Jbr

yes, it was not near .75, I only rode 20mins with that "brand new 2nd hand" chain. I always change my chains the second they reach .75 I put the new cage on top of the plastic platform that held the old cage, and that seals the container that keeps the spring in, the new cage contact point with that platform looks same as on the old one and fits on perfectly. I put the pulleys in the cage thinking they're non directional. When I started troubleshooting that shifting issue I noticed that the closest pulley to the cassette was actually spaced out differently on the one side (closer to the frame), so if I turn it around it will make my problem even worse. On the original cage shifting was better, although I always had that little bit of a weird setup where the limitscrew at the small side of the cassette was barely in contact, I figured it was because someone put a spacer behind my cassette (probably when I had a pair of training wheels setup for my prev bike, the bikeshop must have tried to make them both align with the same derailleur setting) I'll take a couple photos

You could've at least waited 24h, when you posted nobody said anything on this thread about the bike

Next year he should come down with a Ducati Panigale, maybe he'll finally clock in a sub 3 and be able to brag in front of absolutely no one about his achievement

Not sure it is the right topic for this question but not sure either that my question deserves it's own topic. So yesterday I decided to put on some new race parts to start testing the setup a little bit before the next few races instead of crash testing on race day. Good on me, because I'm still fine tuning to get it right. So I replaced my GX AXS cage with a garbaruk cage and in the same time I fitted a fresh XO1 cassette to replace my GX cassette, This setup is a hell of a lot lighter, but the cage doesn't really seem that stiff. Funny enough, it shifts perfectly on all the bigger cogs (where you'd assume cage stiffness plays the biggest part ?), but where it seems not great is the 3 smallest cogs. I tried every B-Gap setting possible to try and get it better, but it's still not great, especially under load. I put a fresh chain on (KMC gold ti, I actually cut it a little bit longer than the previous one (two outer, three inners), it's a lot better, which is a bit surprising because the previous chain was already a freshie from december, as the old one wasn't working on the brand new sram chainring. Questions are : is there a break-in period for a fresh cassette ? I could test with the old cassette see if the shifting on the small cogs is perfect, I might, but I'd find it a bit odd, I can't remember ever having shifting problems on a fresh cassette/chain combo, although the fact that I'm not using an eagle chain could be a factor (cassette says "eagle chains only"). I notice as is that my limit screws aren't event touching, yet the alignement of the derailleur with the smallest cog is almost not "out" enough, which could explain why it's so hard to get the smallest cog "On". I've actually removed a spacer that was behind the cassette, but it's still not quite out enough. I'm now wondering if the garbaruk cage has a tiny different offset or if maybe I put the spring in the derailleur back the wrong way (don't thing there's a way but hey ?) or if it might maybe be a bit tired and needs replacing ? Opinions? Right now it is totally rideable, I just find having to ease of a bit and wait a second to engage the 3 smallest cogs not really acceptable on a top end setup.

??

I’m not following, wasn’t there a new epic released like 3 months ago with a new rear shock system ?

Come on, we were just finishing with the war stories when @babse arrived, wasn't that far behind 😅

ooof, didn't go that far in the analysis. all I can say is that usually I aim to do rougly 390/400w for 3,5/4.5 mins on the main climbs, and yesterday those numbers were waaaaay below that on chappies and suikers, I pretty much did those climbs at 107% FTP 😅. Yet I somehow finished close to the front of the main bunch. 🤷 2‍98 NP / 251 avg / 284 weighted for 70kg. the gap between avg and NP says it all I think. I must say when I rolled to the front of my group at the top of Chappies willing to use my motorbike racers skills to close the gap in the descent and was hit by a block headwind I immediately regretted it 🤣

Yes, agree with you for most CTCT and also mostly for MTB races, but yesterday it was on on the descents too (at least anything past constantia). Not a lot of freewheeling for me in the descents yesterday after loosing touch with the front on chappies and then again suikers 😅

I would've said kind of the opposite, or at least that looking at both help. I find sometimes I have very high NP and low average when I'm either hard on the gas or freewheeling, whereas on a really hard race from start to finish, where you've got to pedal even on the descents, average and weighted average are a bit closer to NP.

Ooookay so, Stage 1 and two the same day, in my opinion, I wouldn't like it, because then it's two high intensity efforts the same day to start with. I must say the usual prologue or TT on day 2 is quite nice actually. I liked it when stage 1 was a sprint stage, then TT, then hill top finishes. Mixing male and women elites, eish. Actually how did they organise it this year ? Losts of 30+ (even many 40+) are stronger than half the elite field, so separating them from the Elite field but mixing the men and women, I don't really see the point of it. Having separate groups is nice because it gives you more chances to 1st : win something, 2nd : have an interesting race. It's less fun when you spend 4 days on the elite train trying to spot if one of your fellow vets isn't checking out among 6 elites, and that you end up only racing on the TT and on the final climb. But that only works when there are enough vets to fill those age cat groups. I would personnally just force any licenced rider to race in their age cat or 1 down if they want to, but no licenced riders in open. And fill the open cat with 1 day licence holders, to make it a proper group where your weekend riders can win something, and not getting smashed by a team of guys who decided they didn't want competition.

