Get a different bike……..

Tires , suspension and position are all against you.

Riding from the car park to thenuplift at inners used be be far enough 🙂

Cheapest option has to be tyres

Trade it for an all mountain bike.

That’d work, but so would a cheep 2nd hand road bike, and you wouldn’t have to swap tyres.

tyres £27 * 2
Saddle – £30
Seatpost – £30

total ~ £120

Lugged loveliness from mercian for £102 with 2 hours to go (and cyclists will be watching the TDF so no snipeing!). It’s a 56 apparently so should fit someone about 5ft10 to 6ft 1

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercian-Road-Bike-/190703380161?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item2c66cea6c1

Gettin an “allround” bike would be the best long term solution but you can make like a bit easier for your self by:-

*Using a belt to clamp down your fork by wrapping it around your crowns, compressing the fork down and locking the belt off. This would make it much easier to pedal uphill and give you a better seat tube angle .
*If you have a layback seat post you can turn this around so your sittng more over the bb.
*Pump your tyres up harder, especially the rear.
*If your runnin a small block cassette, swap it for an xc type “34-11 tooth”
*Change your chainring to a smaller one as i bet your usin a 36t or larger. (32-34tooth would be better for all round pedaling).
*Eat lots of carbs 🙂

Youll be fit at the end . I used to do my paper round on a dh bike 🙂 – but not 43 miles- 5 miles each way to the shop and back

I’m pretty sure the OP isn’t a troll. 😛
Good effort on the 43 miles btw.

It’ll be good training all right. Matey bought a Marin Quake last year against my advice, so he’s hauled the bloody thing all over the Dales & NYM & me & other matey always had to wait at the top of every climb for him. Quite often we’d do 20/30 miles & he was always knackered but always finished the ride ok. Now he’s bought a 5 & he’s off like a shot!
(My excuse is that he’s only 27 & I’m 55, plus he’s at the gym every day unlike me who goes once a year for a fitness test!)

Keep going mate, It’ll pay dividends.

I’ve done 30+miles in a day (over 50 for the w/e) on mine because of that road.
I always use a 60a rear and run my tyres hard and run a seat QR that can get the saddle to the same height you’d ride road/XC at.

DH bikes aren’t as bad as you’d imagine on the road with a switch of tyres and long enough seatpost.

fair enough, even tho I have plenty spare stiffer springs to choose from I CBA to either..
if you get really into this DH roadbiking you’ll often find S/H stiff coil springs for sale really cheap now DH bikes generally use lower leverage ratios 😉