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openmind

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  1. openmind
    I was riding up Helshoogte pass from Stellenbosch at about 11am this morning when I saw two guys walking down in the yellow lane just after the top of the first drag of the pass out of town. They looked a bit dodge, so I dropped a few gears and stood up on the pedals just in case. Sure enough, as I passed them and kept them in my peripheral view, one of them started to sprint after me. He had two goes at trying to catch me but I managed to sprint away each time. I moved into the middle of the road and flagged down a car. At this point the guy sauntered back to his mate and they just carried on walking down the road. I decided to keep riding. F that. Just thought I'd post this as a heads-up. If I was less aware I think he may have got me. Don't trust anyone walking in the road. Give them a super-wide berth, get ready to sprint and use the whole road if you have to. Yes, I know I should not ride alone, but that's not always practical. Maybe I should get some mace. I still had a lekker ride with some free sprint intervals thrown in.
  2. openmind
    Rons are awesome tires. Super fast. Put them on the front and back. I read somewhere that a Ron in typical racing conditions is faster than a Ralph.
  3. openmind
    Great race, great weather and well organised. Well done PPA! Started and finished in B group that was occasionally put on the rivet by a pair of Euro pros from Bardiani CSF. Nice to ride with that sort of pedigree. Good riding fellow Bs, thanks for a great day out!
  4. openmind
    Yes, that's where it was. Good to hear that it was not as bad as it looked, thanks for the update.
  5. openmind
    That's for sure; I was in no mood to shop. The only reason I spoke to anyone at a stand was to ask for the quickest way out of the place.
  6. openmind
    So, I’ve left the expo with no number. Got to get back to work (in Stellenbosch). About 3.5h total in traffic and an hour waiting in the number queue, all wasted. The organisers better have my number at the start or I will race with my own homemade number.
  7. openmind
    A rider went down badly after around 35min in the AL bunch - a few of us stopped to help and wait for medics. Anyone know how he is? Short-ish guy riding a black Scalpel.
  8. openmind
    Many of you are confusing power with torque, they are not the same. On the same bike under the same conditions the same person will need to put out exactly the same power (watts) to go a certain speed, regardless of whether the crank is 160mm or 180mm. The longer crank will reduce the amount of torque (Nm) required, but will force the rider to pedal a larger circle and thus use their muscles differently to if the crank was shorter. Human physiology is complicated and the ideal crank length will depend on how you are made, i.e. at what length (torque) you are able to put out a given power most efficiently. That is not an exact science hence the need to experiment.
  9. openmind
    I'm 1.88m tall with a 94cm inseam and have used 180mm cranks on all my bikes for more than 15 years - MTB and road. Some time before that I moved up from 172.5 to 175 and liked how much better it felt on climbs. On the simple principle of "if a little is good then a lot is better" I moved up to 180 and the benefit (for me) was amplified even further. I easily spin at 120rpm and have learned to avoid pedal strikes on my MTB, even the full suss (at 3 o'clock my pedal is the same height as any other crank length). Here's the last word on crank length: - in a nutshell - use what works for you, but do experiment. https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bikefit/2011/06/crank-length-which-one/ If you buy them at the right place they are the same price as 175mm cranks. More tall people should try longer cranks in my opinion, they do make a difference.
  10. openmind
    So we just walk that section - a CX bike hangs nicely on the shoulder.
  11. openmind
    The 100 Miler is a great race, but it's hardly "off-road"! Just look at the pics - lovely groomed gravel *roads* The only real technical challenge is picking the right line through the corrugations, hehe!
  12. openmind
    Just use the singletrack on the harbour side to link Marine drive to Church street.
  13. openmind
    There is an odd duiweltjie or two, but Stan sorts them out.
  14. openmind
    To avoid the hotspot: Going out of town, leave the bike lane by way of that long ramp that takes you up to the Lower Church Street bridge (by the Old Brewery). Turn left at the top and loop round to join the N1, but while in the loopy onramp hop on the single track that runs right next to the road. It goes alongside the N1 and over the sidewalk on the bridge and then next to Marine Drive all the way to the harbour entrance in Paarden Island. Then you have a wide yellow shoulder until you join the bike path again by the market. The single track is a bit bumpy and not really skinny tire compatible, but what are you doing commuting on your race sled for anyway!? Any tire more than 25mm will be fine on that ST. Going in do the same in reverse - just use the loopy onramp as an offramp, cross the bridge at the top, zoom down that rampy ramp and roll into town. If you're uncomfortable going against the traffic on the shoulder then just cross the road for those bits. QED.
  15. openmind
    A .gpx file is just a computer file format - a few lines of code will produce a .gpx file with any numbers in it you like. Perhaps Fanie needs to add a bit more entropy to his algorithm p.s. until Strava partners with all the device manufacturers and shares some secret encryption key with them to prevent digital doping, it's all just a big w*nk.
  16. openmind
  17. openmind
    There is the unwritten corollary to rule 95 which provides exemption for Euro pros.
  18. openmind
    Add a correction to that disclaimer: this is a new event, not a rebranded Tour de Boland. There was no Tour of Good Hope last year. Pictures of and references to last year's tour are from a different event. It amounts to shameless exploitation of the successes of a competing event. The http://tourdeboland.com still exists in its original form. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
  19. openmind
    Don't forget you will be paying 40% (or is it 60%?) duty on that clothing when it arrives. I hope you've factored that into your price comparisons. I personally never buy bike clothing from a non-SA online retailer. It's not worth the risk of getting the size wrong and when you factor in the duty it is often cheaper locally.
  20. openmind
    Make sure your wheels are actually road tubeless compatible. Your Fulcrums should be the "Two-way fit" type. The critical feature is that the rim's bead MUST have the tubeless profile or else you run the very real risk of blowing the tyre off the rim. It's not enough that the rim is sealed / has no spoke holes. There are many rims that have no spoke holes that are not road tubeless compatible. I have Fulcrum Racing Zero's Two-way fit and have run Hutchinson Fusion tubeless tires for two years now with no punctures. Awesome technology. Can't wait for the Schwalbe Pro Ones - they are in a league of their own apparently (performance, puncture resistance, weight and comfort).
  21. openmind
    Fantastic! Well done Louis!
  22. openmind
    This has nothing to do with Lance and everything to do with "Hey, look, I wrote a book. Go and buy it." Cheap clickbait fluff piece.
  23. openmind
    Yes, but very nice n+1 fodder...
  24. openmind
    So Bike Snob is a dick, Cav is an asshat - you have a way with words, don't you?
  25. openmind
    Pielle het twee elle
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