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This - Thule makes one

is it only me, or does Zwift update every damn time I use it? I try to do most riding outdoors, so maybe do one session on the trainer every week or two, running Zwift from my phone. The main reason for using zwift is because it's easy to build custom workouts and I have previously created a set of custom workouts that I use from a previous training program. I can't care less if I have neon wheels or if I'm riding in a new world, I just find it super annoying that I need to download at install a huge update almost every time that I want to break away for a 45 min workout. Any way to make updates optional?

Actually not... Federer might have fooled around with a tennis racket from age 3, but he took part in dozens of other sports and only really got into tennis around age 17. He's basically the poster-boy for starting late, even for tennis which is regarded as a sport where motor skill development is fundamental. Agassi on the other hand was "forced" into tennis from age 5, so both approaches can win you slams if you have the right genes. Letting kids be kids seems more humane and IMO makes for better humans. Agassi self-confessed that he hates tennis and in his book he refers to his dad with his tennis-ball throwing machine as a monster, he just didn't know what else to do.

Our general intuition is bad with this one, theres's a good book on this, basically echoing the OP Basically, early specialization is only beneficial in very select few activities / sports. Golf and Chess are some of them, tennis etc. are not.

Thanks, I'll enquire about Coartem. PS, who is the doctor that treated you?

Do you have a reference? It doesn't seem to be as simple as one would think. To date I've spent 4 full days in hospital and probably undergone upwards of R60k's worth of tests (blood tests, CT's, MRI's, Sonar's, X-rays etc.) just to get the diagnosis in the first place. Over and above this, I seem to have a very rare symptom of a rather complex disease, so it would require a doctor who is especially clued-up with Bilharzia, hence the question in the first place.

I had the medication earlier this week, but the back pain (undiagnosed until last week as this is not a common symptom) had started early in the year (Jan or Feb), so I've been showing symptoms for 4 months prior to treatment. Thanks, I'm hoping that the back pain will also subside.

Thanks, good to know I'm not all alone in this. I would like to ask though, have you (or anyone in the rowing fraternity that you know) ever had the lower back pain symptoms? I'll take your advice on the periodic treatment with praziquantel / biltricide to kill parasites that have not been killed in the first round of treatment, but is there anything else to resolve the damage to the nervous system? According to the abstract of the article below (I don't have access to the entire paper, nor am I likely to understand it), they suggest use of steroids and even surgery? Would be keen to know if there are any doctors in SA that might have this type of experience. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444534903000224#:~:text=Schistosomal infection of the central,or result in severe complications.

Honestly, if you're really keen on cycling and know that your bike won't be a white elephant, I'd urge you if at all possible to save up & double your budget. My bikes are my most valued assets (from a lifestyle perspective - not financial) and if you calculate the cost of ownership over 10 years, another R6k now becomes virtually immaterial. I've seen too many times that people (including myself) bought something cheap just to have severe buyers remorse a year later, saving up and buy something double the price tag within a year or two. You can get some really nice 2nd hand hardtail bikes for R10k+ with the weight, geometry and build quality that will serve you well for at least a decade to come. If you're going to buy a R6k cheapie, you likely won't enjoy the riding as much, fall subject to a never ending battle with punctures and mechanicals. Chances are almost guaranteed that you'll either give up on the sport altogether or throw multiples of your initial budget towards upgrades within the next 24 months.

I got infected with Bilharzia in 2017. Symptoms were fatigue and lack of energy, but none of the typical symptoms such as blood in the urine etc. Long story short, it got diagnosed pretty quick and I took 2 sets of pills for treatment which solved the problem completely. Little did I know, that the medication is only effective on the larger parasites (those that typically cause the symptoms) and the parasite eggs seemingly remained dormant but present in my body. In Feb this year the parasites have awoken from their hibernation and presented as back pain (information which I would only find out earlier this week), over time turning into sudden bursts of fever and extreme headaches in the past weeks. After many tests I was diagnosed with bilharzia again (relapse from the earlier infection). I took the prescribed medication again and the headaches and fever symptoms are completely gone, however the back pain remains. From a brief internet search it seems that the exact condition is perhaps something called either Spinal Chord Schistosomiasis, Neuroschistosomiasis or Schistosomal myeloradiculopathy. I understand that this is caused by the mostly dormant parasite eggs and not the fully grown parasites responsible for the other symptoms. Is there separate treatment for the spinal cord symptoms caused by the eggs? It doesn't seem that the pills have done anything to relieve the back pain symptoms. Any help would be appreciated

