dave303e

WADA is only banning tramadol from 2024, it is already banned in cycling, but in other sports you are good to go till next year with it. As much as that makes sense. The stuff that Fluckiger tested positive for Zeranol, is available at any Co-op, works out at ±R20 a dose(3 month implant). The stuff is easily accessible, but like you said, mentally challenged to entertain the ideas...

So I don't trust glue for structural construction, especially when it is getting dragged through transitions and airports. So the first one I built I did with 5mm nuts and bolts, the 2nd one I used pop rivets and washers. I have built multiple because I like tinkering/improving and it is really dirt cheap to build. That is the exact "how to" that I started with, now I can wing it out my head to build them. The pop rivets and washers are just lighter and quicker. I use a little duct tape to make it waterproof. In Scotland we were not allowed to sleep in transition buildings at all. I am small so I slept dry in the bike box the one transition on the last night. I also make mine to open on the side. So that you have a large clean area to build the bike in. Takes the risk of dropping a screw/nut/part in the dirt. It also allows you to reach in the box easily. With the opening at the top you always reaching deep down into a box the whole time for stuff. That being said, protection wise- the bikeboxco boxes are really professional. The parts to protect disc brakes, derailleurs and other parts. They also support the bike really cleverly

bikebox company in Knysna makes ones that fold up flat, same concept as what I described, just done as a finished product. They flat pack well enough, I have a few friends who store their bike box under the bed or behind a cupboard easily. The how to guide I have used also has a how to for building a dolly so you can wheel it around, but usually I just use an airport trolley. Flying for expeditions usually means multiple large bags anyway. https://www.bikeboxcompany.co.za/ https://rogueadventure.com/a-bike-box-build/

We use bike boxes for AR. I have flown a few times with them. 0 issues. I make it out of correx, pop rivets and washers. There is a how to guide on the internet. Takes about an hour to make and a few hundred rand. Weight wise- Mine weighed in at 22,5kg in Scotland, with 4 batteries for bike headlight, helmet, shoes, 3 sets of cyclin kit and tools/spares.

What is incredible to see is the volume and diversity of hikers at other places as well. A few of the hiking venues in and around GP are packed most saturday mornings, even through winter. I know of one other place that used to be mtb mainly and now the hikers out number the mtb easily

because business deals need to be made on the mtb now, not just the golf course....

If they are running this scam to get guys out in dodgey areas to rob them. If there are so many of these scams being repeated there are definitely a few of them working/paying off. Comes back to what I said in the "where do high end bikes go" -It shows that people(probably even on the hub) are entertaining deals that are too good to be true and are definitely buying stolen bikes and parts left right and center...

and the NSRI jet rib that was stolen in May, parts were stripped and then it was torched which shows that they willing to sacrifice a whole vehicle for certain parts.

Take a top end bike, new groupset on the new axs is 54k on special. Sell that for 35k, fork and shock for another 15k, wheels another 15k and you have a tidy 65k income that is incredibly tough to trace. The frame has a serial number and distinct look so why risk it. The parts are hard to trace and high value...

Bellemore nearly broke his record a few weeks back. He lost a shoe in the first lap when a competitor fell so he didn't make it. But a 4:30 beer mile with 1 shoe on is a major athletic achievement...

If you look at 5000m and upwards running records. There are only 2 obscure records that have not been broken since the introduction of carbon sprung running shoes. Surely that is also questionable, a technological advancement that clearly gives an advantage. There are a lot of questions around the Sub 2 hour marathon shoes and their legality. So there is a lot of technical advancements also at play in running currently

Willing to put money on someone sitting at a coffee shop describing how he managed to get a good deal on a part or a 2nd hand bike. Meanwhile it was liberated from someone else elsewhere. Dirt bikes end up in Mozambique, this was well documented when a bunch that were stolen from a dealer were spotted in a trailer across the border. I have yet to spot a really top end bike being used as a commuter bike locally. Plenty look like older models that are given to domestics to use( we have donated 3 of these). But I reckon the top end ones are either parted out or adjusted and resold to people looking for a bargain. Commuters don't like high end bikes because they are a pain to keep running and don't take abuse as well. Same goes for a lot of our theft, a friend at a braai was bragging about getting barely used BF goodrich tyres for R800/tyre. We looked at them and they clearly had different amounts of wear on them. When I said there is a chance they could be various spare tyres stolen off bakkies(we have had 4 stolen over the last few years) the friend sheepishly admitted he did think it was slightly dodgey. He then went on to say it doesn't matter they could be stolen, if he didn't buy them someone else would have. Hence the issues in our country.

and make the X and Y axis the same scale when doing route profiles as well, same thing.