what sense of achievement do you get from cheating your way in a sub 3 🤣 I never understood this obsession for sub3s anyways, it's a race, not a TT, but anyways. Worst part of the story is that guy went down chappies during the race? Sounds so dangerous he should be banned for life from any other race.

so sad to read all these stories of people going out of a good time and finishing in an ambulance or worse 😕

Ooof, it's a balance between trying to hold on to a fast group to make maintaining an average quick enough, and not trying to desperately hold on to a group that is going at an unsustainable pace for you, because if you blow up it's game over. So yeah, I guess main thing is know yourself, ride within your limits and just above, but not way above them, and don't forget to eat and drink throughout

yeah, I think I'll train exclusively on the MTB from now on 🤣

on the same note as the person who crossed the road and the kid close to doing the same thing, between kalk bay and simon's town a guy who was probably walking his dog sat on the curb and took pictures of the bunch while his dog, on a not short enough leash was barking at us. At this point we could not see our front wheel as we had the sun straight in our eyes. That and the people taking selfies on the side of the road (sometimes more on the road than on the side of it). Makes you realise how hectic it must be flying through the public at TdF or Roubaix. There's nothing you can do, by the time you see the danger and you brain processes the information you're already 15meters passed it.

Best $ group I’ve ridden in the last 3 tours, maybe due to the fact that it was never slow. No problem of tour de PPA bringing people who can’t ride in that bunch, still dodged a few crashes but didn’t spot any dodgy behaviour ! Great job to the guys shooting the youtube coverage as missing all the main moves in our race though, makes it quite a boring catch up as usual, except this time Hb’s commentary is 👌👌Maybe next year I ride a bit faster so I know what happened in the front 🤣 👌👌

I got peanuts lol. Last year I rode to the start from table view, there was a bit of a headwind which meant my calculations weren't really spot on and I only got there 10 mins before the start but had to muscle my way through 1000 people in all the chutes, the year before we could go straight to the front but last year they wouldn't let me so had to go the long way. Ended up starting the race at 170bpm. Not keen to do the same thing this year. But you are right, if there's one race you want to be properly warmed up for it's cycle tour, because it starts full gas from the gun (or at least from the moment the car lets us race)

Definitely a win yes ! For sure when you put it like this, I don't why I expected to just walk in, drop the paperwork and walk out with two cards, just like the tokai permits system 😅 The old system was just so much easier, you where checked each time you go by the guy at the gate, that issued a day permit. No problem.

lol, so each individual of the family has to go at least twice, on work hours/week day, to finally be able to access the premisses later on during the weekend. Like I said, non sense. Not surprised the gate is completely packed. Must be really nice for the people working there. I'm very excited with the idea to go ride there again with the kids, but it's just not possible for me to drive there so many times on week days, with my wife, possibly my kids, just to get a permit. At least Tokai you can do it on the day you want to ride and ride there right after you did the permit.

I’m hoping they realise this system is nonsense and revert back to the old system

20 cars long queue at 14:15… no thanks

Great to have something going on, but also a bit hectic as if you add swartberg, rvr and nationals to this calendar, that’s 6 races on consecutive weekends, all of them almost requiring to spend the night away from home. Busy busy month and half, seems a bit unnecessary to pack all theses races like this, will have to make a selection unfortunately

anyone using flobikes ? it seems wherever I put my VPN at it's still georestricted..

it's CTCT week, so here are my two cents with this race as an example. In general, this is how I approach positionning : - if there is a risk of split (climb, crosswind, or it's just a flat out race), try to be close to the front, but not in the front (because you burn energy for no good reason) - if there's no risk of split and/or the pace is chilled, then hang at the back, with lots of space to react in case of a crash For CTCT for exemple, I try to be close to the front just before the descent of hospital bend, then slowly let myself drift to the back on Edinburg (it also smothes the effort on the climb, saving some matches for later) and the whole section towards muizenberg I'm usually quite far back, chilling, I'll only move back up as we're about to enter Muizenberg as it gets a little twisty there. Of course for road racing, team tactics can dictate what you do, if you have a protected rider you'll possibly have to be in the front if the team decides to set the pace or to close some breakaway, but that doesn't apply to your kids racing. In a XC race, which seems to be what your son did, the front is where you probably want to be, especially when there's some single track because you can lose a lot of time there. It seems from your post that your son was where he was supposed to be, and it's just a case of bad luck, and this happens a lot in bike racing. There's only 1 winner every time and a lot of losers, part of the game 😅 Outside of competition and winning, being where you're supposed to be is also safer, and more fun (you probably don't want to be in the front if you're slower because then you're going to be overtaken left right center which can be scary and degerous, but also you don't want to be stuck behind slower riders as it can be frustrating)