Ashold

So I think every power meter appears to be different, even ones from the same brand and even the same model can vary. It's the accuracy against itself that's important for training. But, I did test the Kickr against my Specialized Power Crank and they actually read fairly similarly, the problem with that is that I have a 48/52 pedal stroke offset in favour of the leg that isn't pushing out power data. And when comparing my usual trainer (Elite Direto) against the Power Crank, the Direto reads about 5% above the power crank which makes sense considering my rubbish pedal stroke. Whether this will be the same for all the Kickr20s is very debatable, and the Kickr20 can't be 'tuned' as it self calibrates every 20 minutes. As for Zwift racing, some of the serious series make you do outdoor power testing over 15s, 5min and 20min to see how accurate your indoor power is. There is also the option in Zwiftpower to upload secondary power data for further proof.

Absolutely right, to be fair I can see the lagoon to the left and ahead is the view over Simola and the Outeniquas too. I mixed it up each day.

Only about 30mins of sunlight left at this point. Strangely Knysna is not a great place for road rides unless you like the N2 or Simola hill repeats. Mountain bikes everywhere.

Frankenstein bike, frame quite small for tall rider hence the seatpost/saddle looks like a skyscraper. Inverted stem so it's more comfortable than being in the time trial position for 4hours.

Stage is certainly a good choice. While 120mm is more of a standard now, a 100mm setup on the Stage is perfectly fine. I have a 120mm, but I run it as a 100mm during XCO season and then let it out to 120mm during the 'fun' season. Stage will take a 120mm up front, see what price the shop will give you with a 120mm fork. There are plenty of options out there, try as many as you can. If it's anything to go by, my Pyga has been super cheap to run. Hardly spent anything on pivots and bearings in 2.5 years and 17000km on it.

Correct. Although it's quite likely the bike was also ridden at Hoogekraal during the test period, considering how close the trails are. Just because you don't see it in the pictures doesn't mean it didn't happen?

Not sure if they are essential items and I would likely have to buy for my whole street.

For the ultimate in neighbour-hating tech, I recommend my current setup: Aluminium rollers. A mountain bike, with decent tread on the tyres. Wind up 5 or 6 high intensity intervals, preferably 4-5 minutes long. So loud! And I have been doing that for about 16 days now. Longest ride is 2h7 mins but the boredom began to really take over then. Any advice on how to trim the noise below 100 decibels?

There's a race report up - hopefully as entertaining as a Savage report but with better grammar https://community.bikehub.co.za/features/_/news/mtb/sa-mtb/race-report-bloemendal-wc-xco-1-r8063

Sub vet reporting for action! Any signs of pre entries yet? Are there any orverseas pros lining up?

Is that kind of rain even rideable? The weather system is still developing so it may still change, but that's the sort of torrent that gets organisers twitchy.

Could well be the nippers and sprogs, I see the lap count on the official programme says 5 laps for us sub vets, seems normal. Could change on the day if laps are done in 12 minutes.

Looks like a short, sharp course. 2.99 km and 150 metres of elevation. The others have been over 4 km so far, but will have to see what sort of lap time can be turned.

Tough luck dude, those races happen where everything breaks or you forget your thru-axle, heart rate monitor and racing board at home... Good new is for colours, only your best 3 events count (if you're into that sort of thing). Also, the next one is at an all-new venue.

Really enjoyed this course layout, gave it more character and flow to the lap. Sandy off-camber corners made for interesting viewing. I was behind wine-maker Tim Hoek on one descent where he was fully locked up in a braking zone, drifting it in like a speedway rider. Looked really cool although he seemed to have a mechanical after that. Have to say that the hardest part of the race was trying to avoid being disqualified as spectators tried to spray me with water. Apparently this is grounds for dismissal

The more I look at that map the more it looks like a new track. The big boulder rock drop isn't part of this map and seems like we may even go in the opposite direction through that section. Practice on Friday might be required.

Seems like the route is slightly different to the last 2 years. That long section in the forest appears to be different.

Bit of a leap describing this writer as a local Pinner. The oke is from JHB and couldn't pin the tail on a donkey, even without a blindfold. Looking forward to seeing the big turnout from round 1 hit round 2. Any idea of pre-entry numbers yet?

There should be a race report coming out soon as well. Great-time.co.za did the time keeping.

Christmas present to myself: http://i63.tinypic.com/2q8w048.jpg http://i64.tinypic.com/dq3n04.jpg Built by the chaps at Meerendal - Knipe Racing as a super light XCO bike. Since these photos we have added a Next Crank and an FRM carbon bar so the weight is actually a little less now. I'm a super weight weenie as I'm 6ft and 64kg, so not much to lose on me. Hoping this is a little less expensive on parts than my previous brand. So far it has proven to be quicker downhill as well. A few notes on the build: the paint was removed so it has a raw carbon finish. Titanium seatpost and bolts in most places.

This is me - @ashleyoldfield

It was at the long, downhill right hander before the first feed zone. That corner was tricky and a few riders went down there. Pretty hard crash, top tube had some solid engraving from the brake lever. We had to get an allen Key to turn the bars back the right way. Kid was pretty chilled though, waited patiently for the fix and then went on again.

Started training with a power meter towards the end of last year, found it amazingly useful at stage racing where you can set a more accurate threshold and stick to it. Like the article mentions, you don't stamp on the pedals at the beginning of intervals either just to get the HR up. Will only really see the fitness results (if there are any) later this year after a whole year's training vs last year's HR based training. I do like numbers though and power meter training really lets you dig into the stats to see improvements or drops.