rudi-h

What is this obsession with "going slow"? You do get fitter and stronger faster when you ride hard, thats just how it works. I get the point of over-training if you go too hard for too long, but to be very honest I don't think many working people have enough time to train to really suffer the effects of over-training. Surely if you go so slow that you are bored by it you are wasting valuable training time. I don't allways train at 100%, but hell if i feel that I can or want to go faster, thats just what makes sense to do. What I do know is that I am generally a lot faster than others who spend more time on the road, but looking at their HRM's rather than putting the hammer down

go Jens!! Gotta love this guy! Jens Voigt will never have a heart attack. Jens Voigt's heart isn't stupid enough to attack him from www.jensvoigtfacts.com

Oil basics (not bike specific) There are 3 things that make a lubricating oil good 1) Selection of the base oil (mineral or synthetic) 2) Selection of the correct Viscocity 3) Additives First things first, which is the best base oil? Synthetic oils are the most stable, and therefore they are the ultimate in lubricating oils. However, most of the "benefits" of synthetic oils is only applicable with special requirements such as high temperature applications, flame resistance, bio degradable requirements, low flash point etc. For a bike, standard paraffinic mineral oil is as good as any other. It would not be wrong to choose synthetic oil, but on your bike there will not be a noticeable difference in performance. Viscocity: Viscocity is the most important characteristic of any lubricating oil and greatly depends on temperature. Although engine oils are "multigrade" meaning that they have a relatively stable viscocity irrespective of temperature, they work optimally at 90 to 120 degreec Celcius. Therefore it is a bit thick for running at room temperature, making it a usable but not perfect selection for bikes. Low viscocity oils like Q20, WD40 etc. on the other hand will be too thin and not provide sufficient lubrication. In short, multigrade automotive oils are okay, but low viscocity gearbox or hydraulic oils are better. ISO Viscocity Grades are typically given in centistokes measured at 40 degrees Celcius. Therefore any oil with viscocity ranges between ISO VG10 and ISO VG32 would be the most suitable for bikes. Additives: Additives are chemicals that they add to oils to enhance performance. Gearbox oils have EP (Extreme Pressure) additives which help to minimize wear on high-pressure steel on steel contact areas. This would be the interface between your sprocket and the chain roller. Gearbox/transmission oils are thus the most suitable. There is one exception, do not buy PAG worm gearbox oils. So the top choices are as follows: 1) Any low viscosity transmission oil. This will work just as well as any "bike specific wetlube" 2) Low viscocity hydraulic oil (does not contain EP additives, so sprocket/chain wear will be slightly faster) 3) Automotive engine oil (slightly thicker than optimal and also does not contain EP additives) What to avoid: 1) Any watery "releasing oil" such as Q20, WD40 etc. 2) Transformer oils It must also be said that lubrication in bicycles are not very critical, thus any type of wet lube will work okay. Notes: I myself am not a fan of Dry of Wax lubes and consider it to be a waste of time and money. Some use it and love it, I don't. My reasoning is as follows: There will allways be dirt on an open chain. I prefer a well lubricated chain with dirt on. The dirt does cause wear, but the statement that it creates a "grinding past" that eats away your chain is an overreaction. Oil with dirt in it is still in my mind a better lubricant than a poorly lubricated chain with less dirt. Somebody on the thread mentioned that they dilute engine oil with paraffin. Please note that this does not decrease the viscosity of the oil and therefore it is pointless in terms of lubrication, although you might prefer to apply it that way.

Think its way to early to say that... A lot of new talent in the mix since the "Berto and Andy" days with the likes of Hesjedal, Rodrigues, Froome, Van Gaarderen, so the podium is wide open.

Is this race within the reserve or does it only start there?

MTB for sure, because you can bunny hop sidewalks and ride off the shoulder if the cars around you drive like idiots. MTB with knobblies is about 1.3 times harder than road bike when cycling on road.

how do you guys do the biiiiiiiig bunny hops with flat pedals? I normally just pull the back with my cleats, but if you watch the freeride guys on youtube, they seem to bunny-hop higher than I can jump with flat pedals? Whats the trick there?

