Borriz

I stay in Aureole avenue - on the plots' side. Please keep a lookout!

just thought I send this warning to anyone cycling in the Northriding area, particularly the Dome area. I was hijacked from my bike yesterday morning at 5h05. It was purely opportunistic - as I hardly ever ride from my complex. Think they were unsuccessful with an earlier house break-in and then saw me approach - obviously soft target. They pulled a gun and forced my off the road. Kept on asking for my phone - which I don't carry. Proceeded to remove my shoes and camelbak. After about 10 seconds I was left without Morewood Zula, camelbak and shoes - not to mention all the other stuff we carry like polar, leatherman, sun glasses and Magic shine light. All I can say is ride and train in packs, and not even 200m of isolated road is safe.

This argument is flawed. Firstly depends on your genetic composition. If you have fast twitch muscle then you would like to sprint and do short distances, if you have slow twitch then you can do climbing and endurance. So your energy consumption per individual depends on this. However a heaver, grinding, fast twitch muscle person can easily learn to run high cadence. Your body is mechanical. It will take you 3 weeks to go from 80 to 100 cadence. You'll see from you heart rate that it jumps initially as you're not use to running higher cadence. But in 3 weeks time you'll do the cadence but at your earlier grinding heart rate. At the end of the day it depends on the individual and not the argument.

We do 2-3 hr rides leaving Mugg n Bean quite regularly that criss cross the Avianto area with proper technical climbing. PM me if we should keep you updated! Warning though, most of our group are training for Epic and Joberg2C so we are mostly focussing on distance the next 3 months, but we can always include new guys for the first few hours and then separate. Safety in numbers is a must, so lest keep each other updated on rides! Alternatively, make contact with Rob at roberts@absa.co.za. He is chairman of Westage Wheelers and will put you in contact with our group via "formal channels" :-)

46 degrees at Mankele 12 February 2010. Humidity was 80% odd. Our Polars measured 51 degrees. After 6 hours of riding we decided to give the single track a miss as we struggled to concentrate My car measured 33degrees at 13h00 at Van Gaalens during Nissan race.

i'll put money on it! You try the morewood you'll be hooked Cejay! the 120 is more comfortable than 96 - if you are into stage racing. but the Zula is a all day, anytime! Big smile riding machine

The CPT would've given you the endurance and base. All you need to do is start slowely and you'll see the improvement in 3-4 weeks. Slowely as in slowely. Nothing above 70% max HR. This will help your base training and will get everything working again. Attakwas is very possible as long as you listen to your body. Check your ability to recover when your HR hits 70 or 75%. If it takes more than a minute then you're fatigued and should rest. If it drops quickly then you're regaining fitness and it might be nutrition or in your head. My 10cents

You can't expect "rest" to work wonders and expect to keep the same level of fitness. Eithe you rest for rest, or you train to get fit. Your nutrition plays a massive role and shouldn't be discounted. It takes me 3 weeks from an extended rest (say 2-4weeks) before I'm starting to feel the effect of training. Then you do only base training and spin at 90 - 100 cadence about twice a week and then relaxing out rides. Advise given to me is to "wake-up" your legs before a race or hard ride the day before if you've rested for 7 days. You basically warm up for 15minutes and then do 3-4 short 2 minute intervals. Then a 10min cool down. The CPT is very difficult (made to believe even more difficult than Epic) which means your muscles are damaged and requires proper rest and slow increase in training.

Wash your bike as frequently possible during the race. If you can take motorex aerosol oil on the ride. The pressure that the oil gets released with helps to penetrate the gunk as well Cleaning your chain - yes it looks funny with that big aerosol in you camel bak but at least you'll finish the race on your bike

It seems the only form of entry into Breedts will be via Magaliesburg. The Jacaranda race will go past Van Gaalens in direction of Breedts before heading up to Hekpoort hill.

More detail as requested So the request has been lodged and approved. We are doing a MuggnCheese ride Saturday 30 October 2010. We plan to leave Featherbrook Village Mugg n Cheese at 5h30 the morning. The intent is to meet up with the non-so-adventurous or lazy or Fourways riders at Home of the Chicken Pie at 7h00. We’ll do the standard loop, even though I suspect that our first technical climb might require some portage as we noticed a new development popping up last time we did this ride. Either way, we’ll change the route if we need to on the day. We normally arrive at Peaconwood Spar 3.5 hours into the ride. So some of you can arrange for pickup then. We will then start with the most exciting, exhilarating and “whoo-hoo-rich” part of the ride. Will chat to Aubrey and find out if we can travel via their farm and come in at the back of the gorge. But be “whoo-hoo” goes hand in hand with “oh-no” The ride is normally about 100km and takes some 6-7 hours depending on mechanicals, heat and pace. Entry fee = R0, but remember R30 for entry into van Gaalens track, money to top up supplies as Spar and lunch money at van Gaalens. Please arrange your own transport back from van Gaalens – plan is to arrive their about 13h00-ish. Let me know who will join please? And if you want......we can arrange night ride the Friday evening (29 Oct).....if you ask nicely. The ride unfortunately make use of 4km of tar, fortunately down hill so the pain ends quickly. Cheers for eers Single Track Steve

we plan to do our Mugg n Cheese ride next weekend. We normally start at Mugg n Bean in Featherbrook village in the West rand and head out to Van Gaalens 95% off road with just 4km of tar. We might be changing the route to a ChickennCheese which means starting at the Home of the Chicken Pie and head back via the tar - think it ends up to about 100km. Both rides are in the region of 6 hours. Problem is that with the MuggnCheese ride you need someone to come pick you up

