rudi-h

cool, looking forward to your feedback!

Interesting, I've never done a comparison, but I think there is more to it... Reason is: A while ago I was riding my normal road bike and could match my riding partner pedal stroke for pedal stroke. He then bought a TT bike, and suddently I had no chance of riding next to him and for most of the time I had a hard time just to sit in his slip. Realizing the difference, I then put on tri-bars and immediately I was able to ride the same pace without drafting. I reckon that the tri-bars alone made a 2-3 km/hr difference over a 3 hour ride (which is also +- 10%), but that is the aero position only... I would assume that the knoblees and weight would add some additional time... Maybe someone with a power meter can do a more scientific measurement?

if the cape epic in its current form is too soft for you then you must be a really tough guy... The cape epic is an extreme challenge for a normal individual with a normal job and a healthy lifestyle, irrespective of the cut-off times. Also remember how the race is funded. Partially by sponsors, but mostly by a few hundred guys that pay R50k each for an entry. Anybody that pays the cash should have a right to ride and a right to finish. If it were a pro-race where you had to finish within 15% of the winning time and can only be entered by invitation (like the european races) then it would have been a different story.

chinese carbon thread... search it, tonnes of info

Another comment which I may get flamed for this by the serious road riders, but its my 2c none the less... It was mentioned that road bikes are much faster than MTB's and that is VERY true. The main advantage of road bikes (on road) are the more aerodynamic position compared to a MTB and the skinny tires pumped at high pressure which significantly reduce the rolling resistance. Weight is NOT as important with road bikes as everybody would like you to believe. You can easily keep up with the top bunches on a R7k road bike, but if you ride a long or multi-stage MTB race on a R7k MTB your equipment will let you down big time. If you consider having two bikes and need to be conservative with the cash you spend, rather blow the cash on your MTB.

Buy a bike for what you do most often and enjoy the most. If it's mountain biking, rather save up for a nice dual suspension MTB. If you are planning to do both MTB and road riding, buy a cheap road bike. Road bikes are much cheaper per km to train with as the wear, tear and number of parts are much less. This is a part of the of the decision of having two bikes that is often over-looked. My road bike by now has been costing roughly 50c per km (including the initial purchase price) and my MTB is closer to R4 / km. Both have done somewhere between 10000 km's and 15000 km's to date. That said, I've had a lot more fun on my MTB, making the 8-fold higher price per km worth my while.

enter something really big. scary big even. that way you train not allways because you want to, but because you're scared shitless of raceday... you'll also train yourself right out of the smoking habit that's why so many suckers out there will be riding 200km this weekend...

what happened to the days of making jokes...

i didn't read the posts, but i used to cramp whenever I hit 2.5 hours in the saddle. I also did all the right stuff, but as you explained, after 2.5 hours i'd cramp no matter what. End of last year I increased my rides to 4+ hours when I started doing distance for Ironman. It only took 2 - 3 rides of 4 hours and my body got used to it. I can easily ride 4.5 hours now as hard as I can without any issues. Maybe just try to up your distance for a few weekends. PS, drink an energy drink that contains lots of salts. I use oldschool Game, it works like a bomb

Its a bad idea... It may soften the impact of some big bumps, but bear in mind that your seat to BB distance constantly changes, which will lead to incorrect setup and poor power output. I'm no bike setup expert, but I guess there is also a higher chance of back and knee injuries due to a continuously changing bike setup.

maybe he's like me and couldn't stand the sight of a dual sus MTB kitted out with slicks... If you gave him a few minutes he might have returned it with knoblees...

never trust a person that measures pressure in psi

Interested to see what Cancellara has in store for the other guys at Strade Bianche... He hasn't done anything spectacular this season yet and I think that makes some guys nervous. Spartacus is becoming a much more experienced rider, so I think he might stay out of the spotlight until Sanremo to avoid being the marked man.

I've got a mate from Nelspruit that's coming to JHB the weekend and the plan is to go ride at Suikerbosrand. He reckons we are dead slow for riding a 101km's in 4:40 (that's 1 small loop + 2 big loops). He asked me what the total ascent was, and from Google earth it seems to be 1417m per lap, which comes to 2478m for the full 101 km course. Is this what you guys get on your GPS's?

Motor oil has a lower viscocity and less "tackyness" than specially formulated chain lubes, but using it is fine as the relative force, pressure and speed on bicycle chain components are much lower compared to any industrial application. I use industrial gearbox oil and although I haven't done any form of a scientific comparison between different lubes, I can say that my roadbike chain has lasted somewhere between 12000 and 15000 km's and still going strong. I had my bike for a service last week. The bike is 7 years old, done over 2500km in races alone, I asked the LBS to check the chain and the casette. They came back and said its 100% and no need for replacement yet. Not saying that my choice of lube is the secret, but I think a combination of keeping the chain lubed at all times, correct gearing habits (i.e. not gearing up with force on the cranks etc.) can make one go a long way. I have never removed my chain to clean it and I don't use a chain cleaner. From time to time I clean my chain with a high-pressure hose and re-lube. PS its a Shimano Tiagra chain and cassette, so these items are probably quite a bit more wear resistant compared to 105, Ultegra and Dura ace

