The Guy in Pink

Basil was a great guy, He was our club Chairman (Northern Wheelers) and I often attended committee meetings at his house. I also went training with him and the former Italy Olympic team coach who set my position properly. His commentary on Sunday afternoons at the track were legendary. and for me one commentary of a Kermesse in Boksburg where he was in a cop car behind the bunch using the cop radio. I jumped at the bell and managed to tuck in behind the lead cop motor bike and heard exactly what was happening in the bunch over his radio loudspeaker. ( Fortunately he could not see the massive tow I got from the motor bike4.

To burn fat you need a low carbohydrate diet. Eat meat, fish, eggs, avocado, butter, cheese and green veggies which grow above the ground. Avoid all sugars, wheat products, starches, processed foods, fruit, fruit drinks and seed oils Eat less frequently, (ideally only once or twice a day) Train on an empty stomach

My wife is another 30 years older than you, and yes everyone's max is different. By those of us that have trained hard and often throughout our lives will maintain a high maximum heart rate - you use it or you lose it.

I guess this is only slightly on topic, But this is from my wife's spinning session this morning . Her max heart rate from the last 4 sessions was 204, 199, 198 & 197bpm Her Garmin recommends 19 hrs of recovery which is based on her HRV, so no stress there. And no I am not married to a 13 year old (as the 220-age nonsense would suggest)

Tesla autopilot already has 10 times fewer accidents per million km than human drivers. Once their Full self driving software is 100 times safer than human drivers we will see human driven vehicles being outlawed on the roads.

We lost a good friend two months back to a Black Mumba . He was dead within a few hours of being bitten.

It looks like it was about 18 months at R1,2 million a month https://www.zoutnet.co.za/articles/news/23861/2014-03-20/power-crisis-nears-end

Far more likely that the restraint has not been load tested since the AFB opened 33 years ago. A few years ago the entire base ran on generators for over a year, as the switch gear around the base was some fancy American stuff which needed the oil levels checked annually. One switch failed afer 25years of never being checked and it started a chain reaction

https://www.zoutnet.co.za/articles/news/54402/2021-06-10/air-force-finally-breaks-the-silence-over-gripen-crash

On 8th April a Gripen was damaged in a crazy accident at AFB Louis Trichardt (Makhado). During a static engine test the restraining cable broke and away it went . . . The Zoutpanberger has the story, which the Defence Force finally admitted to 5 weeks after the Zoutpanberger asked for them to confirm the incident.

Haberdashery is a favourite word of mine. Years ago I was asked to produce a sign which had to be in both English and Afrikaans for a material/sewing shop. I asked for the Afrikaans word for haberdashery . . . . Much discussion ensued but the sign was only in English eventually.

Yip, 220 minus age does not work for those of us that have kept active all our lives. It works for normal sedentary types - Use it or lose it. The best test is chasing a overloaded truck or bus up a mountain, when properly warmed up.

The Pink Mouse is 64 but she gives 45 minutes of spinning class each morning at the local gym- to a group that wants to be pushed hard. She complained to me a few weeks ago that her maximum heart rate is decreasing and no matter how hard she pushes herself she cannot get over 160bpm. I told her I think it's because she is getting very fit, but as she has not done much running for a while why not see what happens if she pushes herself on the treadmill, as it's a different set of muscles with a different fitness level. She pushed herself and did a PB 5km in 25minutes. Averaging 162BPM and peaking at 180BPM.

I did a 7 day water only fast 2 months back, and lost less than 2kg most of which was poop - after a week of not eating the intestines end up pretty empty. So two days afer eating again the net loss was about 1kg.

My Sunday musings about Elim Hospital took me back to this story. Constable Willem Eagle and his rifle. Constable C.W. Eagle was born in Canada from an English mother and a Red Indian Brave father. In 1904 he Joined the BSAP and was stationed at Fort Edward, a prefab steel fort, near Elim. (20km From Louis Trichardt) He brought with him his own repeating rifle. The Rifle was a Colt repeating rifle, unusual to say the least, as Colt made revolvers, ,both pistols and some revolver rifles. However, they made about 40 repeating rifles before Winchester took them to court for patent infringement, and Colt recalled all of them in 1904 except for three. One of which escaped the recall was Constable Eagle's, as he was already on his way to South Africa at the time of the recall.. In 1908 he was dispatched on horseback to investigate a disturbance west of Messina, and encountered a lioness who attacked him. He fired many shots at the lion with his rifle but was severely mauled before the lioness withdrew. A Prospector on a nearby hill saw the incident and got him help. He was taken by mule cart back to Elim Hospital (The journey must have taken several days) He died of his injuries several days after getting to hospital. So why was his rifle so ineffective against the lioness bespite all the shots fired? Well It was a .22 calibre peashooter . Below is local historian Charles Leach with the rifle.