Woofie

What about import duties etc? So the total order will be just under R800. How much could I expect for shipping and what is the post office going to knock me for?

We are riding league because we have the required seeding and experience to get up into there. If you ride league with your P seeding, then you will start with other P riders. So they will never filter up into the proper racing cats until they have reached the required seeding and by that time they will also be "racing smart" So yes, you will still have to earn your "right". Start at the bottom and work your way up like everyone. There will be some TT's along the way to help, but it is still going to be hard work to move up.

What!!!!! They have a special at the moment it would appear, or the wrong price, but they are listing the tires at R371 and R380. WoW!!! http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?cat=Tubeless%20Tyres Just stick your country and currency onto SA.

Now that is what I was waiting to hear. Shot man. Tell me, the only other thing is can I plug holes in road tyres?

Was also thinking that having different racing cats on top of a normal funride is really hard to split the groups properly etc, as we are all seeing from the complaints. In the current format that it is (also because of the current seeding system) it would almost work for them to scrap "league" and anybody that rides league rides in their ppa seeding. They can open this up to all riders even, but they will need to join "league" for the season and pay up front for all the events. If you are not then "racing league" you will have to use a different starting block and possibly even get started unseeded at the back (after all, they are only doing a "funride" if they are not in the racing cats.) Downside is that we loose our age cat starting blocks totally. And also it may end up splitting racing teams where they may have a rider in B or something. Doing that they could even make it that you collect your racing number before the event and give it back afterwards and they could adjust your seeding in realtime depending on your current racing form. Along with TT's as well, by the time you get to the next event, they may hand you a higher or lower seeding Another upside is that we will finally have some races where they dont end up starting A-D together. I dont know

100% I was thinking about this yesterday morning. They need to do a hill and flat TT before the start of spring league so that they can use those times to seed anyone who wants to ride league. Maybe even two events (4 in total) incase there is any mechanicals.

So you used normal gatorskins for this setup? Arent you scared of them burping?

Thanks guys. Remember those old permatube things. I suppose those are the only way to make totally sure. But then I would probably be better off filling my tubes with concrete as well.

If I end up going tubeless, then they must stay on there for everything. I even tried running a new set of tyres for racing. And I still got a flat

Yep, I think it is just bad luck. Commuting seems to take the cake for messing up my tyres. The roads are full of glass and sharp stones which is probably contributing to 90% of my troubles. Just takes a small small little cut on your tyre and a small stone or glass to work its way through and its all over. Judging from the comments, I can see that road UST is still not a viable option. By the way, you dont need tubeless road wheels to run tubeless. A good rim strip and you are ready to go. You may need another layer if the tyre is not sitting tight enough, but thats it. Well in that case I will just have to carry on fixing tubes

Anyone have a road tubeless setup running? I am gatvol of punctures now. The condition of our roads leaves me fixing a puncture so often it is just not funny anymore. Slime doesnt work that well in the tubes, tire liners doesnt do it for me, new tyres, recoated spoke hole strip with tape as that has also given me a few unexpected flats. Tried it all. Even tried making my wire gatorskins into a road getto system, which just ended up in one big sticky mess. (used a mtb tube over the road rim) Looks like the only way out is to bite the bullet and spend R800-900 each on tubeless road tyres. But that is quite a heavy price and I better be 100% sure before walking down that path. So, who has these? Whats the experience on them? Mileage? I hear the mileage isnt good? And most NB of all, can I plug the holes? Oh, and also, where the heck do you get them. Most bike shops look at me like I am crazy when I talk about road UST tyres.

100% I cant climb so it would be unfair for me too. But either a flat course that has at least one serious climb in it would be good or else they need to balance the results between a flat 20-40 and a hard single hill. The only other problem is that most of us dont have TT bikes. And if we start running bigger flat distances the advantages of the bars and deep wheels is really going to be substantial at the end. On the up side, it would encourage the sale of more TT bikes. It would be pretty cool to build a TT rig. I wonder how cheaply it could be done? I could salvage my old steel le-jeune, do a mcgyver to move the shifters up onto some TT bars. Then it will just be some deep sections. Planet X has some awesome prices. So it may even cost less than 10K to get a nice fast (but old) rig going.

