Maputo Time

I've made my first foray into film-making..  Well, timelapse is not exactly filmmaking, but it sounded good.  Anyway, here's a link to my first movie of sorts.. a short affair at 4 minutes, and done with about 12 "takes" that I've mostly strung together.  As soon as the "final" version was posted I came up with another idea using the telephoto to zoom in on the "action, and V2 was born, which makes quite a difference to the "story-line"..  And what is the story?  Well, remember that I come from a photographer's background, and making movies is still quite alien.  I don't feel very comfortable shooting movies, but the time-lapse feature in the camera feels more like photography, which is probably what attracted me to it. That and the film Chronos which I saw a few years ago and stayed with me ever since.  The poetry of speeding up nature and showing it's patterns is beautiful and humbling, and having that "power" with a camera quite intoxicating.  And some results are quite surprising.  Like taking a photograph in a cave and discovering an amazing shot (well, one amazing shot amongst several hundred out-of-focus ones)..

Now for the story.. Well, it's a bit difficult to create a story with time-lapse, at least it is for me, so I'll need a bit more practice to come up with something a bit more polished and captivting.  My feeling with the medium now is really just to capture as much as I can and work with what I've got, and try and make some sense of what is there.. a bit like collecting magazine pictures and trying to give them some coherence in a collage.  Basically though the rythmns of the sea and a port highway, with clouds and tides thrown in for good measure.

So what were the difficulties?  Sound mostly.  The image capture was pretty straight-forward, although a dirty sensor did spoil a few takes.  As I mentioned, the big epiphany between V1 (on the Vimeo site) and V2 was zooming into the boats moving on the harbour.  That elegant dance becomes the "plot" of the story.  As for the sound, V1 and V2 are completely different through the use of different sound-tracks, which make V1 more of an introspective moody short, whereas the slightly bouncy feel of the V2 track makes it more positive and, yes how "punny", up-beat.

No worries, there are no delusions of grandure here.  I simply had fun making it, and showing my kids the production process.  They won't learn to make movies by watching me once, but I hope they understand that they have the power to create, and that's a trait I hope they inherit.

So sit down, get the popcorn and the coke out and enjoy!


Version 1 posted on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/80990358


Version 2 right here on Blogger:

And if the above embedded video is really horrible to watch, then try this link on Vimeo for V2:
https://vimeo.com/81060075

Something surprising...

I'm a hard guy to surprise.  So when Nikon came out with their Df camera body a week ago I was very, very surprised.  Rumours had been leaking for a few weeks, and I took them with a pinch of salt.  Not that I believed the rumours weren't be true, but rather that the Nikon offering would underwelm.  I mean, a retro camera by Nikon?!  Users have been clamouring for YEARS and when Nikon finally does answer a massive user call like that it's normally a case of too little and too late.  There is already a sense within Nikonista ranks that the batton has firmly passed to Canon again.  The D700, Nikon's first full frame masterpiece is long history and the replacements have been.. ahem.. iffy.  The D800, the supposed replacement is slower and more bloated.  The D600, a supposed tweener camera, for aspiring full-framists who hadn't moved to FF with the D700 and were in the market for something simpler got exactly what they wanted.. Except that Nikon users DON'T fit well into that category!!  We all just wanted a D700 replacement, as fast, as durable, as good as the old one, but.. ahem.. BETTER.

Well, now with the Df those holdouts may have actually got what they wanted.  Of course nothing is perfect in Nikon world.  Nothing ever was, nor will it ever be.  Each product is by force a compromise between differing prospective user demands, but to their credit Nikon generally erred on the side of pro users, thinking that if their buyer wasn't going to use a feature yet, they would grow into it.  Markedly different from the Canon approach, which is to segment their offerings by purposely crippling the various models so that as soon as you've exhausted the camera's limitations (very quickly in some cases) the only option is to upgrade or move up the model ladder.   In recent years Nikon was taking this approach, one adopted by fast moving consumer electronics companies like Sony and Canon, and which Nikon had not yet joined.  But following the the great adage "if you can't beat them join them" Nikon decided to adopt some of the more (financially) successful strategies of their eternal enemies, Canon.  Sad day indeed.  But TODAY..

