Innholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2019 i Bicycling South Africa

Bulging, carved quads are like flashing neon signs announcing that you’re a cyclist, and you’ve come to kick some ass. And those diamond-cut cannons are more than just aesthetically pleasing in your spandex. The four muscles collectively called the ‘quads’ or quadriceps muscles are the primary movers when you push through the pedal stroke – so stronger quads equals more watts. “Cycling is a power sport,” says David Ertl, PhD, a USA Cycling Level 1 Coach. “You need leg strength to crank out power. That means building all the muscle fibres you can. “If you can get 10 or 20 per cent stronger than the next guy or girl, you won’t fatigue as quickly, and you’ll have that much more in reserve when you need to give a burst up…

NUUN SPORT HYDRATION A range of hydration prducts and energy tablets. Plant-based, safe and fast-acting, for your pre-, during and post-training needs, Nuun has you covered. CADENCE MARATHON More sustained energy delivery and hydration. Improved recovery and performance. Marathon is a drink for endurance racing, stage racing and periods of high training loads. TAILWIND CAFFEINATED ENDURANCE FUEL Research shows substantial endurance benefit from caffeine in the 3-5mg/kg concentration range. Tailwind has that, and meets all your caloric, hydration and electrolyte needs. SKRATCH LABS SPORT HYDRATION Formulated with the optimal sugar/ sodium balance, this mix enhances water absorption by actively ushering the fluid out of your intestine and into your bloodstream. MAURTEN DRINK MIX 320 This carbohydrate sports drink converts to a hydrogel in your stomach for a smoother transition to…

1 / WAHOO ELEMNT ROAM / R6 999 Smarter navigation routes you back on course whenever you detour – intentionally or not. 2 / RAPHA CARGO BIB SHORTS / R3900 PLUS IMPORT DUTY A chamois designed for all-day riding, plus leg and rear mesh pockets. 3 / LEZYNE SV-10 MULTI TOOL / R550 The durable stainless steel tools cover all essential repairs, including a broken chain. 4 / SEALAND MOON RETRO / R750 Made from upcycled yacht sail! Sealand keeps the environment front and centre, alongside inspired functional designs and longevity.…

1 / FOX FACTORY 36 GRIP2 / This version of Fox’s trail fork has the highly adjustable GRIP2 damper. With four-way damping adjustment (high- and low-speed compression and rebound), GRIP2 requires more time to dial in, but pays off with nearly unmatched performance. 2 / MRP RIBBON COIL / Nothing beats the sensitivity of acoilspring fork. MRP’s Ribbon Coil provides that sensitivity, but adds air-spring-like adjustable progression so the rider can dial in his or her preferred feel. Another unique tuning feature: Travel is adjustable from 140mm to 160mm in one-millimetre increments. 3 / DVO DIAMOND / Every time I ride DVO’s forks, I come away impressed. They take a bit more time and effort to dial in, but they offer…

Nick Squillari is the cycling shoe’s biggest cheerleader. Apodiatrist and longtime cyclist, he was always a fan of the footwear, but he took his love public in 2015. The Australian was searching Instagram for anyone as dedicated to shoes, but he came up empty. “We’ve got two million cycling kit Instagram pages,” he says. “Why isn’t there one for the cycling shoes?” So he created VeloKicks to unite and celebrate the bike world’s shoe-crazy community. At first Squillari featured any shoes that caught his eye, but he began to uncover a globe-spanning subculture dedicated to customisation. “I unearthed a couple of people using decals, a couple of people painting them,” says Squillari. “And then it just avalanched.” Now the 62,000-follower feed serves as the platform for custom shoe companies, designers,…

“LOOK, DAD!” MY SON URGED AS WE ROUNDED THE BEND ONTO THE COBBLES OF THE CHAMPS-ELYSÉES. And there I was, riding up cycling’s most famous road, closed for the occasion, with my cycling-mad son. No cars, no mad cabs, no wandering pedestrians – just a pelaton of cyclists. // AS WE SLOWED, TAKING IN THE MOMENT, I AM REMINDED THAT IN JUST OVER 24 HOURS, THE WORLD’S GREATEST CYCLISTS WOULD BE HURTLING ALONG THESE SAME COBBLES AT OVER 50KM/H TO THE CHEERS OF OVER A MILLION SPECTATORS. BUT TODAY, IT BELONGED TO US– ORDINARY RIDERS LIVING A DREAM. // THE ROAD RISES MORE STEEPLY THAN IT APPEARS ON TV AS IT MAKES ITS WAY TOWARDS THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE. We don’t get to ride all the way round around the…

