davem

Violence begets violence. Unfortunately you escalated his behaviour with your own. Despite the motorbiker's inappropriate verbal behaviour, I find it difficult to find any sympathy with your response and the potential disaster you almost created. Imagine if you had managed to pull the said biker off his machine. You would be facing serious charges, likely have injured a number of people including yourself and the beginners were trying to teach. You have set an extremely poor example to the group you were trying to help. Think before you act. If you had just raised your hand to acknowledge the biker's complaint, you would have diffused the situation. Your story unfortunately tells more about you than about the biker. Now flame away.

The RC3000 is the Toyota Corolla of cycling. When you get Golf GTi legs, get a fancier bike.

I watch this video at least once a month. Team Hoyt has done over 1000 endurance events, including 6 Ironmans and a bike and run across America. They have been inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame. Rick (the son) in spite of his challenges, holds a degree from Boston University. Think your day is tough, think again. www.teamhoyt.com

Sounds like your new stove is 3 phase. Normally the 4 pin plug is for industrial equipment. You need a pro to sort this out.

My personal experience is that those who are aggressive and disrespectful of other road users and laws while on the bike, behave exactly the same behind the wheel of a car. I believe it is about personality of individuals not of cyclists as a whole. As cycling has become more popular, the need has arisen for us to now be more conscious of our own behaviour. As road users we claim the same rights as other road users, it is time we also take on the same responsibilities. I see no reason why the traffic police should not enforce the road rules on cyclists as well.

Done some reading on the topic myself. Have a fascinating article comparing 16 clinchers and tubbies tyres measuring grip, rolling resistance and puncture protection. Results are surprising. Not sure where I downloaded it from. Email me and I will send it too you (too big to upload here). My own thoughts are that if you contending for a win go for the fastest available, but then your bike should be optimised as well. You probably do lots of races and can live will a bad race due to equipment failure. For the rest of us, the few seconds saved by having a slightly faster tyre is totally negated by the risk of puncture. If you are doing your one Ironman for the year, then don't risk mucking it up by taking too higher risk. The highest puncture resistance will dictate my choice of tyre for 70.3 next year (my first). My performance will be about my legs. dave@digitalinspiration.co.za

This is fascinating. Thanks for the replies. At the Soweto race, I compared against two chaps who finished at the same time, so many variables were eliminated. They were both using Garmins mounted on the bike, not sure which model. I don't recall the numbers exactly but they both had almost identical readings which were 10% greater than the Suunto wrist mount. Compared to D2D, my Suunto read more than most did. The comment on the temperature effect of a wrist computer versus a bike mount is interesting. A bike mount would be more effected by the wind chill factor on a fast downhill. Perhaps the moral is that this is just a guide.

Thanks Ninja. I measure every 10s which should give a reasonably accurate overall reading as you are unlikely to go up and down (with a smaller net measurement) within 10s. Would be interesting to see the readings from an Edge for D2D. Can an atmospheric altimeter become inaccurate through wear? Or is it one of those devices which either work or doesn't?

I have a Suunto T6c. The total climb measured in a number of races differs by a significant amount to that from others I have compared with (as much a s 10%). It uses atmospheric pressure to calculate change in altitude. I have even registered a climb of up to 30m in a spinning class. Do the GPS based units (Garmin) use a different method or is it the same. I have not found a way to calibrate the pressure. I have set the base altitude correctly off Google Earth. My total climb for D2D was 1124m. What did you measure? Maybe I need to have the Suunto serviced.

The Whasp flask is brilliant. So much easier than having to tear open a sachet. Their gels are thinner consistency and higher volume so it makes it far easier to consume. Not only are you not littering but you don't lose any speed either. I saw plenty of riders deliberately throw their wrappers down. I just shout 'Litterbug'. They know it was directed at them but they don't know who shouted, so I avoid a fight. Hopefully they think twice before doing it again. I can't understand how anyone would decide to mess up the place that they ride every weekend. I can think of a few unsavoury analogies but will leave that to your imagination.

