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Finally got a HONC entry and wondering what bike to take! full sus trail bike,lightweight full sus or cross bike? Thinking the cross bike might be fun but will the offroad sections be quite demanding?
Thanx Max
My SO rode her CX bike last year and I rode a SS 29er rigid drop bar contraption. Off road sections aren't that demanding up in them there hills
Weather could be a major factor this year...
[url= http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/14days.asp?zipcode=Cheltenham ]Weather for next week[/url]
Although hopefully the rain will bugger off
When do they issue the gps route files?
i'm doing it on a rigid 29er. partly cos i don't have the money to buy some 29er sus forks, but mainly cos it's my only bike that is in one piece! bring it on
are we meant to receive something in the post before the race, or is it all sorted out on the day??
Stuff normally goes out a week before - so expect something next week I'd say
'cross bike, the majority of off-road isn't demanding at all, and the small sections that are become quite an involving giggle rather than the mindless blat they would be on a mountainbike
Dasha, Monday.
Petefromeath, bring a printout of the original email with you (you did keep the original email didn't you).
[i]will the offroad sections be quite demanding?[/i]
Not really, no.
TBH you could ride 95% of the route on a road bike.
In the past I've used a full sus, a cross bike, a rigid 29er singlespeed and the front half of a tandem.
In order of most fun I'd rate them tandem, ss29er, then cross bike.
I didn't enjoy it much on the full sus.
So ,its ok on ss then?
None of the climbs are massive, I took our local fast roadie on it the other year, I used a hardtail, he used rigid. He was gutted when he got overtaken on a climb by a girl on a ss cyclo cross bike!
I did it on a cross bike last year and it was great although at the start having to ride the offroad climbs behind mountain bikers using granny rings was challanging. Only on the last descent did I think suspension would be handy and even then it was funny (surviving multiple stacks often is).
I would say a hardtail / rigid 29er would probably be best bike all things considered, especially if there is more offroad this year.
the route is not usually very hard, i did one years route on a roadbike, 700x23 slicks, there were a couple of dodgy bits like the decent to hailes abbey near winchcombe but on the whole not too bad.
But the route does vary so don't expect the same as last year or the year before.
Light hartdail IMO. Tyre choice is easy in a dry year - semi slicks. But tricky in a wet year you eant fast ones for all the Tarmac but some of the offroad gets very slippery indeed