Cacher

Still sort of on the topic of both lessons learnt and the weather: Learned to cheat the wind by riding on sidewalks to get as close to buildings and boundary walls. Having a bell on the bike works wonders to get most peoples attention, that is now when they do not have earphones on. Why? August is extremely windy in PE, and yesterday I had a headwind of just over 50km/h. Phew, the legs feel like jelly this morning after timetrailing into that wind to be in time for an appointment. Maybe the legs are weak as the appiointment was an hour spinning class.... :-) Yip, definately warming up. At 5:30am yesterday, I was going like a rocket as there was no need for a jacket, buff and the like.... Come on summer!!!

Matching a vehicle's speed going down hill makes the cyclist and the "opposing" motorist in the lane next to you smile..... :-)

Almost took myself out cold this morning, whilst almost changing a car door opening from halfway to all the way to the bonnet........ Cars were parked parallel on the left of the road and to allow vehicles to pass me on the right, I am staying on the left of the lane. As I reached the boot of this vehicle, this guy swings open his door and literally jumps out. I VERY quickly swerved to the right whilst the guy almost jumps onto his roof from fright. Phew... close call for me. If he is a blood doner, he better go and update his details as his fright would have caused a change in blood group.... Lesson learnt : When cycling, be very careful of doors opening and when driving, have a extra look before opening my door....

That there is a silver lining to the roads that are cracked and has potholes when I remembered a slogan on a Merrell branded board : "That crack in the pavement is the earth smiling at you!"

Had a similar experience as Nathrix just now. On a super busy section of road with no shoulder or sidewalk, I had a car starting to move towards the right as I approach from the back to make space and let me pass on the left. Yay!! Yes, I have a magiclight, but being on the handlebar it does not help me much to see the watch and other goodies, and it is there that the 1 LED light on the helmet "shines" Other lessons I learnt from my first commute today: Having a very short cut hairstyle helps a lot in terms of quick cleaning and drying. To have a small oil fin heater in your office under your desk makes for a great "defrosting device", as well as to dry an item or two, whilst keeping the legs nice and toasty.. Keep in contact with the "rhythm" of the traffic. It is a living animal and can snatch and bite... but luckily no war wounds for me today. I LOVE my mtb as a commuter as I move with no effort from road to sidewalk to gravel where required... :-) Although the bike bell can be heard from a reasonable distance (if the person is not listen to music through headphones), I think I am rather going to get a whistle of some sorts to up the decibels. My track standing skills are going to be improving exponentially

Ok, so I have done it, but the day seems faaaaaar from over. What I have learned so far is: Read all the tips the Hubbers gave, remember it and implement it. That would have saved me going without deoderant, but luckily there is a shop across the road. Thinking you will have to go "commando" and then finding your underpants deeply tucked away in the backpack, results in a smile... Riding in jeans is not all that fun. I did not plan to put my foot out of the office today, but things changed since arriving at the office and then very urgently needed to see a contractor 5km from the office. Going into a meeting with lycra would not have worked, but I kept the cycling shoes on. Nobody noticed... :-) Only when I left I heard a comment : (gasp) Did you cycle to here (gasp) ?? At 5h30 in 7C with a strong wind at your back makes your mtb very easily cruize at speed greater than 30km/h. This gives me a smile the size of a 29er Layered clothing does not let you feel that 7C... :-) A single white LED strapped on top of the helmet makes seeing things in the dark much easier. Biggest lesson : I am having some serious fun!!!! :-)

Whilst I am a very serious Polar fan and despite the release of the new V800, I would still lean over to the 910xt, but only so very slightly. This being said that I do not have any personal experience of either of the units and only talking/typing from the reviews I have read on the Net. Once the V800 is being used and there are some reviews of it out, I am sure that it is going to give the 910xt a good run (or is it swim or maybe even cycle... ) for its money. What am I using? Well I used to use the Polar RCX5, but with the lack of altitude data, I am now using the Polar RS800 which has this feature and a few other I like, but unfortunately no swimming and direct on-board GPS tracking. Pity, otherwise it would have been perfect for me, but that is probably why they made the V800. As the other wrote, check out dcrainmaker. Happy choices!!!