How do they do the seeding for the 94.7? Do they use the National Seeding Index from Cyclelab's site as is? Do they require the three results to get a seeding? I have been told that they use your best result as so many people only have one race. I have worked really hard to improve my ability since my first ever cycle race at last year's 94.7 and get the feeling that I am going to get stuck at the back again as the time in getting results uploaded seems so long.

Where's Carousel and Lost City?

Hi Darryl You just made my day. Moved up from 18th to 14th in C. Even if not official. Well cycled, I managed to hang with you guys to 45km and then you just powered away.

"Hello my race number is xxxx Here you go. Thank you." Quicker than it took me to type this. Even has a gentleman giving directions where to park at the gate. Nothing sucky about that. Very well organised. Just remember Subaru has moved, not in Peter Place anymore, just north of Investment Cars on William Nicol, past the VW dealership.

I have a few at R189.00. New - generic brand. PM me or email to: dave@digitalinspiration.co.za

The Department of Labour has a code of practice in sexual harassment. For example, if you have something risque open on your screen (like the ad in question) or the Ladies and Bicycles thread and someone walks past and sees it, and if they take offense, they have grounds for a grievance, even though they were merely a passer by. Having had to deal with sexual harassment issues by a staff member of another in the work place, this is an area you don't want to go. So be careful what you have open on your screen. Save some stuff for the privacy of an office or your home.

Try Q5 Graphite penetrating oil. More effective than Q20. Be careful, it's black and messy so don't muck up the shoes. You also can get a screw extractor from most hardware stores. This is like a screw with a reverse thread. Drill a hole down the centre of the bolt. Screw in the extractor (reverse direction). This provides you with a new square head which you can attach a spanner to. This will give you a lot more leverage. The harder you turn, the deeper the reverse thread binds into the bolt.

I doubt it hurt very much! The real pain is for his family.

I use a pump. Its free! R15 to save 2 min = R450 per hour! When I am good enough that 2 min counts. Then R15 probably won't matter.

Gasping Go ride the race. Ignore those who really only see the glass half full. You will have an absolute ball. You will see Joburg from a different angle. The support is great. Search for the threads from after last years race and you will see the fantastic time that so many had. Find a friend to ride it with, will enrich the experience even more.

I have only done one 94.7, but looking at the R265 entry, put this in perspective: 1. What did your bike cost? 2. What have you spent on bike maintenance over the last month/year? 3. What do you spend on an evening out? 4. Ladies, what do you pay for a haircut? For your money you get a phenomenal event that takes over the city for the day. You will have war stories to trade with your mates until the next one. Let say it was R150 entry fee. Are we all so broke that the extra R115 really breaks us in light of the above? I would rather have a first class event with all the marshals, medical support, road closure and public support than save a little and it be just cheap and nasty. My 2c worth.

Hi Francois Don't know you but obviously you have a lot on friends here on the Hub. Although life has thrown this big curve ball at you, you were living it the way it should be lived. The way we all should live it. You have fallen but will get up and add to the score Francois +1, Apathy 0. Good luck in your recovery, hopefully we will get to meet out on the bike sometime when the time is right. LiveSTRONG! Cheers Dave

1.79m Was 75kg a year ago before started Triathlon training. Now 68.8kg. Am told this is normal and should start going up a bit sometime.

Love the "No Visa Required!"

Hi Birdie Sorry to hear about your brother's accident. At the risk of seeming insensitive, you say you rode past him and knew that he had been hit by the car but went on to finish your race. Clearly you also made a judgement on his condition otherwise you would have stayed with him. Why then are you so scathing of the excellent organisers who had all manner of very visible injuries and other situations to deal with? I think you are being a little unfair. You also had the opportunity to stay with him and escalate his medical care quicker. davem2009-03-11 05:50:13