Phone Cyclelab in Fourways. They have an entire support team that should be able to sort out the cramping and possibly the over training :-)

Bontrager Mud 1.80 on the rear and Hutchinson Bulldogs on the front! It looks funny but I swear by it. The thinner tyre cuts through the mud and the big well spaced knobbies shed mud at a hell of a pace. Done 2 Sani2C with this combination and even though we know we lose speed on dry stuff you sit back and laugh when the terrain becomes wet. Maxxis do make a mud specific tyre.

poor newbies. Next set of questions will be "I need to buy a new bike and can't decide between 26" hardtail or softail or 29" hardtail or softail" Ride what you like and whatever fits your pocket! I've tried a 29er and didn't like it.

got a moer of a fright when I read the average speed and realised it must be road riding. We do mountain bike rides every weekend, mostly from Mugg n Bean at Featherbrook Village. We are 4 - 5 guys on average. You can also join Westgate Wheelers who leaves from Westrand Cycles. YOu can contact Rob Stevens the club chairman. PM me for his contact details.

Won't the contrary be true? i.e. larger pully = larger contact area = more friction? The least possible friction will mean no pully which will be the optimum The basis of my reason is for the chain to be in as much "air" as possible, where this setup actually reduces the air-free-space around the chain. I assume the "less friction" is to do with the friction of the chain links as they pivot less around each pin as the chain bends round the pully? Wouldn't you rather decrease the entry and exit angle of the chain? The straighter the chain the less the friction. I think someone is pulling the pully over Andy's eyes!

If you want second hand pedals then just shout. I have a pair hanging around. As Mark said, just losen the clip/"teeth" then you can still put your foot out when needed. Its not that guys don't fall or don't put their foot down with clipless pedals, it is that there is no difference for them to do it whether they are wearing tekkies of clipless shoes

Back to the original post - I had the same issue with my sort wheelbase Pajero and found a tow bar extension. It basically looks like your towbar plate with a square tubing extension and then another tow bar plate. It extends your towbar past the spare wheel. Think I paid R350 odd for it.

MBUK's May edition sheds a lot of light on your question. I recommend you spend the R100 on the mag and read their comments.

The deal is as follows. Some guys drive sedan, others 4x4s and other with their 10 year old student car. They all get them there. Some even throw in a full toolbox with jumpers, spotlight plus tyre plugs. Other take the car as is and drives it to each town - if anything breaks then he relies on other motorists or local mechanic in the town closest to him. Some say holiday are expensive and that a week stay at the coast is R10k, other did it for less than R3k. You decide which driver you are and what you want from the experience. Personally, I'm self sufficient and make sure I'm not dependant on anyone. The biggest objective to me was to finish the race and I tried to eliminate as many uncertainties as possible because I invested 9 months of my time and money into 9 days. Go hardtail if you're still young. Invest in good shock and wheelset, don't go below SLX components as the material actually change for the lower models and won't with stand the abuse.

Sounds like you are dependant on race organisers to ride your MTB. Find your own mtb trails and don't wait for races to do MTBing. Also sounds like you're always playing second fiddle - if its not the single track then its the indoor trainer. Stand up for yourself!

The 45km monster is equal to very good 60km XC races elsewhere in Gauteng. Don't under estimate the 45km - as already said. The 75km doesn't stop after the Monster climb - you finish that at 30km. You then still have 45km to go which is mainly dirt roads with sand sections. Those who know will tell you hit dirt at higher speed than 25km/h or else you'll get stuck. The 75km will give you opportunity to test this theory - might be slightly different this year with late rains. So my guess is the finish times will be quicker than 2009. One tip. The first water table is at something like 11km. The next is after Monster!!!!!! So fill up there, cause 7km of Moster will take you a lightning fast 45minutes. So beware. The weather is always freaken cold at the start and goes to 27-30degrees at 11h00. Think its the reason for cramps.

Lets put it in perspective. The Magiclight is so bright I use it as flood light to inspect my property when the alarm sounds. It is the nest as far as brightness, weight, size and battery life.

Can someone please assist me trouble shooting the reason why my Hope wheelset won't center but my XTR wheelset does? I have 180mm rotors on both wheelsets. It seems the caliper touch the Hope rotor right at the top - which isn't the case with the XTR set. But there also seems to be more "free" space between the XTR rotor as appose to the Hope. I measured the 2 for thickness but they seem to be equal. Where else can I check for inconsistencies?