Butterbean

Anyone know who/where I could go to get my assos bibs repaired? They’re 8 years old and have served me well, still fit great and work perfectly, but on a recent muddy ride I must have got some grit or something caught near the gooch, and with many kms on this abrasive paste, I have a little patch of missing Lycra under the pad. I emailed the team at Vye but no response, so seeing if anyone knows who could put a small patch in the bibs? CT is first prize but I don’t mind shipping if necessary.

I started riding seriously around 10 years ago. I had a rep job so could train and race regularly, and while nowhere even close to fast, I could ride far and lost a good bit of weight doing so. a few years back my job changed and I travelled a lot. Covid happened, and a new job means even more travel - I spend about half the month away from home, all in different locations around SA and the SADC region. I’ve lost my fitness and gained a lot of weight. Currently over 20kgs heavier than I should be, and while i can jump on the bike and ride a good 50-60kms without completely dying, I’m not finding any chance to build fitness or lose those kgs. a health scare with a bad cholesterol reading has made me take things seriously - I’ve changed my diet as best as I can, and got back on the bike when home. But my struggle is - what to do when I travel? I don’t have consistency in gyms, and travelling with a bike is next to impossible with the work I do. anyone out there have some ideas and advice to build and maintain some form of fitness going forward? I will be attempting to keep travel trips to Tuesdays - Thursdays in the week, but not sure if inactivity during those days will massively hinder my progress. Any help is appreciated!

Um, unless you’re insured, it’s a very expensive accident that. repairing carbon rims is almost a no go in most situations. Repairing carbon rims with an alu brake track is worse. if you’re insured, claim and replace. If not, sell the good wheel and salvage the hub, and replace when you can.

I had to resort to bringing one in myself from the UK... Sold it here a couple years back now... Good luck with the search, they are out and about.

Yeah this sounds more like a car issue than the rack. I've seen many racks can sag slightly from the weight of the bikes when fukky loaded, but the towbar moving itself is an issue and you'll wanna get to a service centre to assist you in sorting it out. Will likely be a quick and easy fix, but there are some cheap or pirate towbar fittings that exist and you don't want to be dealing with those at all.

I hate specialized but their saddle range is just too good. They have a fot for everyone. Go to your local spez dealer, wear your bike shorts, and sit on their assometer. Once you have the width, they can recommend some shapes to suit your body and riding style, and will generally let you buy the saddle to test and allow refunds for those that don't work. So buy one, try it, bring it back and try a few more. They also have trick little saddle attachments so I'm a big fan of their range. Worth the money.

Another vote for anatomic, they have regular human sizes.

I have a free entry for anyone who needs it, you must handle the transfer. WhatsApp me on 0728622805.

No. Obscuring your headlights will be the biggest issue that you won't be able to get around without major modification. If you need the rear towbar, get roof racks.

The Mavics. But they cost a little more on the maintenance end, but they're lighter and stiffer, have better hubs.

Ypu could use a heart rate monitor as a stop gap until you get a PM. Heart rate will usually correlate to power oj most days, but affected by factors like sleep, recovery, and caffeine and medication can affect it. Its still a good enough indicator. Do an ID session, and note rhe heartrate zones you're in while in various power zones. On the road, you use this as a guide. Power meters measure immediately, but HR monitors will take a few seconds to catch up to the effort, so get used to this too.

Yeah i got roof racks because trailer, and bike always arrives clean. It can also leave dirty without worry, which was a pain when packing it in the car. Plus, with towing, no chance of stones bouncing off the trailer and hitting bikes, so all round happy!

Did this ride earlier this year - as a normie, it was the longest ride done for me, but was brilliant. The motos coming up Franschoek Pass nearly deafened me, the asses, but otherwise a spectacular drive. We were sound of mind enough to get a friend to drive a support car behind us for the n2 stretch out of Somerset West and up SLP, to Grabouw. After that he played feeding station. Was perfect! Would i do it without the vehicle? Not likely unless in a big group...

Yeah but just cause you can do something, doesn't mean you should. You could likely drive to Cairo in a polo, but id rather have a landcruiser since they're widely available. That being said, the tourde France was for many many years a gravel race, you know, before the roads were paved... So roadies have been doing this since inception...