Icycling

I don't think a rival body is the way to go - after all PPA is in the position it is in with cash due to the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay cycle tour. I do think the PPA members however need to guide the committee on how much they may or may not save on an annual basis and lets face it some saving is always good! But as an ex committee member it is far easier not to spend money and just let it grow in saving than it would be to be held accountable if it turn out what the committee thinks may be a good idea turned out to be a bad idea! The EXCO committee id built of volunteers with a very low Honiara of which many of the committee (myself included - mine was sent to Wed night racing at Killarney) do not accept for themselves. If the over all instruction from the PPA members is you must spend X% of the income received annually and we the members trust you - thats why we voted for you or nominated you to be on the committee - to spend it wisely on cycling, then I think more money would be pumped back into cycles and the reality is that some might end up been waisted on unsuccessful events / projects!

My feeling is the 1.5m is a concession to what the law currently states and that is overtake in a separate lane (about 3m on most roads and no overtaking on a solid white line)! Cyclist been to considerate - or is the currently law just completely ridiculous and not enforceable?

I can almost beyond a shadow of a doubt state that nobody is making any money out of the cash and it is been wisely invested in unite trust (the unite trust companies at my request have provided letter stating no kick back or commissions have been paid - these letter were present at the AGM). The current treasure / and at least the committee of last year and previous years were almost to scared to waist money too many cheques and balance in place not willing to take risk as some members will not alway agree! Understand if money is miss spent the members have the right to ask how could you waist that amount of money - my argument is that the members also have the right to ask how could you just hold onto the cash (wisely) while it could be used for the purpose of cycling in many different areas. Yes PPA has spent money on project funding etc of which only a percentage was well spent 100% well. My feeling is the members need to tell the EXCO they need to spend the money and not just let the account grow. Of course it must be spent wisely on cycling - what the EXCO in the late 90ies (yup I was present at these meetings - the only other member of EXCO who was present was David Bellairs) negotiated with Rotary for a trade of 50 % shares for 50% profit from the Cycle tour - up till then PPA got about 10 % profit from the cycle tour but were 100% owners. The big question is what is wisely? Is it having events like the Giro - spending far more on cycle awareness -employing somebody(ies) with the sole purpose in mind to lobby gov for road safety and land access? As the treasurer - well at an AGM stating we have X million in the account will naturally be applauded - lets face it most sporting bodies are bankrupt in RSA. So you really have to provide good reason to the treasurer why money should be spent. Or have PPA create a policy of what enough as a reserve fund is enough and the rest must be spent on cycling - my suggestion is enough is 1 year to continue running the association for 1 year at any time of the year on the assumption that not 1 cent is received in that year be it from membership or cycle tour etc - thus been able to honor a yearly membership assuming a cyclist joined the association the day before the catastrophic time period started! Ok add a Factor of safety and a make it 2 years! Currently their is still money left in the account to spend! While on the committee I had put these suggestions forward but unfortunately the question of enough and spending wisely always come up!

Please make suggestion on how you would like this debate started - as a poll or just a general feeling weather PPA should be just an "investment house" for cycling funds which are only partial accessible?

As a non member it would be very hard to do anything! But I also understand your sentiment as why you have chosen to be a non member ( probably quite close to my sentiment as to why I choose not to stand on the committee for another term). If you have some idea which fellow cyclist who are members agree with then I would suggest that you collectively put the idea in writing to PPA address to the EXCO. Expect an reply of write a proposal - which is probably why nothing actually gets done as only a small percentage of proposals will go forward and lets fact it it cost a lot of time and energy to put proposals together! My feeling on the matter is PPA have more or less and to use an analogy it the ship (PPA) has been anchored in the harbor just taking on extra cargo (cash) for some years now!

