dave303e

I would not upgrade a mtb to an e-bike. I have ridden a specialised e-bike and what I really noticed was how much beefier certain parts are. Stronger brakes, beefier front end suspension, Bigger tyres and sturdy rims more like dh/enduro etc. I think bolting a 500W motor onto a bike and not doing anything to the brakes, wheels, tyres and suspension is potentially going to end badly one day. I may be wrong but that is my cautious approach.

...and most importantly in the right order, sun cream before bum cream

sizing is a little small. But they are definitely better for narrower feet. Very much like the salomon fit.

It is an interesting one. I had the first alert at 800km, then every 100km since then I have re-evaluated them to decide whether or not to retire the shoes. But they seem too good to retire. Even at 1200km I am hesitant to replace them. But at 1800 for a new pair it is not too bad. But again these shoes have only been used on trail and dirt road. We have a lot of that softer soil and sand/corrugations so it may be that. I am not at my lightest though...

https://www.adidas.co.za/GY6113.html Some shoe feedback. Last year I bought a pair of the Adidas Terex 240 speed shoes on a bit of a whim. They were relatively cheap, very light and just looking at them they looked like they would work really well for the running I do in the area. I bought them for faster sessions and speedwork because all my running is dirt or dirt road I do need light trail shoes. Fit wise - very similar to salomon, good for narrow feet, great for higher arches. Durability - for light shoes not really meant to be used for longer runs. I have just clocked 1200km on them and they are in great shape. Tread is not torn up or worn out. Upper is immaculate. I am really impressed with the quality. Performance- they have been a dream to run in. I did take them through marathon distance 4 times, once in a big mountain run and the rest just training runs on dirt roads in the area. I did do a few adventure races in them. They handle water and swims. They handle off trail bush whacking fine. Beach sand they are lovely because they are light and they drain well. Heavy rocky terrain I would not try run more than 30-40km in them. Your feet will tire a bit. My 2c, for general trail use, parkruns and offroad faster runs. These are a great shoe. i highly recommend them. I have just ordered another pair. I will keep longer runs(30+km) in pegasus trail shoes or slab ultras. But for shorter stuff and faster stuff these are brilliant in my opinion. Lovely to have a nice different brand putting in effort in trail shoes again.

Might be best just to use a bike rack on the tow hitch... With a tailgate pad that thing will end up sitting on the back of your saddle and rubbing it.

I have seen similar built with old gas bottles and fire extinguishers. We used to use bead blasters on the quad bike tyres to seat them. But for a just in case and to top up tyres after dropping the pressure it is fairly convenient. It is rainy season here on a dairy farm so the mud is let's say 'festive'. I have pulled 9 vehicles out of the mud on our property this year alone. I usually try my best to do it without dropping tyre pressures but in the few occasions they have really done a proper job it is convenient to reinflate the tyres again.getting out the big compressor is also a pain.

you can also use a metal chop saw to get the socket to remove the chamfer, or a good industrial bandsaw

I have an older model air compressor made for/by bmw for the GS bikes. Lovely little bit of gear. But it has been abused and I love Makita. Hence my thoughts on the Makita tyre inflator.

Ya as above - running is the answer. It will help your cycling and shoes, shorts and a shirt are easy to add in to your luggage. You also need less time. 35mins-1 hour a day will get you plenty fit.

at least I know my taste in youtube is shared in this thread hahahaha

I have nothing against the actual road running. I have done more road racing than trail in the last 2 years. Which is weird because I train 100% on dirt. The pace needed on road is something that has massive benefits when you go back to trail. Same as doing triathlons, I have done quite a few 70.3 distance events even though I don't remotely consider myself a triathlete. But the intensity, raw pace and racing at threshold that comes with a triathlon setting, makes me a better adventure racer in a way. I do have a lot against pointless admin, illogical things and governing bodies though. I used to pay over a grand for an offroad/enduro motorcycle license every year. But that came with health insurance, insurance for the landowners, dope testing etc. So I didn't mind it. Look at the cross country racing in SA vs the park runs. Paying an ASA fee to run cross country every now and then vs a free highly competitive event on your doorstep every Saturday. Yes the control and doping etc is better under ASA, but for 90% of the field it makes 0 difference. Calling it qualifying criteria and then not accepting results that show you are capable enough of covering the distance in the time has absolutely no logic to me. Which then points to it being more a pointless admin/association issue. Reality is as someone said before- If I wanna run comrades, I need to run an ASA approved qualification event, take it or leave it. If Comrades was battling they would potentially rethink it. But they are not and hopefully never will be battling, so I better make like a seal and jump through their prescribed hoops if I want to race. As for the costs, yes trail is exorbitant, but 100km route and race setup for 150 racers vs a 42km route for thousands of racers. You can see how the economy of scale is at play there and hits the costs. Unfortunately that is a barrier to diversity, although the recent results from the harties trail series are looking more promising. In my opinion I like that the diversity is coming through, it is coming too slowly, but it is happening as road runners realise there is some money to be made. As per above- trail runners don't have raw pace like road runners have so the influence of top road runners coming across is awesome. Makes you a better all rounder when you realise you need to sharpen the top end speed and not just rely on the technical stuff. Back to IM though, I hope they can massage and make slight adjustments to try and align better weather windows to give it better odds for next year. I guess it is also tough given the global IM calendar and making it all align.

