SeaBee

Hey, you're telling me not to be a pansie and then you do the 35?! Anyways, just entered - 55k's here I come! I suspect the valley of Afkukia awaits me.

So you're saying it more of the same?! I may curse myself for this after 20 k's, but then I'll go for the full monty. Will most likely suffer a bit, but what the heck! Thanks for the feedback. If you see someone pushing downhill, smile and wave as you pass, that may be me! hayleyearth, can't you upgrade to the other route?

I changed a couple of small things after hibernation last winter - worked well enough for me, so use it, don't use it. (I am by no means an expert.) Water only on rides under 2hours. No recovery drinks unless you had a really hard ride and then needed something to be able to ride the next day. Don't always ride mountains - I lost a lot when I started riding flat routes (basically when road season started) - where your intensity is not as high as climbing, but you maintain your intensity for the entire ride. Off the bike, I cut down on two things: I changed my morning snack from rusks(? - beskuit) to pro-vitas and I drank less alcohol. Also drank some more water during the day. Did nothing more and made a big difference. Did not have all that much to loose, but still... principals are the same.

In my mind (a weird and wonderful place) you should definately have some slow sessions and some hard session. But LSD (slow) are looong rides and low HR. Ride with slower people and have a lekker chat along the way, ride slowly on your own and enjoy the view, keep HR inder zone 3 and cadence high. Good for vase, good for weighless. Can't do that alone, though. You need interval sessions, you need hill/mountain (depends on what grows in your area) climbing, you hard sessions of different distances and routes, you need race-length rides (both hard and slow), if you're mtb'ing you need to train tech stuff.... the list goes on. But make up your mind before you go out what your mission on the day is and stick to it. Most importantly - enjoy it! Whether you ride to puke or to smell the flowers, go enjoy it! There's pleasure in just riding and not giving a hoot about people coming past. There's pleasure in the pain knowing it'll rewards you at a later stage.

Stupid question... The 35 is said to be not very technical - so as pretty much "a roadie on a mtb" this should be suitable for me, I presume. How's the 55? The same technically-wise, just more climbing? Or is it more technical? (Keep in mind what "technical" means for a roadie-on-mtb-types!) Seriously contemplating entering, but don't want to klap my name with a plank. (I do that often enough without having to drive to De Doorns for it! ) And please be honest! I don't mind doing the 35 rather than the 55 if I am going to have to walk half the way because of technical sheet... Don't mind the extra climbing, it's the rideability thereof that concerns me. I think I just klapped my name with a plank anyways asking this... so what's new?!

Aah, so it's not just me be baffled with "LSD" being thrown in between "35 km" and "fast averages" and comparative HR's.

Cool, thanks! Suspected it to be the case - and then got thinking - always dangerous... Nope, I'm perfectly fine, just a bit of allergy sinus - that time of year, fortunately passing. So no worries there!

Try spraying some Q20 on the spring area, worked for me. Where previously I struggled to clip out, it's very quick and easy now. Disclaimer: I am not a pedal expert, so at own risk! But did it on a whim and worked fine for me, otherwise I was heading for other pedals anyways...

So it's obviously a bad idea to train with the flu in your system... So can one train after getting a flu shot - and if not, for how long? Or is it not worth worrying and it's business as usual?

Already done, thanks! Will rather be utilising the change room!

"Comfy clothes"...? Would jeans and tekkies cut it?! Interested - work in TechnoPark, so I'll most likely be able to stroll up there on the Friday. Fitness not what it should be at this stage, though...

Had a quick look at it last night - from where can you import? Only other iDurance exports? Or is there an easy way to import history of say this year from other files? Have it both in Garmin and Excel formats - but not with the nutritional (nice touch that! ) info for each ride. Otherwise I'll just have to use the excel file and do a truckload of copy and pasting to at least get some history. BTW, there was one field I could not figure out what it was for - and now I have to try and remember! Something like ET...? What's that for?

Used the Argus training plan. But ja, coming home when dusk to see "Oh wait, a 2 hour ride awaits" - and then only ride 2 hours as well on one weekend day just did not make me follow the plan very strictly. But very good motivator and it definitely did help to vary training and keep tabs of the perceived fitness level.

