Andrew_ew

got this reply from ActionPhoto when I also alerted them to it. They are wrong, nowhere do you sign anything or is it stated that you will be obligated to buy photo's even if you do remove chevrons or pose for medal photo's. There is a difference between expressing an interest and agreeing to buy items. "thank you for your email, contents of which we have noted. As a company we very careful not to contact customers unless the runner has clearly indicated that he or she is interested in receiving photographs by removing the chevron from the running number issued by the race organiser. You also posed for a medal photograph taken by a photographer clearly identified as a member of our staff. Under these cirmcumstances we don't believe this could be considered "inertia selling" We have cleared your account and flag your account to make sure you will never receive photographs from us. However please feel free to contact the Department of Trade and Industry should you wish to do so, we believe we provide a fantastic service to the athlete appreciated by the vast majority of them. Looking forward to your response Kind regards Johanna Ginsberg"

The Rules of the Road specifically for pedal cycles according to the National Road Traffic Regulations: 311 Riding on pedal cycles (1) No person shall ride a pedal cycle on a public road unless he or she is seated astride on the saddle of such pedal cycle. (2) Persons riding pedal cycles on a public road shall ride in single file except in the course of overtaking another pedal cycle, and two or more persons riding pedal cycles shall not overtake another vehicle at the same time. (3) No person riding or seated on a pedal cycle on a public road shall take hold of any other vehicle in motion. (4) No person riding a pedal cycle on a public road shall deliberately cause such pedal cycle to swerve from side to side. (5) No person riding a pedal cycle on a public road shall carry thereon any person, animal or object which obstructs his or her view or which prevents him or her from exercising complete control over the movements of such pedal cycle. (6) A person riding a pedal cycle on a public road shall do so with at least one hand on the handle-bars of such pedal cycle. (7) Whenever a portion of a public road has been set aside for use by persons riding pedal cycles, no person shall ride a pedal cycle on any other portion of such road. (8) A person riding a pedal cycle on a public road or a portion of a public road set aside for use by persons riding pedal cycles, shall do so in such manner that all the wheels of such pedal cycle are in contact with the surface of the road at ail times. SO No standing up in the saddle, and no passengers on a tandem either. So if you get get run over by a car whilst seated at the rear on a tandem or standing then it is your fault because you are a law breaker! Saw two people on a tandem standing the other day - shocking! Race winners note s311(6) (Said with toungue firmly in cheek) The law is not always the best measure of safety - common sense is - although on our roads that seem to be in extremely short supply by ALL road users.

This is a newsletter from Mark Carroll (level 2 Cycling Coach from cadence cycling (awesome programme -http://www.cadencecycling.co.za)- food for thought. "Racing the Cape Epic, Sani2C, Joburg2C on 6 Hours Per Week. Is it possible? YES. Open your mind to a new ideas - and read the attached science... The Science... A great body of published research provides the working, non-professional cyclist with directions to considerably enhance their endurance with a minimal time commitment. Avoid being stuck in a big-volume mindset, read the reports, they are compelling! This newsletter was inspired by Dr. Jeroen Swart, who's average training week for the 6 months leading up to the Cape Epic was 5.4 hours. NOTE: He didn't do 4 months big volume and then switch to high intensity - it was 6 months of 5.4 hours on average. Further, he pulled off a respectable 57th place. Over 8-days, ride time was 46hours, which was 8 times more volume than his typical training week. Just for mental preparation, one week out of the 6 months consisted of 13 hours whilst 2 weeks had 9 hours - which means some weeks were also less than the 5.4 average. I have spoken about this with many riders and the same two reponses repeat themselves: 'Nonsense!' 'He's a natural.' This response is understandable due to the fixed paradigm that ultra endurance races need to be tackled with ultra endurance training. SO, AS A WORKING, NON-PROFESSIONAL CYCLIST, HOW DO YOU DO IT? By tricking the body into creating the same endurance adaptations in 1 hour of high intensity interval training that occurs with 4 hours of endurance training. Note 1: Most riders are suffering after just 20 minutes at 105% of their Functional Threshold Power. It is therefore reasonable to state that 5 - 7 hour training rides are done at a low-moderate intensity, regardless of how hard the rider perceives their effort is. Note 2: Recovery. Training was separated by at least 1 day recovery. To maintain quality intervals, you need to be fresh, hydrated and nourished. Poor sleep, poor nutrition, fatigue from previous exercise sessions, etc... will inhibit the ability to complete intervals effectively and stimulate the results. Mark Carroll Level 2 Cycling Coach The first article is by Jeroen Swart, published in Sports Medicine Update. "...the continued use of low to moderate intensity volume based training may not be an optimal training strategy during preparation for ultraendurance racing." Training for ultra endurance events: http://www.cadencecycling.co.za/emails/files/jeroensmu.pdf This research from Canada using 30 second intervals compared 2 groups who performed 6 training sessions over 2 weeks. Total work volume over 2 weeks compared 13 minutes intense intervals versus 10 hours endurance training. "...our results suggest that intense interval training is indeed a time-efficient strategy to induce rapid muscle and performance adaptations comparable to traditional endurance training." Short-term sprint interval versus traditional endurance training. http://www.cadencecycling.co.za/emails/files/30sSprintvsEndurance.pdf This second research from Canada used 1 minute intervals with subjects performing 8 - 12 repeats of 1 minute high intensity intevals. "High-intensity interval training (HIT) induces skeletal muscle metabolic and performance adaptations that resemble traditional endurance training." ...low-volume high-intensity interval training induces mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle: http://www.cadencecycling.co.za/emails/files/mitochondrial.pdf This research from Norway compared 4 minute high intensity intervals to LSD training. "....students that trained at aerobic high intensity (i.e., 90–95% HRmax) increased their VO2max significantly. However, the LSD and the LT groups training at 70 and 85% HRmax did not change their VO2max." Aerobic High-Intensity Intervals Improve VO2max More Than Moderate Training. http://www.cadencecycling.co.za/emails/files/hegerud.pdf "

