bikemonster

I know! There were an awful lot of these... And as many of these...

Johan, you were gnashing teeth about 11 speed on a thread a while back. As this seems to be a suitable time to ask, what gets your back up about 11 speed? I seem to recall reading a long while ago that Shimano had patented up to a 14 speed setup. Isn't this all just part of progress? Ten speed seemed freakishly plentiful when it came out, but now it's pretty much the norm (whatever TF that acshly means). As 11 speed is now becoming sort of affordable for weekend warriors, doesn't that mean 12 speed is just over the horizon?

I see what you did there! And there! Fie you, with your calm rationality and sound explanation when people want to believe. Now, where have I heard that before?

Sadly no-one bit. I did much better over on the disabled parking thread. B)

You'll find the 'Caps Lock' key on the left of your keyboard. No need to thank.

Yes, but some of us love our children!

Look up to in terms of cycling? WTF does that mean? Let me spell it out for you: If you want to do well in cycling (or any other sport), the most important thing is to choose your parents well because no amount of training, dedication, commitment or grit will get you on the podium if you do not have physical gifts way out on the skinny end at the right hand side of the bell curve. I thought I'd made it pretty clear that my low opinion of Robbie Hunter had nothing to do with his (undoubted and uncontested by me) achievements as a cyclist. And I made those points because Boet held him up as a role model - which is something that transcends sport. Good role models are people who have strength and fortitude of character, which may or may not coincide with success in sport.

Nicely done! Many years ago, back when the Internet was all just trees, there used to be "SA Cyclist of The Year" award. One for men, and one for women. No distinction between various two wheeled pedal powered disciplines. That year, Robbie Hunter became the first South African to ride the TdF. And Greg Minnaar won the DH World Cup. Here on Planet Earth, nobody was terribly surprised that Greg won SA Cyclist of the Year. Robert Hunter was not impressed, spat his dummy, chucked his toys and generally behaved like a spoilt brat. Even to the extent of claiming that he would do a better job of riding a DH course than GM would do riding a road race course. For that arrogant petulance, and regardless of what he has done in the rest of his career, Robert Hunter will remain, in my view, a total and utter cock socket, and as far from a role model (I'm looking at you Boet) as it is possible to be.

Better, I think.

Three years is too small for a "proper" bike. At that age they do not have the co-ord, self-preservation or strength to operate brakes. Those two-wheelers do look like fun, but FWIW, the bikemonsterlet rode a tricycle from age three, and a JD Razor scooter from about 4, and got his first bike at age 5. He went out and rode, no training wheels, from the day he got it. YMMV!

If I drove a Ford I'd also wish and hope that I'd lost the key.

...and then... Looks pretty simple to me: drop the harder training, bring the fun back and watch your results bounce back. Reading between the lines, I would say that either you decided off your own bat that you should be training harder, or you adopted a "one size fits all" training programme.

Go for what's current. And that means 10 speed. I can understand not upgrading. You won't be any faster after the upgrade, but you may find your bike more "comfortable", as you will be more likely to find a right gear at any speed. But to upgrade to something that is behind the curve makes no sense to me. A typical 10 speed cassette is a 12-25, which will have 12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-23-25. In the bigger gears (smaller sprockets), the jumps are 1 tooth, which means that you have a good chance of finding a gear ratio that lets you spin at whatever cadence works for you, over a wide range of road speeds. To cover the same range, an 8 speed cassette would likely have something like 12-13-15-17-19-21-23-25. (Although that is just a guess.)

If all you get is 0 km/h then the likely culprits are: 1. Magnet too far from sensor. If you move the magnet past the sensor, if you are in a very quiet room you should hear the reed switch clicking across. 2. Broken wire. This happened to me once after I stacked a MTB. I've had a cheapy once that lasted forever. Other than that, Sigma always worked well for me before I went Polar.

Oh boy! Now you're gonna get it! I once made a similar suggestion. If I'd suggested that Mother Theresa was a crack-dealing hooker who killed kittens I think the reaction would have been gentler. I hope you have a large hat with a broad brim, 'cause there will prolly be a sh!t-storm.

