SpecialK

Thanks guys! Will have a look at all options. Just trying to be safe, especially after hearing about the attack on the Spruit, somewhere that I considered safe enough to ride on my own :/

I'm moving to Cape Town this weekend, and will be commuting from Somerset West until beginning of Feb, until I can find a flat in Cape Town. My partner will be moving down end of Feb but commuting to Joburg about once a month. I'm looking to join a cycling club, as I don't really want to ride as a woman alone. I do mostly MTB, and would classify myself as medium speed and skills... does anyone have a recommendation?

It's Big Red Barn in Irene, just off Botha Avenue. It has enough riders that I feel ok to go and feel safe, even if I would fall. It's got quite a small footprint so it's also easy to cut a ride short and head back to the barn if need be. There is a green easy route through the trees, about 12km long. For more experienced riders, there is a bit more play stuff around (bumps, berms and quick single track). In Pretoria area I would definitely otherwise recommend Rosemary Hill.

It depends on the venue and how often I've cycled there (and also a bit on the reputation). BRB - definitely, but only on the barn side of the river Rosemary Hill - yes Northerns - nope Van Gaalens - nope, but that's because it's not properly closed with lots of public access Buffelsdrift and Wolwespruit - probably, depending how brave I feel that day

I have been extremely lucky to have found some really patient riding partners. When I started out, I seemed to have a homing button for every ditch in a 5km radius. If it was there, so was I, normally getting comfortable lying in it. 5 years later and my skills have improved, but my riding partner is still in a completely different league, both in speed and skill level. Sometimes I don't know why he keeps putting up with me. He has the patience to stop, talk me through an obstacle that I walked, and to wait for me to try it numerous times so that I can get my confidence up. He encourages me when I struggle, and seems to know my skills level much better than I do. I think that without his help, I would have gotten frustrated long ago and given up. By now we have a nice group of friends together from all different fitness and skills levels. We try to meet up for a ride once in a while. The stronger guys will take the route at their place, but then stop and wait for us slowpokes when it's convenient. The biggest problem I have is the safety factor. I will seldom ride on my own, especially on the MTB. I have no problems doing a road ride in the cradle as there are plenty of cyclists around. But riding solo on the spruit, or BRB, or other bike parks - i sometimes struggle to convince myself to ride on my own as I feel that I am more of a target for bike jacking, and potentially other traumatizing events such as rape. This means my rides are often determined by my riding partner and/or the riding group. I would consider joining a ladies only group, but it would mainly depend on whether we get along. Reegan - we're in Pretoria reasonably often, if you would like to join us one day. Plus my super-star cycling mom lives there (she managed a 4:50 94.7 on a 26" dual-sus). I can put you in touch if you're keen. They ride from a bike shop in Pretoria East every weekend, and they are great looking after less experienced riders. They don't do the most technical of routes, but if it helps you get on the bike, it will be worthwhile.

Getting back on the wagon... I decided to do the "kickstart" week again that my nutritionist gave me back in Feb. She called it a detox, which I call rubbish, but it definitely helped in reducing bad food habits so I'm giving it another try. So far I have managed to shed almost 2kg of water weight in 2 days. This morning I was back down to 71.7kg, with the hope of dropping under 70 by 94.7

I just wanted to say that I was very impressed with the driver of the white Mercedes van with the Qhubeka sticker on the side that was in the cradle yesterday. I saw him numerous times stopping to help people (none of which were in Qhubeka kit). I saw him stop at least 4 times, offering his expertise on mechanicals, the use of his foot pump or even just refilling water bottles from the 5l bottle in the van, which would probably be such a god-sent gesture in the heat. If anyone knows who this lovely gentleman is, please buy him a whole bottle of Bells, because he truly deserves it!

This is the one that came with my Syncro. Added bonus that I can take off the tube at the top of the bladder for easy filling and cleaning.

I found the opening mechanism on the Osprey bladder much better than Camelbak, plus the fit was 1000 times better. The Syncro has a steel frame and a mesh back which keeps the pack off my back on hot days. Best advice is - try them all in the store and see which one fits best. We did all the standard ranges, plus we went to a couple of motorbike shops. Osprey was definitely the best fit for us.