1 / SINGLE-LEG PEDALLING Your rectus femoris is the quad muscle that runs straight down the front of your thigh and helps flex your hip – i.e. to pull up and push down the pedals. A great way to work it, along with your other hip flexors – and get a silkier pedal stroke in the process – is a single-leg pedalling drill. “Most people can pedal with one leg for only about 30 seconds before they fatigue, as the hip flexors are neglected when you use both legs. Because the leg pushing down is always pushing the other back up,” says Ertl. How to Do This: Sit on an indoor trainer with one foot clipped in and the other unclipped and propped on a chair or stool.…

If I’m going on a ride long enough that I’ll need to bring food, I prefer my mom’s raspberry bars over packaged energy snacks. I’ll make a pan full, wrap them in wax paper, and share them with friends on the ride. Here’s the recipe. Ingredients 1 cup brown sugar, packed ¾ cup (175g) unsalted butter, softened 1½ cups all-purpose flour 1½ cups oats 1 tsp. salt ½ tsp. baking soda 1 jar (280-340g) raspberry (or other) preserves, warmed (20-30 seconds in the microwave will do it) 1. Heat the oven to 200°C. Grease and flour a 22x33cm (or similar) baking dish. 2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium, cream the butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the…

As Bicycling US’s gear editor, I’m expected to have all the answers – or be able to find them. But every once in awhile, something comes along that flummoxes me. Not because I don’t understand how it works, but because it’s not immediately clear to me if it’s actually better – or if it just took a wildly different path to get to the same result. The newly-released Trust Performance Message trailing-suspension fork is one of those products. Rather than having smaller-diameter upper tubes that slide into larger-diameter lower tubes, the way most telescopic suspension forks work, the Message suspends the wheel on a linkage – one link above the axle, one below. Trust claims, among other benefits, better suspension performance, sharper steering, and improved stability. But evaluating suspension forks…

But I couldn’t tell you today where that bike tips the scale. I never cared. It never mattered to me. It never mattered to Dario, either. He told me once why he believed that – or at least, he told me one of the reasons he believed that. There were, I know, many. The one we talked about that time was this: “How a bicycle feels to a rider cannot be quantified. But frame weight is easy to measure, so it’s made a big deal of. A bike is about 10 per cent of the total mass of the rider and bike. The frame is about 2 per cent. I think it might not make much sense to think so much, and to have so much reputation depend on reducing…

This is not a cycling jacket per se, but it’s an absolute godsend on a frozen winter’s morning when you arrive for a race and you have to wait around for an hour in the pre-sunrise chill. Likewise, it will be your best friend at the end of a long, hard stage when your focus is on recovering for the next day. The Micro Puff delivers the best warmth-to-weight ratio of any jacket that Patagonia has ever made. It’s almost unbelievable how light this jacket is. Don’t leave it unattended with the south-easter blowing – it might float away! It’s not filled with down, but with an environmentally friendly synthetic alternative called PlumaFill, which is just as featherlight and compressible. Unlike down, the filling also keeps you warm when wet.…

Under-23 World Champion Alan Hatherly and top SA marathon racer Matt Beers do more than just spend hours on their bikes, monitoring heart rates and power readings. Behind all the pedalling is a strength and activation programme designed to keep them both injury-free, increase their power, and make their bodies strong enough for massive training loads. Step up biokineticist Warwick Cross, from the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town, who is responsible for ‘switching on’ the muscles that Hatherly and Beers use, and helping them strengthen key muscles. Here he shares some of the key activation exercises the pair do at least once a week, and the strength work specifically designed to help you activate your cycling muscles and pedal stronger. 1 Band-Resisted Dynamic Hamstring Reach This exercise is designed…

1 Old Khaki Cole Men’s Slim-Fit Shirt Wear for a date or a night on the trails. 2 Patagonia Men’s Long-Sleeved Fjord Flannel Shirt At home or on the road, this heavyweight 100% organic cotton flannel shirt offers rugged warmth in cooler weather. 3. Enjoy Men’s Hillbilly Reptilia Enduro 3/4 Cycle Top This slim-fit cut includes 3/4 length sleeves, a low V-neck collar and two security pockets, both capable of fitting a phone. The right-hand pocket features additional cable routing for your headphones. 4 Enjoy Women’s Hillbilly Reptilia Enduro Cycle Top – Ladies Hailing from Enjoy’s Reptilia range, the women-specific Enduro cycle top is built for shredding trails with slightly more gravitational pull. The jersey is made from 130gsm imported Italian Flux fabric that’s perfect for summer riding, as it…