.. we see a departure from that rather unglamerous itty bitty incremental upgrade strategy.  Today, Nikon has offered us something fresh, something new.  That it had to be a recreation of an old film-body style FM camera is a of a juxtaposition, but in this world of hankering back to bygone (read better) days, they did the only sensible thing, and made the digital camera as manual and basic as possible.  Out went the video (whoever said photographers wanted to shoot video!?).  Out went the overcrowded LCD top.  Out went the flash (on this I'm a bit less happy, but don't let my disappointment be a fly in Nikon's retro ointment).  In came some very basic dials.  Now, to manage a camera you can go back to aperture, speed (together with ISO.. digital's wonderful addition to basic controls) and just take a bloody picture.  The camera is lighter, smaller than any other full-frame animal.  It has the guts of a D4 and D600 (sensor and exposure metre respectively), a weather-sealed body as good as the D800 (just don't go near salt water!) and a very attractive FM camera styled body.  Intelligent design. Without the religious implication.  Something well thought out and almost Apple like, if Apple were ever to really design a camera (the Leica attempt was simply a branding effort, not a real camera..).

Now, who is this camera for?  I mean it's ONLY 16mps..  That's 8 less than the D600 and a whopping 20 less than the D800.  Not a sports camera by any means, nor for wildlife.  Videographers doing weddings?  Get a life and use your iphone you idiots.  So no, not those people.  Someone with lots of manual lenses at home?  Yes, you will be well served, as Roslett from Nikonians says the viewfinder is VERY nice thank you very much, and manual focusing is a real pleasure.  Kid pictures? Well, with the very physical controls, it may be easier to set up than the usual digital interface, so I have to say yes.  But in the interest of complete opinion, I'll have to check with my wife on that!  The limited mega-pixels may be a blessing for most people who photograph with intent, not people who are endlessly cropping (use a telephoto for deity's sake!), as your files won't be endlessly large.  This will be a great camera for people who actually print their pictures, versus the great majority of people out there who pixel peep at 200% in lightroom or post their efforts in Facebook or flicker or whatever photosharing service is the flavour of the month .  This will probably appeal to a bunch of Apple design people, those that don't already own a Leica Monocrome or a Fujifilm X100 or Sony ff 35mm (the model escapes me.. a sort of camera for someone who wants to show off their photographyness but who again just pixel-peeps).  This will appeal to people who have good taste and appreciate classic design (yes, more Apple people).  This will appeal to rich people.  This will appeal to professional photographers who want a lightweight camera backup, or one to take on holiday and that doesn't scare the wife away.  This is finally a camera that I can be proud to own.

Now if Nikon hadn't priced this one out of the ball-park, I might actually sell my D600 to buy one!

