Woofie

The buffs are pretty thin, so you wont need to adjust your helmet much. As the most the ratchet thing at the back will be one notch looser. Its nothing like wearing a beanie where you have to compress your head to get your helmet on.

mmm.... you really need to up that sleep a bit. You will see what I mean when you start hitting the tar for a race once a week. If your body cant recover between sessions you actually make yourself weaker.

Yep. I often wear a undershirt for this reason. I "converted" one of my normal shorts to bib, but the strap runs over my nipple and irrates the heck out of it. Just a tip though, wear a undershirt that is made out of similar cycling material, not cotten otherwise you are going to die of sweat. Also nice and tight fitting. Once you are on the road, you will forget that you are wearing extra layers.

Dont give up hope Braam. I took a quick sneek peek at your results now. Lets see what the 12 weelk program thing entails. Maybe it will include some "miracle drugs" Also, if you want to do really well at the argus, you need to then get your @ss down to the races happening this summer. Make a mental choice that you are not going to fall off the group no matter what happens. You need to get your body used to race pace, riding at 40km/h. Pushing over the red line on climbs. If you cramp up on hard races, this is the only way to stop cramping. You need to get your body used to that abuse. To be very honest. I dont know how "wonderful" this 12 week thing is going to be anyway. I can bet you that you would be faaaarrrr stronger if you had to do all the races and use the rest of the week to do recovery rides only. It takes your body a few days to recover from a maximum effort so 1 race a week with 5 recovery rides of 1-2 hours long will make you a machine. Out of racing season you can do harder stuff in the week because you are never going to hit that intensity on your own. Also remember that the harder you are training the more you need to sleep. So for the next few months adjust your lifestyle to try to get more than 8 hours. Read a thing little while ago that pro athletes benifited more from getting 10 hours a night! I have a small baby so broken sleep for me is a way of life, but I can feel the immediately feel the toll that it has on me.

Tarmac, this last one doesnt count. Well done boet, that is a seriously impressive time. You would have probably have been like a 2.45 at least if it was a normal argus and normal conditions. My elite buddy did a 2.40 the year before I think, he only did a 3.09 this year and he was stronger this year!

I have been wearing something over my head under my helmet for more than a year now. In the beginning it was to stop the sweat running into my eyes and to stop my scalp from getting burnt (I am starting to thin out a bit) Started off using those sunflower bandena things from pick n pay, I still use them, but I discovered something else that works so awesomely. At the argus expo this year I was bombarded by a girl selling these bandena things. - Oh yes, it is called a BUFF It is basically a piece of cloth that has the sides sewn together (to form a tunnel if you look through it) She impressed me so much with everything you can use this piece of cloth for, that I bought one. Best thing ever! When I use it I even cover up my ears, which often get sore from the cold winter mornings, but all the way up to the 45 deg heat we had at the double century it allowed my head to breath and I still had my ears covered. Covering your ears with a normal bennie makes it more difficult to hear properly and you get super hot, but this material is thin enough to not give problems. My father in law has the same problem. He gets headaches from the cold air while cycling. As soon as he covers his head it is fine.

Yep I also signed up a while ago, but I havent heard anything yet..... Hope they dont send us a mail....ok guys tomorrow you need to........ I think that the sub 3 on this route is going to be very tough. I actually think that if you are not at an elite level at the time of the race (and in the right groups) I dont think you have much chance of getting it. If right now you are only riding like 3.30's on normal 100km races then I think you wont have a chance. I dont know if your body could get that much fitter that quickly, even with drugs. However, if you are currently hitting 100km races under 3 hours and if you are in good shape (not carrying much extra body weight) then I think you have a good chance if you are really focused on everything you do for the next few months. On the flip side, if you are very fit, have a good group, but carrying extra weight (like me), I believe if you are super super diligent with eating for the next few months and doing whatever it takes to shed that fat then you have a chance of coming close. Just bear in mind, I crash diet is going to cause you to loose your muscle and then you will have the worse argus ever, not the best! I did some calculations on how fast you need to ride to crack your time. (If you are new to racing, you cant watch the average while riding, it means zipp. Just make sure you stay in the leading pack of the group and you will do the best time that you possibly can if you can stick with them) What I have done, is I have subtracted one minute off the goal time. ie. If you are aiming for 3 hours, you will probably narrowly miss it. So you need to aim for 2.59. 2.45 (2.44 actually) 40.24 KM/h 2.50 39.05 2.55 37.93 3.00 36.87 Not doing a 3.05, you will kick yourself for a year if you got that. 3.10 34.92 3.15 34.02 3.20 33.16 3.30 31.57 3.45 29.46 4.00 27.61 4.30 24.53 5.00 22.07 Well good luck to everyone for the next few months.

