Sir Fed

I replied to your other post but they usually leave from the LifeStyle Centre on Saturday's and Sunday's. Saturday - ride to Durban and back - around 80km, pace can get quite frisky as they try and outdo the vaalies Sunday - shorter ride, 50-60km slightly inland (read hilly) but its an easy ride. Grab a copy of The Courier, the local paper, they always have an article in there with the times and meeting places for the rides.

Let me save linnega the stress ... www.cyclehelmets.org Grapkas, please dont ride over me in Ballito ...

Pick up a copy of the Courier (local paper), they usually have a report on the back page (Slipstream of something) that will tell you where everyone is meeting. There is a group that leaves from the Lifestyle centre most days of the week but its early morning. I will be there but am not taking the bike, going to do some open water swimming and long runs instead.

It's a flying 200 and the event is used as seeding for the match sprints. Sub 10sec times are extremely rare and Curt Harnett's time has always been debatable given his dubious doping record.

I am with linnega, the UCI are losing their power (it's debateable as to whether they ever had any) and the major tours are going to do whatever they want in 2007. BW may not have a ProTour license but they should get a spot in the Giro and associated races like MSR with the Corti connection and maybe even the Tour and Vuelta. This could well be the end for the ProTour and perhaps even the UCI if a breakaway organisation is formed that has some serious financial backing.

Only if you agree to buy the coffee afterwards. They are a nice bunch and love to poke fun at the vaalies so pack your sense of humour.

Here's my personal observation. My wife has suffered with night cramps for quite some time. She is not an active individual so it is not as a result of training too hard. What I have noticed is that she consumes a large amount of fluid (primarily water) daily. I recently fell ill 3 days before a major race and in an attempt to flush it from my system I upped my fluid intake (again water). I started cramping about 20min into the race and basically suffered through them for the rest of the day. It is my opinion that excessive water consumption causes an upset in the electrolyte balance which then manifests as cramping. There has been a lot written about hyponatremia of late, including some interesting articles by Tim Noakes and I think that we are misinterpreting cramps as dehydration when in fact they are the complete opposite. The human body is quite capable of handling being in a mildly dehydrated state but hyponatremia is extremely dangerous and potentially fatal.

Give Terence Mitchell a call. There are a bunch of triathletes that meet at the La Lucia Virgin Active (5km from Umhlanga) most days of the week. The pace will be perfect and most definitely tempo, distances are similar to what you are looking for. Tri-X Club - Club Chairman ; Terence Mitchell 083 250 7197 - tm25@mweb.co.za

Perhaps a Two Oceans medal? Funny enough I don't really want to do Comrades but that may change one day. Other than that a Kona Ironman medal would be the ultimate one for me.

Lots of good advice that has been dispensed here. I dont see too much mention made of the bike and I think it is assumed that since you are a cyclist you will breeze through it. My advice is dont underestimate it! 180km is a long way and you have to finish it with enough gas in the tank to still run a marathon. Aim to ride at no more than 70% and make sure you dont exceed it, especially in the first few km's when the heart is still racing from the swim. The hard work is done during training, race day is the celebration of all those early morning and late nights spent training. Most importantly is get buy in from your family and loved ones, without them you will not get to the start line and they will need to understand that your time together will be cut to virtually nothing in the 3mths leading up to race day. If you have their support there is nothing better than celebrating it with them as you all run down the last 100m to the sound of Mike and John shouting "YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!"

You can buy one at Sportmans Warehouse. I forget what they are called but its a harness that goes round your waist (like the water buffalo use at aqua aerobics) and attaches to the side of the pool. Not sure if it will help you analyse stroke since the harness will provide additional bouyancy but you can decide for yourself. As for the device Phen is talking about, its called Endless Pools and is an amazing training aid, only problem is that they cost about $12000 for the basics and will not work in just any old pool, although I have heard that a portable one is going to be available soon.

Barloworld is a big organisation with a lot of money but we will need DeBeer's to step in if we want to afford Ullrich, Basso and Hunter.

That would not be a big deal, Robbie McIntosh used to ride up there on the big blade every time

Regular Fizik Arione

Thats correct DR, I feel for the guys who take 6 hours for 100km. The longest I am out there is a little over 5hrs and thats for IM. My longest ride weekly ride is also only just over 4hrs so it all balances itself out. That said, I have done a few training rides with various groups that extend well over 7 or 8 hours and I still choose to do those in my tri shorts. It's what you know, if you never use a chamois then you just dont miss it.

Shorts but then again I dont use a chamois either so my vote probably doesn't count for much.

At some or other point desire and will to win will take you to the top of your sport but as Psycho says, the final margin of victory can be as small as a poor choice of wheels or getting off the tri bars for a few minutes when you should have stayed down low.

The body is the biggest obstacle when it comes to aerodynamics. Any improvements that can be brought in this area will yield the biggest return but once you run out of idea's here then you need to turn to the bike for the small gains that will maybe make the difference between winning and being an also ran.

now this is one post I am glad got hijacked ...

Can I make mine a coke light, you want constructive feedback and generally speaking bikes test better when upright. Let me know where and when.

campag or shimano, tubs or clinchers?

Dont forget your trusty test pilot when you have some finished frames that need riding

There you go Razzo, build your own jig (you have already designed the thing) and forget about these local guys who can't deliver. Ok, so everyone else out there, start placing your orders.

Ok, some performance figures for those interested. Once a week I do a 20km TT as part of my training. 3 weeks ago I did the last one on my old bike (2yr old alu frame) and the last two were done on the new bike. At first I was suprised by the numbers so I figured that I would wait until this week to see if it was just the excitement of a new bike or an actual improvement. Given that the weather conditions are more or less the same (the wind always blows on TT day!) and the only other variable is the fact that my legs are considerably more fatigued over the last 3 weeks due to a heavy training block, I am happy to report that the new bike was on average 2min faster. It is also worth noting that all these TT's were carried out at over 40km/h which makes the 2min even more valuable. Power transfer to the back wheel has improved and despite being more rigid, it is not uncomfortable, as I discovered on Sunday's 150km ride. If you are looking for a bike with great feel and performance then I can serously suggest one of these.