My love-affair with Fuji

To start things off I better explain this post's title, specify that I am a happily married heterosexual man and that Fuji is not some fling, but in fact an inanimate object.  To be specific, a camera.  To muddy the waters a bit, now that I've clarified them, I might add that I have been an amateur photographer (in the sense of loving photography, not that I'm not as good as any pro out there) for 30 years.  Having started when I was around twelve years old means that I grew up with photography, and I started firmly placed in the film world, developing my black and white negatives and prints, and sometime from 2000 onwards embraced the digital revolution.  As with the stages of man, one grows within photography, starting as a neophyte with a hand-me down camera and then slowly progressing up the "equipment" ladder as resources, techniques improve and as far as one's economic position can accomodate our camera lust.  Ken Rockwell has a nice write-up about photographers and their 7 stages.  Most of us have progressed through some or all of these stages, and although it's satire, there is more than a grain of truth in there.
As much as I've enjoyed photography, the taking of photographs, printing and showing my prints, I've also been attracted to the cameras as objects. VERY attracted.  They satisfy my manual nature, of wanting to touch and control things, discover complicated machines and make them do my bidding.  Back in the day by wallet dictated my camera of choice, which became a Canon (in part because my father also had a Canon rangefinder).  I slowly progressed up the lens path, trading in the dreadful kit lens for a more expensive and more versatile zoom do-it-all, and quite honestly took some of the best travel pics I've taken with that combo.  But then the body didn't come up to scratch, and I upgraded that.  The next body, also a Canon, was joined by a few lenses, as now the lens became my limiting factor. I took some other good pictures as well, but generally spent more than was wise on my lenses, and eventually another body change was required, as I felt my abilities were hampered by my equipment (all false, but it's nice to have all the bells and whistles).  Next body was an Eos3, a fully professional camera demanding great lenses.  My kit got bigger, heavier, more numerous, and still I tried lenses and swapped them for other models, in the perpetual search for perfect camera and lens.  But this was 2000 and film was in the space of a few years completely engulfed by digital.  The revolution took place so quickly that I didn't even manage to off-load my film gear.. or maybe didn't want to.  Within this photographer also lies a collector of objects.
So after playing around with a digicam from work (An Olympus 2020..) I decided to take the plunge and buy my first DSLR, a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera.  My Canon 10D was wonderful, as well as wonderfully frustrating.  It allowed me instant feedback, improving my photography more in 6 months than I had improved in the previous 18 years.  I was astounded at this 6mp camera and the results it could produce, and some of my best digital photography comes from this period.  A whole new learning curve was forced upon me, as everything that was analogue now became digital.  New PC, new storage device, a proper photo printer.  The internet was my haven for information on getting everything to work properly, but in general I began spending more and more time behind a computer and less actually taking pictures or printing them.   In time the 10D became old, and the new new was a 20D. More pixels, faster, more capable.  But somehow Canon had sown its own seeds of distruction when it started an upgrade philosophy that would eventually turn me away from them.  With one hand Canon gave (more pixels, faster, more responsive) but with the other it also took away (moving things around, removing features, making the camera uglier)..  I couldn't understand it.  If one builds on a previous masterpiece, surely one must keep all the good bits?  Not in their book.  And as each new geneation came out, I began "skipping" them, finding less and less to justify the next camera, except perhaps more pixels.  But hadn't my 10D with 6mp already given me A1 size prints!?  Something was happening.  Canon wasn't satisfying me, was actually annoying me, and giving me a hobbled tool to work with.  Was there no-one else who could help?
Enter stage left NIKON.  Nikon was the bad boy of the camera world.  Previously the pro's choice, until in the 80's Canon brought in their AF lenses which had motors in their lenses, Nikon couldn't keep up and everone moved.  Then came digital and Canon was innovating faster and faster and Nikon it seemed couldn't keep up.  Canon had full frame.. Affordable full frame.  The 5D had arrived.  Maybe my prayers had been answered.. Alas no.  The 5D was an amazing camera and at 12mp more than enough for my needs or wants.  But in true Canon style the camera was hobbled, so as not to compete with it's more expensive pro bodies.  Still, image quality was fantastic, the camera had enough controls to ensure I was able to expand on my picture-taking repertoire, and being full-frame meant wide-angle shots were really good.  My first work in Xefina was largely shot on this camera, beginning a documentation of  the sea and wind erosion of this former military outpost.  Sadly my 5D died one day when it took a swim in salt water.  There I was, a dead full-frame camera, a less than satisfying user experience, and Nikon, who had been impressing me with their ergonomics, their no-nonsense attitude to upgrades, and their willingness to play catch-up with Canon finally unveiled their full frame option, the D700!!  These seemed to be a true professional camera.  I was hobbling along on my old 40D (an intermediate camera, to keep me going while I divested from my substantial lens investment). As I sold off my lenses and accessories, I could finally move camp to Nikon.  It was a momentous occasion, akin to leaving your first job for a really fantastic new prospect.  Nikon was the IN thing.  And the D700 did not disappoint.  Some years went by, and the camera was mostly at my side, continuing my work on Xefina with a succession of wide-angle lenses including the fabulous 14-24 f2.8, a truly amazing wide angle performer (do you see a pattern here?).  But time wears on and development goes on, and one always ends up craving for more resolution, especially as more and more photographs just end up on a computer screen where you can endlessly zoom in to the pixel level, in so-called pixel-peeping!
And so the D700, after 4 years of faithful service, was finally let go, to make room for the "pro-sumer" D600, a step down in terms of features and body, but a major step up in terms of image quality.. I could see individual eyelashes now! But even so, along with the D700 I lost a certain love for all things Nikon.  It seemed like Nikon was now imitating Canon, but not in a good way.  Cameras were getting uglier.  Bits that were compatible before now had to be separately bought, like the battery grips for cameras.. I was seeing a re-run of the Canon debacle.. What to do, what to do..

