Bram_on_Madone

So do I understand correctly that Lefty would prefer to chase cyclists off the road with his fascist rules and rather that we race around in taxis and unlicenced vehicles?

95kg is within the "normal" weight-range that these are made for, so it shouldn't be a problem. Coming up with the dough for that bike is probably a bigger problem....

I agree the weather was great! And I loved the view up the pass past Riebeek Kasteel.... made me forget about the traffic!

I like to critisize, as it was badly organised - sending an email does not absolve you from taking proper measures. There is no excuse for such bad organisation for a major event on the South African race calender. Even for a much smaller race like the Engen Dynamic (held at the same venue) they had traffic police at the N1 exits and at all junctions coming up to the venue. Now there was nobody. I left home at 5am, which I think was reasonable.

My timing was right, but I'm still pissed off about starting at 6:50 instead of 6:15 like I was supposed to because of the complete misorganisation of the traffic. I have never been at a cycle event of this size where no measures at all had been taken to help the flow of traffic and was also disgusting to see that Die Burger claimed in this morning's paper that is was an extremely well organised event.

Its time to replace my cleats again and everytime I try to figure out the "float" debate. At the moment my spd cleats have 0 degrees of float according to the packaging and they seem to work fine, although I do occasionally get a bit of joint pain. I have been led to believe that using a 6 degree float would get rid of this, but then I would lose efficiency because of the movement on the pedal. Is there any truth any of this or is the "float debate" just one of the marketing gimmicks?

I agree with the exercise theory and my cramping has become significantly less with more training. I still cramp like clock work on the 100km of a road race though, but I find getting off and stretching only makes it worse. Instead, I found dropping 2-3 gears and slowing down by about 20% for 10min makes the cramp go away (I tried pooring cold water on the affected leg, but doesn't seem to make a difference).

There was definitely only about 240 people - if you had seen the way the rain was pelting down (and it was cold - my Polar measured an average temp of 14 degrees for the ride...), you can understand how few people rode. I was also comtemplating not doing it, but decided I'm not a quitter. Also felt sorry for the organisers though - they had set up quite a lot of tents, etc. and probably would have been quite festive in Franschoek under better conditions.

I also enjoyed the challenged, but I guess I'm a bit of a sissie, cause my hands were bloody freezing!

Anybody else get drenched at the Tour de Vino yesterday? At least I know after 3 1/2 hours of freezing and sliding over rail way tracks that nobody can call us sissies!

I hear the frame theory, but your first bike is not likely to be the one you end up riding the tour the France with. I think you should look for a nice all in one package - this time of year when the 2010 bikes are being released you can probably negotiate a big discount on an 2009 new bike. Be careful of a second hand bike, as you might find a lot of the components are quite worn and replacing them can cost more than buying a whole new bike. There are a lot of good entry level bikes that will do more than serve its purpose until you decide how serious you are going to take your road biking. Have a look at the value for money brands such as Schwinn, Merida or Raleigh.

Agree - you might find a 56 is a better ride with that height

and for the saddle sores - I find Vaseline works fine too...

Generally the sore knee caps are a result of a saddle being too low, but also often results from poor stroke or worn pedals. The former is due to abnormal stresses on your knees due to uneven stroke, the latter is similar effect due to too much play on the pedals. The fact that your bike has been standing around for so long might mean the pedals need a good clean. My suggestion try all three: - focus on your stroke (maybe go to a few spinning classes in the gym to help with this) - raise your saddle by a whisper, and make sure the tilt is straight - give your pedals a good clean.

Bugger!

I saw the RS800CX in a box set with a couple of goodies including speed and cadence sensor for R4,795 on the weekend, which looks like quite a good deal

problem is, locally they cost almost twice as much - they don't seem to have adjusted their prices for a much improved Rand exchange rate yet...

Thanks for all the input. It sounds like if you got the money, the Polar RS800CX is definitely the way to go. It seems to be the cheapest on the Chain Reaction website at the moment - have any of you had any bad luck with this site, e.g. items getting lost/stolen in transit or getting hit with customs in SA?

Seeing as this thread seems to exists only to give Rookie's the chance the cast off the shackles of that title, here goes. Only 45 posts to go...

That picture of the broken carbon seat post was a bit scary - is that something that is likely to happen with normal use, as I will start having visions of a snapped post causing serious anatomical damage to my rear....

Thanks for the tips - I would only use it for cycling and I guess the occasional spinning session in the gym.

I want to get a heart rate monitor and would be interested in any advice/suggestions you guys might have. I read a lot of complaints about problems people have with the more flashy units like the Edge 305, etc. I'm also not sure whether to get a multifunction bike mounted unit or whether it makes more sense just to go for a classic wrist mounted Polar. Any comments?