Once again the opinions and positions of people boils down to how much disposable cash they have. A rich oke may not care to spend an extra R500 per year on "day lisences", be it Running, Triathlon or Cycling races or whatever, irrespective of how it is used. Okes that hardly manage the entry fees will care about it, even if 100% of it goes for a good cause. The bottom line is that they are taxing the living shyte out of us middleclass people I don't see why this is necessary to give somebody cash that doesn't actively improve my race experience. I also don't see why its a big deal if the pro's don't race the same events that I do. I've never seen an amature riding the Paris Roubaix or the TDF, so don't know what the deal is in SA that pro's and amateurs need to ride the same races all the time.

They only suspended it so that they can have a hill to ride...

I was riding in the cradle the weekend and for about 30km's my ride over-lapped with the "berge en dale" cycling race. Same thing. Some d!kchead tossed a empty gel sachet into the bush. So I confronted him and told him its not cool, whereafter he just gave me some dumbass stare. I should have driven him into the shrubs next to the road... PS, cannot comment about the organizing of the event, but these smaller road events without road closure is a disaster IMO. You're welcome to flame me for saying this, but the riders litter like mad and its not safe to occupy a full lane of several busy roads and a national highway without road closure... edit: spelling

And it seems that Reinhardt Janse van Resnburg was in the finale leading out Kittel... Not bad going either

nevermind... maybe you guys should start a site thebitchandmoanaboutpricessa.co.za and then you can complain about expensive stuff that you cant afford all day long. I don't have any ties to the company and I didn't even know they existed for that matter. As a fellow business owner, I just thought that this level of negative publicity is a very low blow that the owner(s) did not deserve. PS good luck to any of you guys should you ever one day try to do something on your own, its harder than you think, even without some hubbers throwing sticks in your spokes along the way...

I never claimed to know anything about the business case of elliot, but neither do you and neither does the OP. So what i'm saying is that their business decisions and pricing structures are none of your business. If it costs too much, fly your own bike down or use their competition. Its a free market out there. These guys have worked hard and long to market their brand, build a customer base and a establish a level of service that they believe they can sell for a certain premium. They have communicated and published their price clearly in the same way that a garage quick shop publishes that they sell a can of coke for R10 which you can buy in P&P for R6. They haven't done you or the OP any wrong, the same way that a garage quick shop has not done you any wrong by "over-charging" R4 for a can of coke. So seeing that they haven't done you any wrong, they also do not deserve the associated negative publicity? If they however sold you a coke at R10 that was flat or tasted like cream soda, its a different story altogether... Sites like hellopeter exist to create a platform for customers to create public awareness IN THE EVENT that poor service has been rendered to a customer. You don't get a hellopeter equivalent for companies to name and shame companies publicly based on their price lists alone... PS no need to get personal

it's also your opinion that the increase "defies logic". And its my opinion that you don't know enough about the business model and profitability of of the bike transport industry to state whether an increase is justified or not. not starting a fight with you, I'm just saying that you named and shamed a service provider on a very large public forum without knowing the underlying reason behind the price increase. I wouldn't have appreciated it if it were my business.

I get your point, but at the same time it is very inappropriate to voice your opinion on-line about whether a price from a service provider is fair, low or high without understanding the business case. Note that these people can only make cash once or twice a year during big bike races, so the cash that they make in March has to stretch another 9 months until say the 94.7? Maybe the price hike is so that they can employ their current temp R150 / day wage workers full time to give them a chance of a better living? Maybe they're using school kids doing the work (packing and unpacking the bikes) and giving the profits to schools or charities? Chances of this are small, but all of these are possibilities none the less which would be excellent grounds for a price increase. So I guess my point is that unless you have all of the figures in front of you, I don't think you should comment on somebody else's perceived earnings in a public forum.

so what's the point of bitching about the prices? if you think it's too much, don't use them or even better, start a business that does the same thing for cheaper. economics says that if you ask too much, you'll lose customers. If you hike your prices and don't lose customers, then you clearly asked too little in the past. and no, i'm not some rich brat that can afford everything, quite the opposite really. I have however been in business for a while and I'd die to sell a service that is paid upfront and booked-up more than a month in advance despite threatening customers with a 37% price increase. Clearly they're onto something, so why shouldn't they benefit from it?

Be careful... I also thought so, had an accident followed by a knee operation. I had a basic hospital plan and I had to fork out R15k (almost 50% of the total bill) in the two weeks following the operation and another R3k for fisio / rehab afterwards that wasn't covered. Specialists typically charge 3X the standard "medical aid" rates, so if you have a costly procedure, you will end up paying 2/3'rds of the fee for the consultation, operation and aneaesthesiologist yourself on a basic plan... For a big accident with multiple fractures, rehabilitation etc. this bill could easily exceed R100k from your own pocket. edited...