SeaBee

Unfortunately I have to agree with you there, dracs. PVR'ed the race and remeber sitting down, watching the points gap and thinking he just needs to finish well in the remaining 6 races, no DNF's and it's party-time in both Italy and Spain. Guess Kimi wants to be the last Ferrari WC for another season! Vettel was in a class of his own on the day. Alonso would have finished second to him, closer than Massa, but even he can only do that much. It almost looked like Vettel just paced it to the rest and every now and then just popped in a quick lap to wake himself up - much to the dismay of the race engineers! Hamster really "caught out" Perez - he was veeery slow going into spoon that time around, scary watching oboard. (No I'm not suggesting he did anything delibirate - think he just learned from the previous pass.) Almost looked as if Perez did well not to pull a Shumi and take them both off and instead just beach himself in the kitty litter. Good ride by Kobiyashi, but also by Hulkenberg.

dracs, never had any HR spikes. I get the odd power spike, but it seems that is par for the course for any power meter. But it does make for depressing graphs, if it caters for a 3000w shooter somewhere in the ride and the rest of the line is piddling down theeeere under.

Yeah, all sounds sensible. Maybe just a slight panic attack! Haha, and the last thing about to happen is catch-up training - like I said, my annual leave is coming up... so a planned break from the bike. Sounds more and more like this will be a blessing in disguise and give me proper recovery time. Just take some jogs along the beach to keep/get going. No probiotics, should've thought of that. Usually do, but haven't been (fortunately!) on antibiotics recently, so completely forgot about it. IQ, also have the stiffness. Stretching after yesterday's ride I was nowhere near where I should be and everything felt like it wanted to go no further. And definitely no strength! Dale, still undecided about OneTonner. If it's not howling outside on the morning, I may very well just take it as a training ride, lekker route anyways! If it's even remotely looking like a bad day, I think I'm gonna take the mtb and cruise... I don't see the sense in coming to the end of the 1st 60k section and then already maybe thinking about packing it up. And then rather get going properly after the leave and give the Burger a klap.

Okay, so I've kept reasonable fitness going through winter. Kept training, stayed reasonably healthy with just a few scares here and there. Couple of days before Karoo to Coast I start getting hay fever. Do K2C, hay fever not subsiding. Get hay fever shot about a week on, hear my sinusses are FUBAR and I need a dose of antibiotics to get that sorted. That took about another week or so to get the sinusses sorted. In that time I can understand feeling a bit pap. Also not trained much, one easy outing that weekend. This weekend, feeling like a new man, no issues whatsoever, I get on the bike Sat... and the moment I wanted to give it a bit, there was just nooothing. Now I did have a gentle ride beforehand with a friend and though maybe that was part of the explanation. Yesterday afternoon - even worse! I was farked after a 45k rolling-hills mtb ride on gravel roads. Nothing strenuous, just a miserable bit of wind (hey, it seems summer is coming at last!). How can I go from fit the whole winter to this... pathetic form from one dose of antibiotics?! And more importantly, how do I regain what I had? Base fitness is there, so I assumed I'd be back at it in no time. And lastly... is it even wise to contemplate the weekend's One-Tonner? Or maybe just cruise it as a training ride and if I do it in 6h, the I do it in 6h and don't sweat about the time. The good thing I did note afterwards was HR recovery seems good, so it's nothing major wrong. I just feel like there nothing in the tank. No what?! Fortunately annual leave is coming up - and some break-from-bike time with that. Maybe a good thing?

Mine went the other way. My setup was to over-utilise my quads and the ergofit setup changed this to utilise my hammies and glutes. Felt useless the first couple of rides. Now I don't want it any other way. Stick with it. You're adjusting to the new setup. Furthermore, like canfan said, you're now utilising different muscle groups and it may take a period for them to get up to speed. Just because it's different to what you were used to, it does not make it wrong.

Thanks Rabbit. Was wondering whether that was not meant as a warning for somebody being completely new (even more than me!) to mtb'ing or something. Not rating myself as the most skilled mtb'er out there, but will get there. So it's good to get your feedback...

