azikara

@pain I think that was my pal Darren that did that Thanks for the replies. CX on the way.

Hi, I'm coming to Cape Town from the US (come pretty often) and I usually bring my road bike for the argus etc. But I'm seriously considering bringing my CX bike where I can swap out clincher tires between road and CX in order to ride trails in the mountains as well as ride the roads. I'm thinking of something like the jeep track that goes from Tokai up into the mountains. I believe this goes to Table Mountain but stand corrected. I've ridden part of that on a friend's MTB but pretty sure the CX bike will be plenty capable up there too since it's not technical at all. What other trails in the area would you consider? Anything out Stellenbosch area? Thanks Tristan

Thanks....still can't believe it.

@Panda CT Now I remember. Didn't you say to me on Boyes, "Don't get dropped!"? Where did you come overall in E? E was a terrific group. I'm guessing the top 4 riders just got away on Chappies because it was a real melee with all the other D and C riders all over the map. I made a bad mistake of not positioning myself well at the base and couldn't see them go. Anyway, happy with my time. Congrats to everyone. Terrific ride.

Was it just me or was E really putting down the hammer up front?

@atraut were you the Brit on the Specialized?

@SirK I was the guy on the Willier who told you that you were an absolute BEAST going up Suilerbossie. I have 2:57:27 on my Garmin but who knows!!! All I did was look for the Bianchi. GREAT effort mate. GREAT ride to all my fellow E-mates. You were all STRONG! I loved it when we rolled through Suikerbossie and the announcer said something like, "OH, there goes D group...blah blah blah..." and then, "OH, and some E's, Those are the E leaders people!!!" Whooo hhoooooo! Best Tristan

Looks like around 3 w/kg. I still had LOTS left in the tank to go hard I was just cramping a bit. Haven't done a hard outdoor ride this year so very happy. This on indoor training only and nothing more than 2 hrs. Actually, that's misleading. 3 w/kg was for 2:57 not for FTP which is one hour. So to re-calibrate, my FTP during the race was only pi (3.14)! So I really DIDN'T need to put down any HARD sustained power for an hour. I only hit a personal best for 4 mins and 50 seconds which was 315 w.

Happy to report: 2:57. Great conditions. Great group. I'm sure there were plenty of fast times.

Happy to report: 2:57

Hi Peter - thanks for the kind words. It actually took some time to write so I am happy someone got something out of it. I started racing last year. Actually the Argus was my first race. I did the Chris Carmichael Time Crunched Cyclist for 11 weeks before the Argus. I did it pretty religiously. I started in T and came third. I got a 3:40. It was basically a TT because there was no one but my two other T guys (who beat me) to ride with and we kept losing each other. In retrospect we should have stayed together. I then returned to Chicago, did two criteriums and a road race and then several more criteriums. I learned a LOT! IF you want to know about criteriums then look at one of my other posts about training. I put some tips in there that I learned the hard way! I am now in E for this Sunday. I can't wait. I'm feeling pretty good and I am stronger than last year. The only thing that concerns me is the duration. I haven't done more than two 3 hour rides this year. Today I did a 2:45 and was quite sore...but something wasn't right. Perhaps the damp weather. Who knows. I still hit some personal bests and was above target on some of my splits. We shall see. The proof is in the race pudding!! I will PM you my surname. Take care and good luck wherever you are riding! T

Good point. I should have qualified this: My comment only applies if you want to be the best cyclist you can be on minimal hours. If you want to do other things that you need other fitness for then your cyclign will take a hit unless you up the hours. It's a trade-off. If you're lifing weights (squats, hip extensions etc) to get stronger legs than I think you can get better fitness doing hill repeats in a BIG gear. But if you want big quads then continue to go to the gym. They won't help your cycling much.

You're more than welcome. Just trying to share what I've learned. Feel free to call bull**** on me! Good luck this weekend if you are racing. Tristan

I have been trying to figure this out. Here's what my coach said: "4 minutes gives you a better workout…And It shows real fitness. I know tons of guys that can do super high ramps because they have super high V02…. But crumble doing longer ramps…. The 4 minutes gives us a better idea of where your fitness is at and you can’t fake 4 minutes at any level. Once it gets to hard… it is obvious. The goal is to see what power you can actually sustain and thrive." Not sure where I could peak on a 1 or 2 min test but defintiely higher than that. I do not think I've been training under because we have not been using this number to set training goals for intervals etc. He has me do a 20 min and 60 min TT to figure that out. My PT is reading 5-6% under (on the stomp test) so for the 4 min MAP I am seeing 303W and my 20 min (Jan 24th) was 279. My FTP is set at 264. Quite happy with this. Went out and rode Chapppies, Smits, Slangkop, Blackhill and Suikerbossie yesterday and felt very fresh. Each time I've done this MAP I've been able to go for 4 mins longer. So definitely things are improving.