Hi,

Morning I trust that u are all well. Struggling to get to terms with the weather, one day magic, the next lekker winter again. Like a bad dose of flu, just can’t shake it off.


Things are starting to pick up again. Tail ending the winter MTB program and the start of the spring road league/fun rides. Have had three so far, one in Worcester and the last two w/ends been in the DVille area.

Most people coming out of slumber with the exception being the MTB cyclists and those training for the DC and, quite a few vets who competed in the World vets champs. (Worth mentioning again)

Staying on this subject. Unbelievable results coming from several of our CT vets, Moolman Welgemoed coming 5th in the 35-39 cat and David Garrett a credible 10th place in the 30-34 cat. Needless to say they are the top riders in the WCape at the moment.

Sadly our cycling (Elites and others on occasion) seems to be marred with a continuous clash with the commisaires. Something is drastically out of kilter and it needs to be addressed sooner than later. Out of the three events having taken place so far two have had incidents and yesterdays’ sadly called off with about 20ks to go.

I was backing up and was about 100meters off the back of the pack and at no stage felt that there was undue/unnecessary bad cycling. That’s my view point and if anybody in the cycling fraternity has safety as a ‘not negotiable priority’ it’s yours truly.

SO WHAT WENT WRONG????????????

Yesterday’s event also ended up in a clash with a Duathlon taking place on the last climb going into DVille. How on earth can two events be competing on the same road? Another hiccup in the system.

What’s up messrs PPA??

One just has to refer to today’s Die Burger to see what a state the cycling per se is in. Sponsors are coming second best and the poor event organisers are not happy and rightly so.

There were several other issues that sent cold shivers down my spine. (and let me make it very clear that there are many that are not ignorant to what’s going on) I don’t want to let this BUZZ be a bitching session but I need to emphasise the fact that we have to be PROACTIVE and NOT REACTIVE in decision making.

All the relevant parties must get together and sort out the grey areas. (ppa, comm. and Cyclists). Too much time effort and money is spent on something that needs to be enjoyed and promoted positively as opposed to a negative attitude and approach.

Enough said--------ACTION!!

Would appear that the DC training is going off well. Five teams are still up and running.

Just remember that it’s still pretty dark in the mornings so we all still need lights and HEY its no good having lights, very bright lights, but they are pointing down on the road and are not visible.

Kop hou manne en meisies. Team effort.

Welcome to several new members I hope u enjoy the club.

Talk to u all soon.

Remember the clubs AGM scheduled for Wed 19/11/008.

ek

Hi,

Pretty busy w/end.

DC/Social
A big turnout on Sat with perfect conditions. Several DC teams out training the coastal road way and to cap it all the gentle giants of the sea frolicking in the Gordon’s Bay area. Privileged and blessed is just putting it mildly. Added to the fact that I had Hertzel Brodovcky and Danie Morkel to keep me company. Can one ask for more??

Sunday a bit inclement. Pretty strong N/Wester but once again the manne and ladies were out doing their thing.

According to Danie the MTB outing up in the Grabou area went off well with an excellent turnout. Mooi so! Many thanks to HWC for assisting and setting up the fantastic venue and ride.

AGM
Well, the year is sadly running to a close. Not too many more months and Xmas will be upon us which leads me to remind u all that we will be having our very first club AGM. This pegged for the 19th of November. Please diarise it now. The more we have at the meeting the better. In the past the meeting was referred to as an INFO Meeting and the attendance and support was great. Much to tell u and of course your input is valuable. Venue and time to be confirmed. We will keep u posted.

Cycle safe.
As u all know we are about to start the Cycle safe project at De Hoop Primary School this coming week. Michelle and co are still short of volunteers. Just a couple of hrs on a day during the week will help tremendously. Please contact him on 082-694-2011. Many thanks.

Club Cards
Great news. The cards have arrived and will be issued. Discounted coffee and meals at Dulces and bikes and spares at half price at HWC. Congrats to Anton for all the hard work in securing these specials.

Julle sien, it pays to be a member of this club.

Start Time.
As from this w/end we will be starting at 6.30am. Waterstone parking, Sat and Sundays. Moenie vergeet nie!!!!!!!

Anything to discuss? Give me a call.

Go well,
ek

Morning to all,

Just when we thought we were about to enter spring we get behoorlik geklap with a few cold fronts. A blessing for a few but for many a nightmare. In-adequate shelter or homeless. Spare a thought for them.

Not much to report other than we managed to get a ride in on Sat down in the Bot River valley area. A few die hards turned out for a road ride on Sat and Sunday as well.

Coming back to the Bot River valley area. A fantastic place to be this time of the year. A beautiful valley and easy MTB riding on the gravel roads. One has many options and can meander on several optional situations pending how much time u want to spend out there.
Dit kos niks other than a coffee, koekies tert of ontbyt with Tannie Elreda should one wish to. Many have met her with us on our meanderings.

Erna and I went out on sat but the inclement weather made us decide to do a u turn after 12ks or so. Just at the start of the pass about 15ks from Bot River theres a turnoff to the right to a place called Porcupine Hills.

