I recently bought a custom built Surly Cross Check from BikePro in Melbourne and my simple response is DON'T DO IT!!!

What a terribly, terribly disappointing experience!

You know, before I placed the order, the guy (I think he may be the owner) replied to my emails in the middle of the night, but towards the end, even before I received the bike, he just started ignoring my emails completely.

So here's the last email I received from him on the 5th of January. Note that he originally promised to send the bike before Christmas.



And my response



To this day I haven't had any feedback from BikePro about that email. In fact, the only reason I finally got the bike is because I kept phoning them and accidentally learnt from one of the other guys in the shop that the bike's standing there in a box waiting to be sent.

Fortunately I love the bike. No thanks to BikePro for that as I ended up specifying everything myself and the only thing I have a complaint about is the tyres, which is a result of BikePro's wheelset which they put on.

So, you decide for yourself, but my experience is that BikePro will treat you well until they have your money and thereafter you fall to the bottom of the priority queue.

I'm hoping this is a Newcastle phenomenon only and not the case in Australia in general.

I've been in Newcastle in New South Whales for 1 1/2 years now and unfortunately spent way too much time in doctor's rooms during that time. What I have discovered is that finding a good doctor here is a very difficult task!!

Yesterday I went to see the seventh doctor since I arrived here and honestly she's the first one that's left me feeling that she knows what she's doing! Seven doctors in 17 months??? I don't think I've ONCE been to a doctor in South Africa that left me feeling like I'm not in good hands here!! I'm sure there are many such doctors in South Africa, but I've just been fortunate that I've never encountered one of them before.

The highlight to me was the 3rd doctor that I saw here in Newcastle. Keep in mind that I'd prefer to stick to one doctor for the rest of my life. If I change doctors, it's because I feel that this person might not be able to take care of me.

Anyhow, so the third doctor...
This bugger sat and read a bunch of questions to me from a computer program. This might be okay in some cases where it's a weird situation and he wanted to get some ideas, I don't know. Problem is, he started with the first question - something like "Where is the pain?" and started reading body parts to me!!! WTF??? I'd just finished explaining to him that I had stomach cramps and chest pains, so why does he ask me "Where is the pain? head, shoulders..."???
Probably could have dealt with all that (probably not), but when I said I don't understand the one question, he laughed and said "yeah, they ARE a little difficult, aren't they"!!!
When he asked me to "strip down" to investigate my stomach pains, I started looking around for the camera and waiting for the babe from Australia's funniest home videos to jump out of the cupboard, but no such luck!! I'm not joking BTW.

The fourth doctor seemed quite nice and very friendly and I went back to her a few times. However, at one point I had had headaches every single day for a couple of weeks by the time I went to see her. Unfortunately I am on a work visa, so I have to pay for consultations in advance and claim it back from my medical aid. I was having a bit of financial difficulty at the time, so I had to wait till pay day and I also had the chest pains which I mentioned during doc #3. She sent me for a exercise stress test and echocardiogram for the chest pains, but said I shouldn't worry about the headaches??? Weeks of daily headaches and a doctor tells you not to worry? I think she decided that I must be making this up as I had two (actually 3, as I still had the stomach pains then as well) complaints at the same time. Never did find out why I had the stomach or chest pains, but fortunately they have now stopped on their own.

Fifth doc made me feel comfortable and I was pretty sure I had finally found one I could stick with. But, I went to see her about my skin turning red and feeling dizzy and overall jittery. These are/were hot flashes that came on for a couple of minutes up to an hour every few days. I was actually at the doctor's rooms when it happened and she saw the red skin and that my blood pressure had shot up and bla, bla, bla. Did an ECG (which said my heart was okay) and asked some of her colleagues to have a look at my red skin. Sent me for a whole bunch of tests, including a CT scan of the abdomen because she feared that it might be a carcinoid tumour. We've all seen it on TV or in a movie where some guy's waiting for feedback to find out whether he has cancer... It's a lot more scary in real life when it's you doing the waiting... trust me!!!
None of these tests found anything and bla, bla, bla... In my final visit to doc #5 I asked her how do we proceed from here, what is causing these episodes and she said “Well I can tell you what it’s not”. Said we’d tested for everything dangerous and I shouldn’t worry about it. Hmm, what kind of an answer is that?
One day during doc #5’s term of duty I felt really bad during one of these episodes and phone for an appointment. As they had no openings for that day, I went to another medical centre where you don’t need an appointment, but sit and wait for a long time... Saw doc #6 there and he requested a CT scan of my head, which also showed nothing. I don’t know whether it was good having another CT scan 2 days after the abdomen one, but won’t worry about that now. So can’t really comment on doc #6, but I went back to doc #5 cause at that stage I was still hopeful that I could settle with her as my permanent GP.
In the meantime one of my colleague’s wife is a psychologist and he asked her for some recommendations of GP’s for me (their own doc’s books are closed). Gave me 3 GP’s names. First two I phoned I was told that their “books are closed”, which I discovered means that they’re not taking on new patients - seems to be the norm for any doctor worth seeing.
The 3rd recommendation, thank goodness, works at that same medical centre where I saw doc #6, where you can’t make an appointment, but just wait till the doc’s available. Went there yesterday and said I’ll wait for this specific doctor. Well, I walked in and told her about my turning red. She asked me a couple of questions and when I told her I take blood pressure medication, she stopped me and asked “That wouldn’t be Adalat, would it?”. Turns out that two of the more common side effects (at least more common compared to other possible side effects) is hot flashes and dizziness...
So, after who knows how many tests, poking and prodding and about two weeks of waiting to find out whether I have cancer, it turns out that I may just have a reaction to my blood pressure medication. She prescribed a different tablet for me and said I should give it two months to see. Could still be something else, but she seems quite confident that this was it. This doc was also recommended by one of my other colleagues who goes there herself.
Hohum... wish I’d found this doctor while I had the stomach and chest pains earlier last year!! Anyway, it’s a bit strange for me. Seems that there is a serious shortage of good doctors here – or a serious abundance of bad doctors, I don’t know :)

