Stoffel76

Is anyone else trying to work from home, but is suffering from serious withdrawal because you have to work but in the background all you can hear is the sound of Lego in plastic containers being searched through as Lego sets are being built by the kids and you'd actually love to go join them??

Think you're right... Wasn't it in BikeSA magazine? Ah yes, good ol BikeSA! Now there's a trip down memory lane... I think it was under R2 a copy when I was 16, it had the magazine print cover with the news print type paper inside... wasted many hours drooling over the bikes in that!!

On my old 29er hardtail, I had a fairly basic Rockshox fork and found it used to bounce quite a lot on climbs so I used the lock out all the time... Upgraded to a Scalpel and now found I never lock out the front. Only time I lock out the rear is when climbing on a smooth surface, but on a rough climb the comfort and traction from rear shock trumps any loss of power. I flip to fully open when descending all the time though... Would gladly trade the remote lock out that I have on the front (and never use) for one on the rear... Then of course there was my old Scott Genius with it's crazy complicated pull shock on the rear and a Marzocchi fork with their ETA system that kept the fork compressed so shortened the travel and steepened the head angle when you climbed. You could spent more time changing suspension settings than gears on that bike!

The other cost of loadshedding... A client of ours (we're insurance brokers) was drying her hair when loadshedding kicked in. She forgot to turn off her hairdryer... And then she went out... Came home to a house full of smoke... Power had come back on, as had her hairdryer, and the hot air coming out of it melted some stuff and nearly caused a fire...

I dated a girl once for a few months until she decided some other guy was a better option... A week later her housemate gave me a call, "You cycle, don't you? Can you help me fix my bike?" So I went round and fixed her bike... and the rest is history, as they say! We'll be celebrating our 13th anniversary this year. (The funny thing is she literally only ever rode the bike twice after i fixed it. I eventually gave the bike away last year after i was tired of it cluttering up my garage! )

I was there last in August - some bits of landscape were a bit bleak after the fire, but the route is essentially the same. It'll be interesting to see how the vegetation has bounced back now... Going to be there next week... I agree with you - it is an awesome natural ride!

Took a walk up Lion's Head on Wednesday evening... (Samsung S10e)

I'm getting an Apple TV - R1999 from Digicape... Sure it's the older one but it's a chunk cheaper than Takealot etc https://www.digicape.co.za/apple-tv/apple-tv-32gb-bf

Hey, don't be so harsh! If someone gave you a ruler and tasked you with designing a car without a single curve on it anywhere, could you do any better? Even the rims aren't round... Lol, that is horrible to look at. Looks like a car from budget scifi movie!

I see it's still available... https://www.takealot.com/test-match-cricket/PLID55544543 Was thinking of getting it for my kids for Christmas...

Who didn't have a Nova helmet? (and then a bit later a Lafe)

Lol, I know that feeling... When I was 16 my dad bought me a knackered AE. Engine ran ok and I had to fix up all the electrics and body work etc... (Also not licensed, but my dad owned a motor workshop and so I used his trade plates... ) Later, I got to rebuild the top end and put in a new piston and rings. Unfortunately, probably should have done the bottom end as well... Shortly after that, the roller bearings decided to disintegrate and bits made their way up the transfer ports and embedded themselves in the top of the piston, barrel and head... So then I was phoning around local bike shops looking for parts and the one place said they had a whole bike, but an AR! I was so stoked! But when I went to go see it, it was an AE... Anyway... That lasted me till I was 18 (and moved on to the next knackered bike my dad had bought me that we'd been fixing up - a Kawa Z200)

Situational joke I think... It's mocking people from the suburb of Strandfontein, who make sure other people know they are not from neighbouring Mitchell's Plain, for behaving like elitist white people... Or something along those lines according to my coloured colleagues...

We lived in Gabs in 88 & 89, I was 12/13 at the time... I remember going to school one day and one of the other kids said to me, "Your friends visited last night!" after one of the attacks. A couple of days later my friends and I rode our bikes passed one of the houses that had been attacked... The BDF had roadblocks in and out of every town. The soldiers were generally friendly although every now and then you'd get a grumpy soldier who wanted to see what was in your car. (But I'm sure it helped that our cars were re-registered with local plates...) I was in Botswana again in 99 and took a wrong turn in Francistown I think it was and turned in towards an army base and found myself staring down the barrel of a rifle!