Wolfjas, I ride a 2010 Merida 96 3000 D. Don't know if/how they changed to now. And no idea about the Scott. But though I love mine, take it for a ride first. Apparently a lot of people do not like the geometry on the bike and ends up selling it. Like I said, I love mine! My advise is anyways to take bikes for a ride first and decide. One will speak to you! (Bugger the specs.) That said, I'm not the most experienced mtb'er out here.

Before buying anything, give your existing SPD's a quick squirt of Q20 from both sides (top and bottom). I really struggled to unclip before, was contemplating new pedals, so figured nothing to loose and did that on a whim. Now unclipping smooth as anything - without any other adjustment! Somebody with more knowledge will most likely moér me for this advise, but they were about to be replaced anyways, so much did I struggle to unclip! A year on and I still have no issues.

Only reason I haven't tried my "goodie bag versions" in the cupboard is that I've been told that the original flavour is a very good imitation of cardboard flavour. Should maybe try one over the weekend (time to get over it!) and lace it with a bit of honey.

Early mornings on weekends and once a week after work I hit the gym bikes. In the summer I tended to try and put in a short session on the mountain once a week after work as well. What can I say? I'm not a pro, so more training is taking away family time. Furthermore, I work out of town. So before work is a no-go, and I think there's about 3 months where there's some light left after work by the time I pitch up at home. And family is also why I go at it early (mostly - except when mrs works and I have to sit "the shorty"). Wake up early anyways. Mostly I'm back (unless it's a pre-planned looong ride) before they've even gotten out of their jamies. So no interruptions and if there's an outing, I can go along.

I agree with Agteros. To strengthen this, I've read an article by Ross Tucker as well, that confirms it. You do burn more fat percentage-wise in low zones, which is good and learns you to usilise those stores. But even though the percentage you burn decreases, the total amount you burn increses as you up it - but only to a point. Then it simply becomes too slow a source of energy. And thus moderate intensity is much better than low.

Kry vir jou sommer SportTracks terwyl jy nou grafietjies wil dophou...

In short... No. My and MJ's are perfect examples of how incorrect any formula is - he gets nowhere close to it, I go way over it. And like we both said, it's not indicative of a better athlete, either way. Either go for an official test (which is expensive) or find it through riding and seeing (Find hill, ride hard, repeat...) It is also an approximation, since you protect yourself and never really push that hard that you reach your true max. But at least it's a good indication.

Helloise, first off - age-based HR max values are complete rubbish and very much generalisation. E.g. my HR max according to the age based formulas is more or less where (in reality) my zone 4 starts. Somehow my heart just has the ability to reach a high max. This makes me no better or worse an athlete than the next guy, who will maybe never be able to reach his age-based formula HR max. All your other zones (such as the 156 spat out to you) are deducted from the max (and the resting, if using Karvonen) values. So having an accurate max is critical. You must either be willing to cough your lungs up in a test - or ride hard and see where your real max is over time. One thing I have found is - esp if you look at graphs for HR - the quickest I can see if my fitness is returning after illness or other layoff, is to watch my HR recovery rates. If you go hard and you HR remains there a while after the effort, no worries. But soon you'll see yourself going up that hill, HR going to the same region, but you see your HR dropped to say zone 3 very quickly - that's a good sign.

Don't want to stir an already healthily going broth - but what discrepancies?! You rode the time you rode. Heck, for once we had nice weather on Argus and a lot of us improved PB's - are we now (again) going to get penalised for going faster like with the 99er?!

I was very impressed Cape Storm - and still like them. But when CL opened up above Tiger Valley, they had a sale and I got two Giordana's for under R700 each, think it was R500-range - clueless as to which model. I do all my funrides (I won't call what I do "racing" ) in them now! Super stuff. But it's a very personal choice.

They use your best results to seed you. So the fact that I suck at MTB because I pretty much just do it for fun (whilst hoping like héll I don't stuff my hip again falling over like the clumsy idiot I apparently am) don't affect my "real" (road) seeding. In my case last year's Burger MTB does not feature on my races with any weight for the seeding, so it should be the same for everybody.

Aaah, sorry... thought you meant there's a trail in TechnoPark! Mind you, riding out to Spier and back is better for lunchtime or after work entertainment than most other things around here! Will check around...