pbp2007

Audax bike: Slow Eddy (seen here catching the train to P-B-P 2007) - Merckx Corsa Extra Sunday morning bike: Gios Super Record, 1982 model Mountain bike: Early-model Stumpy Edit: IDT bike: Lejeune 753 in honourable retirement Non-steel bike: Raleigh RC7000 pbp20072008-11-19 04:06:16

In my experience the Garmin won't pick up the Polar signal and vice versa. If you don't mind using both Polar and Garmin at the same time (say, Polar on the wrist and Garmin on a handlebar mount, or for that matter both on handlebar mounts) you can upload your data from each individual unit via SportTracks. Or simply dump the Polar, use the Garmin, and upload via SportTracks. That's what I do. If you like Polar that much, this could of course be a moot point when the new Polar GPS doodad goes on sale.

It wasn't the PPA... it was da PBP with the aid of "sweeper" Les Salo (the man you know and love from Journey For Sight)... brooms and cones are useful things to have in the back of the wagon... Any feedback about the event organisation?

To previous standards for this kind of device' date=' IIRC something along the lines of water resistant for 30 minutes at 1 metre. Uploads are easy and automatic using Garmin's Training Centre or SportTracks (which I prefer). In my view the 305 cradle is a step backward from the 301's mini USB, but it does have the significant advantage of not allowing water ingress and being less prone to wear and tear. My training history file in SportTracks used to be about 12 MB, but since the developer tweaked the storage method it's reduced to about half that, considerably shortening start-up time when you open the program. As for PC speed, it all works fine even on my two-year-old Celeron M laptop with 40 GB drive and 512 kb RAM.

I used the Pro neoprene booties on Paris-Brest. They did their job, to an extent, but after a couple of days in the rain, I dumped them. Why? Neoprene's ability to act as a barrier to water is both an advantage and an advantage. Initially, this type of bootie will keep water out, but once moisture gets in - and it WILL - they keep your feet nice and wet. Like all booties they have to have an opening for your pedal cleat, which is an ideal place for water to seep in. And yes, if properly sealed (the top seals well) they will cause your feet to sweat heavily in anything but cool weather.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Although there are cleat and stud cutouts in the base of the booties, walking around at controls chewed them up so they stopped sealing efficiently. The Pro booties are also heavy. Sealskinz sock are an option; haven't used them myself, but saw somebody use them in pouring rain for hours without complaining. They are thick, though. I do use Sealskinz gloves, though. After a day of continual rain they did eventually get soaked, but once dried out they kept my hands dry and warm during intermittent rain showers. Some serious randonneurs swear by fenders, particularly with mudflap extensions, for keeping feet dry. And having spent hours on end in the rain I have to agree that much of the water that gets on the feet is kicked up by the front wheel. Of course, there is a low-tech alternative that I saw many riders using at P-B-P: supermarket plastic bags tied around the feet. Heavy style point penalty, though.

Some thoughts on Schmidt products and dynamo lights in general. Since last year I have been using Schmidt's previous top-of-the-line light, the E6, driven by the same company's SON hub dynamo. I bought the dynamo setup specifically for Paris-Brest because I expected to be riding a lot during the night and I wanted to be independent of batteries. My backup was a Planet Bike Super Spot. According to Schmidt at the time, I was their first customer in Africa (!). I had the hub built into a wheel by Johan Bornman. My view on the E6/SON: Expensive, but perceived quality is high. Excellent optics are combined with an overvolted 6V 3W halogen bulb. In use, it's clearly intended for road riding, with a long, relatively narrow beam that lights only the area needed, namely the road. I can take downhills in pitch dark flat out with absolute confidence. I never have to worry about batteries. Drag is not what I'd call a significant factor (Schmidt claims effectively about half a kilometre an hour on slow uphills). Full brightness is reached about 15 km/h. This is most definitely a light to see by as well as a "be seen" light. The Edelux advantages over the E6 would seem to be service life (LED several thousand hours vs overvolted halogen about 100 hrs), brightness and a wider beam, and if I recall correctly a standlight feature to ensure that you're still lit up when stopped.

If you really want to be "Dazza"-led by what Aussies do in steel framebuilding, look at llewellynbikes.com. A sample:

I use a Topeak Road Morph on my audax bike and can highly recommend it. 100 strokes gets you comfortably over 100 psi/7 bar and unlike conventional minis you will only go delicately pink in the face as opposed to beetroot red. I've also seen a clone (Ryder?) for half the price. Regularly check the connecting hose, though: somebody on the Randon list complained that his Morph's hose had perished/developed a leak. * On other bikes I carry a Crank Bros power pump as a last resort. It's a bit of a gimmick, and needs some getting used to. Having said that, I managed to get 80 psi (checked on my return home). Crank Bros claim 100 psi.

