ChrisF

I have been using the Vivoactive 4 for about 4 years now. Commuting it is used to record cycling. Walking and park runs are recorded. Same with a range of gym sessions. Hardly ever use a bank card any more, Garmin tap to pay works very good. On the odd occasion I might use it to check the time. Only down side .... when recording 2 to 3 hour sessions per day the battery needs charging roughly twice a week. I am keeping an eye out for a Venue 3 on Black Friday deals. The more videos I watch, the more I realise just how good a deal the Vivoactive 4 was. The current Vivoactive 5 is a ceriously nice piece of kit. Latest pulse sensor on the Vivoactive 5 vs the extra functions on the Venue 3, but wait, the Vivoactive 5 has some nifty new smart watch functions .... they know how to make it a near impossible decision ... And then I realise again how good an entry level unit the Vivoactive 4 is.

If you can only get enough warning when the catch you .... time to pull over for a mechanical ...... Hope all goes smooth and that it is a good one for you 👍

We bought the similar 24-9er Titan end 2019. At the time the price range was very wide, subject to specs ... They had a 1x12, but almost double the price. We bought the 1x9 on special ... and the parts to go 1x11. Got home and upgraded immediately. Think it cost about R11 to R12k all included. Frankly I could rather repurpose that drive train than sell that bike for less than R7k .... but it is a "kids bike", it is a 26" bike .... yada yada .... I should free up space, but cant bring myself to sell it ... should actually use it to trade up to a gravel bike (needs, wants and costs dont allign, yet...) Hope you manage to get a realistic price.

From DC Rainmaker it sounds like very few devices can load to anything but Strava. Or, devices like Polar has limited platforms, without the ability to further export .... Sounds like some serious headscratching for the role players. Thankful that Garmin Connect satisfies my limited needs.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2024/11/stravas-changes-to-kill-off-apps.html It is a long read. Scroll halfway down, where DC adds and discuss the fact that Strava is steadfast in their aim to lock out other apps. It is scary that almost only Garmin owners can carry on on their own, and directly to some of the other apps. I did not realise how much of the market built their model onto Strava only ....

We did the spectator thing a few years back. LOTS of dropped riders. Also many top teams race ahead when one of their riders gets a mechanical. So a fair number of "lone riders" may still be very strong riders ! They were forming new "dropped groups" and powered on as best they could. Must be an interesting ride back with a whole new group around you, but a common goal forging new friendships.

And today I get email feedback from Strava, on the "Auto Edit pop-up" : Hello Chris, Thanks for reaching out. At this time, it is not possible to disable Quick Edit. We appreciate your feedback and I've passed your comments along to the rest of our team. Best, Scott Strava Support Team O-well, only way this gets addressed is if LOTS more people submit feedback about this. Yea sure, not a biggie ..... just in today's electronic age these functions comes standard with an OFF option.

The October I❤️Boobies challenges used Strava as the central event recorder. BUT, each participant had to manually enter their event details onto the I❤️Boobies site. For an auto data upload ... $10k handshake to Strava .... Let's just say Strava is creating space in the market for the next product ....

Do we have to wait till Friday to reply .... 🤣🤣

@patham makes a good point, it really is worth it to invest in some training, especially when starting out in MTB. Sure, as we push the limits you do go over the edge of the berm, thats part of learning. But a ton of scrapes and bruises can be avoided by basic skills training. Enough riding buddies out there that can give you a 30 minute session before heading out onto the trails. Then session a few bits of the trails to hone in those basic skills. Also, fatigue is a blood thirsty monster .... my stupidist and potentially worst accident was after 3 hours on the trails, HOT, tired, foggy ... actually stopped to pour water over my head, but just a bit as I had to keep the rest for drinking. Shook it off and about 1km further I went airborn over an A-frame .... DONT ignore these near heatstroke symptoms ... in fact, the hotter, the earlier you start sipping water, regularly.

I have a set of T-handles on the side of the tool trolley. Second drawer is dedicated to an assortment of bits, Spinner, T-handle torque wrenches, a 4-12(?) N.m torque wrench. For the bigger torque items I go to the car tools. I managed to get a case with an assortment of bits ... those non standard bits that can turn a small d.i.y. job into fun. This is also in drawer 2. Makes life a LOT easier when everything is at the ready. Oooo, and if you get an ebike ... a 5mm hex bit in an extension is kept at the ready .... only way to backpedal the chain.

Very wide range of decent helmets from R900 .... Do consider MIPS technology, or similar from various brands. I was more than surprised by the price range available at Specialized bike stores. Not all heads are shaped the same .... some helmets just dont fit, others just work.

I do believe my Kickr Core works on this principle. Dont know how/if my Garmin can tap into that information like it can on typical sensors. Which effectively means that I can only record time, cadence and heart rate on my Garmin during an indoor ride - more accurately, I dont know how to record more directly onto the Garmin. The physical file dump of the fit file seems the only way to get all the data back to Garmin Connect. Which is okay for a non-Vitality user. Do wonder though if this works for Vitality users.

Any chance of a regular Sunday ride overlapping with a part of the race route ? Or actually poeple (let's not correct this spelling mistake) that ride the race without paying ? Around here it happens that a normal weekend route overlaps with one or other event. With the one-tonner I knew it in advance and actually went trail riding instead.

Size of that tube ? (glo my spares is vir die grootter fietse, maar sal gaan krap)