Slipstream Sean

I'm upgrading from alu to full carbon. I remember hearing somewhere that usin a carbon bike on an IDT can damage the bike, is there any truth to this. Do I need to keep my Alu to train on my IDT? Thanks

With all that weight I hope you can steer backwards downhill...some guy with a camelback is no doubt shaking his head at this.

Is this a trick question? Damn...knew I shuda had my All Bran this morning

Even the name...Radioshack...any with shack in it sound cheap. I think conti and the rest of the climbers will have extra motivation to break away from lance in the alps, so they don't have to look at those colours.

Ah I been up that road...by car, thanks colonel

Who's to say that the police car isn't reversing in the right hand lane...My question is why wasn't he driving forwards...It's common knowledge that it's much easier to pull a trailor driving forwards than to try push it driving backwards...what next

It suddenly hit me that we were past the first Wednesday of the new month, so I thought I'd check my new seeding. Yet to my suprise I noticed that it hadn't been updated yet. I know there is no urgency as there is no race this weekend, but still it's a tad unprofessional in my view...maybe they have taken an early holiday.

Was my first DC, at 180km I cramped in every muscle worse than ever before...cudn't ride anymore...but I wasn't gonna quit. I borrow sumones slip slops from the team car, walked up the hills and free wheeled down for 5km, I then relised that at that speed I'd not make the cut off anyway...so eventually jumped in the team car. A team mate offered me his medal afterwards, but I didnt want it, cuz I wud mean absolutely nothing if I hadn't completed the race myself...I cant understand why ppl cheat at that level...no1 really cares whether you have a finishers medal or not, it's a personal acheivement. After all you're the only one who knows just how hard it was for you to acheive it.

Naa, I reckon they definitely picked my starting with G group up, cuz I started my clock as I went under the start banner, and my racetec time was pretty much identical, I dont believe they'll give you a time if you dont go thru the start(so I obv did without realizing where the mats were), it would be way too easy to just climb on the bike 5km before and ride a killer time.

Lets hope we're back in Stellenbosch next year

I was supposed to start in F, but due to traffic left from G, racetec correctly picked that up and matched the time registered on my telemetery, so I feel lucky that I didnt lose out. I was afraid I would not get a time as I didn't go thru the norrow start mats that they normally have at the funrides. They obv had them on the actual start line tho. U guys wont believe how suprised I was to see that I registered a time.

Ok, well the benefit I can see in digesting starch is that there is a slow release of energy, which is what you want, in a suger form its gonna give you a quick high and then a potential dip, and if you dont use that rush of energy(thru exercise) it goes into fat storage.

Now if the starch turns to sugars...etc. Doesn't this mean that you're losing a lot of the nutritional value of a ripe banana. Hell if you gonna be eating sugars why not just eat ice cream anyway. I will try this banana lolly idea, I love bananas but wud be interesting to know whether you should feel guilty when eating it.

The week before a important race, I like to do 60% of race distance at about 120% race pace. Then early in the week, I'll get a power session in, which I would have done at the begining of each week from 3-4 weeks before. Then another 1 or 2 easy spins with high cadence sprint intervals e.g. 120rpm for 2min etc, 1 of which would be the day before for 45mins.

Any others out there doing the DC on a 8 speed. What cluster are you turning?

Well, I'm used to climbing in the 23, but really looking to save my legs...Thers no point me beating it up the climbs and then having to wait at the top while my muscles get cold, I'd rather rather spin up in a 25. Thanks guys...I feel this could change my life

I ride an entry level 8-speed road bike...not very cool, I know, but at this stage it's all I can afford. The cluster I'm turning is a 12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23 tooth which I'm sure is pretty standard. My question is...Can I just put another 8 speed cluster on with different number of teeth...I believe the boys in the TDF do it, obv on their top end bikes, when they change from a mountain stage to a flat one and vice versa. So far this season this the funrides have been pancake flat, but now with the more hilly races in the southern suburbs in Jan/Feb and more urgently the DC coming up, it would be handy to be able to roll a higher cadence up the climbs. So guys, if you were told to do the DC(for e.g.) on a 8 speed bike(with a gun to your head), which range of tooth sizes would you select(I know this kinda thing is very rider dependant)...I dont know what ranges are made, but I'm thinking of 12-13-15-17-19-21-23-25. I know jack about this stuff, so tech junkies feel free to blabber on Shot

The burger is in 4 weekends time, which leaves 3 weekend rides. The best thing you can do is push yourself to 70km this weekend, then do 90km the next weekend, then the week before only do a 60km ride. The 70km and 90km race is not about pace, it's about getting the distance in. So do that a t a low intensity. The 60km ride is your taper phase, here you ride a shorter distance BUT at a slightly higher intensity than you rode the previous weeks. If those rides take place on a sat, then do a recovery ride on the sunday of about 30km just to loosen up the stiff muscles. I would also do 1 or 2 harder sessions midweek depending on what you can handle. Maybe 2 sessions of 1 hr(Tue and thu) riding at higher intensity...dont do max effort work as you dont have a base for that...and with injuries it's not a good idea. The week befor the race...just do 1 of these midweek sessions on Wed. Dont worry about ppl passing you...us keen cyclists really have no life, and train too much to compare yourself to You just want to finish the race to be seeded for the argus like hundreds of others...make some friends and struggle together. Good luck with the training

Eat foods high in carbs...carbs and energy as this is your direct fuel source. Eat foods low in Saturated fats as these clog up your food stores, which you want to fill with carbs...saturated fats cant be broken down as a fuel source. Eat foods low in Fibre so you can eat more...and increase your energy intake. Read food labels, and do some research on the food guide pyramid and the glyceamic index.

6min spin - Most refer to spinning as high cadence, low intensity work. If you were doing that, then 1 min rest(not sure whether you mean stop cycling, but dont do that, rather spin at an easy intensity) you would not be achieving much. You want to build a base for strength/power. To do this you need to do lots...and lots of low intensity work(+-65% Heart Rate). If you dont have a HR monitor...get one. Give yourself another 6weeks for base training: Keep your intensity constant i.e. dont do intervals with rest. Try and build the time you can spend on the bike at this intensity. You want to build distance for a few weeks, then drop your distance down a bit for a rest week. So consider the 6 week base training period as 2 x 3 week periods, consisting of 2 building weeks and 1 slightly easier. Here's an example: Lets say you train 3 days a week. Week 1: 60min/session Week 2: 90min/session Week 3: 75min/session Week 4: 105min/session Week 5: 135min/session Week 6: 120min/session So you would do 3 sessions of these durations per week. Remember you are building slowly, listen to your body...if you really can handle a certain duration, dont kill yourself, and if you're doing it easily go a bit longer...this was just an example, so try something like that...and let me know how you're doing a long the way, and in 6 weeks we'll really get you sweating it out with the next phase of training