Wow, it seems crazy you saying you could have done it faster. That was a really awesome run there man. Hopefully next time they will advertise it properly and then it will be awesome to see what kind of times we could get! Tell me, where exactly did they start and stop? Did you see any lines in the road?

I am also at least 7 over what I was 2 months ago. And probably 10 more than I need to be to be competitive at racing. This christmas was faaarrr to good With basically no exercise either. I am pretty sad that I didnt know about this new cat last year after spring league, otherwise I would have kept on the bike and kept off the cakes. Would have been the "perfect" place for me. Would have still struggled on the climbs, but I would have been nicely competitive on the flat sections.

If anyone is interested. I just felt motivated to write a "wish list" email to the ppa. (I copied Eulogy in as well) These never get answered, but I suppose we can carry on wishing. Hi, I know this email is too late as the season has already "started" for league. But the ppa did a hill climb TT the other day up malanshoogte. The general feeling that I am getting from people is that they really like the idea of this, pity it was announced so late, but if it carries on running I am sure that we will see some keen attendance. The reason for my mail is that I think it would be a really great idea to hold a league TT event up there. (If not now then in the future, and even recurring in spring and summer leagues) Then we will get a regular accurate baseline of what a pro riders time should look like. (and of course if will be great to add a few extra events to a thinning out league) I also believe that the road belongs to the farmers there (I am led to believe that they paid for it), so there is basically very little cost implications behind doing this. If the ppa wants to use this as a "seeding event" then they will need to have a fairly good idea of what the real times should look like. I know the one the other day was won by Theuns, and yes, he is a "Giro quality" rider. But the question is, would he have ridden it faster if it was a league event or would somebody else manage to take a chunk out of that time? The downside of having these small time trials is that you will attract a few top riders, but not enough in number at one time to really put some heavy pressure on the guys to deliver the absolute best time possible. Another up side to having a accurate idea of the times is that if you have any arguments over seedings (which ppa always has) then you can use these smaller TT events to quite accurately and quickly seed the people in the right groups. (So instead of the long drawn out seeding process, if they can get a elite time on the hill then it is clear what they are capable of. No more motivating letters to David Clarke and manual adjustments, come and prove your fitness on the hill) Maybe even a compulsory TT up there regularly for members wishing to maintain a decent seeding would be good. That will also help to control the group sizes. (So you will also demote riders who have lost total form between seasons) I know that this will also cause some arguments from the guys like me who arent super skinny, but at least if we stick to one model then that is it. There is no more guessing how things are going to turn out. And everybody will then be on the same page for how things work. No beta values on this hill or adjusted times, we run the best guys and get the best time and use that result. Anyway, just add that to the "wish list".

Awesome. Thanks Maybe just take some photos of exactly where you are setting the markers. Then go home and use mapmyride to plot the route (look at the photos to get the exact spots). Zoom in nice and deep and put the points where we would cycle and then we will get a 99.9% accurate distance and incline etc. Maybe even do a rough plot before going out so that we can mark the ride to exactly something. (ie. Not 4.54 km. ) So rather cut it back to 4.5 or extend it.

Would be nice to use that roller before the dairy as well. It is actually quite steep! Pretty much where the tar road ends is the lowest part on that section, so starting it close to that side would work. It is just going to be a whole lot harder trying to keep that power up for another km or two. Will make us alot stronger I suppose though Cool, thanks for offering to mark it out.

On another note. If they are going to be using this as a seeding event, then how are they going to calculate the "winners time" properly etc when there is only a handful of riders etc. etc. etc. They should actually make a extra summer league event up there. Then they will have all the best local riders (half of the giro bunch) setting some really good times. I know wind on the event days will change results a bit, but then at least they have a realistic idea of what the times should be like. Anyway.... In our dreams I suppose.

Absolutely. I never ride vissers because of all the close calls I get told about. And tickie is always pumping with traffic. There is barely any traffic on malans at all. The occasional truck and car, but you are more at risk of getting "lost" out there than getting ridden over. Still one of my favourite rides in our side of the world. From table view, past richwood, along countermans, down past the dairy and back is about a 50km trip. I like to go to the end of the tar road which is maybe 2km after the diary. Nice length with a decent climb and rollers. Also a lot more sheltered (wind) than the westcoast rd. Ok, so who is going to go scope out the route and determine some markers? Maybe take a tin of spray paint with...... Just dont get caught...... Otherwise we may have another frail post..... help I have just been arrested...... Anyone ride the ppa timing day? Did they mark it out? I think practising this would help a bit to improve your time up there. A short event like this is all about knowing how hard you can go for how long. It wont make you win it, but it will help you to shave off a few seconds off your time. Hey, we could even have a hub race up there now and then... haha. That would be quite funny. I actually wonder if we would get a better time up there if we raced it compared to TT?

