shawnvan

Entries for March were already closed, hence the "sold out" status. IMSA are nowhere near knowing what the status of entries for November is. I' betting a LOT of Europeans and Americans will cancel or defer in the coming months. I expect IMSA to open up some additional entries later in the year, but only once things have settled down and it's clear that the November race will indeed go ahead. We are a long way from there now, or having any kind of stability and certainty in the world....

Just thought I'd respond to this, as its not everyday one gets to say good things about our wonderful SOEs. I purchase online regularly, both local (I love Evobikes) and overseas (primarily Bike24). Unfortunately, I have to buy quite a lot of things overseas as I tend to build my own bikes with specialist / rare / high-end parts that most local online shops don't stock, or do so at 2x the price I can get form overseas after taxes. I must have purchased from Bike24 at least 10x over the last 5 years. Every single parcel from them comes via DHL / SAPO (SAPO handles customs clearance and final delivery on our side) and are always delivered on time or ahead of the 11-13 day (total days, not "business days") advertised by Bike24. In fact, I recently tried the Aramex Global Shipping program (to get past the geo-blocking on Sram and Shimano parts ). I made two orders on the same day - one delivered normal via DHL /SAPO, and the other via Aramex / Germany. I received my SAPO parcel this morning (and would have yesterday had I been in office when they came to deliver). Still waiting for my Aramex one, it should arrive today or tomorrow... Last time I had a parcel via SAPO, the delivery guy even called me ahead of time to check that I would be there to receive the parcel and to get the VAT money ready, which I was hugely impressed by. Anyways, I just wanted to say that, in my experience, SAPO has been great and I never have any hesitation ordering through them, although I suspect they have a special arrangement with DHL... packages from China are a different story altogether... Maybe I've just been lucky, but I think SAPO deserve a lot of credit and their service seems to be getting better over the past few years.

A couple more Classifieds bugs (MS Edge): photos [still] distorted / stretched for me - some photos stretched horizontally, others vertically.When you click on the "click to zoom" on the photos, it brings up the pop up screen but photos don't show - only a black/grey box.

Agreed, purchased a new frameset Tuesday, arrived Thursday morning (JHB). Xmas come early. I hadn't received a tracking no, so emailed them on Wednesday to ask when it would be shipped, and they replied straight away that it was shipped the day before already! I may be biased but IMO my new Farr Out carbon frame in teal is the best looking gravel bike out there. Just hope their 2020 offerings aren't as nice...

Hi Naas - PANARACER GRAVEL KING 700 x 35C TYRE - BROWN SIDEWALL - pretty please... https://www.evobikes.co.za/tyres/gravel-cyclocross-tyre/panaracer-gravel-king-700-x-35c-tyre-brown-sidewall.html

Last 4 weeks (peak training block for Ironman world champs on 12 Oct, TSS split across S/B/R): Week 1 (02/09): 15h50 / TSS 1193 Week 2 (09/09): 18h58 / TSS 1285 Week 3 (16/09): 19h41 / TSS 1323 Week 4 (23/09): 18h46 / TSS 1353

Good luck - can't imagine doing an Ironman's work of exercise plus what will end up being like 3 additional hours (unless you have super endurance) outside of an actual race. If you are crazy enough to do it, I would suggest making it a point to point journey with support crew following, so that you have an end destination to motivate you towards. E.g. swim at cradle moon, cycle 200km out to somewhere like Sun City, run 50km to your overnight stay.

Saw the Giant team training on Thursday morning in MP near Origstad, and then Orica Scott boys in the same area on Saturday PM... Very cool

Competition Appeal Court's judgment attached. Makes for some interesting reading if you're legally inclined... Judgment CAC.pdf

Canyon no longer ship to SA. I know a couple guys who have bought bikes, but had them delivered overseas, and then brought them into SA.

Saw the other responses, but would add that Andrew Coggan (power guru) & Joe Friel recommend a muscular endurance / "sweet spot" session once a week for improving FTP. 2 x 20 minute intervals at 88-93% of current estimated FTP (5 min spin in between intervals, with good warm / up & cool down) Seems to be a bit different to the other VO2 Max sessions suggested by others...

Sorry if its already been said, but what really grates me about KE's response is his "I'm the victim approach"... Fact: 1. he received ozone therapy and blood transfusions (admittedly for a legitimate medical treatment). Unfortunately for him, the WADA code says this = doping. 2. He knows this is dodgy, so applies for a TUE in order to race. 3. TUE is denied, but decides to race anyway. Regardless of whether or not he received any performance benefits, he KNEW the treatments he received were contrary to the WADA code and amounted to doping. He then blatantly ignores this, races, then plays victim when he gets pinged as he "was faced with a life threatening condition"... As others have said, he wasn't being denied his right to life, only his right to race. And if he moans that he raced for a living, I think that his sponsors and the public would have seen much value in him if he had engaged with WADA / SAIDS and come out publicly at the time and said he had received treatments for a life threatening condition, and was therefore not racing until his ABP values were in order to the satisfaction of authorities, to promote doping awareness and clean cycling. He could have taken the high road, but didn't...

Rather unfortunate association for Max (from the Hub cover article today)...: " Max Knox announced his return to the ever so popular Barberton XCM on 30 January. The Barberton Rotary Club hosted the first ever Ultra Marathon (120km) in South Africa in 2009 – the Barberton XCM mountain bike race. This was the first of many Ultra marathon titles that Knox won, not only in Barberton, but also in South Africa. During his three Ultra marathon wins, he left only dust in the eyes of the other cyclists such as Kevin Evans, ..."

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Components/SRAM_s_eTap_Wireless_Electronic_5303.html

Love how people will always look for and moan about negatives, however insignificant. Every system has pros and cons, be it DI2, eTap or mechanical... If you don't like that you cant shift the FD and RD "simultaenously" (although I'm sure the SRAM would be able to shift them as quickly as you can push the buttons twice - ie within miliseconds), buy DI2. And how often do you currently truly change the FD one-handed while eating / drinking? Rear, sure, but the FD...seriously...can you not put down your bottle for a second to do a FD shift? If you want wireless, and a group that's cheaper and lighter than DA Di2, get the Sram. If Sram is still too expensive, get Ultegra Di2.... No system is perfect and will make everyone 100% happy 100% of the time. As for me, I love the intutive left-up, right-down shifting, and will buy this in a heart beat. Will however probably wait another year until they possibly trickle down the tecnhology to the "Force" range or release a Wi-Fli RD (supposedly spring 2016)....