mallo

Has this tour organizers and CSA noted that it will clash with the 94.7 event as well I hope this has been dealt with already.

Yep R170-00 entry fee. Now not starting a war again just mentioning that races around Gauteng is getting expensive and the majority only offer a medal at the end. It seems value for money no longer part of the race consideration, however the choice lies with the individual to decide.

It appears to be the same old story, "YOU ONLY DO WHAT WE SAY AND WHEN WE SAY SO" I requested some information from the national development officer and was told it is not his job we the clubs must get of our backsides and do it, now I ask you how does my club plan fit into the provincial/national plan if they do not distribute theirs to the clubs as guidelines to work from and formulate around theirs with a common goal in mind. Strange that these are persons nominated into the positions as custodians of the sport on our behalf treating us in the manner they do, why then accept the position if you not willing to do the work you volunteered to do?

Just got of the phone with Central Gauteng Cycling office and am astounded at the costs involved in registering our club this year . R650-00 affiliation , R75-00 per person(senior) hence the questions. R650-00 R75-00 x 30 = R2250-00 Total R2900-00. In 2005 cost the club R250-00 only and we had one of the best inter-clubs seasons as well. (Old GPPA) Now with about 30 clubs registering at CGC this season : R19500-00 Say around 3500 members @R75-00 = R262500-00 Total =R282000-00 One wonders what is the benefit of belonging to CGC as last year there was NOTHING done for us cyclists to talk about . Still waiting for the last three years financials to see how these funds were spent as none has been available at any of the AGM,s. What is the other provinces charging their member clubs and how much of this goes to CSA if any, Only thinking aloud.

Well I know what the TCS guys do when they supposed to be resting,met Levi Copman Jaco and friend cruising around Hartebeespoort dam, Broederstroom and the Westrand on Saturday after 150KM of riding these guys still made the hills look like speedbumps with the ease they glided over them whilst chatting away. I was impressed,Copman thanks for the words of encouragement the Orange okes appreciated it. Crux these TCS guys are going to kick butt next year if this is what they do on an easy ride I hate to see what their peak training sessions look like.

Guys Please give Bored-girl advise not bad mouth a business where you do not have the facts.Bored-girl there is many a shop that can give you service and a product at a good price in JHB one such shop is Westdene cycles. If you want to pay less and not bother about service you can bargain at Cajees and drive their prices down to suit your pocket.

Titus Although cycling has representation at SASCOC level are they asking and requesting such aid for our riders?

Titus Problem in SA is everthing is done for personal and club pide only not as other countries where National pride is priority number one . Our Gov. will dictate in all sports codes but not put a cent into it to help alleviate the financial burden the National bodies has to carry to get their sportspersons to the top level. Compare the announcement this morning where Ryk(swimmer) will get R10 000-00 per month to prepare for the 2008 olympics versus what the Aussies and Americans give the national athletes in preparation for these games.

Austin you are spot on with your scenario Now to get CSA to adopt and implement it is another story. At the recent Eric van Enter championchips there was several PDI riders who proved their mettle against the best of the juniors they are the ones who needs to be nurtured into the riders of the future through a system you have mentioned in your post. I will glady allow Michael Jackson from the Orange okes to go into such a system knowing he will be taken to another level after having proven himself this year in the A bunch.

Well done to all the winners, Crux you rule with those machines, tough Titus.

This document is a farce,only as good as the paper it is written on.What is said in it will not materialize due to the fact that CSA and the provinces are not in a position to police it and will do nothing about the transgressions thereof. EG - How do you tell Minolta or Microsoft that they must get two PDI in their team for 2007 at this stage of the year. If CSA is serious about transformation do it the proper way start at the bottom and build up from Juniors to Elite level. Any PDI person riding in the pro teams must be capable of holding their own hence purley on merit, not on window dressing. I believe guys such as Tuis,Nolan,Garth,Prins,Roy has proven themselves already that they can play with the big boys hence they can be an inspiration the the youngsters coming through the ranks. Stop talking and set-up the national and provincial academies whereby no one person owns the riders and dictates when and where they will ride but does it for national pride.

