 hours ago, fanievb said:Thank you Western Cape it was a great 3 days
Two of my friends did the Mon - Wed version. The weather was just about perfect for riding. Cool, overcast , dry.
On 11/3/2021 at 12:51 PM, JJDT said:So how many hubbers have done more than 15 including this year?
From the posts so far I know the following...
Spinnekop = 21
Frosti = 19
JJDT = 17
Please feel free to edit/add your name. Would be interesting to see the numbers.
I will have done more than 15 but don't know the exact number
My wife and I have been cycling since 1998. In that time we have owned about 40 bikes. Currently we have 6 bikes . As we split our time between Johannesburg and Somerset West we have bikes in both cities. Our kids are adults so our bikes have their own dedicated rooms in both places.
we are quite ruthless in clearing out gear/ clothing that we don’t use and donating them
even so with two cyclists in the family we manage to fill the cupboards in the bike rooms
when we start bike touring the collection of gear will grow
2
We had an interesting experience on our Tuesday morning ride.
We were riding along a single lane road in Greenstone when a red Mazda driver decided to be our escort car and instead of overtaking ( road was clear ahead) drove behind us for about 2kms with the hazard lights on.
18 hours ago, Jase619 said:Wife got a push up suikerbossie a couple of years back and finished without her phone.
A few years ago my wife asked the person handing out medals at end of 947 to put it into her jersey pocket . Later discovered her phone was missing from that pocket.
Opportunistic shopping vs Planned ones on Suikerbossie and Malibongwe
On 10/8/2021 at 11:56 AM, Frosty said:
Very true. I have been WFH since March last year. I had a friend make me a wooden computer desk and I work on my semi enclosed patio everyday. This time of the year I start off wearing hoodie, beanie and gloves. By midafternoon I am in shorts and T shirt. My patio faces North.
2 hours ago, TyronLab said:Chapter One
OriginsMy interest in Ultra-distance cycling started not through my conscious instigation, and I’m certain in no small part due to Google understanding my inner workings better than I would care, or want, to know. As if by some cosmic fluke, within five months of buying my first big-boy mountain bike I had completed a 947 and was entered into the following year’s Transbaviaans. Hardly the vision I had, after watching hours of full-face-helmeted maniacs rip down Canadian mountains, when I had bought that first bike as a “cheaper” way to fill the motocross-bike-sized hole I had in my tail whipping heart.
Yet I came, and saw, and conquered that first ‘Baviaans, even though its 227km had, mere weeks before, still seemed as insurmountable as the mountain the route crossed. I had for the first time in my life really extended the boundary of what I thought I was capable of. In preparation for climbing the aforementioned mountain I had been exposed to ultra cycling in my periphery. Images of strung-out, mismatched masochists carrying most of the Outdoor Warehouse on their bikes. Tales of rides orders of magnitude larger and longer than I thought in the realm of possibility outside of stringy drug addicts zinging up mountains every summer in France for a yellow jersey.
Diving into this rabbit hole I had discovered, and was instantly ensnared, by Carlo Gonzaga’s brilliantly captured preparation, and eventual conquering, of his first full-fat Munga. It also introduced me to Mike Woolnough, who I had the honour of meeting during my Grit, and his encyclopedia of ultra-cycling knowledge. Should this… whatever it is… bear any resemblance to those fine works, I would not only see it as a form of undue flattery, but as evidence to those authors that their writings had been echoing in my mind throughout my own Munga journey.
After committing those insightful and entertaining paragraphs to memory I had given myself a guilt free, excuse filled goal. “One day, when I can afford the entry, and the right kit, and the right bike, and the kids are bigger and I have time to train, maybe I’ll try this Munga thing out”. That “one day” came two weeks before this Grit, when a family member casually asked whether I knew about some race happening in The Cradle in October. Their company had received a sponsored entry, so they were looking for a rider. She knew I rode bikes, would I like the entry?
The optimist in me had already sent the “I’M IN!!!!” reply before the realist in me had a chance to slap him on the back of the head.
