bikemonster

If your wife is not seeing such an obvious colour change to a bike that she shares a room with all day every day, don't you think she should go to an optometrist? On her day off, obviously. To answer the OP's question: Bad news, I'm afraid. If you're already feeling upgraditis after your first ride, you bought the wrong bike. When buying stuff, always buy as high up the food chain as you possibly can. The cost of buying slightly lower down the food chain and then upgrading is always higher than the cost of just biting the bullet and buying what you really want to start with. The good news though, is that at least upgrading a bike is fun!

The Hub classifieds is a great way to keep the cost down. It also helps if you have a good relationship with your LBS. Deon at Cyclefunatic lent me a Specialized Romin which I used to ride the Burger with. By the end of the race I felt like a new prison initiate. I've tried the Arione, and didn't really get along with it. Selle Italia SLR was lightweight and blingtastic but hateful, although some love them. There was at least one other Selle Italia that I failed to get on with. Fi:zik Aliante felt nice, but chafed around the edges, which was a pity 'cause it's a great saddle to sit on (for me), and I still have one on my MTB. Fi:zike Pave was slightly narrow, although no chafe issues. Currently trying a Selle Italia Flite TT...fingers crossed it might be a keeper. I rode a three hour ride on Sunday and finished in relative comfort, although I still need to get the fore/aft and tilt 100% dialled in. My difficulty has been in finding a saddle that doesn't chafe on the edges. I know I could use some butt lube (oooh, look, we're back at prison jokes!) but I expect to be able to be comfortable without when I ride for between 6 and 10 hours a week. (Edited 'cause I got confused between Arione and Aliante.)

A good weekend involves hitting that (in a non-violent, tender yet enthusiastic sort of way) and also hitting the single-track. But not together. That would be wrong.

No two butts are the same. Saddle setup is therefore as personal as setting up your significant other. Expect it to take hours, involve lots of false starts, setbacks and heartache. But when you get it right expect feelings of deep contentment, satisfaction, smugness and awesomeness. There is no charge for awesomeness. Make small adjustments (I'm focusing on saddles now), and keep track of what you're changing so you can return to previous setup if you need to. And ignore people who tell you what saddle you should be riding, unless they are your identical twin they do not know of what they speak. The saddle is the one piece of bike kit where price is not even a vague clue as to how happy you will be. The saddle that made me happiest was a cheap, no-name brand saddle on a Raleigh...and there have been many, many saddles since.

"Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools."

You guys should have waited 24 hours. I had a great ride this morning, with my usual training partner. We parked at Newport Deli and rode over Llandudno, Constantia Nek, Ou Kaaps, Chappies, Suikerbossie and back to Newport Deli for brekkie. There was some wind along the coast, but not unbearable and puh-lenty peeps out on their bikes. Note to denizens of the Atlantic seaboard: smile and wave boys, smile and wave. It'll hurt at first, but your muscles will soon loosen up.

If ever there was a tat that failed the rocking chair test, that has to be it!

Dude, have you forgotten the calibre of woman that I married? She knows me well.

Giant make a sturdy plastic seat, with foam rubber cushioning, which worked well for son of bikemonster. The child is old enough when they are aware enough to enjoy the ride and can hold onto the t-bar handle bar thingie - somewhere around 18 months is prolly a good start.

I suspect you have much to learn about how this stuff acshly works. Nothing signals your desirability as clearly as the fact that another person finds you desirable.

Anybody tried Tufo tubular clinchers?

Speaking as a dad, I can confirm that being accompanied by a tiny person is indeed a babe magnet. (It doesn't work if the mother of the child is in close attendance for obvious reasons.) You see, it sends all the right signals to ladypersons' genetically programmed nesting instincts: 1. You are virile. See this gorgeous child which I have fathered! 2. You are not comitment-phobic. See how I care for this child! 3. You have a tender side. See how gently I treat this child! 4. You are able to provide. See how well dressed and healthy this child is! 5. And this is a biggy in Cape Town...you are straight. See this child and know that I fathered this child through carnal knowledge of a woman...I like ladygardens!

You trying to lose your man card? Why not go the whole hog and have a manicure and facial while you're about it? Note - I have absolutely no idea what these things are, but Mrs bikemonster rates them highly...

So you can! So I did. Dang anti tarrists!

Bah! Voted and then saw you were being all dirtist. Sorry, didn't mean to mess up your poll so early on.

Stewie I'm pleased you took my robust reply in the sense in which it was intended. I think that we (Hubbers) have broadly similar goals: if you're riding league you want to be ahead of your competitors. If you're in the alphabet soup, your goals are likely to centre on the time you record. But in either case, there are bigger goals (enjoyment, scenery, fitness) which do not evaporate just because the main goal has disappeared. As a f'rinstance, my training partner punctured in the One Tonner. We stopped, swapped tubes and rode on. Sure we'd lost the bunch we were with, and our plans of a "good time" went down the road with them. But we were able to carry on and enjoy the rest of the ride. I've ridden with Airbender a number of times, and I'm pretty sure that his prime goal is always a good day out.

Cheer me up! Unless you're being paid to ride your bike, we do this for fun. We are not Cipo-like prima donnas who get whisked away in the team car as soon as things don't go our way. Well, I am not. Your mileage may vary. Newsflash: We are funriders. Sure we talk of this race and that race, but really, we do it to be out having fun on our bikes. If I puncture I don't want to regard my day as over just because I am not going to finish with my start group. Some folks may be losing the sight that we get to ride in some of the most fantastic countryside the planet has to offer, and that is worth enjoying for its own sake. (Not sure if this last bit applies to those who live in Getagun.)

IM berry - he's also freakishly outsized splendidly tall, and I think he rides a Scott.

Quick question: Have you or anybody you know ever punctured while on a ride when there was no team car with spare wheels in attendance? If you answer "yes" to this question, then you prolly don't want tubbies. My Ksyrium SL's are up for sale, with new bearings and serviceable GP3000 tyres...

And how is all of this affected by the notion that going up a hill means accelerating (against gravity) whereas riding at constant speed on the flat is not accelerating?

Bah! Deleted my sarky comment 'cause I hadn't read your comment properly.

The key part for me was rubbing the water into the mesh. I'd always run water over the mesh, but it seems that is not enough.

There are a couple of tricks to getting the wearlink to work properly. One of them is to machine wash it from time to time. I chuck mine in the shower to rinse every time I wear it, and in the machine once a month. The one that I worked out for myself, and which seems to work, is to rub water into the mesh part before putting the thing on. Since I've been doing this, it works 100%. Before I worked out this trick it would take from 5 - 10 minutes before it picked up my pulse.

And that's just one of the reasons why I don't go to church!

That's not quite accurate. Horses sweat. Gentlemen perspire. Ladies glow!