Engela dankie vir die dag se thread dit het ons almal aan die praat ek vra noe dat almal hiervan leer en on bes gee volgende jaar. Geluk aan al die Ladies.

Amoryn dit is nie nodig nie jy weet wat jou plan is ,bly by dit en luister vir Crux/Jaco meer kan jy nie vra nie.

Grapkas soos ek jou voorheen gese het, Dis tyd dat manlief jou Rustenburg Spa toe neem vir n lekker "Pamper session" daarna kan jy a lekker wyn geniet terwyl jy volgende jaar se "races" uitwerk want dit lyk my Cherry is baie lus om gat te skop volgende jaar, Cherry wanneer verander jy jou naam na "RED ROCKET " op die Hub ?

Crux Reading these developments I would suggest you put your ladies team together as per the earlier posts and cause the same havoc the TCS A bunch has done to liven up ladies racing. Ladies I truly believe you can do better as you have proved this in the past so get with the times and give us something to look forward to in the new season. Imagine "Grapkas, Amoryn, Cherry,WWoman etc in the same team with the rest of TCS ladies ,Jason will you allow Michelle in this group as well ?

Guys May I suggest CSA Road Commission set-up a forum inclusive of Team managers,cyclists,administrators from provincial and the national body with the aim of compiling a revised document/ race booklet wherein all the issues pertaining to road cycling is tackled and published for the general use for race organizers when setting up their events. I believe this should be the starting point now, let us not wait for the next accident then complain again.

Harmony elites will be launched on 28 November 2007,Arran Brown and Co.

Problem in juniors at the moment is everyone is trying to impress Harmony management for a spot on their teams next season. As for the attitude it all boils down to bad manners and the lack of authority from the officialdom because " I know your daddy or someone who has the ear of CSA to protect them"

Mampara I had a black lady (18y) old who I have been grooming in the same manner as my other Orange okes( Isaac and William) Sadly Phindi has been poached by a more financial sound club from me. This after she has consistantly shown improvement to a level of riding 100km rides at 3H00 pace. Now the question, why does the bigger,wealthier clubs not develop their own PDI riders instead of simply poaching them by dangling a few rand in front of their eyes. By the way since I have taken the club bike back from Phindi her NEW CLUB has not bought her a bike as yet. Going onto two months now. I have made peace with myself that the possibility exists that Isaac and William might be poached as well, Remember these youngsters were taken from nothing and groomed into the riders they are today, check their results for yourselves and yes there is many more out there that can produce these abilities however this costs time and money to do this. S Works the Quota system is a load of bulls#$%t , have you been to any of the junior tour such as the Eric van Enter to see the changes taking place in their ranks, why are these youngsters not looked after and groomed to ride in the pro ranks instead of been burnt out by the time they reach the age of 19/20 years.( Here I am thinking about proper academies run by Provincial and national bodies not commercial,personal clubs). After 18 months I am still waiting for a constructive document from CSA or CGC as how to better the little I am doing in my area . I will PM the responses I received if you want to show you what effort is made by these officials. However I must make it clear other than for road cycling in CGC the other disciplines are way ahead with their deveopment and transformation of the sport at Junior level, all you need do is go down to Randburg or Hector Norris to witness first hand how these officials has changed things for the juniors.( BMX and Mountain biking) The pro teams must not be forced to include quota riders in their teams, rather they should be given a development plan or made to adopt a PDI club and groom those riders into the beings they are, this way they become proud members of the club/community they come from.Remember this is hard work. Lotto monies and all the so called bikes for development where are they, who has a proper audit of whom these were given to and how they are maintained/used. By the way taking the person/s out of the townships into the suburbs to ride over week-ends ain't development is is WINDOW DRESSING. To the guys down in the Cape at the PPA and Glyn you have the right idea as to how to develop the PDI's I salute you.

