Blackadder

Even better, buy them here for R430 - https://www.bikehub.co.za/classifieds/51125-schwalbe-racing-ralph-snakeskin-26/ I bought a set last week. Postage to Jhb was R70

Indeed, puts a dampener on his calculations

This is a very interesting study, intended to use extraordinary-superhuman performances rather than PED's as a marker of doping. The assumption is that it is possible to determine limits of human capability, and categorise performances that transcend these as variously "suspicious" (Evans and Wiggins), "miraculous" (Froome and Andy Schleck); and "mutant" (Contador, Indurain, Ullrich and Armstrong). As the author puts it: “Forget ‘I never tested positive.’ It needs to be replaced by ‘I was never clocked by a radar doing 430 watts standard in the final col of a long mountain stage.’ It’s utterly more convincing.” Most or the top riders come under a fair degree of scrutiny. For a short summary, see: http://velonews.comp...-present_290708 For the full report. see: http://www.joomag.co...766001370594539

Pongracz used to be really good. Now its just mass produced plonk. No character at all.

That's a brilliant price

Online - http://www.bikewear.co.za/

The monthly night rides are super cool for the whole family. An easy 5km ride for kids (my 7 year old daughter manages this quite comfortably) and an accessibly 20km for adults.

Well done for checking things out. I had an aortic dissection 3 years ago, and know how scary it is to go for my six-monthly checkups.

3-4 km for me too. That's average speed.Top end much higher, perhaps 10km down steep hills.

http://www.cycletour.co.za/index.php/travel/bike-transport/

Another bike worth trying, and reasonably well priced in South Africa, is the BMC Grandfondo. Supposed to be a very comfortable ride

That is my understanding. What I would like to know is what the impact of a beta blocker that lowers hr has on the algorithm that calculates power with PowerCal. If PowerCal measures changes in hr rather than absolute hr, then the impact of a beta blocker on hr should be minimal. However, whilst I get stable and predictable power readings, like Jeepdude above, I find my power readings are rather low. Perhaps it's just my poor performance and I am looking for excuses????

Thanks, good to know.

Great looking watch, which is at the top of my wish list too. See the DC Rainmaker review for a critical appreciation. My concerns are: 1) Size - a personal thing, but its very big for my wrist. 2) Limited waterproofing - As I understand it, it's waterproof for immersion only (ipx 7) not proper swimming 3) Limited cycling functionality

Jeepdude - how did the beta blocker impact your power output readings on Powercal? Assuming your heart rate is 25 odd bpm lower than normal, was the power output consistently lower than your output before you took the betablocker? Or did it fluctuate wildly, which would indeed render the Powercal useless. I ask as I am in the same boat.

You may be interested in this comparative review of the Shimano M530, XT Trail, and XTR Trail pedals. http://www.mbaction...._Toe__5939.aspx

According to the Racetec, 19,274 people completed the 94.7. This is well short of the 27,000 competitors claimed by the organisers. Why is this? I presume a percentage of riders didn't have Racetec chips, whilst others did not finish the race. But surely not 8,000 odd? That's almost 30% of the total number of entrants.

I got 93.3 on my Garmin Edge

www.easygis.co.za

Everyone says the Argus is easier than the 94.7. How does the Argus compare to the Amashova?

5km kiddies race was fine, with the major exception of the downhill towards the finish. That was clearly unsafe, negligently so IMO. Waiting at the finish I saw one very serious and two minor crashes on our race alone. A lot of kids are not really able to control their bikes under braking, and the organisers should have known better. Otherwise, despite the crowds and the parking chaos, my kids had a great time.

16# seems a bit small. I bought a 20# Silverback Eclipse for my daughter when she turned six. It was a little big for her at the time, but she never battled with it. About to do the kiddies 94.7 in hers.

Check out the summary of an article comparing chocolate milk and other recovery drinks that was published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism in 2006: http://www.cbsnews.c...in1342839.shtml DC Rainmaker discusses this at http://www.dcrainmak...colate-cow.html, although I think he reads far too much into the scattered comments that pass for findings in this "article". Also, the study (surprise) was funded by the dairy industry. Funny how blind testing so often favours the research funder. (I say this as a fan of chocolate milk as a recovery drink.)

Has anyone used the GarminFit live tracking services? Costs about R15 for a month. Looks like it offers better tracking off a cellphone than Endomondo.

The Garmin Fenix is being offered at R4,200 by Cape Union Mart: http://www.capeunionmart.co.za/search/default.php?q=fenix