HappyMartin

How come the top Super rugby team in NZ is full of all blacks but in SA the standout best team has players that don't get to start for the Springboks. Instead the Springbok team is full of players that managed a draw against the Sunwolves.

Stopped in at Burger King yesterday at lunch. The one off Louis Botha, near Yeoville. Waltzed out after and forgot my Tumi bag under the table. Realised when I got home. Went back and the security guy was looking after it. dam thing wasn't even closed. The bag and wallet are worth about 7K. A high end sony compact worth 10K, a 3K leatherman ands all my cards including two rugby season tickets made it quite a nice thing to get back.

This really does need to be celebrated. He is not just our most successful cyclist but most likely one of our all time most successful sportsman. Perhaps if golf was an actual sport rather than a game Gary Player could compete for the title but since it isn't he can't.

Or do you sell Mpati. That's the question Side note for you. I climbed Mpati for the first time when I was 9. Lived on the side of it. Catteral road I think it was. Used to race down the dongas in the blue gum trees on our bikes. I have a similar thing. Have a buyer for my Oscar but tempted to keep it. Take it to work perhaps.

Linea Mini ordered and deposit paid. Chose black. Two weeks lead time. Eish it's a lot of money. Excited now

That was my first machine. With it I learnt the basic order of things but that was about it. Should not have wasted the money is my feeling now.

You are a prince amongst men. I would love to take you up on that offer.

I'm in Johannesburg. Quite central. Kensington.

Finally moving on the Linea Mini and contacted Foodserve as per the advice on this forum. Have a price and we are going to place the order. The lead time is unfortunately very long so currently hoping they agree to sell one of their demo machines. I have meanwhile arranged a small remodeling of the kitchen to accommodate the machine. Next question. Foodserve don't do installations apparently. Anyone have a recommendation as to who I can contact to plumb the machine in and to get a good filter system at the same time? Starting to get a bit excited about it now.

I phoned Loftus on Sturday morning before the game. Got through to a very friendly lady. I asked her if there was still space for the Lions game. She said of course. "What position would you like to play?"

Just pick the Lions team.

Turns out the fitness tracker thing was too much for me. I felt like a five year old with my mother on my case again. It went flat and ended up in a drawer next to my bed. Now it's missing. Perhaps the dog ate it. That coincided with me forgetting about the vitality points. I'm maxed out for the year so I will let it go until next year then pick it up again. I'm very good at self motivating but I have always been awful when anyone monitors what I'm up to. This system just isn't for me I think.

Much like Worlds each country is allocated places by the number of UCI points it's riders have accumulated in various UCI events. SA have enough points to send two riders. That's how it is. Nothing to do with our governing sporting bodies.

The coffee is awful. I was amazed how bad it is. Used to be fair

Cold and wet night out but worth it to see the Lions win.

Not involved other than I know the family a little. Have known them for about 20 years. It's like I wrote earlier about the guys in gym we all know are doping. And we also get a feel for who is clean. When DG was bust how many of us were surprised? I was surprised. Surprised it took so long. Same with his riding partner. Well when Daryl was found positive I was shocked.

No it wasn't. It was in 1982 in Pretoria. Not case that got any publicity that I am aware of.

I'm assuming then that you know all the testimony in this case and all the evidence given? The video surveillance that was shown with a date stamp from the pharmacy? The log of the pharmacist showing what was dispensed and when? The result of all the blood tests done by Orica in Europe in an attempt to see any unusual performance gains? And it wasn't a dirty counter so that bit is wrong. Tablets are dispensed on a tray with a channel on one side. That is where the contamination occurred. But you see that's the issue isn't it. A case can be so complex that day's can be taken to go over the evidence. Our legal system has decided that is what is needed. But not on the streets. We can see the plain truth without looking at any evidence. I dunno Patch. Perhaps you are right. Perhaps you do know all the evidence. You have always struck me as intelligent with a nuanced understanding of many issues. Perhaps I am too close to this one. Legal cases can be complex and counter intuitive. I have a friend who spent an awful week in jail for rape back in the 80's. All the stories pointed to him being a disgusting human and then there he was. Back with us. He didn't want to talk about it. He was insulted and ostracized and then the woman who had laid the charge was arrested. She had been caught having had sex by a family member and cried rape. Later she admitted it was consensual. I never forgot that incident. So me I am not so quick to throw stones.

At the moment in the UK 60% of athletes serving doping bans are rugby players. That despite being tested a lot less than cyclists or field and track athletes. I'm just saying to dispel the myth that cycling is the worlds dirtiest sport. That is neither proven nor I believe true. I do get where this thread is coming from. I don't agree with it but that's just my opinion and I'm not about to become emotional about it. I have no dog in this fight. One thing that seems odd to me is the sentiment that we must be harder on cheats to protect the non doping pros. Sound good on paper but every time someone is bust doping there are a bunch of pros saying they knew all along the person caught was dirty. So we must go out to protect them but they sit on there hands and do sweet fanny Adams when they know who is doping and who is supplying the goods. When I went to gym, skinny weed that I am, I knew who the boys were that were doping. It's easy to tell. And I knew which gym instructors were supplying. I'm sure it's the same in pro cycling. But now we must do something to look after the pros that don't have the guts to look after themselves? I don't think so. Not my monkey, not my circus.

I think doping and other kinds of cheating are awful. People using motors, riding underweight bikes, taking PED's all take something away from the sport. But all sports have rules and some of those rules are the sanctions imposed for various infractions. Like rugby has suspensions and so on. I don't always like the rules but the deal is I do my best to follow them when I participate in the sport. Cycling has bans as punishment for doping. They have a time limit. I'm OK with that. If it bothered me a great deal I would try get elected to a cycling body and change the rules. Also I'm OK with the whole forgiveness and rehabilitation thing. I'm not Christian but I think forgiveness is an admirable thing to aspire to. Takes strength to forgive

One of my favorites. I get mine from Green Bean Roastery. I think my favorite is Harrar. That and Yirgacheff another Ethiopian bean. I cycled through the area years ago so feel a sense of attachment I guess.

I have a personal good story. Well I think it's pretty good. In fact it has been life altering. Lost a lot of my hearing in the infantry in 1979. Boring old story. 37 years later I finally decide to get something done about it. I got a hearing aid. It's flipping amazing. I can here birds chirping, my dog scratching his neck, all sorts of stuff. I had no idea when people said click with the mouse that it actually made a clicking sound. I can follow conversations at restaurants and I can even hear the waitrons. I have a extra device that syncs to my phone so I can play music and take phone calls through the hearing aid. Cell phones were very challenging for me. Unfortunately I have lost the ability to understand some sounds so sometimes spoken words are meaningless to me but I am trying to remedy that with a rehab program and by listening to audio books Anyway it might not be a big deal in the great scheme of things but to me it has been and continues to be a remarkable journey.

An hour and a half on the trainer at a moderate pace got me 600 points. Seems fair. This morning a fast, for me, 2:10 loop at the reserve with strong winds got me the same 600 points. Weird.

I decide on which races to do based on how much I enjoy them, am able to afford them, have the time to commit to train for them and other factors such as safety. No way I am going to factor in their attitude to dopers. I don't win anyway. I don't like the fact that people dope, I won't knowingly dope. But I won't allow people that are doping to affect my behavior or choice of races in any way. I don't care enough about what other people do.

Vida coffee is just amazing. How on earth do they manage to make such bad coffee? I thought I might be the victim of a Leon Shuster prank when I tasted mine but nope, that's how they roll.