OUPA!! Jy is 'n living legend! I met a guy in Paarl last weekend that took part in the duathlon SA's in Bloemfontein and he spoke about this inspirational old toppie. I laughed and told him with great pride that I know him as OUPA GERT! It felt good to hear that you are an inspiration all over RSA and I am sure a Russian or 2 will sing the same song.
The Russian, reporting live from Cape Town. __________________________________________________ Nicolai van der Merwe Line of Business Manager: SAP Transactional HR  http://www.epiuse.co.za [email protected] +27 12 470 2364 (direct) Affiliated to the world-wide EPI-USE organisation. +27 82 372 3906 (cellular) +27 86 669 1890 (fax)  __________________________________________________ This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute, or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake, and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error free, as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. EPI-USE Africa (Pty) Ltd, PO Box 72614, LYNNWOOD RIDGE, Pretoria, 0040, SOUTH AFRICA, http://www.epiuse.co.za. -----Original Message----- From: Gerrit van Niekerk <[email protected]> Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 01:12:46 To: darkanddirty<[email protected]> Cc: Elsie Bezuidenhout<[email protected]>; carina Stander<[email protected]>; Chrissie Kritzinger<[email protected]>; Daniël van Niekerk<[email protected]>; Drien<[email protected]>; Elsabe Milandri<[email protected]>; Gerritvan Niekerk<[email protected]>; Henry van Niekerk<[email protected]>; Hugo van Niekerk<[email protected]>; Rika<[email protected]>; Stefan Milandri<[email protected]> Subject: [DarknDirty] Cold and wet "duathlon" For years I had been doing cross-country, but not since 2005. That is until this year when I decided to give it another try. Including a trail run in the events helped. On August 1 there was a cross-country event at TUT and also a Blitz MTB event at Pelindaba. This called for a toss-up which one to do. In the end I convinced myself that it would be a good idea to do both since the two venues are both on the other side of town from where I live. So I planned to do the 35k instead of the customary 60k MTB ride, picnic and watch the 60km riders come in and then go run the cross-country. The rain that started during the night should have been a warning, but I got up anyway and when I left it was a light drizzle - it would surely clear up very soon and there would just be a nice dust-free ride. By the time I got to Pelindaba, the rain was coming down in buckets. Power Girl and Mummy were also there and we were seriously discussing giving the ride a skip. Like true MTB warriors they entered the 60km ride and I tried to convince them that they could always reduce it to the 35km ride if it got too wet. The long ride started earlier and I really have no idea whether they actually started or headed home. The hardy AR types they are, I very much doubt the latter. At the start the organizer regretfully told us that the mattresses they ordered to protect us when we fall on the sharp rocks were not delivered and the guys who were to run with umbrellas next to us also did not pitch. The rain was not too bad and off we went. About 12 k's into the race we hit a very muddy place and I found the bike very unstable. After the muddy patch the bike just remained unstable until it dawned: I had a flat. A quick pump and ten meters further it was flat again. A wheel covered in thick mud. Tubeless tyres. Cold and numb fingers. You get the picture. After wrestling open the tyre, I discover that the Puncture Free sealer has all but disappeared. No problem, I have a spare bottle with me. After a battle to get the cap off (it needs to be cut) and squirting it into the tyre the next battle is to get the tyre on again. The tools slippery with mud do not make it easier either. The people passing seem to be of the fuller body variety. Pump - not much effect. Roll the wheel to evenly distribute the sealant. Bomb. Fortunately remembered to put the soddy full gloves on before that. Nozzle get frozen solid to the gloves and the tyre inflates nicely - for ten seconds. Lots of offers to help from the ever slower riders labouring past and the faster riders coming back already, but this is a job for one man. Struggle to get tyre off again, struggle to get tubeless liner out, tube in, struggle to get tyre on again. The Last Lady slowly passes. Bomb empty; have to pump. Finally on the way again. No kudos for a fast fix this time. Just after passing the Last Lady, an unexpected turn and a steep uphill. Change from big ring, but it doesn't go. Change to granny and it slips over - chain suck! Struggle to get chain loose. Last Lady passes and disappears up the hill. Chain loose, on bike, clack! - chain broken in two places. Fortunately the one piece consists of only a few links and I am prepared: master link and multi-tool with chain-breaker. I have never used it, but I have seen it being used. I must have been a good observer; it goes easier than expected. Now to be careful to thread the chain correctly and I am off again - everything fine up the hill and the next downhill. On the next up the change from the big ring again does not work, but I'm careful about the chain-suck and toil it out in the big ring. Going down again I click the lever to the big ring position and the chain comes complete off! What the heck? That has never happened before? Stop to fix it and then another dawning - the chain has not been threaded through the front derailleur. It is quite a lot more difficult to undo a master link than to put it in; especially when you have a chain slippery with mud. Fortunately a marshal cowering in his 4X4 is at hand and can lend me a pair of pliers. Finally I am on my way and have the nicely curving single-track all for myself. Back on the dirt road I pass the Last Lady and predict that she will see me soon again, but my luck has changed and I pass a number of people on the way back. Somehow there is a time difference of one and a half hours on my watch and on my cycle computer when I finish and discover that I have an hour to get to the cross-country. A quick wash and change to running gear and in the car with toes and fingers still freezing. I get to the XC with twenty minutes to enter and warm-up, but warming up is not possible today. The XC course has three laps and after the first lap I feel I am beginning to unfreeze. Then the wind starts howling and I almost trip over the bunting being ripped off. After the second round the wind stops and ten seconds later the heavens open up. And not just rain - fine hail as well... All I can say is: The hot shower when I got home lasted for a long time and was thoroughly enjoyed! Oupa Gert --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DarkAndDirty?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
