Rick

Hi I see you have a triple crank setup there? I wouldn't recommend that. Can you tell me your budget?

Hi wapad I can tell you from intimate experience - i bought full DA 7900 - actually i was on the compact so 7950 crank. I then bought a quarq power meter which came with the SRAM s975 (red). Honestly, the DA shifts better. I have had to swtich back on a few occations if there was a problem with the quarq. The DA is know for it's shifting and it's about the best there is. I am now running Di2 and it works with both cranks but it's lightning fast on the DA. That being said, the SRAM is a great crank and shifts better than most. I have also tried the FSA and it does not shift as well as either, by quite a margin in my opinion. My power meter came on an FSA to start and i sent it back. If you are faced with 2 at the same price then take the DA. If you end up with the SRAM you won't be unhappy. Hope that helps.

agreed

in A so i figured it might be borderline. spoke to someone at the race office now and they said it's fine. in case anyone else wants peace of mind. think i should have got that in writing though

Appreciate your help TNT, sorry if we got off to a bad start there. I'm just getting a little tired of the tendency on the hub to criticise the question and not answer it. i know you were just sharing your opinion and thanks for the contact details, i'll probably end up going that route if nobody knows anything definitive.

appreciate the advice nuge. can't really afford to stop. i am seeded A and i will never catch up if i stop. i would definitely move to the side and the meeting point is uphill, but the guys in A take things quite seriously so i worry about doing something illegal.

i can follow the official chanel, but that one busy chanel at the moment! not likely to get a quick answer. i was here, posted the question. don't stress if you don't know the answer, perhaps someone else does.

thanks, google to the rescue. doesn't really help though since by that definition a water point would also be outside assistance. i believe this clause refers to being pushed etc.

nice

my son wants to give me a hand-up it makes him feel a part of it. i'm not asking for your approval, just trying to establish the rule.

tell you what, how about you answer my question first, then i'll answer yours?

I checked the rules for the Argus and it makes no mention of any rule against hand-ups or drinks "on the move". Obviously in the social categories nobody gives a damn, but is it legal? I am in a higher seeding group and i don't want to unwittingly have someone run me in if i accept a hand-up. I would not be stupid and do it near a water point, this is thinking more of my son or wife giving me a banana on the way past. Anybody know if there is a rule?

Thanks Vinny that gives me comfort. It seems the majority of good (easily available) stuff is still 9mm, but i don't want to regret it later.

Hi Please could I get an opinion from one of the experienced mountain goats I'm trying to put an mtb build together. Looking at the above wheelset/fork combo. I will be looking to do mostly XC/marathon riding, but I'd like to be able to rock up to any of the funrides on the calendar without worrying about breaking my bike! I have read quite a bit where folks are praising the 15mm through-axle. Should I be concerned about going 9mm QR or is it ok? Any other advice is appreciated.

Reduce your volume, keep intensity the same. If you have trained quite hard you can halve your volume this week or more. If you are planning to top up your glycogen stores then the best time to carbo load is immediately post workout. 3min hard effort is enough to induce a glycogen recharge. avoid training on Friday. Light spin on Sat.

Hi guys I'm a total noob with mtb lingo - and mtb in general - so please be gentle I am busy putting together a bike for xc/marathon mostly. I like to go fast, not v good on the technical stuff. So far i have an anthem sl carbon frame - 26" Getting shimano xt 2012 - 2x10 Now where i am really battling is the wheel/fork combo. I am currently looking at this: http://www.buycycle.co.za/buyparts/suspension-front/rockshox/rockshox-sid-xx-world-cup-qr-tapered-2011-rockshox.html and http://www.buycycle.co.za/buyparts/wheelsets-mtb/easton-en-2-3-4-5-6-7-8/easton-ea90-xc-26-wheelset-9mm-qr-easton.html Please let me know if you would agree with these. Like I say, i really don't know much about tapered/straight or 9mm vs 15mm qr etc. I read that the 15mm is obviously stiffer, but will the 9 be ok for most racing? I weigh just under 90kg. Thanks for the help

