Woofie

I get a really sore lower back if I dont stretch my hamstrings often. Like chronically sore where I used to race with painkillers in my pocket. But you need to stretch them out a couple of times a day. You also most probably have a wrong bike setup with maybe too much reach as well. I dont do any core exercise, I should, but I am lazy. But if I keep trying to touch the toes it keeps it at bay.

Shoo, for a moment I thought you were talking about me there. But I was alone..... I promise..

haha. Happened to us in the potberg when we decided to go and do a mtb race there. (one of my only ones ever) Well we arrived late, started with the short route guys, because we were so late and then we decided to go ahead anyway and do the long route. So we already were probably 20 min behind from the start. Anyway, a looonnnggg ride of so so many technical problems from the one guy falling so hard that he bent his saddle horribly, through to getting a stone stuck so hard in the FD that we almost couldnt get it out. My chain came off so badly twice that it got lodged inbetween the rear swing arm and frame. So I had to deflate and inflate the shock twice to get it out. Broke the chain a bit later. and and and. So the 3 of us just stuck together guessing where to go because there was no one else anywhere. About 30km later we past a single woman also doing the route. Never saw her again, hope she finished.... The freshment tables were already gone by the time we went past the spots. Luckily we came across one that was already unmanned but it still had some bottles of coke, so we had a field day there. By the time we eventually finished, racetec was probably half way back to cape town. And the only people left were the people cleaning up etc.

Well they were warned that it was a tough race

Sweet Thank-you for your order. We hope you enjoyed shopping with us and look forward to seeing you again. Please print or save this page for your records. We have also emailed you a copy of your order to the email address you supplied. Order #: XXXX Date: 2011-01-18 Paid By: XXXXXX Currency: ZAR Exchange Rate: 11.0205 Billing Address: XXXXX Delivery Address: XXXXX Item Option Qty Each (ex VAT) Total (ex VAT) Hutchinson Atom Tubeless Folding Tyre - 23mm 23c Tubeless Folding Tyre 4 R380.10 R1520.39 Goods Total: R1520.39 Total Postage: R132.25 UK V.A.T: R0.00 Total (inc VAT): R1652.63 Total amount charged to card in GBP (Pound Sterling): £149.96 Due to the fluctuating nature of financial exchange rates, our calculated total in your local currency may be slightly different from the actual total charged by your credit-card company. In addition to this, your credit-card company may charge an extra fee for paying in GBP. The amount is usually very small but you should check with your card issuer for current rates if you are concerned. Any qualifying free or promotional items will not be displayed here but will be added to your order prior to dispatch. Probikekit.com Good Acres Business Park, Aynam Road, Kendal, LA9 7DE, UK website: www.probikekit.com - email: orders@probikekit.com tel: (+44) 0 1539 738 268 Company Reg: 03611743 VAT Reg: 708-529-128

25c or 23c I know we ride 23's, but how would the 25's ride? I remember reading a article some time back how wider tires roll better than thinner ones. Just quite a bit heavier though, so I dont think I will go there.

Henk? Is that you? I was in the social team that year so your flattering didnt have any effect on me. I would MTB each day if I was a bit closer to work. But with that being said, I actually should start using it maybe on my rest days when I can just use the granny gears and take my time up the hills. I know that a daily inspection and cleanup of tires is NB, but with me riding twice a day the extra time that I am going to waste filling up the hairline cracks is going to really eat major time in the long run. But with that being said, I should do it now and again though. Cool guys!

Just spoke to grumpy now. Apparently not He is using stans in there and he hasnt punctured in months with about 2000 km. Tires still looking good, so mileage should be acceptable. I recon I will try a slime or sludge or one of those flavours. Maybe even the one with the particles to try and block the hole if the pressure is working against me. He had one "slow" flat where he had a cut but stans kept filling the hole. After a few months he ran out of sealant and then it eventually went down. A simple patch in the tire and he was good to go again. Sounds too good to be true, so I am going to have to give it a try! Anybody coming in with me?

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.