my take: I shared boxerulez's opinion until I learnt what they do... In short, I've had a load of crashes and injuries (fractured vertebrae, ribs, ankles, footbones + multiple tendon, ligament and muscle tears, dislocated knees and shoulders etc. etc. over the years). I've been to many good medical professionals and there's no one-stop shop. This is my (unqualified) understanding as someone who've been diagnosed and treated by the entire food chain of medical professions on many occasions: Dr / Specialist: Good with diagnosis of serious issues and obviously surgery, however be careful of the first surgeon who wants to dig a a knife into you, so get a second/third/fourth opinion before surgery. As good as surgeons are, they don't see 10% of the sports injuries out there and generally only deal with hard core issues, so I've heard of many tales where they told their patients something like "You'll never be able to compete in *insert sport here* again". So in my experience it's worth going to a physio, bio and chiro in addition to a surgeon for alternative opinions before quitting your sport or committing to surgery. Physio: They work on muscles, especially acute muscle issues such as tears, pulls, spasms etc. Great in the initial stages / first phase of rehab (injury or surgery) or if you have an obvious muscle issues / spasm etc. after a crash. Biokineticist: They also work on muscles, but not acute muscle soreness / spasm so it's different to a physio. They measure (good ones at least) individual muscle strength in relation to other muscles in your body and are therefore the best people to identify imbalances, lack of movement or lack of strength / activation in muscles etc.. Great for us cyclists who often learn to compensate over many years due to lack of strength somewhere in our bodies, and also an essential final step of the post-surgery rehab process Chiro: They work on the skeleton, so generally they can identify when joints aren't moving as they should or where full range of motion is not achieved on a joint level. I'm pretty new to this, but I've been referred by a biokineticist who said my issue is with restricted joint movement that causes muscle spasms, so fixing the muscles (i.e. going to a physio) only would never solve the root cause of the problem. Summary: Each of these professions see various injuries on a daily basis, and irrespective of their methods, they are uniquely skilled to help you identify or treat your issue. In their own right each one will have varying degrees of success depending on your specific issue, so saying that Physio's are better than Bio's or vice versa, or that Chiro's are bogus/pseudoscience would be a silly. If one doesn't work, try another and let them explain what they see, that info can help the next person to refine your diagnosis.

I'm no coach, but I've been running pretty consistently for better part of 15 years. Being heavy(ish) for a runner, even in my prime years at 26 I couldn't run more than 3 times a week. If I'd step it up to 4 or more runs a week it'd be knee aches, next time it would be shin splints, achilles tendon and the list goes on. I bought a Garmin for the first time about 4 years ago and noticed that all my running metrics were RED. My cadence was a tad shy of 160spm, but at first I laughed it off. I then read some of the white papers from "First Beat" and realized there was quite a bit of science behind Garmin's metrics that made me think I should work on cadence. Long story short, I increased my running cadence to 180 spm and it made the world of difference. Now even at 8kg's heavier and touching 40, I've recently been running as good as ever and I hardly remember what a running injury feels like... So from my experience, goal spm is super important and stepping it up to ~180 spm was the best thing I've ever done for my own running ability and pleasure.

IMO stride length is an output. The inputs are cadence and fitness... I.e. you need to pin your cadence at a high level, i.e. 180(ish) spm irrespective of speed. As you get fitter and run faster, your stride length will increase automatically. What neither your running, nor your knees need is you running a good stride length at 150 spm.