very good, this will also help with weight-loss

To all who are suggesting more training and lower relative intensity, let me ask you this: Does it get easier or do you just go faster? Come on chaps, you train harder so you can go faster, but whether you are an X seed or an elite you are still going to burn all your matches in a race. Unless you are so frikken awesome that you can just chill while the okes around you fall apart. If anything I would say as your ability increases so does your relative race intensity. So no, I think you will always stretch past what you can handle in a race, that's the point isn't it? And under these circumstances SOME PEOPLE cramp. Not all of us, just some. And it happens less in more trained riders for sure. Diet also, definitely a connection there. From my experience I can say one thing for damn sure. If it's hot I cramp more, end of story. I have read the Lore of Running and every other book under the sun and frankly I don't care what the exact physiological mechanism is. I'm not saying this affects everyone, but it affects some people badly, irrespective of their condition. You want a silver bullet? I find Crampblock works very well for me. And I'm not talking about taking it on some days and i didn't cramp, I'm talking about getting an inner thigh cramp that just about pulled me off my bike, I chewed 2 crampblock in desperation and it brought me back from the edge. Maybe i'm a sucker and it's just a placebo, but i don't race without them. I suggest you give those a bash.

Agree with you 100%. I even have white pants, LOL - talk about uncool I recently started wearing the craft shirts, they are bascially like a mesh, extremely breathable. I got my hair cut too, specifically for this purpose Does need a trim though, maybe i'll pop in before Sunday. Other than that I'm using an Aeon helmet so it's very light and has great airflow. Can't think of much else to change. Although I have imagined some kind of radiator vest which gets drip fed with water and chills in the air like those land rover water bottles

Very interesting, I'll see if i can try one on in the shops and see how it feels. Thanks

No kamikaze you gotta let go of that bone a little, you're putting teeth marks in it If the camelbak was indeed a perfect solution then there's a good chance I would forgo the peer pressure concern. I mentioned that partly in jest in keeping with humour created by "the rules" which i find very funny. I would be open to trying a racebak as above and intend to do so. I am also open to trying the rear-seat tri cage, which is just as uncool as a camelbak in league riding conditions so the peer pressure isn't a show stopper trust me. I don't shave my legs if that adds any credence I do use a saddle bag because i hate having **** in my back pockets and I hate taking 30min to pack for a race. The stuff stays in the bag and I'm very happy with that - popular or not. Besides, the reason the pros dont use saddle bags is because they dont have anything to put in them! Do they repair tubes? carry spares? bombs maybe? multitool? No they don't, they have a spare bike 10m behind them. So to not use a saddle bag because the pros dont is very misguided logic. Anyway, in summary I don't want a frikken satchel on my back for this intensity of racing, it will freak me out. Perhaps you can tell us more about your racing circumstances? It may enlighten as to why you are so evangelical on the camelbak issue.

Yes, the racebak. I plan on getting one to try out. They are not cheap, and very hard to find, nobody seems to stock them, My additional concern is the heat. Since this is a problem that I ONLY experience when it's hot, i'm concerned it might make me hotter and defeat some of the benefit. Will definitely give it a try though even if just for rulling it out.

C, but i'm with the subvets for the league I appreciate all the camelbak suggestions, and honestly when i started riding i used my camelbak all the time. I have a lobo so it's quite compact. That being said, as the racing becomes more demanding it becomes increasingly uncomfortable to have the thing on your back - the bag itself has a weight even empty and trust me after trying to hang on to these snakes for a 100km on a hot day the last thing you want is satchel on your back! It also makes getting into your pockets a nightmare, unless the staps are loose which would be stupid. Even if the camelbak was perfect I don't think i could actually go into the starting pen with it on, sorry, but just because riding without a shirt might be more comfortable doesn't mean people do it. You'd look like a tit and unfortunately that will always be the case with a camelbak in a serious road race. zaShadow, that's unfortunately not an option mate, the pace is a bit quick. if the pack is averaging 45kph on the flat they cover 250m in 20seconds, if I then rode at 50kph solo it would take 3min to catch them having burned every match in my box. I'd probably be better off dehydrated For you guys who don't need much fluid, I envy you but in this way we are different so what works for you will not work for me. I don't have this problem in winter races, it's the rate at which I sweat in summer that causes the issue, that's not necessarily something you can train. I rode the Tour de Worcester on one bottle, no problem. I'm going to try the sipping approach and pray that last trip to the portaloo keeps the bladder happy. Will also try an energade bottle in the back pocket tomorrow and see if it's comfortable enough. Thanks again

The rules are epic, I hadn't read that before, getting a damn good chuckle

I'll try the sip approach this weekend. Cobra is gonna be brutal on the hydration with all that climbing and this heat.