Great Training! Great Fun!

The Toti 69er is an annual cycling race organized by the Amanzimtoti Cycling Club which offers variable distances: 19k, 69k and 94k. The race first started in 2002 and now attracts elite cyclists.

There’s no road closure but the route is marshalled so cyclists are catered for at intersections. The route is also monitored by emergency vehicles and CycleSphere provided service vehicles to help with breakdowns.

Everyone is friendly! Everyone is looked after!

Members of my club, East Coast Cycling, enter the race each year and since I had the day off I decided to put my name in the hat.

It was different in several ways to the main races in and around the Durban area. The field was light. A total of 330 entered and there were a few no-shows on the day. To give you perspectve, 330 is less than one batch in the Tour of Durban or Amashoave. That could be good or bad, depending. [Read more…] about East Coast Cycling In The Toti 69er

A Gran Fondo
With A Small “g”

This ride was more to the liking of a moderate ability cyclist. The length was good (93k), the climbing was decent (976m) and the route (shown left) was familiar.

There was one puncture but the groups are considerate so no one is left alone. It’s in the fabric of the club. We stay together.

The route was not one we do every week but it was familiar.

• Leaving Suncoast we travel to Umhlanga Rocks on backroads.
• From Umhlanga Rocks we follow the M4 to the Engen Station at Ballito.
• Hopping across to the R102 we travel south through Verulam and turn left on the R41.
• We followed the M41 up to Gateway and followed Umhlanga Rocks to Northway and Northway down to Suncoast.

It was cold when we started but I was shedding my long sleeves by the time we got to Gateway. This wasn’t your typically gruelling Gran Fondo but it was a good ride with a nice bunch of people.

If you’re thinking about getting fit, don’t wait. Join ECCC and get started. With the smartest kit in town, you’ll look smart long before you’re fit.

THINK!AboutIt

Paying More
Won’t Make Your Domain
More Valuable

I recently transferred a domain name from SiteGround To NameCheap. This post will explain how to do that and give you compelling reasons why you should.

I own several undeveloped domain names, one of which is my avatar name, ennisp. I decided to buy the name because it is the one I use almost exclusively for my profile on registered accounts. It’s also my name so it made sense to buy it.

I bought it originally through SiteGround. SiteGround was hosting my developed sites, like this one, and I really enjoyed their service. Registering names in the same place was convenient. It made sense, or so I thought.

I’ve learned since that SiteGround isn’t a registrar. They resell Tucows registration service which means they buy the service inexpensively and resell higher.

If you didn’t know, domains are registered by the year. You can renew for multiple years but you pay for registration by the year. The problem with SiteGround registrations becomes apparent when renewal is up.

That’s when the gouge comes.

I received notification that my domain, ennisp.com, was up for renewal and would auto renew in 30 days. The price was also listed and it really surprised me.

• Annual registration: $14.95
• Privacy: $24.00

Almost $40 just to renew a name I hadn’t developed yet! The renewal rate was about standard but the privacy was about twice the industry norm.

I had to go elsewhere.

And it just so happened that a friend had recently renewed through NameCheap and the total cost for renewal and privacy was about $10! A savings of $30. I’m in!

But, of course, to use NameCheap I had to transfer the name to the NameCheap servers. Sounds a bit daunting but here’s how it’s done.

Transfer Process

Domain services are standardized so the procedure for transferring names from one service to another is the same for all. [Read more…] about How To Transfer Domains To NameCheap