Icycling

I am glad I am no longer on the PPA committee as a pic posted like this leaves PPA in a NO win situation! If they DQ this team then after reading the feed more than half the teams should be DQed but is their photo evidences? So is it a case of if no Photo evidence then team was OK - sort of like a speeding fine! If they don't DQ the team then are they are saying that their rules are made to be broken without penalties? Maybe it should just be a case of rules are their for the guidance of wise men and for fools to follow - and as this team did not have any crashes they can be assumed to be wise men!!!!

My study on this in the past week! My sample pool of 12 rider - our DC which came 2nd unless the 1st team is DQ ed - so one would think all quite fit. The night before some of the rider did not drink at all esp the U23. I think quite a few of the other riders did - basically red and white wine! But then their were bet against me not even making the start, as the team counted over a full bottle of red wine go down my throat along with a double shot Amarula for desert! I was the oldest in the team at 40 plus. So the results of the 12 riders, 8 of us came to the line together. I think the 1st two too drop, but definately one - U23, did not have a drop to drink the night before. Our third ride dropped as he gave his wheel to a stronger rider in the team when he punctured 60km into the race - so he does not count for this study! Our 4 ride to go was an U23 who did not drink the night before, at about the 130km mark. My performance relative to the rest of the team got better as the race went on! But been old it takes time to warm up and thus the team was quite surprised to have me on the front for the last 3 climbs. I am also was the heaviest rider in the team. To be honest my performance probably just stayed the same for the 202km so the drinking - and distance kept me balanced! I am sure you can all see where this is going - but I am sure drinking all depends on the rider! But for me and probably the rest of the team who did drink, going to bed early (21h30 where I normally retire at 01h00) and falling asleep without a drink or more would have been a challenge - so getting a early, good nights rest in for me meant I was strong for the next day. Personally I do try and stay dry for a mouth or 2 before big events - this is quite hard to achieve, but after about a week I do start to feel different! Also tend to drop a few Kg for this in just a week.

Please understand I far preferred the original law - separate lane - but for some reason it was never challenged in court of law successfully (from what I have heard). Possible because of the term "passing" verses "overtaking." No I do not not know what the legal difference is maybe somebody on the hub does? But now with a fix distance - which I think we all know PPA was very active in getting put into law (maybe thats why only WP). I can assure you (well almost) that at the 1st legitimate case that PPA is informed about where a cyclist is injured (without injury basically unfortunately their is no case) PPA will bit the bullet and pay legal cost to get law enforced! Well thats what I hope PPA will do and certainly when I was on the committee they were open to this and even tried (or did cannot remember all the detail) to take up the case on behalf of the families of the 3 cyclist killed in Oudtshoorn!

This I think is what the law really is in RSA - after all we still use Roman Dutch law in SA maybe not quite as evolved in SA with regards to the Dutch and bicycles but I believe this is still correct o the T!!!!!! http://ukcyclelaws.blogspot.com/p/the-laws-according-to-highway-code.html BUT BUT BUT Nobody seems to abide to this correct overtaking procedure in RSA and it never seems to be enforced in a court of law!!!!!! SO Now the law say 1 m this even though could be scene as a concession to motorist ( was a separate lane) is very important! WHY It is new and therefore in the forefront of the legal mind - basically when it is challenged in a court of law (1st time) after a fellow cyclist is possible hit (hopefully not killed) we will see how the court rules and basically it should rule guilty to the motorist as it is clear you did not give 1 meter in your over taking / passing procedure or the cyclist would not have been hit.

Seems we have a whole new bunch of names for scratch next week and next year - top 10 finish and you scratch - those are the rules the way I recall!!

If you over 80kg in weight Spinergy is the only way forward!

I would say what happened this past week is like clock work as to what has happened over a past number of years within a 10 day period! 1. Remember last year just before DC - road washed away near Swellendam 2. A year or to prior Montague river did some major destruction just before DC 3. Lookout beach was washed away in Plett the same time bout about 5 to 7 years ago It seem mother nature does work still like clock work to me - you may also have noticed this years big storm came with or just before full moons! Now thats just of memory I am sure other can full in the gaps!!!

When I did not work from home and commuted to work by bicycle - we talking about 20 years ago, in rush hour traffic,where I was going in the direction of the traffic but faster I would often be on the wrong side of the road i.e. be on the right while the cars were on the left (keep left pass right). But this is not really the question at hand! Basically as I still ride on the road as a cyclist you need to take ownership of the space of the road you on - this means riding in such a manner that a vehicles have to notice you. This includes wearing bright colored clothing and riding left but not so far left that a car thinks they can "race" past you. On certain road I will ride in the middle of the lane to ensure that no car will even try and over take - for those who live in the Southern Suburb of Cape town the road coming in to Muizemberg from St James is an example of this - the road is in to bad a condition and to narrow for cars to over take - speed limit 40km/h gale force SE wind 40Km/H on bike easy! I, on my bicycle am assuming that basically all people do not really want to kill somebody they don't know and go through the legal procedure of defending themselves if they did - yup their are some cowboys out their who want o kill but fortunately they are very few and far between! Normally these guys are also the idiot who will stop and give a piece of their mind - but they look so chicken once you have disarmed their weapon by taking their keys out their car - the look on their face is priceless when you say the keys will be at the police station with a charge of negligent driving against you! At that point they have ZERO power as you head off on your bike!!!!

The irony of this all - is they, or the reporters are so doped up they don't even know which city they in!!! hahaha These naturally are not performance enhancing as then they would definitely know where they are.

Now that's how you spray champagne! Well done Meron 1st, Shaun Nick Bester 2nd & James Tenant 3rd Thanks to all involved in making these criteriums happen especially Wayne Robert / lights by Linea and his core team. Cycling in the the Cape deserves such events!

Action Starts at 6pm tonight in Stellenbosch Registration 5pm MTB starts 6pm 30min Pro Invitational 6.45pm 60min World Champ Christoff Sauser riding MTB Lights by Linea

Quite sad 17th Nov canceled http://www.moonlightmass.co.za/moonlightmass/Home.html

Pro race starts at 18:45 to maximize the race time and light available. Thats the aim!!!!

It all happen again tomorrow night - some great racing to watch in Stellenbosch!

Above - neutral lap before racing started!

Under 3 hour left till all hell break lose in Stellies - Time to fuel up and then almost time to get the human engines fired up! Bring out the hurt box.

The race starts at 18:30. All participating or wanting to watch the Lights By Linea Pro night criterium please note the following: Parking is available at eikestad parking mall next to Cubana the host venue. It will close at 17:45 and open again straight after the race finishes. All teams are advised to park here