Fitter

Is the Roubaix pressfit BB30 (no circlip retaining the bearing) or straight BB30 (allie bb housing with a circlip retaining a bearing which fits straight into the frame)? Sounds like the former so you can use the Campy adapters or you can get a Sram adapter (Pressfit BB30 to BSA adapter). For the former, Campy make straight BB cups. I've used them all, including the press-in sleeve (with loctite). It isn't actually so bad if you use the special drive tool and a proper BB press-fitting tool.

It isn't difficult to understand the different perspectives offered in this thread: Yes, a disaster for the Cape in terms of the fire. And with this kicks in the regional protectionism and generosity and community involvement in dealing with this mayhem. Loss is inevitable and tales of hardship and devastation are inevitable. Against this, the "outsiders" questioning their participation in an internationally recognized bike race that has, as far as they are concerned, massively disappointed their expectations. Seems easy for locals to roll up their shirtsleeves and pitch in and make the most of a bad situation. And with this, little sympathy for "outsiders" whose only involvement is a significant contribution to the annual income of the city of Cape Town. They, too, are admonished to chip in and help. Commendable for those that do, but hardly a sin for those who have sacrificed no small amount in other ways to fund their trip to Argus and are questioning the options. For them it isn't just about the money they drop in Cape Town on Cycle Tour weekend - its about the multiples of that they have to spend to get there. Argus has been around for many years. So have fires in the Peninsula. I can't fault Slowbee for expecting more from a self-proclaimed World Class Event. I suspect there has been no small element of comfort-zoning for the Tour organizers over the many years they have been profiting from participation in their event. To this day the bulk of the participants are from outside Cape Town. I suspect they might be taken a little for granted. I say this because the Argus has long enjoyed pre-eminent ranking as the race to go to. The 94.7 is a pale comparison for it's own reasons. But that doesn't entitle Cape Town to expect automatic continuance of this ranking. Other cities are watching closely to see how they too can create their own money-spinner out of cyclists' wishes to ride/race in pleasant, quasi-vacation surroundings. So places like Durban, with it's growing popularity in races like Tour D'Urban offer a significant challenge as real competition to Argus for those many up-country riders. At a third of the cost and half the attitude? These are simple, pragmatic thoughts. They will manifest more for the travellers on their way home after a 47km ride that might well have cost them between 5 and 10k to enjoy. Next year, before they automatically reach for the mouse to try and squeeze in an Argus entry, the finger might hesitate and then look for alternatives. And so grows the competition.

What you say has merit. The other side of the coin is that we are talking about a lifestyle change for a better overall quality of life. For those wishing to "have their cake and eat it" (forgive the BAD analogy) and hope to adapt AND compete, perhaps they need to make a clear call on what is more important in the long run. And the only real issue with continuing to ingest carbs, irrespective of the quantity, is the issue of "swimming with small sharks". Like any addiction, small sharks remain dangerous and seldom stop growing ...

It is called "The Decarb Diet" - by Howard Rybko. It pretty much encapsulates most of what you will require ITO taking your LCHF forward. It's important for you to decide what you want out of the lifestyle. If it is weight control, then frankly your ability to regulate your weight will be almost exclusively determined by what goes into your eating regime. If you want to max out your feelings of wellness and maintain good health, then frankly, pretty much the same. I also fall into a smaller group who are committed to this for the above 2 reasons and also because, as a coach of endurance athletes, I am convinced of the efficacy of stored-fat fueling for these disciplines. And the human physiology is so complex, we can only go on heuristic anecdotes as data accumulates. For these reasons we advocate initially attacking all carbs as a means of kick-starting the ketogenic process. This means avoidance of all things like oats and honey, if for no other reason than that it feeds the addictions and will have an insulin response that slows fat-fueling. There is nothing preventing us, later on, from reintroducing selected carbs into the system and monitoring our responses to them. We also believe strongly in Omega 3 supplementation and Vitamin D supplementation.

You're forgetting #1 - sugar.

Well the weight loss and energy bounce-back is positive. The only medication a doctor would prescribe would be a statin or similar. Trust me you would rather take rat poison than a statin. And I take a statin daily (there are residual complications coming off them once you have been on them for a long time - and I am now in my 19th year on statins. But my dosages are low). Keep doing what you are doing. My business partner is an MD and an authority on LCHF - he has a great book out on the subject - and he would give you a completely different interpretation of your results compared to your doctor. Remember that statins represent a 44 billion dollar industry to the establishment health industry - from prescribing doctors thru to pharmaceutical companies and dispensing pharmacists.

