HappyMartin

Would rather eat an orange than a seal lung. Just saying. Also know where to buy oranges, never seen seal lung on the shelves.

I think by law the onus is on you to supply the proof of dishonesty since a person is assumed innocent until proven guilty. Aside from the law common convention dictates that the person first making an assertion should be the one to supply the proof

I think I may have raised this before but I don't like the idea of sweeteners. They just pander to an addiction and foul up your taste buds. You will never enjoy the sweetness of an apple or plum if you have blitzed your taste buds with sweeteners. It also makes it unlikely you will really appreciate the taste of carrots, artichokes and so on. Whole foods require calibrated taste buds in order to be enjoyed. It will also make it easier to fall off the wagon and eat a Bar One. I have a basic rule these days that while I eat ice cream and jams and so on I must know what is in them. I make the ice cream myself and make my own marmalade and so on. That way I appreciate it more and eat in moderation. Pasta is the same. I no longer keep it in my cupboard. If I really feel like pasta I take eggs, flour and water and make it. Amazing how that requirement limits carb intake.

I like riding clubs. Belong to 3 and ride with at least two other groups besides the clubs on a regular basis. Still do most of my riding on my own. The problems start when you hang all your expectations and hopes on one group of people. You are sure to be disappointed. Get out and about and ride with different people. Then you can choose who to ride with depending on what you feel like and who you feel like.

I think the explanation makes sense. I think the charge is not excessive for the service. Pity Colin chose to respond in such a patronizing fashion. Perhaps he didn't mean to come across that way but just happens to have poor communications skills. Perhaps he was just in an irritated mood that day.

On the olive oil thing. Did a holiday recently with an Italian cook. Part of it was cooking classes. He told us to never cook with Olive oil.

I'm now totally confused. CSA is my father? PPA is a 2nd cousin once removed to Slaapstad. CSA never did anything for me, sounds like my father so I'm cool with that. My second cousin lives so far away they don't know I exist and when I visit they don't seem terribly happy to see me but enjoy the money I spend on them and look relieved when I leave to go home to Jobug. Do I have this all straight? Never been good at family stuff.

I am more concerned with us not giving motorists the finger. LL makes a point I largely agree with. We can't be responsible for other cyclists but there is another reality as well. A few months back I was riding on my own, as usual, when a lady overtook me and then immediately turned into her drive way. I nearly nailed her but managed to get around her and went close past her door. Her window was open and she started yelling at me. "I am sorry I'm sorry I didn't see you I'm so sorry" . She was flipping terrified. Now I was a bit annoyed but her reaction really bothered me. Last thing I want is to scare a woman on her own in a car. I just waved and said no problem but I think her reaction must come from the aggressive way cyclists behave towards car drivers. There have been some well publicized incidents in this regard. Like I said earlier. Lets start just by being polite. We can practice on each other by waving if that floats your boat.

The stupid cyclist is very likely also a stupid motorist. Not many of us only ride bikes. Stupid cyclist dies. Stupid motorist kills. Be smart, be careful, be polite. A good place to practice being polite would be on this forum. We are rude to each other on the forum, we are most likely rude on the road as well.

Now just a moment Red Baron. Don't come out with your logical common sense rubbish here. You are going to spoil all the fun.

Sorry to hear that htone. All the best and be strong. You have been missed on this thread.

What's next? Good question. Always wanted to do the ride from Lhasa to Kathmandu. We went to Tibet for our Honeymoon so............

Double post.

Please keep us updated Helpmytrap. I am very interested to follow a competitive cyclist through this process.

I said I was the only one who cycles? Really? I only manage about 10 hours a week. Quite modest by the standards of the guys I cycle with. I just happen to disagree with you. And most people on most things actually. Don't get angry. You are in the majority. Should be a comfortable place to be.

Ulrich cheated to win. Hansie, bless his cotton socks, cheated to lose. As long as he made money.

My wife and I up at Lake Garda after the race

For saying stuff like that you should have to kill yourself!!!!

A belated follow up. Did the race. Measured it at 210km on my garmin. 3900m of climbing. Windy as hell, rain for the first 100km. It was not an easy ride at all but I loved it. Mate that did it with me had previously done a 7:30 and was hoping to go faster. Conditions were so hard he did a 8:50. I was quite pleased with my 8:20. How to compare to races here. Firstly it was harder than anything I have done here. On the organization side there were many things that would have had Hubbers totally enraged. 12000 entrants and only 4 start groups. Imagine trying that here. First water point at 56 km after the first climb. The first climb by the way was a little leg warmer not ever going above 12% and only 5km long. Imagine the Argus had its first water point after Smits Winkle. Short route was 130km and they started and finished with the long route guys No road closure but for the most part there was no space for cars so they seemed to just stay away Not much potholes but frequent trips through narrow lanes over cobbles of various villages. Good mechanical support but you paid for all spares and work in cash up front At the start a level crossing was closed for a train to come through splitting our start group in half and then jamming us in with the next start group. Made our group about 4500 people. R900 entry fee. Goody bag consisted of a collection of free samples of stuff all in Italian. Wasn't sure if I was supposed to eat it or rub it on my bum. Nice wind proof thingy though. If only they got the sizes right. It was a wonderful experience. I loved every moment. I will never forget the fun I had. Again a big thanks to my wife. You are the best.

OK, my machine packed in, finally. How much and where from. This is an emergency!!

[ Good memory. Yes he did

Never did that race. Never heard of it to be honest. Got to know Sawgrass Mills quite well. Still have a zippo lighter I bought there, was smoking in those days. I lived in Plantation and worked at a photo lab called Color Lab of Florida. Rode 11 miles each way every working day for 5 months. Very interesting in hurricane season. Never had any hurricanes but a few major tropical storms. Rain like I have never seen or ridden in since. I had more negative experiences in 5 months there than I did in 2 years of commuting in Joburg. And let's just say commuting here was not exactly incident free.

Only place I was a bit concerned about yesterday was the bridge near Simba hill. Been a few hijacking there and I forgot all about it until I was approaching the area. New bike so no insurance yet. Thought I would just chance it, what the hell, but was pleased to see a SAP van parked under the bridge. I started cycling by commuting around Ft Lauderdale. That was insane. Had to change my route every so often as people used to wait for me and try to take my bike. Hard way to learn cycling. Not much bothers me after that. Oh and after 6 months of that I loaded my bike with panniers and rode from Jerusalem to Nelspruit and then commuted between Yeoville and Sandton for the next 2 years. You can die anytime of anything. Doesn't help to worry about it all the time.

I see cycling news do a free app called tour tracker as well. Also iOS. Will load that as well

I have an App called LeTour by Banana Apps. Not sure how it will handle the updates and so on, will have to wait and see. The team info and route info look quite good though. Also the stage info with a detail of the final km so we can get an idea of the sprint finishes and so on. It also integrates with google calendar and pushes info on the stage if you allow it to do so. R15 was the price. Not sure about android, I am running it on my iPad.