BigGuy

I have bought some middleburn rings for an XT crank and they work fine.

@Fruity, been there, done that, it is all about priorities. The bigger picture is what you should be concentrating on. You NEED to study, you WANT to race. And after that most of us NEED to work, but we WANT time to train (to race). Life is not fair is it? All we can do is to use our time and money as wisely as possible. Good luck!

Hey Eldron, I went up there on Thursday... what an experience, and I also did not ride down, although my good buddy JB (BaldBatman) did. And he is a bit crazy. I could not see the logic in stuffing up a perfectly good pair of Mountain King USTs and set of brake pads. 7km of very twisty roughly tarred road going down at between 15 and 25 percent gradient needs slicks and a set of balls much bigger than mine, not really my cup of tea. Swartpiet, thanks again for the lekker kuier on Sunday evening, sure we will meet up somewhere again!

Sorry my bad. Was on the phone with a client (obviously not a Vodacom client) and forgot to post beforehand. But there you have it. It's just like I said.

@TheV, if you shopped at Fourways, ask for Andrew McLean to personally sort this mess out. He is there most of the time and is approachable and although I do not know him that well he seems committed to customer service. If you shopped at Pretoria speak to one of the Labuschagne brothers to help you out. Unfortunately some employees just do not understand customer service excellence and they do not realise the damage they do to their employers brand.

Google "Mariepskop Nature Reserve". Mariepskop is quite close to Swadini, but Swadini is located at a dead end, so you have to drive back to the main road, go south and turn right by the Klaserie 1 stop, carry on for a few kays and then pay R30 at the forestry office. Or something like that. I hope they do not charge me every time I ride the hill otherwise I will only make R10 profit (R100 from manbearpig - (3 x 30)). I might report back in 2 weeks time if all went well otherwise I will be silent and claim to have had an injury or cold. I am sure Swartpiet will do a write-up though.

@RoboLuke, keep up with the riding and find those hills.

I park at the foot of the short climb and then start riding. Less time wasted on the flats and quick access to cooler box.

There must be some sort of discount if the rider is more than 100kg? I will definitely keep this tempting offer in the back of my mind...for now I will be happy if I can scale that thing once without stopping.

Hey, don't tempt me, I have a 42t big ring and 36t cluster in my spares box. I also have a big mouth and stay in Gauteng where the mountains are huge.

@swartpiet, good luck, I might see you there. I am going to Swadini on Sunday till the following Sunday, so I will probably only ride up to Mariepskop on Monday. I plan on doing it a few times during the week. Twice in a row? Well not on the Monday anyway, and not very fast then. I am trying to procure a GoPro before the weekend so that I can record the downhill section.

Looks like the old Anthem. Meaning that it should perform pretty well then. Water bottle cage still a problem?

I don't know.... I view something like a Rotor ring only beneficial on race day... If you train with it you will get used to it, and then where is the benefit? Same thing with training with a very light bike or wheelset, I do not see the benefit if you want to improve your racing time.

Not everyone's heart pumps the same volume of blood per stroke. What matters is the amount of oxygen / CO2 that can be exchanged by the lungs into /out the blood stream. The heart simply reacts to the oxygen demand that is placed on it and it will beat faster to compensate for oxygen debt. I can sit on a trainer at a fixed wattage and see my HR fluctuate +-20 BPM simply by adjusting my breathing tempo.

IMHO these guys are on the right track. Pity they are only in Durbs.

I am waiting for the Garmin pedals. Hopefully available by Xmas.

This used to be such a nice route to cycle. Myself and the wife have gone past there plenty of times on route to Gerhardsville. Really sad.

American Classics +1. Easy to service. No exotic spokes needed.

Thanks for the feedback. @MJ, I will send a PM if I do not come right. My forearm grip is almost back to normal. The biceps is also not too bad. Triceps seems to be the problem area. It is VERY tender just above the elbow. In general I can pull, but not push.

@Cycle Fan and others with radial head fractures. How has recovery and rehab been coming along? I clashed with a pedestrian just before end Feb, and had a sling for 2-3 weeks, after which I did not start physio as the elbow was still very swollen and sore, with very limited movement possible, plus memories from physio gone bad after a broken foot many years ago. I only started riding the mtb again last week and pain is bearable for about an hour. Next few day lots of tenderness. But it is still recovering, full extention is about 5 degrees off. I have come to realise that the bone heals relatively quickly, but that it is the soft tissue damage that causes the complications. Some people might be lucky (?) and do not damage the ligaments, muscles and nerves, while others are not so fortunate. I suspect I have some ligament and nerve damage to content with. I am going to start physio next week and was wondering who knows a good elbow physio. I only know about Dr Dennis van Aswegen.

1st choice Chris King. 2nd choice Hope Ceramic.

I have a 2007 Terralogic F80X and it works a treat. Set it and forget it. Very nice when getting out of the saddle, although not a complete lock-out but near enough. I have had to learn to give it a quick bump before entering the rough stuff though (eg entering a dark bush tunnel), otherwise you can get caught off-guard by the first rock. I have no idea how involved the servicing is as I bought it fairly recently and only use it for racing (and I have not done much this year).

I battle with tight hamstrings. If I stretch them regularly the back pain goes away. Then I stop stretching. Then the pain comes back after a month or two. Then I stretch them again. Then the back pain goes away. Then I stop stretching. Then... etc etc. The tight hams pull on the glutes. The glutes pull on the lower back muscles. Riding with those muscles at the very edge of their range of motion for hours is very taxing. Any slight change in position results in some or other pain, or a pulled calf, hammie, butt or lower back. If only I would follow my own advice.

OK, I just had to try that. And I am not disappointed.

Tacx Cycletrack Seems possible to run a mtb tyre according to the manual.