mazambaan

From Simon above: Very interesting indeed. "Know your engine first,then fuel it appropriately." - "dietary composition during lead up to event" seems to him really important and neglected by us weekend worriers (sic) (me anyway). The article's comment about athletes and non-athletes - "They over-estimate their carbohydrate requirement" makes me think that Noakes may have done this. Carbo loaded like crazy, weight ballooned and tendency to be diabetic became a factor. Then he hit radical reverse.

No dog in this fight but this should be interesting to those who take diet and cycling seriously. Tim Noakes gets a bit of a backhand whack it seems. http://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/06/why-you-should-think-twice-before-trying-a-low-carb-high-fat-diet/

and Jerry Collins killed in a car accident in France. Sad news, he was quite a character.

Absolutely Shova1; on the uphills I long for a motor bike, stuck in technical rocks, a stream crossing and singletrack with all that heavy kit, a bicycle. Of course when you bliksem off a bicycle you wish you had all that heavy kit.

Very lekker Shova, on my list. I just need to cut back on bicycle time.

Sounds a bit like the Tubliss system for dirt bikes.

The CCM has the BMW 450 engine with its 5 speed gearbox. Interesting adventure bike.

Afrikan Eureka; you have it. This is called BEE. Bugger Everything Economic

Obviously very good cyclist but also a nice guy from the tiny interaction I had with him. Did it the hard way too and had some nasty injuries etc. Best of luck to him and his family.

Talk about polishing a turd. A few apologies may have been in order and maybe something factual about how "they" intend to turn the Sharks around. I've lost a lot of respect for Smit who has come across as arrogant, both in person and in the press. Certainly I would not have laughed at the cartoon (well I wouldn't have admitted it).

John Smit hasn't been at all clever for the Sharks. Plumtree was not a bad coach - this weekend may well show this and the method of his sacking was absolutely stupid. Venter wasn't able to be secured.. White drilled the guys to injury, wasn't popular at all and left a hot potato. Gold is not Mourinho (or Venter) and was too little, too late. Very, very little wrong with the players; those that aren't injured or suspended that is. Now the money is running short. Groot ***.

Nice link on that IT 490; I rode for many years with a friend who had one; absolutely reliable in the worst of conditions (and lack of maintenance). But a runaway power beast it wasn't. I reckon at that time (early 80's) CR 500 and KX 500 were in the 60 to 65hp bracket if they didn't seize or kill you. The YZ 490 four speed if you could jet the beast was probably 55hp, maybe. Not sure about the Maico and KTM big bore 2 strokes. The IT 490; well I would say 35hp but good lowdown power unlike the others. Heavy bastid too.

Which 490 Dirt Rider? The IT490 was a heavy iron beast that was manageable the 4 speed YZ a little less so. But the Honda CR500 and Kawa KX500 demanded proper respect, a twitchy throttle hand was usually punished with a trip to plaster city. The Husky 500, KTM 495 and Maico 490 were in the manageable class unless they had been breathed on. There is a guy in SA who keeps setting ever higher speeds on modified Husky 500 I think.

I battle to find the Cadence products (nothing at Dischem or any close LBS') although I like them I sense they may not be long for this world.

I think Marc met his match with the old dog Rossi who didn't back off when a bit of paint was being swapped. What goes around comes around. Interesting to see how it pans out and lucky he wasn't hurt.

Nice one Grebel. I remember the singe carb XR 200's caused quite a stir in the enduro world back in the day. They only had one weakness; they didn't like re-starting after being turned upside down.

Ja as el Capitano says I have heard that municipalities get pretty short notice (maybe minutes) to shed x MW. (where x is in the 1000's). They then rotate this load shedding according to their schedule. For sure the equipment is not designed for this and there is a spike when they turn the power back on as just about everyone has left their appliances on. Don't get me started on co-generation please.

Stoner was certainly fast but maybe was so intense from a young age about racing that his personality suffered in that he was just fast; not a showman like Rossi or able to develop a public persona outside of just racing as fast as possible. I feel for him.

A few snippets I see - Pedrosa is out of racing with his arm issues and Lorenzo was slowed by his helmet inner falling over his eyes. A few changes for the next race??

Ah well what do the commentators know.

I think Rossi being the only one to pick a hard front tyre may just have worked for him.

My view is that if Eksdom allowed or (heaven forbid for them) even encouraged grid tied systems where the power grid has to be operational in order for the independently generated power to be available (eg. no batteries needed for solar; co-generation possible) there would be no need for load shedding; just power reduction. Of course open and transparent privatisation would have solved the energy problems years ago but that is history. Sorry, I don't believe Capricorn etc who says Eksdom are doing a great job. But Eksdom want to desperately keep the monopoly; useless as they are. So I reckon we have 3 to 5 years of uphill ahead. The uphill will be sandy with loose rocks, very hot then raining and muddy as economic growth and tax income drops, maybe the rand continues to trickle downhill etc.

Damn, the year I don't ride it gets shortened so less suffering and to leave more eating and drinking time. I'm missing out.

Just need some directions or GPS co ordinates to the start. Was in the area after Christmas to ride Harkerville and missed this.

and a traffic cop seemingly doing his bit to try and get the taxi driver off: http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/dispute-over-illegal-turn-in-stander-trial-1.1821441#.VOmXWvmUdzg