rudi-h

Saturday starting anywhere along the cradle, maybe Stone cradle, Something country, Teak? If i remember the distances it will be about 4 loops, so I'm keen for company because its gets seriaasssly boring going solo after the 2nd time around.

see you there... hopefully with better weather and warmer water than east london

I'm planning to do a 140km+ training ride in the cradle this weekend as a final long ride for IM preparation. I often see guys riding there with their TT machines, but don't know who they are, what pace they ride and where / when they start. Any info please, I'll be riding easy pace, so maybe 26km/hr average. Please PM me with any info, or let me know if anybody wants to join.

if it's cool enough for cancellara, it's cool enough for me

don't have any comment about the bike you're buying, but please be careful not to buy a shite bike now and a nicer one 6 months later, then you'll lose yourself about R2-3k in the process. Borrow a bike until you are sure that you like the sport and then save up properly for your steed until you can buy a bike that you WANT to ride! Good luck. Be warned: MTB is addictive!!!

got Cane creek's and they're awesome. Cannot imagine riding without bar-ends!!

Thanks for the feedback. I take a rest day at least once a week and I don't do high intensities at the moment, so I doubt that I'm over-trained and I feel very good while training. Also performing well and seeing solid improvement on my fitness. Maybe its because I increased my weekly hours with more than 50% in the past few weeks, so maybe the tiredness is just normal. I will only keep this up for another week or two, then I'll taper down to more reasonable training habits. Try to do 2 hours every afternoon and klap two loooong sessions on weekends

Due to work that got in the way of my training the past few months, I am only now doing my high-volume training month for IM (i know it's a bit late). The last few weeks I've constantly been tired, depite sleeping about 7-8 hrs a night on average... Is this normal when you're hitting 20-25hrs a week worth of training? My days keep getting shorter, because after work I eat, train and fall asleep and even if I get 8 hrs of sleep (like last night) i still wake up tired and feeling that I need to sleep an hour or two more!

with MTB you have the following additional maintenance issues / costs: 1) Shock service every 5000km. +- R600 per shock if it's only seals etc. 2) You actually can break deraileurs when you fall to the wrong side... 3) Cable replacements, especially if your cables run on the bottom of your down-tube 4) Tyres... Rear tyres only last about 2500km and they cost R500+ a pop 5) Pivot bearings - on Dual Suspension So if you maintain yourself, the cost isn't too much more, but it definately does require more work / cleaning. I clean my road bike once a year and the rest of the time I just throw some lube at it...

this argument is as good as p!ss!ing into the wind. The bottom line, whether you think it's justified or not: Motorists (including myself) get irritated with guys riding in bunches on the road. Maybe it's comparable to tractors, maybe its's not. That's not the point here. Also, some guys say that it's only a few "seconds" of your time. Remember that time is the most valuable thing you'll ever get in life... Therefore a person's "time" has to be respected and valued higher than almost anything else.

You don't make sense... Then you shouldn't watch any sports, nor admire any extraordinary achievements, because as Cav said, there are frauds and cheats everywhere, wheter it is in sports, business, politics and even charities. I love watching cycling, IMO it's one of the most spectacular sports to watch/follow and I'm not going to let dopers put me off. That gets me thinking... Paris-Nice starts this weekend!! And yes, most of all I'll continue to love riding my bike too!!

jeeees, getting all negative before there's been any bike-jack incidents... Lighten up dude, life's not allways that bad!!!

i don't have any bling except for a rohloff hub on my full-sus mtb. Don't see why i should commute with a lesser bike than the one I take out for fun on weekends!!!

I live about 20km from work and commute on some days that I won't need my car to go out to suppliers / meetings. Ride in normal clothes, Baggies & T shirt, cause I have more old tshirts and baggies than I have cycling tops and tights... I shower at work, otherwise I wouldn't do it. I sweat way too much just to put on a clean shirt. Only thing that sucks is if I need to take my computer, that's heavy, a risk should one fall and a potential hi-jack target, but haven't had any issues yet. Good luck!

