Old Dog

And here's another thread to the thread - cyclists such as myself who are retired/self employed, etc., who can do all the riding they like during the sensible hours of the week and don't really have a need to participate in organised events at crazy times in the morning, but would like to do the Argus once a year. Does this proposed licensing story imply that I would have to get a license just to do that one event a year? I am still confused as to the relationship between the PPA's and CSA. Having just received a reminder that the PPA's subs are due, is the implication now that I will also have to pay a clubs subs and also for a license? Perhaps PPA membership could be considered a club? How many remember the situation in UK about 15 years ago when the British Cycling Fed started gettin too arrogant, so a splinter group started and grew so rapidly that it had more members than the BSF, which put the UCI in a predicament as they will only recognise one national body per country. That issue finally got resolved but not until the BSF made committents towards a more democratic management! What I foresee is that the already existing informal weekend/evening groups will grow and fewer riders will take part in organised events and at the end of the day nobody will score!!

Elite Ladies TT podium

Elite mens TT podium

James Perry for the elite TT, Perry/Augustyn for the road depending on who will be working for who!

All credit to JL for some excellant results but I am sure if you were to speak to Hunter, Perry or Cox they would probably tell you that at this stage in the season they are happy to work for John Lee as they do not want to be peaking yet, especially with a possible wild card in the TdeF coming up. Noticable that 2 of the Barloworld team (Cardenas and Sabibo) pulled out quite early in the event probably for the same reason. Nevertheless JL would have got himself a handfull of UCI points which are great currency when looking for a new team!

I can't get this pasting of pics etc right!!! Lost the cleats pic in the last post. The dark patches on the cleats show where there is contact with the pedal and where I suspect the squeak originates. The cleats are "well used" but that is not a function of the squeak!!!!

Lost the text that was supposed to be with the pic. Pedals are real Look and the cleats have a ceramic insert at the front and back where it clips to the pedal. I think the squeaking is at the flat contact area between cleat and pedal. I will try the various suggestions and give feedback if I come to a satisfacrory conclusion. Thanks to all.

Although this problem has been discussed before on this forum long ago, now that I have the problem, I can't remember what the cures were.....I recently put a pair of Look "296 Elite" pedals on my bike and the compatible cleats on my shoes and shortly after they started to squeak when putting a bit of pressure on them. I have tried smearing the contact area on the pedal with a little motor car bearing grease, normal oil, soap (read that once), and various other lubricants before going for a ride, but none last more than a few kilometres and the irritating squeaks start again. Any other suggestions?

The rigging of local track events - especially the invitational ones - has been going on for years! The "guaranteed" prize money constitutes part of the bribe for some of the more well known riders to attend the event. I can recall very well when a cyclist of particular interest to me was crapped on from a dizzy height because he upset the plans of the hierachy by riding to hard!! Watch carefully and you will see 1 or 2 individuals going around all the teams setting up the days plan!

Can't we try and do a bit better than Burkini Fasso, Morroco and those other 3rd worlders who don't seem to be able to get race results out on the day of the event!!!!

Giro Stage 1 Clean sweep for Barloworld - 1st Cardenas, 2nd Sabido, 3rd Efimkin. Seems they just rode away from the field one at a time! Just an early sorting of the men from the boys!

I ride along Contermanskloof regularly and there's no doubt it is quite dangerous with the loose gravel that is spilled frpm the trucks going in and out of the 3 quarries along that road. Over the last 2 years or so I have contacted, and have had meetings, with the managers and they promised to clean up their "front yards" but it didn't last for long. They, of course, blame the truck drivers for overloading,etc. Numerous e-mails with the City officials (it comes under Durbanville's juristriction) only results in usual stories - no manpower to police, no money to fix, etc., etc. From Tikkies to Vissers is not tooo bad, but the other direction is bad!

Never been known to get an accurate prediction of the Cape's weather more than 3 days in advance!!!!

The force was very much against us - about force 10 with heavy rain. Todays 99'er must go to the top of my most unpleasant rides!!!

Road works lasting for 4 months are due to start on the section of the Tygervalley road where it meets up with Racecourse road. (The part that wasn't finished 2 years when the money ran out!). Lengthy holdups with traffic are expected plus the inevtable stop/go man. Cyclists who just love to ride over Tikkiedraai would be advised to take an alternate route whilst the work is in progress! On the positive side, what is now a dangerous piece of tarmac is going to be widened and re-surfaced.

Team SA is looking good - well done chaps... 15th out of 23???

