Hi guys,anyone else following this,i know you like your cycling pieter but not sure if your into road or just mtb?Getting ready for stage 4 now with a tin of Toque Lavender beside me. Simon

Hi Simon, I love all cycling although I mostly take part in mtb events. I do 2 or 3 road events in a year and about 12 mtb’s. Training is 90% mtb and 10% road. My road bike is a hybrid which is more mtb than road - GT ZUM - Zaskar Urban Machine. I’ve received an invitation from our Pedal Power Association to attend this year’s TdF and I’m seriously considering it! Results for the Giro D’Italia is, to me, a big indication of what to expect in the TdF and I always pick “my man” after the Italian race. Do you snuff while riding? I’m always a bit uneasy about doing so, I might end up with some tobacco juice spilling from my nose without me knowing about it!!! I will check out the Giro now. Cheers Pieter

Great post pieter,i have a road bike and a hybrid,take the hybrid out when it’s poor weather.Both my bikes are fairly low entry machines to match my skill level lol. The hybrid is a claud butler legend and the roadie is a claud butler san remo both 2008 models.I do on avg 25-30miles a day and i dont snuff while riding but i do have several large pinches before i leave out. Did you see stage 4 today,poor jens,out in the break all day and was caught with about 3km to go,thans jens for you and he will do it again lol.I think liquigas were setting it up for basso but he never went for it. Simon

I have cannondale mtb, but i dont follow cycling all that much… Although i thought it was cool Lance came back for the tdf and i hope he does well at this Italian tour… Do you chaps think he has a chance to win this race?

My money is on Levi Leipheimer!! ibild, do you have the canondale “lefty”?

Thats a brilliant picture kanugaa,thanks,i have followed the CSC team (sorry,saxobank)for years now and jens is one of my fav riders. Simon

IMHO lance has zero chance of winning the giro,i cant even see him taking a stage victory,for todays stage 5 i fancy Tom danielson to do something big.Watch out for carlos sastre too,not done anything of note so far but still in 10th in the Gc just 49secs behind. Simon

In today’s stage there is a lot of downhill riding which will result in some fast riding ( hope no crashes ) but that last bit will surely separate the men from the boys. I agree you Simon, Lance won’t make it in this race. I’m not a Lance fan, so I don’t mind about him. My all time favourite, despite what happened, remains Floyd Landis. I hope he will ride in the TdF this year and beat Lance!!!

Im not a lance fan either pieter,i think his reasons for the come back are other than for the sport,likely for publicity/financial/Trek bikes etc.Gonna stick with my hunch for Tom Danielson today with ivan basso close 2nd or 3rd. Now to choose todays stage snuff lol.Enjoy the stage pieter. Simon

Everyone loves Jens! Have you seen Overcoming? Jens is great in that, whilst everyone else is moping around and looking (understandably) miserable he is almost infuriatingly chipper the whole time. Did you see him with his Mars bars yesterday? There is a good section about him in the bonus footage from Overcoming…Part 1Part 2

No, Pieter didn’t buy the lefty, i thought about it however i would not have been able to mount a front rack on it… So I bought the F-4 as it had the only color i liked… Any of you hard core riders have a brooks saddle and what do you think of them?

Never had one myself ibild but never heard any complaints about them.From what i have read up on them they can take a few miles to break in but once done they are superb. Simon

ibild, I’ve never been on a Brooks but as a youngster, all our bikes were fitted with leather saddles. If you are serious about a Brooks, I will whisper you a friend of mine’s e-mail address and you can talk to him about it. He did some serious cycle racing, he’s 72 years old, an expert on Brooks saddles and lives in the UK. But, I can tell you now, when I asked him whether I should invest in a Brooks he asked me when I started hating my behind!!!

nice videos, Kunugaa!!! Since i know very little about cycling, i wonder is it more a team sport or an individual sports? Second what team do you think has the best chance of having one of its riders win this race? plus if any of you might like to educate me on how cycling is won and the strategy behind it… That would be cool…

btw Pieter, i forgot to say that i hope Levi wins myself, i think he surrounded by enough seasoned vets to help him win… Plus i am a flawed american rooting for Lance to win a stage or two, i think can do it… Just hanging with the peloton and at some point i think he will do his thing…

I love cycling. I was hoping to have a good biking summer, but that’s not going to happen now. Oh well, there’s always next year. I try to ride about 1,000 miles each year from May to Sept.

Just been reading this thread. Here I am in my younger days:-

Cool pic snuffhead,ever get mistaken for Fausto Coppi? Simon

WOW, my friend!!! I love it. You really look set for a win. What is the black knob sitting at the point of the righthand drop? And the cable or pipe in your right hand. That must be the biggest gear blade I’ve ever seen. Looks like it can be a 60? What make bike is it?