I'm off the bike, again!

In December I stayed off the bike for most of the month to rest my knee, which was giving trouble from a short period that I used cleats on my old bike. In the beginning of January my knee was better and I thought I could start my training for the Perth to Sydney ride. In fact, I did do quite a bit of cycling as I racked up 602kms from the 3rd until the 20th of the months and only had one long day, being 105kms on Saturday the 16th.

Anyhow, the knee pain returned, but I was keen to push up the distance, so I ignored it at first. Last Saturday I was planning to attempt my maiden imperial century (100 mile / 160km) ride again, but lying in bath the Friday night, my knee had a cracking sound when I bent it and quite a bit of pain when I pulled it in all the way. So, probably a little too late, but I decided not to push it any further. Turns out to have been a good decision as Saturday was 42.5°C and I would have suffered out there:)

Bla, bla, bla... so now I'm off the bike again!! I do have an appointment to see a physio on Thursday and I'll make an appointment to get a bike fit next week.

In Afrikaans we have an expression "wie nie hoor nie moet voel" which mean "he who doesn't (want to) listen, should feel (carry the consequences)". And well, that's me! I asked about this pain on the BNA cycling forums weeks ago and everyone said don't ignore knee pain or try to sort it out yourself - go see an physio and get a professional bike fit! But Dirkie didn't listen... I've just been to doctors so many times in the last 12 months, I just want to stay away. In this case, however, it seems to have been the wrong decision.

Anyhow, we'll see what the physio says on Thursday.

I woke up at 4:40am yesterday morning with the intention of leaving pretty early. Don't know what happened, but my iPhone's battery, which I had charge on Friday night, was completely flat... it was down to 7%.
As this was going to be my first long ride in a while and as I didn't know the area in Sydney where I was going to be staying, I felt it important to have at least some charge in my battery, so I eventually only left here after 6:00am.

Set out with my new Surly Crosscheck, having just fitted the last piece, being the carrier rack, on Friday evening before I went to bed. As I had assembled a lot of the stuff on the bike, I did not feel terribly convident on the bike, must I must say that it performed brilliantly.

As I had said to everyone during last week, I was riding "towards" Sydney and made no claims that I would make it all the way. This was my first long ride since the end of September last year and whateva, whateva.

Got as far as Gosford and my knee was taking a bit of strain plus I was feeling overall tired. At that point I was still thinking I could go all the way to Sydney, but I knew that I had only done half the distance and the major hills only start after Gosford.
Haha... then I hit a hill just before Gosford, at Terrigal, I think. A BIG hill by my standards and I almost died. Plus, putting some effort into the hill, I realised that my knee was really not doing well.

So I ended the ride at Gosford and took a train in to Sydney. Did a few more kilometers in Sydney from the train station to the motel and all together I did 105kms for the day. So I didn't make nearly as much as I had hoped, but a 105km ride as my first long ride in a long time is okay. I'll get back into regular rides from now on and push the kilometers and the hill climbing.

Did another 40kms today, so 145kms for the weekend isn't too bad. Before the end of March I would like to do an imperial century (100 miles / 160kms), but I don't think it'll be the road to Sydney:) On the way back today the guy I was driving with took me through those hills to show me what I'd be facing and they are much, I mean MUCH, MUCH bigger than anything I've climbed to date!! They'll be a separate goal:)

Anyhow, so we're back into training.

As a matter of interest, Eric started his Tour d' Afrique yesterday. Hope it's going well.

Finally got my Surly Crosscheck today! Yay!!

It's a completely different beast to the Giant Elwood Hybrid that I've been riding up to now. Even though it's steel, it's much lighter.
Finally got it assembled about 1/2 hour ago and as it was almost dark, I just had a short ride with it up and down my street.

Had the Brooks Flyer saddle on for a moment, but that's not going to work for me... Things just don't fit!!

Don't have much of an opinion yet, but I'll ride to work tomorrow and see how she goes.