Does anyone know why cycling coverage is so k@k this year? Omloop, Kuurne, Strade Bianche, none of these have been televised, previous years they were

If you can ride 250W continuously weighing in at 89kg, I'm guessing your FTP must be around the 350W mark. Those are good numbers that should place you near or below a sub-3hr CTCT or mid-field in the Epic. To maintain that level of fitness you clearly have a healthy and active lifestyle, so IMO it would be silly to "convert" just for the sake of it. Part of the fun of cycling is about going fast, another part of the fun of cycling is also a sense achievement. Not sure if i'd trade one for the other, not while still "tearing up the road" so to speak.

not sure if it was mentioned, but the back side of Nortchliff hill is a nicer climb (especially for an event) than the northern end. Starting at the bottom of kitson rd (it's a dead end), into De Wet and then into Muslis (it's basically one straight quiet road where the name changes 3 times. It's off the beaten track, hardly any vehicles and it's a consistent grade for about 1.2km. Guessing average gradient would be >8%?

i used to crack frames every 2 - 3 years... then I bought carbon

another great ride... Location: Graaff Reinet roundtrip Discipline : MTB / Gravel Distance / Time: ~415km / 4 days Difficulty: Moderate (ish) Day 1: Graaff Reinet to Toorberg (op die Sneeuberg grondpad) Day 2: Toorberg - Groenvlei gasteplaas Day 3: Groenvlei - Nieu Bethesda (via Kompasberg) Day 4: Nieu Bethesda - Graaff Reinet via Glen Harry nature reserve

one of the best trips ever: Location: PE - Knysna via Baviaanskloof Discipline: MTB Distance / Time (450km / 5 days) Difficulty: Hard(ish) Day 1: PE to Van Stadens brug via schoenmakerskop Day 2: Van Stadens - Kwaggaskloof Day 3: Kwaggaskloof - Bo Kloof Day 4: Bo Kloof - De Vlugt (via Prins Alfred pas) Day 5: De Vlugt - Knysna

I have an edge 520+ and a Fenix 3 (not the wrist HR version), both still working asif they were new... training for 36One, so I'm pretty keen on making sure I do the maximum volume without over-doing it for the next 3 months... I have the trainingpeaks app, so I can track CTL and TSB, however these are static calculations based on TSS and don't account for lack of sleep, stress, inadequate diet etc. I was wondering how much better or worse the real-time condition assessment features (that actually measure HRV in real time) of the Fenix 6 are for this purpose. These are the following features in particular: real-time performance condition training load, training status and training load balance body resources / body battery also looking for a sleep tracker which I guess I can get from any wrist HR based monitor so my question, how good and useful are these features for those of you that have these watches? If it's really useful for monitoring and adjusting training intensity on a day-by-day basis I'm pretty keen to try it out. If it's a gimmick that nobody really uses at then I'll stick to tracking CTL and TSB on trainingpeaks. Any comments? edit: I see there is a R6k difference between the Fenix 6S and the 6X Sapphire. Any comments on whether or not the "upgrade" is worth the dough?

Hi David I haven't opened your site for some time. Logged in earlier today and just thought I'd let you know the improvements you've made since starting out are great! Love the info about decoupling and the rider type and category! Well done

As many people here have suggested, you can ride almost anything on an 80mm hardtail. So why then buy a trail bike which is slower and a LOT more expensive? My take: A trail bike is less about the mm's of travel than it is about the geometry, i.e. slack head angle. This means you can "easily" lift the front wheel (by simply leaning back and pushing your feet forward - arms straight) which is the movement you use to get into a manual (what you would call it if you can keep it there). Also, having less weight on your front wheel typically sets you up to corner better without your front wheel washing out.. Why is this important? A manual (even if you can't hold it for long) is the fundamental technique behind a proper bunnyhop (not lifting your bikes with the cleats) and therefore also the fundamental technique behind jumping. do you need to be able to manual: No do you need to bunnyhop 40cm obstacles: No do you need to land massive gap jumps: No do you need to be able to rail bermed corners like Semunuk: No are all of these things fun to do: Yes do you need a trail bike to do it: No, but a trail bike does make all these things a LOT easier to learn (and do) i almost forgot the dropper... not having your seat shoved up your @ss also makes it a lot easier to manual, jump, hop and wheelie

where are you guys watching these races... is it just me or did SS cut own on its coverage of the classics big time?

this is getting a bit petty don't you think... who knows, the unfit newbie on his ebike that you despise might just end up being the same guy who goes out of his way to build/maintain trails every second weekend... compare that to a serious dude training for epic who would typically be way too obsessed with chasing strava segments and hitting weekly TSS targets to ever touch a rake or a shovel to fix a berm...