Trubie

Get to the top asap. Rest on the downhill other side

one step at a time

Good news indeed! It was stated that the Tour and the Sponsor will be announced with a proper press conf/function in the near future. Lets give CSA a fair chance before getting all pesimistic again.

pse stop I am a happily married vet and besides these people see all sorts of things in yr eyes, so imagine what she will see in mine

Gonna have to change my optometrist then.

Shawn , is this the one next to Postnet @ Bracken City? How you involved there?

Seriously considering getting a TT bike, but if one is not a serious tri/duat athlete its pretty much pointless unless you wanna race SA's TT? Maybe I should just go the tri bar route for the odd TT? Thoughts on this?

Do we have to chose between 'em? Cant we have a draw? Yolandi should also be in the mix

Stewie, I think the odds are stacked against you if this is the route you planning on taking. Whether or not you pick up an injury also has a lot to do with the condition you were in before the lay-off (ie what previous training you did, time you'd been riding or training, intensity of training , age, etc) If there is no specific reason or race you need to get in shape for, I would strongly advise against the zero to as much as possible approach. In the long run, it might just count against you. Rather try a more reserved approach and include the sound recovery advice you already have. Starting from zero and pushing yourself as hard as you planning too is good for the interim. No amount of rest and recovery though will help if you overdo it too soon. But also dont be scared to push the envelope a little once or twice a week.

So let him have his diamonds all to himself, we go and ride at Rietvlei instead!! Been in A since '79, so know how you feel.

Cant see why its relevant what anyone thinks of him. He obviously loves riding a bike and for that we like him (or at least we should - I think) As a person, only those who really know him can comment with any authority. He did dope, and did his time. Everyone on here who thinks he/she knows something keeps on saying all riders do, so wtf? I have only heard good stuff about him, and some funny stories too. Remember that shock that he got. Was quite funny Oh, and some hubbers are just so gullible ne! Nice one Tumbleweed, at least someone fell for it

I would say its best to do it now while fitness isnt as high as you want it to be. That way you will get a guide as to where to train (Zone wise) to get maximum ROI for your training. To find out whether it worked you can test again in 3 months or so.

You can count me in. Give me a place where I can get a cooldrink and chicken burger afterwards and I'll be 100's Yes, I will register in advance

I wont profess to be an expert because from when I studied Phys Ed in the late 80's till now, a lot of theories and beliefs in this field has changed or turned on its head. When you only have access to a HR monitor it can serve a great purpose. It can also act as a mechanism to hold yourself back too much, and never actually push yourself to the limit (which you wont know where it is as you dont go there). Its common sense that when you get older, your max HR drops by a few beats per year. The reason why the formulas as explained in this thread dont always work,is because it doesnt take any training history into consideration. Eg. you might have been actively involved in some sort of endurance type activity or sport earlier in your life, which contributed to your heart and lungs developing etc. So naturally you might have a big and stronger heart than a fellow rider of your age. To simply use the formula you might both get to more or less the same answer, depending on yr resting HR. Now you ride together and for the same perceived effort yr HR is 120 and your partner's 130. Problem is that this number can be influenced by so many factors that it should always only be one of the measures used to ascertain your fitness level etc. These factors could include: - state of fitness - riding in a group/alone - weather - route - genes - health condition , etc, etc.... So , whilst training might not seem to be able to increase yr max HR, its true that if you are fitter than a month ago, you will be able to push yourself harder and therefore your max HR might be higher than before, but just because you have never gone there, not because the training made it higher. To use the HR as a guide to determine fitness by looking at the rate it drops after a hill climb or a session on the bike etc, is well worth the effort, but once again the factors could have an influence. Comparing that session with a similar one a month ago etc, will certainly give you some sort of indication as to whether or not you are improving or getting fitter - provided all factors are as close as possible to similar with the previous session. Best is to have your Lactate Threshold tested in a lab, that will give you the scientific answer to where the cut-off points are for the different training zones (if you use HR based training),but even those tests cant give you an absolute max HR value. What they would normally give you is the value at which your body can for a maximal effort of say 3 mins operate at before going into O2 debt (that state when you start seeing stars and holes in the ground etc..) Hope this makes some sense

I'm def not a very good climber, so I can relate somewhat to what works/not and what you should be doing. - Get over the fear of hills - Gear down in advance and start the climb with a higher than necessary cadence - it will soon be the desired one anyway. Get a rhythm that feels comfortable and try not to gear down too much during the climb. - Dont ride too easy gears on a climb as this will actualy slow you down, but it takes a while to get the hang of it. The more you do it the quicker that will happen - Try not to look at the top of the climb, as this can demoralize you big time - Tell yourself you actually enjoying the climb, and keep in mind that there is probably a decent on the other side, which will allow for rest/recouperation. - Loose any additional body weight you might be carrying with you

extremely healthy - especially glad they included some fresh fruit!!

full face helmets - not just for DH racing

Have D'Arcs, Rudy's, Shimano... all work well, all fog up all fit well. Wear what you can afford

That must be the Hub record!! Sorry Joey. Not by a long shot..........................

I lost count of what i spent on the hub - waaaaayyyy too much though could probably be R 50 k in last 18 months. Have sold a few items too. Like the fact that you can always expect to pay more or less what its worth cause as soon as a item gets posted it will be scrutinized and you soon have a very good idea if its a rip off or not. Never had a problem, met some great guys too. First ever seller I bought a cassette from was JMK1, we met up by chance at Bela Bela recently and had a nice chat - that is what I like about the hub, the people you meet and can share cycling stuff with. There are some people on the hub I never hope to meet, but in general a cool bunch of dudes and dudesses

not me

ok, my bike has pushed me downhill more than once.....