Enter stage right FUJIFILM..  I've had a long fascination for Fuji, when they made the Hasselblad X-Pan rangefinder cameras, and more recently their digital offerings seemed to have taken the photography world by storm. Many were singing Fuji's praises, and many of these were non-traditional photographers.  Still, this was all happening from Afrar, while I was saftely coocooned in my Nikon world. But now that I felt dissatisfied and started looking around more intently, I saw a fantastic machine, and one day whilst browsing E-Bay, found something totally unexpected.  I found an adapter ring for my old Canon rangefinder lenses.  And not just any adapter.  But one for the famous Canon 50mm f0.95 dream lens.. A lens that let in 4 more times the light that the human eye can see.  A lens that Canon only made in the thousands, because of the extreme cost of production, and never went back to make.  Even in its SLR days, they only managed a 50mm f1.0 lens, notoriously difficult to focus.  So now, after 60 years that my father bought these lenses, I would be able to shoot them again.  I didn't think twice.  Fuji was for me. Or rather, I did have to think.. which body - they had 2 - the X-Pro1 and the X-E1 (the Japanese playfully refer to it as the Sexy one..).  As I wanted a camera to use my old lenses, I chose the one with the better TTL digital viewfinder. And I have to say I'm not disappointed.  Actually, that sounds pretty lame. I am ABSOLUTELY AMAZED.. I am back to manual focusing lenses, and having the time of my life, shooting in near dark, limited to 50mm and 85mm fields of view, but absolutely enjoying the limit and the wonder at each image as it pops up momentarily on the little view-finder screen.  Sure, it's not as fast as my Nikon.  Not as flexible with lenses.  Few features.  Video is difficult. Some commands are annoying and the camera so small that I inadvertantly press a button while shooting that I shouldn't.  But all that disappears once I think about the picture I want to make, or take, or catch.  I'm not so worried or enamoured by the retro styling or any of that.  What I do enjoy is the simplicity of the tool, the fact that with a minimum investment I'm using 60 year old lenses, and truly taking some amazing pictures, and ENJOYING the whole process.  I spend less time on the PC now (except in writing this blog) than before...  Hopefully a new exhibition will be in the making soon...

Some interesting sayings related to cycling... In English and Italian.

Training is like fighting with a gorilla. You don’t stop when you’re tired. You stop when the gorilla is tired.
Greg Henderson

Ride to where you ride.
Anonymous

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

Muhammad Ali 

Good is something you do, not something you talk about. Some medals are pinned to your soul, not your jacket.

Gino Bartali

Nel corso dell’ultimo conflitto mondiale con encomiabile spirito cristiano e preclara virtù civica, collaborò con una struttura clandestina che diede ospitalità ed assistenza ai perseguitati politici e a quanti sfuggirono ai rastrellamenti nazifascisti in Toscana, riuscendo a salvare circa 800 cittadini ebrei.
Motivazione della Medaglia d’oro al merito civile alla memoria conferita a Gino Bartali il 25 aprile 2006

Mi è capitato più volte di dirlo. Io tifoso di Coppi, mi sono innamorato di Bartali. Del Bartali, diciamo così, vecchio, che guidava la sua macchina, facendo migliaia di chilometri, e dovunque si fermasse, a Belluno o a Capo Passero, creava un magico convegno. “C’è Bartali, c’è Bartali”. E nella folla non c’erano solo uomini maturi che si erano cibati della sua epopea, ma anche ragazzini che, non so come, lo conoscevano e lo adulavano come si fa con un nonno. Dopo Sandro Pertini non c’è stato un italiano popolare a amato come Gino.  

Candido Cannavò

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.

Ernest Hemingway

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle. 

Elizabeth West 

Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There's something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym.

Bill Nye the Science Guy

It never gets easier, you just go faster. 

Greg LeMond

When my legs hurt, I say: "Shut up legs! Do what I tell you to do!"

Jens Voigt

  

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride my bike

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride it where I like

Queen

I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance enhancing drugs. ~ Lance Armstrong - 2005

 

The cyclist creates everything from almost nothing, becoming the most energy-efficient of all... animals and machines and, as such, has a [genuine] ability to challenge the entire value system of a society.... The bicycle may be too cheap, too available, too healthy, too independent and too equitable for its own good. In an age of excess it is minimal and has the subversive potential to make people happy in an economy fuelled by consumer discontent.

