BaieSukkel

You have to get out of the water strong enough to do a good bike and good run. So you have to be able to do a good swim. This year there were people swimming 2:20 and then needed 30min rest before the bike..........that makes for a long day. A simple training routine will be 2 quality sesions for each of the S/B/R, and 1 distance sesion for each WEEKLY. The quality sesion should be at least 1/4 the event distance at 80%. The distance sesion should be at least half the event distance at less than 75%. Once a month the distance sesion should be race distance, the run can be substituted with 2x20 in the week instead of a 41 in one go. I do believe in doing at least one full 41k before the event simply for the sake of the mind game. You have to believe you can before you do the real thing, the best way to believe, is to know. Eat right, rest right. Plan your race, don't race, just pace!

Raynard's mistake this year was not racing enough. The same goes for Jan van Rooyen. After Ironman SA both of them only focussed on Kona. Jan was in great shape two weeks before Kona............his best in Hawaii was 11th, so he'll hardly be happy with the result. Raynard also have another problem. As soon as the going gets tough he stops, and he doesn't like it when other south africans beat him. This year he pulled out of the race as soon as Jan passed him on the run......... But someone that must get credit for a great race is Arrie de Swart. He competed in the 30-35 age group and came in 5th in his group! Very well done!

I also like the HighFive range. Got mine from Morne Bester's shop in Waterkloof Lifestyle centre.

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_19_5.gif WELL THIS SUCKS! http://www.smileycentral.com/sigpc=ZSzeb096&amppp=ZNxmk134YYZA

Hi, All good advice! I'm doing it m'self and just the thought is enough to get me out there training! The family part is the hardest, you'll need all the time you used to give them to train. Good luck, see you at the start.............

My Baby! Soon I'll add some deep carbon wheels.............

I have to reply to "Old Pro's" posting, I, for one, am a bike lover. When I see a nice bike, I state the fact. When someone acquires a nice bike, I congratulate. There is more to the 6,8kg bike than being legal. (After my planned wheel upgrade I will have to check that my bike is still legal - which I doubt). It's all about structural strength, ride comfort and all round performance. Sure, I can build I bike that comes in at or below 5kg, but while it may be a great climbing bike it may just suck descending, be useless as a stage racer and be unable to compete in a break or sprint. (and be a serious concern on the South African road surface........) So the idea is, while keeping weight down, to achieve greater all round performance. This will lead to a bike around 6,8kg to 7kg depending on the wheels and personal preference - I have seen a carbon h/bar break during a crit and the rider crashed himself into hospital, so I stay clear - It would be stupid for me to have a 6kg bike - which is illegal - AND not feel happy about the handle bar. May the force be with you, beware the power of the dark side.........

Very nice! Hope you'll have many hundreds of great miles on it!

Hi, If you want a "better" wheather report, use the www.wheathersa.co.za site. Follow the links to aviation and then IFR/VFR flights. A page will open with actual weather and also "TAF 6-12" and TAF 18-24", these are airodrome forecasts and have a lot more info and a lot more acuracy. Unfortunately it's all in code! But I'll try to explain some of it........... The following is the 18-14 hour forecast for Lanseria airport. FALA 190400Z 190606 06012KT 9999 BKN012 BKN080 TEMPO 0607 5000 BR BKN009 FM0800 06010KT 9999 SCT025 BKN080 BECMG 1113 FEW035CB SCT038 BKN080 TEMPO 1322 5000 TSRA BKN020 BECMG 2301 SCT045 BKN100 PROB40 TEMPO 0306 3500 SHRA BR BKN100 FEW045CB TX25/12ZTN14/03Z= And now the decoding............... First the name of the place FALA = Lanseria (FAJS=JHB Int. FACT=Cape Town. FADN=Durban etc) The wheather forecast was isued 190400Z - That's the 19th of the month at 0400h GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). 06h00 local time. The forecast is valid from 190606 - 19oct 0600 to 20oct 0600 GMT. 08h00 to 08h00 local time. The wind will start off at 06012KT - north easterly at 12knots (20kph) Visibility 9999 - more than 10km Cloud BKN012 BKN080 - Broken at 1200ft and 8000ft (400m & 2500m above ground) - broken is near overcast. There is a change TEMPO 0607 5000 BR BKN009 - temporary change between 0800h and 0900h, broken cloud at 900ft (300m above ground) - so the weather will lift somewhat. BUT the visibility will reduce to 5000m! Then FM0800 06010KT 9999 SCT025 BKN080 -from 10h00 the wind will be north easterly 10knots - 17kph, visibility will be greater than 9999meters, cloud will become scattered at 2500ft (800m) and broken at 8000ft (2500m). Then BECMG 1113 FEW035CB SCT038 BKN080 - becoming from 13h00 to 15h00, a few thunderclouds (CB=Cumulus Nimbus) at 3500ft (1200m), scattered cloud at 3800ft (1300m) and broken cloud at 8000ft (2500m). Then TEMPO 1322 5000 TSRA BKN020 - tempo change between 15h00 and 24h00, visibility 5000meters in showers of rain and cloud broken at 2000ft (650m). Thereafter BECMG 2301 SCT045 BKN100 - becoming, between 01h00 and 03h00, scattered cloud at 4500ft (1500m) and broken cloud at 10000ft (3300m). Last but not least, PROB40 TEMPO 0306 3500 SHRA BR BKN100 FEW045CB TX25/12ZTN14/03Z= - There's a 40% chance of rain showers tomorow morning between 05h00 and 08h00, visibilty wil reduce to 3500m in mist (BR) and rain showers (SHRA), cloud broken at 10000ft (3300m) and a few cumulus nimbus thunder cloud at 4500ft (1500m). Temp high (TX) at 25deg C at 14h00, and low (TN) at 14deg C at 0500h. The times used in these forecast are all GMT, that's 2 hours earlier than local. So when it states BECMG 1113 , it means 11h00 to 13h00 GMT which is 13h00 to 15h00 local time. The nice thing about these forecasts are that they are updated every hour, the downside is that I've probably confused everyone so muchhttp://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_33_7.gif that they would rather go and just ride regardless of the weather......... http://www.smileycentral.com/sigpc=ZSzeb097&amppp=ZNxmk134YYZA

