I recently read a post about "Systemic Lawlessness in South Africa". In the article Isamail (the author) suggests a definition of a systemic problem as "A problem is systemic when it occurs in more than one place almost simultaneously". This mornings Cape Times ran the story about the Two Oceans marathon winner who tested positive for steroids. A cycling friend, tongue in cheek like, referred his followers on twitter to the story on IOL with his own comment "those pesky doping cyclists..." knowing full well that another sporting discipline was involved.
There is obviously a precedent has been set by us "pesky cyclists" and this cannot be denied, but we are awfully naive to believe that cycling alone is complicit in the emerging doping scandal. No, definitely not. But it is easier to ignore the fact that doping is rife in most professional sporting disciplines.
In another tweet on Friday from a well known triathlete, she mentioned that she has not been tested in months.
As mentioned in previous posts on the subject we know that Drug Free Sport in South Africa operate on a limited budget. Athletes by far out number the available, qualified testers. SAID's is based in Cape Town while the many athletes under their jurisdiction are geographically spread across the entire country which makes testing more expensive and prohibitive in some cases. The biological passports of many cyclists are bare and this by implication means that there are no blood passport trends to speak of and most sporting disciplines have yet to adopt similar systems to track wayward competitors.
So either we don't take it seriously enough to fund our anti-doping or, more insidiously, we really don't want to fund them sufficiently in case they bring down the whole house of cards.
You be the judge...
2013/05/20
2013/04/30
Elevated Bicycle Paths in Cape Town
I have two sons. Matthew (10) and Julian (9). Matthew loves his bike and would sorely like to ride to school which is only 3km's away. The route is fraught with dangers any respectable parent would not consider exposing their child to. And this got me thinking...ooh that's dangerous.
I rode to school from about grade 5. If my bike was broken then I caught the bus if I hadn't spent the bus money on tuck. I am sure that even in the late apartheid era my mum would still have freaked had she known that I had wondered home alone. My round trip took me from Constantia through the back roads of Plumstead up Wynberg hill, past the Wynberg Military base and along Lover's Walk to the high school, the junior school took me through Chelsea Village and along Aliwal Road. All in it was about 4km's. And time wise significantly faster than catching a train or bus.
Today the roads are far more congested. You have to deal with taxi's and buses and lots and lots of cars. Not a place for a cyclist. And even though Cape Town has a number of cycling lanes, many of these are still just a painted line away from the vehicle lanes and we know what most motorised road users think of that...
A number of cities around the world - particularly London - have indicated more than a passing interest in established overhead / elevated bike lanes. Elevated bicycle paths are particularly good where there is little road real estate to use for regular bike lanes and where there are areas of high risk for cyclists. But they cost money and as usual involve a whole load of stakeholders some of which view it as elitist and others as a drain on their profits. In London for instance, Boris Johnson's bike lanes have become known as "paint on the road" because they end up being used as parking for cars and delivery vehicles.
We have a number of existing "paint on the road" lanes as well as dedicated walk / ride lines like those alongside the Liesbeek river (the latter linking through from Rosebank to Observatory) and the bike lanes from Table View through to town amongst others. Early plans for the changes to the main road from Muizenberg to Fishhoek included cycle paths on railway real estate. So this got me thinking. The main railway routes have overhead electrical cables that are held aloft by rather large steel structures. What if the elevated bicycle paths were perched on top of these with regular off ramps at stations. What if a gate with a trail tag (NFC chip installed with a preloaded amount - the technology is already in use with Gust Pay) was used to enter (pay) and exit the paths. The overhead paths could link to existing paths to get from the main route onto lesser arterial routes to other places. The R1 entry could be used to partially fund the overhead routes and corporate sponsorship could fund the balance (maybe in 1km sections similar to those I saw in LA a few years back - for cleaning and verge maintenance you could put up a small billboard). Because it would only be bicycles and foot traffic, the load on these structures would not be too much and so the construction costs would be reasonably low - I suspect.
Just my two cents. But worth serious consideration. I for one would then be able to ride with my kids to school and they could make their own way back in the afternoon on a clear stretch of bike path with only a measly diversion on public roads with little traffic to get back home. Mum would be happy and I would be less stressed by the hectic drive to work / school each morning. Would be fit and happy instead of fat and stressed out.
I rode to school from about grade 5. If my bike was broken then I caught the bus if I hadn't spent the bus money on tuck. I am sure that even in the late apartheid era my mum would still have freaked had she known that I had wondered home alone. My round trip took me from Constantia through the back roads of Plumstead up Wynberg hill, past the Wynberg Military base and along Lover's Walk to the high school, the junior school took me through Chelsea Village and along Aliwal Road. All in it was about 4km's. And time wise significantly faster than catching a train or bus.
