MichH

Yeah, it was great to get out on my baby boy, he missed me! Looks like I'm on the mend, and just in time too! Thanks for a fun ride!

So my physio nervously allowed me to get back on the bike this weekend, with some strict rules. Saturday I was allowed an hour on the road bike, and then if it didn't get sore, I was allowed an hour on non-technical trails on the MTB. Saturday morning was a nightmare of flat car batteries, bike rack keys on wrong car keys, etc, but I eventually set off with dad to do about 1:30 on the road bike. No pain, nice ride, felt superfast on uphills on that light bike! No pain the rest of the day so Saturday we went for a 9am warm ride on the Spruit. Dad, slowpoke, infernox and I met at Fratellis (yes I was late again!), and we did a nice hour up to Emmarentia and back. I was EXTREMELY well behaved and didn't ride the section under the trees, and I'm still not in pain, so it seems the injury is on the mend for good! Now to survive the IDT session tomorrow morning (gulp!)

Thanks BikeMax. I really need to get some work in before Kalahari Challenge, 21st July, gulp!!

Hahahahaha! I really enjoyed reading this. Heck I'm a girl and I don't dare wax!

Courtesy of chidDONG of MTBR.com. See blog on http://www.racinrick.blogspot.com/ Last year I posted the highly informative and not at all inappropriate article titled "How to shave like a man!". It was a great success and brought me worldwide renown. I think 4 or 5 people actually read it based on the hate mail. Anyway, over the course of the summer it became apparent that shaving just wasn't the way for me. It takes forever to do, I always miss spots and to be quite honest I'm too lazy to commit to the regimen involved. I ended up walking around all summer looking like a stubbly haired goat (scrawny legs and all) with the mange. Its not a look that's popular with the ladies. This season after letting the fur regain its territory I decided to try waxing. How hard could it be I thought. Hoo-boy was I in for it. Below is a step by step account of the process. 1. Buy waxing strips at store. I decided to also pick up some tampons at the same time so the clerk would assume I was simply being a good husband and not some sort of perverted, leg waxing freak. I decided on a product called "Nads" simply because I liked the name and thought it would be fitting for a dude to use. Note: despite its name, you are NOT supposed to use the strips on your nads. See photo below. I feel gypped. 2. Get photo of yourself licking your nads. Just because. 3. Get yourself drunk. This is very important so that it doesn't hurt so much. I tried to man things up a bit here and went with a white wine spritzer over my normal zinfandel. Very manly, I feel better now. 4. Apply strips to leg as directed. 5. Take several deep breaths. 6. Pull strip off quickly. 7. Wake up finding yourself in the fetal position on the floor. 8. Look at shiny patch of bare skin. Only 20-ish more to go...per leg. 9. Complete job. 10. Marvel at how many scars that were once covered by hair are now clearly and painfully visible. Yikes, thems some ugly legs! 11. Gain new respect for women. 12. Wait several days for missed hairs to grow long enough to try again. Yippee! Its too soon to tell how long the hair will be gone for, from what I've heard, the more you do it, the less often you need to. Time will tell, I'll keep you posted.<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Thanks morrgreg, I don't have a power hub or anything, so I guess I'll have to refine my HR technique! I can tell you that the perceived effort on the 2nd interval was HARD!!

Thanks AL, when I'm feeling suicidal, i'll try it out

SP, not sure I understand? At a gym/ spinning studio? Or do you all bring your IDT with?

Thanks cervelo, I agree the 20 minute warm up was BORING. Will get my computer out to check cadence, may be a better option. Mandibles, nice to see you on here more often I wasn't able to get to the last Polar session, any idea if they have it on their website?

Heard of this before, new phone doesn't have it. I will be loading immediately...

Here is my HRM file. Anyone have suggestions for how to use the IDT more effectively? I'm thinking that it will help on Kalahari Challenge as it's a pretty flat race, so not many places to rest and stop pedalling.

So, I have always said that I would rather poke hot needles in my eyes than ride my indoor trainer. But the terrible weather, a pathetic shoulder injury that has me off the bike, combined with a 2 day stage event end July have conspired against me. Against my better judgement, I pulled out the IDT, dusted off my roadbike and set it up. I decided a flat training regime is too boring, so I decided to try out intervals. I read up on the hub, and saw a suggestion to do the following: 20 min warm up 2 x 20 min intervals with 5 min rest 5 minute warm down So I set up my HRM, got on the bike with my iPod and did my 20 minute warm up. As I hadn't calculated my HRM zones beforehand, I also kept my brain occupied trying to work out my zones. "So my resting HR is about 60, and my max is about 200, that means 80% of 140 is 14 times two, is 28 times 2, is 56 times 2, is 112. OK, plus 60 is 172" When my 20 minutes were up, I then upped the resistance on my IDT from '2' to '5' (scale is 1 - 5) and pedalled my brains out. Man it was a cold night but I was sweating profusely. Why didn't I bring a towel?! Luckily my Buff was on the couch next to me and I reached it without falling over. I quickly revised the interval to 15 minutes (hey, it's my first time!), and soon I was enjoying a 5 minute break. But as my HRM clocked over to 40 minutes, I knew it was time to push the pace again. Up to 170-ish again, but I was struggling to keep it there. I hung in there for 14 minutes, and decided to push the pace again for one last minute. Eventually the warm down started and I fell off my bike at 60 minutes exactly, feeling pretty whacked. I'll post my HRM table of the exercise. Any suggestions for future sessions, seeing as I'm going to try and do this twice a week?

Hi all, infernox, if you're around I'm hopefully allowed back on the MTB on Sunday. Join us for a quiet ride on the Spruit. DR, shoulder is nearly better!

Another thought. I was given a set of Park Tools cleaning brushes for my birthday and they are brilliant for cleaning your bike, especially a dual suspension with tricky places to get clean.

Tomorrow I'm allowed back on my bike, yippee!! Easy road ride tomorrow. If I don't st#ff up my shoulder, easy MTB ride on Sunday

I don't really know much about building trails or anything, but I'm good at organising! We'll see what Heather has to say

Not allowed back on the MTB yet But if all goes well on the road on Sat, I can do an easy ride on Sunday!

Yeah narra but this is a free forum and the mods aren't paid. You can't expect them to be monitoring all threads at all times. The Report Post option should help closer monitoring of threads.

Will email my offer of assistance immediately!

I was lucky holy roller. My only experience with that stuff was on a beach in Zanzibar, at night, so hallucinations were less! Still came up with some wierd sh&t though!

Get her onto a full suss to try it out. It sounds like she wants to ride the more technical stuff...

Why not?

Two Labradors - Digby and Romulus. They're about 8 or 9 now, got them at the tender age of 2 from rescue. Digby has a liver disease so he's on cortisone and thyroid medicine, but we've managed to cut the cortisone down and he's so much better for it.

Just take them in a private place like a bathroom and try and act normal so you don't get tested by your company!

just did mine, will send email now