lotek 

Ok its afrikaans but someone had
to post the first thread in this sub forum.

So the question is how many riders here are
from Africa? and where?

immigrants, emmigrants, wannabes and fundis welcome
to join in.

marty

caligurl

you look lonely in here, lotek!!!!!!!!!

i wonder why no one wants to join your party**********

jsharr

Dallas ain't in Africa is it? Guess that counts me out. When we gonna ride again Lotek?

lotek 

pretty soon I hope, Back is still whacked but I'm tired of not riding.
Going up to HHH this weekend.

you'll note in my initial thread I said emmigrants and wannabes?
I lived in RSA for 5 years, and I'd go back in a heartbeat (not that
I don't like DFW).

marty

Hammertoe

It was "Africa Hot" here for a few days in early August...

genericbikedude

I once saw a guy with one leg on a fancy road bike hauling ass down Haile Selassie Ave in Nairobi. Not sure if he is on BF.

genericbikedude

BTW: many Africans might take mild offense to postings in Afrikaans. It is after all the language of apartheid.

lotek 

having lived there I can get that, but anything I know in Zulu or
southern sotho would be inappropriate and much more offensive

I think the only people I ever met there who didn't speak Afrikaans
were americans on holiday or those on the project who didn't bother
to learn it.

marty

Faddy

Goed dankie, en jy?
I am from South Africa and new to BF. My wife and I live in Los Angeles and recently bought a tandem that we are very excited about.

"BTW: many Africans might take mild offense to postings in Afrikaans. It is after all the language of apartheid."

Without getting into a political discussion, I would hope that no-one takes offense with Afrikaans (the language) or Afrikaners (the people). It is the most common language in SA amongst all races, although English has become the business language. Your statement is akin to saying that posting in German would offend Jews...

Apartheid was created by certain Afrikaners and it was obviously a tragedy. The majority of Afrikaners are however very hospitable and kind people, and a lot of them love cycling!

lotek 

baie goede dankie!

So you're in LA now? can you get biltong? Driewors?
I've found a shop here in Dallas that carries American biltong and driewors
tastes quite good, not like a lekker game (kudu) biltong but its better than
nothing. They also stock Mrs Balls, Koos, Nando's sauces, bakers biscuits
and appletizer. Its almost like being back in RSA.
As for language, it always amazed me that the poorest kid from
the townships spoke 3 languages, native language (zulu, kosa etc.), afrikaans
and english. while here in the states we are lucky if a kid can speak english
(and I'm not talking about immigrants speaking their native tongue either).
Faddy, where did you stay?
if you want the address of the shop I mentioned let me know, the
proprieter is very nice, and I wouldn't be surprized if he shipped stuff.
Marty

duppy.conqueror

+infinity

operator

+lol

greywolf

I spent 20 years in Rhodesia ---zimbabwe left in 1984 , does that count ?

wombat13

Hi there, a true South African still in South Africa, just love it here and there is awesome riding.

lotek 

wombat,

welcome aboard. As you can see not much action in this forum where in Jo'burg do you stay?

Marty

genericbikedude

OK, my bad. Working off of bad information from a faulty source. Corrected, carry on.

JimmyNH

Baie goed, dankie boet! Ek is Suid-Afrikaanse bürger by naturalization. I lived in JHB, rode with Cresta Wheelers for 3 years. Did the Pick 'n Pay Argus a couple of times (never managed to get under 3:30 ). Have you ever done the Argus?

Hey Lotek, using Afrikaans is fine by me, just don't overestimate my knowledge of the language – it's kind of sucky. I think we can still use it for some irreplaceable words like lekker, vrot etc. And if somebody doesn't like it - in Russian they say "toughshítski" . Bliksems - what has the language got to do with politics??!!

