BigGuy

Anton how easy are those Grado's to drive? Can you recall the impedance off-hand?

There was also the one called The Drinking Man's Diet. My dad showed me the booklet the other day, printed almost 50 years ago. He has been living the theory for decades, and that would explain the bottle of wine per meal. Think it was used by the RAF to get their pilots down to size. Involved a lot of whiskey and wine consumption while cutting out starches. Eat meat and wash it down with non-sugary alcohol (iow no sletsappies allowed).

That looks about right. But it is not the smoothest of trails. A little bit of erosion here and there. Some loose rocks as well. Maybe a few wet roots on the singletrack. And of course that blue water pipe.

Surely this is the way to go for myself, as my riding buddies are never interested to add 40kg to their camelbaks to level the field.

That was quite a storm wasn't it... The following morning I had to run to the loo very early and noticed a chap whose bike fell over into a small ditch next to his tent, and it was halfway submerged in the puddle that formed, drivetrain under water. Looked like an XTC 29er. When I walked back he had woken up and was trying to crank the oukie. That grinding sound and the grimace on his face I will not forget. And did you see the okes with the fancy camper, their aluminium veranda was folded backwards over the roof.

This makes the daily grind in traffic bearable. http://www.caronline.net/Images/Uploaded/10179044.jpg

Are the updated features available for all cranks, or only for the new FSA model?

Bob Carver is a legend. I have never owned any REAL high-end stuff, but used to have a fondness for big American speakers. My source was a Rega Planar with Goldring Eroica moving coil. Almost like SLX. Performed well enough without breaking the bank. First there were the Maggies. Glorious in many ways but could not go very loud, very hard to drive. Then came the KEF R/2. Not sure why i got this, think it was the hype surrounding it. Not bad at all until I heard some Polks. Duly followed by those Polk SRS. Some of my fondest memories lie with them. Sold them eventually to cover student debt. Then after some time there were some Thiels. Somehow they sounded better in the store. Never again. Took them back within a week. Replaced them with the TDL transmission lines. Beautiful but were stolen from my home. With insurance payout I got a big Boston sub and bookshelves. Little baby fingers meant that speakers should now be out of reach. Lightning wacked the bookshelves. Currently I have a few Jamo satelites, still using the Boston sub. Adequate for watching TV and movies. These days I listen to music on my 1st gen 512MB IPod shuffle. Somehow it makes headphones sound better than they are.

Drive to Patensie and ride the hardest part of TransBaviaans in reverse, and then forward of course.

This new fancy schmancy thing is sucking chocolate salty balls big time! Why am I still bothering...Time to make a change.

Ja the climbs hurt when you weigh around 100kg. For me the only way to get used to the effort is to ride Breedts nek a few times before then (during the hottest part of the day). Very similar terrain and gradients. Just to get used to the constant steep climbing. I did this prep 2 years ago and it worked quite well. Last year I gave it a skip and did some lesser hills closer to home and had a horrible time.

Disc brake rotors can bend quite easily. I use adjustable plumbing pliers to fix mine. Just make sure to put something protective between the plier jaws and the rotor surface. I use business cards of people I do not wish to do business with for that purpose. Also handy to adjust disc brake pad clearance.

Do some races with your mate and you will have your answer. If he is beating you regularly then he maybe has a better power to weight ratio and maybe higher lactate threshold and maybe higher VO2 max. Maybe he trains more intensely. Maybe he rests more and better. Maybe he uses drugs.

They restin' today with glucose drips and what have they.

Moz is great in winter! However in summer the heat, humidity and mosquitos will kill you.

I bought a 24L tank compressor from Adendorff Tools. Was around R500 and another R200 for a decent size hose and air valve attachments. Beware that most of the included (if at all) air accesories does not fit properly on compressor and/or valve side. As someone has said before getting the air pressure into the tyre is important. I was also pleased that the salesman pointed this out to me beforehand. Great service.

There must be a way up too. I know a guy that carries his glider up there...

Some people do not have much choice in the matter with those Topeak Ergon jobbies. PersonallyI do not see the point of the gearshift indicators. A quick glance at the cluster is all that is needed for me. And most of the time I know which gear I am in already. But then I only have 9 to choose from.

I have not had one flat at 3T yet. If you walk a lot chances are way less. Last year I used Mountain Kings 2.4 front and 2.2 rear. Year before was CrossMarks but they suffered a bit in the wet. A bit of gym work helps a lot as the race is tough on the upper body and lower back. Rows, deadlifts (lot of lifting of the front wheel over obstacles)

ABSA sucks. Their credit card division called my 30min ago to inform me that my card has just gone over the (freakin' huge R1000) limit with a few hundred rand. And that I should pay up immediately or else. While I have them on the phone I log in and see that the wife just did a transaction for groceries. But that transaction should have been declined according to the rules. But somehow ABSA give the OK for the transaction and immediately my CC is in suspension. Even if I transfer funds into the CC it does not show for a 24-48 hour period. And I cannot use the garage card as well. ABSA is shrugging their shoulders and just tell me that "the system" (says with James Earl Jones voice) works like that. I have been an ABSA client for many years and am pretty sure the system only started to behave like that the last few weeks. Calls to the bank manager and the private banker have fallen on deaf ears because they are all at the mercy of "the system". Guess it's time to give Steve a call.

I have also bought from them before, no problems, and they were the cheapest.

20 years ago it was safe to ride a bicycle on Zambesi / Moloto. I used to ride around the dam almost every single day. How things have changed.

There is a book written by Joe Friel that can help you understand what you need to know.

It can't measure the difference between fresh and fatigued legs because it can't measure power/torque. You and I need a power meter, like the PowerTap or SRM or the-like.

Here is my opinion (again). It does not work for interval training, HR is a reaction and will always be. You need the real deal, as do most of the people who comment on this thread. Let me use an analogy: I go to the gym and do leg presses. I have a plan on what I want to achieve, and it is based on the weight. I know I pressed 100kg last month and I need to increase the weight with 5%, ie now I should press 105kg. If I do not increase the weight then I will still be pressing 100kg in 12 months' time. I cannot go by feel, because one day I am more rested than the other, have more or less stress, maybe dehydrated a little; there are just too many variables I cannot control, so I need to control one thing, and that is the weight. I do not get hung up on multiplying sets and reps with weight to calculate the total work I have done, as it does not give me an accurate view of progress. What I need is the mental awareness of pressing 105kg iso 100kg, which gives confidence and affects neuro-muscular change. And this is my point (eventually), that you need to know exactly what you are doing at that specific point in time, otherwise you will not know whether you are doing enough to stimulate progress. You have gone through the effort of warming up, and you need to make those intervals count. Trying to figure out afterwards whether you have done enough does not make sense to me.