I've got a tried and tested method for knowing whether you will break the elusive sub 3. Ride a loop in Suikerbosrand as hard as you can. No waiting for friends, no chat, no drafting, no stopping and no chilling. If you can do this in 2:18 or better, you will break 3 hours given than you start in H batch or better. If you start in D batch or better it will be easier given that you can stay with the bunch on the hills. Starting in later batches it will become more challenging and ultimately impossible to break 3 due to slow riders blocking your way.

I get what you are saying, and I also have a soft sport for my cycling heroes throughout the years, which happen to include Armstrong, Contador, Valverde, Basso, Vini, Rasmussen and a tonnes of other guys that have tested positive. However, I think your position on the legal system regarding witnesses VS hard evidence would have been different had it been a more "serious" crime. I mean I would have been pissed off beyond any measure if a family member was raped / murdered / assaulted violently with nobody being held accountable despite 26 people who had witnessed and testified in some way or another

that is the definition of awesome! anybody tried it out yet?

what does "airbag sessions" mean?? please elaborate, sounds awesome

I don't believe in dry lube or silicone spray. I happen to know a little bit about oil and yes the normal mix of oil and dirt is not ideal when using normal wet lube, but oil definitely lubricates better than any wax / silicone / teflon compound that you will find Talking about wet lube specifically, WD40 might be too watery... not sure about the viscocity, but I would assume that around 10 centistokes will be good for typical chains / sprockets / pivot bearings. Now it is quite hard to get the viscocity information at any given temperature as it varies exponential with temperature, but I think ordinary wet lube that you buy from the bike shop is your best bet. And if you grease any parts, try not to use general purpose motor grease. This stuff is full of EP additives that are necessary in gearboxes but do no good in bearings and bushes.

all these calculators don't consider muscle mass... according to BMI I officially classify as obese

some training advice... i allways do a loop at suikerbosrand the week or so before the 94.7... a SBR loop should be about 2/3 to 3/4 of your 94.7 finishing time, so that should give you a good indication of what to expect on race day

I would be a little concerned if I were you... 10 kg's of fat amounts to 90000 kCal of energy, which at a high metabolic rate is equivalent to all the food that would be consumed in an entire month... something doesn't sound right unless you went on a complete fast while still doing 45 minutes of hard training every day.

good smoke but you guys swim a lot. how many hours do you train a week if the swimming alone is 8-10km...?

I hope you're joking... Bikes are not supposed to crack, and if they do then its the manufacturers problem. They should replace your frame and if they don't have a 4" bike and it requires a new shock, its their problem

i think the sad thing is that to me it seems that only the skin of this whole doping issue has been uncovered. I mean a lot of the team managers, coaches etc. remained the same from the time of US postal until now. So that makes it kind of hard to believe that guys like Cancellara (and believe me I am a huge Cancellara fan, so I really really hope that he is clean) are clean when they have been trained, coached and managed by the same people that helped to dope up Armstrong to his past successes. If the teams were so far ahead of the "tests" back then, why would it be different now? Also, all the guys that "confessed" are at the end of their careers. Leipheimer, Hincapie, Zabriski and these guys don't have nearly as much to lose as the the younger guys in the sport. Do we honestly believe that doping only existed in a large scale in the time of US Postal? I think its a lot more dirty than merely what USADA managed to expose, I'm not sure if there are any more heroes out there on their bikes.

its all about the tyres... rubber deteriorates with time, so if you ride with strong tires (something like ust crossmark's) and you replace them at no more than 18 month intervals, you're very unlikely to get punctures, tubeless or not

There's surely a lot to read on CN this morning, and the news is VERY shocking. However, there are a few things that you have to laugh at between all this evidence: All these newly suspended riders (Hincapie, Van de Velde, Barry etc.) were supposedly 100% clean before May or June 2004 (except for Leipheimer) and after July 2006. Can we really believe them now? Does this really answer all the questions about doping today? The idea that doping only existed for 2 years and within one team is not very convincing with an ultimate goal to come out with the truth and to clean up the sport. Surely if there was a perception that everybody was "above" being caught, then why would all these guys only dope for 2 years and stop with immediate effect after the 2006 TDF? Seems like even now nobody is willing to tell the truth.

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!