Jim McGurn

If I had a dollar for every time somebody yelled, 'dopé, dopé,' I'd be a rich man.  

Lance Armstrong

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. That surrender, even the smallest act of giving up, stays with me. So when I feel like quitting, I ask myself, which would I rather live with? 

Lance Armstrong

Quando la strada sale non ti puoi nascondere.

Eddy Merckx

 

Il ciclismo è come l'amore: vince chi fugge. 

Ambrogio Morelli

 

La Montagna é solo per pochi. 

Marco Pantani

Tu giovane, che stai salendo la breve strada del successo, ricorda sempre una cosa sola: se lo sport non è scuola di umanità non vale nulla, e la prima lezione di questa grande scuola è quella dell’amicizia vera e leale fra te e coloro che ti aiutano. Non solo per interesse.

Gino Bartali

Il ciclismo è lo sport più popolare perché non si paga il biglietto.

Pier Paolo Pasolini

 

Corridore: non tollera ombre sulla propria ombra. 

Elias Canetti

Per un corridore il momento più esaltante non è quando si taglia il traguardo da vincitori. E’ invece quello della decisione, di quando si decide di scattare, di quando si decide di andare avanti e continuare anche se il traguardo è lontano. 

Fausto Coppi

Clássica de Namaacha

Namaacha done and dusted, so to speak.  Well, actually there was very little dust, thanks to the rain the whole week, which cleared the air.  And although we had as usual many predictions of rain on race day, thankfully there was none.  We assembled as usual at the Galp Petrol Station in Boane, with some riders arriving just before the start time, as well as the support vehicle,  which waited till 6:20 for riders who needed a lift but in the end didn't show.. 

The race started at 7:20.. a 20 minute delay, something we definately need to improve on.  The Peloton set off at a sedate pace which quickened slightly on the Pedreira hill.  On the way down Artur put the hammer down, killing any hopes of anyone dropped on the hill from rejoining the group.  On the flats Miguel took up the pacemaking, keeping a steady but manageable pace into a slight headwind, with Niall and Artur doing some pacemaking as well.  Once the climb started at Mandevo Miguel went back to the front, where he stayed till the end of the race.  The Peloton lined out and broke apart on the first section, with first Mario, then Nial and then Ricky dropping back to their own pace, and only Artur and Grichone managing to hold Miguel’s wheel. But they in turn lost his wheel further up the climb.  Miguel reached the summit with a 5 minute advantage over the chasers, with Artur and Grichone next, then Mario and Ricky, with Niall, Emil and Cesar following on their own.   On the descent Artur and Grichone were descending in hot pursuit, followed two minutes later by the next group, Mario and Ricky, also trying to catch the front groups on the descent.  However one of the little bumps proved too much for Mario and he detached from Ricky who then went on his own on the descent.   Meanwhile Niall, just behind was trying to come back to their wheel but the fast descent kept the groups apart.  

On the flats Miguel powered on, putting yet more time into his pursuers before crossing the line in the same record time as the 2012 edition.  Artur and Grichone worked together and crossed the line in joint second place.  Behind Mario finally managed to catch Ricky on the pedreira hill descent and they came into the finishing stretch side by side, but Ricky had the stronger legs in the sprint. 

Here's a link to a video by Miguel showing the race start.

Race results:

1^st Miguel Duarte 2:45:46

2^nd ArturSimoes & Sergio Grichone +10:31

4^th Ricardo Trinidade +14:32

5^th Mario Traversi +14:36

6^th Niall Tierney +24:10

7^th Emil Levendoglou +30:54

8^th Cesar Rosário +40:00

Thanks again to our support vehicle sponsored by MRO driven by Januario, who made sure our riders on the road were safe, and acted as broom-wagon as well as water point at the top of Namaacha.  Thanks also to the other vehicles that showed up at the race and gave support as well. And lastly thanks to Miguel Duarte who ensured rider times were recorded at the finish line. 

