RoboLuke

I just pick a day in the week, usually Wed or Thursday....make some coffee...put on the polar belt...and then lie down for a minute or so. The measurement will vary, I usually take the 2nd lowest number I get e.g. the HR may for a moment show 63 but I know its more like 64. My RHH is usually on Sunday about 5 beats higher than my Sat RHR because of the training. Monday is even higher and then it drops again.

Haha Chris - ek het eenkeer my HR gemeet in vlug en selfs in 'n rowwe thermal was dit maar dieselle as om vinnig te stap. Ek vlieg al 20 jaar en het verseker nie maar geword van in 'n harnas sit nie. Cheers Robo

Ive been MTBing for about 5 months now. In the beginning I could only manage a little ride on a Saturday. After a while I could do Sat plus Sunday. Now I do 5 hours on the week-end plus spinning interval training once a week in the week. Every month I am slowly getting faster and stronger. Im 41 year of age, My resting HR started at close to 80 and dropped to 64 after 3 months. For the last 2 months its still 64 even though Im getting stronger and faster. What determines resting heart rate? What type of training will this drop a bit more? How important is resting HR in determining fitness?

Im ok to look silly but the rewards better be there

Thanx for the input Johan. I definitively have a push shock -It gets pushed with the bike up the hills

OR what about the X-Fusion O2 RCX?

OK....if you had to choose between the following - which one will it be? Monarch RT3 or Fox RP23?

In my mind - Sometimes one wants a rear shock with total lockout, sometimes it must just lock but not fullout (likepro pedal) and sometimes it must really give way. - And have a easy 3 way selector to achieve this. Q1: Does this product exist then please tell me what it is Q2: If it does not exist - which is the next best thing?

Not 'n moer David, ek moer liewers neer as om nog swaarder tyres op te sit Ek soek net tyres wat beter briek as ek se^ briek

Interested to know of both front and back opinions....

Does anyone have experience with this rear shock? I want to know if the lockout is a full lockout, or whether its just a somewhat harder still suspension active setting...

Lets try another angle...say I suck at hills (thats a fact) and I detemined that I should buy a bike more suited for climbing (not a fact but a dream)....then how will I know - looking at the specs or physically looking at a bike...that it would be good for climbs?

So I always read the bike reviews in mags and then somewhere they say the bike is awesome and then...whether its a goat or not. So what from a bike design perspective will one know whether a bike will climb well (beyond the obvious one weight)?

One of the guys had a camera phone...so here she is.

In fish eagle lake..about 10 meters from the cycling road. Sorry no pic did not cart a camera with but a nice suprise!

Well spotted. Its a winch line. Here is the dril - my wife ties the rope onto my harness...and then drives the 4x4 about 20 meters out. On my sign she drives like crazy and pull me up like a kite in the air. The winchdrum rolls the line out and I steadily gain height. When Im about 150 meters above the ground I pay attention for a thermal (hot air current) - once I hit a thermal I release and fly away...she has a electron motor and winds the line back in. I do most of my flying like this, and not from a mountain. A good flight would be 100 km xc straight line. Look here :

Its paragliding. My harness is a pod harness - streamlined...think of it as 'fast running tyres'...great for most conditions, not so good when things get sticky

Here is my contribution to the totally arb, but cool pic selection. These are pics from my 'other' sport

Has anyone used NOX as a training supplement and what was the results? In theory NOX will create additional blood supply chains to the muscles, but the resulting muscle pump way be couter productive. I still have a bottle from my muscle treaining days and wondering if it is worth taking for mtb?

OK...now I am properly confused. So let me phrase my question towards training for a specific events...and not the race itself. I see two schools of thought - school one is the spartan school where you just ride till you puke, drop dead or brake your frame The second school (in my view build into Polars) is that you need to take it very very slowly...god forbid your heart rate goes above 60%. So I used to think the way to train is to take it slow...but in reality most cyclist seems to be greek. ???

Ive been trying to keep my HR between 70-80% of max but then Im bloody slow. So I upped it to between 80-90% of max. Its a big strain on my legs but I (just) cope on a 35 km ride. Lots of books ive read says that a LSD is more like 60-70% but here is the thing: when i look at garmin connect at other people with fast avverage times I can see that they are klapping it between 90 and 100% all the time, and then can maintain that for hours. So back to my question - what is your target HR you ride at? (assuming you are a fast gun)

Ill report back after my first cold ride-in 30 minutes - the ride..not the report

For those riding early Sat morning in JHB - the predication is 6 Celcius. Have fun On this topic - how many layers does one wear or what is a good outfit for cold cycling?

Thank goodness....at least you dont have to go through the 26 vs 29er mud fights. No no dont ask...just read the existing posts on the topic. ps: if someone says you are fat - hit the 'report' button. We then send a squad of fatties to the thinny and go sit on him

Guys - how does the width (or is it lenght?) - meaning from left to right handle - change the handling, feeling and experience for MTB - especially single track