rudi-h

what's the deal with "organic" peanut butter. Is that different to the Black Cat that I buy?

i think its time... 9 days is hard to get off work with a fit enough partner.

I broke my back in 2005, so since then I am pretty sensitive to back-pain in general and won't consider to ride a bike that makes my back ache. I'm riding a full sus with a relaxed geometry and absolutely no back pain. I might be wrong, but as far as I'm concerned its purely a matter of correct setup.

only thing that can make your bike wobble is a serious imbalance in your wheels, but even that should only happen when you sit upright and ride without hands. Is it an MTB or a road bike? Cannot imaging this happening 55km/hr though, especially if your hands were on the handlebars...

What this guy did clearly wasn't healthy, but i can assure you that he wasn't fat! This thread is about exercise and the effect that that has on weight loss, it was not about general wellness. So my point is that when you train sufficiently hard, you will lose weight!

you should bear in mind that to many "exercise" is mistaken as the act of going to gym with the primary objective to look cool (for guys) or hot (for girls). For the guys it means to stand in front of the mirrors and admiring your pumped muscles after a few bicep curls, whilst making sounds to attract attention as soon as you pick up something heavy. Another important aspect of this type of exercise is that you need to constantly talk to everyone around you about the supplements you are using, and at least once in every second sentence mention how many kg's you've gained since you started your new programme. For girls it means to goof around on the orbital walker or those comfy bicycles while reading a book. I mean it would just be horrible if your brand new gym outfit shows some sweat stains during your workout... (PS I have absolutely no objection to girls standing around in gym with the sole purpose of looking hot, I just don't think it classifies as exercise) If you train hard, then you lose weight period. If you disagree, then you're not training hard enough. If you further disagree, enter an event sufficiently hard like Ironman and you will lose weight, guaranteed! There's a saying that goes: "Don't eat less, just train harder". Those are very wise and true words!

Its 6:00 AM, seems like a quite road and no cars from the front, hence you can pass them easily. I mean if I'm with you that cyclists should be considerate and its a completely different story on busy roads when traffic is bad, but I don't think that based on the picture alone this is the worlds greatest crime.

she must be hot to get a ++++1

It might be a result of over-training. If you take 2 or 3 days off completely and you do a max HR test on a treadmill for example, you should easily get back to 190 something. HR goes higher with running than with cycling IMO, but if you ride hard enough its possible on a bike too

All of the doctors and researchers and hospitals and everybody that helped your mother needed funding. You will be more aware of the costs involved than me, but what I do know is that very few people can afford cancer treatment without significant financial aid. Although LA didn't fund your mom directly, he did and still does fund a lot of things that help many other cancer patients survive. So yes, his contribution is probably a fraction of the global "cancer research" budget, but his contribution is still valuable to many.

help me if i'm wrong, but the "fast twitch" muscle thingies that you are talking about are the different muscles you use to riding your bike vs doing something like a 100m sprint, shot-put or a pull-up. I can understand that when it gets to these types of all-out efforts, then neurological tracks and genetics and all this stuff that you talk about comes into play, but is it really applicable to cycling where "speed" simply means you go a little harder that what you would consider "slow"? The exception obviously is bunch sprinting, but 99% of us never even get in a bunch sprint situation, nevermind trying to win it. I mean does a guy that can ride the argus in 2:50 really have more "fast twitch" muscle fibres and better genetics etc. than a guy that takes 3:10? Me thinks not, the 2:50 guy is just stronger and fitter. You don't need to be a good sprinter to finish a marathon type race in a decent time...