Phew, "discovered" this thread Friday evening and now I have finally read all the post, albeit speed read through. Thanks to everybody with the tips, shared experiences and pics, as I felt so inspired that I am planning a commute or two this week. Went for a ride on the mtb to work and back this morning (just to check the time and possible routes) and no matter which one of two of the most direct routes I take, it is going to take all of about 25min at a very easy pace, so it is very doable (I raise my helmet 3 times in respect for those of you doing looong commutes!!) . One plus is the sharp decent on the second route where I measured just just over 60km/h, but that must have only lasted for a few seconds. Whilst short, it still puts a BIG smile on my face .

I am sure that it will be good as I have heard other members in the club saying good things about it. I actually wanted to try see if I can attend one of the sessions during next week, but with the holidays now upon us, I am not sure if it will be running. I attended 2 classes last night : 30min "Bums and Tums".... :-) and then went for the 60min "Power Pump" class. Whilst "Bums and Tums" sounds nice and cute, it was anything but the opposite. Basically inetrval sessions doing squats, lunges, jumps, up and down an aerobic stepper, sit-ups, etc. "Power Pump" was also about different variations of squats and lunges, but using free weights. Again there were sit-ups and the like. With all the squats and lunges that were done, my legs were SHATTERED. What was embarrisng about the whole saga was that I was the only man in both classes and I could not keep up with some of the ladies. More men definately need to attend these type of classes. A very good cross training session and I intend to include one or two of these classes in my programme per week. So, even if you are currently very cycling fit, do not be surprised if you discover some extra leg muscles with the 24 Class and the Killer Abs.

I have been using a Blackburn Atom SL 5 and it has been working great. I think it cost in the region of R600. Only thing that I do not like is that every now and then, it will all of a sudden not pick up the wireless signal, as I have it at almost at the maximum distance that the transmitter and unit can be apart. Can I bring it closer. Nope. I am using it on a 29er and everything is as close as it can be. My solution will probably be to search for the Backburn Atom 6 (I think they retail for about R900) as you can locate the wireless transmitter at the back wheel and thus have a much longer transmission range. Johan Bornman : I was looking at the Cateye Adventurer as well, but I was advised to go for it, as the new high powered lights seem to interfere with the signal from the transmitter. Have you found this to be the case? There is also the option of the Ryder cyclecomp which goes for about R450. Apparently is has a long transmission range, but what I do not like about it is that the "font" in which the altitude, climbing, distance, etc is shown at the bottom of the screen is a bit on the faint side for me.

Wow, sad to hear about some of the guys missing out on the food, but I had my share at all of the points and only missed out on banannas at the one checkpoint, but the marshmallos were just fine as well. The Jaffels were a real "pick me pick" for my spirits in the dark hours of the night. @ Velouria : Lekka ride report. I wish I did not see so much darkness on my ride, but mabe riding at my slower pace, I managed to get more value for my money... :-) Well done, I take my helmet off more than once for you!!

YAHOO, first Trans Baviaans done and dusted. There were MANY highlights for me, but the biggest was to finish about 2 hours earlier than what we expected. The lowpoint was a litteral one, being myself taking a wipeout down the second fang. Out of interrest, how did the sealskinz work through all the water crossings? I had "traditional" mohair mountain biking socks on with a comnination of toe caps. Whilst it did not keep the water out, it kept me fairly warm and the only time my toes went really cold was after the crossing at Hadleigh.

Does anybody have the full 20 week training programme that is on the Trans Baviaans site? On the site itself, it only provides the first 12 weeks.... Ok, ok, I am not entirely going to stick to it, but at least gives me an idea in which direction I should be training in the last few weeks.