Funny Carp

I attended last night's charity event with the Ettix riders, so can confirm that they are in the mother city. Moreover, they've brought out a development team to assist and Renshaw confirmed that he will be riding to put Cavendish into pole position for the sprint finish. Make no mistake, they will be racing. If for no other reason than to keep their star TdF sprinter near the front of the bunch and out of danger.

Hi Hubbers, I came across Bicycle Power on this thread a few weeks ago, contacted Dave and took delivery of a demo G3 laced into my road bike wheel earlier today. Great service deserves acknowledgement and he has exceed all of my expectations. I have no reservations in terms of recommending either this product or this delivery channel! Thanks Dave! FC

LOL - I ride Chappies weekly and I still crack a smile every time I descend past 'Wez-O's right hand sweep' as I recall the comical sight of you and your bike disappearing into the fynbos right before my eyes. ...again, glad you're okay. It could have been nasty.

Hi We zo Glad to hear that you are okay. You went over the wall a few metres ahead of me and watching the Chappies fynbos swallow you and your bike was as unbelievably surreal as it was almost comical. I was so visually fixated on the sight of you vanishing before my eyes that I nearly followed you over the wall. Safe travels back. I think the most dangerous part of your journey is over ;-)

Hi Skistar - glad to see that you and your sense of humour are still intact. After surviving 103 km of gutter grovelling, the wind, the heat, the One-Tonner flashbacks; I came past Skistar on the Simondium Road in the A-C bunch. I glanced over and shouted a few words of encouragement...and that is where it all went pear-shaped. Nary 100 meters further down the road the 'little Chihuahuas' (AKA cramps) bit down hard and turned my quads to lumpy porridge. I yelped and whimpered at the sight of the bunch going up the road and then spent the longest 4km of life pedaling into that wind. After what seemed to be an eternity, my fighting spirit and my sense of humour failed me as I crossed the line a broken man. I was soon to discover that I was about to plumb new depths of cycling despair when I realised that the timing mats were on the distant horizon. Well done to all finishers. This morning's race ranks as one of the most enjoyable and toughest that I never wish to repeat :-)

Hi Dre This unfortunate cyclist went down in front of two office colleauges of mine who witnessed the incident and stopped to assist. Their first hand account over a post ride coffee was a fractured leg (tibia) resulting from a collision with the road barrier. They were riding behind him and from their perspective, it appears as though he was surprised by a gust of wind which put him into the barrier post. (Capies who regularly ride Victoria Road will know that gusty right hand sweep well.) Other than the broken leg and properly wrecked bike, the injured rider was taken care of by the paramedics and seemed to be okay. Interestingly enough, the colleauge who stopped to assist happened to be back on his bike for the first ride after recovering from a broken tibia sustained in December, so knew how to assist. What are the chances. Wishing the unlucky cyclist a speedy recovery.

Hi Garreth, I weigh 68kg and have been riding 50mm clinchers in the Cape for approx three years, most recently the DH wheel set. Like all handling skills, getting comfortable with the wheel set is simply a matter of acclimatisation, so stick with the set and pick progressively windier conditions until your confidence grow. As it does, you will relax more and the issue will resolve itself. Cape based experience has taught me that the deep sections don't get blown about very much more than my Easton EA90 wheels and if really, really gusty conditions become a safety issue, then I simply transfer my weight onto the front wheel by riding in the drops. This position both reduces your 'wind-profile' and improves front-end stability. (If riding in a group, we also give one another more room to squirrel around, but will still keep our lines predictable.) Those omni-directional Cape Town wind gusts will still catch your body and shunt you around a little, but not dangerously so because you will have better front-end control. I know it can sometimes feel like the Cape Doctor is trying to tear you off the bike, especially on the Chappies/ Llundudno descents, but rest assured that neither I, nor any of my riding partners have ever been blown over in windy conditions. Good luck and stay safe. P.S. keep a listening-watch for buses and trucks that sneak up from behind, draw level with you and suddenly make the cross-wind disappear. It makes for interesting corrections if you happen to be leaning into a steady cross wind :-)

Have to agree. I too tried and discarded cramp block tabs, rehidrate etc. I found that the only remedy for race induced cramps is to ramp up the intensity of interval based training rides. Suffering in training certainly didn't diminish the race suffering, but with improved conditioning, I have found that cramps take much longer to set in and are less severe.

Nice going Vodacom A - The B team will be hot on your (w)heels in 2014 ;-) Great event, great team and great ride!

Results are up on Racetec

That was a brutal lesson in racing into the teeth of the wind. The only worse than riding into that South Easter was the thought of getting dropped by the bunch and having to go it alone.

Hi Schnavel - I weigh 68kg and have not experienced any wheel flex or brake-rub under power. (climbing, sprinting)

I've been riding a set of DH wheels since April through some of the worse weather that Cape Town has seen in decades. (Approx 7000 km) Light and stiff is how I might describe them, but a better description would be; outstanding value for money. Still as true as the day they were delivered, the Sapim spokes are tough as nails and the bitex hubs still roll like butter. (Despite a few sphincter-puckering moments when meeting a pot-hole that wasn't there yesterday!) The 50mm profile does make for some interesting crosswind handling, but nothing as hectic as the Light Weights that I rode which sometimes felt as though the Cape Doctor himself (or herself?) was trying to tear me off the bike. In hindsight, I might have opted for a 30mm rim profile for those super gusty days when the wind appears to be blowing from every direction, except the rear. I bought the product as a training wheel set, but quite frankly, can no longer find a reason to ride or race anything else, so they've become my 'do everything' clincher wheel set. NB: I don't work for the guys nor have any reason to endorse their product. But, I've tried to find fault with the wheels in order to justify an 'upgrade' but quite frankly, I can't. This is R 8 K very well spent. I hope this helps.

And so ends the first season of league racing for an ex-marathon runner turned roadie. After a patella fracture ended my running career in July 2011, a coworker introduced me to you lean-looking lot. I think I can say with absolute certainty that racing a road bike is the hardest damn thing I've ever undertaken. So thanks to all of you Gentlemen for your spirited participation and to PPA for administering the league, thereby allowing this rookie to indulge a new found passion for racing bikes. Every league race was exhausting, exasperating and absolutely inspiring. Summer league awaits and I have loads of work to do. If I hope to hang with the Big Dogs, I'd better HTFU, ride up grades and buy upgrades :-). Be safe on the roads and see you all in Jan 2013.

3:03 was all I could manage :-( Thought I was going to spontaneously combust on Suikerbossie. Longest nine minutes of my life

Almost forgot, I'll also be in the Contego kit :-) White and yellow GT

Awesome idea! Count me in. I'm keen to give it horns until I either blow my nuts off...or get to Green Point in under three hours. Fingers crossed that the weather guessers got it wrong again.