Do you know of any "Argus" type races here in the US? One that comes close to the Argus is "El Tour de Tucson". Just that the 109 miles are a bit too much for me. I've done the 66-miler a couple of times and I loved it but it is not the same because all my buddies are doing the 109. I guess I have to get fitter .
Cheers
Jimmy

lotek 

Jimmy,

howzit boet (there's an afrikaans term we need to keep).
I wasn't riding much when I was there, did more diving than anything else (sodies once
every month, and Moz if possible).
The organized rides here are a bit different, no timing devices per se they're more
rec rides. Oh if you enter the HHH they have timing device available.
I want to go back and do the Argus, and the pic n pay ride around jo'burg (the one Highveld
also sponsored, forget the name).
I stayed in rivonia and saw cresta wheelers out on the tar roads a time or two.

Marty

JimmyNH

Hi Marty,
Thanks for the note. I used to drive through Rivonia every day to work - very nice area. Jaaa, the "Highveld" is getting very popular. They call it "94.7" now, it is taking place this coming weekend. A couple of friends of mine are doing it. I myself never did it. The first one was organized after I moved to the US. My favourite ride back then was the "Ride for Sight" in Benoni - 97 km. I did it twice under 3 hours - fairly flat and a lot of fun.

What is HHH? Something like Horrible Hilly Hundred?
Hey, just out of curiosity - what does your signature mean? Something like "I'm slower than what it appears"? . Sorry, my Italian is worse than my Afrikaans.

lotek 

HHH is the Hotter n' Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls Texas 3rd weekend in August? it usually lives
up to it's name.
yah, the sig is "I'm slower than I look" idiomatic I suppose.
So where in the states are you? found any lekker south african foods?
Nando's is now available here, been buying sauce and marinades for a nostalgia kick.
There's a shop near me that sells an assortment of RSA foods, wheetabix, bakers lemon creme biscuits,
koos tinned fruit etc. appletizer, and ready for this, Biltong and droevors (sic). The last 2
are US made but acceptable, the vors is better than passable.

Marty

JimmyNH

Dankie boet! I looked up this HHH - it is my kind of ride. I might give it a try, kind of far for me though. I'm in Rancho Santa Margarita, it's a city halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. I might be biased, but I think Southern CA is the best place for cycling in the world. Jo'burg area comes strong second. I did find a few places around here that sell SA stuff - Ceres juice, Mrs. Balls chutney, wine. They've got the Nando's sauces in some supermarkets here but there is no Nando's restaurant. Man, I wish they open one. I don't like chicken (never in my life bought KFC or Pollo Loco) but in SA I was a regular Nando's customer. There are a few South African guys that make and sell biltong which is pretty good. I love biltong. When my wife doesn't feel like cooking I go on the triple "B" diet - Bread, Biltong, Beer .
So, it is safe to assume that you are not slow at all .

lotek 

triple B, I love it.
(and isn't it interesting that all 3 of those items are shyte here?)
SoCal probably is pretty good for riding,
Dallas on the other hand reminds me of Bloemfontein.
I would kill for a Nandos resteraunt here, as it is I just marinate
chicken (which doesn't taste like fish), fire up the braai and I'm good
to go. Now if I could get decent Portuguese rolls I'd be in heaven.
we get Ceres, the place I found has Mrs Balls and everyone here stocks
south african wine.
so, what had you in south africa? I was down there for work (supposed
to be a one month assignment, lasted 5 years).

marty

Mzungu

I live in Tanzania for 30+ years. Just outside of Arusha, 1km off the road to Nairobi.

Mtn biking and bush riding are good in Tanzania. Road riding is okay but in Arusha there are only 3 major highways so you ride the same out and back rides. I can still see game within couple hours of my house. Arusha has a bike club of 50 members and rides every wednesday on the road. They are talking of redoing the road Arusha - Nairobi.

Tanzania is becoming a suburb of SA. They say there are more than 25,000 registered South Africans living in Tanzania. We have Shoprite, Nandos, Ceres juice, and of course the breweries are almost all owned by SAB (but i guess that is true in europe also). It was kind of weird at first after the isoloation in the 70-80's.

Kaza mnyororo
Erik

greywolf

I still miss Africa ,but after 23 years in New Zealand the pain has deminished, the era I lived in Rhodesia it would have been imposible to do any serious cycling as you would have simply just dissapeared ,as I suspect you still might today !

lotek 

greywolf,
so you're a whenwe?

marty