3wings

+1 There was, of course, the HUGE issue of the Western Cape water crisis and the severe restrictions currently in operation in Cape Town in particular. Lost count of the number of people who told me that they "thought' the CTCT has already been cancelled this year because of it. "Where did you hear that"? I asked in surprise/shock. "On the news/radio/newspapers" was the general reply, with the explanation that the City of Cape Town didn't want to be seen (politically) 'wasting' millions of litres of precious water on a bunch of elitist/middle class/predominantly white cyclists !! Okay, so most of us know that this is complete bollocks, but the point is that this sort of 'fake news' and negative publicity undoubtedly deterred a number of people from entering. And when you consider the planning and expense involved in getting here for so many up country riders, its perhaps not so surprising that by the time that bollocks was exposed it was simply too late for hundreds of otherwise committed riders to participate ! But given the enormously positive vibe on this thread over the past few days - I'm sure they'll be back - and they'll be enormously welcome too. Here's to a record-breaking, and above all safe, CTCT 2019 !

Gotta acknowledge LeoKnight for bringing this up - someone needed to - because the Marshal's friend alerted us all to his sad passing on The Hub last evening. So it cannot possibly have escaped Bellairs' radar - or that of his officials. So why the disrespectful silence ? Someone, somewhere, perhaps made a decision that three deaths in one day was just TOO MUCH BAD NEWS. And however hard that reality may have been for the organiser's to swallow - it was a very bad decision. That marshal obviously cared about the overall wellbeing of us, the cyclists, and of course about the safety and smooth running of the event itself. For him to lose his life trying to keep us out of harm's way is therefore tragic beyond words....

I know - but having travelled 9000 kms to get here.... And yes, of course, I could have gone home in a box Which would have made the tens of thousands of Rand spent on the trip seem rather pointless. So okay, I'll admit it was irresponsible, to myself, the people that would have had to clean up the mess and my two wonderful daughters back home. I'm an idiot okay. And I'm sorry.

On a different note, did anyone else do the Tour yesterday with flu ? I came down with it last Tuesday, sore throat, sinusitis, the works and thought at the time - that's it - no Argus for me this year ! At the Expo on Thursday I heard several people sneezing and finally asked one oke if he was feeling as *** as I was. Said he was not feeling too sharp but hoped to be better by Sunday. I wished him well and decided to wait a couple days also. Was all ready to cry off on Saturday night, but with the awesome weather predicted serious FOMO set in... Started in 4K, took it easy and stayed out of trouble but was waaaay off my best time. Feeling beyond *** today, coughing and wheezing but so very, very glad that I was there. It was worth it. HUGE THANKS to the organisers, all the officials, marshals and volunteers - what a great day. And heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of those who tragically lost their lives. You will NEVER be forgotten. R.I.P.

Hard talk from The General himself only yesterday: “Whoever declares war against us‚ against innocent communities‚ against women‚ against children‚ against the elderly … you want war? You’ll get war. “You want peace? You’ll get peace. And if you decide to engage in the war with us I can assure there will be one side that will survive and that side is us‚” No mention of cyclists though

Still in its infancy I know but these guys are on the right track: http://www.wrenchscience.com/ The road and MTB scene is (or should be) gearing up for the online shopper - not just components - but custom designed racing thoroughbreds. It's not for everyone, I still love the atmosphere at my friendly LBS - but they can only afford to carry so much stock - and isn't it always the case that the one item you really, really want is already sold out

I agree that the concept store is one way to go - but new stores need to do their homework and target existing brand users (always the best advocates of the product) to help spread the word. I live 10kms away from this new Stellenbosch store, have been riding exclusively S-Works for the past 5 years and only found out about it on this thread last night - too late now I guess - dropped another R7k with Pietie and the guys in Somerset West yesterday - hopefully I'm now done for this season. Online, direct selling is definitely THE WAY to go, especially in countries with a safe and efficient courier/delivery/logistics network. When Amazon made the move from selling books into just about anything in the US and UK they left a sad trail of retail stores in their wake. When my buddy took over the running of: http://www.intensecycles.com in California a few years ago that was his vision - you go on line, choose your frame, select your components, colour match - marvel as the graphics build your new bike onscreen - go to checkout and a week later the man from Fedex arrives with your personally custom-spec'd beauty on your doorstep. He's not quite there yet - but give hime time - he will be. No middlemen, no retail stores - a high-quality personalised bike from factory direct to consumer - you'll be able to do it all from the comfort of your favourite armchair ! Now if SA had a business that actually manufactured things rather than just imported from Taiwan and assembled - wouldn't that be something ?

DJR. There was one huge mtb guy in a beige/mustard colour t-shirt along that stretch, arms by his side, way over on the right - I called out " Are you nuts ? You're an accident just waiting to happen mate" as I gave him a very wide berth - did you see this idiot ?

What subject did you hope to discuss with this dude ?

Team DJR must have finished a few minutes ahead of me, what a shame we didn't get the chance to meet and/or for you to give me a tow ......

Not sure how this relates to me - my circumstances have nothing to do with other riders, how they train or the event itself which I know to be an AWESOME experience. As I said - its personal.

Thanks for the kind sentiment Talus but I don't think I'll be back. Long and sad story - a bit too personal to share here. Hope you understand. M

Are you serious - they go after baboons with paintball guns ? I heard a story once of a guy who pepper-sprayed one - it went ape-5hit (no pun intended) - certainly wouldn't want to confront a huge male baboon with a mass of pink dye on its chest

Agreed - I don't know if the idea was to keep the baboons away - but if it was it certainly worked. Was the first Argus for years that I haven't seen any running into the road to scoop up discarded "Gu" wrappers. Maybe they were all hiding from the wind somewhere ????

Thanks bru - I called the guys up just to check my facts before I posted - so you can take it as accurate