Cycle Fan

How cold does it get towards midnight/early am hours? Stressing a bit about if I have enough warm clothes... Plan is : Longsleeve First Ascent Baselayer (+ maybe the sleeveless one as well) Cyclingshirt Gilet (sleeveless windbreaker) First Ascent Jacket (yellow one) FA Leg warmers Long winter gloves Buff or 2 Any advice?

Do you come to PE? There's apparently a shop down here that sells them

Thanks guys! All fixed... Seems when I removed the valve core to insert the Stans I loosend the valve. Tighten valve, re-inflated and seems fine this morning. Shot for the advice...

Thanks - i did use soapy water and did hear a pop so maybe it just needs some time to seal. Going to try lying it on its side and then flipping it over. Cheers!

Thanks for all the responses! Interesting re: the bombs... didn't know that. Won't be using them in future... I've spun the tyre, wiggled it, shaken it, etc a few times. I'll see if I can isolate the leak. Once I've found the leak do I hope that the Stans will seal it or should I remove the tyre and try and get it reseat on the rim?

I've just changed my tyres and having some trouble getting the one to seal properly. I have a Maxxis Ardent LUST and an Ikon going onto American Classic 29" rims. So the process was: - Tyres on - Stans in - Bomb the tyre Worked like a charm for the Ardent but the Ikon is losing air (slowly). What should I do? - add more Stans then reinflate? - hope that is seals overtime? Thanks for the advice...

Thanks! Going to look at some Sealskins tomorrow!

Hi guys, just some quick clothing questions... we did a long ride in the rain and wind on Saturday and I realised that maybe I'm not as kitted out as I thought Any suggestions on whether winter booties are needed? I don't have any and have never used them in the past so to fork out R300+ on a pair just for the race is not really something I want to do...That being said, if its as cold as everyone says I may just have too... I've got one of those First Ascent Yellow jackets but they ain't too good at handling rain - any suggestions? Again, I'm on a tight budget so can't afford anything fancy. Was looking at one of these: http://www.capeunionmart.co.za/k-way-echelon-cycling-rain-she

Any suggestions on tyre choice and pressure? I'm assuming it's mostly gravel roads with not much techinical stuff so something fast rolling?

I've had similar issues. Started in late 2011 while training for IMSA. Went to Physio and after 1 session my whole back went into complete spasm. Long story short, was shunted from pillar to post and saw nearly every possible sports doc/physio/chiro/bio etc. Diagnosis was all around prolapsed disc and apart from the R10k+ inn medical bills I spent the better part of 2012 doing NO EXERCISE. Got gatvol of having severe back pain sitting around so just started riding & running again. I really believed it wasn't my back but extremely tight hip flexor/psoas muscle that was causing my right QL to be tight - hence the backl pain. (I managed to tear the psoas slightly years ago but the injury left calcification in the muscle and has been quite right since). Eventually landed up at a Bio recently that seems to agree with me but the treatment is now leading to other complications. But at least I feel happier that he's on the right road. Bottom line - I agree that the your lower back pain could very possibly be your psoas muscle. The right BIo will be able to give you the right rehab exercises. You're welcome to PM me if you want some more info.

Just spoke to GP - says it's still in the healing phase. Confirmed what I suspected that not much to be done even if there is a small fracture. I've been considering a wrist guard - even if it's just to remind me not to shake hands Thanks for the advice guys

Thanks - waiting for the GP to phone me back to ask him the same question. Had an X-ray after the fall and nothing broken but GP did say that the smaller fractures might only appear after 7-10 days

Thanks - yip it is a bugger! Keep forgetting that it's sprained and then go and shake someone's hand

So severely sprained my hand a few weeks ago in a silly fall while MTB'ing. Just wondering how long the healing process should take? The swelling has gone down a bit but the range of motion is still impaired and the slightest bump brings tears to my eyes (well almost). Anyone else had a similar injury?

Thanks will keep that in mind.

Thanks - did some reading and don't think this is me... I had some serious complications with a lower back injury that had me off the bike for most of last year. The Bio seems to think that the back tightness is due to the tightness in the quad and hip flexor and that the treatment is now causing the 'inner line' of muscles to work harder than they have done in the past. I have a serious overcompensation on the 'outside line' so this makes sense to me.

@sk27 - was super excited - now, not so much! We doing the ride for Charity and I'm the one doing all the organising so it's a bitter pill to swallow if I can't ride. @fabes - been seeing a bio once a week for the past 5 weeks and he's given me some core work. Doing it relgiously by still no major breakthrough @mrbaker - was also wondering that - but 230km / 16hours seems a bit far

OK, so entered this for the first time and all was going well until about a month ago.... Not going to bore you with the sad details of the injury woes but am now currently struggling with a quad/hip flexor strain that doesn't allow me ride more than 60-90min without it seizing up. Standing seems to be ok - looks like it doesn't like the angle of the hip while sitting. I've been doing intervals on the spin bike (6min standing climb/1min rest) for about 45min followed by about 20-30min of running. I've been training 5-6 days a week. My worry is the long rides.... I also have no way of judging how the fitness is coming along and the time is getting really short now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

THanks for the comprehensive feedback and advice - will look into it!

how do you maintain the bearings then? The WD40 advice came from the mechanic at the LBS who claims it was told to him by the Scott Rep...

Where did it crack? Also have the 29 Elite and LBS was told by Scott to make sure that bottom pivot point (near the crank) needs to be well maintained (lots of WD40 after washing). Said that if it isn't, the bearing seizes and the frame will crack.

Also have a set of 29" AM Classics and love them. No issues so far and they look awesome...

200 lumens won't help much with seeing - fine for being seen though. You'll need at least 500 lumens to see where you are going.

THanks - I emailed Lex and got all the info, For anyone else that is interested - these are the routes: 16km Out & Back route (non-technical) 12km Route (more technical than 16km route but not too bad apparently) 35km Route (technical with climbing)

Does anyone have any info on the Hopewell courses? Would be keen to take the family out there but with a wife and 2 kids under 12 I'm worried it's too technical.