BigDL

100% - an incredible ride

Lots of noise online about the Zwift increase. First increase in a number of years during which so much has been added to the platform, but everyone has their own financial situation and priorities to consider when making a decision.

Who says that they’re making a profit on these? They may just be trying to clear inventory to free up cash and taking a hit as a result.

I visited a nutritionist earlier this year whilst trying for Sani. She was incredibly helpful and gave me some great advice. One of the things she told me to do, to help with the change in temp in SA after training in an Irish winter, was to up my carb intake to 150g per hour during sani and the 2 weeks before (90g an hour in training). I did this by chowing SIS Beta fuel jelly bar things and complementing them with a mix in my bottle, as well as lots of carbs at the water points, but as I’m a slow rider, I had to carry a lot of nutrition each day and it was hard to eat every 20 minutes. Having said that, I definitely felt better during and after the rides than in a previous Sani, but it was bloody hard work keeping the nutrition levels up.

Frustrating experience. Sounds like you have been more patient than many would have been

Durban is the best city in the world bru - our litter and derelict houses are prettier than anywhere else.

Incredible attitude. Thank you for sharing your journey.

100% - I normally travel alone so rent an SUV and drop the seats for the whole trip in order to stick the mtb and the bag in. Also only if renting at airport and dropping off at airport so minimal dragging bike about. With family, wouldn’t take a bike along, rather rent.

I have travelled with my bike quite a lot and have always used a soft bag (mtb) mainly because of the weight. I check it in as an extra bag so try and keep total weight below the max allowed. I rented a road bike for Milan in 2019. I’ll try and dig out the details of the rental guys. They were very thorough. The bike was a Wilier. I didn’t end up riding it because of an issue with our meetings, but it was a lovely bike.

Listened to the podcast referenced above last night. Really interesting breaking down the costs per bike of a small manufacturer. Would be interesting to hear similar detail from A big (ger) manufacturer.

The nets around the building is a contractor that manufactures for lots of companies and employs lots of people in their late teens and early twenties, not specifically an Apple contractor. Worth reading up on it as it’s a fascinating manufacturing organisation, effectively a self contained small city that manufactures for some of the world’s biggest names. China is massive. Both times that I have been there, I have been to cities that I had never heard of before that have millions of residents. The middle class is growing fast and are wanting to imitate the west in many ways. Expensive phones, whisky’s and cars are very popular, so why not expensive bikes?

Is that a gherkin in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? 😜

China and, more recently, India, are where global brands are fighting for expansion. The more mature markets are what got brands like Apple, Nike etc etc to where they are now. China and India are what will get them the growth they need going forward. A market that size with an emerging middle class in the hundreds of millions is always going to be a decider.

According to that podcast that was shared last week (escape collective), Spez is seeing consistent 50%+ YOY growth in China, so I suspect that they are protected overall from a restriction in sales.

Been perving over the new anthems recently. Unfortunately I can fund my daughter’s varsity accommodation for a year for the price of an anthem so maybe in 4 more years 😂. i love looking at new bikes but my skill, my wallet and my abilities are way more matched to what i already have. If okes can afford 12k bikes and they love them, then good luck to them.