The complexities of a group ride

The art of the group ride is a complicated and unfathamoable process of riding in a bunch with like-minded cyclists, teetering on the edge of competition with 'town-line sprints', hilltop climbs as well as a social aspect to riding, all much akin to a pack of wolves out on the hunt.  In countries where cycling has a strong following, it is easy, nay necessary, to be part of a pack.  Within the pack one becomes part of a group, a whole stronger than the individual parts. Cycling-tips in Oz has a piece here on the whole group-think concept in cycling (and what happens when you leave the pack).

Obviously within the pack there will be a pecking order, determined in a most animalistic and in some ways almost democratic fashion, by the strongest rider that can demand the respect of the other riders.  There is a combination of age and ability at work here, so it pays to be a fit 40-something rider if you aspire to that spot.  There will be a climb along the route, or a sprint line, and every time riders will give it their all to beat the others.  This "top-dog" type of arrangement lends heavily from, you guessed it, wolf-packs.

So, in theory the idea of the training ride is, actually to be a wolf in lycra clothing and.. train.  But to train to do what?!  Therein lies the rub.  With competing wolf-packs, these will inevitably encroach on each other's territories and there will be a fight.  No barred teeth and bites, but probing attacks and sprints.  The weaker group is forced to yield the road and make space for the stronger pack in future.  Training is akin to competing, just in an unstructured way.  The wolf-pack learns to work together as a whole.  Individual strengths and weaknesses are known within the group, and the strongest sprinter in the group will lead out when another group approaches..

And even if you don't encounter another wolf-pack, don't be fooled by your team-mates who proclaim "It's only a recovery ride" as sure enough there will be a slight rise in the road, or a nice straight stretch, or a prominent sign along the road, and then all bets are off.  Your only possibility of surviving in these situations is to attack first! In fact, the phrase 'recovery ride' actually means let's go slow until one of us feels strong enough to put a knife in the other.

In Mozambique, where riders can be counted basically on my appendages (I won't say which), we don't really have enough of them to form more than one or two packs.  Therofore the competition turns inwards, and when there is little prey around, tendencies turn cannibalistic.  It is no accident that cycling's greatest hero, Eddy Merckx, was in fact called "The Cannibal".  He would eat other riders for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and offer a few scraps to his own pack on occasion, once he'd feasted to his limit.  Cycling is as close a sport to our animalistic forefathers hunting mammoth that it's a surprise cycling is even allowed these days!  Even the peloton chasing down the lone breakaway artist conjure up scenes of wolves running down their prey..

So, back to Mozambique. What to do on a training ride, which quickly turns into a battle for survival.
Do you
a) try to become the leader of the pack
b) hang on for dear life, show minimal submission but also a deserving place in the pack's pecking order
c) leave the pack to create your own pack?

This is all very complicated, because to add to this confusion you have races (which take on the more common thread of what some might actually call a training ride) which need to be won.  Races like training rides? Training like races?!  Sounds all very complicated and confused.  Not so. Once you get on a racing bike, it's to race. The only reason you don't race is if you're preparing to race. You race when you train, you race when you race.  And above all, you train to race when you're on your own.  That is unless you're a flower-power child with delusions of one-world and peace among all men (and women.. especially women. It's nice to be at peace with them).. But even that can change in the blink of an eye.

So what am I trying to say with this piece on training that is turning out to be a jumble of clichês and desktop psycology?  Well, that there is no such thing as a "training" ride.  All rides are done to prove a point, and if you actually do need to train, then do it away from the prying eyes of your competitors, and even further away from your "pack-mates" who you must pummel into submission at the next group ride.  But remember, it's just a recovery ride.. :-)


Wolfpack image from
A-Team vs. Wolfpack – You Make the Call… | Mudflatsmudflats.wordpress.com -

A turnaround at CDM?

A turnaround at CDM?

CDM (Cervejas De Moçambique, owned by SAB) came under fire last year for some pretty racy advertising.  It wasn’t so much the amount of flesh on show in their adverts (there was none!) but the overtly sexual nature of their Laurentina Preta brand, comparing the beer to a ‘black nymph’.  The adverts drew harsh criticism from Women’s groups and were taken down, to be replaced by in your face provocations from CDM.  Someone however must have gotten their knuckles rapped inside CDM because the new adverts coming out of there are on a completely different track, and we applaud them for that.

