NGM

He says, casually cruising past the 1000 post mark like it's no big deal. I'd buy a bike from you, no questions asked.

Well they say black is the new orange

That bike looks so cool I'd be scared to ride it. Who did the paint job?

I suspect many people are getting away with it ie: the risk of getting caught is not that high, but the rewards are. Which then implies that the system is not working.

I bought a pair at the beginning of 2017. I wear them every day because I can basically hop off my bike and sit down for work. So approx 2000km of riding (with nukeproof pedals) that was almost entirely off road and very often technical singletrack, plus lots of general walking around... and not so much as a stitch coming loose. All grip is still in near perfect condition. Maybe I got lucky, but I've been amazed by the quality. I bought a second pair at the beginning of this year because the first pair have worked out so well but sometimes don't look "formal" enough for work.

Started riding in the UK with baggies, just because that's what everyone else did. Came (back) to SA and saw everyone wearing lycra like it was a frikken van halen concert, so I gave it a go for about a year. Back in baggies and prefer it. I just don't like cruising around in a full-body speedo.

For the last year I've sort of felt like YR is short for "Y R u always over-estimating the amount of rain by a factor of 10".

It will definitely rain - I'm riding that race. The last race I did was the stellenbosch cycle tour (2017) and it poured down. It rains every time I do a race. ****, saying it like this makes me think the drought is my fault. I should probably have kept this information to myself. Or start doing more races.

How long is the bike?

Got it, Thanks

Where did you find it?

I work in this industry and, crazy as it sounds, intermittent supply often increases demand. When the water is on people stockpile it in a panic, and when the water is off people will often accidentally leave a tap on. Honestly I've seen a number of case studies that show this. And then as you mentioned, the constant pressurising and de-pressurising of pipes really damages them, so you end up with higher levels of leakage - more water loss. But I think one "warning shot" of 24 hours without water would be a very useful reality check. A lot of people don't realise just how serious this is.

That was really well written, thanks for sharing. I did a stint in the UK and was amazed to find that just about everyone I worked with had a charity that they helped. The fiercest competition I've ever seen was when they were trying to out-do each other with how much money they could raise for their respective charities. I do get the feeling south africans are beginning to grow a collective conscience about the issues we have instead of pretending they are not there or accepting that it's their lot in life. We are a long way back but it's a good start.

I'd rather sit on a horse than a fence mate

"How dare you!? I'm the victim here! Now please excuse me while I angrily ride one of my carbon road bikes back to my SUV, so that I can drive home and just cool off in the pool. Ah jeez and the house is probably going to be a mess for a few days now because the maid's house burnt down or something."

I feel like an amnesty/truth and reconciliation approach to the 90s and 00s era of cycling would be pretty productive. By all accounts, riding clean during that area was so rare that they had a special phrase for it ("Pan y agua"). I'm pretty sure the imminent outcome of the operation puerto investigation will show us that most of the guys we loved were doping. And the more top riders that are shown to have been dopers, the less likely it becomes that the remaining "clean" riders at the top of the pile were actually clean, because it must have meant they were superhuman. I loved miguel indurain, but honestly, that he was able to dominate so many other riders during the glorious days of EPO when it existed but there was no test for it? To blindly assume he was clean is naive. In the 1950s and earlier riders were open about their use of performance enhancing drugs. Fausto Coppi (who won several Giri and a couple of tours) famously said that he took amphetamines all the time, simply because it was necessary. It wasn't a big deal. Riders used drugs, and continued to do so through the decades - the drugs just got better. Then it got secretive, and then it got ugly. I don't judge them. I think doping was par for the course. The riders from that era just need to lay it all out on the table in the same way that Tyler Hamilton and few others already have. I think it would be really interesting and good for everyone involved. I'd love to read Jan Ulrich's account of that period. But where all that leaves one with regard to ex-dopers riding the epic? I have no idea. Using them to publicise the race does seem wrong. But I do think they should be allowed to ride. We would probably love it if pantani (RIP) could ride the epic - somehow he is one of the "cool" dopers. Obviously all just my opinion.

Finally a german business model for world domination that I can support! What? Too soon?

If I manage a sub-3 I certainly wont celibate. In fact I will do quite the opposite.

Great, thanks for that. My current index is 0 but when I select "show unused seeding results as well" it does not show the 99er, so I guess the 99er data is just not loaded yet. Whether it will be used for seeding I will have to wait and see.

I've managed to get myself an eligibility of F as a result of the 99er. It was my first road race so it took a big effort. My goal was a decent seeding for next year's argus. But I've recently taken a substitute entry for this argus/ctct and received an email from them saying "information about my start time and seeding will be provided on the 3rd of march". Is there ANY chance that they will use this F seeding for this year's race, given that I'm a substitute? Sent from my SM-A500F using Tapatalk

No Prob. I actually phoned them and had a bit of a rant today. There were about 8 riders in total who were shifted to the 64km race, and for about 6 of them (including the 2 of us) I can prove that they did the 102km. I guess they do have to account for people who started the 102km in one of the bottom groups, realised it was too much for them, and then took a shortcut to the end. I'm sure it happens all the time, especially in the lower starting groups. But to just move the result and then not tell the rider? That's not really acceptable. They should flag the ride and ask you for more details, instead of quietly moving it to the shorter race. Having said all that, I'm pretty sure there is a motor in your bike dude. 35kph solo for 102km? WTF. I was riding the solo ride of my life and you came past in a blur. edit: in case it's not obvious, I'm not being serious about the motor.

We were the first 3 in our group (CC) and quite a long way ahead of anyone else in that group so it is possible that they think the results are not legit or something. It seems too much of a coincidence that all 3 of us have had our results moved to the 64km race by some sort of clerical error. But if that was the case, they should at least let the rider know - I guess it's only monday and should give them more time. I've taken it up with racetec though. Anyway, if anyone reading this knows Guy Krige from somerset west (he rides with the Wanabees club or something like that) then let him know that his result is incorrect on the racetec website. He was one of the guys who did all 102kms of the 64km race with me.

Well I've just found that my result for the 102km was reassigned to the 64km by racetec, after it was initially correctly listed as the 102km on saturday evening when I first looked. Luckily I checked again. Not just me either, two guys I rode with for a lot of the way were also incorrectly reclassified. Does this sort of thing happen often?

Ah no worries. I was looking forward to sleeping in again anyway.

Is this true? I ask because the 99er was my first race. I had a solid crack at it (starting at the back in the CC group) with the aim of getting a decent seeding for NEXT years CTCT. I've been given a sub entry for this CTCT, which I took thinking that I would just ride it socially. So if my result from this 99er will give me a good seeding for THIS CTCT, it sort of affects how much training I do in the next couple of weeks. I guess I will know in a couple of days once the substitution process goes through.