mazambaan

I happened to see a GCN YouTube "who broke Ineos?" ad Eddie Dunbar was mentioned as a talent they had let slip away and who could have been developed into, maybe, something very good. Alan in good company.

A very interesting topic and my interest stems from repots that cutting carbs is beneficial in slowing the possible growth of cancer cells and tumours (mainly Prof Seyfried). From other stuff though a relative, senior citizen relative who was following a keto diet but swallowed a few too many OTC pain killers for injury and ended up with kidney issues. Recommendation was to reduce protein intake (not fats though) so check kidney function, ideally before embarking on full on keto maybe. The other was a guest on the Prof Ross Tucker podcast; an Australian working with elite athletes, and her take on keto was that "digestion" is slightly LESS efficient in energy terms than for carbs; hence retaining carbs for most elite athletes performances (to go fast you must have sugar - one of the TdeF team support staff). I am in the camp of reducing carbs, eating more protein and fat, maintaining weight, exercise to retain muscle and less refined foods. Alcohol is a bastid; I love an evening whiskey.

I think someone from KZN has touched on private security being quite to very "effective" in many parts of KZN. But the political dynamics are a little different in that SAPS generally turns a blind eye or works with the private security (see numbers of CIT robbers etc getting shot). This may not be the case in WC. But, just about anywhere in SA, if you want to be safe, or have your property protected, private security is needed; "government" is mostly useless or involved in crime. Rant over.

Well, best of luck with that. But there are always choices, I cannot see that voting for some other entity, in the CT and SA context, to govern the city will miraculously make cycling in danger areas safer. Take precautions; groups, guns and moering tools, harass the authorities and lobby groups or move to where it is perceived to be safer, areas, closed trails, other countries or accept the random risk. Eish.

Maybe link up with East Coast Cycling club. They have a lot (to me) of MTB and road groups. From mad to insane🙈🙈. Just joking; very friendly club, particularly the MTB with groups A to D most Saturdays starting 05h30 🙃but north of Durbs.

Very inspirational and I can just imagine the willpower and effort needed to get to where you are now; long may it continue. A slightly personal query; did you have any indications of the stroke beforehand?

Welcome to cycling and the Hub; but there are cheaper and less painful addictions 👺. Excellent comments made already and I have walked your road with a Makro bike; cheap chain broke early on and I had to walk home so that could be on your list to replace. And so it begins, drive train (mine then swallowed its derailleur), tyres, saddle, grips etc. Learn how to get the thing adjusted as regards gears etc, that is a YT topic I think. One lesson I learnt hard was sizing. Get the right size (yours sounds too small), an experienced friend or LBS is best, otherwise Googly and YT. Many spend more than the cost of a Makro bike getting fitted properly. Then I would say comes kit; padded shorts and helmet. Finally; do not trust LBS easily; I was sold a too small bike and a woman's saddle respectively by two of the most "reputable" bike shops in my area. Have a friend or do research then check and double check, ask the Hub. Too late to quit now.

I can only endorse the ebike recommendations. From soccer, hockey and dirt bikes my knees re wrecked; one massive op (cartilage and ligaments) and regular pain in both; always exacerbated by those "out of the saddle" or very steep granny gear climbs (think "lambs legs" and "work to be done" on Sani2c). Now an ebike shaves the heart rate top off on such climbs and saves the slow, maximum force grind that used to hurt my knees and leave them hurting for weeks.

Eye protection; one bumble bee to the eye is enough. Polychromatic D'Arcs are reasonably priced and mine have lasted well.

Agreed and screwdriver only useful for the (very) small Torx like fork bleeders (T20) that are easily stripped.

I wish him the best but from the little I know the peak of professional road riding is incredibly brutal "Mountain bikers" have had some success (Pidcock (duh), Cadel Evans, Floyd Landis 🙈, Jakob Fuglsang etc) but things have. Listening to Matt Beers recently I realised that, even with a huge engine, it is out of this world tough.

My only thought on this is that it is either for the mega wealthy (and many of them are very careful with cash so marginal) or a tax dodge whereby the company pays for the membership as a cost. Still big loot to me.

Interesting times for this guy; unlucky or naïve? Robbed (in CT) on Day 2 - Bikepacking Across AFRICA Held At GUNPOINT While Bikepacking Namibia. Africa not for sissies.

