Duane_Bosch

A DH bike is always going to be horrible to pedal. You can fit a dropper and change the gearing but it's made to go down the hill well. Nothing is going to change that, You have 4 options here. 1. Go to the shuttle days at Hells end etc 2. make friends with a guy with a bakkie. Shuttle with him 3. Buy your own bakkie. Use it to shuttle and watch your friends slowly destroy it 4. Save up 30k a year and take your DH bike to the Alps and ride it in the environment it was built for. Don't sell it. They are worth nothing 2nd hand and they are such fun things to ride when the conditions are right. I have a DH bike that I ride MAYBE 6 times a year.

This morning at about 10 my fiance and I came over blackhill. Where the jumps are on the Noordhoek side there was a guy walking with a firearm in his hand. I could clearly see it in his left hand. It was smaller than a 9mm. I'd guess and say a 765 and I could clearly see it was cocked. Luckily at the traffic lights there was a cop van. I told them what I'd seen and they drove off in pursuit. Scary. That guy was not looking to make friends.

You don't need to try very hard to see that our entire country is infected with a chronic case of don'tgiveaf%ckitis. It just becomes much more apparent at an event like the Olympics where the parasites are in close proximity to the tiny handful of extremely talented and hard working individuals.

That's quite far from Paris. I wonder why they aren't going to do it at Hossegor? That's got proper waves at least. But an Olympic final in heaving Teahupo is something I'd watch. *Edit. The clue is in the name. Duh. Summer Olympics. The waves in France are pretty dire in the Summer.

So after watching the surfing finals I'm even more convinced that surfing at the Olympics should be a wavepool event. Yes the best guy and girl won but as a spectacle it was poor. It could be right up there with the 100m and mens BMX final for exitement. 1. Anyone who's done any surfing knows there are too many weather variables for it to fit into an Olympic schedule 2. That was a bad showcase of what surfing is and can be. 3. Imagine 50000 people packed around a wavepool watching Italo and Medina going balistic. 4. Those pools are popping up all over and the waves are of a level now that are VERY surfable. There's even one in Switzerland now. 5. Having the event in a pool means you can take it inland. You can schedule it. The playing field is 100% level. I'll stop whining now.

I know I'm going to get slated for this but I reckon Surfing at the Olympics should be a wavepool event. Those pools are popping up everywhere and making it a pool event means taking it inland. The Olympics isn't exactly in the "spirit" of surfing anyway so may as well go full hog and have it in a pool. You could even have a best of 3 format. Day 1 tubes. Day 2 Shredding (no airs) Day 3 Airshow.

Depression. Seems to be a bit of a recurring thing with elite cyclists

FWIW I've only been to Bassano del Grappa (Monte Grappa) for the road cycling. Flew into Venice and caught a commuter train to Bassano. It was a dirt cheap holiday for a Euro trip and cost 35k all in for the 2 of us. If you want amazing road cycling on a budget with a bit of Giro pedigree Grappa is a good bet. Pack your climbing legs tho coz there's 11 roads to the top of Monte Grappa and the climb is +-1550m It's kind of like an Italian Ventoux. We've also popped in to Aosta in the Alps on a day trip to Milan from Morzine. I could easily go back to Aosta. the lift up to Pila bikepark leaves from downtown Aosta and La Thuile bikepark is between Aosta and Mont Blanc. The St bernard pass (The italian job) is right there for some ridiculous road cycling.

You okes clearly didn't do geography at school. The Calabria region of Italy is so far south that it's almost North Africa

It's official! Theo on the list for Hardline!!!

Hahahaha. Jaaaaaa....... The person who came up with the no dog on the bed rule was the first person to break the rule......

When the decision was made to get Ulf we discussed some hard and fast non negotiables. From me it was training and walking. From my partner it was good quality pellets and nothing else and absolutely no human food ever. I don't know if it as a result of this but when we have dinner he lies down next to the table and has a little nap. He doesn't beg at the table. There is an exception. For training he gets chopped up viennas. But he's the only one that eats them and they are in a speciall little tupperware in the fridge that he is all too familiar with. When that thing comes out he knows it training or game time.

Ja we will ease him into it very slowly. And only much later this year. We're following the advice of our Vet and only when he give the green light will we start incorporating it slowly. We're feeding him plenty of the most ridiculously overpriced dog food known to man so his nutrition should be solid. As far as running with a Malinois goes..... We're probably going to have to up our fitness game a lot when the time comes. Coz they can go and go and go.

