Christie

Too bad - I was considering this as my first enduro, the other one was just after 2oceans. I dont think Im up for EWC events, yet.

But the bottke is also plastic-as long as they dont give bottles away at every second event - perhaps have it as an option on the entry? Sachets is a mess & the water in some taste funny - Im glad we are moving to other options. (I prefer a hydration pack )

The trails were great, and it was good to see the effort and restoration work after the fire. I started in medium on day1, was planning to take it easy as I have not cycled a lot this year. It turned out to be a mistake, as a lot of folks in the first two batches were much much slower than my easy pace. The congestion made the day less enjoyable, but it was not a race and people should have freedom to ride at a pace they can handle given the terrain. I agree, it seems a lot of people went for "fast" when seeding themselves. Lots of ebikes. Some in the first two groups slowed to a crawl on the many singletrack sections. The trails were too tight for ebikes, or they lacked skills. I saw a crash on those last switchbacks near the end - it sounded like a tree falling over, rider went way down the slope. He seemed to be ok, and rode to the finish. I started in "fast" on day2. Got held up by the group that jumped in from the side after the hotel. It was notable how slow riders were going down the pass, which was relatively non technical - but once again, it was not a race. I saw an ebiker crash on one of the corners, think he just overcooked it. The rest of the day was awesome - man those trails are magical! (more open roads early on helped spread the field and I upped my pace a bit, had nobody in front or behind me on most of the singletrack after wp1

If it was just LM that had a drop in performance, I suspect there would be less of a fuss. The drop in team results is not just for this season, is it? This leads to questions of a common cause, eg problems with one or more of the following: organization (management etc), coaching or lack of "marginal gains".

... but on a cautionary note, one should not get too carried away with pro cycling.

^ have you spotted the moment when he bends the matrix?

What a contrast to the usual finger pointing and sad "they did not want to work together" stories from the usual suspects. The kid was pulling that 3d bunch for most of the last 5km. Yes, the cat and mouse tactics helped him, but he also made his own luck.

Same here, sent 2x emails, never got a reply.

DQS had 3 in the chase group, but not one of them could beat Kristoff, MVdP or Sagan in a sprint, once Stybar got dropped. The call not to chase and try get somebody up the road possibly came from the team car. I see EBH was in the second chase group - looking a bit better.

Best April fool, ever!

Great news ????

Bad news: Paul Cluver is closed for mtb. Most of the bridges have been destroyed by the fire. They are rebuilding, and will open some areas over time.

Any status update on the trails at Paul Cluver? I heard the Botriver fire burned up to the amphitheatre there, and some areas of Oak Valley. Those little bridges on the red route is magical, it would be tragic if they are no more.

650€, meals and accomodation included. It looks do-able for R25k including flights.

FYI: Stans does well in these tests

Anyhow, to come back to the question: I suspect bottle cages work well because the cage and the bottle is flexible relatice to the bolt and frame. So they would flex under external load and only transfer a small % of this to the bolt+rivnut+frame. These rails need to be stiffer than a normal cage, else they would rattle someting fierce. So more external load will go to the interface, hence me wondering if the rivnuts can take the extra load. Till later, fellow beings in cyberspace

^ for how much pre-load torque? I ask because Ive seen that most stress in the bolt will often be caused by pre-load force (axial and shear components). Tricky to get it right, as you need the friction coeff between the thread of the screw and the rivnut, and the coeff under the screw head. Plus accurate fea on a screw helix with contact is a real pain (Ive done it before because I had to - a lot of elements are needed to define the helix, and to converge the stress at the root of the first 3 threads which transfer 60%+ of the load, the mesh needs to be even finer.) Then add external load on top of that. It is possible to break either the rivnut or the screw without any external load. A shot blasted M4 screw on a plastic cage (or heaven forbid, a cage with a rubber grommet at the bolt hole) has massive bolt collar friction. Screw can go "Plink" as you fit the cage.

^ Can do, wil cost ZAR, though ... for +/-R30k Have to lease a software license etc. (Not Dytran, no need to involve Mr. Euler here)

Cool product! Things I wonder about: Can the frame rivnuts handle the loads? (Ive had some rivnut failures before, those rivnuts did not look very robust.) Secondly, can the bolts handle the load? Some stainless or alu cage bolts are weak, esp those smaller M4 ones. Im just wondering because if you fit 2x full bottles, plus a tooklit to a point that was designed wo carry less than half the load, something might give?

Weber = braai like a girl

John OConnor cycles has Colnagos on their shop floor - give them a ring.

Fire = braai Gas = BBQ

They did a C59 Mapei in 2014 as well: http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/Mccaria/942397c7-dc71-48cc-b111-039a36b4a650_zps5b448222.jpg The older Mapei schemes has black and orange as well, but I like the more modern option.

^ sounds like a nice problem! Some C59s had very bland colours, but some of the later ones were awesome. I would do a C59 art decor, in blue: http://abload.de/image.php?img=img_3707kopie2vhkpr.jpg Either that or one of the Italian colour schemes.

Doping control in SA is not very strict - many of the pros got bust based on tip-offs rather than tests. I think that it is easier to get away with doping in SA. Re vets, there is less testing there than Elite - getting bust whould be less likely. But if you have to dope in SA to get results, you may just as well get another sport. Quality of competition is not that high, and race distances are short compared to Europe.