dutchMan

Just re-outfitted all my bikes with campag. Running centaur 2011 Carbon on one and Veloce 2011 on the other. Best feel for ergo lever i have ever had, so so comfy. Am a campag fan, but reckon my observations are shared by lovers and haters alike.

Have a little read http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=863923184&ids=c3kScz8OdzoUb3cQdPgRdzkSe2MQe34PczAPdzwIcj0Pd3kMdjoU&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod-b-ttle-4&ut=0LRmLdMYcPC4Y1 be warned...

I did a cyclo in early June in the vosges region of France. The race was 205km long and had an elevation of 4500m. We climbed 6 mountain passes, of which one of them was and HC (le Grand Balon), the others were 1st and 2nd category climbs. The highest point was 1400m. It is something hard to understand for us Saffa's but when we think of these climbs, although long, we tend to associate them with an Ou kaapse weg or Du toits kloof or something of that nature, alas we are all wrong unfortunately. The only way i can contextualize these things is to say that imagine for every one of the 6 passes i climbed that for approximatley three quarters of each of their lengths i was riding gradients the equivalent of the first 100m of Vissershok, no jokes! Compact and triples are not enough. It took me 47 minutes to climb the final climb to the finish and it was only 5km, although it averaged 10% and was after 9 hours of racing, yes, it took me 9h47m to finish that bastard, i got a silver medal for my efforts and life long emotional and mental scarring. I would recommend that if you love racing and feel a bit like a racer, then don't come ride these mountains in a race. BTW i was over 3 hours behind the winner - hehehehehe (i was also not last)

You can do it, good luck! I did a ride not so long ago in France, the Vosges region, pretty beautiful scenery, and some tough mountains. To cut a very long story short, the final climb was 5km long (very short in comparison to what i had climbed all day) but it was at the end of 205km of racing and 4000m of climbing. The gradient was sadistic, it averaged around 10% for the 5km and took me 47 minutes to climb that 5km. That is more than 9minutes per km. I was well #$%^@ at that time but i did it nonetheless. You can do it. PS: I hate hills

hehehehehe, agreed!

First of all, congratulations on your success thus far! I think the best advice i can offer is to go see a dietician and get a trainer to direct you sensibly. You will hear all kinds of advice on this forum, best to ask the experts.

I have often wondered how the wind compares to CT, It definately does not blow as often here in Holland, but when it blows it can cause some problems

Tipping Mr Fouche as my favourite to win the Argus

Has anyone noticed how well Herman Fouche has been doing since his comeback from suspension, great result in the tour of SA, got a 2nd on stage 1, now wins the first stage of the TDB, what a comeback and well done! I reckon all of us who made the Fouche jokes a while back are eating our shoes atm ......

Thank you Tristan, you have outlined it quite nicely, just to apply it now.

Hi, i am a bit green when it comes to the power thing, but i do train alot, quite alot. My numbers are apparently quite good, considering i only started with power training a few weeks back, but i am getting my ass handed to me overseas, I am not sure what the other guys numbers are here, but is is quite disconcerting when i see guys with pot bellies or old timers (grey hair 50+) and woman still sticking in the bunch when i am shelled off in the first 2 laps. Not sure what to do about it, dunno if the type of training i am doing is suitable for the type of racing, criteriums. What i have definately learn't so far is that in the criteriums technique is almost just as important than the numbers you are getting...

ha ha, it says their were times he cried and now he is becoming a vegetarian, what a hoot! Hope he gets dead wheeled in some strong cross winds and stale muffins in his food bag - BAH! Hope Nibali gives him a hiding at the Giro this year

Yip, gotta agree with the compact, even a triple will be ok and won't be frowned upon. I have never been up those monsters in the Alps, but am scheduled to do so this year. I did a few tough ones here in South Holland and Belguim and they were dam hard, normal crank just won't do, unless you don't like your knees and have good grip on your cleats for when you dismount

Bonked last night on the way home, made it home and stuffed my face with jelly tots, cheese chips and then ate lasagne, also had a nice ice cold glass of coke. I also remember bonking twice quite badly when i was still a teenager. 1:) On the way home from Killarney, bonked so bad i had to stop in edgemead, held on to a light post for the dizzyness to pass. 2:) One afternoon after school, training up tiekie draai, bonked the hell out of myself, got to the top of tiekie draai, had a little lay down, saw black spots even with my eyes closed.

nooit! serious! aaaagh common peeps, what the hell, i would have love to seen some pics, pity! BTW Congratz on your result Thornman! Fantastic!

Where are the photo's of the race, i am dying to see

That is fantastic, keep it up, well done

yeah what exactly is the beef between these two, i have heard this before and was wondering why they don't quite see eye to eye? Was it because Malcolm left the microsoft team to form his own or what?

eeesh i see fireworks looming

hahahaha, dam, busted! If it's any consolation, i do feel bad when i eat it

I, like almost everyone else developed a slow metabolism toward my 30th, now i need to moderate - it sux! I wish i could still pack those burgers, pizza's away without worrying..

Thats actually not a bad idea at all, they have more chance of getting a result, perhaps are more hungry for a result.... What the rest of you think?

Its a tough job trying to please the masses with peanuts After living in Holland now for more than a year i can safely say that things are so much more easier to access here than anywhere else. The support / proper training and development the kids get is phenomenal, now wonder they are setting the stage alight when they become pro and our guys are generally left with questions - why? how? I really wish our athletes could get that kind of backing - they would do so well!

Hey there, i am in a similar boat, also got some similar questions. I have been training for more than 1 year now extremely consistently by way of commuting and one ride / race per weekend. My weekly miles is always in excess of 400km (in snow (-15 degrees is my record lowest training temp), wind, sun, rain - everything), around the 15 hours per week as well My riding is not as structured as yours, i mainly go on how my body feels, for the most part it is generally more tempo in nature with only 1 hard day per week (other than weekend ride). On that day i do 3x15-20minute intervals (get the HR right up there) In Holland that involves putting the bike into the 53x12, and pacing (slow leg spead) into a block headwind. Mon - Fri = 1 hour morning, 1-1.5 hours evening. Sat or Sun = 4-6 hours My ability has gotten better only slightly, so i am also going to be taking on the services of a coach in the next few months to give me more direction with all these wonderful training miles i am doing. The one positive from this past year is that my stamina is amazing, i really struggle with fast pace, but i tire much slower than other riders giving the illusion that i get stronger as the ride continues. For the races i have been doing that has been perfect because they generally are between 4-8 hours of racing and not over the top fast. (30-32 avg) I hardly ever feel tierd anymore from training, dunno what to make of that though ?

Same thing happens to me, i find the start of any ride / race (with eager fit cyclists) sometimes too hard. There are occasions when i don't recover from such an eager start and then the whole ride is ruined. I actually recall having breathing problems way back in the 2004 Burger Sanlam, the start was so rapid that i was off in the first 20km and could only draw shallow breaths - very scary I reckon warming up should help, but sometimes those rides are so explosive from the go that the only real thing that can best prepare you for that is to ride more races to get use to the anaerobic effort required and to have some IMBA fartlek sessions with friends on training rides. If you can hold out during that start phase it will slow down, its usually a reasonably short destructive phase where all the dead wood (myself) so to speak is shaken off.