Just Ridin' Along

Bike shop owners see some funny stuff, consider this one for a moment..............

In comes customer, clutching this wheel and wearing his best grim and determined, "don't mess with me" look.

"There I was, just riding along and the rim cracked". Thorough rim inspection follows, but no cracks are found. "There, look at that crack" he says, pointing to the rim joint.

A brief interrogation follows where customer is asked why the wheel has new spokes (those are not original). "The chain went into the wheel and damaged the spokes and we had them replaced by XYZ Bike Shop". Whose chain?

"No, but this is a sub-standard rim, I mean look at the crack (again referring to the join in the rim)

OK, so you didn't notice that it was mildly out of alignment, just a teeny weeny bit, just maybe?

And you still haven't answered my question WHOSE CHAIN?

After squeezing the stone for what must have felt like hours, out it comes............" I borrowed my girlfiend's bike without asking her, rode it like an idiot, crashed it hard, taco'd the front wheel (still no front wheel drive bikes here) and now I'm in trouble. Could you please help me?"

Why are people so full of bullshit?

PA Wheelers at it again

OK, I've been distracted....

The second major outing of the PAWheelers, a simple out-and-back on a hot Saturday morning, with one major difference...SPORTING SOME COOL NEW KIT! The Earth Angel knows who she is, and she is roundly thanked!

It would appear that cyclists the world over are the same.....late and disorganised! We set out with an enthusiastic group, soon settling into a rythmn. Nothing major except for a few speed induced falls, fortunately without injury.

Bull was back, this time sporting a broken hand and the same no brakes-no fear bike and attitude. He rode the entire 15km standing as the seat is too high.

(

Next weekend's outing will be to construct a cycle path around the suburb of North End, somewhere for the kids to "gaan mal" away from the ever-present threat of careless drivers, of which seem to have more than our fair share.

Shuleen Booysen, vuur-en-vlam, the driving spirit behind the outings.

The Spine

http://www.ridingthespine.com

The Great Italian Motorcycle Display

Watch this, you can't but be impressed. In fact go and watch it on YouTube, that way my blog loads faster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTYGmjgSMv8

Just watch it.

Organically grown, hand-picked, sun-dried, ripe apricots

No poisons, no sulphur, no Woolworths packaging, no transport, dried apricots. In fact, none of the bullshit normally associated with dried fruit. The only catch is that you need to come here by bike to collect your sample!

So that is one of the reasons the blog has been a bit dry lately. Another reason is that these lovely little apricots have siblings, large numbers of siblings who have been turned into jam, chutney and sweet chili apricot sauce (to braai your snoek wif or to baste your Sunday roast). Again, all clean, packed in re-usable, recyclable glass.

So, in the local idiom, I am "op ge-jam". Tastings by appointment. Samples available to cyclists who arrive by bike.

Gaan ons Saterdag ry?

As with anything new, small steps can be frustrating and I'm not the kind of person to take small steps! Rather rush off in a direction, crash, bash, re-orientate, rush off again, crash, bash, re-orientate, run off again. Not for me the thoughtful, well-planned, carefully orchestrated.

Well, you could say that I waste a lot of energy in all this crashing and bashing, but at least the energy has less than @#$#-all to do with Eksdom.

So, Prince Albert Wheelers is a bit unusual for me, small steps, carefully considered ones too.

Our group of "development cyclists" (what a disgusting, patronising, racist, bullshit term), hereinafter referred to as the PA Wheelers, is coming together. Two Saturday rides later and we are beginning to attract the attention where it counts - amongst young, local cyclists.

The last ride on Saturday was a small affair, with yours truly being the clan elder (by far, and I'm still a youngster).

We have a warning to issue to one Burry Stander: Watch your back, Bull is on his way.

And I'm going to hit the criticism for a six before I even get it....yes, in the group were two boys on bikes with no brakes and no helmets. I do not have it in me to tell two laaities that they can't ride with us because they don't have helmets or brakes.

So we rode up to Eerstewater. And back. The exciting bit was Bull doing his Burry Stander imitation back down the pass. No brakes.No helmet. No fear.

I was the one crapping myself as I went round the corner expecting to find bloed, kak en hare smeared on the rock face. Only to find Bull with a huge smile on his face and eyes like saucers.

The most telling bit was the 50 metre skid mark he made on the road - with his bare right foot.

Bull demonstrating the fine art of braking

On a more serious note: If you have any spare cycling kit (helmets and gloves for now) Bull and his mates could put it to good use. Oh yes, and components. Maybe some brakes!

I refuse to believe

I refuse to believe that I am the only person in this country who thinks the bikes shown on the http://www.sunrace-sturmeyarcher.blogspot.com/ are beautiful.

Am I wrong?

I'll take all four, thanks!