Rhodent

Have had a couple of DM's etc asking how our Zambian chap got on - he started in G batch. I'm no expert on the 947 - but this seems like he had a decent day out?

Hi All Taking another longshot here - but the last one worked out! Is anyone travelling from Pretoria (Hatfield) on Sunday morning for the road race that may have space for an extra rider and bike? Initial plan for Michael to get to the race has fallen through....

Thanks for all the responses and advice - And biggest thanks to @Bike Dewing who donated his entry... Mike will do the substitution on Saturday, and line up on the start line on Sunday - if any of you come across a skinny racing snake in Zambian kit, give him a wave - his nickname is Jungle, and you will recieve the biggest smile ever if you call him that (Hopefully he isnt looking too lost!)

Morning All Taking a long shot here, but got nothing to lose.... I am the coordinator for a sports foundation in the North of Zambia, and our premier sports team is our cycling team... they are the top team in Zambia, and we have been fortunate to have some guys compete internationally in recent years in both MTB and Road Racing events. One of our team members, who is also our bike mechanic, has had an opportunity arise to travel to South Africa for 10 days - coinciding with this weekends race. Would anyone have any idea if there is a way to try and secure him an entry? He will be travelling with a road bike as he is preparing for the Zambian national road championships, and this would a great opportunity for him to race in such an event. Any assistance would be HUGELY appreciated! Thanks

Havent posted here before.... but having a proud dad moment.... Two different journeys with my two girls, two great results.... 1. Eldest (5) started on the Thule Ride A Long, then to plastic motorbikes of doom, took the training wheel route, and when those came off the bug bit HARD - we're talking last place to first place in her kiddies races within a couple of weeks, and has now upgraded to her first 'big girl bike' with gears - and im already under pressure to keep up! 2. Youngest (3) started on the jump seat on the handlebars, then the balance bike, won her first race on the balance bike and when her sister upgraded she jumped onto her sisters old bike, no training wheels, and took off like a pro - video is her first attempt! We are blessed in our little town in Zambia to have a semi-pro bike team, and the guys are brilliant with getting the kids on bikes... we have a mini school series, and three or four other events in the year - so much opportunity and the kids love it! WhatsApp Video 2024-09-26 at 08.40.08.mp4

Hi there Is there anyone in the rosebank area that could do me a favour? I urgently need someone to go into the Garmin offices and knock some heads in on my behalf. Their service is pathetic. Responses to emails (even the addresses listed above) take several days at best. They NEVER answer the phone. I live in Zambia, and needed a watch to be assessed for repairs. Just to get the info to send the watch took over a week. Then I paid out my @$$ to courier the watch to them - It was signed for on the 31st January but it would appear that Garmin has somehow lost the damn thing - I would have more info if they ever answered the phone, or responded to the emails I send within seconds of actually getting one from them. I have spent almost R2000 listening to their crappy hold music without anyone ever answering the phone. They have several options to choose from when on hold - 1 for service (whatever!), 2 fot tech etc.... all default to customer support and never get answered.

Right - Happy ending as hoped. Email sent to Andrew kicked the ball into motion, and everything that is outstanding is being rapidly cleared up and sent to me. I must stress that the biggest issue here was communication - in hindsight there was evidently work going on in the background, but without this being communicated to me it obviously felt like nothing was happening (particularly with messages not being responded to). Not having the ability to just walk into the shop and query makes things much worse as well. Anyway - alls well that ends well. I am waiting for my invoice to pay the surplus amount, and for the courier to arrive in a few days. Well done CycleLab for turning this around....

Thanks - Solwezi is correct. The 1Zambia race is definitely on the cards in the near future!

If I had known this would happen (And had I known that I would be going down to SA again - at the time it was not on the cards at all) then I would totally have gone this route... Ordering remotely was my only option.... courier and duties hurt, but not as much as the disappointment of what I received....

I have purposely avoided both these routes (And Bikehub for that matter) until now, as I really hoped they would step up.... for the same reason I havent mentioned the branch involved, or the individuals that have been 'helping' me... I posted late last night, I will give them this morning then resort to plan B... man I hate having to go the Hello Peter route - feels so petty. Will likely just email Andrew....

Much appreciated.... if this post doesnt prompt a response I may ask you to step in... unfortunately I am back in Zambia