We took a chance,ducked down the dirt road and whalla! met up with Murry the owner of the place. Magnificent setting. Restaurant, kroeg and bungalow,s in a beautiful area. A life saver. Pot of coffee, home made bread and appelkoos konfyt, egter botter good music en geselskap. What more could one ask for. Die koue, and the fact that we were sopping wet was forgotton.

Needless to say we flew back with the 40ks plus N/wester pushing us. If you have never been out there its just over half an hour from S/West and well worth the go look see bet or give Murry a call on 028-2849066.

Chances are good that I will be setting something up in the near future. Breakfast MTB ride of soiets. Will keep u posted.

Still on the MTB scene. The club will be out this Sunday at the Grabouw/Elgin C/Club for a ride. Sponsored by HCW and backed up by Danie and co.

Start time at the gate; 7.30am
Time duration; 1. Med to fast groups 4 – 4.5hrs
2. Slow group 2 – 2.5hrs
Grouping will take place based on fast med or slow and what distances u wish to ride. U will have the option to turn back after completing the South loop. After completing the South loop those wishing to, will continue to the Nuweberg loop.
Terrain; Sandy wet jeep track for most of the course but with areas of pretty technical single track.
Don’t forget; Rain gear, enough to eat and drink on your ride, tools necessary for the ride, Chain breaker, tubes, pomp etc.
Costs; R20 to enter the Country Club (for all) plus R30 for non C2H club members

Well, pretty shortly we will be starting the Spring PPA fun rides. This in turn will help to raise the fitness levels of all those training for the DC.

We have a Steering comm. meeting scheduled for this coming Monday. Anything relevant that comes out of it we will inform u.

Enjoy,
ek

Dear C2H members,

As you all know the Cycle Safe Committee is running a Cycle Safe Project at our local primary schools. We are aiming our program to grade 4 learners and we hope to make our kids cycling safer on our roads when they travel to school.

There are 8 schools and more or less 600 of our youngsters taking part. This is a huge achievement for C2H and the Cycle Safe Committee and we are putting a lot of effort to make this Cycle Safe Project a success. We are starting end of September and hope to finish around mid of October.

But we need your help! If you can take a couple of hours off your busy time and join us on one of these mornings you will help our kids to become safe cyclists. Any wannabee can contact Petie 0823233502 or Michel 0826942011 or drop a email to helderbergcyclesafe@gmail.com. We are looking forward to a fantastic support from the wannabees for this ambitious project.

Kind regards
Cycle Safe Committee

Hi,

Had to change the intro from yesterday to this morning. Yes its trying to rain. Lekker koel nie koud and an earthy wet soil smell.

Well what’s to report?

DC

Two DC teams were out and about this past w/end. The Social team on Sat doing a plus 100ks and I Andre’s team on Sunday.

Time slowly but surely ticking away and not that many w/ends left to get up to speed.

Would appear that John has five teams up and running. Fantastic if we can realise this on the day.

Club Race day

One couldn’t have asked for better weather conditions. Coupled with the fact that we weren’t starting at sparrow(time slot was allocated to us), a beautiful scenic setting, an exciting 4k cycle route going thru a scenic little Boland suburb, and a group of “Workers/Officials” that made it happen.

For those of u that weren’t there, for whatever reason, u were without a doubt the losers.

The racing was excellent, from the youngsters to the Elites.
The turnout was just what we needed. Not knowing what to expect and how the roads and route would accommodate the faster riders it turned out just perfect.

We now have a pretty good idea of where we can improve and what bunches we can handle. All bodes well for the future.

Sad though that we did not have the support that one would have expected from the local cyclists and even more so from our club. Maar nou ja, so leer jy mense ken. What’s in it for me? And yes everyone, I’m well aware of the fact there was MTBiking taking place and that we all have different priorities; but to support your club for the only event they host once a year, is that asking too much??

While I’m on a roll let me make use of this opportunity to thank all the sponsors namely;

Fabi, Herman van Zyl; Flandria; Maverick; Masons; HCW; Mr. Price; Hannes Pretorius; Mikes TV Repairs and all the volunteers for your unselfish contribution
and/or time.

And last but not least many thanks to our announcer Hendrikus Lemmer, (ek hoop djy het djo tip gekry)

Olympics

Natalie coming a credible 16th in the 10k swim. One silver medal with the possibility of several more. Not over until the fat lady sings. Let’s be positive.

Controversy rages. Unbelievable the number of records broken especially in the swimming events. Was it?

1. the deeper pool -1m
2. The open lanes on either end
3. The temp of the water
4. Special lane barriers
5. or the special material used for the swim gear
6. Special guttering
7. And then of course Phelps and his so called “underwater work come 5th stroke”

Phelps himself alla Lance Armstrong just didn’t happen on the scene. He’s been around for quite a while. Taking into account that at the age of 15yrs and some months he was the youngest swimmer ever to break a world swim record.

