walkerr

Really sorry to hear that man ... nothing worse when you've put heart and soul in to be struck down by illness.

Debating whether to use my Edge 500, and old hiking eTrex Vista, or my car Nuvi 500 for long multi-day endurance rides (i.e. audax use). I see they claim the edge 800 has a 15 hr battery life, which combined with mapping could make it ideal - albeit then I need to buy something else, when I have devices already. Anyone actually got close to 15 hr use on one - and what's the recharge time after?

Also good price at Nivo (www.nivo.co.za) - got mine from there and service was good.

Liking the sound of that ... count me in. Just don't expect me to ride there, it's at least 5km from my house ...

The normal GSC-10 sensor does both speed+cadence. I haven't tried telling it to act as a cadence sensor only in the Edge 500 config, but I suspect you might be able too. What I can confirm is that if the GSC-10 is present, and you config the 500 to use it - it will use that solely for speed and distance. If the battery is low, or the magnet isn't set right, you will get dodgy readings. The 500 does not sense iffy data and fallback to using the GPS - in theory it could of course, but the Garmin s/w doesn't support that. I've had my magnet slip once - it was a race so I didn't stop to fix it. Tigthened up after, and been fine ever since. Personally, I prefer using the sensor when on road bike, although when I put the 500 on my MTB I seem to get pretty decent speed and distance readings. The cadence sensor I find much fiddlier - the pedal magnet always seems to be moving and I lose stats. Overall tho - love the 500, might opt for an 800 next time around just for extra features

Scary stuff - glad you got through it all. Seriously hoping not to get too much of that on the way to qualifiers etc ...

Absolutely! My plan is to submit an LEL entry in Jan'13, and then I've got to do it ...

Nice one, thanks. I need to kit out with some proper winter gear - don't have a decent waterproof shell or gilet, or leg & arm warmers.

Didn't mean to dismiss your concerns BTW - sadly cycling in SA is way less safe than it should be, or we would like it. And I totally hear you in terms of choosing your times and routes when you cycle solo vs following a set route. As you probably saw, I'm totally bitten by the PBP bug - which in practical terms means doing training and qualifying rides here in SA. I'm always nervous and cautious whenever I get on the bike though and head for the roads ....

Cool - I'm also needing these. I'd be interested which ones you ordered, and also how much they stiff you for on import duty - I heard clothes can be 40%, so I guess depends whether they consider clothes or bike parts

With you there. I got bitten by the PBP bug around the end of last year - only recently struck me that LEL would be a good early test to see if I have what it takes, and have got a workable kit setup. Not many days go by when I don't do a bit of thinking / planning / training about these nice dreams.

Your average speed is only slightly less for LEL - PBP is 1230km in 90hrs, LEL is 1400km over 5 days, so although you get to go a bit slower (maybe) you have to do an extra Argus and a half at the end Aside from fatigue, injury, sores etc the big challenge for either seems to be balancing riding time with need to sleep/eat, time at control points (more a PBP issue I'd guess with the larger number of entrants) etc etc

If you're in/near Gauteng I'd drop a line to Eddie (email earlier in this thread), and if WC based then contact Anthony (user name pbp2007 on these forums). You should find some organised audax rides to help with that training schedule.

With a more-than-generous 100 hour time limit ..... For those who don't know the UK well, I can guarantee there'll be some nice rolling scenery and nice towns/villages along the route. There also be some long dull stretches I'm sure, and most likely nasty winds as you head up along the North East coast. At least it's Summer in the UK - which means it'll be raining and cold ....

That was the line which caught my attention ......

Haha - I spent most of last week trying to figure how to raise the subject with mine. Luckily we had a Friday evening dinner planned which was the perfect opportunity. She was reasonably warm to the idea of visiting family / sightseeing giving me a chance to ride. I got following info from organizers: === The event will take place from Sunday 28 July to Thursday 1 August 2013. Registration will be on 27 July 2013. Our start location will be: Davenant Foundation School Chester Road Loughton Essex IG10 2LD Riders will start in groups, between 07:00 and 10:00. You will not be able to choose your start time, but you will be able to start with your friends. You will also be able to start in central London. We are arranging a special start at 06:00, hopefully from outside Buckingham Palace. The route is 1400km, with a minimum speed of 12kph throughout. It passes through a wide variety of countryside, with both hilly and flat sections. The route is not signposted, but we will provide you with a routesheet and gpx files. We haven’t confirmed the entry fee yet, but it is likely to be around £210. This will include: - all food and drink at controls - dormitories - showers - finishers’ medal - motorbike support along the route You will be able to enter online from 5 January 2013, and pay by credit or debit card. You do not need to qualify to enter. We are developing our website, which will have much more information about the route and controls. We hope this will be ready soon, and we will send you another email to let you know. === Mail them and they'll put you on the mailing list for info.

I haven't done any yet - but I get the impression there's more organization and thoughts to safety these days. Certainly correspondence I've had from Eddie and Anthony (@pbp2007) here in the cape gives me that impression. I know Anthony and the guys here are hoping to get a series of monthly Audax rides going again for those of us in WC who want to train for LEL and PBP

And LEL - which is next year in UK - http://www.londonedinburghlondon.com/ I see GuyP has posted some info above on who to contact for Guateng and Western Cape

The hub "social / B / 8.5 to 9.5 hr" team seems to be shaping up with some good interest. Been a couple of years since I looked at entry forms, and 2012 ones won't be out for a while yet. Does anyone remember how 2011 entry worked - what the approx cost was, and was it a flat cost per team whether your had the min 6 or max 12, or was it a cost per team member? Cheers -- Rob

My guess would be "support driver" ....

And he's probably doing it on the single speed he's using for the Epic ....

Cool, cheers - will do. We've got around 5 of us now interested in a more social ride / target time of 8.5 to 9.5. Have dropped them a PM. I'm very keen to do the DC though, one way or other.

Entries don't need to go in until 1 Aug I think (least that was when they took entries last year). So you have some time yet to sort those plans ...

Nice - is that on road bike ?

I put LED lenser P7 on my road bike 2 months back as a "see by" light to go with my "be seen" light which is too dim really for fast riding in the dark. So far, illumination is great ..... but .... I haven't really tested out battery life. I suspect on max power, it won't run much more than 3 or 4 hrs tops. Will be presently surprised if it goes longer.