Author: Rob Walker

2 December 2015

As the old saying goes “you wait a long time for a new bike, and then two come along at once“. OK, it doesn’t go quite like that, I’m paraphrasing, but it’s apt all the same. I’d visited William’s a couple of days earlier to collect the first of the much anticipated arrivals – my new Giant TCR Advanced Pro 1. Neither the picture on the Giant website though, nor my own photos do the colour scheme justice. Stunning looking as it is though, you don’t buy a bike just on it’s looks (or at least I don’t, not entirely anyway). How does it ride? Continue reading “Ride of The Phantom”

Stellenbosch Cycle Tour, 29 November 2015

I haven’t wheeled my bike across Stellenbosch High School sports field to ride Die Burger in a while. It’s not even called that any more – the familiar name, now replaced with one embodying all the creativity of double entry bookkeeping. Accurate, but dull. I vaguely recall reading somewhere the entry limit was 7,000 riders, but numbers dotted around the field and gathering in chutes felt way less. I doubt the name change had any role in that – more likely the prices which seem to steadily increase with every season’s events. For my part though, none of that mattered. It was still the same great route around the heart of the Cape Winelands, and I was looking forward to some proper hard racing again – a chance to ride fast instead of conserving energy to ride far. Plus a bonus of the small start groups was an unusually relaxed atmosphere as we waited to shuffle forward across the temporary bridge and roll to the start line.  Continue reading “Rookie”

It’s dawned on me that a significant number of my upcoming blog posts are likely to be about new kit that I’ve either bought or am trying out. I guess that’s too be expected really. With my eyes firmly set on the Trans-Continental in two years time, the current sabbatical from major events presents an ideal opportunity to experiment with ideas and equipment. Even I was surprised though by how a recent visit to William’s turned out. More on that later, first we need to catchup on the new road bike evaluation. Continue reading “N+2”

Observant readers will notice that the bike above is not a Giant TCR Advanced. Events conspired against the planned test ride this week. The bike itself turned out to not be available due to a tumble by it’s owner  – Daryn. Coincidentally (or maybe not) I woke up feeling pretty crap when the alarm went off and missed the Wednesday ride anyway. So no “possible new bike” review for this week.

Continue reading “Not riding TCR (at least not yet)”

The picture at the head of this post is not my new bike, at least not yet anyway. But it’s high on my shortlist, and one I’ve been itching to try out for ages. Having finally switched myself across to Look KEO pedals, including a proper cleat setup by my bike fitter (Spook at Daisyway Coaching), I was all set. Continue reading “Electric (N+1 Part 1)”

I’ve gone through my pre-ride prep routine so many times it’s near automatic – so you’d think that getting ready for a 5km fun run with Ben would be a breeze. Not so. My needs were simple, small bottle to sip from whilst waiting for the start and after that the water tables would take care of the rest. But then of course there’s Ben. Continue reading “Gun Walk”

Rather obviously my 51st birthday was a considerably quieter affair than last year’s raucous celebrations. In amongst this year’s carefully chosen gifts was one that has found a prominent space on my desk: the Mystic 8 Ball now resides under my monitor, close at hand to help out with all manner of day to day decisions.  Continue reading “Mystic 8 Ball (aka Life After PBP)”