Originally posted by MWdeJager since this has become a debate about whether SA pro cyclists are nice or not and why, may I please for the sake of this thread... According to the UCT Sport Science Institute: An Elite (male) Cyclist is someone who has the following attributes * Normal body fat% range for elite male athletes (pre-competition): 8 ? 12% * Peak power output for elite cyclists ranges from 400 ? 550 W<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><?:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /> * Power to weight ratio for elite cyclists ranges from 5.5 ? 7 W/kg * VO2max for elite cyclists ~ 68 ? 85 ml/kg/min Just a thought... Just to conform to that criteria is enough to make anyone grumpy!!! I believe Micheal Schumaker is very unapproachable after he has just had his butt kicked by Alonso and the press like to make a big deal out of it - just like some hubbers?

There is a new move being negotiated within the UCI which will almost guarantee Continental Pro teams being given a wildcard in the grand tours on a shared basis - will be interesting to see how it materialises.

This year was the first time they have submitted a formal application - it would have been an almost unheard of situation if they had succeeded! Some folks taking it very hard that they bettered Microsoft in the 94.7????

Looks like John O'Connor on the right?

Buddah, I'll lend you the tape then you can watch it all in slow time then you will have to agree!!!! Widget - I take it that you are an enthusiastic cyclist and not necessarily a cycling enthusiast - everyone to their own thing - I just love to watch a good battle fought over an hour or more, which Sundays race was, and am glad it didn't end up in a bunch sprint where often the best riders don't win, or even feature!

It has become obvious that opinions on the content of Andrew?s commentary are very much dependant on the team that you support (much like the commentary!)<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Great if a MS supporter, lots missing if a KM or TBL supporter! Fortunately Phil and Paul mostly neutralised the skewed reporting by commenting on the race as it was. Andrew should ask himself how many times he excused Nic and Daniel for sacrificing themselves for the team, even after both were long gone, (at least 10) then how many times mentioned how Cox and Perry were sacrificing themselves for their team, with the latter was being by far the most apparent (not once that I re-call)! And that?s just one small instance. And I totally disagree with Andrews comments that MS had all the work to do ? they should have been sitting quite comfortable with 2 good domestiques in place and 2 sprinters ? TBL were the ones with it all to do ? 3 of them without a sprinter, Paul several times commented that the only way TBL could win was for one of them to get away - they tried it numerous times but MS had the numbers to chase them down each time ? what happened in the end was that MS just weren?t strong enough to cover all TBL?s attacks and tired themselves trying. Perry went for a too early final dash up the last hill and blew, Cox just didn?t have enough left to give a tired looking Cardenas (TBL?s designated sprinter for the day) the leadout he needed, leaving the door open for the youngsters Velitts and Kachelhoffer. And I am not criticising the MS guys in any way, just trying to get over a point of proportional reporting. In retrospect, its not unique, after listening to the SA-Ireland rugby commentary last week that Paddy also got right up my nose with his selective reporting! But, to repeat myself, the video was good; it was great to see live coverage on tv.

Watched the 94.7 on video (after getting home from the local "Klein Joostenberg" where is also rained!). Mostly the elites men, but what a superb race is was up the front with extreme tactics going on in a 7 man breakaway and the tv work was good except: Andrew just could not keep his mouth shut about the Microsoft guys - even when the camera was on a different team, he was still woffling on about Nick or Danny or Malcolm. Really, he might be getting some kickback from ms but he doesn't have to make it so blatent. He would have done ms a big favour by taking part himself so that viewers didn't have to suffer his biassed comments! Fortunatley Phil and Paul were able to level things out a bit and advise us that Barloworld and others (like Peter Vellits!) were also taking part, and in fact, doing a good job of destroying the ms team! I, and I am sure many others were so relieved when ms didn't feature in the top 3 despite their apparent dominance, as this resulted in a stunned silence from Andrew and a subsequent balanced commentary/interviews. Again though - excellant racing and good tv visuals.

Strange but the Continental Jersey ranks lower than the National one. Extract from UCI regs: Continental Champion?s jersey<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> If a jersey be awarded at a Continental Championship, the Champion may wear it in all races in the discipline for which he obtained the title and for as long as he continues to hold the title. The authorised advertising spaces shall be identical to those on the World Champion?s jersey. Order of priority Should various provisions requiring the wearing of different jerseys apply to the same rider, the order of priority shall be as follows: 1. Leader?s jersey (Stage Races and World Cup) 2. World Champion?s jersey 3. National Champion?s jersey? 9 4. Continental Champion?s jersey 5. National jersey