The first advert I’d like to draw your attention to came out in @Verdade weekly free newspaper and on billboards around town.  They tout the revolutionary new bottle shape (I find it ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder).  CDM however thinks this is hot shit!  The advert is almost like an iPad advert, with arrows showing the various improvements in the product.  However the MOST IMPORTANT PART of the advert is stuck somewhere in the bottom of the page, almost an orphan of the whole marketing effort.  It seems to have sneaked onto the page somehow..  And what is it?  The fact that the new glass bottles, which have been infesting landfill and sidewalks everywhere in Maputo, are now RETURNABLE!  Hurray for CDM. FINALLY they have seen the light, that their product was chocking up the streets of Maputo, thrown out whilly nilly from fast cars as they’re driving down the marginal, soon to be broken glass causing havoc for the Maputo cyclists.  In terms of social responsibility CDM is finally returning to pre-private investment measures.  That’s right, we ONLY had returnable bottles since AT LEAST 1992 (the year I came to town).  Finally private enterprise has matched what the colonial managers and then the socialist managers after them had been doing all along, albeit due to economic pressures and shortages of material.

But before we continue, another look at their ‘fantastic’ advertisement below..

Different on the outside but same taste on the inside – so far so good.  Good packaging always helps sell product, and if the product itself is fine then no need to fiddle with it (New Coke, are you listening?!).

TALL(er) (first bullet point) – Well, here the importance of being a tall beer bottle escapes me. Does it need to be taller than the competition?! Or did they make it specifically tall enough so it wouldn’t fit standing up in my fridge.. Yes, you guessed it, CDM assumes we have their tall fridges in our homes, and not bog-standard ones with pretty standard heights.  So guess what, I now keep less beer in my fridge.. and probably drink less of it as well.  Hooorayy for progress and taller bottles!

(More) MODERN – Ahem.. glass bottle modern?! Actually this bottle resembles the faux old Klein Constantia sweet wine that they made in commemoration of those old bottles Napoleon used to drink… oh, about 200 years ago.  As for glass, that was around in Roman times, around 2000 years ago (although the Chinese discovered it much later, one of the reasons their society stagnated, before becoming the powerhouse it is today).  So the modern bit fails to find traction.  But I digress…

(More) PRACTICAL – Well, that bump at the end I guess means I can slam the bottle on the counter that much harder without fear of breaking the bottle in my hand.  Or perhaps it’s to allow for a better grip, so it doesn’t slip through my drunken fingers and smash on the pavement like so many other bottles.. Dunno really, you’ll just have to ask CDM what they’re on about here.

Still, all in all a descent advertisement and a welcome change to the polarising adverts of yesteryear.

The next advert I’d like to discuss is CDM’s 80^th anniversary of the Laurentina Brand.  Yep, that’s right.. In 1932 this beer brand was born, and became known as LM’s beer of choice.  Countless SA students on their gap year who travelled through Mozambique can attest to the restorative properties of Mozambique Beer.  CdM has decided to embrace the heritage and tradition of its brand.  Too bad it sold off the iconic brewery building in central Maputo.. But I guess that was economics, and for them brewing 2M and Laurentina side by side makes perfect business sense, even if it does dilute the individuality of the two brands. However are we going to get the wild swings in alcohol content that was the prerogative of Laurentina beer?  Or the shortage in labels that meant you never knew what you were drinking.  The caps were gerenic ones made by Crown Cork, so it really was a case of blind luck.  But those days can now be remembered in a nostalgic setting, at the Scala Theatre.  Good on you CDM.  Keep it up.  Getting better, and one day you may actually get it right… Till then we’ll keep on drinking 2m.