The answer depends entirely on whether you buy the "Elevated LDL = CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) theory, or more simply, "High Cholesterol = Death By Heart Disease". For some of us, these numbers might be alarming. For others, like myself, NO they are NOT. Fairly normal ITO the Banting eating pattern. And I'll qualify my statement by saying I have pretty extensive personal experience with CHD. Important to note is this: Your triglycerides are down. Your HDL (supposedly "good" cholesterol) is up. Your LDL is elevated and the ratio total is up. Modern research tells us that in fact these are by and large positive results. The only issue (from a traditionalist, HCLF standpoint) is elevated LDL and total ratio. Lower tri's is massively important from a CHD POV, as is elevated HDL. The issue with LDL: is that the latest research tells us that we need to distinguish LDL particle size/density when looking at LDL effects on CHD. So not all LDL is "bad". Only the small/dense LDL particles are associated with deteriorating CHD. So, blah, blah over - good numbers there sonny!! Normal response for this type of eating lifestyle. BTW have you experienced any weight loss/gain? Any other side effects from the LCHF that might explain you continuing with it? After many years battling with/managing CHD I did my homework, went LCHF and vowed to never check my cholesterol ever again.

If you are being strict LCHF then don't succumb to the temptation of introducing carbs irrespective of the reason. Yes your body, after how many decades of fuelling on easy-access carb/sugar, will require some significant adaptation before you are able to significantly fuel on stored fat. So hang in and rather adapt your expectations IRO energy output while you engage in the process of altering fuel supply.

Hi Dave, My post isn't a criticism of this thread as an implied sidestepping of training. As you point out, if you have been through a keto adaptation you will be quite aware that training doesn't quite continue as normal. Nor does the training and racing that follows. Hence this thread as an attempt to share heuristic knowledge of LCHF bicycling. However there are numerous posts here from relative newcomers to Banting, cycling and conditioning. I am merely reminding that these are co-dependant pillars of performance - nutrition and the conditioning/training cycle are closely related. I'm not sure we have a handle on the nature of this "new" balance just yet. My recent experience with a group of Epic and IMSA athletes has been to thoroughly confuse my understanding of the impact of nutrition types on extended endurance performance. What has stood out is that the saving grace has been proper conditioning saving the athletes from failure, especially in tough conditions with strict cut-off times. And until we have some proper clinical trials we are merely speculating as to the nature of the benefits of LCHF. Personally, i have no doubts that Banting is beneficial to humans across so many spectra. We just need to be careful that we continue to adapt conditioning to diet and vice versa, if only because so much of what we think we know about performance has developed in a world where HCLF was the accepted dogma.

This correspondence on the increased popularity of the Banting lifestyle is welcome and long overdue. I run a fitness/coaching facility and have a business partner who is a published author on LCHF. We have been promoting this lifestyle for some years now and have a pretty good understanding of the ins and outs of Banting. But we also need to understand the wider implications of what Banting can or can't do: It cannot replace proper conditioning if we want to go and race bikes. It cannot bolster lack of fitness, irrespective of the weight loss benefits. One of the tenets of modern Banting and the foundation of its popularity goes to the very reason we exercise in the first place - to control/reduce weight. And since there is so little link between exercise and weight loss, the fact that we can lose weight without exercising just spurs us on in our sport/recreation to continue performing better. But we shouldn't forget that proper conditioning and recovery are co-pillars, along with proper nutrition, in our quest to go faster. Much of what I read here bypasses this element and I do believe it needs mentioning. We often mis-diagnose "bonking" as a breakdown in nutrition when sometimes it can be a combination of nutrition and recovery/conditioning.

