Christie

I think people rate it as important so you can use it to plan and evaluate your according to training zones, like not going over threshold on long endurance rides, etc. If you use a power meter, threshold power is more important than threshold heart rate. Imo having it measured is not that important, if you do a max effort 2x20min interval with 10min rest in between, the average heartrate should give a good idea of threshold. You can also have it measured at a sports institute at a university, they use something like a Conconi test. Best results is if they measure your blood lactate, I think 4 mmol lactate is used as threshold.

Groenkloof is not ideal for beginners imo. Some parts are technical - several of my riding buddies have wiped out hard there, and they are all experienced riders, multiple Epic finishers etc. Two of them spent time in hospital. Rosemary Hill is a better option for beginners.

Coach makes a big difference imo. Aus were useless with Arthur - got thrashed in India and England. New coach, same players and look at them now. With Gary Kisten, we won the 1st test at home the last time the Aussies were here. Then went to NZ, and did well. After that, we thrashed England in the first test over there. Then we went to Aus, and fought well in test 1. Back home, we thrashed NZ and Pakistan, people said we started playing ruthless, dominating cricket like Aus at their best. Then Domingo took over.

Domingo' first series in charge was vs Pakistan in UAE - and we played p!ss poor cricket in the first test. VS India, we almost repeated. Now against Aus, we did. I read that after Gary Kirsten left, the fielding coach left for Australia, and they have not replaced him. Fitness and conditioning coach also left to become head coach of the Titans. I do however not think that is why they fielded badly. I think that they looked flat footed, low on commitment, in the same way England did in Aus. We have great players, but Domingo is not up to standard. I hope they have not signed him for 4 years, or something silly.

I dont mind a loss, you can never win everything. But this was a thrashing. It is the manner of it that leaves a bad taste - we looked as spineless as England. I hope we fight back, but a 2-1 win for SA looks like a long shot today. We have made a habbit in the past of going into series undercooked - Gary Kirsten reversed that in his time as coach, but it seems that under Domingo the team went back to old habits.

The #1 ranking is now just academic. Yes, without MJ Aus will not be so menacing, but the way we play him is humiliating. Domingo said something like "there is nothing you can do when he bowls like that". What a useless thing to say for a coach - cant he find a bowling machine that gives 150kph and fire some bouncers at our batsmen? Furthermore, the poor fielding made us look like idiots. Are we looking at 3-0 here?

Im not trying to stir, but I was wondering what dirty Hubbers ride with. I currently run an XT chain with my 9x SRAM setup.

You cant detect cracks in carbon with x-rays. Warranty replacement.

I prefer specialists over all rounders for the test team. Miller at 6, Philander at 7 for the all rounder slot, 4 specialist bowlers.

His career was going up till he led the team that smashed the Aussies in an odi series over there (after Smith broke his hand, I think). They started to complain about Botha's action. Their umpires no-balled him a couple of times, after which he was tested in Aus and had his doosra banned as a result. Without the doosra, his bowling became less attacking, and SA have got enough "holding one end" spinners

Hmmm, perhaps they should call up Miller to the test side if Duminy cant play. Im sure he has got what it takes to play tests.

I hope this motivates KP to return to top form again. He is a great batsmen to watch, I hope he lights up the IPL big time. Perhaps he can play in Ramslam t20 next year?

If you dont plan on winning the Epic, your bike should be light enough already. Rather focus on increasing power and reducing your own weight. Removing that extra 500 to 1000 grams from the bike is a waste of money imo. That said, how much Stans have you got in the tyres now, and how does that compare to before? Same tyres?

Sidi

If Im not mistaken, Campy will release a bb30 crank soon (if they have not already). I wonder if this will be the begining of the end for Italian thread?

I sent them a mail, will hear what they say.

Re the c60, bb30 and sloping only sounds like a change in manufacturing process. I wonder if it will be made in Italy still? Colnagos are not super light, but lots lighter than Pinarello, imo they do not have to chase lower weight so much. They are currently far behind Cervelo, Cannondale and Scott in terms of weight, but I doubt that they will win customers from that market even if they make a sub 900 frame. I dont mind a frame that slopes a bit, and bb30 vs threaded bb should not alter the overall shape of the frame much.

Im giving up on the SIR 9. I did not want a Tamale one. If it is true that the importer is only bringing 2x in, it looks like they are not very confident about the product. Second place on the list is still open, something like a Rocky Mountain or Lynskey via CRC, perhaps (it wont be that Lynskey with those fugley twisted tubes, though)

Wildcatds are probably bought with "donations" etc.

The team was declared as transformed a while ago, with enough players of colour making it on merrit. The latest politicking, if I understand correctly, is that the other colours do not count anymore, only black. I saw some story in the media of a black fast bowler that may play for England this year. He says black players do not get opportunities in SA. It would be cool if both him an KP play for England, then they have a white and a black player who both feel that they did not get chances at home due to their race.... My question would be: who got those opportunities then?

I see Tsolikile is keeping for the Lions in t20 games. I wonder whats up with that, since QdK is the keeper for the national t20 and OdI teams. Perhaps to get Tsolikile ready to keep for the Australia test series (I hope not)

All the contributers here must take credit (or blame) for my buy, posting pics here of these awesome brakes. If what I read here is correct, I'll probably hit the stem with the family jewles on the first ride.

I have Avid Juicy carbons on my FS, decided to try something different on my HT29 project: Race Evo (stealth) with X2 caliper

The start of a new build...

There will be zero difference in performance, in terms of your Argus time etc the change will be a waste of money. The Foil is a superb design, I would guess it will be slightly lighter and more aero than the Fondriest. The rest is all about whether blue or green is the nicest colour. If it was my money I would prefer the Scott. Imo it has better engineering, more racing cred- they sponsor a top team, constantly improve designs to be at the cutting edge, and get feedback from Pro riders. Fondriest is a newer Italian brand, much like Chippolini, except Fondriest won a lot less races).