Windbreaker

You missed one. I would guess that moderators should also avoid turning threads into bunfights by posting/starting attacks on the person instead of the addressing issue/topic

Have you run the usb.exe utiulity that is on the Polar web site? It installs the USB drivers so that the polar is recognised by Windows.

You must have been watching a different race then ... Hunter positioned himself within the lines of the bigger teams - he had no support from any Barloworld team-mates. I hope that his performance over the past two days does something to energise them. I read that his manager stated that RH would do better to get into a break away than try to sprint against the likes of McEwan. Hope he has a re-think now and gets the team behind him!

Who knows, maybe a podium before the end of the week. But I guess the big teams will be marking him to death now. Hopefully his team-mates can get off the back to give him some support?

A lot better?? Fugging excellent!! Isn't that the best placed RSA rider ever in the TdF? Wonder if those arseholes that booed him at the Giro are eating their words?!

No there won't be enough South African spectators for him to hear the abuse above the rest of the world cheering.

ShaunH, don't want to be a party-pooper but with the growing exposure you are getting sooner or later the taxman (or similar) is going to want to see your paperwork. Might be a good idea to post your charity number on the advert. Cheers

Usually the City Cycling guys do the ride back, not sure what there plans are this year.

Or it is because I did most of my L4 intervals on hills and not enough on flats?

It's great to read informative and thought provocative threads again with participants that are in disagreement but which hasn't deteriorated into an exchange of personal jibes. This is one area that is still unclear in my mind - "Is HR a good parallel measure to power". Accepting that HR is affected by a number of external influences let's leave them out of the equation for a minute ... I think Bikemax raised the fact earlier in the thread that pedaling at different cadences but at a steady power output elicits different HR responses. Some cyclists are suited to lower cadences while others are higher revving - surely HR has some part to play in determining what the optimal cadence is for individual cyclist. For example, if you are outputting ftp ideally you would want the HR at threshold too? Again, ignoring the other factors for this case. This may not be an issue for well trained or experienced cyclists but I have been cycling for only 3 years now (using power for 2) and in reviewing my data I have seen my "optimum" cadence gradually drop as I have ignored HR more & more. I'm not convinced that this is a good thing 'cause when it comes to race time I naturally tend to rev higher and get dropped (often) not when I am outputting more power than I can sustain but when my HR is above threshold for too long. The theory I suppose is that I should determine what my real optimal cadence is and train and race to that in conjunction with power. So there is at least one other input in addition to power. The reason I use power is cause I believe that is much more of a scientific measurement than HR so I am not inclined to go with the idea of "self-selected" cadence. In my case anyway, this is far too a subjective. The question really is whether HR is too unreliable to be used as an input to determine optimal cadence at FTP. But for the record HR is definitely is not a better tool than power! Maybe not related to this topic but the other thing that pure power measurement does not explain adequately or account for is why are there different "types" of riders i.e. climbers vs sprinters for instance. If 2 riders have the same power to weight (one is a big dude and the other is a small dude) then you would expect that they should be able to climb the same but this is not true. I can understand why they don't perform the same on the flats or where the force of the wind is a factor but climbing??

Nope ..... not quite as simple as that. You have to be sure that the trainer resistance is even across the speed band. Only having my own magnetic trainer to go by I can't confirm but I believe that with some (such as fluid trainers) the resistance is not linear. I'm not sure that I would do an FTP test using speed as the quality of your training will depend on how well this value is determined. Functional Threshold Power is the average power that you should be able to maintain for an hour. testing is usually done at shorter durations - typically 20k FTP is calculated as ave - 5%. I also believe that some people do the same thing with a 10k TT but subtract 10%. Sure that Bikemax will have an opinion on this. The only certainty with my FTP is that it is always too LOW!! Windbreaker2007-06-06 10:02:13

Admin, you asked for comments & suggestions a) This is a cycling forum - let's keep it to cycling. If you want to discuss other stuff then open your own blog elsewhere or visit forums where your particular interest is addressed. Mods & Admins should simply remove threads/postings that digress too far. If you want freedom of speech then open your own site somewhere else - simple. b) Mods need to be more objective, unfortunately some threads which were clearly destructive/negative of nature have been allowed to proceed - apparently because certain long standing members insisted/objected. c) Make the sign up more onerous i.e. valid e-mail & verification. Blacklist abusers after how ever many warning you want to issue. That should stop attacks from "passers by". I for one, lost interest after the attempted Kremetart event assassination.

And that the mods are setting the good example.

Didn't realise that we were talking about Engela Conradie here. Is that Crux in the background???

ShaunH, I agree with some of the guys about contributing to a good initiative but at the same time looking after your own backyard. I have volunteered my services for the Western Cape but it appears that the PPA is in control of the initiative down here. Can you please place a posting which clarifies exactly what the status is and whether the initiative in the Western Cape actually needs any third party assistance. If the answer is yes then perhaps you can also outline what it is exactly that is required. Much appreciated.

It seems to me that it's just more of the same - media releasing information before it is official. You present the typical response ... "According to the paper, seven B samples belonging to the American were tested ... " "However French anti-doping agency president Pierre Bordry told Agence France Presse that although the analyses had been carried out, the results were not yet known." Why is the paper releasing info before the official results are released? That alone makes me wonder what the hell is going on. Can it be so hard to do it by the book?

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2102950,00.html

Oh no ... how did you find out about that?