sluiper

I don't know if time on a MTB equals time on a TT bike. MTBing requires bursts of energy with short periods of recovery in between, whereas Ironman TTing requires long periods of sustained power with little/no recovery in between. Last season I predominately spent time on my road & TT bikes and did the occasional MTB event. I really struggled with the MTBing, but did pretty well in most road and TT-style events. I guess you could see the MTBing as interval training, but if I was in the same situation I'd rather spend time on the trainer and the road. Leading up to the Ironman you should be doing 4 to 6 hour rides on a weekly basis in conditions similar to race day, and I can't really see how you'd achieve that on a single track. I'd rather focus on ways to make your road riding safer than try to exclude it altogether. Maybe join a competitive club in the area and ride with them, ride on seldom used roads, make yourself more visible, etc.

Sjoe, that was a tough day. That wind coming back was very, very tough.

True champion. Sad to see him at less than 100%, but it's been great to see him race all these years.

How about this one for minimalism: http://www.gumtree.co.za/cp-sports-bicycles-fitness-in-robertson/giant-533222666

Yeah, that's not a pleasant piece of road when the wind is blowing. I've been dropped on that section more than once. If you lose the wheel of the guy in front of you, you get blown away like an old newspaper.

James Cunnama 9th after the swim. Argh, so irritating, doing the Gun Run tomorrow so need to get to bed early and won't be able to watch the finish.

Those bikes look very slow and un-aerodynamic. Would not ride. They also seem to have forgotten the tri-bars and deep section wheels on all of the models. If they want to be taken seriously in the time-trialling world, they'll have to do a lot better than that.

Nice pics. Any news on the guy and girl who took a tumble on the 2nd lap? Are they OK?

Yip, doing the "long" road. I'd like to finish top 25%. I heard that the course has changed, so I don't really have any goal times.

He f&cking is. Anyways, here's my top 5: 1. Raelert 2. Schildknecht 3. Jacobs 4. Kienle 5. Bockel

I like Dirk Bockel for a podium because he competed with a broken hand and managed to get a top 10 last year. Seriously hardcore. Also, soft spot for Faris al-Sultan who can rock a Speedo like it's no one's business.

Yes, but course record is nearly 20 minutes faster Not saying he isn't fast, just that there are a bunch of guys that know the stage and can bring it on the day. Would be super happy if he did make top 5, though.

I don't know if James has a fast enough bike to make top 5 in a full IM. He's been doing well in the 70.3s, but, as we all know, there's a huge difference between 70.3 & 140.6. His run is awesome, but he lags a bit on the bike against the other top guys.

Only know about Ironman live. Coverage was ok-ish last year. My top 5 (in no particular order): Andy Potts, Ronnie Schildknecht, Dirk Bockel, Pete Jacobs, Andreas Raelert.

Yeah, it's going ahead. I mentioned in another thread that it actually sold out this year. I'm doing it on the Saturday and the Gun Run half marathon on the Sunday

Yeah, I know. I've been thinking about it myself. Trouble is, with a long distance triathlon you need a lot of support and planning. Another issue is that with a sea swim is that you need a few lifeguards to check that guys aren't getting into trouble. Also, you need at least a few support tables/volunteers to ensure guys/girls don't dehydrate. The longer the event, the more support you need. I'm going to try and chat to Warren Fialkov who organises the 1SOMS swim next weekend and hear how he goes about organising support. I think an Olympic distance event might be easier to organise as you could maybe get away with only two support tables if you do laps, e.g. you could have a 2.5km out and back run lap where athletes pass both tables twice. Also, making it Olympic distance makes it a bit more accessible to most people who wouldn't normally have the nerve to do a 70.3.

I see this has now sold out too. So weird that events are getting cancelled due to lack of interest from sponsors while every single event available sells out?

I guess you could do it if you're lucky and extremely fit. Lucky in the sense that you don't get sick directly after the Ironman due to a broken down immune system. Personally I wouldn't consider doing the 2 events so close to each other, unless my or someone else's life depended on it. The full distance Ironman really takes a lot out of you and I wasn't close to being recovered 2 weeks after the event. I also don't think you'd be able to do either event justice by giving it your all.

There are a bunch of rides you can do very safely in that area. For a bit of hills you can go north from Kommetjie to Noordhoek -> Chapmans Peak -> Constantia Neck -> Ou Kaapse Weg -> Black Hill and back to Glencairn. For very long rides I tend to go up the West Coast with the R27. It goes on forever but it's a bit of a boring flat road, so it's pretty much up to you how far you want to go. Another nice, long ride is to head north to Bellville and then on to Stellenbosch via Bottelary Road. From there across Helshoogte to Franschhoek and back. There are very few real "danger areas" that I've experienced and I ride alone a lot of the time. The southern area where you're going to be staying is especially safe. There are quite a few clubs that you could join up with for their morning rides, e.g. Club100 or CycleLab. but they mainly ride over weekends.

Ha, yes, well, I'm a triathlete, not a swimmer, and everyone knows triathletes are sissies.

Wetsuit for me. I'm not crazy.

Anyone doing the heritage day swim tomorrow? https://ntri.co.za/indexswim.php

Prize for the most optimistic ad ever has to go to this guy: http://www.gumtree.co.za/cp-sports-bicycles-fitness-in-other/giant-iguana-mountain-bike-526095989

Ha, praise be! I'm saved!

Just started watching the whole of Babylon 5 for the 3rd time. One of my all time sci-fi favourites. Time to admit I'm a geek and just give up trying to be cool. Edited for shameful spelling mistake.