Ingo

13500km on one 990 cassette with three chains swapped around every 500km. Once all three chains reached 0.75 I replaced the whole set. SRAM all the way.

Finishing the CPT as 12th VET's team with a busted knee and not giving up or quiting my team mate.

!!! Please don't try this at home !!! I was going to write a whole book on this but in short, go see a doctor and get some real advice. After I saw the Dr. I was so desperate and hacked mine open with a syringe needle (twice) and it eventually healed. It was extremely painful and carried huge risks so I won't recommend it to anyone.

My guess is that you peaked for CPT so you can have a good race. If that is the case then you will not be on a peak for Attas so don't try and go for the win, you will only hurt yourself. Pick your two major races for next year, roughly where you expect to peak, and train towards them, the rest is just part of the training (and a bit of pain thrown in for good measure). If you are Kevin Evans then you might squeeze another one out in one year.

Putting on the bum cream is the best part of my ride... Sometimes I almost forget to do the actual ride

Let me warn you that you will go crazy over the next couple of weeks. I went through the same thing, been off the bike for three weeks and then eventually couldn't take it anymore. Did the GP, Sonar, X-Ray, Specialist, MRI, Specialist thing but luckily I didn't need an op. The specialist said lots of rest and take some of these pills. Well, the pills are finished, my knie feels better and I slowly started to do LSD's again. In only three weeks I got withdrawl symptoms when I see people riding their bikes. I get angry when I see the last race for the year only a week away and I was forbode to do it faster than a TEMPO pace and then I got scared thinking of Attakwas just around the corner... BUT, I'll be in your valley doing the Argus, just look for the crazy Vaalie with his MTB (with knobblies). Good luck with trying to stay sane, you are going to need it :-) The shoulder will heal, no sweat. Ingo

Correct. I did 13500km on three SRAM chains, one cassette and set of blades. All this in one year with a chain swap every 500km. Ingo

My LBS is a stone's throw from where I am now. I regularly complain about things not done on time, I usually get upset with the mechanic, he never does the stuff that really needs attention and it seems he is just a lazya$$ when it comes to bike services. The nice thing is WHEN he screws up something he then has no problem taking it to a professional to get it fixed at whatever price - no questions asked. I am obviously talking about myself, I have all the tools to service my bike except for a fork/shock service. My garage is just downstairs so I can go and fiddle on my bike whenever I want and then load it into the car to get it professionally fixed afterwards :-) If you can, get the tools, learn to service your own bike. I must admit, doing a complete drivetrain and race-wheel replacement/service, due to a busted knee thanks to CPT, is quite satisfying. I can't wait for Saturday to give my new bike a test.

Has anyone ever got their bike back after a theft?? What stats do you have? It's no use we all do the dotting thing and the stolen bikes glows like fireflies somewhere in neighboring countries.

2.1kg seems right, I have American Classic with RaceKing 2.2 UST, SRAM X0(Red) cassette with Hope 140mm disk weighing 2.0kg. UST tires are usually +-700g so unless you changed TO a UST FROM a Tube-Type then it will feel a bit heavier.

Go 32 it's a good middle ground, 28 if you have the 'Canounies'.

And don't forget the english dude (probably foreigner) with the hole in his cycling pants. He didn't understand one word when I said "Die garage deur is oop"

Didn't I just say keep to the right, meaning stand on the right and if you want to pass me, meaning walk up or down, then you can pass me on my left hand side??? Pass that warm cold beer, the first plane has already gone overhead

Actually on London's escalators it's keep right, pass left(since the last time I've been there) - and they get seriously agitated if you pull a RSA keep left, pass right on them. Very odd these guys with their warm beer and all :-)

Imagine the white shoes and "the white pant"

Maak jy die strap nat voor jy hom aansit? As ek se 'nat' dan bedoel ek druk hom onder die kraan en vat water en maak jouself ook nat sodat daar goeie kontak is. Check ook die kontakte van die actual sensor, dit roes baie maklik op daar agv sweet en dinge. Anders, gaan sien 'n dokter en se jy het 230 HR geslaan en jy wil asseblief jou liggaam vir wetenskap skenk. Ingo

I was there as well !!! If it wasn't for my team mate dragging me away kicking and screaming I would still be there today. The best waterpoint I've ever experienced even though I have no idea what drinks or snacks they had there Ingo

Yes, the speed is working, I can see the trip meter increasing so everything looks normal. It's just the menu option is not there for some reason. I'll give the Polar service agents a shout today. Here are extracts from both manuals, notice the S725 doesn't have a 'Dis' display text. Seems that was added as a feature to the S725x.

Am I missing something here???? I cannot get any distance measurement on my S725. I have both a S725x and a S725 and one the S725 it only has a trip meter, the distance option is not even in the menu system. From what I can see the following are available on the S725: Spd, Avg, Max, Cad, Alt, Asc, Time, Lp, Cal and Trip. On the S725x I have: Spd, Avg, Max, Dis, Cad, Alt, Asc, Time, Lp, Cal and Trip. Is this normal? Ingo

I use both and prefer Pro Trainer, a lot more detail. Ingo

If you rechrome a motorcycle fork you will not get the same 'slipperyness' than the original stuff. These days you get things like Titanium Nitrate coatings etc. What we did is to fix the small chips so that it doesn't rip the oil seal to bits and when the fork is too damaged we replaced it. My suggestion is look abroad for a specialist shop or just buy a new one when it's too badly damaged. Ingo

Thanks to Tyrone(Vinyl Guy) I now sport a new set of Merida Green decals on my SID fork. It's looks great, see my album for the big picture. Ingo

Slightly off-topic but here are four guidelines to follow which came straight from my doctor. Don't ride if: 1. You have a fever. 2. You have an aching body. 3. You have elevated blood pressure or 4. Your heartrate is not it's normal self. I did one race while ignoring the above and had to sit out a whole month due to my HR not wanting to come down. It scared the living #$%^ out of me. I think they call it Myocarditis - google it, it will knock some sense into us 'training-crazy' bikers. Ingo

Much appreciated.

Excellent, I'll PM you and we can talk business. It's a set of SID fork decals, I just want the standard stickers done in Merida Green where it's currently the stock Red. Ingo