rudi-h

After numerous threads about entry fees being too high for events like 5150 etc... Check this out. Global 11 Triathlon at sun city, here's the costs on from the website!!! Entry Fees Early registration - TSA member $50.00, Non-member $55.00, Relay team $115.00 After October 1st - TSA member $55.00, Non member $60.00, Relay team $125.00 Non TSA members must purchase a race license for R30 at packet pick-up. Online entries close Nov 6 at 11pm. There is no late or race weekend registration

there are not too many events up here, so do events on a basis of when it suits you and what you can afford. to me personally Xterra is a highlight and the BSG series is lots of fun. Doing an IM event is certainly a great experience, so if you have the cash, IM or IM70.3 is also a worthwhile experience.

i know there are a number of places that run MTB "skills clinics", and some of them are specially aimed at girls teaching them how to deal with riding over roots, and negotiating to "hop onto" sidewalks etc. I think Mikes Bikes used to run some of these, so contact them for more info. But it does sound like she needs a "how to ride" course rather than attend a skills clinic, so best is to buy her some training wheels for womans day

Don't know who noticed, but the tri season is starting eeeeeeeeeeeeeearly this year!!! Joburg City has its first race even before the BSG series gets underway. Its on 25 September, so no easing into the season with a sprint or two this year

i did the 94.7 on a SS "oupa fiets" (those upright dutch commuter bikes. it weighed in at 28kg's!!!) three years ago. it took me 5:30 as opposed to the normal 3:00... there were tonnes of support and I made lots of friends in those 5:30, but i can guarantee it wasn't fun...

This is a joke. Money is relative and its always easy to say that "that person earns too much"... When last have you compared your salary (or pocket money) in this case to others on a objective basis??? Shocking I tell you, even if you think you're poor, just by having internet access and a bike (to be able to belong to the hub) you are probably in the top 5% in SA. And still you point fingers at race organizers that also want to have a decent life. Bottom line is that everybody in the world wants a nice house, a car and 3 weeks of holiday in December next to the coast, so if you can find a way to do that and people are willing to pay you, that's just how life works. (not that I'm saying race organizers have that type of lifestyle, just a general comment) I agree to promoting young talent and wouldn't mind if some of my entry fee is used to sponsor entries for serious and talented kids who's parents cannot afford it, but for a student (whom will likely earn in the top 2% of society in a few years) riding on recreational level i don't really get the point of "sponsoring" them. I didn't even have a bike when I was at varsity, so don't know why its such a big "setback" if you cant compete in a race every month.

IMO its not worth getting a wetsuit while you're "starting out" triathlons. Its something that you literally only use for IM and IM70.3, the rest of the year it takes up cupboard space.

Good luck! I broke L4 in 2005. Fortunately I didn't need an op, so after two weeks of bed rest and another 10 in a brace I could get back into the normal routine of life again. Its 6 years now and I don't have any back pain yet. Not saying it will, but I hope you can write the same thing 6 years from now! On the bright side... Being so close to losing the ability to do anything ever again, that incident really inspired me to do sport, enjoy life and enjoy a functional body to the full. I took up mountain biking and triathlon after that and these sports are amongst the things in my life that gives me the most pleasure. So I guess I can say "thank you" to breaking my back and coming out of it without significant permanent damage.

I'm no expert, but have done some long rides before. My advice is to stick with normal food that you are used to. It will be a low intensity event, so your body will have enough time to break down almost any carbs and protiens. Make sure you eat both. Anything from ham, tuna or chicken samies, pasta, kerrie en rys, boerie rolls etc. will be good in addition to the normal energy drinks, bananas and bars. Try to avoid anything too fatty and too rich, your ability to digest food decreases at elevated heartrate, and the last thing you want is a full stomach, burping up undigested food for 5 hours. I'd also get some cramp tablets and take along a few to take at maybe 4 hour intervals. So, unless you're going for podium, pick a nice picknik basket of things that you would like, as long as it contains a mix of carbs, protein and sugar.

i try to eat something roughly every hour but not much, maybe one bite (1/3) of an energy bar. I drink game, just because its cheap and easy to mix. One tough marathons or ultra-marathons that take over 5 hours, I'll eat something substancial after 3-4 hours like a banana or a doughnut. If there's a water-table with coke, I'd take a glass or two, as the caffiene (also in some gu's) is magic when you're close to hitting the wall. Also try to slow down, or eat on easy sections of the course, you need to get the HR down while digesting so your blood gets a chance to go to your stomach and intestines.