Wanting to get some quick midweek exercise to compliment my weekend rides, I started running... My first run I measured just on the watch (Fitbit Charge 2). According to that I ran 5.7 km. Next time I ran I had my phone with me (Samsung S10e), I ran further but it recorded my distance as 4.8km. I figured maybe the watch on it's own was inaccurate. Except the next run i did (with both watch and cellphone) was a very similar distance and it recorded my distance as 6.2km. And then yesterday I ran the identical route again and it recorded the distance as 4.6km?? I'm not hung up on the actual distance - as long as I'm huffing and puffing and getting some exercise, I'm happy - but that kind of variation is significant. What could be causing it? Are there settings on the watch or phone I should be changing?

I lost track of the number of 'petty' incidents we had... Taps being stolen, weber braai disappearing from back yard etc... Then we raised our walls and that helped, and the number of intrusions onto the property reduced significantly but were still occurring. Then we had a break in to our garage and the bastards stolen my bike! The insurance money from that didn't get used to replace the bike (sadly) but got used to upgrade the alarm system (including a beam in a courtyard area) and electric fencing linked to the alarm around the perimeter. Touch wood, since then we haven't had any incidents... To be fair, if a crow bar type gang wanted in, they'd get in but the majority of incidents in our area are opportunistic tik koppe looking for a quick score, so I think the electric and high walls are keeping them out.

So, at last I can say "Here's my Cannondale!": Got loaned this in March to train and ride the Sani2C and then got offered it at a crazy price and have just made the final payment, so it's now all mine! Love this bike to bits! I was riding a GT Zaskar Sport before this so it's a slight step up on what I had...

Just a heads up, Takealot are having a sale on sporting goods - including Camelbaks…

I've had the First Ascent one for about 6 months... Been happy with it, my previous one was a basic Sportsman's Warehouse one that, to be fair, served me very well for years. I tend to over pack (it's the whole Scout moto, "Be Prepared" thing... ) and there's enough space in the First Ascent one to fit in a spare tube, bomb, tools, cellphone, keys etc and a lightweight windbreaker...

Nice!! Enjoy! I was watching the Redbull Romaniacs on Saturday, thinking to myself how much I missed my KTM... And then watching the likes of Graham Jarvis struggling and remembering how much I struggled on way less technical stuff, I was like, "Umm, maybe not so much..."

True... but, 10 hours of boredom in an airport or an extra 9 hours with your other half you haven't seen for ages and are not going to see for a while after... What could you possibly do for those extra 9 hours... Plus, think of the brownie points you'll score, "Babe, I spent R5k extra to spend more time with you"... But seriously R5000 is a heck of a difference (and a lot of spending money while you're there)…

Padlock idea is the way to go. And since your bike is attached to it fit the sturdiest padlock you can (and make sure, if your insurance is one of those that stipulates the thickness of bike cable you need etc etc, that they are happy with it...) I fitted a padlock to my removable towbar, even though my bike rack doesn't attached to it. Figured the sheer weight in scrap would make it desirable to the shopping trolley brigade to steal if the opportunity presented itself...

Yip, me too! Day I turned 16, I wrote my 50cc learners license… And as soon as I was 18, I wrote the big bike license... I was less stressed about car and the full licenses, but it was a big thing to have that freedom... Most of my mates were the same... Today it seems completely different... We have family who have a son in his mid 20s... He hasn't even written his learners... Mom and dad took him to work every day and fetched him... Until he was retrenched... now he sits at home playing computer games all day... Mind you, for my mates and I the motorbike was more than just a means of getting from A to B, we just rode because we could!

Ain't that the truth - that bike was originally blue and I stripped it, resprayed and put new tyres, grips etc on it a few years back for his sister... and even doing it myself cost me nearly as much as buying a cheapie!

Ah... that epic moment for any cyclist parent - when their little one rides for the first time without training wheels! Whoop whoop! My 5 year old on Saturday: The look on his face says it all! He was riding around yelling, "Look at me dad, I'm riding without training wheels!" He also rode straight into his sister and later took himself out in a clothesline type of move as he rode into the merry-go-round, but that just led to a early 'you go where you look' lesson... And best part for him is he's riding before his sister who is 8 (and much to my disappointment just isn't interested in riding, but I deliberately haven't pushed her). Of course, now I have to persuade my wife for two of us that we need new bikes/upgrades, not just me any more... But that hand-me-down pink bike with stupid backpedal brakes needs to go...