Author Topic: Saddles Thread?  (Read 91379 times)

il padrone

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #120 on: February 08, 2013, 02:06:38 am »
X __As a boy I actually raced ostriches, and on one occasion scooped up the intestines of a handler at the races who got in front of an ostrich's four-inch claw when he should have been behind it, and dropped his guts back in the cavity, keeping his stomach closed until the truck arrived to take him to the hospital. He survived, though he walked skew.__X
WTMI, Andre  :o :o

 :-X (ill)

Now you've put me off my lunch!

JWestland

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #121 on: February 08, 2013, 09:59:30 am »
Ostrich racing? I didn't know you could...there you go learned something new :)

One escaped in NL some time ago and started chasing cyclists (and to 60 km per hour...)

He had to be shot as they couldn't catch him and they have a mega kick with mega nails. Beasts with attitude I didn't know you could even mount them :)

Now maybe you can ride them with the right saddle...  ;D
Pedal to the metal! Wind, rain, hills, braking power permitting ;)

il padrone

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #122 on: February 08, 2013, 10:08:07 am »
Ahh, now that just had to be investigated  ;)

Ostrich racing



Genteel ostrich riding

Andybg

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #123 on: February 08, 2013, 10:42:13 am »
Fantastic!!!!

Andre Jute

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #124 on: February 08, 2013, 02:54:25 pm »
Ostrich racing? I didn't know you could...there you go learned something new :)

One escaped in NL some time ago and started chasing cyclists (and to 60 km per hour...)

He had to be shot as they couldn't catch him and they have a mega kick with mega nails. Beasts with attitude I didn't know you could even mount them :)

Now maybe you can ride them with the right saddle...  ;D

You don't use a saddle. You mount from behind by grabbing the wing roots and jumping on, hooking your calves in front of the ostrich's thighs for purchase. You have to get off behind it again, because in front of it your chance of survival is about 50:50. The race shown has handlers out of shot with long poles with hooks one to catch ostriches by the neck under the beak, and hold their heads to the ground to stop them kicking out for fear of kicking themselves in the head. Those people mounted the ostriches in specially constructed triangular log starting gates where they were held immobilized until the rider was on. That takes no skill. Real men race ostriches by chasing them round in a circle, jumping up, and then opening the gate into the raceway...

A large male ostrich is quite as dangerous as, say, a leopard, if you don't have the right experience and tools to handle it. That's because the ostrich is nowhere near as intelligent as the leopard. The leopard will retreat from pain, the ostrich won't. I'm not surprised the Dutch zoo-keepers shot the one that got loose; it's a no-brainer once an ostrich gets in among the people, because next you're facing liability suits for the rest of your life.

Andre Jute
« Last Edit: February 10, 2013, 01:18:25 am by Hobbes »

Andre Jute

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #125 on: February 08, 2013, 02:57:47 pm »
WTMI, Andre  :o :o

 :-X (ill)

Now you've put me off my lunch!

Sorry!

What does "WTMI" stand for?

Andre Jute

Andybg

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #126 on: February 08, 2013, 03:03:22 pm »
I would guess - Way Too Much Information - but it is new to me too

Andy

JWestland

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #127 on: February 08, 2013, 04:01:40 pm »
So, a horse you don't stand behind, an ostrich you don't stand in front  ;D

Pedal to the metal! Wind, rain, hills, braking power permitting ;)

Matt2matt2002

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #128 on: February 08, 2013, 04:24:03 pm »
Years ago i raced greyhounds

But they always won
 ;)
Never drink and drive. You may hit a bump  and spill your drink

Andybg

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #129 on: February 08, 2013, 04:29:15 pm »
So if you have an ostrich following a horse then you have nowhere to stand.

John Saxby

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #130 on: February 09, 2013, 11:50:19 pm »
Thanks for all that context, Andre.  I'll ask my friends who took the photo -- the friend with the white shirt, BTW, is also named Andre.  Those landscapes really are magnificent, in the spring especially.  Yet another Andre, (Brink, this one) wrote a terrifying-and-captivating story of the Groot Karoo, I think it was, "An Instant in the Wind" ... Can't imagine going down that pass at anything other than a very restrained speed--the gravel wd still be rated "extreme-to-over-the-top", I think, none the less so if one used a Brooks.

As you know, the ostrich-rearing industry based on feathers lasted only for a while, earlier in the past century while feather boas were in style, but the alternatives-to-cholesterol industry means that ostrich ranches are still producing today -- though Oudsthoorn may be quieter than in your day, Andre.  On a happier note: our son, doing a Ph D in bio-mechanics in Australia, helped some colleagues on a computer-aided study of ostriches' gait. All lived to tell the story, both the birds (which are pets, more or less) and the scientists.

J.

Andre Jute

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #131 on: February 10, 2013, 01:32:54 am »
Yes, I read the Andre P. Brink novel you mean. Strong stuff. -- Andre Jute

JWestland

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #132 on: May 02, 2013, 10:22:41 pm »
Apologies to bring this back on saddly tracks...but the vintage steel bike will be fitted with a perforated Regal so once he/she/it is up and running (vintage Italian steel? Surely a well styled he :P) I will give some feedback.

In the meantime, the Specialized Avatar is still my fav over Charge Spoon saddle. The Spoon is OK and a lot of people like it, but the way it is shaped means it sometimes nips me in the...err...bits on potholes, of which there are many here.

Your mileage/sitbones may vary.

Ostriches definitely nip and all of them.

Pedal to the metal! Wind, rain, hills, braking power permitting ;)

Andre Jute

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #133 on: May 02, 2013, 11:21:31 pm »
An Italian bike's just gotta be a she, Jawine. -- Andre Jute

JWestland

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Re: Saddles Thread?
« Reply #134 on: May 03, 2013, 10:20:17 am »
Ah but, I've never ever heard any man referring to their bikes as a "he".

I don't think it has to do anything with the type of bike but more with gender/sex of the rider...unless we have men here having male bikes and females having female bikes ;)

My XTC is definitely a rugged but not overly bulky male. Anthropomorphizing ahoy!
What does that make the glitter red Mixte fixie...metrosexual male? :P
Pedal to the metal! Wind, rain, hills, braking power permitting ;)