Minion

Tactics and racing. D group is like riding a 97km team time-trial where there are at least 10-20 other people who have the same goal as you (getting a good time), can achieve that goal at the same time as you, get a definite benefit from working with you and so are willing to work with you. In a racing group, there will be 5 people with the same goal as you (getting a team win), there will be another 10-20 people with a similar goal, but the only way they can achieve their goal is to ensure you fail at yours. There is no direct benefit to group cooperation and a whole lot of benefit to doing the utmost to rip the legs off your opponent.

Yet, every time, it's a MTBer asking variations of "If I can do x on my MTB, what can I expect to do if I'm on a road bike". Or does the mere contemplation of the tar immediately disqualify them from the ranks of true offroaders?

It is based on medical research. The part of the research that never gets quoted, however, is that the standard deviation of the formula is around 6-8bpm. This means that at least 5% of the population will have values that are 12-16bpm higher or lower than the predicted value. Zula also points out that the research may not have been performed on athletes. This has all been discussed before and a while back, I posted a graph from a journal paper showing just how much the HR values deviated from the formula. Download the HR data onto your computer and look at the graph. There should be a smooth transition, over a minute or two of hard riding, up to the max value. If you see the steady climb every time, then it's likely the value is right. If the graph shows funny step changes, then it's not right. I would be suspicious of any max values near the start of the ride as these may be data spikes occurring due to poor electrode contact (lack of sweat). I'd also be suspicious if the max value seems to come when you're riding at high speed and not pedalling hard, as that's probably from wind noise.

Another missive from CSA. They're calling for nominations for various board positions. Nominations close tomorrow at 12:00. I don't really think 15 hours is sufficient notice for something like this, but if you have nominations, get in touch with your club.

I received the following from CSA. They've ask for suggestions/comments for the indaba.

What doesn't make sense? Having a torque wrench or not having one?

I once went on a diet like that. You eat a piece of dodgy chicken on the first day. From the second or third day onwards, you lose about 1kg per day until around the 9th day.

A machine that delivers an increasingly painful electric shock for every 24hrs that someone forgets to reply to/neglects/ignores an enquiry email from a customer.

You club embryonic seals? You sick bastard, you. Now where's that 'Warranty void if seal is broken' pic?

It's much more likely something in the route wasn't right. If you were to ride 200km and all you did in that time was climb and descend 10% gradient hills, the difference between the horizontal distance and the actual distance would be about 961m. If the whole thing were over 20% gradient, the difference would still only be about 3km. To get a 13km difference, you'd need to be hitting 35% gradients the whole way.

The other 100+ riders doing the same descent and the 1000s who've subsequently done the descent managed perfectly well without them, though. You can't use outliers to indicate a trend.

Unless you're chasing technology for technology's sake, the shortcomings the new technology addresses need to outweigh the new compromises it introduces. In the MTB/CX environment, current disc brakes offer significant advantages over cantilevered rim brakes. Hence their widespread adoption. Current disc brakes do not offer such significant advantages compared to the compromises (such as added weight) that they introduce compared to traditional calliper brakes.

You do have to unscrew the quick release, though. On a normal road bike, you can file off the lawyers lips on the fork. Wheel change is then simply release the brakes (a single lever), open quick release, replace wheel, close quick release, close brakes. On a disc brake bikes, the lawyers lips actually have some use due to the forces involved in braking. To remove the wheel, you have to unscrew the skewer to get it over the lips. I'd wager this takes longer than unclipping the brakes (especially if you ride Campag and can release the brakes on the fly at the hoods).

How many of those are really a significant issue on a road bike, though? It's really a red herring comparing bicycles to performance motorbikes. The amount of energy that needs to be dissipated is orders of magnitude higher on a motorbike.

Here's a useful piece of software for converting pictures (such as elevation profiles) into curves in a .csv file. Useful if you want to play with the scale, amongst other things. http://digitizer.sourceforge.net/

It's an elevation profile for one lap?

I can't stop laughing. That ones even more Python-esque than the cropped version

They should build them into the shifters, now that electronic shifting means that they no longer need to put a bulky shifting mechanism in there.

The animation, especially the 'roll-over' part is very Terry Gilliam.

That's because the file also includes some post-race meandering. Mapmyride seems to get rid of all the lap data, but if you look at the Garmin Connect version I posted, you'll see the first lap correctly reports the race distance as being 97.7km. Edit: Here's the course with the extra removed http://connect.garmin.com/course/250375

Although, why shouldn't a virtual club that has 5000 members get a corresponding number of votes? So long as the club is properly constituted, I don't really see a problem.

Only if the chain's worn. https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/109516-the-great-chaincassettegears-thread/

Might be it's coming in via EMS (the international courier service that includes Parcelforce, as used by CRC etc.). Try the normal tracking routes like www.parceltrack.co.za etc.

I'm glad you're not holding us responsible, but what about the poster.

It shouldn't be that much. R500-R600 for a Veloce or 105 cassette. Less if you can get one second hand.