My boyfriend has had his Osprey Raptor for close to 10 years, and it's still going strong. The only reason why he had to replace the bladder was thanks to the nurse who dropped the hydraulic hospital bed onto the pack...

We went on a big recce on hydration packs about a year ago, and ended up buying 2x Osprey packs for myself - a smaller Syncro 3 (including a 2.5l bladder so the pocket is quite small) and then the larger Viper 9. I use the smaller ones for normal weekend rides, the larger was great for Sani2c. Both were on sale at Due South, and the design much preferred over Camelbak.

I wish I was closer so that I could attend... we had a fall in our group on a mtb ride not too long ago, and I felt rediculously helpless

Stopped buying from them too... bought 2 chains, and even though they weren't in original packaging, BC couldn't even be bothered to put them in a box, they just went straight into the courier plastic baggie...

If you work in Bryanston, just factor in the traffic heading in the direction of the cradle (the Sandton exodus) - you could be spending that hour sitting in traffic and not riding your bike

I'm making my way through the bike shops, stopping each time I drive past one

I might have a few extra links of a SRAM PC 1071 lying around, if they'll fit...

Going out on a limb here - I broke a part of my seat clamp on my road bike. The distributor has closed down in SA, so I am trying to get a replacement from the UK. I know some seat posts have the same type of clamping mechanism, and hoping I would find one that could possibly fit in the interim....

I train with a coach twice a week at the gym (not for cycling, but more weightlifting) and we often have the discussion about what makes a good coach. What he keeps saying is that a good/great coach works on the weakness of the person he is coaching. He does not have a set training program, but spends time with his athlete, whether it is online or in person. He picks up on their strengths and weaknesses, and tailors a plan according to the weakest areas. It is when you build on your weaknesses, you get stronger. My coach often picks up how I am feeling and knows how much he can push me just by looking at my body language when I walk through the door, and adjusts my training for that day accordingly. For an online coach, I would expect them at least taking time once a week to listen to your feedback on the training sessions for that week and adjust the plan accordingly. If you're getting ill or have a stressful time at work, they should scale back on intensity. If you are making great gains over a few weeks, they should push you. Anything less than that - get a free/cheap training plan off the internet.

Tried my hand at IF for the past 2 weeks... I don't think it's for me. Gained 2kg and I always feel hungry, even in the feeding window. I end up eating much larger portions than I normally would, offsetting whatever I gained by skipping breakfast and my mid-morning snack. I'll be going back to 5 small meals a day from today, concentrating on no sugar, a bit of protein with every meal and loads of veggies.

My weight slowly crept up to 72.5kg last week, so I after dialing in my nutrition again it has come back down to 71.4 this morning. I am hoping to lose at least another 3-4 kg by 94.7 (ideally I would like to get to around 67kg). One thing that was the biggest tripping hazard is the belief that I deserved a treat, and that happening way too often. It used to be a couple of times over the weekend, then a few more times during the week due to high levels of stress. Then it started happening every day, and sometimes even more than once a day. From now on treats will no longer be in food/drink form. I'll rather save up the cash and buy something for the bike, the gym, or myself.

I looked into claiming VAT back when I went to the UK in June, and it's not as easy as here in SA. You can't claim back on online purchases. The store needs to give you a form to fill out for the items you bought there, so ask for it when you are shopping. You might need to prove you're not an UK resident by showing your passport. The form plus the goods must then be shown at the airport. I found out about this only a day before I was leaving, and most of my purchases were made online so I didn't bother in the end...

Any particular event you are posting for?

That would have been amazing! I could have eaten better after unpacking the kitchen last week... Time for excuses is over, as of today it is back to home cooking.

I admit that moving should not be an excuse, and neither should being stressed. But takeaways around the corner of the new flat were a simpler option than making something from scratch. Eating unhealthy definitely didn't make it easier. But the convenience did. And after schlepping furniture and boxes up the stairs, I didn't feel like having a salad. All excuses aside, I ate like crap for 2 weeks. I am not too beat up about the weight gain, it'll come down again. We'll be getting back on track this week,.

Moving house = stressful = healthy eating went out the window... I moved to a new place at the end of July, and between packing up the old flat, moving and unpacking at the new place, I have struggled to find the time and (more importantly) the motivation to cook and get to the gym. Up to 71.9kg this morning... time to get back into the groove...