Thanks! I'm in Joburg, so i'll look around on the internet a little more

I've been playing around with the idea of making something from carbon fibre, and maybe one day when i'm big i'd like to build my own frame. Anybody have any experience of how to do it, where to buy the carbon and resin etc?

so why are you on the hub then... shouldn't you be driving around in your post-industrial revolution car instead of cycling around on a primitive self propelled machine? any guy doing any form of sport is better than somebody that doesn't do anything IMO, whatever sport that may be. (except body building, that **** is just weird)

didn't read the other posts, but sometimes it helps to tighten the strap. If mine's loose, it sometimes shows a HR of 220 or something while it should be 140.

I tried morewood a year or two ago for an engineering job. Nice guys it seemed but they indicated that they don't have vacancies and do R&D with their existing partners in the US. Silverback didn't respond to my enquiry, so I guess there aren't a lot of exciting jobs around unless you look into doing something yourself. I'm trying something right now on a part time basis, but I'm not gonna leak my secret yet

5 or more hours a week on the bike is plenty if you want to be at a reasonable level without letting your lifestyle suffer too much IMO. Be sure to do hard hilly rides at least once a week, not only 3hr weekend rides at medium pace.

jeeeeeeez!! some seriaaaaas weight weenies around here. Maybe a haircut will save more weight than buying another helmet.

dude, many people said it so far, but this is the bottom line... try to run a safe race with marshals, waterpoints, ambulance, staff to re-ride the race route to pick-up all the gu sachets along the route, online entries, custom built bridges etc, spot prizes, race packs etc. Then you have to pay (or be very nice) to land owners... I haven't tried to organize a race yet, but if i thought it was easy money, I would have done that a long time ago. Study hard, get your degree and enjoy races afterwards. In the mean time, ride at groenkloof or wherever you can afford it. Like golf and many other sports, MTB racing doesn't come cheap. I've been working for a good number of years and I still cant do all the races I want. Thats just how it is

Wiggins F Schleck Van den Broeck Evans

i dinged my first frame in exactly the same place. In my case the pivot triangle broke, so its probably the same reason. I'd ask the owner if that happened.

I have a commencal meta 4 and enjoy the bike a lot. Its really a great ride and even with 4" travel its very capable on rough terrain. I wont buy it second hand as a heavy and hard rider though, because i've broken 2 frames since 2008 (which they have replaced at zero cost without asking questions), but it might be risky going second hand, because I think you might lose the warrantee / guarantee in the process

if you think thats a ripoff... try finisherpix at Ironman for R160 per digital pic

i hear you and agree too. Somehow I think events like the epic and ironman etc. have set a crazy benchmark in terms of pricing and as a result we have become accustomed to paying shiteloads of money to do simple things like run, swim and ride our bikes. I'm not saying its wrong for them to ask the prices they do, and they will most likely outsell the event at those prices anyway. Its just becoming very expensive very fast. For adults with decent jobs its probably not the end of the world to pay R800 for a race, but it surely closes the doors for school kids, students and okes fresh out of school or varsity, which IMO can surely not be good for the development and sustainability of the sport.

Dude, this may be true what your saying in terms of it not being a "home by lunch" event, but FFS, it's only 51.5km's, so why should it be a weekend deal? Surely you should be able to choose if you wanna make it a "home by lunch" day, and pay for only that. Triathlon has already had the "yuppie" tag for a few years now, but it seems that its becoming some serious status thing like playing polo or having a golf membership at St. Andrews... Some of us just like racing Tri's for what it is, without all the freebies and the shirts and the BS. With that said, I dont mind paying good money for a well-organized event, it just gets a bit much if you like racing try to do events quite often.

just asking why you're getting a wetsuit already if you're still checking out the triathlon scene. IMO its only Ironman that you need a wetsuit for, the rest is just as good in a baggy. you'll be faster on shorter events without a wetsuit too, unless you train how to get out of it quick enough