Let me put it this way - is there a reason anybody would advise me not to get it? And at the moment all I could find was that "nervous" comment, which made me wonder what it was about. As well as any experiences with the bike, etc.

Okay, with a looooong story being cut to the bones, here's my situation. Somehow a Stumpjumper ended (well, currently...) at the top of my shortlist for HT 29er. It obviously has a good rep, good specs and so on. This is the sneaking-in-at-the-basement alu SJ Comp 29er, fwiw. And yes, it is more than what I planned on, but that's the long story and reasonings I cut out! What I think is good on top of that, is the somewhat shorter wheelbase, with me not exactly being towering figure. But then I suspect this is what has lead the Bicycling reviews into the one-liner for low-light "Not for the nervous"... which sort-of makes me somewhat nervous! Or apprehensive or whatever you want to call it. Why that comment? I currently ride a race geo bike and love it, so if that's what the comment is about, no worries here. Over to you: All comments, rants, raves, opinions and donations welcome...

Being in the same boat, I have some questions of my own on this topic. So Mets, if you don't mind me latching on to this thread, it may be beneficial to us both to combine? Started looking around - and one of my biggest questions is CF vs Alu? Is it "safe" to go with carbon on a mtb? Coming down OuWapad descend this weekend, I was wondering whether a carbon frame would take kindle to the rocks kicking up and hitting the downtube, etc on the long run - not even beginning to talk "crash testing" it. Or does warranties cover such an incident - and if so, which manufacturers have a good rep on that? What is the expected price penalty you pay for going carbon with similarly spec'ed bikes of the same brand? E.g. had a look at the Scotts - 940 vs 920. The biggest difference (but for the cf frame) is the wheelset, but the price diffs on the two (esp percentage-wise) is quite significant. It may just be at that shop, so just asking... Just looking at e.g. Stumpies on the Spez site, only one alu frame, rest of the models are all carbon... so I'm seriously confused. (No haven't even begin enquiring about their prices... nor the GT's, nor the <insert any 5 other brand-names here!>) Simply starting to do some homework and wondering.

My stomach goes in a knot at the thought of eating anything solid past 1:30, maybe 2h into a race. So will eat a bar until then and then klap the gels more or less hourly and jelly babies (love them!) inbetween.

Agreed with this - super ride and I will be back for sure. Peter, don't know where you started, but the problems start early on. I started in 2nd group and you're forced to ride at the stream ahead of you's tempo... until somebody looses it 2 ahead of you on some loosenes (and good grief, I'm a "dirt roadie" and never felt i was close to any issues ito difficulty! ) and you're forced to walk for a while till you find a gap in the stream. (But maybe I'm just overly polite in that sense.)

Naah, was thinking about it, but think I'm passing on it. Gonna do the One Tonner, though. Actually feel okay, just the hay fever symptoms and sinuses. Want to stop it before it completely wreaks havoc with the bit of fitness I've maintained (tried to maintain! ) through winter.

By the time they get to testing me, they'll have given the yellow jersey to somebody else who uses something stronger! But yeah, I suspect that's the path the doc's going to suggest/take as well. I try to stay clear of them, but this one is seee-riiii-ously starting to go south. Want to stop it before chest infection (which I suspect is already starting). Already threw the whole medicine cupboard at it. (Haha, so I'm most likely already positive for something... )

Saddle - I'd agree on that! My two best buys: Ergofit/-max bike setup and mtb skills course.

My asc values varies depending on which software I upload the same Garmin file to. But mostl agree on rondabouts 1700-odd. Still struggling with the same hay fever, going to the doc today. Starting to go into my chest now, sinuses feel lekker vrot. BTW, I gave a couple a lift from the guest farm we were on just outside De Rust. We found a racetec chip whilst packing. So if you suspect it's yours, PM me and we can make a plan. You would have been traveling there in a Hilux next to a 6-y/o girl who crashed her bike over the weekend... (I do remember your names, but since this is a public forum I won't tell any more!)