Okay. I don’t know the first thing about apparel, and frankly, I’ve never thought much about it. However. I ride my bike more than necessary, and although I live away from both people and city, deep inside the woods of Sweden, Istill want to look good, and Im ’ guessing that so do you. We want to look good on our bikes. I came to terms with that as a child, and maybe you did too. Cycling is special in that many of us secretly pay as much attention to our looks as Ronaldo does; but we hate him for doing so, because if we crash we hurt ourselves, and when he falls over he doesn’t, but he screams more than we ever do when hitting the ground, and so…

100+ Pro wins on the SL5 from 2014-2017. 14 NUMBER OF DIFFERENT TESTS SPECIALIZED HAD TO DEVELOP TO UNDERSTAND HOW FRAMES BENT WHEN TOM BOONEN RODE THEM. 0 Difference, in grams, between the SL6 disc- and rim-brake frames. (The disc fork adds 10 grams.) 1600 Approximate distance, in kilometres, of Lael Wilcox’s first trip on her Tarmac. Only part not stock was her saddle. R148K Price difference between the most expensive Tarmac (S-Works Tarmac Disc Sagan, R180K) and the cheapest (Sport SL5, R32K). 18 NUMBER OF CURRENT TARMAC MODELS. 8 Number of Tour of Flanders wins for Tarmac – five straight from 2008 to 2012, and three straight from 2016 to 2018. 7 NUMBER OF WORLD CHAMPS WON ON A TARMAC – 2007, 2014 AND 2015 (MEN), AND FOUR STRAIGHT…

GOOD DESCENDS LIKE A BEAST • GREAT SUSPENSION DESIGN BAD TOO TRAIL-FOCUSED FOR LONG XC RACES FUN RATING GOOD • GREAT ALL-ROUNDER • LIGHTEST IN ITS CLASS • GOOD VALUE FOR MONEY BAD AVERAGE BRAKES FUN RATING GOOD VERSATILE FRAME • DETAILS, E.G. KNOCK BLOCK + TWISTLOC BAD EXPENSIVE • NARROW RIMS FUN RATING GOOD GREAT PRICE • RIPE FOR UPGRADES BAD 1X10 DRIVETRAIN IS LIMITING • ON THE HEAVY SIDE FUN RATING GOOD QUALITY MIX OF PARTS FOR THE PRICE • COMFORTABLE AND FUN BAD AVERAGE BRAKES AND TYRES FUN RATING GOOD CLEAN, MINIMALIST DESIGN• SUPER-CAPABLE ON THE DOWNHILLS BAD HEAVY COMPARED TO COMPETITORS FUN RATING…

29ER FOR THE WIN A victor seems to have emerged from the wheel-size war that has been raging for the past few years: 29-inch wheels are here to stay, and have been embraced across the board, from XC bikes to downhillers. Big wheels roll over obstacles more easily, and they’re faster. Combined with clever geometry and the right suspension travel, dual-sus 29ers no longer feel heavy and slow to turn. SLACK, SLACKER, SLACKEST When we refer to a bike as having ‘slack’ geometry, we mean that the head tube angle is less steep, pushing the front wheel out in front of the bike, and the bottom bracket is generally lower, which allows you to get more centred and balanced. With a slacker frame, you might compromise a little on snappy…

You would think that after, oh, 25 years of endurance training and racing (not to mention writing about it for a living), I’d have my sports nutrition dialled. And honestly, I thought I did. That was until a few years ago, at kilometre 260 of an epic stage race, when I found myself overcome by a wave of nausea and vomiting off the side of my bike. I’d gone from feeling really good to feeling really awful in what seemed like the flick of a switch; that same switch also turned off my power, leaving me creeping along until I finally reached an aid station, where a Coke and some food helped me soldier on to the finish. This wasn’t my first race-day dietary debacle – but it was, by…

It’s hard to get lost when you live in the coastal town I live in. The narrow 43km of coastline ia bordered by ocean to the south, mountains to the north, and sliced by a huge highway down the middle. I’d ridden the trails around it so often that I could draw a map of the mountain range freehand. Riding in one of the most beautiful places on earth had become, well, boring. But after months of cheating on my bike with a pair of trail shoes, I wanted to fall back in love with my wheels. I wanted romance with my bike, I wanted an adventure, I wanted to get lost in it. And I had a sneaking suspicion, the only way to get lost in the ride was…

QUARQ SHOCKWIZ / Once attached to a fork or shock (air-spring only) and calibrated, the ShockWiz evaluates its performance as you ride, and via its smartphone app, offers individualised spring and damping tuning recommendations. MRP RAMP CONTROL / Drop this cartridge into the air-spring side of your fork – X-Fusion, Fox, and RockShox – and you can externally adjust the air spring’s progression, fine-tuning its end-of-stroke performance without changing the midstroke. PUSH ASC3 COIL SPRING KIT / Compatible with a Fox 36 and RockShox Pike, Lyrik, and Yari, this kit converts an air fork into a coil-spring fork, eliminating some seals for improved sensitivity. End-of-stroke progression is tunable as well.…