Today the roads are far more congested. You have to deal with taxi's and buses and lots and lots of cars. Not a place for a cyclist. And even though Cape Town has a number of cycling lanes, many of these are still just a painted line away from the vehicle lanes and we know what most motorised road users think of that...
A number of cities around the world - particularly London - have indicated more than a passing interest in established overhead / elevated bike lanes. Elevated bicycle paths are particularly good where there is little road real estate to use for regular bike lanes and where there are areas of high risk for cyclists. But they cost money and as usual involve a whole load of stakeholders some of which view it as elitist and others as a drain on their profits. In London for instance, Boris Johnson's bike lanes have become known as "paint on the road" because they end up being used as parking for cars and delivery vehicles.
We have a number of existing "paint on the road" lanes as well as dedicated walk / ride lines like those alongside the Liesbeek river (the latter linking through from Rosebank to Observatory) and the bike lanes from Table View through to town amongst others. Early plans for the changes to the main road from Muizenberg to Fishhoek included cycle paths on railway real estate. So this got me thinking. The main railway routes have overhead electrical cables that are held aloft by rather large steel structures. What if the elevated bicycle paths were perched on top of these with regular off ramps at stations. What if a gate with a trail tag (NFC chip installed with a preloaded amount - the technology is already in use with Gust Pay) was used to enter (pay) and exit the paths. The overhead paths could link to existing paths to get from the main route onto lesser arterial routes to other places. The R1 entry could be used to partially fund the overhead routes and corporate sponsorship could fund the balance (maybe in 1km sections similar to those I saw in LA a few years back - for cleaning and verge maintenance you could put up a small billboard). Because it would only be bicycles and foot traffic, the load on these structures would not be too much and so the construction costs would be reasonably low - I suspect.
Just my two cents. But worth serious consideration. I for one would then be able to ride with my kids to school and they could make their own way back in the afternoon on a clear stretch of bike path with only a measly diversion on public roads with little traffic to get back home. Mum would be happy and I would be less stressed by the hectic drive to work / school each morning. Would be fit and happy instead of fat and stressed out.
2013/04/18
Should I take the blame for the apartheid legacy? Or is is time to honour the past by moving forward and changing the world of the future?
I read Pierre de Vos' opinion piece in the Mail and Guardian on Tuesday with a heavy heart. I was a tome of great length that boiled down to almost nothing other than a pitiful, guilt ridden "us whiteys are all to blame whether it was colonialism or your grandparents, your parents or the racist family dog that barked at black people". Strangely the article has vanished from the M&G website entirely. Which is also not strange because it was a nicely written puddle of slop. Correction, the article in question can be found here.
2013/04/16
MTN Nationals Tulbagh 2013
Matt (my 10 year old son) and I rode the short 20km fun ride. Although the route was flat (450m of climbing in total over the 20km's) it was varied and in some sections made me think of Roubaix as the area we rode through must have been a flood plain at some time and was littered with round, polished, fist sized sand stone rocks which made me long for a dual suspension bike. There was a single section of about 2 kms of single track through heavy bush which left me wondering if I had not got lost because you could not see another soul. We completed the course in just over an hour at just under 20km/h and then settled down for the obligatory cold drink (read beer for me).
The venue was fantastic, the weather sublime and the company excellent. As the other races completed (there was a half, full and ultra marathon of 103km's at the same venue) we were joined by Pinner Munnik (who had to pull out because of flu) and his girlfriend, then our old chum Swen Lauer and finally the entire Cannondale Blend team of Charlie, Darren and friends. Charles had just cracked the ultra in 4:04 give or take leaving everyone else to eat his dust.
All in all, a fantastic day out with my "lighty".
2013/04/12
Why is it so hard to "Do the right thing"?
You're driving down the road and out of the corner of your eye spot two "bergies" fighting. Immediately you feel the need to intervene - which is the right thing to do - maybe, but you don't do anything and drive on. Maybe you hoot because someone else in the same predicament did. It's a question of sociology, of character and conviction. And there is a growing body of bright people who are trying to understand why there is such a conflicting internal dialog in us all - some paths lead to intervention while others do not.
Malcolm Gladwell's books deal with some of these questions by suggesting that our built in biases partly determine the outcome of these critical decisions. Our prejudices are determined by our environment, upbringing and possibly internal genetic programming. And we can certainly override these.
Malcolm Gladwell's books deal with some of these questions by suggesting that our built in biases partly determine the outcome of these critical decisions. Our prejudices are determined by our environment, upbringing and possibly internal genetic programming. And we can certainly override these.
2013/04/08
Sign the Change.Org Petition to abolish Rule 1-2-019 NOW
In my last post I mentioned that Matt and I rode the Simonsberg Classic on Sunday. At said event were a number of Elite CSA (presumably UCI) licensed athletes who had obviously not read CSA's contribution to the above mentioned rule or decided to simply ignore it. Gratefully either of these options meant that we had a few top athletes present.