Boris, you have been riding at a high level for long enough to know what works and what doesn't - you have endurance titles in your palmares. I could not agree more with what you are saying, and I have a bit of grysbaard to show as well. Interval training for an endurance event like Epic, now, in November leaves me with one huge question: Where to from here? I'm not interested in handpicked scientific literature from researchers, themselves looking at handpicked data to arrive at predetermined, handpicked conclusions. Did any of them ride a Tour or a multi-stage or were they constrained by the laboratory and the sample data they viewed? Simply put, NOTHING will prepare you better, viewed as a whole, than LOTS of base/capacity work NOW. This whether you are going for podium or just for a finish. The quality of your base quantity alone will determine the quality of your eventual peak. And if you are deep into refinement (interval) training now, your chances of maintaining the critical MENTAL freshness and buffering of your immune system is so compromised you are gambling with your health and performance. And how do you manage recovery/fatigue? In truth, there are many ways to skin a cat. But the old-time cat-skinners always get the job done right, on time, every time. We also cannot forget the critical importance of systemic efficiency - be it pedalling efficiency or fuel-recruitment efficiency that comes with long, steady distance. For most of the field, Epic will be about long days in the saddle. And a korporaal intent on teaching a troepie about opv@k.

Brother Dangle is a hard man, so understand his position. I'm a bit more lenient so I'll say the Phenom might not be the answer if you are 99kg. It also depends for how long have you been going big hours? Typically everyone gets sore sitbones in the beginning (and we also need to be VERY careful about what we mean by sitbones). No doubt the cement and time will help but if you have been doing this for a month and still have tender bones, a softer saddle might help.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree completely. In most cases reduced bloodflow CANNOT be "felt". Increased nerve pressure can be "felt" and this is the typical numbness associated with pressure. This is the fault many saddle users make - they don't properly distinguish between the separate issues of numbness (typically increased pressure on the nerves running through the symphysis) and restricted blood flow (often present but very difficult to isolate through "feeling"). So it is possible to have numbness but no restriction in bloodflow, or lack of numbness but quite severe restriction in bloodflow. And it takes a little more than guesswork or "personal experience" to establish this. Anyone who has participared in penile blood flow testing with bicycle saddles will tell you this. The results are scary, to say the least. So in the interests of not causing more harm through well-meant but incorrect advice, rather see an experienced bike fitter or get yourself measured and then begin the shop with an appropriately sized saddle. Everyone has a different ischium/ramus shape so some trial may be necessary. But with no results guaranteed on the bloodflow issue ..... Also ask men who bike a lot and suffer from chronic prostatitis how bike setup is able to resolve many of their issues. Or trawl for the studies on erectile disfunction and bicycles.

No doubt the OP's pal had the helmet just fall apart while safely stored in a case? Sure. Specialized SA has a helmet replacement plan (for accident breakages) for helmets purchased in SA. All others fall within the helmet warranty terms as outlined in the thread earlier. Warranty covers manufacturing defects, not breakages whilst transporting from the USA. Frankly, a typically asinine, ridiculous rant from another ignoramus looking to paste blame on any target but the proper one. And this was explained to you over the phone.

Hey Boris, all bikers are tough if they ride tough. I was quietly hoping someone would bring up Johnny Hoogerland as an example of tough. No-one did so I just did.....

So do you think Saxo Bank, Astana, Highroad, Quick Step use BG Fit or Ergo Fit/ErgoMax??? In fact some Leopard riders are still using their BG setup data from before. One os a predictive fit based on a computer assimilation data set (using advenced something or other) and the other is a dynamic fit process developed by the godfather of bike fit - Andy Pruitt.

What on earth makes you think the Roubaix isn't a racing bike? It is - of the highest calibre. As mentioned above, Roubaix is designed with different racing in mind - more endurance racing on any surface while Tarmac is a fast-steering, short-wheelbase crit-type bike. On steeper routes Tarmac will feel livelier, on more demanding routes, Roubaix will be less demanding. Key is to get properly set up on both. Simply replicating fit from one to the other might not work as the geometries are different but you should be able to get comfortable on both. That being said, Roubaix will always be a more compliant ride. And you fit bike to the rider, not the rider to the bike.

Well now he can access one of the few internationally qualified bike fitters in the country.

Simply put, knee pain of the type you mention, if associated with cycling, is obviously fit related. The causes can be MANY, from saddle height or fore-aft to saddle sizing, biomechanical asymmetries, neural asymmetries, foot asymmetries, cleat angulation or positioning. However, a good fitter will be able to assess this dynamically and be able to rectify it. Obviously, underlying injuries might need to be sorted out first, but if this is becoming chronic, get a fit.