Tester’s Notebook Rock Shox Reverb AXS Seatpost R16 200 • Cake to instal – no cables, wires or hoses • Nothing inside or against the frame – quiet • Big remote paddle is easy to toggle in rough terrain • Short throw and light push, so it responds faster • It costs how much? • Up to 60 hours of riding time between recharges. Not bad. – Louis Mazzante Bontrager Wavecel Helmet R2 999 We first reported on the lab-developed technology behind Bontrager’s new Wavecel helmets in 2013, and were excited by their potential. Finally available, the helmets come with a bold claim: Bontrager says the design prevents concussions 99 out of 100 times in a crash. As with MIPS, we may never…

2018 Junior Marathon and four-time XC Youth SA champion Luke Moir is a 16-year-old mountain-biking phenom from Cape Town who has won dozens of races here and abroad in various off-road disciplines, including XC, marathon and enduro. In person, he’s a well-brought-up Grade 10 schoolboy: humble, unassuming and polite. But try keeping up with him on singletrack, and you’ll quickly see a killer instinct that will serve him well as he moves through the age categories into professional racing. Watch this space, because you’ll be seeing more of Luke Moir in the future. Into the Stratos-phere Luke is sponsored by Silverback Racing, and was one of a handful of riders to test Silverback’s new Stratos during the development phase. The Stratos is a futuristic, do-anything cross-country ripper. It has an…

When you train some of the best cyclists in the world, says John Wakefield – coach to South Africa’s top cyclists, and to the UAE Team Emirates World Tour team – telling them that most of their training has to be ‘easy’ is the hardest job there is. Wakefield may look more like an extra from the Trainspotting movie, but his passion for coaching is infectious; and his methods, honed by the team at the Sports Science Institute and his own cycling experience as a top age-grouper, are starting to be noticed internationally, and by teams outside of the UAE. He’s also worked closely with SA’s current under-23 world champion Alan Hatherly and MTB marathon specialist Mark Beers, along with his new role as performance coordinator for the UAE team.…

AS A PODIATRIST, Squillari also has an keen interest in shoe fit. “It’s very similar to bike fit, in that efficiency falls if you are not comfortable,” he says. “Nobody’s producing power when they’re sore.” And while a too-tight shoe can cause friction and pain, too-loose shoes can hurt your bike handling. “The foot wants to know where it is in space, and a really loose shoe reduces that feedback.” When you’re descending or cornering, that feedback lets you feel the bike under you to steer your bike as efficiently as possible. WHEN TO REPLACE Take a look at the upper: If it’s wearing away or stretched-out to the point where you have to ratchet the closures down to the tightest setting, the support and control offered by the upper…

Few bikes match the Tarmac’s combination of innovation and a ride that any enthusiast cyclist can enjoy. Most impressively, the Tarmac’s done this consistently: it’s won Bicycling’s Editors’ Choice award eight times. These are just a few things our testers have said about the Tarmac: “THE RIDE IS SUBLIME, AND THE ABILITY TO SOAK UP THE ROAD IS FANTASTIC.” “THIS BIKE –THE ONE WITH THE DISC BRAKES – MIGHT BE THE BEST ROAD-RACE BIKE ON THE MARKET TODAY. IT’S THE BALANCE: THE COMBINATION OF PERFORMANCE AND COMFORT AND HANDLING AND PARTS. IT’S TOUGH, MAYBE IMPOSSIBLE, TO ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE FROM A BIKE TODAY.” “INCREDIBLY FAST AND FOCUSED, YET SOMEHOW, ALMOST IMPOSSIBLY, CIVILISED AT THE SAME TIME. IT’S WHAT ALL RACE BIKES WILL PROBABLY LOOK LIKE IN A VERY SHORT…

PYGA STAGE MAX A longer-legged version of the Pyga Stage, which has proved itself at every major mountain-bike race in the country. The Max has a 130mm shock and 140mm of front suspension. FROM R72 995 PYGAINDUSTRIES.COM MERIDA ONE-TWENTY 6000 Soon to be upgraded, the 2019 OneTwenty 6000 is still a superb bike, and it might be going for a song when the new one arrives. It has a carbon frame and alloy rear triangle, with a 130mm fork and 120mm shock. R57 000 MERIDA-BIKES.COM CANNONDALE HABIT CARBON 3 It might not climb like a Scalpel, but it’s a much more well-rounded bike if you enjoy more than XC racing. The Habit has 130mm of travel, and the rear-suspension linkages vary slightly in position across the size range for perfect…