Jaco Steyn

Very informative reads I stumbled upon. What & When to Drink to Ride Longer Exactly What to Eat and Drink After a Ride

I think you're right about that. Perhaps one banana probably isn't enough for a 3 hour, 85km bike ride. I admit I do tend to not eat enough when out cycling.

Yesterday I had a true taste of the effect that heat, and wind has on cycling. I could not join our regular club ride on Saturday morning and went out on my own on Sunday morning. I did check the weather prediction for the day, which did indicate high temperatures and 25-30km/h winds, so I decided to go out early and by about 05:15 I was out on the road. I went out on a route I have done many, many times, cycling from Sasolburg to Parys and back, a round trip of just over 80km. The first warning sign was when I saw my cycling computer showing a temperature of 28 degrees even before I got to Parys, and constantly battling the wind, which came from the side. Arriving at Parys, I stopped and i ate a banana and had some Energade. Whist cycling from Sasolburg I regularly had a sip of my water bottel which had an electrolytes tablet dissolved in it. Before venturing back I thought about topping up my liquids at the shopping center's toilets, but thought I had a enough to get back home. That bad decision was a big mistake. About 13 km from home, I depleted all of the fluids I had. And my cycling computer indicated a temperature of 34°C. Plus I had the side-wind that did not help me at all. At about 5km from home my mouth and throat were totally parched. When I got back into Sasolburg I stopped at the Shell garage, filled my 750ml bottle and completely drained it within a few seconds. I refilled it, and then took on the last 3km back to home. Arriving back home, I had a glass of water with an electrolyte tablet dissolved in it, and also a big glass of ice-cold water to rehydrate. I was totally out of energy when I got back home. This morning my upper leg muscles are a bit stiff from yesterday's battle against the wind and enduring the heat. One thing's for sure, I will never ever attempt to cycle back to Sasolburg from Parys without first refilling my water bottles! My almost 62 year old body didn't take too kind to the abuse I subject it to yesterday...🫤

Road bike, 10 Speed Ultegra 6700 (I think🤔). Front big chainring. No idea how many KMs, but was replaced May this year after being used since I got the bike in February 2011. Probably >40 000km. Front small chainring, not yet been replaced. The cassette was replaced 4 times in the ±13.5 years I have had my road bike. Each time an original Shimano cassette, but not always Ultegra. Currently Ultegra 11 - 28 cassette The chain was replaced about the same interval as the cassette. Since day one of owning my road bike, I have only used the Liqui-Moly dry chain lube, but recently switched over the Squirt chain lube. We'll see how that goes.

Unfortunately there was a fatality at the race due to bizarre and very tragic circumstances. Information in the attached newspaper article.

Our cycling club communicated the information which was correct at that specific time. I spoke to some of the event organisers before the race on Sunday, and they told me that the permit authorising the route to go through the SBR reserve only came through Friday afternoon. They have given up hope of getting a permit and put their alternative route plans in place before that, but eventually they could continue with their original planned route.

I entered the 53km race, and by the end of the day I was very glad I did that. I pitied those out on the long route with that absolutely terrible wind. I still suffered even though it was the sorter route, a 53km ride should have been an easy 1:45 - 1:50 for my level of cycling, but only managed to do it in 2:05.

We were informed by our cycling club that the longer (±110km) race will no longer go through the reserve. They are reverting to the older/previous route. I do not see anything about that change on their website.

I received an answer from Spectrum Sport that you can enter on race day, but also, if you enter before the 10th (date of entries closing), they can move your entry to next years event should you not be able to make it on the 13th for whatever reason.

I have no idea, I will e-mail them and enquire.

That information is from the event organiser, which I e-mailed for information and it was sent to me. It's also available on the website: N3TC MEALS ON WHEELS 2024 (myactive.co.za) The information is on the left-hand side of the web page.

For those doing the Meals on wheels race this year, here is some info on this years' race. I am attaching the GPX files for both the 50 and 100 km rides, as well as the route and profiles. MOW202452km.gpx MOW2024107km.gpx

My first username was steynja (surname + initials), simply because it was my login name at work as well. I cannot remember when I changed it to my current one.

Joined October 2006, so I have been a member for about 18 years now.

I'm having a bit of a problem with Cyclelab at the moment. Nothing major, but their lack of feedback is leaving me with a bit of a sour taste. I ordered a Rudy Project helmet from then online, and I was impressed with the speed at which my order was processed and also delivered. Less than 24 hours from ordering to it being delivered. However, according to the description of the helmet, a removable visor should have been included, but it was missing. The image on the website also showed the helmet with a visor attached to it. I emailed them a couple of times now to ask a about the visor, but they are ghosting me. As I have said, not a big issue, but very, very bad way for a business to handle my request.

Just to confirm, is this the battery that you used as the replacement battery? Battery LiPo 200mAh 3.7V - Micro Robotics

What about TEMU? https://share.temu.com/E0jZb2Rd9wA

I cannot personally vouch that it is open, but a colleague of mine rode there on the 29th of June. Suikerbosrand | Ride | Strava

Long road still ahead heading back home.

When I got my Garmin Edge 705 about 10 years ago, this HR strap was included. To this day I am still using that same strap.

Would someone please educate me, I am a very novice when it comes to pro cycling. Why did so many riders cycle yesterday's stage without wearing cycling gloves? Even Tadej Pogačar did not have gloves on.

Spot on! Just before the last couple of big hills on way to the N1/R59 bridge. I recently had some work done on my road bike, and had the cluster replaced with a 11 -28, doing away with the 11-25. What a major difference the 28-tooth cog made on that uphill compared to the 25 that my bike had. Much better for an outoppie of 61 years.😁

Dankie! Maar beslis nie so mooi groen soos in die Wes-Kap nie. Lekker vaal tussen Sasolburg en Parys.

I definitely am a much more drab area of South Africa to cycle in. Not as picturesque as some of the photos I have seen here.

I am using an older iPhone 12 Mini. Still good enough for my needs.