With the nanoscopic detection levels even that could be a problem 👺. Apologies if covered but Ross Tucker, Science of Sport podcast gave an interesting assessment of the Sinner (tennis No. 1) doping evaluation and exoneration; a few months ago now. Plus he commented that Travis Tygart in the US was getting some flak as he was using athlete informants to get higher up the doping chain. Snag was that the USADA knew the athletes were racing doped and were allowed to keep their race positions, winnings and trophies.

I've no dog in this fight as I do my best to stay off surfaced roads but one thing that has happened is that SANRAL have taken over a number of provincial arterial roads and branded them N whatever. All about available budget and perceived capability I think. Is this road one of these?

I have seen that Giba Gorge is under threat from what is described (from FB sorry) as: "Our fight against corruption has been long and challenging, but together we can make a difference. Help us expose the injustice we’re facing and hold those responsible accountable. Sign our petition and share this post to stand with us in our fight for fairness and transparency. Your voice matters!" The link to the petition is https://www.change.org/p/halt-the-business-rescue-liquidation-of-giba-gorge?recruited_by_id=a12e0c90-84c8-11ef-8dfd-99bf67906123&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_medium=native which I think is worth posting as Giba is a great, well maintained venue and does not deserve this. Details are in the link. Chris Harburn is, in my view, an unsung hero of cycling with Giba, keen mountain biker himself and generally good guy (IMHO of course). I won't speculate on the background but there is industrial development approaching and much recent development is by maybe greedy and maybe sly people.

Nice idea and probably the only one to take 4No. MTB's. I have a Thule and looked at the newer Thule's, supposedly for ebikes but no chance they will take 4No. MTB's and list price over R30k. Also puts a big weight far back off the towbar and the Karoorak seems better in this regard. Biggest advantage I see from Thule is the fitment onto the towbar ball so no spanner work is needed to swap to towing a trailer. For 4No. MTB's may be cheaper to buy a motorbike trailer for R10k or so plus licencing etc.

This is a regular check with theft and I have heard it before with stock theft; proof of ownership. I try to mark most of my stuff; bicycles etc in a number of unobtrusive places with Tippex or permanent marker, maybe a card in the handlebar or down the seat tube. Photographs help as well, particularly of any serial numbers. Not that any of my stolen stuff has ever been recovered despite hiring a PI etc. 🙃

I knew him by seeing his name often and did have one small interaction and it was a very positive one I remember well and was well impressed. RIP, may he have good traction and no dust.

and you can add a ratchet type strap around the tyre to force the bead out towards its home on the rim. Don't tell Farmer Glen but the straps used on the Sani2c boxes work for this.

True this and I (have to), with a similar machine, connect the compressor hose with a small hose clip direct to the valve with core removed so when it pops on it gets to high pressure very quickly. Yet to try the little Makita battery tyre pumper.

Great analysis and I heard Ross Tucker go into a little more detail saying that, after the puncture, TP joined in a group and sat with them for about a lap rather than push immediately, adrenaline pumping. When he did go it was a few mighty efforts on three climbs that brought him back with the leaders. AH was never going to threaten but did get some use of the "slipstream". The final overtake; Tucker speculates that TP's road experience helped and as TP said in his interview "rubbin is racing" when he dived inside. RT would have liked to have seen a sprint for the line. First ever mountain bike Olympic medal for SA, first bicycle medal since the 50's (I think; Sifiso Nlhapo in BMX?). Great stuff.

Pity it seems about the dreaded puncture. But what is it about elites getting these? Weight saving so very light tyres and no slime etc or low pressures plus sharp objects and hard impacts?

This is a puzzle to me as well, particularly if all CSA has to do is tick the box; no money from them and pretty much no support as I see it. It is all "self funded", well, privately funded. Same for the much more popular XCO; if you have the slots and it is self funded, go for it. Who are CSA to be gatekeepers; out of touch ones when related to DH it seems?

Agreed as a few weeks ago I went out on a motorised bike (Husky 501) and it felt very twitchy (no death wobble but it felt possible) at speed on a surfaced road, as long as that lasted. Steering head wasn't loose as such but very little resistance (normally set up to just let the bars flop over when the front wheel is off the ground). Needs some tightening I think.