It is with a heavy heart that I even start this thread.... but I am really hoping that it prompts a bit of service delivery and has a happy ending for all involved... and it really is my last resort! I have been an avid cycle lab supporter for close on 20 years... Every bike that I have purchased has been from them... current standing being 3 road bikes, 4 mountain bikes and 1 E-MTB. But this latest purchase has been very likely the worst customer service I have received from ANY service provider. Details as follows... I moved up to the north west province of Zambia earlier this year - our initial plan had been the UK, and we had sold all our bikes to help fund this idea, when this very happy alternative arose. And this place is cycling (Particularly MTB) manna from heaven. In the middle of no where, we have free, unlimited access to well maintained, amazing trails both on the local golf estate and in the surrounding game reserves.... Needless to say I had to get bikes ASAP. Given that there is limited availability in Zambia, this meant importing from SA - enter cyclelab.First enquiries made on 6th September, took a few follow up emails to prompt some response (Admittedly my emails were going to spam so I cut them some slack), but the basis of the order was as follows: 1 x Silverback Stride Expert 1 x Titan E-1 1 x Ryder Dual pedals for the Silverback 1 x Ryder MTB Shoes Tubeless conversions on both bikes To their credit, cycle lab offered to do the conversions for free (Even though I was happy to pay). Fast forward a few weeks, and the bikes arrive, along with the extras. E-Bike tyres are flat, with sealant leaking - no big deal, means I can see the conversion was done. So I dont think twice about the Silverback. But then the issues start.... 1. Box for pedals had been previously opened, and resealed. Clips for the shoes were missing, and box contained two RIGHT pedals. So there goes the idea of riding with cleats for a while. I let Cyclelab know right away. At this stage I mentioned that all else was great. 2. Head out for the first ride on the Silverback - Constant scraping sound. Check the brakes - rotors are bent. Great. 3. After doing what I can to get the rotors straight enough to not feel like I am riding with brakes on all the time, I start to get more out of the bike. Until the 1st puncture (Bear in mind I hadnt checked the silverback, just taken it for granted as the Titan conversion was done). Lo and behold, tubes in both silverback tyres. No conversion done. Needless to say I then lost it. But this is where it gets really annoying.... ANY communications I send to Cyclelab requires constant follow up. 2,3,4 emails before I get a response. When I did get a response, the manager I spoke to was great and promised to sort issues out - including sending all the materials needed for the conversions, replacement rotors, and as I was choosing not to replace the pedals we agreed to a credit on the pedals, I would fill my basket with some other goods and pay any difference, and they would send to me. NOW I MUST ADMIT THAT I AM NOT INNOCENT - There were some delays on my side, I was rather loathe to pay the exorbitant courier fees to send the pedals back, so waited until a colleage travelled down south, and sent the pedals with them for delivery in SA. That said, I then had an unexpected trip to SA come up - so immediately contacted cyclelab to let them know I would be in JHB, and if they could arrange everything, let me pay the difference, and get the goods to me in JHB - it would save huge amounts of time, and more importantly - would save them the duties and courier costs to send the items to me in Zambia. I had one response saying they would arrange...and then radio silence. I have not had confirmation that they recieved the pedals (Other than the proof that they were sent from my colleague), I have not had a credit for them, or invoice for whats outstanding once taking into account the additional purchases, they never got anything to me in JHB so missed that chance before I came back here, and not they do not respond to whatsapps or emails in which I am basically begging to just get this sorted. Their online manager was online on whatsapp 5 minutes ago - the last four messages I have sent have not been read. Strong ignoring game. I just want to ride my bike, with no hassles, without worrying about flats, without scraping breaks... its been over 3 months since I ordered these bikes, and while I have been riding, I am yet to fully enjoy a ride.... I am completely at a loss for what to do next in this case... I am really starting to consider the possibility that cyclelab couldnt give a damn about some chop in the north of Zambia, and will just cut their losses ( or mine in this case)

Looking for some advice please... I need to replace the sealant in my tyres - is this pretty easy to do myself or am I going to have to go the LBS route? Any idea what I’m looking at cost wise?

Morning All, Looking for a couple of used road tyres.... dont need anything fancy and not to concerned about wear.... i just want to use them on the IDT. I am in Kensington,JHB. There are some beers in it for bribery purposes.

Just entered 70km.... any info re water points/feed tables etc? Need to know how many bananas to squeeze in (seeing as it looks like we all have to donate one to Tyron)

No chance of doing this for the MTB event??

60 or 70?

I did my honours research project on this about 10 years ago.... obviously been a lot of development since then, and also (being only an honours project) had some study limitations as well. Research was limited to road cycling, and did not find any statistical significance between circular and non-circular chainrings (Measured RPE, Heart Rate, Oxygen Consumption, energy expenditure and cadence required to maintain a constant speed). Essentially, subjects felt 'more connected' to the bike through the traditional deadspots in the pedal stroke, but it did not lead to any dramatic increases in anything bar 'feel'. That being said - i was loaned a power meter for the duration of the study, so had it fitted to my bike when not used in the lab, and i racked up plenty of mileage with both the circular and non-circular rings. Anecdotal response - For road rides over 2/3 hours, i definitely felt power output was a lot more sustained... interestingly average HR and PO were slightly higher with non-circular, but perceived response was the same. Again....seemed like a comfort thing. Would have loved to do further research but Masters took a different route... Would be very interested to try non-circular on a MTB...

no 25km this year? Guess thats going to force an upgrade to the 45! Really enjoyed last years, will definitely be there

It's looking to be a bit damp???

Its only been 24 hours..... give them a chance.... i am sure they will rectify everything in due course....

Some strange ones, and ones where guys obviously didnt start in their group. Mine and my fiancees arent in there - possibly due to late entry? Any other late entrants missing?

I somehow managed to convince the fiance to interupt our romantic weekend away if Franschoek to do a later entry for us - so on saturday i shot back to fetch the bikes and do late entries. Was my first MTB race and her first cycling race of any kind. She did the 30 and i did the 42. I had a blast - managed to stay clipped in on the climbs, loved the ST, bombed down the mountains as fast as i dared, had one small crash and one minor mechanical. But was generally awesome. Finished in around 2:20 and headed back to meet the missus (Tracked her iphone and found her just as she was crossing strand toward the finish). She also loved it... told her to chill at water points etc but shes too competitive and didnt even stop! She took it slow and is getting her confidence up, but shes only had a bike for 3 weeks so easy does it! I was stoked to be able to go back and finish with her. We were like little kids the whole way home - didnt stop chatting about our races! Next time will be more prepped annd have warm clothes so that we can hang around at the finish and enjoy the vibe!

No queues for me either.... was fantastic. Got a slowed up a bit on the ST, but wasnt bothered. Heard one guy having a whinge and he got the greatest comeback from someone else behind us - 'if you want to be at the front on the ST you must be the first up the hill!'

Nuff said.