Now should the UCI rule remain it could mean that many of the non-sanctioned events that take place every other weekend would just fizzle out, leaving out of town venues with no MTB event to speak of because of the lack of entertainment value that comes from having some serious MTB bike meat about.
Sure, there are reasons to ensure that your local event should be sanctioned. I mean there are pages of rules about the presence of medical staff and appropriately qualified route designers and race commissaries. And all of these good things lead to - presumably - safe and successful events. But we all know that this is not neccsarily true as some unsanctioned events are just great.
The petition can be signed here. Go ahead and do it now.
I am all in favour of racing snakes coming to ride unsanctioned events for whatever reason they want, be it to subsidise their income or just make an appearance in support of local small races. Thats mountain biking for you. We love to ride our bikes - anywhere, anytime.
Now should the UCI rule remain it could mean that many of the non-sanctioned events that take place every other weekend would just fizzle out, leaving out of town venues with no MTB event to speak of because of the lack of entertainment value that comes from having some serious MTB bike meat about.
Sure, there are reasons to ensure that your local event should be sanctioned. I mean there are pages of rules about the presence of medical staff and appropriately qualified route designers and race commissaries. And all of these good things lead to - presumably - safe and successful events. But we all know that this is not neccsarily true as some unsanctioned events are just great.
The petition can be signed here. Go ahead and do it now.
I am all in favour of racing snakes coming to ride unsanctioned events for whatever reason they want, be it to subsidise their income or just make an appearance in support of local small races. Thats mountain biking for you. We love to ride our bikes - anywhere, anytime.
Pennypinchers: Simonsberg Classic 2013
The Wine Cellar behind the main compound (no reference to JZ)
Rustenburg was a perfect choice of venue. It is one of the oldest wine farms in Stellenbosch with a history dating back to 1682.
Without much competition on the local MTB calendar I expected more riders in both the 45 and 15km events but am not surprised considering the aforementioned UCI rule. Pity, because so much effort was evident at the race venue.
Winners cruising in over a rather spectator-less finish line
Feedback from mates who rode round the Simonsberg in the 45km event are indication that it was a stunning but tough ride. The route was altered slightly this year from the original 51km route and crosses 24 private properties. This is pretty much the same course covered by Stage 6 of the Cape Epic this year and is challenging to say the least. The winning riders completed the course a little behind schedule in 2:29 and is probably testament to the general toughness of the terrain. I will not mention the winners here for fear of retribution for the riders from CSA.
Matt and I charged around the short course in just under an hour and although is was not particularly technical - mostly jeep track - the final climb (apparently added to fill the 15km) left most except the toughest riders to push their bikes.
The farm cat was the star of the show though. Licking his bits in the middle of the finish chute only minutes before the finishers arrived.
We will definitely be there next year. Hope the cat survives too.
The boss of the farm licking his bits on the finish straight
2013/03/31
Welvenpas - what a blast...
The trail starts at the Welvanpas manor house. Permits are R30 per person which turned out to be a real gift considering the 2 and a half hours of awesome single track that followed. We took the white trail that turns out to be 29 km long if you do the whole thing. Matt and I cut our ride a little short of the full distance just above Oaklands horse farm, but managed to ride most of the route, completing about 23 km's in total.
The route takes you up the lower slopes of the Groenberg mountain and is predominantly single track linked by jeep track through beautiful vineyards.
From the manor house you head out past the parking area and up for about 30 mins into the hills surrounding the farm. A rather helter skelter 25 minute decent follows back down to the valley floor with some rather seriously steep sections - where Matt explained in detail Urs Huber's wipeout round one of the steep corners. The trail builders have used concrete blocks in some sections to preserve the steeper downhill sections and it was on one of these that I met some vegetation off trail at speed. No harm done.
A short section along the river follows and then it is back up into the Doolof ("Maze") Estate, past Oaklands stud farm and into the Doolhof valley below the picturesque Bains Kloof. If you follow it to the end, the white trail becomes quite technical - according to a couple we rode with (Thanks Justin, nice to see you again). It was on this final climb that Matt and I turned round and headed back down the jeep track to Welvanpas.
Back at the farm we were a little disappointed to find that the coffee shop was closed. But as we drove out I noticed that someone had gone into the shop. It turned out that the owner of Welvanpas had gone to check on something and we were lucky enough to score a cool drink for our troubles and to meet Dan. In a previous life I had worked for Dan's neighbour - Graham Knox of Stormhoek fame - and we cracked up a conversation about the trails. All in all a really good day.
So if you are out there, gives these trails a good working over. It is seriously worth the effort. Make a day of it.
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