Guys PPA is meant to be a non profit organization! Not to Hijack this thread and my sincere condolences to this cyclist (it could have been me of that I am100% aware as I use this road in training at least once a week if not every day in some months - it's that close to home) family and friend. Yup I am a road racing cyclist and thus spend many hours on RSA road which are becoming less and less safe (been doing it for 30 years). PPA successfully invest R220 000 into unit trust EVERY month and sits on quite a bit of cash (this should all have been reported at the AGM for those who went). The (treasures) feeling is incase they have a bad year(s) - Cycle Tour does not produce profits then they have fund to carry them over! The reality is they have enough fund now for about 3 years ( assuming zero income - be it from membership or from cycle tour) and membership is only for 1 year (great retirement plan - but should PPA be looking at a retirement plan?)! One of the main reason why I did not stand this year again to be part of the PPA EXCO (served about 17 years on the EXCO) is I don't see any place for PPA in just saving money (now been shifted to a separate trust- should also have been reported at the AGM - I certainly have enough self respect not to sit on a voluntary cycling committee which will now ultimately play 2nd fiddle to an "at arms length" investment trust) which should be used for cycling in all its forms as per the PPA constitution. The final straw for me was when I ask - yup for racing - R50 000 towards the PPA league racing - the cost for having the commissaries at the league event and this was flatly refused - in my time I have seen events like the Giro Del Capo also come to an end! PPA could be spending a lot more on cycling - in all it forms - including road safety / for MTB rider - land access / and even road and racing cycling while still saving a bit of cash for a "rainy day," but they choose or are to afraid to do so! I urge as many PPA member as possible to campaign against this investment stance. By this I am not suggesting reckless spending ( we have a SA president for that at 202 million on a house upgrade / a higher salary than the UK prime minister) but investing in cycling - after all that is what they should be doing! As a racing cyclist as mentioned in my opening statement - I will use the Giro Del Capo again as the example - the wealth The Giro Del Capo offered to the sport of world cycling and the sponsor of the Cape Argus P 'N P cycle tour whey out weight the cost (their are media figures available)! Please remember the current Olympic road champion (Vino) competed in one of the 1st Giro Del Capo and the last Giro Del Capo included the likes of Chris Froome who finished 2nd in this years TDF! An event owned by PPA yet PPA choose not to carry on investing in this event (the 1st Giro del Capo were fully sponsored by PPA) - if this money was been invested in other forms of cycling I could understand - but it is not it is been invested into unit trust! If you agree that PPA should be spending / investing most of its money into cycling (all / any forms) then make yourself heard. What happened yesterday morning is tragic for all cyclist who use SA roads and funds which PPA has could and I argue should be channeled, amongst other thing, to do this - after all please read the the PPA statement on posted by Meezo - page 5 of this thread! The Cape Argus Pick ' n Pay cycle to is the single biggest source if income for PPA - a road cycling event started as a protest ride to bring to the attention that very little was being done by the authorities for cyclists and in particular, their safety!

My other 2 emails to PPA EXCO (those who I have the email address off). The 2nd indirectly related to this thread. Hi All, On a 2nd issue which was sent out a few weeks ago in the PPA news letter - Champmans Peak. I believe Steve / manfin/ EXCO has had some meeting on this with the operator. I would please ask you guys only to do 1 thing and that is have the operators enforce the current advertised speed limits on the accents for all motor vehicles - think then all issue around cyclist would disappear. We are always to quick to attack cyclist and motorist who are more often than not breaking the law are looked at as the considerate one! Regards Hi All, I am sure most of you are now aware that a cyclist was killed this morning by an GA bus on the St James road. In my opinion this road is an accident waiting to happen. I hope PPA uses some of Lance's idea of making examples of an incident - this one would be a an example where not only the driver of the bus but the City has been negligent and the city should also be taken to task - when building the new road they made they payment wider and the road narrower. Off the top of my head their is a solid white line down the length entire of the road which means by giving a cyclist room (1.5m) a motorist will always break the law. The city has not put any signage up stating no over taking of cyclist or caution while over taking cyclist road is narrow! The speed limit is 40km/h and I would argue to enforce this they should reduce the road to a single lane every say 750m (they do this in Europe) with a cycle lane inside the reduction. This new road has been very poorly designed and the city / city engineers need to take some responsibility - this week scientist in tally have been charged for an earth quake killing people!

100% on the money here has worked for me form30 years on RSa road - Signals are the key!!!!

This was my 3rd email to most of the PPA EXCO (I am no longer a member of the EXCO) the eye witness report was sent to them. WOW what a accident to be an eye witness off! I would however disagree with statement 4 and actually urge PPA to promote cyclist to ride in groups down this stretch of road (I unfortunately train on my own on most occasion) take more of the breath of the road and lenght. This should make it it harder for motorist to do illegal overtaking procedure and help keep cyclist alive. Once again this morning it was a loan cyclist probably riding to far left (been to considerate) thus allowing a bus to overtake too close and has paid the ultimate penalty of his life for been considerate! As highlighted by the eye witness this road has been very poorly constructed and I am of the firm belief the City / road engineers need to be call to book and prosecuted (I have already mention what happened in Italy this week over an earth quake) for gross negligence over this new infrastructure they have built.

The city should also be taken to task - when building the new road they made they payment wider and the road narrower. Off the top of my head their is a solid white line down the length entire of the road which means by giving a cyclist room (1.5m) a motorist will always break the law. The city has not put any signage up stating no over taking of cyclist or caution while over taking cyclist road is narrow! The speed limit is 40km/h and I would argue to enforce this they should reduce the road to a single lane every say 750m (they do this in Europe) with a cycle lane inside the reduction. This new road has been very poorly designed and the city / city engineers need to take some responsibility - this week scientist in tally have been charged for an earth quake killing people!

