Robrider

Ha, I love these posts of yours Johan. It has been a while. I agree with you on 99% of it. I agree gyro forces play no role. I disagree with what you said about gyro effects in the corner. The gyro effect has an initial effect as you lean. But once the wheel is "leaned" the gyro effect stops. This to me means that in a long corner you would have trouble steering. I think gyro has little to no effect, even in a corner. To answer bergboks question, I think it comes down to stability of the bike design. For example, when you turn a corner in your car and let go the steering wheel, it automatically straightens out. I think this effect keeps a bike upright. As the bike leans to fall over, the bars tilt into the corner and self correct the balance.

Never heard of it until you mentioned it. But there are a few obvious problems from the onset. My thoughts are: Base training (LSD) at a fairly low HR (zone 2 on most systems) is well established to build aerobic endurance. By itself will not create peak fitness. A periodised approach which starts with base and moves to higher level abilities and specific race like work outs does create peak fitness. Every one's HR is different. Some have naturally high and some have naturally low. So any specific number minus age has as much chance being right as being wrong. So I would say, find your OWN zone, instead of using a formula. As for you question, does it work... Its like building a pyramid. The larger you build the base, the higher you can build upwards.

We often go for a week end to the mpumalanga races. Sabie Barberton Forest2falls (graskop) Induna (Hazyview) Also other areas in weekend traveling distance Hilton/Natal area has some awesome rides Clarens Those are all worth the drive and are much better than the Gauteng races. Take the family and make a week end out of it.

Gotta start by telling us if road or MTB

+1

Hey Sounds great. Live in Weltevreden park, around the corner. I'm fairly strong on the bike and my wife rides a lot too. Sometimes ride around Northcliff in the morning or commute to work. Always riding somewhere on the week end. Would be great to join a group to add more options for training partners.

I use it for longer rides. For stage races it is indispensable. Saw someone at j2c pull out after day 8 because of saddle sores. They had one single easy day left, but they couldn't do it. Heartbreaking. Edit to add: Important rule - Never ever double dip. What you take the first time is what you put on...

I really loved the race. Didn't have the best one though. Was feeling great and doing really well until punctured repeatedly. Went through quite a few tubes (after the tubeless had given up), so thanks to the guys who lent me tubes. I was desperate and will pay it forward 100 fold! Tough route. Third time I've done it and it seemed tougher than before with that extra 5km loop and those climbs towards the end just after the aqueduct thing. Still really love it and will be back. And what a job by the organisers, well done. Where will the photos be? It looked like they were getting some nice creative shots (not just the usual portrait), so quite keen to see them

Wow! CWC are having a sale on forks...

Elevation using a gps signal is always a bit dodgy. The satellites struggle to pick up the small changes in angle. The better GPS units generally use a barometer to work out altitude changes and ride profiles. In general my route accuracy is pretty good otherwise.

I'm also interested in a bluetooth HR strap for Xmass, and am interested in opinions...? I love using endomundo on my S3, and the HR strap would really make it an excellent "package", if it all works well. I have a fairly cheap Polar (the HR belt is incompatible), but it doesn't do so well for intervals (no lap timer or pre programmed workout), and obviously doesn't have GPS. The 2 disadvantages for me are: 1) I don't (and wouldn't) mount my phone on my bike, so its more for post ride analysis. Having said that, its great for running and with HR would be great on the indoor trainer. 2) I have to carry an expensive phone around. I used to just carry an old cheap nokia, if something happened to it I don't care.

Yeah, I did one session on knobblies and it took a significant amount of the tread off, as well as being noisy as hell. I bought the cheapest slicks I could find, and its been all good for nearly 2 years.

First 10k, now 15k... soon you will be looking at 20k My opinion on the first 3 bikes, quite a few people say that merida frame is the best, I disagree there. Merida TFS can be compared to the GT avalanche frame, heavier and slightly more relaxed geometry. Zaskar is more equivalent to the Merida HFS - lighter and more race like geometry.

Hydraulic brakes are one of the best upgrades. Only problem is like Mojo said, if your hubs cant take rotors, you will need to replace your wheels, which can get quite pricey. When it was time for me to make that upgrade I eventually went the route of upgrading the whole bike instead.

So what frame is it a 'blank' of? and are you sure the QC is the same? You use the term "in all probability", so it sounds like you don't know what QC you are even comparing with. That's not enough for me, like you said each to their own. For me its not about the brand name at all. I would ride an unbranded frame if it came from the registered company, at least I would be sure of the product instead of guessing. How much was it out of curiosity, if you don't mind sharing? You sound like weight is a concern for you.... KCNC ti pro light... 119g (and aluminium )

If you can get a 1200g aluminium mtb frame, why would you want a cheap Chinese carbon one that weighs more and potentially has more problems. Not for me thank you

Dumbass. Wish I had my GoPro, it was spectacular. 4. Don't fall off your bike when there is absolutely nothing on the path.

I disagree with most of you. You cant try 2 different bikes and blame the shifters. You also can't upgrade the shifters and say its amazing (chances are you replaced the cables too). 90% of the time the problem in poor shifting is in cable wear and correct set-up. Put continuous cables or good cables like xtr and I will put money down that they will shift just as well as XT.

I agree, but also think your previous levels of fitness would play a role in "the comeback" (sounds like a movie title). If your maximum training before was one 35km ride on the week end then building up to that in 4 weeks might be a bit quick. If, before your lay off, you have done epic training of 2 hours a day plus 5-6 hours on week ends, then building up to 35km is quite conservative.

There's quite a lot of research done on this. Look on Joe Friel's blog and do a search, he has summarised it somewhere there. You will definitely start losing fitness straight away, but I think you lose the short duration power (high intensity) first and your base endurance takes longer to reduce.

If you don't mind me asking, How much did it come to with photo-chromatic lenses with prescription?

I don't know if this is a stupid question... what does the RX insert look like? Is it like the adidas insert? cos I don't like that one.

But then you would still be riding on the road

The logic is missing there... The number of children pedestrians killed by motorists has also increased. So... um... cars are hitting everyone more often, not just cyclists.

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