Who is Lockvist? In Afrikaans it means bait or lure fish.

Pieter,do you mean Thomas Lövkvist? He’s a 25 year old swede who rides for colombia-highroad. Simon

Yes, that’s him!! Got his name a bit wrongway round. I don’t recall hearing/seeing a lot about him. Is he new on the scene? And what’s happening to Lance. Do you think he’s holding his horses for a while or is he just not up to it? Levi Garrett, agh, I mean Leipheimer, is holding on quite nicely and I would like to see him win this race.

HI Pieter,he’s been around for 3 or 4 years now as far as i know.As for lance he his well past it now,i will be surprised if he finishes the Tour to be honest,he’s not the same when he’s not on the ‘juice’.Leipheimer is quailty though,look out for him in the 60km time trial next week,i think it will be a close TT between Levi and Fabian Cancellara. I like the Levi garrett bit lol Big blue1 eurosport for me but try this http://www.steephill.tv/giro-d-italia/ lots of internet feeds here. Simon

Yep,the live feeds are there when the race is going,scroll down and you will see the links on the left hand side Simon

Great pic Snuff Head! What sort of races did you do? It’s a shifter Pieter. You can also try Cyclingfans for coverage, it is best to get a video feed, and listen to the Eurosport audio. That means you get commentary from Sean Kelly…

Bigblue1,the days stages start in the mornings but the tv coverage starts at around 14.00 uk time every day(Barring rest days of course).The stages info is on the link i gave you “That means you get commentary from Sean Kelly…” To be sure lol Simon

@ simongrant, Lol there was a resemblance. @ Pieter, That black knob on the right drop is the front chain-wheel changer and that’s the control cable coming out the bar just above my right hand. There is another lever but not seen in the photo on the left drop to shift the de-railer gears. The frame is a ‘Straight’ Hetching’s I built my own bikes. Yes I used big gears and I’m paying for it now. @ Kunugaa, Mainly 25, 50 & 100 mile time trials and the odd road race.

My man, Levi Leipheimer is clinging to his 4th position and only 1.40 minutes behind the leader. Who wants to bet?!!!

Was Di Luca last yrs winner? I thought we should be betting for tins of snuff so thats a grand idea… However i have a bias for the Astana team, Faulty American i guess!!!

My man, Levi Leipheimer, is only 40 seconds behind the leader!!! He’s going to make it.

I feel quite happy tonight. I enjoyed a nice little ride on my mtb today for an hour without problem. Must be honest though, I’ve only been on the flat with no climbs. But it’s a start and it was very nice to be on two wheels again. And of course, my man in the Giro is only 43 seconds behind the leader!! Another reason to be happy. I see Lance is battling, falling behind further and further every day. I think he’s had his chips now.

Here’s another pic; on the road on my track bike. Sod the fallen biker!

great pic again snuff head,bad day for leipheimer pieter,carlos sastre is awesome in the mountains. simon

@ simongrant, thanks I was taking part in a hill climb. A short wheelbase track bike with fixed chain wheel is the best providing you choose the right gear first!

nice one snuffhead,looks about a 8-10% grade from the pic but they can deceive lol. simon

Hell John, you are a TALL guy!! Must be what, 6’3" ??

What happened to Leipheimer, he dropped from 43 seconds behind to almost 3 minutes? I see mr Lance is battling. Seems as if his own steam alone is not sufficient to make him a winner once more.

No Pieter, I’m under 6Ft.

Levi cracked on the big mountain stage(again)i dont think he will ever win a grand tour for this reason.Sastre looking good though as is denis menchov simon

I’ve just been in Slovenia for the past week and being surrounded by mountains with nothing but rented, tractor tyre clad mountain bikes was driving me mad! Today I tenderly cleaned the Pinarello to get her ready for a much needed ride tomorrow. Missed most of the Giro as well, managed to catch the Blockhaus. Did you ever cross paths with Beryl Burton Snuff Head? I just started reading her autobiography, great stuff.

I did my first road event for this season on Sunday. Only 22km but with “rolling hills” all the way. Out of 46 timed riders, I finished 16th and was first Grand Master over the line. I’m very happy with this results.

That is well done! How many gears do you run, Pieter? I’ve got an old Schwinn I converted to fixed gear . Very simple, indeed. (I didn’t know what a workout really felt like till I rode that thing around the hills where I live!!) And it is a strangely silent ride with no clatter from the gears…

@Bart, my road bike is a GT ZUM (Zaskar Urban Machine) hybrid with a 9 speed 11/32 casette, compact 50/36 crank and 26 inch wheels. My mountain bike is a Felt Virtue Two dual suspension with the normal 9 speed 11/32 casette and 44/32/22 crank. I had my yearly “inspection” at the cardiologist yesterday (I have 5 stents in my chest and one in my leg) and he told me to keep on riding my bikes. I’m in a better state of health, heart wise, than a year ago because of not smoking any more and regular training. Our next road event will be on the 13th of February and thereafter the mtb season starts. I love the off road riding much more.