Sad stuff... Heading there this weekend with some friends, so we'll be on the lookout. It's such a k@k road these days that I can't see why cyclists is his main concern. I've been over the nek with my bakkie last week (yes i'm afrikaans too, but no gold fortuner...) and it took the better part of 30 mins to drive that piece of road. Thanks for sharing.

Don't think its cool at all to ride on a real bike (MTB or road) with earphones... There's a reason why its not allowed on races, cause its UNSAFE!!! Seen a runner almost getting taken out by a bus once, cause he couldn't hear the monster coming on behind him. I use it on a stationary bike and on a treadmill to overcome the boredness and use songs to guide me during interval sessions so that I do not have to look at the time, but that's only indoors. While i'm outside, I listen to whatever is around me

there's been quite a few threads about this race before, so do a search and you'll find millions of opinions. Some love it, some hate it. Bottom line, its tough and technical in some sections, but also has lots of stock standard dirt road. I'm one of the guys who loves it, even if its only for those rocky descents!!!

I've been training about 8-10 hrs a week since last year August when I set my mind on IM. After IM 70.3 I took off a few days and started training again, upping the hours to approx 11 per week until about the 10th of Feb. Then sh!t hit the fan at work, so I haven't done anything since, and got back on the bike and in the running shoes on monday! Almost lost no fitness and really feel great... No pains, no injuries, no long term fatigue, just feeling great! Now i feel more ready than ever to up the hrs to 15-20 per week for the next 6 weeks!!!

I'm in G... Won't predict any times, cause its my first one, but the Argus can be sure that I'll be out there trying my best to punish it!

Whooh, these guys are making it sound over the top. My 2c: (only applies to sprint distance before I get hammered by the IM guys) 1) Swimming: Open water swim to me is no harder than swimming in a pool, in fact, I have had my best swims during competition in open water... It takes some time to get comfortable in the "washing machine", but just start at the back if you're not sure. 2) Running: If you have reasonable base fitness and you can run the required distance comfortably, then you can do the run at the end of a tri in very close to the same time as you would do it running only while training... 3) Cycling: As opposed to some of the other advice, I spend most time cycling. cycling is roughly 50% of the time of a tri, so although you don't win a tri based on your cycling performance, it is very important IMO. Your distance is fine, but do some intervals for the speed you need on the sprints. 4) Pacing: On a sprint tri, I find that I can red-line from the start, so I don't hold back on the bike and normally make it to the end (albeit completely broken). In longer distances, let your HRM do the pacing. 5) Gear: Only basics required initially. First tri I did with a cheap pair of swimming goggles, running shoes and an MTB. If you like it (which I'm sure you'll do) you can get everything you need as your budget allows: A tri suit, then a wetsuit, new shoes, new swimming goggles and eventually you'll have a garage full of stuff. Most of all, enjoy it, you won't look back!

I've been thinking to get an adjustable seatpost. Where do you get this KSi950 stuff?

Geees, you guys have serious OCD issues when it gets to bikes. I don't mind okes sitting on, playing with or even riding with my bikes. I man-handle my MTB big-time while riding it, so I don't think anybody else can do something worse by doing anything else with it... But then, I see cars, bikes and whatever as "functional" items, not as "decorative" items...

Been riding the spruit for the first time in a while, not so impressed... Alberts farm: Haven't been there - no comment Emmarentia: Good as allways Emmarentia - delta park: Okayish Delta park: Good Delta park - Fratelli's: Nice!!! new jumps Fratelli's - Republic ave Shitty, muddy / slightly overgrown Republic ave - Paulshof: Super shitty - Badly overgrown & flood damage When I say Super shitty, I mean that its badly overgrown and its no fun riding that stretch. Hope the authorities can cut some grass! With that said, Joburg City Parks are doing a great job on Emmarentia and Delta Park. Keep it up and hope they can sort out the rest of the spruit!

jip, will be there!

If he would go the landis route, then he'd lose ALL his credibility (something that landis never had) Now, although he's been suspended, he is not seen as a serious doper and his previous successes aren't in question in the minds of most fans. If he hasn't spoken out yet, he will never even if there was something more or something deeper to be told, because then ALL his victories would come into question, not only the 2010 TDF! The only thing that P's me off about doping sportsmen, is that nobody is ever man enough to admit to it when caught straight away...