anyone here from South Africa

1hill@atime said:

just a quick one to find out if there's any south africans here

Yup.

Jhb based road racer, mtb racer and duathlete wannabe.

Welcome welcome.

Eldron said:

Yup.

Jhb based road racer, mtb racer and duathlete wannabe.

Welcome welcome.

cool Jhb as well , eastrand whats your next race...

1hill@atime said:

cool Jhb as well , eastrand whats your next race...

East rans also! Snap!

I did enter the Fast One but the missus has offered up a dirty weekend so I cancelled that one...

Will probably do Interclub MTB races in Feb as well as two Sprint Adventure Races.

Are you doing Panorama Tour later in the year? I'd recommend it...

will have a look at that race, i'm doing the liberty ride for site next month, heard it's a pretty nice race...

had a look that looks really awesome, but my level of fitness not yet,maybe 2008, still a newbie 1600kms behind my back only

Eldron said:

Yup.

Jhb based road racer, mtb racer and duathlete wannabe.

Welcome welcome.

Eldron - quick question from a one time visitor to Joburg:

It seemed that a lot of the people I worked with when I visted for 3 weeks were very reluctanct to walk around outside (they drove *everywhere*, drunk or not). Those guys wouldn't even get a taxi (some Australian ex-pats, some local to SA).

Do you have many problems when out training, or do you only train in bunches? I walked around a bit in Sandton and caught cabs to get home from their drunken excesses and they thought I was insane. One weekend I hired a car to drive to Sun City and the amount of people selling stuff on the side of the road was pretty intimidating in places - as a cyclist is it scary or are there quiet places to ride?

cheers,

dave.

drubie said:

Eldron - quick question from a one time visitor to Joburg:

It seemed that a lot of the people I worked with when I visted for 3 weeks were very reluctanct to walk around outside (they drove *everywhere*, drunk or not). Those guys wouldn't even get a taxi (some Australian ex-pats, some local to SA).

Do you have many problems when out training, or do you only train in bunches? I walked around a bit in Sandton and caught cabs to get home from their drunken excesses and they thought I was insane. One weekend I hired a car to drive to Sun City and the amount of people selling stuff on the side of the road was pretty intimidating in places - as a cyclist is it scary or are there quiet places to ride?

cheers,

dave.

Crime is a problem in SA but not as bad as the media likes to make out.

Mostly people in SA drive because there is no public transport system - or decent taxi service. Plus distances between home & restaurant/pub etc are too far to walk. We just don't have a "walking culture" - we're more mall crawler types :-)

I ride by myself a lot and have never had a problem - although I tend to be a bit careful when riding the mtb through some really rural areas. Given that we have serious unemployment problems in SA "informal settlements" tend to appear - these are areas where people without jobs/money slap together some wood/corrugated iron and call it home. I'm not sure I would have any trouble but I prefer to not give them the oppotunity.

On the flip side - some months ago there was a spate of armed bicycle highjackings north of the city. I haven't heard of any lately - not sure if the problem has been cured or it just became page 14 media material.

Not sure if that really answers your question...

1hill@atime said:

had a look that looks really awesome, but my level of fitness not yet,maybe 2008, still a newbie 1600kms behind my back only

I've done the Ride for Sight a few times. Pretty good race! Unfortunately most times it was in the licensed bunch so no time for enjoying the Sight! A word of warning - the route profile is kinda "v" shaped - the first half is more down that up making the second half more up than down - keep some petrol in the tank if you know what I mean!

This year I'm taking it a bit easier - only getting a cyclosport license and am going to see what I've been missing the last 15 years or so!

Welcome to the sport - if you need some info on rides around the east let me know.

Cheers

D.

Eldron said:

I've done the Ride for Sight a few times. Pretty good race! Unfortunately most times it was in the licensed bunch so no time for enjoying the Sight! A word of warning - the route profile is kinda "v" shaped - the first half is more down that up making the second half more up than down - keep some petrol in the tank if you know what I mean!

This year I'm taking it a bit easier - only getting a cyclosport license and am going to see what I've been missing the last 15 years or so!

Welcome to the sport - if you need some info on rides around the east let me know.

Cheers

D.

Thanks for info, i'm also keen on doing the edenvale cycle challenge, i'll most deff fuel rite for the race, it should be good i think i'm fit enough.

Thanx

Eldron said:

Crime is a problem in SA but not as bad as the media likes to make out.

[deleted]

Not sure if that really answers your question...

Thanks Eldron - it does. There are bits of Sydney I would never ride a bike through (no longer live there though) and I had no problems myself during the time I was in Joburg. Didn't do any riding there but I did play cricket at the country club with the huge tree in the middle of the grounds :-)

cheers,

dave.

1hill@atime said:

just a quick one to find out if there's any south africans here

Another Saffa here. Road racing is my game. I'm in CT