I'm thinking about cycling through to Sydney next weekend. I mean, I've booked a room in a motel already, just don't know whether I'm going to make it on the bike all the way or whether I'll end up jumping on the train somewhere. There is apparently a fair sized hill/mountain between Newcastle and Sydney and I have been warned that it won't be a joke, nevermind that it would be my first 160km ride if I do make it all the way.


Anyhow, this afternoon I was on my 16km ride home and got to a bit of a hill where I normally turn left to miss the hill as I'm pretty lazy in the afternoons after work. Decided to continue on and cross the hill and I found a very interesting thing... Previously when I've tried my current bike's granny gear (easiest gear), I didn't have enough endurance or airobic fitness to continue on for very long, even if I took it very slowly. Well, on this smallish hill it felt as if I could just keep on going for as long as I wanted and, in fact, I wasn't in my granny gear - I was in 1 (front) x 2 (back). So I continued on to King Edward Park hill, which is a pretty hectic hill by my standards and which I have only covered a couple of times before. Approaching it from the opposite side this time, it is a much longer ride, but not as steep as from the side which I had done before. Harder work, I think, because it feels like it just never ends.

Still, I went on between granny gear and "second gear" (there is no such thing in cycling) and made it to the top feeling pretty good.

So my total ride this evening was 22kms instead of the usual 16kms. It could be that I just had a bit of excess energy today, so I'll try it again before deciding whether I'm really ready for it, but it would be great if I can do a total of 45kms of cycling every day, especially if it includes King Edward Park hill on at least on of the rides:)

I feel pretty good right now, must just keep it up!

Well boys and girls, Eric's big start is around the corner.

If I understand correctly he's flying to the UK today, to Cairo on the 13th and on the 16th they start their amazing 12,000Km race through Africa. The man's worked hard and I think he's ready.

People, the man's put a lot of effort into this and he's doing it for the Thamsanqa orphans. Please visit his blog and wish him luck.

http://www.ericonhisbike.com/

One Friday afternoon Dalene Ritter the Provincial Director of Child Welfare South Africa phoned me and she asked whether we would take three children into the Thamsanqa Foster Homes as they are driving around with the police.trying to find a safe house for them. They were running from their Dad who was abusing them and chasing them with a knife. . Their mother left them about 15 months ago when the baby was only three months. Very unwillingly as all three the houses were full and we have not started with the renovations to the 4th house, I took the children

We took them into one of the houses for the weekend and moved them out on the Monday. I got permission from Uncedo Lo Mama that the caregiver could look after them as there were no abused women at that stage. The social worker responsible for the Green Bushes area promised to investigate the father’s circumstances and make a recommendation concerning the children. But never did.

The three children stayed with us for 6 months. Cynthia and the different Be More Dutch volunteers cared for them. FRS provided food. Everybody who came fell in love with these three children. After a while we decided that they will move into the 4th house as soon as the house is completed.

Finally on 6 December we moved into the house. At three thirty Franka(Be More volunteer) and myself went to fetch the children. Their beds were made with lovely sheets and duvets that Tiny and Franka bought for them. I was heart sore to remove them from their caregiver but Simphiwe and Zanele the new foster parents looked forward to have them. And Uncedo Lo Mama was closing down.

Little Apele on his bed with his foster mother, Zanele standing by.


Children in their new room.


Lungiswa on her bed with Lungisa sitting next to her. Lungisa’s bed is above that of Apelele.


Everybody watching TV. I am there too. Simpohiwe has Apelele on his lap.


The foster parent’s bedroom.



They were overwhelmed. Apelele had his own bed and Lungisa and Lungiswa theirs.
They were so thrilled but little Apelele most of all! He went to bed on his own  and slept till 9h00  the next day. A bed of his own.
 
We are taking a boy from Ithemba for the school holidays. The other three children will come after the holidays.
 
I hope to have more photos soon.

I haven't done any rides longer than my 23km commute in the mornings since I got back from the Gold Coast trip at the end of September, as far as I remember.

This morning I set out with the idea of riding my old favourite route towards Bulahdelah and turn around for a 120km ride. I thought that riding fairly regularly in the mornings and having lost a bit of weight since September (6kgs), the 120kms would be easy and, in fact, I was secretly going to aim for my maiden imperial century (160km ride).

Well, how wrong was I. My knees have been taking strain ever since I had the cleats on a couple of weeks ago, but my morning rides are never long enough that it would bother me much. Well, by 35kms my knees were hurting, my lower back and butt were hurting and my legs were burning a little, almost like lactic acid build up. I'm making it sound worse than it was... I wasn't seriously suffering, but I was not enoying the ride at all.

Turned around and had a 68km ride in total. Not great, but it just shows that I should put more effort into longer rides. I adjusted my seat hegiht numerous times during the ride and may have found a better height towards the end, so I'll see on the next ride. I was also happy that I cycled up the final hill coming back toward my house, which I've walked up on (I think) every ride prior to this:)
So next weekend I'll take on the open road again, possibly with a sleep-over on the Saturday night.

I don't think I need to say much about this, just thought it was quite interesting how these sweet potatoes refuse to give up on life:)