Jehosefat

Also in AL for some unknown reason (last time I was in AL was Berge en Dale and I got dropped on the first hill ) I'm basically planning on hanging on desperately as long as I can.

So I did my first half-marathon yesterday (Wally Hayward in Pretoria) which was the longest run I've ever done by almost exactly 7km. First 12km or so were lekker, had a bit of a "Why am I doing this to myself? I'm sick of here!" moment around 12-13km in but then I pulled myself towards myself and it was lekker again until about 19km at which point everything from my waist down started hurting. Finished in 2:08:30 which I was really happy with but today my calves are f**ked, can barely walk. At least I know I'll be able to finish the run at Ironman 70.3 in a month's time

That's not entirely their fault. There is a 45% (or somewhere in that range) import duty on clothing and then 15% VAT on top of that amount. So an effective 66.75% of the purchase price goes directly to SARS and the shipping company is just a collection agent for this cash.

in my experience this happens when you bleed the brake but don't fill the oil reservoir in the lever completely before closing it all up. Then you end up with a little air bubble in the reservoir that gets into the system when the lever is below the caliper. Putting in the reservoir cap should squeeze out a bit of oil to make sure there in no air in it.

if you can swim in a pool for an hour you can do a sprint triathlon (I assume you do about 2500-3000m in the hour). Just start at the back of the bunch so people don't swim over you and take it easily at your own pace. Worst case, you can flip over and do backstroke for a bit (I did this in my first triathlon) and there are plenty of life guards on paddle boards etc. As far as the wetsuit goes, I did the April Redhub triathlon last year without a wetsuit and it was cold but not unreasonable (although I think it was a few weeks earlier). That said, I would definitely recommend getting a wetsuit because it is obviously warmer but it also makes the swim much easier because you are far more buoyant. You don't need to buy one, a lot of places allow you to rent a wetsuit and if you then buy it the rental amount is seen as a deposit. (fluidlines.co.za , troisport.com as well as others). A trisuit is also not strictly necessary but it does save a lot of time being able to do all 3 sports in the same outfit (You don't want to swim or run in a normal pair of bibs). Also there weren't any changing facilities in the transition area last time I did a triathlon so that could get pretty awkward. As a final note, don't be worried about the swim, for a sprint it's really not bad and you can always backstroke it for a while if you have to (just be sure to check that you are still heading in the right direction reasonable frequently unlike me, I got stopped by one of the life guards and told I was heading in the wrong direction at one point )

Depends on the bike: L - Canyon Ultimate XL - Scott Spark XXL - Silverback Space

Fair point. I took the "on your Spark" to mean "while riding your Spark".

I have the 2017 910 and I use a CamelBak (which is apparently a really unpopular option, I thought that at least one person would have mentioned it by now)

I was one of the guys who got shot out the back of my group... Stuck with them until just after Muizenberg then I got caught behind a crash and watched them disappearing into the distance/wind. Spending 20 minutes sitting at the picnic spot on Chappies waiting for a bike marshal after puncturing all my spares and using all my CO2 bombs didn't help my time either (although I did take almost 1 minute off my PB up Suikerbossie... Benefits of being well rested)

That's basically every race I have ever done. If you start earlier than the last group and make all the cut-offs you will be allowed to finish but if you take longer than the last group is allowed you won't get an official time. I'm pretty sure that's a standard thing in races...

Super tough ride. Started in 1F and the okes in front pulled hard. Caught 1E and D by Muizenberg / Kalk bay then I got caught behind an accident and went on my lonesome all the way through Simonstown (after burning a ton of matches trying to catch the group). Got a small group together up Smitswinkel and all the way to Chappies. Punctured at the bottom of Chappies then I obviously didn't manage to find what had caused the puncture because the second tube I put in was flat by time I got to the picnic area on the way down into Hout Bay. Then my second, and last, spare tube exploded as soon as I pumped the CO2 bomb into it. Ended up sitting at the picnic area for about 15 minutes before one of the bike marshal guys came past and he thankfully had a spare tube and a pump. On the plus side I was really fresh for Suikerbossie after sitting around for so long Ended up with a 3:56 (with a total riding time of only 3:30ish)

Got me some flats and FiveTens yesterday. Now I need to learn how to ride flats again after being on cleats for years...

1F for me, nice improvement over 2something last year. Think I may have to wheel-suck a lot because I have not done as much riding as I should have since the 94.7

To change topic slightly, have anyone's points to miles been applied/credited yet?

I do find that the wrist based heart rate lags pretty badly when you are doing short intervals (on an IDT in this case) compared to the chest strap. Using a Forerunner 935 for the wrist HR and a Edge 820 with chest strap.

I've been so lazy since the 94.7 that I think I'll have a heart attack if I try to do a proper ride again now. My TSS for the last 7 weeks: 25 194 0 182 160 240 302 /cries

Yeah, I was talking about the road one that is on the same date as the triathlon.

Eish, same day as the Fast One... Tough choice to be made

Do you feel equally passionately about bonsai trees and almost any plants in pots that cannot grow to their full size? I hope so, otherwise you are really full of ****...

Got a puncture on the on-ramp so I lost the group. At first I was trying to catch the group that passed me while I was changing the tube but that wasn't happening by myself so then I decided I would just go until I was caught by the next group. Picked up a bunch of stragglers (and some of the AM riders) but managed to stay ahead of the (I think it would be EL or FL) group all the way to the end. Problem was none of the stragglers or AM riders wanted to do a turn on the front with the exception of one guy who would hop on the front for 30 seconds to 1 minute then pull off and leave me on the front again. Then half the bunch attacked as we came back into the city (bastards).

Yeah, I had the points for the Tshwane Classic on Sunday evening already. I was shocked.

Yeah, the climb was brutal. From the start of the concrete I averaged 3.8w/kg at 62rpm to go at basically 10km/h. Didn't have any more in my legs after sitting on the front for almost the whole way back in on the freeway.

Even last year it was only around 93km (supposed to be 98 as well)

Punctured on the on-ramp to the freeway and lost the group. Ended up picking up a fairly big group as I passed people on the way back in but they all seemed happy to let me pull the whole way Was aiming for a 2:40 - 2:45, ended up with a 2:50 which I'm pretty happy with considering I rode almost half the race with no group and had to stop and fix a puncture.

had to manually submit for Amashova points and the Carnival City Road race but got the MTB race points automatically... Seems a bit hit and miss to be honest.