We went with Felix Unite in a group of about 8 friends, around Easter perhaps eight years ago. I hope our pickled fish isn't still in their freezer. My daughter paddled with me and my wife paddled with a friend. The first couple of days I got out every time swearing that I hated everything that looked like a boat. Of course this had nothing to do with capsizing both days. The last day they had to prise the paddle from my hands and I didn't want to get out. Best family holiday we've had. Good organisation. By the way the guides manage to paddle a loaded kayak solo, so I guess you can sleep. I did the Breede River as well (with just the daughter and a couple of friends). Also a lot of fun - we were in the tented camp. It's a long ride to the start of the paddle and it could be cold around Easter. Edit - bike content: be prepared for lots of comments about the bike tan.pbp20072008-01-30 04:26:10

Graeme Murray. http://home.intekom.com/murraytourdeforce/cranks.htm

I like colleague Jake Venter's way of describing forces. Hold an apple in your hand - that's more or less a newton. Hold it at arm's length, and you've got an idea of a newton metre. The other day he came up with an apple alternative: the onion. It was to illustrate a talk on Newt-onion physics.

I know you want ready-made, but in case you change your mind I built the Mintyboost http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/ total cost about R200 for kit of all components including case and import duty/VAT. The concept works for me so I imagine the Hi-Fi Corporation gadget would do the job. I've also used the Flexopower Solarpouch http://www.flexopower.com/products.php and was a bit disappointed with its solar recharging/holding of charge and its charging of my Forerunner 301. Cost about R1 000 for the 3-panel model. In its favour is versatility in charging (from the Sun, AC mains and car 12V socket - adapters included) as well as output (various adapters for cellphones, plus mini-USB). There is a cheaper 1-panel version.

I started running seriously about 3 years ago, use neutrals and have run up to marathon distance in: Asics Cumulus - light, soft, not as durable as I'd like New Balance 1060 - good support and comfort, toebox design chafed Brooks Radius - current, my favourite - not at all plush, but comfortable. Good wear so far. My wife has been through several pairs of Asics 2110 plus orthotics. This suggests that there's more than one answer to the question. Common factor in all of these: The Cape Runner. P.S. A good podiatrist helps too.

Did I miss something? I bought a pair of made-in Pakistan PRO gloves a few months ago and this is the first I've heard of a recall. From what I can make out, there are concerns about benzidine's possible role as a carcinogen although its effect seems to be limited to skin irritation in humans. IMPORTANT PRODUCT SAFETY INFORMATION <?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> VOLUNTARY RECALL of PRO, SHIMANO and SAINT cycling gloves It has recently come to Shimano Benelux BV?s attention that, contrary to its strict contractual specifications, certain PRO, SHIMANO and SAINT cycling gloves manufactured by Shimano?s supplier in Pakistan contain traces of benzidine in excess of the levels specified by EU regulations. Full text is at: http://pro-bikegear.com/publish/content/pro_site/sbx/Pro_Landing/EN/News_Landing.html

The SMS number is 31702

The online tutorial and FAQ contain lots of information' date=' but some of it may be hidden in the Forum. I think the version number is in the Settings drop-own menu under the System tab. Last time I looked, it was also incorporated in the name of the setup file that you download. This gave me headaches galore in the early days. I had to reinstall a couple of times. Vaguely remember Location was part of getting ST to point to the right map server... or was it the weather server? Did you get a satellite/map view at all since installing ST? If you like we can take this offline. I will send you my contact details by PM.

Did he ever get the bike back, Lizzie? Or is it Reggie?

Much as I'd like to play with some of the new functionality, I'm more of a riding/running analysis geek than a software geek, so I stuck with the earlier version. Workout splitting can be disabled. I think the default setting is to split workouts separated by more than 3 hours, even if it shows up as one workout on the GPS. This typically happens when I commute: sometimes I forget to zero the GPS for the homeward leg, but ST splits up the morning and evening rides into two workouts.

Essentially I have been using only SportTracks for analysis since 2005. I use TC as backup, and I also back up interesting tracks to Mapsource. I can't think of a single feature that puts TC ahead of ST... OK, a single one: I can use my Garmin street maps. But even that is of dubious benefit, given that ST allows viewing of tracks on satellite imagery, street maps and even custom maps (before the Street view became available on ST, I "borrowed" some of Garmin's maps to use as a background). My most used features of SportTracks, besides of course the general workout analysis: * Easy track editing and correction * HR data editing * Elevation data editing * Reports (to group specific workouts - for instance, only races, or only rides on Ou Kaapse Weg, or runs longer than 10 km but outside Cape Town and with more than 100 m climbing.. etc, etc). Because ST has its own unique UI it can take some getting used to. Even regular users can miss some of the features, and newbies can discover some of them by accident. I'm absolutely sold on it.

