Opc_danny

This is great. I think one also has to look at the total quantum of riders in the various CATS ie A / VA / VB / VC etc Would be nice to do a comparison between that as well. I raced in the VB CAT and we had not more than i'd say 55 people, there were around 5 teams and the rest were individuals, i felt the first half was super slow as there were no attacks and the guys were rolling and talking until Woodmead where things started to happen and the teams started to jostle around and positioning became important. I led the pace up into the kyalami track until we entered where the first major attack happened from Bekker Steel, we all as a group managed to group up again by the end of kyalami and everyone sat up and hugged and hi fived each other and spoke about the rest of the plans for the day was. The exit of kyalami saw the 2nd big attack and this split the group into two, i unfortunately was part of the latter however we managed to bridge this gap on the way to Witkoppen. I personally held on until the climb up until Dunkeld where that was the end of the day for me. I solod from Dunkeld all the way until Nasrec alone where the VC leaders caught me, I moved over and let them thru, the rest of the VC peloton guys caught me just before the finish. This race illustrated to me that numbers are so important, and also if you get dropped and you are dropped with 10-15 guys, your pace is not entirely lost and you can work well together to get to the finish. Riding alone from Dunkeld into that headwind after trying to close down attacks were just super hard and I was spent by the time i got home. Nevertheless the A batch guys were flying yesterday, my mate was so stoked as he wanted to break a sub 3 and landed up doing a 2.29.

Love my Garmin Varia. Gives you that peace of mind for sure.

Thank You. Spot On

That presentation gets me all excited for the next three weeks of some brutal racing. Glad to see MVP on the starting line, just adds another dynamic to the norm of these tours. Lets go!!!!

Hey bud, If this is the same Valencia in Nelspruit, I have been to their actual shop so it should be legit, best is to call them.

I wonder if there is going to be a late call for Gautengs this weekend. I hope we can still do it.

So on a flat road i would have to increase cadence and be in a much higher aerobic state to generate those amount of watts (Watts are watts yes) however you can generate 300watts at 65 cadence or 105 cadence pretty similar to a car, you can cruise at 120 in 6th gear lower rpm or sit in 4th gear at a much higher rpm. Now what would make the hill harder is doing that interval at say 130% of ftp then yes hr will increase but once again get over that hill onto a flat and see how your body reacts trying to hold 130% of your ftp.

Absolutely this. So if i do a trainer road workout outside and say its 5X12 min at 95% ftp - say i find a section of flat road and decide to start the interval, to maintain 95% ftp im at 95% hr, i do same interval on a climb and my hr is at 70%. If the workout is V02 related i make sure all intervals are done on a flat road to lift the hr and absolutely put myself in the hurtlocker. If its a more torque type lower cadence workout then i will find a decent gradient climb and probably do repeats.

The likes of Van Aert and MVP bring another dynamic to cycling that has not been seen before, the cyclocross backround is throwing a big spanner in the works, its predominantly 100's of little attacks over 1-1.30h race, these guys are built completely different and race differently when they are road racing, if we look back, look how Sagan brought a new dynamic and dominated cycling for a good period because of a mtb backround or cavendish because of a track backround. Anyways lets also remember how MVP blew up at World Champs after putting in a massive unassisted attack to catch the leading group, we dont have to look too far to see how pogacar reeled in nearly 3 minutes to just about catch MVP and nearly steal a ridiculous win considering mvp was 20 minutes slower the day before and well recovered whereas pogacar won the previous stage on a monster of a climb. I rate lets appreciate these balsy attacks from far out, cycling is so great right now that i cant remember watching a boring race in a good while. The youngsters have turned these races upside down and its just great to see right now.

What a very cool race - im just loving what the likes of MVP and WVA are bringing to these races - just creating a buzz like no other and its just bringing the best out of all the riders, guys are not afraid to take chances - this is great.

Yeah highly frustrating I took on the GCN+ subscription to watch all of this (The 50% special ends the 28th Feb)

this is gonna be spectacular

All i need is a fork for mine - what a beauty

That system 6 is something else - coupled with the knot bar and you have a sleek i only want to go fast bike. Its different, bold and the lines are gorgeous. Defo places above the trek for me without trying to be biased and after riding a project one and a system 6. Ultimately they both so good.

If you race and it starts raining its not a bad thing - I think its worth it mate.

Anyone ever get excited to just go and ride no matter what Absolutely love riding this bike.

Absolutely lol but Astra gonna get some tlc soon haha

So after 3 months of sitting in my pain cave, the cannonball got a bit of fresh air. Once again something about this colorway and the stance and presence of this simple bike just does it for me. Im so attached to this bike and both my other Cannondales, would be hard to try another brand. Its just itching to go destroy some climbs.

Time to relocate loool

Its actually amazing everyones taste in bikes, like bar my system 6 mate, all the others seem to think a cannondale is a piece of shyte - i dunno why tho. Anyways as long as you are happy then I guess it does not matter what your mates think.

Im glad the Super 6 cause the system 6 is a mate of mines lol

I thought after lap one Nino was done but what an incredible comeback to get to 4th. Another level of class that. That course looked brutal and that first lap was incredibly fast.

This is good motivation for the riders to win the pink - green - white jerseys at these grand tours lol