willpower

The dude was from Actionography so maybe try there first.

Once upon a time, I had a road bike with a triple. And there were a few occasions when I was very grateful. I remember one day getting passed on OKW by a girl with an H seeding... and I couldn't hold her wheel! Also, there were a couple of Double Centuries where I wouldn't have been able to ride slowly enough to stay with my team with anything bigger than 30x25. In due course my triple STI lever broke, I replaced it with a double, and haven't missed the 30t since. In fact these days I use the bike for commuting and leave it permanently in the 52t. I think these days I would prefer a compact crankset, e.g. 50-34, with an 12-25 cassette. It gives almost as much range with a lot less front shifting which seems to make more sense. Oh, by the way... that Dale is a great looking bike! Enjoy it!

He did it! Official World Record distance = 535.86 miles

Well from what I understand there was a little marshalling error. DG was the first rider off in the Elite Men, right after the Elite Women. The women's turn was at 15 km, and then marshals had not yet moved to the 20 km mark when David came through. So David turned, and I guess shouted something like "is this the 40 km turn?" and then had to turn again to do another 5 km. The whole manoeuvre would have cost him around half a minute, which makes his margin of victory over James Perry rather impressive, with an effective average of 48 km/h on rough tar on a windy day. Even if to some marshals he apparently looks like a girl, no one can say after this weekend that he rides like one.

I road 246 km on Sunday... just took it easy, 3:32 and 4:15 or so. I'm really uncomfortable off the bike though... no idea how I managed to get so many roasties!! Should be okay for the league. And the stitches should be out by then.

I got my crash out the way on Wednesday

Well today was an easy ride through to Stellenbosch, with the biggest challenge being avoiding the trucks in the right hand gutter. The pace up helshoogte was fairly reasonable the first couple of times, then started hotting up on lap three. On the third descent I rode over a little bump in the middle of a straight section... The trouble is you can't really see bumps like this especially in the shadows at 60 km/h. I lost my handlebar and ended up ripping some nasty holes in my knees. Carinus certainly came up with some interesting routes this year. Not sure what was wrong with the old helshoogte lap from a few years ago?? (Up old, down new)

Ian it depends how strong you are. And also, what are the max gradients of the climbs? I would be quite happy riding 8.1% in 39x23 but your mileage may differ. Also, if that hill kicks up at 15% for a few hundred metres somewhere, I think we would probably both be happier with the option of something smaller. I don't see the point of changing your cranks / sprockets now, unless you can find similar passes to train on.

The only wheels lighter than deep section carbon tubulars (e.g. Zip 404 / Eastern Tempest II, Campy Bora) are low profile carbon tubulars (e.g. Zip 202, Campy Hyperon). The weight advantage the skinny wheels have on steep climbs (about 100g) is counter-balanced by the aero advantage of the deep section rims on the flats. The other problem is the price. I think the Hyperons are about the most expensive wheels you can buy. If you compare 404s etc. to alloy "climbing" wheels (e.g. Easton Ascent II, Mavic Ksyrium ES), the deep section carbon tubulars are about 200g lighter, and the weight is distributed closer to the hub. So they really don't climb that badly.

A couple of months ago MultiSport Magazine did a profile on Kirsty Weir (3rd in her age group at world duathlon champs last year). Apparently her resting heart rate is 28

Nellie, who could ever ignore you??? Anyway, it's good to know that the WC elites have at least one fan. By the way, when the CSC guys were doing their publicity breakfast thing last month only about a third of the squad was there. I wondered if the other guys were told to stay home at the hotel because they couldn't hold a polite conversation with us mere mortals... Well I'm sure not. But I wouldn't be surprised if the 'real' pros get some sort of training to help them think up at least semi-intelligent things to say to the press and the general public without embarrassing themselves or their sponsors. Maybe some of the local guys don't realise that it is actually worthwhile putting in a little effort to build up a decent public image.

Looks like I'm on an elite team with 8 solid riders next year. Anyone looking forward to 5 x OuKaapseWeg next month?

Chris, if you are strong enough to make the front bunch in your group on your heavy bike, then riding a light bike will save you a little energy give you a better jump for the sprint, i.e. about 2 seconds. on the other hand if you just get dropped on Chappies on your heavy bike, and would have been able to stick with the bunch on the climb on a lighter bike, you could lose 4 minutes from there to the end. if you are not riding in a racing group, i.e. bunches are not so important, I really have no idea. But the ride will be more fun on the lighter bike. And the NBS factor is certainly not negligible.