This answers your last question: http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/Help/FAQ/Q3.html The conflict you mention could be connected to: 1. The firmware used in your Edge (latest versions aren't compatible) 2. The TC version you are using ( ditto). There was discussion about this a few months ago, and talk of a converter being created. There's some information at http://sporttracks.zonefivesoftware.com/Discussion/viewtopic.php?t=1736 GPSvisualiser was suggested as a work-around. As far as I recall, the developer of ST wasn't particularly interested in tweaking the software to keep up with Garmin's constant "upgrades". An example of the latter is their Automatic Updater/Auto upload software, which I eventually removed after countless system bombs and incomplete/aborted uploads. By the way, I'm still using the previous version of ST - not the new beta version, which seems not to be fully functional yet and needs Net 2.0.

My perch of choice for ultra events is a Selle San Marco Rolls. I've used it on rides from my 10,5 km commute, to brevets from 200 to 600 km, to Paris-Brest. Which is to say, anything from half an hour to 2 1/2 days. Basically it's as comfortable after a couple of days in the saddle as it is when I started. I have used a Selle Italia Turbo on a 300 km ride and was less happy with it than with the Rolls. On my go-faster bike I use a Fizik Arione. In the few hundred km that I've used it, I've found it very comfortable; the longest ride was around 6 hours. Whatever you choose, I've found it useful to get out of the saddle regularly to pedal standing up. BTW, for comparison's sake I'm 1,7 and 75 kg. Of solid muscle and bone.

Here's something that isn't in the manual (not in mine, anyway): when you move some distance - say several hundred kilometres - away from your last recorded activity, the Forerunner may take a long time to locate satellites because it keeps trying to find the ones it used before. What you do is press the "down" key and power key at the same time. This will force the unit to "acquire" instead of "locate". Kind of a cold start instead of a warm start. This works with a 301; the **5 series is supposed to have a superior GPS chip that may make acquisition quicker anyway. YMMV.

Try Pratley Wondafix. It's a 2-part adhesive formulated to remain flexible and is specifically indicated for, among other applications, shoe repair. I used it a few years ago on my cycling shoes when the sole began separating and it gave them a couple of years more life. Be warned: it dries to an ugly caramel colour, so you'll lose style points. I bought it at Game, I think. pbp20072007-10-25 02:09:51

Apologies in advance for the long post. On Paris-Brest I used an Indola bike shell http://www.mybike.co.za/retailcatalogue/indolacatalogue/bikeshell It's waterproof, so you'll stay dry. I can confirm that, because we had rain for most of the first two days on PBP. By the way, underneath it I wore a Capestorm polypropylene undershirt and regular wicking cycling shirt. The downside about the Indola shell is that the moment you slow down appreciably (like I typically do on an uphill) or stop moving the airflow stops and it can become a sauna. It's well vented, including on the back of the arms. The arms zip off; I this seemed like a dubious benefit and I would have preferred pit zips. I occasionally use the Cape Storm jacket, which seems to have become the standard cyclist's rain gear. It's OK in a light shower, but not much use in real rain in my experience. You'll also need to wash it appropriately using a product such as Techwash to ensure that it retains its water-repellent property. You can tell when this happens because water droplets stop beading on the fabric and cause a wet patch instead. My old Karrimor water-repellent shell is fine as an emergency top - I think it's called the Vail - and although rudimentary it vents well and packs into a tiny bag that velcroes to my seatpost. Having ridden for a couple of days in rain and on wet roads I came to the realisation that I was being wet more by spray from the wheels than by rain. From others that I observed in the same conditions I believe that fenders, preferably with mudflaps, are the answer. At least get yourself one of these seatpost clamp-on jobs - I think Topeak makes something called a D-fender. Legs: some of the randonneur guys have become quite keen on Rainlegs www.rainlegs.co.uk Cape Storm and Cape Union mart sell rain pants for, if I remember correctly, about R600. My neoprene booties were a waste of time eventually because they were (a) unable to keep my feet from being wet by spray (b) heavy and © unhappy about being walked on a lot. Sealskinz socks are an option - I saw them at a couple of local shops. (My Sealskinz gloves worked OK in the rain.) One other thing you might try out is a helment with a peak, or even a cap under your helmet (OK, I know this looks incredibly silly) to keep the rain out of your eyes.

Picked this up off the Classicrendezvous mailing list. Puts today's prices in perspective. 1951 Campy Gran Sport, currently on Ebay at $5 800. http://tinyurl.com/25euuw Note: price doesn't include the shift lever. Or the box. These are being sold separately. Come out, Oom H, wherever you are... pbp20072007-10-19 07:43:57