Jehosefat

Theoretically from Europe: R7,500 in duty and about R9,500 in VAT. (15% duty and 15% VAT on 110% of the shipment value (so effectively 16.5% VAT)). Practically, you might end up paying that or you might end up just paying R8,250 in VAT. Really depends on which customs official you get and whether they decide it's a complete bike or if it's bike parts (only applicable if it's at least partially disassembled for shipping). I've had both approaches happen to me both on complete Canyon bikes so it's a bit of a lottery.

My tapering is usually 2 weeks with the rides keeping the same intensity but working down to about 1/2 to 1/3 of the time of my full training.

Yeah, I'm pretty jealous that my GF is in Group 1... Group 3 for me is not too bad though should be done around 13:00 to 13:30

Vitality don't care what the workout is. They are only interested in how long it is and what your average heart rate is. So as long as your heart rate is above 70% of (220 - age) and you ride for at least 30 minutes you will get points.

Also hoping Durban happens but I don't have a lot of faith unfortunately Still training flat out though

You should be able to just replace the shifter and derailleur. I'd keep a Shimano chain on the Shimano cassette though (although it's not strictly necessary it should provide better shift quality).

Let me preface this by saying I'm a pretty average runner. I have found that a higher cadence has helped with all the ITB issues I used to get. That said my cadence and stride length change depending on how fast I'm running. Relatively easy runs (6 - 7 min/km) I'll usually do at about 170-175 spm (and whatever the associated stride length is, about 0.9 - 1m iirc). If I'm pushing it in a TT (lets say 5km at 4:30/km) my cadence is closer to 185 spm and my stride length averages out to about 1.2-1.3m. In summary, I don't think you can look at them in isolation (and absolute pace will play a major role as well).

Just got a set of Rincon 2's and I've only done about 50km in them so far but they are much lighter, feel a lot more padded and faster than the Saucony's (I've had a few pairs of the Freedom ISOs) that I've been running in for the last 2 years. Granted, the longest run I've done in them is about 12km so I can't comment on how they work for long runs (that said, the longest run I'm planning on doing is a half marathon).

You've obviously never been to Fourways boet. They are UFC befok

Agree, two batteries is way better than one even if they are slightly smaller. Luckily I've already got a few of the Bosch 18v batteries so I'm not too concerned about this bundle only having one.

The Bosch that is on special does have a hammer function according to the Bosch website: https://www.bosch-professional.com/za/en/promotion/06019F83K6 I just pulled the trigger on one this morning from Top Dog. Was getting over having to whip out the Rotary Hammer every time I wanted to put a small hole in a wall

I run 30mm DTSwiss E1700s (350 hubs and E532 rims) on my Enduro bike with 2.4" DHR IIs front and back. On the XC bike I have 25mm DT Swiss XR391s laced to 240s (thanks Nick) with 2.35" Ikons front and back (I'll throw a Forekaster or Ardent on the front sometimes if I'm doing a more technical ride) Both sets work well for their intended purposes.

4 Tattoo, Cruise, Arrested and Skydiving. Not keen on either a tattoo or a cruise, been pretty close to being arrested once and I'll get round to skydiving at some point.

Only problem with this approach is that the seller can not accept better offers then which is also unfair (or is forced to sell to someone who may have a lot of additional admin like having to take the item to a bike shop for a once-over as opposed to selling it to someone who would come and see it for themselves). Price is not the only determining factor when it comes to selling an item so I don't agree with this suggestion at all.

It hurts my soul

Nope, I've got a MaxxGrip DHRII with the Exo casing (not even Exo+) on the front of my enduro bike. It's the tyre that came with the bike.

Theoretically yes, you should change it. Practically it's unlikely to make a difference unless your chain was already a bit short on the old setup.

There is nothing "fun" about time trials... Nearly vomited on myself on Wednesday Did set a new 5k PB though

But I'm not a morning person. My alarm going off in the morning stresses me out

The PCR test for COVID has something like a 30% false negative rate i.e. 30% of people who actually have COVID will get a negative result on the test. Not sure if this is impacted by having symptoms or not.

It was postponed to August. No longer this month.

Put the chain on your current chainring and check before installing everything else. It seems to be chainring dependent. I've heard of people being able to use their current chainring but my one would not fit at all (XT M8100 chain on M8000 NW 1x chainring). And changing the quicklink would not have helped.

If swimming is your issue then Trinity or Redhub are pretty much the same. Both pretty chilled dam swims, both 1 lap for the sprint and 2 laps for the Olympic. The bike and run at Redhub are way harder though (hillier bike and "trail" run as opposed to both being super flat at Trinity). The next one is only on the 17th of Jan (Trinity) or 31st Jan (Redhub) and both usually allow entries up to a few days before so as other people have mentioned, hop in the pool as much as possible between now and then and see how the swimming fitness progresses before deciding between the Sprint or Olympic). As far as swimming in a bunch is concerned, you really don't have to. I was a super nervous swimmer (still not great because I had to take a few months off swimming after separating my shoulder in a MTB incident) and you can just start towards the back and take it easy/ stay wider around the buoys and avoid other swimmers. Obviously this approach is not going to win you the race but it's a good way to get into it and get more comfortable. I would also recommend hiring a wetsuit and hoping that the water is cool enough for it to be a wetsuit legal swim. Swimming in a wetsuit is way, WAY easier.

Nope, the site explicitly notes that the price excludes shipping, duties and VAT:

Technically 16.5% VAT (15% on 110% of the value).