Enticement

Advice to guide your investment in the right bike is founded on what these advisers know. And you trust them because they should be the experts - they (most of them) are experts on the technology they offer, but do they know your exact needs? Most often even you will find it difficult to distinguish between your own "needs" and "wants", and it is usually the latter that challenge your budgetary constraints!

A golden rule is to never increase your load with more than 10% of the previous week's. Make sure you have sufficient time to recover, especially in the beginning. Fitness is like a tan, the quicker you get it the quicker you loose it! Rather spend more time in the beginning with lower intensity but longer rides. The physiological reason is that you want to establish a proper logistical transport system for nutrients and oxygen in your body through developing your capillary system, and that takes about 3 months.

There are 3 "bases" that need to be covered with your Epic preparation: 1) Personal motivation - ensure that you have attainable milestones that will serve as inspiration; 2) Preparation for making sure you are physically prepared for ALL the elements of the Epic challenge; and 3) Ensuring you have the correct, and correctly prepared and maintained mountain bicycle. Success in the Epic is not the sum of these 3 variable groups, but the product of ... or is it sheer luck?

Enjoying every moment of it and really busy. How are you doing - by implication, what value can you add?

For recovery you must view your heart as a normal muscle, and there is a rule-of-thumb with running that for every mile you race you should have a day of active rest. Falling into the trap of over training syndrome is no joke and consumes extreme training time.

Look at Karvonen's formula as I found that to be the most accurate - your RHR definitely plays a vital role, the better your condition the lower your RHR. And as has been pointed out, its personal. I used to train with Andries Krogman (many moons ago) and his RHR was 24-28 bpm.

Buying a new bike is always a challenge because you're never sure which one will work for you. Even if you test a bike it can be challenging because a well set-up entry level bike could give a better ride than a poorly set-up top-of-the-range bike. Best way is to determine exactly what you want to do with the bike and what your riding style is. See https://www.bikehub.co.za/classifieds/35121-buying-the-right-mountain-bike-where-to-start/

Hi Carrot, during intense activities, your brain redistributes blood to active areas as your amount of blood in your body is "limited". Body parts that are less active only gets enough blood to keep basic systems running and the rest of your blood is used to transport already processed nutrients and oxygen to active parts. Very little blood is available for assisting digestion while active, and furthermore, anything in your stomach must pass through 2 hurdles - your stomach and your liver. Consequently you consume double as much energy while active than what can be replaced at any given time. So, if you want goodies that you take in to be available immediately, they have to be formulated specifically for that as your body only uses it in a specific format and it has to be processed into that, hence the imperative that some off-the-shelve supplements work better than others. However, after your activity, for about another 30minutes, your body is still in a "mode" of transporting processed nutrients and blood distribution has again been restored to its before-active state. That means digestion is back to normal and blood is available for transporting these digested goodies. Therefore, during that time your body reaches an optimal state for recovering depleted nutrient stores. In your specific example - be meticulous with pre-activity consumption (about 45 minutes before you start) by using a scientifically formulated supplement. Then make very sure that you recover well afterwards by consuming foodstuff that gets absorbed easily - also check your protein/carb mix.

Remember, your brain (as your ultimate regulator) anticipates a certain "feel" with a specific length crank arm and the moment you change that your efficacy of power transfer changes - it takes about 30 days for your brain to adapt to a new setting and to be at the same point of efficiency as what you were before the change. If, after about 30 days, your brain has adapted to the cranks but your set-up has been changed in such a way that it your brain perceive it as inefficient, you body will start to object through pains that develop.That is the exact same scenario as with fitting or removing Q-rings, that is what the research tells us.

Jissie BOETA, dis 'n goeie idee! Gaan kyk by https://www.bikehub.co.za/classifieds/35668-sport-performance-coaching-spring-special/, dan sien jy alles. En bel my as daar iets is wat jy sukkel om te verstaan ...

Follow my athletes from DieBeeld - check their blog http://blogs.dieburger.com/EpicBlog

Our XCT at Fountains will start 25 August again - hopefully the cold fronts will then be history ...

Do you want a signed copy, although its only for those that can read?

Ha Ha - that's helping you into the ditch!

Another problem is that a well set-up entry level bike can give a better ride that a poorly set-up top of the range bike! I have seen the bills for bike maintenance on rental bikes - "nobody ever washes a rental car ...". Knowledge of what the bike is able to do is pretty much known, however that's not the case with what the rider wants to do! Sometimes the rider himself has these visions of riding on endless singe track that you only find in your valley, but in actual fact he spends all his time verge riding on tarred roads!

If you want my advice/want me to rectify yours I will have to charge you!

I don't have a shop and I don't sell cycling goodies! But I have been in this industry for quite a while to claim experience! Now add to this knowledge - I have studied the various reasons why people enjoy mountain biking and realized that this should be the premise for parting with their hard earned money when they invest in a new bike. When I define the source of your preference, its easy to justify why you should go for a more (or less) expensive option, or whether you should just ride with a bomb or carry a pump!

Thanks for simplifying with your version - from your response it seems pretty much a black-and-white issue! As for some of your advice: I'm glad I don't have to send my clients to you. Maybe you should try my "sugar-coated info fest" for experiencing the value of real advice, not preconceived personal ideas !

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That is ultimately true, but what if you can, for the same price you can afford, get a dual suspension or hard tail, 6' or 4' travel, 26er or 29er, better components or better frame, racing geometry or trail bike? How do you make your selection?

Excellent advice! Also remember that you start loosing training impact during recovery after each training session. At first try to get more training sessions rather than doing less but longer sessions. Rule of thumb: 3x/week = building fitness; 2x/week = maintaining condition.

Hay Showtime, please do not misinterpret my response as sarcastic - merely trying to point out that our sport is a highly technical one, which makes it extremely complicated to select the right tools. Like ROTOR cranks, do they actually work, what does the validated research indicate? Are we not being handed over to the mercy of manufacturers that have marketing budgets to lure us into buying stuff we don't actually need?!

Do you go for color - the red one, or the blue? Why do you like that one?

Hay Skylark, are you implying that someone should be at a certain "level" before going for internal gearing? Then perhaps Burry would have done better if he was on that level? Or is it about your preferences and type of riding? We all know what our "wants" are, but only a few can differentiate between that and their "needs". That is what we do, help you define your needs ... nothing fishy, only getting science to help you make the right decision and saving you money!

By the way, as a matter of interest, what criteria do YOU use when buying a new mountain bike or upgrading your current one? On what do you base your selection?