I'm going to watch today and cry into my tea. Last year my better half and I had tickets and accommodation booked for Argeles Gazost. The plan was to ride Tourmalet, Hautacam and Luz Ardiden amongst others. Not on the same day of course.

A little update on my Malinois. His rate of learning is quite incredible. He got sit pretty (the balance needs work) in about 15 minutes total. I don't train a single thing. I mix it up so his rate of progression is probably slower than if I had to concentrate on one thing. I'm teaching him 3 versions of leave. one I drop treats and tell him to leave. This is probably the most important thing he will ever learn. The word release must mean you leave it and never touch it again. God forbid there's a dog in those jaws when i need that command. I am also teaching him release. This is with a tug toy. The word release means you're getting it back And drop it is for the game to continue you must drop the tug toy or the ball. That's primarily for the protection of my fingers. Last night he was jumping through a hoola hoop. THERE WAS LITERALY no training. we just coaxed him with a tug toy that he likes. He got it pretty much immediately. That's the good news. The bad news is his farts and turds are byblical and he's about 1/2 an hour from finishing off his hammock bed that he's had for all of 2 weeks. The company that makes the beds sells replacements so I guess he's not unique in this respect. I'm really looking forward to incorporating him into our runs. My other half is much faster than me and if he's with her only a fool would try to attack her.

To be clear. I had a Cherokee. The bug eye one. And despite the litany of things that went wrong with it I absolutely loved it. But never again.

I love that 3.2 motor. My mate has one in his Ranger and it really is a power unit.

I saw a deal that Eagle Ford in Pretoria had on my model truck. I phoned Motus Ford here in CT and they matched.

A prodigious thirst 2 diffs A front Axle A new drive shaft because they didn't sell the CV joint (Yes a CV) that came out of the transfer case separately. All the electrics (Luckily not expensive) And catastrophic resale value Also an 5 week lead time for a service and FKALL parts backup. I know that's not the vehicles fault. I won't even buy Jeep clothing. Based on the cars, the buttons will all fall off and the dye will run all over your other stuff the first time you wash it. I presume you want a wrangler for it's off-road ability. If you want to go off-road rather get a dirtbike. You can get a nice 2nd hander for 20k. They are much cheaper to maintain and if it's broken waiting to get fixed that's fine. Going off-road in an expensive, probably financed, wrangler is a recipe for financial ruin. Just my opinion. Don't shoot the messenger.

I had a 2.5 Mazda Drifter in champagne gold. The top of the line one. Can't remember the model name. I traded that in on a....... drumroll please. A Red 2.4 petrol Jeep Cherokee. In a lifetime of bad decisions that ranks as number 1. My best car ever was my Tata. It wasn't pretty but Tata were desperate enough for the sale to get me out of my cherokee. It was also cheap as chips. 220k for a double cab with aircon, power steering, electric windows, a decent radio. I USED that bakkie. many a jump in Tokai owed it's existence to that bakkie.

I've been living with one of those dakine blankies on my double cabs for many years. They are great but I shuttle maybe 6 times a year. The rest of the time that huge load bin is wasted space. I got a tourneau cover in December and it TOTALLY changed the usability of the vehicle. @the op. Ranger or Isuzu. Either is great IMO. There would have to be a very compelling reason for me to get a GWM and more buttons isn't one of those reasons.

No matter which one you get GET A TOURNEAU COVER or even better one of those armadillo things. I have a 2018 Ranger XL. It needed a new oil seal on the gearbox and the radio P1$$ES ME OFF. The 2014 got a new gearbox at 60k. I had the 2014 before. And somehow they made it worse. It doesn't pull as well as the old one. I think in the quest for better numbers in the marketing brochure they boosted the turbo creating a bit of lag. Having said that we did a long road trip in December and the truck (It's not a bakkie) scored a solid 10/10 in all departments. I had a Tata Xenon before my first ranger. My opinion on the GWM's and those types of truck is that they start to look super tatty quick quickly. I wouldn't. Especially if you can get a Ranger or Isuzu for the same cash.

Theo, Matt Lombardie and a few other saffers racing at the La Thuile Enduro this week.

This guy specializes in training high drive dogs. Lots of good tips

I'd describe him as a short hair German Shepherd ITO fur.