David, what you say is correct but there is a little more involved: Getting the stem length/height is crucial to fixing overall hand pain issues, BUT, often pain in one hand only is associated with saddle issues. Normally this is because the rider is not sitting square on the saddle - you know how to check for this - often it is a leg-length discrepancy issue or it is because the rider is reaching too far down to the pedals and this causes displacement to one side. Dropping the saddle often cures this.

It seems these days everyone is a bike fitter. That being said, there are really only a handful of people in SA who have bothered to subscribe to a recognized bike fit training course. In particular, these include the fitter at the new shop in Tokay (Debbie) and David Nel who posted here earlier (Pretoria). These are certified BG Fit technicians and are trained to assess customers properly as well as conduct proper dynamic bike fittings. They have knowledge of the most structured and advanced dynamic bike fitting system currently in use - the BG Fit developed by Andy Pruitt the "godfather " of bikefit and run in conjunction with the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. Any "formula" fitting system, irrespective of the advancement or otherwise of its algorithms, relies on measurements and computation to arrive at a fit. The fit then is simply an algorithmic interpretation of commonality averages. Since so many humans are anything but average, the best you get out of a fit like this is .... an average fit. Any fit that does not include as critical components both a customer interview and a detailed physical or functional assessment, is a waste of money, or at best, headed straight for "average". Any fit that is not based on a dynamic fitting process - where the rider can be assessed under varying loads and in different positions - will likely lose valuable insight into that rider's peculiarities and technical asymmetries. This again is heading straight for "average" and a likely recurrence of overuse or repetitive-stress injury. But at all times the customer will be at the mercy of the competence and experiential knowledge of the fitter. This includes any resources the fitter can access. Proper fittings normally involve some seemingly innocuous changes - good fits will invariably incorporate some symmetrical adjustment and these changes need time to settle. The adjustment period is typically around 3 weeks.

Boris that looks like one of the Bizhub team bikes so maybe give John a call.

Yes, well a nice grown-up reply. So, lets review this thread: Boomer (but watch this space) says if you get LBP on a ride its cos you are not fit/strong enough! He knows cos he has popped a wheelie!! But work the core and it fixes. He knows! But that presupposes proper fit. I say if fit is right there is no LBP and hence no remedy required. Boomer doesn't get this so tells us all what a big d1ck he's got!! Yippee. Now we can call him BONER instead. (See the space?) And Boner, the internet is only so anonymous. Don't go posting profile pics that show what a pisher you really are. So I'll say again - go ride some more then we can have a meaningful chat. And to other riders, like myself, who have spinal disabilities or challenges, at least there is refuge in knowing that a good fitter can deal with most of this.

I have a long history of back injury and rehabilitation, including spinal fractures. I lived in this "core" world for long enough trying to solve the issue, without success, before learning (from someone far wiser than myself) that it is best to understand limitations imposed by life and carry on with normal everyday activity with MODERATION as the guide. Then the stabilizers you mention can recruit normally and grow with you. But in a bicycle world, proper positioning rests as the cornerstone to growth and progress.

Trust me, boomster, I dont need your advice on anything, least of all some arb universal truth you derive from the interweb. Broadly speaking, there are two external muscle funtionings involved in this sport: postural musculature functioning - those muscles that centre around the skeleton and which are prioritized by the brain to position our bodies relative to gravity and the world around us, to breathe etc; then there are phasic muscle functionings - muscles that you consciously recruit to perform phasic activities - like cycling. But postural muscles can act phasically and vice-versa. With me so far? We can also consider it moot that NO-ONE has anything approaching symmetry in their physical/physiological or neural make-up. Nor has anyone the perfect spinal posture required on a bike to limit the excessive recruitment of stabilizer musculature to achieve required phasic activity. So we ALL adapt asymmetrically on a bicycle. And asymmetrical adaptation in an endurance phasic activity like cycling has one outcome: overuse or repetitive stress injury. So be my guest and apply this tautological crap about "once bike setup is sorted" to your argument and go work your core up into a frenzy. BUT If bike setup is sorted, as per the cyclist concerned, then there is no need for remedy, is there, boomster? But no doubt you think setup is some destination you can achieve after a visit to someone posing as a fitter. Then work up the core and go race Suzi! Not! Fit is a process that cannot be instantly gratified with core work I'm afraid. I'd suggest you spend a few more years on the bike, then we can have a chat. (I know family of yours has the capacity to google - maybe get them to help you with this bit of reductionist logic, but please, no need to write a report).