HappyMartin

I don't think AC has peaked and I don't think he is showing all his cards. Perhaps that's just wishful thinking. I would like to see good hard competition at the TDF.

Very informative Tombeej.

I am an admirer of Contador but I have to admit he is not as explosive as he was. It could be the break, it could be simply age and it could be a change in, shall we say diet. Still he always has a go and rides with spirit. It doesn't always come off, it doesn't come off as often as it used to but no one can relax with him around. He hasn't gone off the boil as much as the nerdy brothers from Luxembourg. Great to see the attack from Froome.

Back to the drawing board for Contador. That must have given him something to think about.

Interesting We Ears that you have reservations about putting you children in the diet. It got me thinking. Anyone that has been following this thread will know that I am not on the diet and do play devils advocate here. I hope in a constructive and positive way. That is my intention. I dont however see why this diet would be bad for children if followed correctly. My only concern is that if laziness creeps in it would be easy to avoid fresh raw veggies and fruit. We talk a lot about carbs, fats and proteins but not much is said about micro nutrients. Actually not that much is even known about micro nutrients other than a general belief that they are important. There is more to nutrition that calories. Ask anyone who has gone protein deficient but has still had the correct amount of calories. So if we are getting calories from fats rather than low quality carbs and still getting micro nutrients from salads and so on why not for kids. My feeling is a childhood of sugars is setting a person up for disaster later in life. As a child I had virtually no access to sweets and cool drinks. Today I tolerate those things well but don't have much of a fondness for them. Cause and effect perhaps. On the fruit question. A lot gets said about how fruit has been changed over centuries and is not the same as it was in times gone by. I am sure there is some truth in this but no evidence to say just how much change has occurred. People on this thread have remarked on how sweet fruit is these days. Have you not considered that this observation is driven largely by you not eating carbs and sugars in particular. Try the following experiment. It takes a little time and is done over a day. Take 2 apples and in the evening after a low carb day eat the one apple. You will find it very sweet. The next day after dinner have a cup of tea with 2 sugars and then eat a small Bar One. Straight after eat the apple. Was the apple still sweet? That will put in context just how sweet the rubbish is that we eat. The apple only tastes sweet if your diet is correct. With a good diet a white bread roll with nothing on it tastes sweet. As has been said, the diet is not for everyone. I think it becomes compulsory after years of sugar abuse. Why subject your children to the consequences of carb heavy diet? If they eat well as little ones they will be less likely to have to follow an extreme diet and will be able to tolerate carbs on occasion with no negative side effects. They are also less likely to be carb junkies as some people on this thread seen to be and I don't mean that in a disparaging way. Sugar is a really addictive and dangerous substance.

I don't t feel picked on at all. You observation is quite accurate. Spent a lot of time in rural areas. No pizza but piadina and pasta. Problem is loads of meat. Ham in everything. Not as much fruit as I am used to. No bananas or pawpaw for example. Don't usually eat so much bread. Breakfast was sweet croissants and so on. Tough for my taste buds. Nice as a treat but by day 3 not so much fun.

Makes me want to take up running. Starting to dislike cyclists. Time to get off the Hub for a bit methinks.

I wish I loved the human race. I wish I loved its silly face, And when I'm introduced to one I wish I thought "What jolly fun" Many guys with serious issues. Help is available if you need it

Come on guys. MTB riders were never like this. What is going on? Too many golfers on bikes again? On the road I will always make space for runners. Those guys always look like they are hurting like hell. Who ever is in the most pain gets the most respect in my book. Also our pavements are a mess. Go for a run some time and check it out.

Was on holiday in Italy for 2 weeks. Very challenging on my vegetarian diet. Didn't get as much protein as I like and also not nearly as much fat. Lived on pasta, pizza and sweets. Lots of ice cream and coke. Very bad diet. I noticed that I developed a sugar craving and now have a sugar aversion as I up my protein and fat again. Put on only 1 kg. Energy levels seemed unchanged. Just not fond of the taste of all that sugar otherwise I don't see a difference. I know I am playing devils advocate again but are our bodies not designed to run on what ever is around? Surely if we are going to look at what cave men and women ate then we must accept they pigged out on seasonal stuff. Buckets of fruit when they found it. Honey when they could. Fish when salmon were spawning and so on. This extreme stuff bothers me quite frankly

The owner is a pratt, obviously, but it hardly seems fair on the dog to be put down which it may be if you report it. I would walk away.

