Thursday, July 23, 2009

Paul de Vivie - The Father of cyclotouring

Velocio's Seven Rules

1. Make your stops short and infrequent so as not to lose your drive.

2. Eat lightly and often. Eat before getting hungry, drink before you are thirsty.

3. Never ride until you are so tired that you cannot eat or sleep.

4. Put on extra clothing before you're cold, and take it off before you're hot. Don't be afraid of exposing your skin to the sun, air, and rain.

5. Don't drink wine, eat meat, or smoke---at least during the ride.

6. Never rush things. Ride within yourself, particularly during the first few hours of a ride when you feel strong and are tempted to force the pace.

7. Never pedal out of vanity, don't be a show-off.





Thanks to http://www.outyourbackdoor.com

Just another silly video from youtoob....

.......not everyone's cup of tea, this.

Just make damn sure you don't have a mouthful of tea when you watch this .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmWYj3HnKL4

Sometimes ya just gotta larf.

Yet another object of desire.....

You have to give it to them, these people know what they're doing....

This one's a 1910 29r, have a look at http://www.edsbikes.us/bikes.htm

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

United Breaks Guitars

Oh yes, this one is huge, 4 million hits and counting.



Bloody brilliant.

And it knocks the snivelling that happens on Hellopeter into a cocked hat.

Volvo, are you listening? Volvo ? Come in Volvo..............anybody home?

Thanks Anders for the heads-up http://threelilybuds.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Doping is as doping does

Don't let anyone tell you that there's dope involved in the TDF, ever!

The bottom line is that big money has too much invested in the business of cycling, and particularly the TDF. And as we know, money doesn't talk, it barks out commands and orders.

Basically, what isn't tested for, isn't found. Is there an agreement that certain drugs/doping techniques are tested for while others are not? Maybe, just maybe.

The list below makes interesting, albeit tragic reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling


Viva the beautiful sport, viva.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Comment

This was posted here in error, it should be on the blog http://princealbertsouthafrica.blogspot.com

It's the official municipal reaction to the town's shocking water quality management system.

https://dev1.wadns.net/sabirding-co-za/sanp/flash/n0001.html

Sunday, July 5, 2009

The universe has a sense of humour

A good way to end the Freedom Challenge, I thought, would be to ride down the pass after giving Bruce and Erik coffee at Teeberg.



Simple enough, get a lift up with Steven, have coffee and then breeze back to town. What could be simpler?
As I waved goodbye to Steven and the Karoo Surfers, I took a while to appreciate the view across to the Nuweveldberge, stunning. Then helmet, gloves, buff, windbreaker for the chilly descent.

Hop on and..............................flat front tyre. No problem, when I finally got the valve open with my semi-frozen fingers, I pumped the wheel up extra hard just in case.

Fifty metres down the road it went soft again. Anyway, after lots of patient fiddling and pumping I realised that" Stans" and "sidewall cut" do not belong in the same sentence. Not for the first time that I was reminded of this fact, mind you. Today was to be my walking day and no amount of squirming was going to change that!

And how many bikes have I fixed over the last ten days? More specifically, how many tubeless wheels have been through my hands? I don't remember. So why does mine have to be the one?.

Simply because the universe has a sense of humour

It was a new experience, walking a bike all the way down the pass, or rather being dragged down the pass by a bike. Needless to say, the Pajero boys didn't even wind down their windows to ask why I was pushing my bike downhill. But then, if you can drive a car with the name "Pajero" you aren't easily going to stop and risk abuse from some idiotic cyclist! http://www.pistonheads.com/GASSING/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=392436&mid=0&i=40&nmt=Crap%20car%20names....&mid=0

Did I forget to mention that your SUV makes you look fat?


Right down near the bottom of the pass, two young Dutch women stopped to offer help, so I asked them to phone Lindsay when they got to town. Thank you Inge and Anneline.

Friday, July 3, 2009

'n Lang Dag

Ja, vandag was 'n lang dag.
It started yesterday with the Namibian contingent trying to sneak in via the Gang, trust them to miss the route with the only Cuca shop south of Oshakati.

Just as the dust settled on that, I received a message that Greg needed to be fetched from Rondawel, arrived at Rondawel as the sun set to find one sick man.


As an indication of how the Freedom Challenge network really works: My phone rang within one minute of leaving Rondawel, Mrs Marincowitz to warn us that her husband was coming home and "jy weet mos hoe ry die boere in die middel van die pad" Five minutes later and it's Greg's concerned sister on the phone. A few minutes after that his father. Picture that, there Greg and I were, just south of Rondawel (you don't know where that is?) and his family were able to track us through the Race Office (Theresa the Impeccable), get the doctor lined up for him (Pam the Unflappable) and his bed warmed at Dennehof (Heaven on Earth)

Oh yes, that was yesterday.

Early this morning I cleaned Louis and Pierre's bikes, fitted new brake pads and then to Dennehof to face the beast in the form of Siseko Marareni's bike:
  • Bent derailleur hanger (why, why, why must they all be different?)
  • Broken rear derailleur cable
  • Broken seat post clamp
  • Broken seat clamp
  • Wheel bearings knackered
  • Brake blocks shot
  • Loose headset
  • Computer not working
  • Front tyre ripped
Fortunately for us, the network kicked in again. Essie of Oudtshoorn Fietse pulled out all the stops and found all we needed. Lindsay flew over the mountain on his GS and within no time I was fitting the new gubbins to Siseko's bike. I'm confident that the bike left Prince Albert in better condition than it left Pietermaritzburg.

And just as I was wiping my hands clean, in rode Esti, Andre and Derek Baard. Full wash, five sets of new brake pads, two new cassettes, two new chains. (I must admit that I let Andre fit his own computer.
Then the by now standard Dennehof dinner in the company of interesting people.

.....and yes, Ria, I did finally drink the coffee, about three hours after you brought it to me!

I wouldn't want it any other way.

Desertion

I'm gutted. Distraught. Wind gone right out of my sails, spokes gone from my wheels.

Cuca Shop Annie just upped and left, without a care in the world for the poor struggling cyclists.

At least Annie has promised us that she'll be back for the entire duration of the Freedom Challenge 2010.

All we have left is this pic of her boetie and his friend Louis leaving town....

Thursday, July 2, 2009

...and the stupid bastards rode straight past



What a day, things just seemed to know how and where to fall.

And then we had to set up Annie's Cuca shop, yup, Annie's Cuca Shop. Hold onto your hat Mr. Waddilove, this could be the turning point we've all been waiting for.

Fiona and Doug were the first customers, but the racing peloton were not as charmed as they steamed off towards Prince Albert. Annie, maybe we need to tone it down a bit?


This, jintelmen and lady, is what you missed.