Mountain Bru

Does the Cannondale come with a camelback?

I think this is all BS, PB&J sarmies for me all the way.

Definitely a "negative" when compared with a trailer or normal tent, but I guess it also depends on the kind of trip you want to do. If you plan on stopping, sleeping, and then moving on the next day, this isn't an issue. Or if you plan on stopping and staying put for a few days, not a problem. Only time it becomes an issue is when you want to camp somewhere for multiple nights and still be able to drive about, like on game drives or something. For that kind of trip, a RTT is definitely not gonna be good, but you can also plan around that and stay in a chalet or just take a normal tent with you for those occasions. I'll always try and avoid a trailer if I can for so many reasons - fuel economy, maneuverability, parking at stops, maintenance, harder to fit a bike rack to name a few

I was in a similar situation with a 3km commute and tried riding to work a bit. In my experience, it wasn't worth it. It's a downhill to work for me, so I found I could get to work with minimal sweat as long as I rode really easy. Left my laptop and some shoes at work and just carried pants and a shirt with me, or just rode in my work clothes. In my experience though, it really wasn't worth it. It was never really good for training, and added a bunch of admin and time to my routine for no real advantage (I have no traffic to contend with though). It made much more sense to just drive home for 5 minutes and go for a proper training ride.

Fixed it

Nice! Glad you got it sorted

I'm gonna need help knowing who to hate. Does Froome count as a doper after getting a bit trigger happy on his asma inhaler? (Pitchfork at the ready)

Is this spoken from experience, or just a feeling? Amongst the people I know, roof top tents are considered to be the best camping solution. Minimum effort for maximum comfort, regardless of what things look like where you're camping. And the minimum "set down" time afterwards. Never heard a different opinion, so I'm keen to hear about the downsides (apart from it basically just being a flippen expensive tent)

If random videos on the internet are to be trusted, this seems pretty conclusive that I'll be fine as long as the tent/rack/bar/combo is less than 80kg. Thanks

How do you guys figure that a front runner rack distributes the load differently to 2 bars with a rigid tent base bolts onto them? I mean there's still the same 4 mounting points, and the same bolts? What makes you say that a full rack would distribute load differently? In my mind, the rack is completely unnecessary seen as the base of the tent is rigidly bolted to the cross bars which are bolted to the rails on the car. Am I missing something? How would bolting the tent to a rack, and then bolting the rack to the same 4 mounting points change anything (apart from adding R8000 to the expenses)?

Yip even Thule themselves don't recommend putting a tent on the window clamp or sliding clamp type of bars. I think it has to "bolt on" bars.

Great stage going on.... Hope you guys are watching

Not sure what time you started, but today was a tough day in the wind. Nicely done man!

This is what I figured. If the book states the limit is 80kg, then that would be the moving weight in my mind, and you could technically exceed it if the car wasn't moving. I mean if you load 80kg onto the roof and drive on the highway, surely even just the wind load on the cargo is gonna push you over the limit. Was hoping someone had already done the experiment without screwing up their car though

Does anyone have any experience with roof rack maximum weights? I want to put a roof top tent on my Honda CR-V, so I've been investigating the max weight I can put on the roof. According to the car's manual, the max weight you can put on the roof is 80kg. Thule's roof racks/bars seem to be rated at 100kg. A typical roof top tent is 50 - 60kg, so no problems with the tent alone on the roof. But obviously the point is to sleep in the tent, and therefor add say 2 70kg people, so looking at a weight of around 200kg all together when in use. Some of that weight would go through the tent's ladder though, but still probably more than 80kg on the roof. Does anyone have any experience with stuff like this, or know if the rated weights are static or dynamic weight? (I would assume that 80kg is the max load for dynamic circumstances, but can be exceeded if the vehicle is stationary) I tried to ask the guy at Thule yesterday... He first seemed confused as to why I would want to sleep in a tent on the roof while I'm driving. After I helped him understand that I have no ambition of using the tent while cruising on the highway, he then told me "it's okay because we weigh less when we lie down".... I tried to reason with him, but he was insistent that we weigh more when we're standing than when we lie down, at which point I gave up and figured I'd consult the hub experts. Any help would be much appreciated.

This is all about training though. In terms of actually pacing a "non training" ride, a HR monitor will give you some sense of your effort level. And it might be useful to intentionally not look at your power numbers on the trainer, and then try guess what power you're doing, and then check and see how close you are until you get a good feel for what your different power zones feel like (even if the specific watt value isn't 100% correct.)