PPA should sponsor a speeding cameras for the accents! As mention a lot of the road has a 20km/h speed limit and max is 40km/h! While I was on the PPA committee last year I suggested this. After a few drivers have lost their licenses for doing twice the speed limit us cyclist will be 100% safe and for the faster ones even riding 4 abreast will be no problem as no car will dare overtake - not because of the fact we cyclist with a possible solid barrier line but because of speeding by motorist! Once again it is motorist disobeying the laws of the roads and cyclist must take the wrap - I say NO! But then this morning I was riding 2 abreast in Richmond park London which has a 20 mile per hour speed limit which is enforced and car dare hoot at cyclists! Champmans peak must also remember when it was closed PPA came to the party right at the start and gave R100 000.00 when that was a lot of money (then PPA only got about R200 000 from the ACT) as a donation with conditions towards the rebuilding of the drive the condition was that cyclist would be able to use the drive free of charge!

122 pages on the hub for a 1000 page report! I really did expect this forum to get closer in this time. So as a wanna be pro in the Era of Armstrong but always been clean can I sue him? I did win my point heat this morning and scratch heat yesterday at the world track championships in Manchester (age cat 40 to 44) so if competing on a level playing field I think I to could have been up their!

NO - I booked my ticket out to Holland / Manchester for wed night 23h20 just so I could get 1 last hard session in before World track champs start on the weekend. Oh well they say rest is best!

Bit off the topic as posted on another topic yesterday - but the 2nd last paragraph basically says it all! Yup and when in my car I have my air con on - when I am staionarry on bike I don't have that luxuries. So if its pissing with rain I want to stay as warm as possible and wait for nothing at a red robot make no sense and when it boiling hot I need the wind chill so I don't over heat! Can somebody please explain why motorist more often (99.9999%) choose to disobey law that say when over taking a vehicle it must be done in a separate lane? Now a cyclist in RSA is classified as a vehicle so why do motorist "alway" choose to neglect this law? I think cyclist have probably just been way to considerate all their live by obeying the 1st rule of the road and that is user of the road should do so as far left as possible / safe! But if their is a cyclist next to you (1, 2 , 3or 4 cyclist) you cannot be further left than on the shoulder of the cyclist next to you. But with all due respect a motorist overtaking 1or 4 cyclist 100% legally the number of cyclist left of the centre line has NO impact on the way the motorist should do it! That is use your indicator (to warn motorist behind their is a need to slow down and over take) choose a time when it is safe to pass in a separate lane (not on a solid white line) and indicate to return to the lane the cyclist were in. The fact that cyclist are asking for 1.5m law to be implemented is only because nobody have every enforced the correct way of over taking a cyclist be it 1 cyclist on the road or 4 cyclist riding a breast (not over taking). But let's be honest motorist normally are in a hurry on by road where their runner, cyclist, horse rider, baboons (in the Cape) and other road usurer because on the highway their fellow motorist choose to be road hog and sit in the fast lane instead of overtaking in the fast lane. Finally admit motorist break more rules on the road than any cyclist could ever do - from speeding to overtaking on solid line to driving in the fast lane! If the rule of the roads were up held by motorist cyclist would be perfectly safe! But they not and I am not say I don't break rules when I am behind the wheel - but the finger need to pointed at of driving system not our cycling system - remember a kid with no license (road skills) can cycle on the public roads and if motorist were driving according to the rules of the road they learn't that kid would be 100% safe! I am not a parent but how many parents would in the current motoring situation let their 10 year old or younger ride on the road un supervised? I know as a 10 year old Kid 30 years back I was allowed to ride 7km to school and back on my own. So more car are now on the roads doing school runs instead of how it should be Kid getting some exercise and commuting by bike not contributing to global warming and not getting fat! But I know its a pointless argument as mankind has become very in considerate!

Why not complain about motorist continually breaking the law! Never well maybe .ooo1% of the time overtaking cyclist properly and then probably tourist from Germany or Switzerland. Motorist cause accidents by bad driving! When did you ever see an accident be caused by a cyclist going through a red robot?