It feels steeper when you ride it The first time I went down there I clocked 70 freewheeling down, so it isnt gradientless I think we should start a unofficial hub TT up there. Just on a honestly based system. We must just decide on the exact markers. Go do it and then post your times. Lets see who is tops and who can make the best improvements over the season. What you guys think? I am pretty sure in my current form that I will come stone last

The smiley face is a hyperlink. incase you dont get it. http://www.mapmyride.com/s/routes/view/bike-ride-map/south-africa/durbanville/26163134

Just remembered something else that happened to me as well. Your core body temp was most likely too high as well, very very dangerous. Two years back DC was that super hot year. I was unfortunate enough to be riding with some good riders so they started us 20 min from the end (like after 7am) By the time we hit the big pass I was feeling livered. I got to the top and I didnt know how the heck I would be able to finish. So that was at 80km - still 120km to go and I felt like going to sleep under a bush already. I thought that I wasnt hydrating and eating properly (but I was) so I just carried on stuffing my face and drinking whatever I could. Some of the guys in our team were measuring temps in the mid 40's and there was a constant headwind. It was hell. Decided that I would carry on going despite how I felt until I fell off the bike. Lost our strongest rider due to heat at 120km. We all ran out of water at 130-140. Next stop is like 20km away. Got water off one of the farms, dodgy black pipe coming out ground, but at that stage I didnt care where it came from. At 170km I told my team to leave me. I just wanted to crawl back to swellendam. Before they left me the team car threw water over me and filled up my bottles again. And an amazing thing happened. As my body temperature came down my energy started coming back. Took a little while for it to come down, but when it dropped I felt amazing again. Kept on using my water to cool myself down then for the last stretch. My team was gone, but I rode those last 30km as if they were the first 30km. Was slipping some tandems down one of those last hills and they turned around to *** me out. Why *** me out? We arent racing anymore? We are just all trying to finish. So I thought stuff it and I dropped them all by myself. Now, when do you drop tandems by yourself downhill and especially at the end of the DC? Learnt a very important lesson there. Heat is a killer. I ride with a buff and if it gets hot I will now keep on throwing water over myself. Buff holds the water for longer than your hair (or in my case lack of it) and hense will keep you cooler for longer. We all know that heat is a killer etc etc. But when it is happening to you for the first time in a bad way you dont realise that it is not just hydration killing you, but it is actually your core temp that has rocketed past where you can handle it.

Ive been there once before as well. It was my first long road race a couple of years ago, and I was pretty clueless on what to do. It was the wilde fruit juice ride when they had it from wellington to malmesbury and back (not past riebieck kasteel) I went on the ride only with water, no food nothing. The previous long ride I did I used powerade and I started throwing up on the ride so I decided to give the powerade a skip and only do the water thing. I was very slow back then, but I got past the windmills and I was still cool. As I turned left towards wellington, I just suddenly had nothing left in the tank. That stretch of road must have taken me more than an hour and it was alternating between granny gear and standing under trees that got me up there. All I could think about was coke. It haunted me!!!! I eventually stopped at the ambulance and I told them that they had to help me because I just never had any energy at all. They gave me some gels and after a few minutes I was able to crawl through the rest of the race. Terrible feeling! Never want to go back there again.

Wow, when you are that far pushed it makes you wonder how close you actually are to even dying. Really glad that car stopped for you and gave you a lift. Dehydration is really dangerous. Heard a horrible story the other day about parents that took their 2 year old son to durbanville mediclinic because he wasnt keeping his food down. He died right there of dehydration minutes later. How long do we have to live (if you dont refuel and drink) when we reach that critical stage where we cant even ride granny gears or walk on flat roads? I dont know, but I recon we are coming pretty close. Like if you had to have curled up to sleep under a tree instead of climbing into the car, makes you wonder if you will ever wake up again? Am I being to dramatic? Or do you think that dehydration is a hectic thing?