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Blackheart

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Everything posted by Blackheart

  1. I thought I'd relate this event yesterday: My 7 year old son and I went for a ride yesterday to christen his new bike. We headed off to lower Tokai. It's his favourite place to ride, and we had great fun surfing the tree stumps. As we were heading back to the car, he dropped behind a little. As I passed a group of adults and teenagers gathered at the side of the path I heard him go down. He fell quite hard and trapped his knee under the frame and started to howl. Now, none of the group I'd just past had masks on, and my son had fallen directly across from them. Two of the younger adults jumped up to respond and assist. Human nature took over and they dashed to his aid, oblivious to the fact that they had no masks on, just wanting to help. They reached him before I did, and despite my shouting to leave him alone they were too focussed to stop. One lifted the bike off him, the other helped him up. I was then close enough to ask them to please leave him alone. On the one hand, it was heart warming to see the human instinct to help, on the other - get away from my little boy if you don't have a mask on. What it does bring home is that all of these 'scenarios' which people are playing out in their heads as to why ............... (insert whatever rule/law/advice) doesn't necessarily apply to them, arrogantly assumes that they can control every situation they find themselves in.
  2. Stickers off. Degrease. Light sand. Mask. Primer. Light sand. Rattle can enamel in the colour of his choice. I did the same for my Son and we did the project together, so cool and so much fun.
  3. Until its battery runs out, then you have to ride with one hand over your mouth.
  4. In the history of the TdF there are many candidates in the queue in front of Froome. For example: https://velopeloton.com/eugene-christophe/
  5. Apparently they had been waiting to dock for three weeks now. Rather them than me.
  6. My Grandfather used to tell me there's no point in being a smartarse with someone who can make your life more miserable than you can make theirs.
  7. So, 5km, 6-9, mask and all the debate around it, from '6-9 is not practical' to 'Bill Gates, 5G and the Shape Shifting Reptilians are taking our freedoms away'.. As far as Govt is concerned, and in the immortal words of Bricktop "If I throw a dog a bone, I don't want to know if it tastes good or not". As ever, there are 3 avenues open to us. Love it. Leave it. Change it. Love it. Try and find a way to deal with it as it stands, even enjoy it. Leave it. Just opt out. Whatever way works best for you, just leave the rest to either Love it or Change it. Change it. If you really cant find a way to Love it, and you feel too strongly about it to Leave it, then Change it. Form a new political party, lobby your MP, start a petition, start a revolution. Whatever, just do something to materially change what it is that bothers you so much, that option 1 and 2 are untenable.
  8. It was an observation wrapped in sarcasm. Not a recommendation....
  9. To everyone plotting ride radius routes: It's very simple. The top of Chapmans Peak is exactly 5km away from wherever you are...
  10. Just did the radius map thing. Half of mine is in the sea. But the other half catches Chappies, Constantia Nek, Valley Rd, Suikerbossie and half way to Camps Bay. So I'm not complaining at all.
  11. I too have shiny patches on knees and elbows from skidding, wheelying and jumping one of those as a kid. Mine was classic red/orange with yellow graphics. I traded it on a new Dragster.. which put me right at the top of the cool pile. Even more dangerous and evil handling than the Chopper. Check that gear lever out. Proper damage.
  12. Nice! Inspired me to post mine. Great times.
  13. 1985 CIK All Africa GP. SA colours on the lid. The field included Heinz Harald Frentzen, Jason Plato and Patrick Egl (who won if memory serves), some other wonderkid europeans, plus some fast locals, Derrick Irving etc. I qualified mid field after seizing my No1 motor in qualy. Made a good start, making up a few places around the top hairpin (local knowledge). Got caught in a first lap pile up, which left me unable to depress neither brake nor throttle fully. I carried on, got lapped by the winner and finished 12th from 30 odd starters. I found out the day after, when I couldn't stand up that I'd cracked both ankles in a few places too. The first pic is on the grid before one of the practice sessions, the second one is the damage from the race. But like Mr WrightJnr above, my stand out memories are of my Dad (also an ex racer), always being there, always tuning, always helping and encouraging. That's what is really special.
  14. Mine's not dead. It's just restin'.
  15. No, because obviously walking the dog or going for a jog means cycling too...obviously.
  16. That is an awesome deal! Someone should be all over that.
  17. I have been using Suunto since 1998, and still have a Vector from then which is going strong. I have had zero issues with all of my Suunto's, compared to many with my two Garmin products (a 310 XT watch and a 720 edge). Last year I got a Spartan Sport which I am more than stoked with. Their after sales and support has been incredible too. I sent in one watch to have the bezel replaced after a tough climbing trip. It came back with a new back, o ring and strap all at no cost.
  18. Keep the 2.4's. Traction and comfort are paramount (and you wouldnt go any faster with a 2.0 anyway). Anything that keeps you going is key...your body will be looking for any excuse to stop, so make it as easy as possible.
  19. Depends on the hardtail (cos there's hardtails and hardtails..). I'll take any excuse to show this off My only MTB now is this steel Niner, I use it for long events (100 miler etc) and for blasting the singletrack around The Cape. I had two other Niners, an Air9 RDO which was lighter and a Jet9 RDO which had 120mm/90mm. I'm a few secs slower up the long climbs than on the carbon HT and faster downhill than on the FS. Overall faster all round. It's more comfortable than the carbon HT but way more forgiving and it's more direct and responsive than the FS but just as capable. I sold both other bikes, as the ROS made them redundant to me. Admittedly, the spec is quite high end which helps keep the weight down, it's now at 12kg ready to roll. The spec, to those interested: Niner ROS steel frame SRAM XX1 Eagle RS1 fork Tune hubs AM Classic 3834 rims Maxxis Ardent 2.4 RS Dropper Fizik Tundra2 carbon Niner RDO carbon bar and stem Formula Cura brakes
  20. Damn. Should have filed it... If I was going to use it to cheat I'd probably shield it from the x ray machine with a lining inside the down tube and BB (race bikes are light enough these days that the weight is just ballast to bring it up to UCI rules), and then I'd build in a sneaky water cooling system linked to the bidon to cut it's thermal signature..... If I thought that way...
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