Same here, very happy. And in terms of accuracy - I felt on K2C I could not deliver power (due to my back spasm). Values afterwards showed exactly that - I spent my entire day below threshold! Most waaayyy below. So whatever the muti is in the transponder - it's good enough for me and I'm one very happy chap with the product. And like I said earlier, the good thing is, I just strap it on and no worries which bike I pick, I have the same device working on the same principles.

You can also call them and arrange for it to be picked up at registration of your first event. Think I will do that and get my number at One Tonner. Note to self: remember to take pins along! I am actually not sure, but suspect the numbers aren't being mailed out by default, but you have to do it the above way...

it was done to help us distinguish between him and Button! Why the heck would you go and do a "special design" on your helmet that looks so much like your team-meate's at a very quick glance. Also not easy to see whether the top section is red or blue... not well thought out. Missed a lot of the race, having PVR'ed it whilst away for K2C. Watched last night after returning, soooo did not see everything... these darned heavy eyelids! But to me it seems Michael is really starting to turn this into a habbit...

Hey fandacious - awesome time! I'd have done that bike much more justice by spending much more quality time with her! (I see you fled before I could get to you...) Good going - keep it up!

Condolences to the friends and family who lost a beloved. It's just tragic. (FWIW - We also went past the scene and it was nowhere near 14:30. It was horrible to see.) Had the most horrible of hay fevers (well, still have it!) from Thursday night, my ears were fully blocked and my nose burning as soon as we hit the dirt. Still my ride started off fine. Stuck to the guys and then coming down Ou Wapad, I felt my back tweaking (had a bad lower back spasm during the week and wondered if I even should ride). It felt okayish, went on and then I hit the next climb... Ja well, that was - as the song goes - the day the music died. I felt like crying all the way up to WP2. From there on I climbed slooowly (usually a good enough climber) and watched people pass me that should have never been able to pass me - well, not going uphill, anyways! I just wanted to get to the next water point... and then the next. Up the climb towards the 55/60k WP, I started feeling better and stuck to the people around me. There I met a buddy - and he was in worse shape than me. We went to the medics and decided there and then we're going home together. From there on my whole ride changed. I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself and not enjoying it, thinking about time lost and not seeing the beauty around me. Big lesson in priorities for me - there are much more important things than "a good time". Suddenly I was in a role of a stronger rider (the fact that I began to win my own battles shortly before that helped) and could really relax and enjoy the ride from there on in. It was awesome! And man, it felt great to cross the finish line together after that. Solidly on the last page of our starting group, but we made it. Such a special event, the most stunning and vastly different views. I will be back for another dose! BTW, question of the day - does anti-histamines jack up your HR?! My original plan was to ride on HR but soon saw my HR through the roof with very little effort. But was obviously overdosed on anti-histamines just to try and not make the newspaper headlines for sneezing myself off the bike!

ja-ja, rub it in... At this rate I'll liberate that new bike (fandacious will be fast asleep by the time I rock up at the end of K2C!) and panelbeat it into my size.

Sorry, hope they cleanup up the drool I left on it! Man, that is just theee greatest looking bike I've seen in ages. Saw it in the corner and just immediately walked over. It just... spoke to me! And no, I haven't even ridden one... Enjoy!!

Ja, the last bit of the One-Tonner... I may end up doing this just to see what it looks like while I can still semi-focus... Was stuffed at the end of the One-Tonner last year... but then, so was most of the people around me! Also, just to get back on the road bike again some time before One-Tonner.

Dose, mate, dose! I have a lower back spasm from héll. Chiro helped out yesterday afternoon. But he was not lying when he said it will get worse before it gets better. I am hoping like crazy he's spot on about the second part as well. The way I'm feeling now, I'll struggle to make the car trip there, let alone the bike trip once there! Haven't had this in aaages, now of all times... (but it could have happened as we were packing up to go!) Stay healthy - see you there!

I am sad to say I saw one yesterday, lost a bit of my heart... and it's a large, I think I'd be better fit on a medium. CycleLab at Somerset Mall. Right on your doorstep! Freakin stunning bike, if it was a medium I'd have been crying.