One just has to go back to LAs book “Its not about the bike” read the first few chapters to see where he came from and what it took to make it. Theres nothing for nothing and NO free lunches

Talking about records. Questions being asked as to why the likes of Bolt doesn’t finish his race. Looks around at 90m very casually and slows down for the last 10m still breaking the record. Of course, it’s all about money.

The big money payout is in the Golden League events. So little by little with breaking that record= more payouts. But what a chance one is taking. Another bite of the cake if all goes well and why not??? After all a record is a record. Of hoe??

How does one reward/compensate/accommodate someone when their tool of the trade namely your pole for the pole vault event has suddenly gone missing. You can’t compete and the responsible officials shrug their shoulders and walk away. Well it happened. Tragic to say the least.

Other

The light is starting to change for the better so we should be able to start earlier on w/ends. Will keep u posted.

Remember

1. To still have lights back and front and reflective/light clothing.
2. To make everyone aware of obstacles etc on the road whilst in a group
3. Spanners, spare tubes and a pomp that works
4. and the blog

Regards
ek

CCH Club Race

Morning all,

I sense/smell a change in the air early in the mornings. No, its not that we now have six cats and two dogs in the room with us during the night, I’m talking about in the wee hours of the morning, on the stoep met die koffie en Louis (dis die trein en ons het al voorheen van Louis gepraat). Is it the first signs of spring or what?

Results;
Well what has happened the last week or two? We had the Nat Mazda MTB ride in Stellenbosch Sunday week ago and I’m led to believe with a record entry. Many Wannabee/C2H members took part with Anton getting a second in a Ladies Cat!!!!!! And the promising young Klara Rossouw coming a very credible third in the junior woman’s cat over 41ks. Wel gedaan.

Club Race:
Much excitement building up leading to the clubs first official race to be held this Sunday 17/8 at the Helderberg Coop/Raithby area. Almal is welkom en dit sal fantasties wees as ons ‘n honderd klublede in hulle klub klere op die pad kan sien.

Please come and support us its going to be fantastic.

Starting with the u10/12/14 @ 10.am - 30min
Followed “ u16 and Ladies @ 10.45 am- 45min
“ “ open funride @ 11.50 am- 40min
“ “ Vets @ 12.45 pm- 1 hr
“ “ Juniors/u23 and Elites @ 2.00 pm 1 hr

U need to enter at least 30min before the race.
Entry fee R50.00 Scholars and R75.00 other

MTB:
Well, we had another successful MTB ride this past Sunday. Danie and his team did an awesome job in controlling and looking after in excess of 30 keen, enthusiastic and very determined MTB riders.

The odd tumble, getting lost, doing a hike, making it all that much more exciting and challenging. Mooi so manne.

In the future, we (Cycling Club Helderberg) hope and plan to have more sponsors on board hosting similar MTB rides.

We will keep u informed re the next ride.

Safety;
Michel de Clippel still looking for help:

Dear C2H members,

As you all know the Cycle Safe Committee is running a Cycle Safe Project at our local primary schools. We are aiming our program to grade 4 learners and we hope to make our kids cycling safer on our roads when they travel to school.

There are 8 schools and more or less 600 of our youngsters taking part. This is a huge achievement for C2H and the Cycle Safe Committee and we are putting a lot of effort to make this Cycle Safe Project a success. We are starting end of September and hope to finish around mid of October.

But we need your help! If you can take a couple of hours off your busy time and join us on one of these mornings you will help our kids to become safe cyclists. Any wannabee can contact Petie 0823233502 or Michel 0826942011 or drop a email to helderbergcyclesafe@gmail.com. We are looking forward to a fantastic support from the wannabees for this ambitious project.

Kind regards
Cycle Safe Committee

Remember;
Our race day on Sunday 17/8/08- starting 10.00am
Never to take chances on the road, cycling, running, as a pedestrian or driving.
Courtesy costs nothing; be part of the solution and not the problem.
4. The blog: www.wanna-B-team.blogspot.com

Goedgaan,
ek

CYCLING CLUB HELDERBERG HOSTS WINTER LEAGUE EVENT

Cycling Club Helderberg is hosting a WPCA winter league cycling race day on Sunday 17th August at Helderberg Co-Op on the Winery Road. A fun ride is also included for non licensed riders.

An entry fee of R75.00 per adult and R50.00 for scholars will be charged. Prizes will be dealt out for each category at a prize giving. The races will be marshalled with medical back up and the rule “no helmets no ride” applies.

The event starts at 10h00 and the venue is best found by taking the R44 towards Stellenbosch from Somerset West and turning left into the Winery Road and Raithby is on the right hand side just near Helderberg Winery.

The programme will be in the format of Kermesse which will be a circular route through the village for a specified time plus one lap. The categories which will be catered for are under 10/12/14 open (both licensed and unlicensed riders) for thirty minutes ride, the under 16 and ladies licensed riders for forty five minutes, an open fun category for unlicensed riders for forty minutes, licensed veterans will ride for an hour as will the final event for licensed juniors/under 23 and elite riders.

For more information contact Marilette 082 788 3560