What I don't see is this drug helps muscle gain for body builders but surely a big guy like MTBaaisiklilist is at a distinct disadvantage on a climb? So yes he doped for another sport and yes the drug under discussion is on the list for cycling but obviously he didn't dope for the Epic and the doping didn't give him any advantage, quite the opposite in fact. Really a storm in a teacup. You would think he had groped a child the way some people carry on. He gets my sympathy on this. The only thing that puzzles me is why he even bothers to get into a debate with the Hub boffins. Not like he is going to learn anything.

Lets just say Purim in Jerusalem can get a little surreal and leave it at that. Just remember that if you pepper spray your girlfriend she will be very very annoyed and you better hope she is wearing waterproof mascara. You can seriously learn funny stuff traveling.

I carry a can in my bakkie. Never know when some mad cyclist is going to get in your face. I will just nail him with the spray. Like to see the skinny poofter cycle after that. I might use it next time I see 2 roadies riding abreast. On a more serious note I got sprayed in Jerusalem of all places. In a pub. On a table. Long story. At first I thought someone had put a cigarette in my eye. Hurt like hell and my mascara ran all over my face and into my beard. Made me look very weird, sort of like a melting raccoon. Well that's what my girlfriend said. Like I said, a long story

Ya I think he left it too late. Well for me anyway. I'm excited about this years racing and not so interested in what an ex cyclist has to say about his career.

Wind? In Joburg? On Saturday? I never had any wind. It was a still day.

My wife did a tour in France last year. It was well organized but the bikes were hired and not great. Real hybrid tourer type of things. She took her saddle and pedals. Also took key fit measurements with her. We are going to Italy this year and will be taking her own bikes. Hard cases

Best wishes. Hope you get on the bike real soon and suffer no lasting damage

Life is suffering. It usually ends when life ends

I use an IDT a lot at certain points of my training. It base number of advantages. You can get home a bit late from work after dark and just jump on for a quick hour and a half. You can train during peak traffic times in safety if that happens to be your only free time. It is good for intervals and very structures training rides It's time efficient because there are no easy sections or drafting like on the road The big advantage is if you keep the curtains closed no one from the Hub will be able to see you, take a photo with their cell phone and post it on a new thread with a heading that starts. " Total tjop seen..............." You know what I mean and who you are. Seriously though it has its place but not for everything. Base is no good because who can spend 3 hours at a go on a trainer.

The general public doesn't post on News24. If you think News24 reflects any sort of reality you must live in a very scary mental place. As to work social events I get more people asking how they can get into cycling than anything else. My reality is what I experience on the road. Not what you read on News24

This is such a great story. Very exciting. I cycled through Eritrea and was amazed at the number of people out on serious road bikes training on the bumpy roads in the pre dawn. I thought at the time something must come of it

I just realized something. I have done 300km on the road since Thursday in and around Joburg. Not one irate person hooted at me. Not one vehicle cut me off, no one side swiped me. No one gave me the finger. I never gave anyone the finger. On my planet this is normal. I think there is a lot of exaggeration over this issue. Sure there are problems and yes I could be killed on my next ride but my day to day reality is very pleasant. People on this forum are making out like its world war 3 out there. Nonsense. Road cycling is a very pleasant sport. If you find the sport so bad sell your bikes. Do some serious training to get your BMI above 30 and go join the car forums. You will fit in real well with all the practice you have had bitching about cyclists.

The deserved punishment for breaking a road rule is be killed? Get a sense of proportion. These guys are trying to make a living and train. By riding in a group with an escort vehicle they make themselves more visible and there is therefore more chance the moron trying to drive, text, light a fag and not spill their drink will notice them and not mow them down. People might get peed off but I'm not sure how many people will become so annoyed at the slight hold up that they will purposely drive into a group of cyclists. Most cyclists are killed because they were not noticed because the driver was on his cell or blind bloody drunk. I can't think when I last read a story about someone being so annoyed at a 20 s delay that he killed someone with his car.

He is like that every morning, not just Saturday. I admire both his consistency and his absolute refusal to agree with anyone. The type of person to take on a long bicycle tour. If only he had a bicycle.