I fully agree with what Spinnekop states, however I must mention I questioned the cones issue and as stated on the other posting The @##$$%^ on the Golf cart was more worried about the sponsors banners other than removing the cones. How do you place these cones on the road at least a 1/2 meter of the white line, then suddenly onto the white line at a 90 degree placement check the photos. Further towrads the finish you do the same with the barriers that has several riders smash into them. The CSA official was NOT warning riders about the accident he was actually placing more personnel on the road to wave the riders down thus creating more of a danger to all on the rode.

As a spectator at the race finish I witnessed no less than 7 Crashes at the end all due to the Organizers (ESP. the clown on the golf cart) and the CSA officials trying to wave down cyclist coming at them at speeds close to 50km ph.The CSA official that was knocked down by the vets cyclist was one of the main culprits not wanting to have the cones and barriers moved back of the tar. Please explain the logic of using cones and barriers with protruding stabiliser bars on the tar when you have full road closure. Does not make sense to me at all. Jason your bike handling skills are very good old chap you saved yourself some hospital time. There was at least 4 bad hospital cases at the end, starange but Microsoft came of worst with most of the accidents. The vet from Di data was not looking good at all, his leg seemed to be badly hurt,suspect Femur injury. To the clown worried about his sponsors banners on the barriers, remember one thing bad publicity stays in one's memory for a long time and word of mouth spreads like hell fire, so think carefully before you become emotional and make rash statements like you did.

To those who is so short sighted and recommending such a silly idea I say "THINK BEFORE YOU IMPLEMENT " All that is going to happen is that the smaller clubs such as mine( New Horizons), Germiston Wheelers,etc will suffer as the pro clubs are not interested in developing younger riders into their ranks, they will simply go and poach the riders from our clubs as is currently happening , now they will do it as a matter of urgency " To hell the the time,finances and effort put in by the smaller clubs to get their cyclists to a decent level of riding such as "Michael Jacko" William etc. TCS I will not be able to entertain you guys any longer if this happens. Why not do the right thing from scratch such as starting provincial and national excellence centres where the youngsters can be groomed properly before snatching them into the pro teams for the sake of having a "PDI " face to satisfy the requirements of a select few. The next will be then to do as has happened in athletics, rugby and swimming wanting to see more PDI's on the club, provincial and national executives-- Oh Oh I forgot there is not enough money in the sport as yet for this step to be carried through . Guys please THINK carefully about this, Why must the cyclist always suffer ? BEFORE ANY POLITICALLY CORRECT PERSON JUMPS ON THIS I AM A PDI AND INVOLVED WITH SPORT TO BE ABLE TO MAKE THE ABOVE STATEMENT . In Western Cape there is Transformation and development taking place through the PPA's involvement with Liberty and the Accends program let it continue that way and rather provide aid to these guys. I do not know much about the other provinces programs up here in Gauteng we clubs do not have the luxury of getting free entries for our PDI into races let alone any financial aid of any sorts.

Crux and Jaco have the ingredients to take Cherise to the levels she aspires for herself . To Mr and Mrs Taylor keep it that way and make sure the pro contracts that will be passed her way does cater for her dreams, not only the sponsors mileage as this is the root cause to our cyclists not achieving for both themselves and our country. An example Microsoft is the best in SA, what have they achieved in Europe that can be written about ? Crux as I said earlier " It is time you put together your own elite ladies team " Cycling needs you and I am convinced you have the ability to deliver.

Jason, last year my swim took me 34 minutes whilst the winner was out in 11min, yet I manged a 1H37m finish time. This was my first swim ever other than in a pool at home. The cycle and run not a problem. Mind you I think I drank the 2% drop in water level the water board complained about in Dec.

Bertus I suggest you look at the mess with the seeding for Telkom Satellite and 94.7 due to their database not been updated on time. Why take on more than you can chew. Once the monopoly is stopped (Pick n Pay events) and ALL races not only certain race results is used for seeding at Argus and 94.7 then the timing companies will have no choice but to provide better service to us the riders as the current protection barriers will be removed.