Velouria

I've ridden Oak Valley, Sani, Baviaans, Swazi, Lourensford, Botrivier, Eden and W2W on these Racing Ralphs - not a single problem. I rode the Attakwas on the old Conti Race Kings (the non tubeless ones converted to tubeless) and never had an issue. My advice - aim to miss the rocks

Yip - ordered the same thing yesterday, arrived in Stellenbosch today. And the two Racing Ralphs are cheaper than what I paid for them a year ago, from the same people.

Spoken like a true fun rider! Welcome back to The Hub pansy...

Still trying to get my head into the right place - I've had a month filled with pain and suffering. And are you calling me old?

Powernaps? I usually take mine after 12 on Sunday

My race report: Team HotChillee http://capcha.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IMG_0863.jpg

It was a tough day out, and the speed at the beginning was ridiculously fast. Our two imports were superb - total and utter professionals and did the lion's share of pacing us in that wind. Well done to everyone who got onto their bikes on Saturday morning - makes the "Windy" Argus of a few years ago look like a gentle ride in a light breeze!

While the free 30 minutes offers a welcome break when you're suffering like crazy, it does change the complexion of the race quite significantly. It essentially becomes two races to stop the clock - one of 110km, and another of 90kms. Speed and efficiency at the feed zones are no longer rewarded, and I suspect that if the weather is better next year we'll see a sub 5 hour winning time. For the future of the event, the changes are a welcome innovation. That said, it certainly is safer, particularly from Op de Tradouw to Montegu with the lack of backup vehicles. Imagine the carnage on the road if there'd been vehicles in the mix with that wind and rain. Well done to the organisers for putting on the DC this year - it might have been testing for us cyclists, but I think the conditions, both in the run up and during the event, had them checking the contingency booklet a lot!

Internet consensus suggests that it is between 38% and 41% (I couldn't find anything definitive though). Have a look at his blood values for his comeback, as well as the explanation here. How accurate these values are is also open to debate - perhaps these are post emergency saline transfusion values. http://cdn-community2.livestrong.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/9/10/c981f7be-e46c-4245-aa9d-d61ae110a264.Full.jpg

My Wines2Whales race report This event is maturing into one of the better events on the MTB calendar. The attention to detail is improving each year, and above all, they place the riders' interests first. Oh, and there is some fantastic riding too

Yip - "Pedal Hard Training Center at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop"

I tend to agree - someone else is using Lance's phone to take a panorama of Lance lying on his couch with his jerseys, and then posting it to Lance's twitter account. Definitely not a casual spur of the moment thing. I'm curious as to who took the photo. Perhaps Kevin Livingstone - the only guy who hasn't ratted on Lance (and David George)

Doesn't count for much when the international event in question is cancelled just over a month before race date (with 2 Saffas going, neither of which did the "qualifier"): http://www.24hoursofadrenalin.com/worldchampionships/worldchampionships/2012/08/w24c-2012-cancelled/ http://www.24hoursofadrenalin.com/worldchampionships/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Screen-Shot-2012-08-13-at-8.12.12-PM.png

At least I know I am in good company with the middle finger braking. I thought I was alone.

This reads more like an advertisement than a press release...

He might well have been a hero to many, BUT HE CHEATED. He survived cancer and won 7 Tours de France, BUT HE CHEATED. He was the greatest American cyclist ever, BUT HE CHEATED. He is certainly no longer a hero. He is not a role model. He is not an idol. He is a lying cheat with enough money to bully others into keeping his lie going. It's not "tearing a man down" - it's sending a message that his morals and values have no place in society, let alone professional sport. And don't think for one moment I'm a Tyler or Floyd fan. They're only marginally better than Armstrong for eventually telling the truth, but not much. Same goes for all my former heroes - Ulrich, Pantani, Virenque, Vinokourov, Heras. It's an era that I want to forget almost everything about, except possibly the lessons we can learn on how to prevent such a systematic and institutionalised peloton-wide doping culture from ever happening again. The real heroes are people like Paul Kimmage, David Walsh, Emma O'Rielly and Betsy Andreu who stuck to their guns despite the Armstrong Armada's best attempts to discredit them.

The Velominati are bringing a book out detailing The Rules. I will definitely be adding this to my collection of cycling books, despite the fact that I fall foul of several of The Rules.

There is an article in yesterday's EikestadNuus about Hendrik Lemmer being attacked on the R44 just outside Welgevonden. Eric Kleinhans is also interviewed. The local police say that they don't think there is a problem because no charges are being laid.

I'm the complete opposite - I prefer not to know what is coming, or how far I have to go. I ride the piece of track in front of me, and I ride until I am finished. Remember the cr@p Meurant had to deal with at the Grape Escape 2 years ago when the route was 3kms longer than advertised and there was 100m more climbing. They got him to apologise to everyone before the start of the final stage. FFS. That said - I do believe the whole "X kms per day with Y meters of climbing" is the Epic's way of letting the public know just how hardcore and crazy we are. It's not for the riders, it's for our office mates, friends and family so that we really do come back home after an 8 day adventure as heroes to those around us. The other approach is to follow The Swazi Frontier's way of doing things - "There will be some climbing, and the stage is around 60ish kilometers - it should take the leaders just under 5 hours".

The guy in charge of nature conservation in Lourensford says the while local cyclists often trigger the camera traps, occasionally the next photo a couple of minutes later will be of a leopard keeping an eye on the cyclists.

While it's not my favourite job, I occasionally open up my ergo levers for servicing and part replacement. There is quite a lot of stuff on the web about converting 9 speed erog levers to 10 speed. You pretty much just need to change the clicky indexing this inside. A good starting point: http://www.campyonly.com/howto/cam_change.html Your bike shop will be able to order all the required parts for you.

I'm quite sure it would be fine in a group. I've been riding past there (as well as under Henk's bridge where he was mugged) for years without issue. And when they are finished resurfacing the road it will be nice and fast!

Not sure if this has been linked to already, but it makes for an interesting read: http://www.jaquelineduncan.co.za/ "My identical twin sister and I have a family history of high cholesterol (or is it? See the section on cholesterol). Having had it tested a few days apart from each other earlier this year it became a topic of discussion at our grandmother’s birthday dinner. We were debating the big C with our brother when we hit on the differing theories surrounding the dietary causes of cholesterol and how to deal with it. I innocently remarked that it would be interesting for Jeanne and I to each follow one of the contrasting eating plans to see what happens. I then added that it would be great to get the input from Professor Timothy Noakes and a few months later that is exactly where we are." While this isn't a representative study, it does give a good insight into the pro's and cons of a high carb vs high fat diet.

Probably on Anna Zimmerman's blog: Perjury - 3 years: "But the statute of limitations for perjury is generally three years from the time the perjured statement was made, which in this case was November of 2005, or seven years ago." Fraud - 5 years: "But again, I’m just waxing and waning on moot points because the statute of limitations expired in 2009, five years after his contract with the USPS ended." "Even though I think (based on the USADA’s report) that Lance Armstrong probably defrauded the government while employed as a member of the USPS-funded team by doping in violation of the written rules of professional cycling and in doing so he also committed insurance fraud by accepting the $7.5M payout from SCA Promotions and lastly he perjured himself while testifying in that case, the statute of limitations appear to have fully expired on every single one of these criminal charges, which means he’s off the hook."

Sheesh - that's on one of my regular routes too. Glad to hear you and your bike are (sort of) ok...