SeaBee

Somebody already said CAAD 10 - why is this debate still going on?

flat29 - how the heck do you get a (mtb) chain to last 18 months?!

Oh confused one... Any reason you're looking at only the Carve and not the Stumpjumper? When I looked around, I was between the 940 and 920, then phoned around for GT's and the shop suggested to also look at Spez Carve or Stumpy in the same price range. For me the Stumpy won. This is the alu one, not carbon. Absolutely awesome bike - and at the time it was only just more expensive than the best price I could get on a 940.

Add to that deterioration on jpg's over time... and not being able to fine-tune your jpg to begin with. But... interesting to see the differences in jpg export/convertion between different software - and even different levels of the same software. It's not as if the interpret the RAW exactly the same! You'd have thought... But agreed - I shoot in RAW. Period. (Yes, even sport shots!)

Thanks. Sorry, could not get on the English word at the time - it's a chameleon.

Now this sounds like an awesome outing! Already doing something that weekend though. Now you've gone and gotten me reminiscing about my Upington-days.

Chariots of Fire music, anyone? At least someone was glad to see me! Amazing to see those knobbly "still-growing" leg joints now... Some hot day in Paarl... On a side-note, the dog with the longest tongue I have ever had! And she hasn't grown into it yet... Like a verkleurmannetjie.

Some more catching up on the trials and tribulations of my bunch of clowns... Early playtime A fun alien moment:

HDR has somehow gotten a very crappy reputation, mostly caused by people going grossly overboard. You're not... Personally I love a well done HDR shot. And if it's well done, you won't even know it's HDR unless you really sit and think about it. How did you do those shots? With the multiple exposure "blend" or just single-shot, creating HDR effect?

That's the one! No going half-azzed - just do it! Or take the chicken run in time... but once you've gone, just go!

Had to giggle between my frustrations this morning. Kahlua has no worries with the thunder. Being a Lab, Nugget has no worries with the rain - loves it actually. But trying to get them out this morning was a MISSION! Kahlua comes running to the door, sees it is (was at the time) PIFFING with rain - and with her short hair she does not like this wetness from above. Pulls a face and sits next to me. Just then thunder rolls and Nugget just stopped dead. As in NO WAAAYYZZZ am I getting out! Kahlua check him, checks me, stands up and strolls past him, straight to her blanket. Curls up and gives me a look that says, well good luck with that one - he ain't goin' nowhere. Once you get to move him ,we can talk... meanwhile I'll take a (dry) nap! Kids these days...

iBike, if you're on FB, go check the Cannondale page. By sheer coincidence I saw an awesome pic they posted last night together with their mtb results. The guy is all the way behind the saddle, balanced and fully committed. As said before, hesitation is the mother of all evil. Also, - and I may get shot for this! - check out SuperCycling. Every now and then they've got a technique insert which takes you through various typical obstacles. And again there you'll hear: balance, weight distribution, commitment. If you start "thinking" or "wondering" halfway through, then you may as well start picking your spot. Get your azz behind the seat and trust the bike. Practise on some small drops in your area just to get the feel - if you've done it once, it'll click and you can move on to bigger drop and see... oh, it's just the same!

Me...? Not enough...

Enjoy it man! Back to our previous comments - it just peeves me when you get such crappy customer service. Why should it be needed to phone a second shop?! And around this side of the country, we don't exactly fall over Spez shops, now that they've gone the "exclusive" way. (I am not a fan of that approach...)

Seems I'm part-OCD! The other part is completely the opposite... My study is a mess, my bike gets washed when I get the chance (but definitely after wet rides), my wallet takes whatever comes it's way in whatever sequence, etc... But DON'T let my bars be even hinting at skewishness or my grips not lined up properly or the loo paper not "over" - I crack! BTW, my removal procedure for ESI grips was as follows. Use knife on ESI's, add ODI's, line up, twist around, before closing completely align bar end logo's, ride, smile.

Haha, nooo worries, I read it with a smiley! Even for that shot to make that "super fake" it has to be a nice shot to begin with. Marius, shop around and play around. If your normal lens don't have a macro feature, see what you can get simply going in close. On a longish zoom lens you'll also be able to get pretty zoomed and near macro-type shots. I was lucky and got a second-hand 100mm macro for a bargain - love it! Was told that a prime 50mm lens also makes for good macro lens - and as far as lenses go, they're as cheap as you can get.

Even if I was in Johies I would not support this. Purely based on a comment made by (can't remember exactly who) one of the top female cyclists when this book came out. She stated, and I think it's very true, that he'll most likely now go on and make more money by selling a book about drugs than she will earn in her entire career, racing clean. But that's just my feelings.

Agree 100%... Just sayin they can play around on existing photo's. Can also give you an idea of what you want to achieve and what you want to avoid with the effect. Lights are fun... I am guilty of not having done enough shooting - was thinking to myself the other day I want to do more low-light shots some time...

You can also get the same burst effect much more controlled in PS or PSE...

Pretty darn handy... Current SA road and TT champ, won African TT (and road) champs last year. Think she won a TT in one of the european races last year. 24th in Olympic TT.

Thanks Mons. Will still add some more pics, maybe over the weekend. Just to catch up to where she is now. The most graceful dog I've ever owned - without being taught, she lies "correctly" when she lies, sits up straight, stands in an awesome posture... she's just a poser! Nugget, on the other hand, is a slouch potato. Wonder where he gets it from?! Sorry, this is slightly off topic, but had such a laugh last night. Went walking with Kahlua and we came across a beige Lab... first time she sees one. And suddenly you just see that mind going and the whole head full of frowns and head turned skew. She looks at me and she looks at the Lab and it's like... Whaaaat the F....?! What happened to this Nugget?!

Saw a nice shot this morning with Marianne Vos celebrating and in the background you can see Ashleigh and the other girl really hammering to get second. Nice one Ashleigh! To the mountains today...

Wannabe, can I be in your team when we hold the Burger training rides again...

Stig, they also just believe what they've been taught. And despite all of us doing it, the majority of people going to a doc does not discuss HR's with him. They're OCD if they know what their resting HR is and blissfully unaware of whatever their max might be. And even us that do ride with HRM's, I would guess we're in the vast minority to have such a high HR max. (And it means absolutely nothing ito potential performance or lack thereof, it's just how it is.) Fortunately I have spoken about this to Jeroen a bit, plus later found a local doc who is also a cyclist - and knows that this does happen. I think if I were to tell my regular GP that, he'd faint. When I started off, my buddy that got me into cycling was also amazed, we swopped HRM's for a ride or two just to make sure it's not the HRM! He initially also though I was bloody unfit for a guy that (at the time) played so much squash...

Good to hear, Mads. Agreed with you there, esp looking at how you came back (even stronger in my mind) from your Nov-Dec mishap.