walkerr

My Easton's weren't bomb proof. 3 months old and < 1,000 Kms and rear spoke broke at the end of the Wellington ride last weekend. Now have to wait and see if OmniCo can fix or replace them before the Argus. Pretty unhappy now, but will be seriously unhappy if they don't If you do some web searches you'll find a slew of reports on Easton spokes breaking, especially 2011 models (which mine were). Part of me wishing I'd gone Ksyrium's now - esp with some of the recent offer prices I've seen.

Interesting, thanks for posting. I guess statistically the sample is too small to be definitive, but it certainly resonates with experiences a lot of us have had. Meant to mention that DisChem sell little purple bottles of only Magnesium - I've chowed those and Enos in extreme occasions. It has helped briefly, but I strongly suspect a placebo effect at work there. I've read other studies that brain chemistry can inhibit/provoke nerve signals (I forget which) that also act as cramp triggers. Which makes a possible placebo effect quite believable to me.

Will do .... assuming I still have some spokes that aren't broken! Still bummed about my busted wheel. Holding thumbs it's fixed for Argus time

Thanks - done that and all is good, in fact I had too when the Easton's went off for repair. Just seems odd the broken spoke was 1 spoke away from the magnet, and nothing had changed - made me wonder if I developed a slight wobble as the wheel went out of true, which also showed up with the magnet not also passing the sensor bang on.

Antartica - now that is impressive, how were the penguins? Yeah - agree, it's a stretch to think the truing could be that far out. But no past issues with wheels or Garmin, and then both go at once, who doesn't love a good conspiracy. I may switch mine to only use GPS I think from now on.

Sorry ... I'll stick to the exact topic as quoted: Which Pills help with Cramping? Tried all of them. None of them helped me significantly, the root cause of my problems lay elsewhere.

By your same logic - if he already knows enough to be doing all those things right, wouldn't he also know plenty about hydration and electrolyte levels? You're making just as big assumption heading down that line of reasoning, as anyone heading down the training / rate of exertion line. Competing/completing at any level/duration doesn't by itself rule out any of the above, all of which can be causes of cramps. Many people never experience cramps until one "trigger event" in which they occur - and after that they then occur regularly. That trigger can be exertion related, mineral balance related, even age related - guys especially start becoming more susceptible to cramps in middle age and above even if they never had them before.

Being serious for a change I'm also in the market for a decent torque wrench, and a Shimano BB tool - did an order at BuyCycle just this week and totally forget to add those. I've got quite a few other tools that aren't high quality that I could be tempted to replace for a good price.

Ah, I see I need to defer to your greater experience ... thanks for the tip!

Maybe they rename it the Pee Pee Eh? Sorry ...

Thermic Lance ... there's a bank across the street from me ....

Got that same email and also noticed the number of DQs for white line crossing - I guess they're getting tougher on safety after the unfortunate recent accidents. Coincidentally was training with a buddy this morning who told me of such a DQ in the bunch he was riding on Tour de Stelenbosch. Apparently the DQ rider was a member of a 10 man odd team, and gave the Marshall a torrent of abuse and swearing. I guess it's tough when you're battling along and suddenly get singled out like that, especially when your adrenalin is pumping. I'm in the camp though that the Marshals work hard for us for little reward and deserve thanks not abuse, whatever stature of rider you are - so I hope there was a proper apology afterwards.

I wonder what % of hub posts could be answered with a standard HTFU response ....

:clap: quality!

The only 2 pills which are working for me are the "More Training" and "Work within your limits" pills ... Tried everything, root cause for me has been pushing way harder in races than the level I was training at. Upping my training and being more realistic about the pace I can sustain in a ride has cured the cramps. During the Wellington ride on Saturday I forgot the latter, pushed too hard, and cramped just before Botmasklook. By backing off I managed to recover my legs and do the rest of the ride without a hint of cramping. Have never managed that before. If you are cramping - rule out training and over exertion first. Once you're sure those can't be the cause, then worry about electrolyte balance etc

Last Friday my Edge 500 started showing erratic speeds, and was giving dodgy looking speed and distance data throughout Saturday's Wellington ride. From what I've read, that is often a problem with either the battery or the position of the speed/cadence sensor. Seems like the Edge only uses GPS data if the speed sensor is not present. If present, but mis-functioning it will still use the bad data. The battery is fine, and nothing had changed from the many countless previous rides. Within 200m of the timing matt's, BANG, my back wheel broke a spoke, and I carried the bike over the line. Not good as the Easton's are less than 6 months old with < 1000kms on them, but that is another story. What I'm wondering now - was the Garmin dodgy signal actually an early warning sign that my rear wheel had slipped out of true slightly, making the magnet not pass the sensor quite right. I did a cursory check free spinning both wheels and looking against blocks/fork pre-ride as always. But that would only show a gross truing issue, not something subtle but dodgy. Seems way too much of a coincidence to me that my wheel broke so soon after a ms-alignment problem with the sensor. I was also really struggling with my pace on the ride, not based on Garmin stats which were out but purely based on feel and mental time/distance calculations. That also makes me wonder if I was getting a very slight or occasional friction rub against the brake pads too, or just more effort needed to spin a ever so slightly out of true wheel. I have my old training wheels on now, with magnet re-fitted and all is working fine - so nothing is wrong with the Garmin, sensor battery etc.

I'd also like to do that - if only there were more 30km rides ...

Feel same way about L-Glutamine - had great results with drinks containing it, until a couple of hours later when the mother of all headaches kicks in.

Oddly, worst stomach cramps I ever got was using 32Gi chews, which are supposed to be diabetic friendly and hence you'd think low in raw sugars. Have a suspicion I chowed too many of them though!

Interesting post, thanks Squier. #6 and #7 definitely resonate with my personal experiences. Since switching to an energy drink with some protein for 3hr+ events, I've seen a distinct improvement in my ride performance and recovery after. I've also cut out tummy cramps and excessive acid build up, but that might be down to being more measured about exactly how much carbs per hour I take in. I was over fueling before. Edit - meant #6 not #3

Haha - nice one. Or are you honest and pay R50 for the privilege to start later .... let me think about that one .....

Thanks Michael - they came back on my email now. Also said Sunday, but I'm only riding Sat after at Wellington. Hopefully got that sorted out though. Looking forward to starting a few groups earlier, especially with the Bosmanskloof climb and all those rollers.

Have emailed them twice this week to ask for that and no reply - not sure what that's all about

If you want to start in the higher group you have to get a re-seeding and a number with your new seeding letter on it. I think the 1st one after you join is free, and after that it's R50 for the new number. Just trying to get mine sorted for the Wellington ride so I can get an earlier start.

Cheers - couple of guys came past while I was having my nice stroll. One friendly oke on a lovely Cervelo carbon threw me some kind words of encouragement to join him but the legs were gone. I'm gonna swap my 12-25 rear with an 11-28 for the 9er next year, see if I can keep spinning over that first steep bit.