Copa2013 - Clássica de Goba - Race 1

Race started at 8:08, due to late arrival of Swazi cyclists who had to battle customs and bad weather on their side of the border.  However race started with the clouds parting and the only water we had was the wet asphalt in Goba.  Peloton started off at a healthy pace and shed some riders on Pedreira hill, and then gunned it on the descent, but once on the flat eased up and a few riders who were dropped managed to join back on.  The pace was fairly steady with Bruno doing quite a bit of pace-making and Betinho putting in a few digs, and Thulani also taking up the pace-making at the front.  The fight for position within the peloton was tough as riders tried to stay out of the head-wind. Once the Goba climb started though the peloton fragmented into 2 main bunches and a few stragglers.  After 10km of climinb Miguel crested first with Vicente in tow, then Thulani about 50 seconds back and then a big group of riders with Carlos pushing at the front and 5 Swazi's holding his wheel on the descent.  Alvaro "Zeca" was a little behind that group.  On the return leg Vicente had a mechanical which saw him drop from the lead to the chasing group, who in he mean time had also caught Thulani.  Meanwhile Zeca managed to bridge to the chase group.  On the undulating terrain with a favourable tailwind Miguel kept the gap and opened it somewhat, whereas the chase group behind eventually fragmented on the Pedreira climb.  Miguel took line honours with Carlos 6 minutes behind and Zeca and Vicente sprinting for third place.  Thulani Gule, a Swazi rider who has tasted success in previous Copa races, was just behind this group in 5th place.

No helmet - No ride!

Get your back into it, man!

"Zeca" warming up. Carlos looking on has already done a 45km warmup!

MRO Backup vehicle with proper signage!

Zeca outsprinting Vicente for 3rd spot

For those of you without access to the Club Facebook page here are the results and pictures of the Goba Classic:

1- Miguel Duarte - 3:18
2- Carlos Sales - 3:24
3- Alvaro Alves da Cunha 3:26
4- Vicente Mafumo 3:26
5- Thulani Gule Swz 3:27
6- William Kelly Swz 3:36
7- Mshoeshoe Khumalu Swz 3:37
8- Sergio Grichone 3:41
9- Mark Inieli 3:47
10- Artur Simoes Bra 3:48
11- Ian Campbell Gb 4:00
12- Mario Traversi ita 4:00
13- Arsenio Caniat Swz 4:00
14- Abilio Matusse 4:00

(Apologies for any miss-spellings)

A nice big bunch for a change.

DNF: Niall Tierney, Gideon, Betinho Cuambe, Marques Cossa, Paulo Jorge de Almeida

Result of the Mini-goba - 85km
1- Bruno Sousa
A big thanks to NovaVida/MRO than provided the race support vehicle, and Januario who drove it and made sure we had support at the top of Goba, and that the last cyclists had a support car close by.  An informal thanks to Galp Boane for having their petrol station "invaded" by cyclists.  Thanks also to Marques Cossa who after completing his "training ride" with us jumped in the car and together with his wife gave some race support and clocked the riders coming in at the finish.  Lastly a big thanks to all the riders who turned up notwithstanding the news (which thankfully turned out to be false) of bad weather, including our Swazi friends, who all ensure that this Classic was a competitive race and a real cycling festival.

And the winners are...

The calm after the storm before the race

COPA CICLISMO -
Some words about this competition.  This race series started in 2006 as a product of a nascent Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique, which was created by local and foreign cyclists.  The race series is inspired by the Tour de France and the Giro D'Italia, and each race has points in either sprint, king of the mountain as well as overall.  The previous 2 years we have even managed to give out jerseys to the winners of the various categories.  This year we will have the following categories:
 

 

 

 

 

Black Jersey contenders

- Yellow Jersey - Overall winner
- Green Jersey - Points winner (sprinter)
- Polka-Dot Jersey - King of the Mountains
- White Jersey - Best U-23 rider
- Black Jersey - Last rider (for rider who completes most number of races with fewest points)

Race rules are simple.  Riders get points based on their finishing position, and at the end of the race series the rider with the most wins.  This year's Copa Ciclismo is composed of 6 races.  5 Classics including Goba, Hell of the South, EN1, Namaacha, and Twin Peaks, and 1 time trial.  An important point to make is that these rides are Club rides and are amateur in nature and friendly events.  We do not have road closure and in fact these are unsanctioned events, ridden without road closure or proper public support.  However we do rely on our sponsors and riders to lend a hand to ensure these events are a success and enjoyable for all.  These rides complement the FMC criterium series of races, as they cater to riders who want a longer distance with some mountains thrown in to spice things up, conditions that are not available in Maputo city.  If you would like to support these races such as assisting with logistics, medals, waterpoint, prizes, or better yet want to sponsor the race then you are WELCOME!   We are a group of fanatical cyclists who enjoy riding and competing and are very appreciative of the companies that want to support us.