Can somebody please explain why motorist more often (99.9999%) choose to disobey law that say when over taking a vehicle it must be done in a separate lane? Now a cyclist in RSA is classified as a vehicle so why do motorist "alway" choose to neglect this law? I think cyclist have probably just been way to considerate all their live by obeying the 1st rule of the road and that is user of the road should do so as far left as possible / safe! But if their is a cyclist next to you (1, 2 , 3or 4 cyclist) you cannot be further left than on the shoulder of the cyclist next to you. But with all due respect a motorist overtaking 1or 4 cyclist 100% legally the number of cyclist left of the centre line has NO impact on the way the motorist should do it! That is use your indicator (to warn motorist behind their is a need to slow down and over take) choose a time when it is safe to pass in a separate lane (not on a solid white line) and indicate to return to the lane the cyclist were in. The fact that cyclist are asking for 1.5m law to be implemented is only because nobody have every enforced the correct way of over taking a cyclist be it 1 cyclist on the road or 4 cyclist riding a breast (not over taking). But let's be honest motorist normally are in a hurry on by road where their runner, cyclist, horse rider, baboons (in the Cape) and other road usurer because on the highway their fellow motorist choose to be road hog and sit in the fast lane instead of overtaking in the fast lane. Finally admit motorist break more rules on the road than any cyclist could ever do - from speeding to overtaking on solid line to driving in the fast lane! If the rule of the roads were up held by motorist cyclist would be perfectly safe! But they not and I am not say I don't break rules when I am behind the wheel - but the finger need to pointed at of driving system not our cycling system - remember a kid with no license (road skills) can cycle on the public roads and if motorist were driving according to the rules of the road they learn't that kid would be 100% safe! I am not a parent but how many parents would in the current motoring situation let their 10 year old or younger ride on the road un supervised? I know as a 10 year old Kid 30 years back I was allowed to ride 7km to school and back on my own. So more car are now on the roads doing school runs instead of how it should be Kid getting some exercise and commuting by bike not contributing to global warming and not getting fat! But I know its a pointless argument as mankind has become very in considerate!

So they were overtaking each other to ride single file! The Road Traffic Act 29 of 1989, Section 105 • Ride in single file, except if overtaking another pedal cycle. So they were legal! How do you prove 1 rider is not over taking another - it could be a 3 hour overtaking maneuver but if at any point they are riding single file then surely 1 was overtaking the other. That Law has no meaning!

Wannabe - If you were a member of PPA in Feb this - I think that was the month! You have a CSA licence till 31 dec 2012 - so for this year Burger you do not need a day licence - cannot say what is happening for next year yet.

I am not a MTB rider - but for the life of me I cannot understand why people who change to a 29er also now want to change to a 2 x10 when on a 26" bike they were running a 3 x 10. The size of the wheel changes the gearing completely ( a bigger wheel makes a heavier gear). I would suspect that the only cyclist racing nearer the front of the pack are actually able to successfully ride these gears! It was completely by co-incidence that 2 x10 came out at the same time as 29ers from what other suppliers have told me! As per the comment above (Moridin) I think the 2 x 10 was actually designed for 26" bike

This one I have not seen yet, after been road cycling for 30 years! A cyclist ranting about cyclist who with all due respect are just been safe! Yup riding alone you less likely to be seen by cars, riding as far left as possible you more likely to have motorist speeding past you and offering no room! This looks like a suburbia road probably max speed limit 40km/h maybe 60 km/h. If 40km/h and the cyclist are doing 30km/h where the problem - oh ja motorist never obey the speed LIMIT (myself included). But when I see other road users I do slow down and try and pass on the other side of the dotted white line (thats what the law stipulates - even if it is just 1 cyclist as the law states 1 vehicle per lane and a cyclist in RSA is classified as a vehicle - ever seen a motorist obey that rule in RSA) or at least offer 1.5m. When last did somebody complain about pedestrian J walking or motorist not sticking to the speed limit / talking on cell ph / overtaking on a solid white line / just been plain inconsiderate etc? But a cyclist ride double or goes thought a red robot safely the whole world will come to an end!

More than 10!

If you don't want to break spokes their only 1 make of wheel for you - Spinergy their spokes are flexible PBO fiber which is 8 times stronger than steel. I do carry almost the full road range in stock email me on icycling1@gmail.com. Most agent would not recommend their product manufacture for a rider of your weight (some wheels even have weight limits) Spinergy don't. www.spinergy.com

Sorry when you been racing for almost 30 years and never taken any substance but still have 3 sub 2h30 Argus cycle tour to your name for argument sake - Why would you wish to damage your reputation?

Oxygen tent! I had my blood tested after about2 months of been in the tent at night Haematocrit 0.481/L. Did the test again this week at Pathcare this week after been out of the tent for 6 week 0.401/L. Thats like a 16% difference without EPO!

9 times out of 10 I only go to races when their are at least 2 or more of us in my car - it is just waist fully otherwise - I cannot remember when last I asked for any contributions towards giving a lift to anybody, but I view this as reducing my carbon foot print by half and hopefully their is more than 1 so by 66 percent! But then I started cycling, some 30 years back to school, to reduce pollution and pollution only - I am probably still way a head of my time looking at how some of your comments!