Lucky boy

What if he used a regular digital camera? If it was a regular digital camera then it's time for an upgrade as the colours are pretty flat and lifeless. The point I was possibly making is that this is very much the Seffrican way. We speed' date=' we disobey road signs when it suits us, we don't wear seatbelts and we bend the rules in a bazillion different ways. And then we quickly mount the high horses and foam at the mouth in moral outrage because "did you see what that guy just did...how dare he!" Woofie, if you really want to do something worthwhile with this pic, take it to the police station in the area with details of place, date and time. Posting it on the hub will give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside but that is all. See my previous para. James[/quote'] Its not my intention to get a nice and warm fuzzy feeling inside from posting this. I get the fuzzy feeling from thinking about nice braai vleis Reason for the post? To get some action here on the hub of course. Its been pretty boring lately. Cant point any fingers at the police. They are just part of the offenders. I will need to take the log out of my own eye first....... ...... and I am almost positive that goes for all of us. All of us break the traffic law every day. Speed, rolling through stops, darting to get through on the yellow/red, etc,etc. Still no where as bad as the taxi's of course But james, looking at your avatar, maybe I should take you in for indecent public exposure?

I did this a few months ago as well. Realised a few min later but the wheel was already stolen.

........And for woofie taking pics while driving? Would have been 6 if I took the pic But there we go 5 laws broken in one photo!

ya, I took it while talking my my cell phone. I ended the call with the pic but I phoned my mom back though. Whatever. Pic is from a friend of mine. His wife took it while he was driving. I have driven that road a few times - Cape Town to clanwilliam and once you go over that pass the road is super dangerous to overtake. But I am not sure at which point the pic was taken. But fact is still a fact that he is breaking 3 laws that we can see directly in the photo. And he was also probably speeding to overtake as well. 4 offences then in one photo

Over taking 3 vehicles at once (including tanker) On a solid white line And no license plate. Awesome stuff

Absolutely. That is what I am saying.

Is this guy in jhb? One of my friends had a small crack repaired in cape town the other day. Johan, maybe you should shed some more light onto the matter. Depending on the fall etc, a cracked frame could most definitely lead to death. Maybe the "painter" should be made totally aware of this because what if Mr "X" is crossing the road on his repaired frame and has a malfuntion because of it in front of a 18 wheeler. Would the "painter" not be liable for murder then? Surely he would. Would that not be exactly the same thing as me taking my car in to have a service and them forgetting to connect the brakes? If I had to die the workshop would be charged. Going back to a lighter note What is your feeling about carbon repairs in general though? There is guys in the industry that I would trust to be able to relayer up a frame or something. What about produx? He has been building carbon items for years now? It is something that I would never risk doing myself though. I have done some basic fibre glass/carbon work and working with it is not too difficult. But I dont have any clue how to layer it for the right strength, the right kind of epoxy, grams of the cloth etc, etc. I dont have a problem messing around on my own for stupid things like water cages but I am not going to do something that will put my life at risk.

ah, I just read through the posts again. I see she is still on 8 speed? Maybe a upgrade to 9 will be good then. I have everything you will need to move her to 9 speed. sti's, braze on FD, RD, 12-26 cassette, 53-39 crank (but you will be able to keep her one). My chain is ok as well. I am keeping my brakes though, but her current ones will work fine though. I have a new 9 speed 11-21 cassette (which I am using now) but I am assuming that she wont want such stiff gears? Ill make you a bundle deal. Ill give you the sti's, fd, rd, 12-26 cassette & chain for R700. Let me know if you are keen.

Dont know ? maybe R400 They dont look so great anymore, the rubber hoods are looking a bit shabby. I think you can get replacement covers for them. Still in great working condition though as I use them every day. Ok, well let me know if you want to come take a look. I am in no hurry to sell them

I have 9 speed 105 sti's. I have noticed that they are a bit smaller than the newer 10 speed ones. But, bearing that in mind I still find that it is comfortable to only use one or two fingers to break when I am on the hoods. If I need to break really hard I have to change my grip and get a few fingers down there. But it is not comfortable to ride in that that position. I never brake from the hoops, I think it is a thing I need to get used to though. Another idea for you, have you maybe tried to angle her bar up slightly? This may give her a slightly different grip on the hoods and give her a better reach. Other thing, if you are in Cape Town I may sell my 9 speed sti's so you are welcome to come and "try the fit" if you want.

With his single speed or woolen post? or both ? Guys, can a 9 speed cassette fit on the le juene if I took the 7 speed off? Lets say I stuck with the 7 speed, would I be able to get spare parts? Wont I be able to use a modern 9/10 speed rear DR on there? Because surely the amount of cable being pulled is governed by the shifter? Would the chain not be too wide then though? But then I may be able to use a 9 speed chain ?