I was until recently mainly a runner although I did a fair amount of mountain biking when not running. I have done several marathons and have done comrades. I have not done a 150k ride, I have done several 100k rides. I started road cycling last year. I have done amashova twice, once on a mtb and once on a road bike. My personal experience is that running is much harder on the body - so much more impact that road running becomes a process of injury management as much as training and this is more of a limiter than cardio vascular performance. I find cycling harder from a cardio vascular point of view as without the impact and pain caused by running you can push longer and harder and the only limitation becomes cardio vascular ability. I have had to stop running long distances due to knee damage - which was caused more by rugby & athletics than by running, but the running makes it worse. I feel fitter and stronger now that I am mainly cycling with very little running and I have lost more weight with cycling than I did with running - and have a lot less injuries. I would say they each have the own "hardness", for having to tough it out through pain though running "wins" hands down. For having to keep pushing when you are at your cardio vascular limit cycling is much harder. Looking at the top cyclists and runners - Kotov aside (who is an exception that proves the rule) it seems to me that cyclists have much longer careers - Noakes in his book "the Lore of Running" seems to be of the view that there are only so many kilometeres you can run in your life as there is only so much abuse your body can take from the hammering of the road.

+1

CSA's plans should have been such that there was no possibilty that metro would not be there - this event is too important to cycling in SA for a lack of metro support to even be a possibilty

Perhaps it is time some heads roll at CSA - starting at the top - any thoughts on admin putting together an e-petition on this?

Can't remember the first bike - but the one I best remember as a kid was my grifter, big fat tyres, twist grip gears - all three of them, wide handlebars, the biggest seat in cycling creation (after the chopper)- had a sad end after I broke the frame ramping down stairs. Had a chopper before that - every time it got to a certain speed it would get a speed wobble which sometimes ended up in skinned knees.

design 4 - Mampara's design - other designs are very nice - but 3+hrs in the sun with so much black is going to be really hot

A terrible tragedy - condolences to the family and friends.

They are one and the same person i think - Railed = XC7000 = Preston

I agree - lose weight on the body and then start on the bike - the best first thing to drop weight on the bike is the wheels - rolling weight is the best to lose - my personal experience with my bike is that with lighter wheels - from wtb speed disc to am classic (tubless conversion) gave me a benefit of 10 sec per k on the same course from one day to the next. I also agree that to get under the 10kg bike will cost you as much as an already light hardtail - I have spent over R10k to lose 2kgs on my bike - cost me R1800 to do a cadence cycling course which helped me lose 1.5kg (and improved my time over the same course by 15 sec per kilometer) - having said that - I don't regret making my bike lighter (on the look out for some good lightweight forks which should drop another 1+kgs from my bike!). If you slowly start getting good lightweight components then in a couple of years time you can buy a lightweight frame and transfer the good components onto the lightweight frame and sell the old frame and old components to finance part of the new frame. That way you get a bike that is specced exactly how you want.

I have recently made the move and don't know why it took so long, more comfortable, the pad does stay in place better - especially good on the mtb after steep technical descents - no catching on the back of the saddle when I move forward

3hrs 35 in the amashova - on 3 weeks training - and finishing comrades in 10hrs 35 - on a bit more training - which convinced me my future lay in cycling!

I have recently done the same thing and I bought a secondhand 2008 Raleigh RC6000 - R5000 on gumtree - heavy - 9.7kg for a 54cm - but strong & cheap with a 105 group set, so good value for money - my plan is to give a try, if I like road cycling then I will upgrade. Raleighs may not be the 'coolest' bike out there - but hey - value for money & reliability is always cool on one level.