Attention mitychondrion...you are no longer 15m off course...you are now 1500km off course. Killarney is the racetrack in Cape Town. Kyalami is the racetrack near Midrand. As you were...

There! Fixed it for you. No need to thank.

From what I have seen, my own riding and that of buddies', it's not so much that there can be too much riding, but not enough of other stuff. The most important of the other stuff is rest - it's during rest that you get stronger in response to the work that you've done training. As a sub-vet, you've prolly got a job, likely a wife/gf and possibly other social opportunities. Time spent riding your bike is time spent not doing any of that other stuff. Is cycling worth all that to you? (And only you can answer that question.) Also, as a sub-vet, you're not going to be turning pro any time soon. If your training routine ceases to be fun you have to ask yourself what you are hoping to get out of it. Take the long term view - do you want to still be cycling in 10, 20 or 30 years' time? If you do, will 16 hours of riding a week now get you there, or will it get you burned out and gatvol with cycling? How have you decided that more TITS is the answer to your cycling ambitions? It's not a linear relationship - beyond some point, more TITS does not equate to better racing performance. If it's racing you want to do, I would suggest train for racing by racing more. Do the Wed crits at Killarney for starters. And as ever, be wary of anybody who can look at your programme, and make sweeping statements without knowing anything about you.

That's all you need to know. Some other stuff that may help: 1. Offroad distances are "twice as far" as on-road distances. 2. Too much is when it stops feeling fun. For me, that's usually more than 3 times a week. When I'm on leave I will happily ride every single day, alternating long and short rides. Like cycling, life is all about balance. 3. Time off the bike - you will start to lose your "edge" after about a week. After more than two weeks or so, it may take an act of will to get back into a cycling routine. But if you're away from the bike for any reason, don't beat yourself up about it, just get back to it. 4. Have fun. As long as you're having fun, you'll want to ride your bike. Good luck with reaching your goal. Update this thread as you go so we can follow your progress.

You seem to have forgotten that Ali Baba outwitted the 40 thieves. The alibaba site is a marketplace site. No more, no less. Finding a rotten apple there and blaming the site is about as intelligent as blaming Google because it found a scam site. Caveat emptor.

Just when you were winning friends you had to go and do that. Whenever a product is backed by "testimonials" it's bogus. Magnets round your car's fuel lines? Hell yeah, they've got testimonials up the wazoo. Took a risk in launching something you'd identified a demand for? Where's the risk? Especially when they cost pennies and sell for plenty. You mention trials, research and tests. Do you have links to any of them? And are any of them proerly carried out double-blind trials, published in suitably trustworthy sources? (Hint: Something on the manufacturer's website is not likely to be worth much.) Things that work do not require people to "believe in the concept". Snake oil on the other hand does require people to "believe in the concept". There are clearly quick bucks to be made in parting fools and their money, but it's hard to build a brand on that strategy. Even if your name is Verimark!

I'm not sure that lactating threshold is quite what you meant, but you are right, training to a programme is a great way to take the fun out. If you're a pro or a full-on race snake it has its place. If you're cycling for fitness and fun, not so much. PPA races will provide enough intervals and will give you a good yardstick of your progress. For all your other rides, ride with people who have similar abilities and aspirations to yours. You'll all end up pushing each other and improving, without losing sight of the fun. Riding harder and faster on the hills will make you harder faster on the hills. But beyond a point, all training contributes to all other riding. I'm guessing you don't ride alone, and riding with one or more riding partners has an awful lot going for it, but makes it impossible to stick to a proper, training program tailored to your own requirements. At the risk of boring you - have fun and enjoy yourself and everything will come as long as you're riding your bike. The only point which is the opposite of my philosophy of fun above all is this: Train to your weaknesses and race to your strengths.

14 year olds? Round here we get grown ups. People with the vote, jobs, mortgages and 14 year olds of their own who are "equally gullible". Give it a while and one of them will come along and tell you how well it works. And then you can join the rest of us all in pointing and laughing.

Yes, but which one are you? Miley or Billy Ray? WTF - You'd better be Miley. I'd rather go to jail than to hell for all eternity.

Well, you might, but I would never roger Roger!