With the prospect of doing the Dr Evil Classic in September this year, I decided the best way to be ready for it would be to try maintain and improve on the fitness level I had for this year’s Argus. So a while ago I heard about the Tsitsikamma MTB Challenge. The race takes place just down the road and I managed to get a friend on board too.

We opted to give the 72km ‘marathon’ route a go and camp there the night before. So 6 o’clock on Friday evening, three of us headed off to the camping ground. The base for the event was at the Tsitsikamma Adventure Falls. When we got there we went to registration and were told we can just camp wherever we could find a spot.

at least there was a pretty view to start the day

This turned out trickier than expected, and none of us were quite sure where they were going to fit in the 300 campsites advertised. It seems like only 20 or so groups were camping so we found a spot and got the tent up. Then we were woken up at 4:30 the next morning with people packing for the water points. Not ideal, but besides that, the rest of the event was great.

The race started at 7:30 with the 72km riders and was followed shortly by the shorter 42 and 23km rides. First 10km were all jeep track that lead up to several short single track sections through dips and some water. This is where a few of the top 42km riders caught up to us. Some more jeep track and we were at the first water point where the 23km route turned off. The next water point was only at the 40km mark, after some decent ups and downs. The water point here even offered a welcome beer to those so inclined.

10km on was the next water point shortly after which we crossed under the N2 and headed off up the hills. This was one point where there were cyclists riding in both directions. The marshalls did well to separate everyone though. A bit of a stretch next to the N2 and the final ‘major’ hill lead us up to the last water point. Down the other side, a little bit of single track back under the N2 and we were on the home stretch.

'low gear'? More like no gear :(

From here we did a bit of a loop back around to the start point where we finished shortly after 11:30. A shower and some food later lead to the prize giving. Quick packup and it was on the road back home.

Results aren’t out yet, but we reckon we did somewhere around 4hr15min (edit: 4hr12m22s was the official time). I was quite chuffed with this, but when compared to the winning time of 2hr31min, it may not seem like as much of an achievement.

Overall it was a really fun ride. There wasn’t as much technical or single track as I would have liked, although it can lead to frustration when getting stuck behind someone or holding other people up. The route was well marked, and there were only one or two points where we were slightly unsure whether we were on the right road. Not the toughest 72km I’ve done, but a really nice ride through a stunning area.

Thanks to Merrell and the other sponsors for a great event, look forward to doing it again next year with any other events they have planned.

Also, my bike was amazing. 15 year old Giant Iguana is still going strong. I need to do some work on it, but it got me through the day, even with the tyre delaminating slightly. The three of us were also very fortunate with a complete lack of punctures over the entire route.

So after acquiring info relating to the first round of the Eastern Cape Rally Championship I set off on Saturday morning for Hunter’s Retreat Hotel, the parc ferme for the day. Originally the rally was supposed to be based around the PE stadium and linked to the Great Outdoor Expo that was held there this weekend, but this fell through.

The rally comprised of eight stages. Two dirt stages being held near the PE Oval Track on Mission Road, and six tar stages held near Bridgemead and Parson’s Green. 11 drivers entered the rally.

The day got off to a miserable start, with high rainfall postponing the start of the rally. The dirt stages got off at about 11:30 eventually where I managed to catch some of the action. Unfortunately due to the delay and a prior engagement I wasn’t able to view any of the tar stages, and also can’t report on any of the results.

In any case, I took some photos, a selection of which can be seen here. I haven’t had a chance to do much editing, and didn’t get a chance to take as many photos as I would have liked, but look forward to the next event.

My final year project (skripsie) was something that I put more time into than any previous venture. But that is its nature. And I loved it. An opportunity to work on a project by oneself. To be (virtually) wholly responsible. And to be able to choose what you wanted to spend the year working on. And at the end of that year, the obvious choice to get more of that feeling was to work towards my master’s degree.

There were a couple hiccups along the way. Firstly I had bursary obligations to Mercedes-Benz in East London. This is something I’m still looking forward to, but at the time felt that once I’d started working, a master’s would be a long way off. In consultation with them I managed to get a year postponement on my contract. With this in mind I set about looking for a project. My plan was to work full-time in 2012, and finish off part-time while working in EL in 2013.

My first stop was with a lecturer at Stellenbosch’s Mechatronics faculty. The projects were there, and the interest was there, but the lecturer felt that there was no way I’d finish my project. Stellenbosch University’s Masters in Mechanical or Mechatronic Engineering begins with a semester of full-time classes, meaning that there’s no time to work on one’s project. I wasn’t too concerned as I wasn’t that keen for any more coursework, and I still had the E&E department to go to.

I applied for a position with the MIH Media Lab and went for an interview there. Although the interview went well, they had concerns over my obligations to Mercedes and my 1 year window. Later I had interesting opportunities from the ESL lab, and although they were willing to have me for the year, the research areas weren’t quite in the direction I wanted.

And so it was December. I had accommodation planned in Stellenbosch, with every intention of returning in 2012, but this was not to be. Still very keen to do my masters I looked around at other universities. After a little contact with a lecturer at NMMU I decided that I might be moving to PE for the year. I applied late December, but it took a while for my application process to get through. End of January I still wasn’t sure what was happening, I hadn’t had the opportunity to properly discuss projects with anyone, so at the beginning of February I flew up for two days to look around the university, chat with a lecturer and possibly find accommodation.