If you think that alcohol is a big one. Have you tried dropping caffeine? I have been on mostly no caffeine for 5 months now. It is quite a big shift and has a lot of really interesting effects. I realized how bad the reliance on it was in the first 2 weeks. Coffee is a big thing for me, switching to decaf has been fine, I still drink a lot of it and still enjoy it. The process of coffee from making to consuming. Nothing changed there- Just without caffeine. I do sleep better without it, the reflux symptoms are a lot less. I do feel a lot more level during the day in terms of energy and focus. I do tend to be better hydrated as well which has a bunch of benefits. I do add the odd coca cola on a ride or real coffee on tough days(we have a teething baby in the house) and I can feel the caffeine kick a lot better now. I do use it as a tool a lot more effectively for racing and training. It will be interesting at ARWC in October when I start dropping 100mg caffeine tablets to get through the night...

Sometimes for a month or so it is best to go to a pawn shop, buy a bike, and then sell it back to them the day before you leave.

I hate this statement. Try live on a dirt road. You wash the car and load the tailgate pad. By the time you reach tar road it is dirty and dust is under there rubbing it.

lies lies and damned statistics?

Also don't be too weary of the diet thing, seeing a dietitian is a lot easier to implement than any fad diet book. Honestly I work within a framework and it was not a huge change. Don't see it like a big fad diet with strict conditions and a fight to have meals prepared and restricting what you eat and how much you eat. For me it was a lot of tweaking the ratios of food and a lot of timing the food. I was not getting enough protein, breakfast was not enough and not enough carbs, during and post ride/run was too high in protein and not enough carbs. I have some strategic snacks added and then just portion control in general. But it made a huge difference to me in how I feel and how I recover. What we eat in the house has not changed and it is not like I eat separate to the family. I just dish a bit more cleverly and have the right snacks on hand. Then around training I have a lot of focus on what goes in. It is really not a huge lifestyle change, a lot was also understanding the nutrients in what you eat. If it is too strict it is not sustainable.

The tailgate pad is the thing that does the least damage to my tailgate. I reckon between the lumber yard, chamberlains and the co-op, the loading guys have a competition to see who can wreck a tailgate the best. Unfortunately I don't think a farm laborer can get a shovel or a pick axe into a bakkie without removing paint.

Sleep is actually also an interesting one. You spend 5-9 hours a night in your bed, yet a lot of people don't want to spend money on a good duvet, good fresh mattress, pillows, linen and other things like blackout curtains and bedroom insulation to make sleeping comfortable. We have a 4 month old in the house who is teething, 3 months out from the biggest race of my life. I can see how the lack of good sleep hit my training hard already.

have you isolated it to the unit or to the power supply? Power supply could be an easy fix. The unit itself might be simple/easy but might be tricky. There are repairers in jhb, might be worth giving them a call, think they are literally called treadmill repair. But I think they could possible sort for you

How is your eating on and off the bike going? My life has been totally turned around by visiting a dietitian. Just better volume and timing of food especially relative to training and training load. Eating more but lost weight and gained a lot on the bike.

We live on a dairy farm, so raw milk is all that is available. Our beef grows in the back yard, 2024's beefie boy is getting good and fat, so does our veg. But we still end up at woollies more than we care to admit. Being healthy is far more than that. You can eat 100% perfectly healthy and then sit in an aircon office with 20 sick people who's kids brought home swine flu and you still going to end up sick. it is life. We have seen it on the farm, the less people interaction the lower the odds of getting sick. It is just a reality. Again, interaction with other people is the prime cause. Watch kids, 1st week of school all get sick. University koshuis is the same. People travelling on airplanes is the same, I know of someone who flew back to an African country last week knowing full well they probably had covid. Packed plane, pressurized cabin good luck with that. I am sitting watching the state vet check our heard for TB and Brucellosis. The herd gets tested regularly and it is fairly uncommon. Your wife got really unlucky, that being said it can happen and it is really not good when it happens. That being said, once you have had real milk, you will never enjoy that slightly white water you buy in the shops. Unfortunately the regulations and the controls are failing all over. Hence the foot and mouth outbreaks last year.

https://wahoofitness.co.za/product/wahoo-kickr-belt-power-grip/ it is there and in stock supposedly.

I emailed them about this a year or 2 back, apparently nothing. I pull the covers off mine every few months, clean it all up, check the belt and bearings and clean the sensors. As with anything, keep it cleaned and lubed and it will go further. Honestly, to change the belt and bearings will take any mechanic an hour or 2 max. The mechanical part is not hugely complex from what I have seen inside my gen 1. You can order the drive belt online from wahoo if it fails. Bearing man will be able to source bearings as well.