I agree that speed comes first. Ive been doing it this way round for years and my training seems to be more effective than that of my mates. My reasoning is as follows: Fitness in broad terms is your body's ability to absorb oxygen, hence it requires well developed lungs, heart and muscles. The best way to improve fitness (in this sense) is to train at a threshold where you breath hard, almost uncomfortably for a set time. The downside of this method is that if intensity is too high for too long, you will suffer from high lactate which can only be fixed in longer recovery times required. So that's where intervals come in. Intervals get you to breath hard, but as soon as your lactate levels get high, you ease up until your lactate levels are stable and then you go for it again. You can be scientific about this and go for lactate and VO2 Max testing to determine your exact threshold, but in general your lactate is on the increase if you're suffering, and when you feel like you cant go anymore, then its time to ease off your interval, or go slower. Endurance is a matter of conditioning (in my opinion). If you are fit, then it takes only a number of longer, slower rides to get used to distance. This is only a matter of getting muscles used to the longer hours, and does not as such require further development of muscles, lung function or heart strength. Hence if you are fit, building endurance is a quick process. If you have endurance but want to get fast / fit, then your muscles, heart and lungs need further development. I'm not a sport scientist or an expert, but I've been reading tons of training material and I have experimented with training programmes for almost 8 years now. Fitness definitely comes first for me. For the last 3-4 months I only train 1-3 hours a week due to work commitments, and I can still run 8km in under 40 minutes and if I had to do the 94.7 right now, I'd be under 3:10.

As far as I know, bike shop mechanics are not "qualified" in any trade or approved by any governing body. Thus I can't see why a private mechanic should be different to a bike shop guy. Some guys at bike shops are hardly 16 and don't know much. That said, if a bike shop messes up your BB and they are reputable, they should repair / replace for any work done in their workshop, but there is no way to enforce this.

I'm sorry, my response wasn't necessary.

That's a really douche-bag suggestion. FFS, so you're gonna make a list now of all brands, companies, banks, etc. that have not been associated to any controversy or wrongdoing and only support them? Are you gonna withhold taxes cause our government is corrupt (a lot more than Armstrong btw)? Get real

yaaawwwwnnnnn.... do you post on a forum every time that someone: 1) Drive 70 in a 60 zone 2) Walks in a factory without steel toe shoes or earplugs 3) Drives a car without his seatbelt 4) Drives a car whilst talking on his phone 5) Eats too many KFC 6) Drinks too much 7) Smokes 8) Doesn't check his cholesterol annually The answer is no, although all of the above are very likely more irresponsible than riding without a helmet in certain conditions! You might shake your head and think (what a dumbass) by yourself, but that's his choice and his risk. Mind your own business dude!

Why is it so much different? Whether you like it or not, Lance used his story to gain public interest, and with the public interest he could obtain sponsors, meet politicians which he could lure to $4000 gala dinners. It didn't work the other way round. He chose to use his story along with his success to become a worldwide celebrity. He could have kept it to himself and just ridden his bike, then his cancer foundation would have raised 10% of the revenue and nobody would have looked back 15 years to strip him of his titles? Does this make him a douchebag? No it doesn't. He knows how sensationalism works and used that in a clever way along with some other PR excercises to become the most famous cyclists, cancer activist, maybe one day Ironman (if they let him compete) in history.

Agreed. Think this is one of the worst decisions made in the history of sport.

it's not forbidden at all, its just soooo b.o..r...i....n.....g

Dude, I haven't dont the Epic, but I have done quite a number of shorter stage races and also did an unsupported bike tour in Alaska of almost twice the distance of the Epic, so not the most experienced on the hub, but I'm not quite new to the sport. The numbers you quote on bike maintenance and supplements are maybe for the elite rider with XTR groupsets, changing chains and cassetts every 800km and living out of supplement tubs. Don't tell me you need all that **** only to finish. You can ride on Game and eat raisins and snackers and still finish, so don't know how you're gonna get to R15000 in supplements with that. Not saying its not a big investment and that you shouldn't plan and get help (possibly from experts), but I think you're talking a load of BS into peoples' heads saying they need to spend R70000.

dude, for somebody who rates the emmarentia tree line as super technical you need to understand that we have problems to take you serious when talking about skill or the lack thereof...

IMO if you're a MTB'er, then all road bikes are fast. And in the price range your'e looking at you can buy something really decent last time I checked. Don't worry about specs, get the best looking bike, no matter what you get you'll be crazy fast!

Jip, I think Brad meant that Sky will go for gold. I don't see him winning the TT or the Road race. Cancellara doesn't recover as well as some of the stage racers, so his TT performance in the tour wasn't something to go by. My guess is that he will thrash the field in London, possibly in both disciplines.

ok, well then its not really technical. don't get me wrong I love riding there, but there are tonnes of harder sections and in the bike park for example...

where's the emmarentia tree line? is that the section up against the bank next to the marks park soccer fields?