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