One week later and I was moved into a garden flat in Walmer, with a project all lined up. It was, and still is, a bit weird to be so far from home. Not only family but friends too, especially seeing as I had still intended to be in Stellenbosch that year. But I’m slowly getting settled in. I had the opportunity to go home last weekend to ride the Argus Cycle Tour and managed to complete my 10th Argus in 3hr38min cycle with my Dad, my best time so far. I’ve joined a local squash club and intend to play the winter men’s league.

I’ve also found myself with a lot more time on hand. While still making friends and having my girlfriend several hundred miles away :/ it has given me a bit more time, even if I don’t always spend it as constructively as I could. I’m reading more, and although I tried to join follow a Udacity course on Artificial Intelligence, I’ve found that after a day in front of the computer researching and typing, I’m not all that pumped up to do too much hard thinking in the evenings. Although I do feel it’s an amazing idea, and look forward to see where it goes in the future.

I managed to do a bit of writing before I started at the university here, managing to win myself an Ipad 2 in the NSTF-BHP Billiton Science Writing Competition. The topic of the essay was to encourage high school learners to take up engineering after school. If you’re interested you can read the article here. And thus I have my first Apple product forced upon me. I’ve only had the device a few days but I’m getting to like it. I’ve always had a thing against Apple products and the way they force certain things on you. The syncing requirement has always particularly bugged me, but we’ll see how I get on. Bought myself a horribly expensive stylus today and have a cover on order. I’m still slightly shy about using it, but I’m sure I’ll get used to that.

So that’s me. In Port Elizabeth for a year. My project at NMMU is to design a cost-effective Autonomous Guided Cart for a local automobile manufacturer. I think it will be a fun project, and I’ve spent the last month solidly researching it. Handed in a draft proposal yesterday which my supervisor appeared to approve of. It is something very different coming to a new university as a masters student. At Stellenbosch I’d had more than a degree, I’d had four years to learn how to get things done and where. I knew how the university worked and how to sort out admin. Here at NMMU everything is different and the separate campuses just aid in the confusion. They also don’t seem to be used to doing too much by e-mail, which frustrates me, because I feel that pretty much anything should be able to be accomplished by a web-interface or a well worded e-mail to the right people. But I can’t even find an email address for the IT department.

That said, I’m not going to complain about the uncapped internet. My supervisor reckons I can have my project finished by the end of the year, so that’s what I’ve scheduled for. It should be possible if I work hard. I’ve got a holiday scheduled for a week at the end of April which I’m looking forward to, but until then it’s time to get some design work done.

This post has ended up considerably longer than expected, and thoroughly devoid of suitable pictures, so here’s a picture of a doggy.

Also, kudos to BBC for airing the latest Top Gear locally less than two weeks after it aired in the UK. It’s been a fairly solid season, unfortunately no epic episode, but enjoyed it none the less. Similar kudos to Mnet for airing the upcoming Game of Thrones season 2, two weeks after airing in the States. Having finished reading the fifth book in the series, I’m really looking forward to it.

How it's supposed to look

I got the PICkit set up and programmed the chip hoping for the best. Unfortunately I couldn’t get my hands on any surface mount components, but built the kit out of DIP components. Also using two individual diodes (with a 0.5V forward voltage drop) instead of the combined dual Schottky diodes. I also used an 8 pin socket so as to not damage the PIC while soldering. Soldered them all together on a piece of protoboard and voila!

What mine looked like

So although it’s not as small as the surface mount version I’m quite happy. I must admit I was quite stoked when I plugged it in and it worked. It can be slightly finicky, but works well enough. Now I just need to find somewhere interesting I can safely leave my camera for a couple hours.

The system is fairly straightforward. You signup for R5, then you look through the stuff you want to sell and match it up to products on Kalahari.com(formerly net)’s website. You click a button saying you have one to sell, list the price you want to sell it for and how you’re willing to send it. Then it gets listed on the Kalahari’s website. No other costs, unless you make a sale, where 6% of the product’s sale value is charged. It is then up to you to go and post the product.6% is small enough that people are willing to let it slide, although it is a fairly large amount. And for Kalahari, it’s 6% on every sale, for doing pretty much nothing. In return you’re put in a fairly risk free position. Kalahari take the money straight from the seller, and you get it a while later. This is one issue, as you can wait two to three weeks after you ship the package before you get disbursed, but if you’re not in a hurry for the money it’s ok.

Kalahari appear to also be marketing this service to commercial companies, as there’s a mass upload tool available, and I have seen certain items listed with company names that one can buy from as opposed to private sales.

I’ve read several articles that claim Kalahari are making a good amount of money from the service, with large volumes of products being listed, and matched by good sales. Personally I’ve had a list of 12 text books up for the last 2 months, and I just made my first sale. A friend of mine has had products up for over 8 months, including DVDs and Text Books, and hasn’t made one sale, so it’s difficult to know.

I made sure that with each of my products I put up, there was a noticeable difference in price between my product and the new product, making sure that the profit still made it viable for me. So the lack of sales shouldn’t be price related, but more desirability of the products I’m selling, and more that people either don’t notice the products for sale, or for some reason feel it’s not a safe choice. Hopefully after my first sale now, I’ll have a rating to match the products.

Either way it looks like Kalahari is here to stay, and if you’re not in a hurry to sell seems like a safer method to sell certain products than a service like Gumtree.