Red Zone

Its either going to be windy or its not. That's just Cape Town. Windguru is a bit like the Government - sometimes just plain clueless. Windguru got last week badly wrong.

No, I don't mean stopping for a nature break, I meant going on the bike

Just do it, but dont tell your wife what you paid for the entry.

"Nature break"

Garf I speak under correction. While the pros do get support with wheels etc... they need to do the wheel swop themselves, which for the purposes of rules, means that they did not receive outside assistance.... not very convincing I know. There are a few support vehicles for us mere mortals, but probably not with wheels, more like chains, tubes, perhaps cables and some basics. Perhaps a good idea would be for the race referees to carry spares and tools with them (obviously wheels would be out of the question) but a set of wrenches, cables, chain breaker etc... with each referee would make aid far more accessible. Drafting, ahh this deserves a whole thread to itself. In Kona the rule is 10 metres, they actually enforce 12 metres I hear, in some races the rule is 7 metres, there are plenty of reports of pros being as close as 6 metres. I saw some pretty tight riding from the pros at 70.3 this year. Bottom line, some people are cheats and will take a chance if there is an opportunity.

Omega man raises a good point, packing your bike is a serious pain. But since you have to re-assemble it in London (presumably) packing it gives you a bit of knowledge and ensures that you have the right tools on hand to put it back together

My strategy is two bottles on the bike, one in the frame triangle mixed with 4 scoops of hammer perpetuemn (will last me one lap. I keep an empty space for a bottle behind the seat, to collect water / energy drink on course from aid stations. Spares in a bidon also behind the seat, I will probably tape a spare tube under the seat, just for added security I will put a spare tube and a bomb in my special needs bag, just in case. Bento box with a flask of gu (4 servings) an energy bar and electrolyte tabs. Will collect a second bottle with hammer from needs bag and rely on aid stations for food for the second lap - gu chews etc...Trying to keep it light, aero and simple. Aid stations are 15 km apart so you wont get into trouble on the course. Running with no belt at all, relying on coke, water and the odd gu from the aid stations.

I have always used a soft bag, one with a reinforced "floor" has been fine for me- road, TT or MTB. Just take off the dérailleur and pedals, turn the bars and get some of those things to put between the stays and the fork from your bike shop, wrap in bubble wrap and off you go. If you want some extra protection, get a cardboard bike box from the bike shop, cut the sides off to reinforce the soft bag.

3Wings, its pretty much too late to do anything now that will make any major improvement come "race" day. I would hit some hills and some intervals this week, ride easy 3 - 4 times next week and then just stay at the front of your group and dont get dropped. If you do get dropped then sit up and wait for the next group to come through.

I have done better average speeds on other races, such as 99er, Tour de Winelands, west coast express etc.... But the Argus is quick, the climbs are over in no time and there are some long stretches where a good bunch leads to a fast average speed, think top of Edinburgh drive to Simon's Town, then from Smits to Ocean View, then from Top of Suikerbossie to the finish. Ride smart and its easy to get a "PB"

Sorry to hear, but glad that you are ok and got your bike. Where about on Victoria Road was it? was going to ride that route tomorrow alone. Just changed my plans

Did three hours on water quite happily this morning, just over half a bottle in fact. Had a banana before I started and an jungle energy bar at around 2 hours. You can normally get buy on what is in your system for 3 hours of base training. A three hour tempo ride may be a bit much. You are really making a choice to take calories in on the bike or before / after

Well done , sounds like you had fun. The mtb can be very frustrating with people just stopping as soon as they are confronted with a rock in the trail and having no trail etiquette at all. The swim on the lite is way too short, at 400 m you cant really get into it. If you want off road tri's, look out for the Xtri events, I think there is one in Tulbagh in May, then check out Slanghoek in October, Woolies tri in November. There is the Enduroman in Sept - thats a big one though 2.5 swim, 90 km mtb and 21 km trail run.

Fantastic Xterra, there were some course changes which were a huge improvement, the swim course was much, much better. Instead of starting some distance from the race village and angled off the shore and into the sun the swim course started and finished in one spot, straight out for a long leg, a shorter second leg and then back to the shore. Sighting was a bit of a problem with the distance to the first buoy, but just swimming along in the pack was fine. The bike leg was also much better, the singletrack at the start has been taken out with open jeeptrack riding for the first few km's which allowed the good swimmers to find their rightful place among the better bikers. All the good technical singletrack and rockgarden was still there. Its a solid hard bike ride, supposed to be one of the hardest on the world circuit. I had a good day, swam hard to get out on the mtb course ahead of the traffic, which worked well, nice ride with only a few plonkers who couldn't handle the technical stuff, but had I a solid ride. The run started off well, was pretty quick, but after the brutal climb in the middle section the legs started to die in the last two km's, staggered home in 3:30. Happy with the day. No broken bones or bikes.

The Caveman has some really great stuff on his website about Xterra Grabouw, go there and get some tips from the legend. No one knows this stuff and that course better http://www.conradstoltz.com/

Save the running for the last leg , have fun, weather looks great

My retro (read old) steel bike, with Campy C record groupset, leather saddle, Campy wheels. Now a very happy but somewhat neglected single speed

I have also seen some shady guys on Red Hill lately, probably went over a month or six weeks ago, alone, and swore not to do it again. I picked up a bad vibe, not worth the stress. Also watch out for the Marine reaction climb, fantastic climb, but the bush is really thick, last time I went up there were some guys tossing stones onto the Main Road, who knows what else they would be capable of.

Anyone remember that folding MTB that BMW came out with, truly terrible http://www.foldingcyclist.com/BMW-Q6.S-XT-folding-bike.jpg http://www.foldingcyclist.com/BMW-Q6.S-XT-folding-bike-folded.jpg

I got a big problem, I am 1.8 m, so need a 29er, but I am on a tight budget, so only fit the 26er box, but also am into Cross country racing so need a 27.5. I guess I actually need a 82.5er since I fall into all three catagories

Yip M3 will be your best bet, you need to aim to be there at 6, just drive straight along into town, dont go near High Level Road, that takes you to the Atlantic Seaboard, perhaps footballer meant De Waal Drive? either way, you can go up De Waal and come out on the upper side of town and park anywhere realy or go along Nelson Mandella boulevard (N2) keep right and come out near the start, again lots of parking to be found on the street. You have an early enough start not to stress about traffic and parking

Super bad timing dude, you make your return at the same time around ten thousand hackers on dusty squeaky bikes take to the roads for the annual three weeks of cycling prior to the FRWC AKA the August, remember to hold your line

Oops, looks like Xterra may not be wetsuit legal after the heat wave, the shallow end of Silvermine dam was crazy hot on Monday so I can believe it. Slower swim but faster through T1, thank goodness its only a 1.5 km swim. On the up side it looks like cool and partly cloudy weather on the day

I will be riding to the start and WILL be using lights, rather carry a few extra grams than be roadkill

Fantastic, what a legend, make sure you slay the bike course as thanks.