As Butterbean said, HR is a "cheap" option for pacing, and even if you do get a power meter at some point, it'll still be useful to have HR data. You basically have 2 "systems" that you're using when you ride - your cardiovascular system (and lungs), and your muscular system. A power meter measures what your muscles are doing in terms of power, while a HR monitor measures what your cardiovascular system is doing. Both need training though. Doesn't help you can hit massive power numbers but are cooked after 5km, and doesn't help if you can ride for hours, but only really slowly at really low power. So my advice would be to train your muscular system on the trainer so you can do proper intervals at target watts, and to train your cardio system outdoors with a HR monitor. For me, that would mean long rides at say 150bpm or 180 minus your age (regardless of power). The idea is that you do 80% of your training at this low intensity, and 20% at high intensity (intervals), and avoid doing anything at "medium intensity" cos that'll add fatigue to your legs without a proportional performance benefit. You can read up about this kind of training here: https://philmaffetone.com/

Imagine this was me..... That man went full ballztothewall! Does 6th in my batch count as a good enough result to warrant wanting a GPX file for pacing?

Feedback on this.... The rolling start idea definitely works to limit contact between people, but it really takes a lot out of the feeling of the race in my opinion if you start and there's no one around you. Took me a while to get into the ride cos it almost felt like it was just a casual Saturday ride. The rolling start makes it impossible to know who your "competition" is with everyone starting at different times. But seen as we're all racing for a random mid pack place, it doesn't actually matter. (Did a full max effort sprint to beat a guy that I think started 10 or 15 minutes before me. Who cares. It's not like we were racing for podium spot, and the red mist isn't contingent on petty details like start times) Most people seemed to actually wear a mask/buff before the start, but not so much after the race. I think being exhausted takes away your ability to worry about covid Water points didn't seem to congested because the field was super spread out. I don't think it's possible to have "no sit down area".... people are moeg when they finish and will sit anywhere that looks remotely like grass. I do think there were fewer people lingering around though. Overall, it was a good day out even if it wasn't a "normal race". Normal races aren't possible, and it was definitely better than a cancelled event

Seen as I intentionally have zero social media (apart from BikeHub, if that counts), I don't really care how active shops are on FB, Insta, etc. I don't want friends or cool content from a shop, I want quality service and good prices, so if they post a sick edit every day or not means nothing to me. Being active on bikehub definitely counts a lot for me though. I bought so much stuff on CWC's "tell us what you want" sales when those were a thing, and they basically became the first place I check when I need something because of the good deals I got on those sales. Apart from that, what I do care about is response to emails/online queries... And knowing what stuff will costs - and that typically comes from a website and the "contact us" page for me. Take Lyne for example... I give them money with a smile on my face because Dayle responds to emails, and their website makes sense and has prices on it. Compare that to BikeAddict... I've literally never spent a cent on their site because I can't be bothered to request a quote and then wait for a response, and then fine tune the quote, and then wait for a response, and then maybe pay. By the time they've responded, I've normally come right somewhere else.

So bummed that I got a refund rather than keeping my entry, and then didn't re-enter before the entries sold out. Guys that monster climb is horrific. The worst climb in the country. It's gonna be an awful day. You're literally never gonna wanna ride your bike again once your finish. There's absolutely nothing appealing about doing this race.... You should 100% rather sell your entry than putting yourself through such a horrible experience..... https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/event-entries/491855/magalies-monster-entry

The drive to Copenhagen is gonna be a long one though.....

Screw a piece of wood to the bottom of a platform rack to keep the dust off your bike? This doesn't really bother me though. Seals should be IP rated to be basically underwater, so dust ingress into bearings shouldn't be a problem, especially if they're sealed bearings that are usually protected by an outer cover, a layer of grease and then the bearing's seal. Riding with a dirty drive train isn't a good idea, but this is easily solved with a chain cleaner and maybe spraying some water on the derailleurs to rinse the dust off if it's really bad. If nothings, turning, nothing is wearing, and I highly doubt dust is getting past any seals just from driving. Also, don't lube your chain just before you chuck you bike on the rack. If you use a dry wax the night before, it should be dry and less sticky in the morning so less dust will stick to it. For refence on the bearings and seals though, GCN did a video once where they were testing the "pressure washer pushes water into your bearings" theory..... If a pressure washer at point blank range being used in the stupidest way possible can only barely push water into a BB bearing, I don't think you need to worry too much about dust behind your car.

Gees the coverage was terrible though. Random wide shots with no clue where anyone is. And then suddenly a wild Rogla appeared at the front

Just watched the last 10km on Tiz..... Rogla looked like he was toying with the other GC guys. Was pretty funny to see Narvaes drop Carapaz and Bernal, and then turn around and have a "oh crap" moment, and drop the pace.