Pieter Henning

To avoid an unwanted pre... Err, maybe you should just change your topic heading a little.

Ek is mos redelik lank

AWESOME!!! Jy moet net vir die disc en voorwiel ook custom stickers opsit. Watter frame was dit? Een van die P3's?

I'll take that as a no then.

Comebackboy, just a question, did you win a SA U23 TT championship quite a few years ago? Think I might know who you are. No worries, won't post a name.

Probably, yes. But I like to think I have a balanced lifestyle - Cycling just takes up a lot more time than everything else, but hey, it is a time consuming sport. I'd rather not go into the details of my cycling obsession - People might just think I'm crazy. Nellie, "Daai kamer - Dis sooo jy!". Hahaha.

Will see what I can do. Last time I rode them was in 2005 as a junior, but I'll chat to the guys I rode with to get the specifics (can't remember the exact route). I think it was via Midrand and Carnival City all the way to Three Rivers in Vereeniging, and definitely not that dangerous.

I know safe-ish back roads all the way to Vereeniging. So that part shouldn't be a problem.

Hahaha, daar's geen keer aan dit.

Okay, but I suppose I can take off about two or three days since I don't wanna do the last leg from Mosselbay to Capetown. Are you riding 11 days straight or taking a rest somewhere? Thanks for the info

oky, so here is what I'm thinking so far (very rough draft): Trip of 7 days. Ride far and fast for 3 days, rest in a nice place (???) on day 4 and then another 3 days of riding. Stay over in B&B's, wash kit there after the day's riding and it should be dry by the next morning. carry small, comfortable backpacks with rain jackets and one set of casual clothes, spares, etc. Buy food along the route during the day. Maybe even do it for charity if we decide to go.Phen2008-08-29 05:21:19

Yup, should be there long before the race. I've loved that race since my U14 days.

Your right, in a way, the freedom and independence of doing it on your own is an awesome feeling! The perfect and ideal way to do it would've been simply to get up one morning, jump on the bike, point it in the direction of the ocean, ride 'til you're too tired to go any further and kip under a tree. Now that would be so cool! But we live in Africa, so I suppose it's better to limit the risks to a certain extent. But I agree, in general that is what it's about, and I would certainly have done it if it wasn' too dangerous.

Any idea of roughly what the distance will ba on back roads? My mom has a Garmin in her car, I'll check the distance on it later, but that will be via main roads. For spares, naturally tubes and puncture kit should be packed. What else? A broken chain is probably the biggest/most likely problem that can happen, so an extra chain and chain breaker.

Good plan. Will keep that in mind. Yup, I definitely just wanna ride on the back roads and avoid national roads wherever possible. Looking at doing about 180km per day on average. Small back pack I have.

Preferably just myself (it feels awesome to ride so far on your own), or maybe one or two other riders. Don't really want to have a big group or a support car - too much organisation.

This past weeekend I rode from Pretoria to Sun City on Friday, and then all the way back on Sunday after the MTB race. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found out I quite like the idea of riding from one destination to another. I also heard Paul and Phil telling the story numerous times during the Tour de France of how team Columbia's Adam Hansen rode 2000km along the coast to the Barrier Reef and another 2000km on the way back one December, with only a credit card and a pair of swim trunks stuffed into an empty water bottle. So now I'm playing with the idea of riding from Pretoria to Diaz, where my folks will be on holiday this December. I'm really not sure whether it is a good idea to attempt this, so I would like some input from you guys to help me decide. Is this feasible? Is this too dangerous? How do I go about choosing my routes and sleep over destinations? Etc. Etc Etc... Hubbers help! Please!Phen2008-08-29 03:45:55

Nah, they belonged to the Spider.

There's a set of Ultra's lying in my room I've never ridden on them though.

Umm... Because he was in a break on a stage with a lot of KOM points up for grabs (and Helshoogte is not very steep as well).

Basso sprinted Boonen once or twice in the crits as well when I was in Holland. Great entertainment and you get to see the riders up close and personal, plus they earn some good prize (appearance) money.

Cavendish was marked in every single sprint stage. The other guys knew long before the Tour how fast he was. It changes nothing - Just means some of the other sprinters fight to get on his wheel in the last couple of kilometres (and even that doesn't help them beat him).

Such a pity. The four guys who caught him on the descent stayed away. He would've been top 5 at the worst, and he is quite fast in a small group sprint, so a stage win was looking very realistic. I reckon Murphy lives in the Barloworld bus. Ai, such bad luck. Go John-Lee!!!