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WOFT

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    http://www.CounterBalance.co.za

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  1. There were 4 unicycles. 3 were "standard" fixies, and 1 was a "geared" fixie. Winning time was 5h17 on a standard hub.
  2. Steve, you are a legend! It was awesome riding with you. You and your singlespeed whipped our butts in every part of the ride, except pushing uphill. And handless riding. If you give me a few days and many reminders, I'll pull the file off of the other unicyclist's (Alan)'s gps and post it here. In the meantime, you can check out the route that the Altech Tracker picked up: follow the link on right of the CounterBalance website homepage to the "Live Tracking / Guardian" page. Login with username "freedom" and password of "password". Click on "trip replay" in the left column, and view the tracking from "6 January 2011". I'm not sure how helpful it will be as the Guardian maps are not topographical.
  3. WOFT

    Uni Cycling

    Eish, not a great way make friends here, and not a great way to get a fringe sport taken seriously! Well, unicycling might never be taken seriously, but we can have a go at least, haha! I'm one of the a..holes who rode in the 2010 Argus (the original poster isn't). There were no incidents in spite of the wind. Statistically, you are more likely to be taken by a shark whilst swimming than being taken by a unicyclist whilst cycling (I am sure you will agree that my logic here is flawless ). We'll be there for the Argus this year. Please say hi if you pass us - We are not easy to miss Thanks atraut for clarifying your thoughts on unicyclists in general (and thanks to the others who can see the difference between a unicyclist and a clown on a unicycle). Check out the CounterBalance website. We've just finished the Freedom Revolution Unicycle Tour: 2470km over 44 days, offroad (ie: the Freedom Challenge route), on unicycles. Ummm, I have absolutely no comeback for this one ...
  4. Hi Guys This didn't get much attention in the "general notices" board, so this is a repost from there. Many of you on The Hub have heard of the mountain unicyclists lurking in Tokai forest. Some of you may even have seen them these curious creatures. Like stories of the Yeti, Loch Ness Monster and unicorns, only those who have seen them are true believer in their existence. I am here to tell you that exist. And they plan on making it known that they do! We're really happy to tell you that our the CounterBalance website, dedicated to the Freedom Revolution Unicycle Tour, is up and rolling. Donna Kisogloo, Alan Read and Johnny Cronje are riding 2,500km off-road from Durban to Cape Town for 46 days from November 26, offroad, on 29inch mountain unicycles. Our site will tell you everything you will want to know about our epic adventure. "SA-positive" blogger Fred Hatman, who is also our support driver for the ride, will be blogging about the tour and constantly updating on Facebook (The CounterBalance Project), YouTube (CounterBalanceSA) and Twitter (TheCBProject) Pop over to our website and interact with us as we prepare for the mother of all unicycle (and possibly bicycle) rides... and please follow us on the various social media to keep updated on new blogposts, images and video. We'll be really grateful to get your support as we test ourselves and our unis against the rugged terrain of South Africa... all in aid of Bob Skinstad's Bobs For Good Foundation which is committed to providing rural children with decent school shoes! We are proud to be doing our ride for such a phenomenal cause! We need hefty sponsorship to make our ride happen. If you would like to donate, there is a "Donate" page on the new website where you can contribute. We'd be totally chuffed if you can help us get going! Once our tour expenses are met, all surplus money will be given to Bobs For Good to buy shoes for the kids. Here are all the links for our adventure: Website: CounterBalance Facebook: The CounterBalance Project Twitter: The CBProject YouTube: CounterbalanceSA Please support us in anyway that you can, whether it be a donation or joining our groups to follow the tour. If you have taken part in the Freedom Revolution and have advice to offer us, we would really appreciate it! If you would like get of me personally, my details are as follows: Johnny Cronje Johnny@CounterBalance.co.za Cel: 0836011133 Many thanks!
  5. I searched "pubmed", an online database of medical journals. I searched for "snakebite", "suction" and "aspivenin". I could only view the abstracts of the articles, as I don't have a subscription to access the full texts. most of the articles I checked out said that suction was did NOT change the outcome, in experimental animal studies.understanably, there are not many experimental human studies, but most of the reviews also say that the suction unit as a first aid measure for snakebites in not effective. 2 articles (ie: the minority) showed that the suction unit actually CAUSED damage to area it is applied to - the rim of the suction cup damaged the skin and underlying tissues to the point where they necrosed, worsening infection and prolonging the time to heal. No articles suggested that that suction units be used. however, 1 article suggested that "trained personal could, under certain conditions, used excision and suction". this article was published in 1960.
  6. Fair points there. I suppose what I want to know is whether the aspivenin will buy some life/limb/digit saving time whilst getting to the doc. Interesting thought about keeping active with cytotoxic venom. I'll see what my medic friends say is the latest protocal. My "snakes of south africa" book was published in about 1985!
  7. Hi there. All this snake talk freaks me out a bit. I often ride alone (go on, judge me!). I have heard talk about the "aspivenin" kit - it is a small suction kit that is supposed to suck out some of the poison from a variety of bites and stings. Does anyone know if these actually work, and where one can get them in Cape Town?
  8. I reckon the part where it talks about pedals and being propelled by pedals probably covers cyclists. Edman, I'm not a lawyer. My reading of what you highlighted makes me think of those mopeds that have an engine AND pedals (on the same vehicle, to start it). I'll try find some friends with an LLB to clear it up.
  9. It seems that this does NOT apply to cyclists. A Motor Vehicle is defined in the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 as:
  10. [not entirely on topic] I converted my 29er unicycle to tubeless using the ghetto method and a UST (continental mountain king 2.4). Problem is, It burps on drops over about 1ft. Do you bikers running tubeless setups find this problem common? Any idea how to deal with it?
  11. Cool photos brent. Looking forward to seeing the rest. Did you get any good footage? Hopefully next year will be bigger. It was loads of fun, and nerveracking racing against the clock and Ethan. All in all, a load of fun!
  12. I'll probably be there. What kind of tools do you need? I've never built trails, but I guess a spade will be useful
  13. Cool. Should be fun. If anybody has to urge to take the plunge and buy a unicycle, I'm sure that Alan from Oddwheel.co.za could bring some out there - saves on shipping.
  14. I think a lot of confusion comes about from lay people not knowing that most ambulance personel are not paramedics. However, they all dress the same. you get Basic life support (BLS/BAA), Intermediate life support (ILS/AEA) and Advanced life support (ALS/paramedic). only the ALS guys are true "paramedics". BLS is a 5 week course. these guys can patch you up and take you to hospital, but cannot admister drugs (aside from Oxygen and laughing gas). ILS is a scourse over several months. they are inbetween ALS and BLS, and can administer certain drugs and more invasive procedures, like putting up drips. BLS and ALS make up the majority of the ambulance service. Paramedics are highly qualified practitioners, having studied for at least 3 years, and being VERY experienced. they have a lot of emergency drugs at their disposal, and are very skilled at using them. They bare mostly seen in the smaller, faster "response cars" rather than the code 10 ambulances. At an accident outside of a hospital, I would rather be treated by a paramedic than a GP. [PS: I have oversimplified what these guys can do to illustrate the differences. I'm not knocking their qualifications or their importance, especially the BLS guys] I love the idea of doctors riding with the groups, and would be equally happy with a paramedic riding there. It wuold be interesting to compare the response time of the biking doc if he/she were furthest away from the injury, to the reponse time of the non-racing medics/docs. Tim, what kind of equipment/drugs are you carrying? is it general first aid stuff like dressings, or more the drug spectrum?
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