cosborne

+1

A bit of advice with saddles would be that a thickly padded one might not always be the best because they can cause chaffing. A well fitted saddle is better then a thick spongy one. I also 100% agree with Mampara. Spend the extra cash on shorts and you won't regret it. Sorry I can't help with any particular saddle- I ride Sella Italia SLR for road and am very happy.

My Woolworths Food only has Bicycling and not Ride

I have emailed them. Will let you guys know what response I get.

Good on Gabriel We all remember our first Shova and it was a daunting thing! With each race you'll pick up more skills. We hope too see you again next year MG!

I'm gonna paste this thread into an email and send it on to them now.

So moving forward we can hope for either a drop in entry fee, or more of a bang for our buck overall experience. Does anyone here have connections with the shova race organisers so we can forward this forum on? No use complaining or coming up with great ideas here without expressing them to the right people.

I don't think there would be any complaints if this was the situation: R100 race entry- this includes road closure, admin and waterpoints. That's it. No promises of expos or goodie bags. You pay to ride and that's it. But we pay a fortune, get all excited by adverts and promises via emails, to only get dissapointed by the registration. If there was no payment for added extras then there would be no dissapointment when we don't get them. Agreed?

Grebel it's my 3rd shova and it has gotten worse. There have been many debates on the hub about goodie bags. If the mtb races are getting it right then they will attract more riders and road riding will slowly deminish in numbers (well it has already- just look at what your LBS stocks, here in Durban we have no road bikes). Good on the mtb guys, hopefully the road race organisers will look at dropping numbers and do something about it in the future.

Grebel I have come round to the mode of thinking that a goodie bag is a bonus. I tell myself we pay for road closure and should expect nothing more. Some fat cats are making huge money. I go for the race, not the goodie bag, so I suppose it's not the end of the world. It can be frustrating but the days of receiving energy bars and lekker socks are gone. "We pay for safety" - just tell yourself that.

A Tri-bike will help you if you competing seriously and seconds are everything, otherwise a normal road bike with tri-bars fitted where necessary will be more then fine. For an entry level road bike are you looking at entry level allu or entry level carbon? Carbon will help with weight and road vibrations, whereas starting on allu is where most of us begin as it gives you a good feel for the road. Merida and Silverback do good value for money entry-level road bikes. Getting a good frame will help in the long run as you can upgrade the components as you go along. Just make sure that wherever you buy your bike from they give you a setup. So many people buy expensive bikes and sell them 3 months later purely because they not comfortable on them. Look out for bargains here on the hub.

I eat the YUM YUM with no sugar or salt by the tub load I'm 25 weigh 67kg and have a good cholestral (just thought I'd add that).

What is the weight on such a frame? Can't be more then 1100g surely? You should be riding Red if you worried about weight. What's the weight on your whole bike as in the pic?

My opinion is that if you are riding enough, gyming correctly and eating nutrionally then you shouldn't need a supplement like creatine. You will build muscle naturally. Purely my opinion though, not scientific fact.

A 59cm seems quite big for your height. I'm 1.79cm and I ride a 54cm. Before you go spending bucks on a frame check how far back your seat it. You might be too streached out. Also put another spacer under your stem to get it a bit higher for a more upright ride. Try everything before spending cash (unless you want to).

Without asking too many questions of you, a couple close of pictures of components and frame will give us a better idea. It's like me trying to sell you a car without a picture

Marius that's all part of sports psychology. Like Johnny Wilkson always did before he place kicked. It wasn't a weird habit to crouch down and pray, it was his method to prepare himself mentally. For you its just a weird toenail and sock fetish

Spat I think the key is to feel fresh but confident. Personally I'm gonna do an easy ride (slow 40km) the day before the shova, or not ride at all. If you can stand on that start line and feel good then whatever works for you.

Marius that made me laugh! What has clipped toenails got to do with anything!!!

Gee if you can hit a 2:45 on the shova well done! My best is 3:00 on the nose! There a lot of climbs so lightweight is the way forward. I'm not eating next week

Just from my experience on the hub I've seen a couple cracked Scotts over the past 3 years. Maybe check it out before buying? Either way you go choose the one that you know you'll run your fingers along everytime you walk past it at home I do it with my road bike all the time.

Dude if you saw what the two african guys rode at the Joberg2Sea then you must know your bike is good enough! I watched it on TV is disbelief! They came 2nd overall if I'm not mistaken.

Very hot road bike! Laced with white handlebar tape and it'll look the shizz! What's the weight on the ISP frame and those wheels?

Don't question Mampara just accept

Moved from Shimano to SRAM and find the shifting instantaneous with SRAM. SRAM is louder on shifts, but I like it because you know you've shifted. The hoods on SRAM are like making love to your hands.