North Shore

Yes.

Crankbrothers pedals (I've had two pairs of candys and eggbeaters) are honestly the most hateful, unreliable and rage inducing components I've ever had the displeasure of using. Sure they look great, their float is awesome (at first), but like clockwork after a couple of months of even moderate riding they come into their own: even after multiple rebuilds and two warrantee replacements they've induced nothing but hate on my part. Loving the Look S Track pedals, but without a doubt the shimano pedals (even the sub XT range) are the benchmark for reliability, although I prefer the float and clip in mechanism of the new Looks.

Don't listen to the above. Crank brothers are great for the first month, after which they are nothing but trouble. I've had two sets of eggbeaters and candy's on my AM. Had five rebuilds and two warrantee issues. Get yourself a pair of Look S Track pedals and you can thank me later.

Squirt and White Lightening Clean Ride are the easiest to clean, both wax based so you don't have to clean the chain before re-application, and both have mild "self-cleaning" properties due to the wax sloughing off. Squirt seems to last a bit longer than the White Lightening one but neither will last much longer than a 50km mountain biking ride. If you want easy to clean then youre going to have to sacrifice longevity. No idea about road.

What bike, what type of riding do you want to do and how much do you weigh?

Easton EC70 Monkeylite Riser bar with Thomson Elite 70mm Stem and matching Silver Thompson Elite Seatpost.

Chamois cream is great, use it for anything longer than a 50km. However, on the extra long rides finding I'm getting bad nipple chafe, tried nipple cream but it doesn't seem to work. Anybody got any useful advice?

Drunk typing?

Taken at Groenkloof with my iPhone 5. No filter.

Taken with my iPhone 5 out the window on the highway, and edited with photoshop mobile.

http://m.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/chris-carmichael/formula-faster-climbing

*30 seconds faster for every five minutes on the ascent. Although I'm assuming there will be some downhill advantage.

For every 2 kg you drop you will be roughly 30 seconds faster on an elevated ride. You really do notice it, I've gained 5kg in the holidays (now 72kg at 1.77m) and my times are already significantly slower even though I've been training throughout. Just too much drinking and Christmas indulgences.

An Epic Tale featuring epic cheat David George.

I think the spacing is different, but I could be wrong.

No it won't work. A 10 speed chain is smaller and wont fit a 9 speed crank. 9 speed chain won't fit a 10 speed cassette or derailleur

Bananas aren't a good idea as they're extremely high GI for fruit. Apple is a much better slow release option and they fair better in the camelbak

I ride 3 plus hours intense riding 5 days a week. Always start with a berry smoothie: Bulgarian yogurt, papaya, fresh strawberries and frozen berries NO honey. Those energy bars are so crammed with preservatives, hydrogenated fats and are usually very high energy, same for most of the "energy" drinks. Unless you've got your weight way down keep the energy drinks for racing you're better off burning the calories. I find I tend to bonk if I don't eat something around two hours, so I usually bring an apple and a handful of unsalted almonds and enjoy the view.

At school level I don't think most of the drive is to have a competitive edge in sports. It's more vanity driven ad about getting as "big" as possible in the quickest time. You see these kids at the gym who in the space of two months double in size, although they still look half the size if the ridiculous trainers. Test everyone I say, it's all cheating.

Agree 100%, you guys put the other LBS's to shame as your online prices are the same as in store and even if more expensive (not always) than CRC I'm happy to support our local online stores.

I'm so sick of bike stores and owners complaining about CRC destroying the industry. Perhaps if our local guys didnt mark up things almost 300% from what CRC can offer I would happily support them, but when everytime I walk into a LBS I am absolutely robbed blind my loyalty wanes. I'm sorry, I understand a bike shop has costs, mechanics and personal service etc, but we would all be so much happier to support local if they weren't colluding to price fix bikes (btw what happened to this case of collusion against fritz Pienaar and cyclelab?) and if their offerings were even vaguely competitive with LBS overseas, and not magnitudes larger they would gain my loyalty rather than repugnant disdain.

Hey man, what Nikon have you got? A lot of the old slr lenses can be used in the newer DSLR's without autofocus but they give fantastic photos.

I'll be there a bit earlier but doing three loops, so you're welcome to join up. I'll be on a black and red stumpjumper.

I rode two loops today, was perfect, just enough mud to have fun in but bike still looks sparkling. Riding a 55km tomorrow morning at Groenkloof, see you guys there

Rocky mountain. Beautiful bike, great handling.