JasonW

Should make no difference where you take the weight off including yourself, coz everything has to accelerate or be kept in motion at the same rate.

Great place for a 24-hour! I hope they use the full black route which will bring the lap distance more into line with what they use overseas I think.

Why not just raise your concerns with Grevile or the organisers? I'm sure they will be very accomodating. I know from experiense that there are loads of problems with chip timing. I would rather trust manual timing.

The screens do crack quite easily and cost R 750 to replace (speaking from experience!).

The ability to upload maps such as T4A is really useful if you like to do a lot of "outback" MTB riding. The Garmin 705 is also compatible with my Powertap.

I think the whole idea is to move away from age cats and more to cats based on ability like they have is the USA. It does have its pros and cons. There is a nice social vibe in the age cats which I don't think you will get in the ability cats. I do think that ability cats will push standards up though.

Cool, thanks!

You will get all the functionality of the Polar in the Garmin plus you get GPS and the ability to upload maps, courses, etc. Bit of a no-brainer for MTB. The price difference is no longer that great. Only down side of the Garmin is that the battery needs recharging after about 15 hours of use and I sometimes forget...

Does anyone know if one can use a Shimano 10-speed cassette (eg 10-speed XT) as part of a SRAM XX 10-speed drivetrain? The price saving is massive (R 600 vs R 3000) and theoretcially it should work. The cheaper SRAM 10-speed casettes aren't available yet.

I am using the PT with the Edge 705 which uses exactly the same technoclogy. It works fine. Much nicer than the standard yellow CPU. Also a lot easier just to drag and drop the files into TrainingPeaks.

Hi Tankman This is a very frustrating thing about Mapsource. The only way to do it is to convert the garmin gps file and then import it into Mapsource. Have a look at TCX Converter (www.teambikeolympo.it/TCXConverter/...TCX_Converter/TCX_Converter_ENG.html)

The only time that I don't carry a tube is XC lap events where you are normally screwed if you get a puncture as the time margins are so tight. For marathon events a tube and some duct-tape can be pretty essential unless you enjoy walkingback to the finish! Get one of the maxxis lightweight tubes which weigh virtually nothing.

The BPT newsletter was actually quite useful. I am voluntarily on their mailing list by the way. I'm a bit pissed that I didn't get the bicciclets one!

I think the next one is at Zevenwacht which used to be a proper technical course when they still used it 3/4 years ago. I really enjoyed the Nitida course although lap six was pure purgatory! Nice to see a bigger field in SV.

As Tarmac says, there is unlikely to be a major difference in life span between 9 and 10 speed chains. Chains are in any event relatively cheap. The real expense with XX is the casette at R 3000 a pop. Although you will shortly be able to buy lower specced 10 speed cassetts from SRAM (XO, X9 and X7) which should be cheaper.

Hi Knippie Will SA Seeding use PPA events as well? Ideally the seeding system should be as inclusive as possible. Currentlt SA Seeding only seem to use the MTN marathon events and ceratin races where the roganisers have linked in.

I agree its a good thing. The problem is that different events will recognise different seeding systems unless there is one system that is endorsed by CSA. It will also need the other systems PPA, Super Seeding, MTN, etc to buy into it. It wil also be important to set criteria so that there are no "soft" events that allow riders to obtain a better than justified seeding.

I'm currently riding a 2010 model Scalpel and love it. It is however very much geared towards racing rather than trail riding, so it depends on what you are after. Also be aware that there were a lot of complaints with the older models with the chain stay detaching from the main frame. When you but second hand you do not get the warranty, so understand that you are taking an elemnt of risk. BTW the seat stay is a carbon composite.

Get the comprehensive set up. Its worth the extra cash. You can phone and book via SSI.

x2 for Jeroen. Best money that you will spend IMHO.

Tend to agree re the 60 min TT. The onlt time that I've ever done one was on Alpe d'Huez! It was actually reasonably close to my FTP based on 95% of 20 min avg power.

Is that because they think they weigh less than they do, or becasue they think they are stronger than they are ... or both

The whole point of the bike is to be a completely sealed unit with no exposed parts. very cool idea and where MTBs can potentially go.

Best compromise is to use a MTB with semi-slicks. Perhaps something like Vredestein Killer Bees or the new Spez Renegade

A few years back Trek fitted a rear shock between the seat stays and the seat tube. There was also a rumour this year that Cannondale would fit a Headshock to their bikes - probably a late April fool's though!