Yup, that’s a PVC frame keeping that poor soul’s head up during the 4,800km Race Across America
This condition is called Sherman' neck - named after a cyclist called Michael Sherman . He was doing the Race Across America in 1983 when the condition hit him.
53 minutes ago, LBKloppers said: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.
We work on construction sites building tailings dams. Our lightning safety instructions if you are caught in the open are:-
1. Squat down on your toes. ie dont have feet flat on ground ( not sure why)
2. Head down
3. Hands over ears.
Just now, ouzo said:I skipped saturday morning and went saturday afternoon.
Went out yesterday morning, it was atleast warmer than saturday but there were stretches where the wind was hitting me from the side and I noticed I had the bike cranked over at an angle into the wind in order to stay upright.
The hills I struggled down on the way out I flew up on the way back.
I got 3 wind assisted PRs yesterday so some benefit to being out in the wind.
51 minutes ago, ouzo said:even in joeys we were cycling at an angle yesterday
We had that cold , strong wind for our ride on Saturday morning in Jhb and a wet ,strong wind ride in the Raithby trails yesterday. Woke up this morning to some rain . Hopefully it will clear up later so we can go for a ride after work.
22 hours ago, ChrisF said:Some pics of yesterday's ride .....
From Schoemans Hoek, 15km outside Oudtshoorn, over Swartberg pass to Prince Albert .... and back
Uhm .... that 22km to the pass has just over 740m climbing to wake up the legs ....
Okay, almost 1 200m climbing done, time to give the brakes a work out ....
A lekka brunch at Lazy Lizzard ... and a chat with another e-biker. Recovering from cancer this gent got himself an e-bike and just completed a 5-day circular route. Starting in Prince Albert he turned at Beaufort West, back via De Ruts, over Swartberg pass back to Prince Albert.
On the way back to the pass the temperature rose ever so slightly .... in the shade with the slight breeze it was still "cool". But out in the sun and shielded from the breeze I would over heat ..... keeping the e-assist LOW to make sure I have juice to get back meant I was WORKING up that mountain !!!
NOT a nice sight when you are over heating and working your way to the top ....
And then you get to look back, and instantly it is all worth it ....
O-crap .... that last 100m elevation to the top had me suffering properly ..... GLAD for those winter sessions on the infernal IDT ....
Aaaahhhh .... 1 100m downhill ..... (with just enough battery left to help with the odd uphill)
My retirement plans ( which have been delayed until Dec 2022) are to buy a van and shuttle between JHB and Cape Town stopping at all the interesting places to ride a bike. The pass is definitely on the to-do list.
We went down to Reitz for the Bieliemielie 3 day Mtb race. Routes were mostly gravel roads but there were some decent single tracks as well. I really enjoy these small community races.
Reitz is home to a very large wolf sanctuary- over 200 of them. Photo is of a 18 month old male wolf
6
Seeing the 4 years that Greg has won the WC reminded me that I was privileged to be present at two of these wins.
2003 in Switzerland and 2013 in Pietermaritzburg.
4
Some photos of the snow on our ride from Firgrove to the top of Helshoogte yesterday.
Surprisingly for an ex Durbanite and used to heat and humidity I set a PR up Helshoogte
it was very cold coming back down into Stellenbosch
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2 hours ago, Jbr said:That's how. It's actually also a nicer route to ride. Hope the fellow cyclist is okay. Not everybody is on the hub or away or what's a hotspot and what isn't. I cycled passed Kayamandi a few times on my own until my mates showed me that detour, never really though twice about it as it is just outside stellies, but I actually like that detour better anyways !
As a blissfully unaware part timer in Somerset West my wife and I went out on the R304 and back on the R44 on Saturday morning. And we have ridden up Helshoogte on a few occasions. We have always done these on a weekend morning well after sunrise.
We saw lots of riders on the R304.
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The (un)official single speed thread....
in The Bike Room
Posted
Looks like Winterton Worlds SS