ok- what they don't say in that table is that they must be ASA or other running governing body events. Ruling out trail running. Also take and event like Kaapsehoop marathon, which can count as your qualifier. You can probably trip on your laces and roll down the hill to the finish and still qualify. The route drops nearly 1km over the 42km, basically it is down the escarpment all the way to Nelspruit with a slight speedbump near the end. The route literally could not count as a world record because it is too easy. Because it has a massive elevation net loss, and is a point to point race where the start is more than 50% of the distance away from the finish. So the easiest marathon ever can count, but all 100Milers do not count because they are not ASA affiliated. This is not merit based qualifications in my opinion. That was kinda what I was trying to say in my initial post which kicked it all off a bit. My thought was just try massage the dates or locations to make it a more consistent event. It would also make the organisers lives a bit easier long term and safer for the team in general. Nevermind the athletes, the poor lifeguards in the water taking in buoys and setting them out, boats etc.

Comrades qualification has nothing to do with distance and capability. It is purely to force you to support the running clubs and marathon organisers. Case and point a- 22hour 100 mile trail run will not qualify you for comrades marathon even though you are doing nearly double the distance at less than double the cutoff time.

I am 100% in agreement that safety is number 1 priority, and a cautious approach is admirable given the volume of competitors and varying competency levels especially regarding the swim. Hence my suggestion- if the weather makes it unsafe and affects the route, is there not a safer time of year or location for the event. I know a few people who have spent thousands and put in hundreds of hours training. Only to sit there at the end of the day knowing they didn't do a full IM and now they have the bug on the shoulder to go back for a full IM knowing the likelihood of a full course is actually not high.

there are lots of 100-160km events popping up. Cow and bull from Pretoria last month. There is 145km out harties way this month. Keep an eye out

We have to use the an R road for about 10km before can jump onto the highway into Pretoria. Now this stretch of road is a s.... show at the best of times but it seems to be popular among road cyclists and mtb riders. There is no shoulder and while the speed limit is 100, you will get passed at 120 at any time of day, there are people pulling over into dirt roads and driveways and coal trucks and usually the od animal or 2 on the road. I have seen it twice where a safety car was following cyclists and 3 or 4 cars get stuck behind the safety car and then some idiot takes a narrow gap to pass all the cars and just barely gets back into the correct lane before having a head on collision. And both times they have nearly taken out the cyclists as they dive back into the left hand lane. My 2c, if you feel you need a safety car on a certain road. Chances are you should rather just not be cycling on that road and rather find a better route... I also don't know why someone hasn't spotted the gap yet and built an Al Qudra style bike loop. If you got an insurer, a vitality type rewards scheme, a bike shop with a spares shop at the start point and a good coffee shop on board to help with the costs I am sure in the long term it could be semi viable. Especially if it is close enough to jhb.

I think they really need to relook the location or date. I don't know the stats but it seems like most years the swim is shortened or cancelled.

if I won the lottery I wouldn't tell anyone, but there would be signs....

maxxis crossmark. Added benefit of being bulletproof

As much as I miss my SWB Pajero. It is a mighty fine luxurious first car. You can often literally see the envy in other drivers when they see it. Slap some BF AT2's on and it is also more capable off road and more comfortable on road than most. But ya the SWB gets quite limiting when you need to start loading more than 2 people in it. You also need to apply plenty of lube before you receive the service bill. My second car was an old Subaru legacy station wagon. Now that thing could load a ton of stuff in. If you drop the back seats it is a great sleeping spot. We had 4 okes sleep in the back after the one joll and did the same after one of my first adventure races. Station wagons are always under rated especially if you are in town most of the time. I do agree on the whole thing about not needing a gas guzzling 4x4 in town. I can tell you now most don't ever need it. I also always laugh when people say they needed that car for a trip to Namibia/Bots/Zambia. Really unless you are clicking 4wd every month do you really need it? So many people justify it for overland trips but the reality is you see these 'overland ready' vehicles that are used to their probably less than half their full potential for only a few days a year. Cheaper to hire a 4x4 camper and enjoy a comfy car all year. But no instead they drive around Pretoria all year looking like someone painted glue on the car and rolled it through LA sport 4x4...

I find the 2021 bike for sale for ±15k less than the 2022 model funny. Especially when the rider was a sponsored rider who definitely didn't pay full price for the bike and definitely rode it a lot harder and a lot further than they let on. Dirty chain in pics to suit...

This is one of my team mates first training runs in preparation for ARWC end of year.

A lot depends on your goal. Do you want to cycle better? then intervals on an indoor trainer would be better than strength work. If you want a good strong useful body then your plan sounds good. You could even look at CrossFit as an option(just do it carefully with form)

few options- go to the nearest rock climbing store. Rock climbers don't wear socks so it is common to have smelly shoes. I have also found to point a big fan upwards and place the shoes upside down on the fan to dry quickly between rides. I used to do that a lot with enduro/MX helmets. Muc off makes a helmet foam, it will work on shoes as well. Foam it up and leave it on the fan for an hour or 2.