You sound like you’ve got some nice bikes,Pieter! I wish you health–seems the bicycle and snuff has helped quite a bit! Here’s my Schwinn Continental.

I ride a Jamis Quest and a Jamis Aurora. No pics to post but they are both black and about 10 years old.

My first real bike was a Raleigh ‘Robin Hood’ with a Sturmey 3 speed. Everything about that bike was quality. Every single thing on the bike had the Nottingham name on it down to the pedal blocks.Wish I still had that one.

ack! 3 speed! I’m spoiled with 21 speeds on one and 27 on the other. (Yes, I really do use them all)

hahah,Xander! Aye, true on the gears in most cases.(You’re saying you don’t miss the constant *click-click* of the three speeds??? )I’m just trying to simplify everything in my life, bring it down to the simplest, purest level, at least the things I can control…

Sturmey Archer makes a 7 speed hub now. Can you imagine what it would be like if you fit a 9 speed casette onto that hub with a triple blade crank? Also available now for a cruising bike is a 14 speed hub. It’s main draughback is it’s weight, very heavy. I find the 18 speeds adequate for my road bike but for the mountain bike the 27 speed drivetrain is essential. I do not use the granny gear a lot because spinning at a cadence of 100 or more, is beyond me. But sometimes the climbs are just to much for the 32 crank and I have to drop to the lowest gear, riding at a speed of 5 or 6 kph. Most of the time though, when I get to a gradient which is to steep for me, I just get off the bike and push. I am almost 66 years of age, after all!

Honestly, I could make do with 18, but it is hilly here so I use them all. The touring bike is 3x7 = 21spd and it struggles in a few places locally (we have some deep river gorges that cut through the area). The other is a road bike and at 3x9 (27spd) it zips (crawls) up the hills no problem. Both are pretty lightweight. @ Bart I like it simple too, since I own no auto, one is my sports car and the other is my truck/suv. Just keep the gears clean and lubed, and I usually have no added complexity to life.

A daily bicycle comic strip. Usually pretty funny. It helps if you know bikes to get some of the jokes, but if you don’t get it some one in the comments section usually explains it.Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery

Thanks, Xander! I’m always up for humor…I told Pieter, have you seen Sheldon Brown’s bicycle site -loaded full of info:: WWW.Sheldonbrown.com

I have just put it into the browser. This looks useful. I really need to learn more tech stuff. I’ve been a cyclist too long not to know anything beyond routine maintenance and repair.

I rode the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Mountain Bike Challenge today. It was extremely hot - 38 celsius - with not even a breeze. The trail was terrible, mostly loose sand, and it was a real challenge. I’m hurting all over tonight and I think I will stay in bed tomorrow!

I raced in the Mt. Evans Hill Climb, which ends above 14,000 feet, twice in the middle 80s, finishing in the middle of the pack. My racing team (The Spring Creek Velo Club) sponsored one of the two best training races in Colorado every Wednesday evening. It was a 53 mile course, hilly, extremely windy course that went from Ft.Collins to up near the Wyoming border, and back again. We had European and American pros and Olympic quality amateurs show up regularly. Back in those days, bike racing was my whole life, and I was never happier. I trained about 250-300 miles per week, about half of it on some of the steepest paved roads anywhere, but my dream was always to ride in one of the Spring Classics, like Paris-Roubaix or Milan-San Remo. I later found out that one of the reasons I was so good, especially during anaerobic activitiy, was that I have a disease that causes my blood/iron, hematocrit, and hemoglobin levels to be extremely high. Exactly what “blood doping” tries to achieve, so if I ever won a major race followed by testing, I would have been disqualified. Alchohol and age killed my career, and I expect nobody has heard of me except the people I used to race with in the USCF races I rode in for several years. Still, those were indeed the days.

I just want a Penny Farthing.

Maybe I’m being vain but if anyone wants to check me racing, go to: www.actionphoto.net then click South Africa, event Cape Argus PnP Mtb Challenge 2010 and enter Race No 80 That’s me, the fat guy on the small bike.

That you with the salt and pepper beard? Very nice, Pieter!

I’ve made it easy to find Pieter:>>> Link

Ah John, you are a great guy!! Thank you very much, I will send you a little gift.

link is not working, Snuff Head.

Alex, your correct in that. It did earlier! One of the mystiques of the Internet. I’m trying again later.