I passed a huge group of the Orange clad Software riders outside Irene as well..........they dropped some riders already and those poor buggers were going at it all alone........... Impressive though - the big orange bunch.

I was also impressed on saturday! I normally do my thing solo and some days I can do up to 4 hours without ANY other cyclists in sight! I think on saturday morning there must have been 300-500 people between Olifantsfontein-Irene-Fountains. Nice to have some company!

Hi, nice thread! Hit the hill 2 gears lighter than what you "think" you would need,sitting as much as possible, keep the momentum going. Stand to accelerate, stretch back and get over realy steep sections. (Don't forget to pull on the hills, moving back on your saddle and pulling on the up- stroke with a climbing gear, can be verry effective.)

On the back of the "Gloves" thread. I prefer Falke socks. But the running range, not their cycling socks. The cycling socks are padded too much for me, and I end up feeling like my feet are stuffed into the shoes!

My vote goes to Specialized as well! Nice fit, great padding.

I've been thinking Ironman SA for the last 8 months.......... And doing the distance as well........(did 3:45 cycling this morning - ALONE -and a 12km run this afternoon) I have to get past my wife though. She has seen how much time this "sports" can take up, and well, she's not keen to share me! I was at the event this year, giving my boet splits and support (He's preparing for Kona at the moment), and it's true - there's nothing in this country to compare. (I have been to all the other events.) In order of importance, I rate: Running, Cycling, Swimming. You must be able to do the swim, but swimming takes a lot of training time to shave off a couple of minutes on the day. Rather spend your time training the other two and do enough swimming to help yourself. Must go train!

If he can do a 3hour marathon.... What an IronMan he'll be able to do!

Pandora is opening .........LunchBox?

Like the LunchBox man?! MMMM He's been around for a while...............

Jip, just what I'm always saying. Doping is doping. The reason why you're doping is just to justify your doping, it doesn't make it less doping. And if a person with real knowledge about dope advocates its use, while at the same time he could advise against it..........well that's just criminal! To clean up the sport we will ALL have to do our part.

All you have to do is answer "coloured" or "black". Then all the quotas wiil be satisfied! Remember, just like the previous regime couldn't prove race, the present on can't either........... We should all become coloured and the cycling sport will be fully transformed!

Chunky, Wilhelm is probably one of the best people to deal with when talking to the press about cycling or triathlon related matters, simply because I believe he likes to do the best for the sport. If you can help him do that, great! That said. The dealer is as good as the stealer. We all interact with people everyday, and we all have to asume responsibility for the way we interact, and the way those people react to our interaction. If you tell someone where to get a gun and how to rob a bank, you're an accesory to the act. You will get arrested for helping to plan a criminal act. The same goes for ANY illegal activity. On our journey through life, we should be seeking guidance from those further up the track, and giving guidance to those coming from behind.

Yes, the media actually has a duty to inform the public of newsworthy happenings. The problem is when people camp in your front garden to take pictures, and follow your kids to school to ask them questions about their dad's afair, and do car chases resulting in horiffic accidents, and hammer a fellow human until he OD all alone in his hotel room! THAT SUCKS!

Just to add some titanium! uploads/BaieSukkel/images/2006-07-12_094033_lg_blade.jpg

I invested in a full set of bike tools 15 years ago, expensive but worth the effort! The only things I leave to a master, is building weels from scratch. But these days buying complete weel sets are the way to go anyway............. Regards

I'm shopping a ti frame at the moment. Found them after a redirect from the airborne site. They do look nice, but where to get one? Have to go on holliday to buy a frame?smileys/smiley11.gif