Rewind a month and I was the main contributor! Still haven’t raced yet mind….

These guys can offer some amazing bargains.

http://www.bikestacja.pl/en/bicycle-parts/mtb/wheels-mtb.html?cat=1508

I bought a pair of DT350s custom builts from them for less than a Hope rear. The parts appear genuine and they’re still going strong 2 years on.

Light, strong, stiff and cheap. Three are possible, four is going some.

LB rims allow you to run Revolutions and still be stiff. With a decent hub like a DT240 or AC, 32x and alloy nipples they come in at high 1300s/low 1400s. They are noticeably stiffer than my training wheels which are

Hope Evos with Crests, Sapim Dlights and alloy nipples for about 1600ish. You could substitute the rims for something chunkier but you’ll be knocking on 1750?

I presume the Mavics manage light and stiff on alloy by virtue of fewer but stronger straight pull spokes at massive tension. Cost is over the lifetime of the wheel and personally I’d not go there.

Conversely I feel pleased with myself. Two huge “training camp” weeks culminating in a 7day TSS of just under 1,300. Final ride was 6hrs of tempo intervals (20hill ride)which required as much mental strength as racing to complete. Beyond pain was gain.

I hope to recover, taper with some fun but intense XC/Strava hunting and be ready for a busy racing August..

I’m fit – 30t on a 26 with 11-36 is plenty hard enough in Wales

It’s really annoying and yet good.

Annoying when quality bits become obselete/don’t work

Good in that unfortunately it took this to ensure I’m not riding a cotter pin crank, rod brake, sturmey archer blah blah.

Cycling survival of the fittest best marketing

Not my cup of tea – don’t think it looks elegant

950tss in the last 7 days, -37tsb and week 1 of 2 week training camp prior to Big Dog has me wimping out of 3hrs tomorrow. I’d barely be able to manage Z2 and Saturdays long ride would suffer in quality. Feels like wiping out….

For me it depends how much I push the mileage and speed on XC. Really long rides at speed and I need the FS.

Winter riding maintenance issues to factor in too. Plus for XC seems a red herring.

XT for me. I’ve tried XTR – dangerous crap and Ritchey which are light but have some nasty edges such that every one in a hundred unclips doesn’t.

Any b or c lines?

Can a pizza with anchovies be veggy?

Sorry to hear about your shoulder – beer and wine deserve whiskey to finish!

Good luck – I’ll eait to see if I have to do it again!!

Btw a couple of the chalk descents have enough dust to grab your wheel at speed – very nearly a big off.

Bone dry, not a speck of dampness south of Wallingford. Last week was very muddy under the trees above Wendover but that was it.

What time are you aiming for? This ride was training for a second attempt trying to go under 14hrs but I’m suffering severe motivation issues.

I’d expect better welding on my plough.

Too light for an anchor and too large for a paper weight.

Good luck all. After an 8hr ride on the Ridgeway I was very glad not to be racing for 12hrs.

Anthem definately correct choice for the more decrepit rider.

Mmmmm Gilco.

Trying to work out if I’m still not 100% since being ill 2 months ago.

Did this on Sunday after a week’s rest from a tough 3 week block. It was a pretty hard effort (40minutes over threshold)possibly verging on race pace

Ivinghoe by [/url], on Flickr

Rested a couple of days then some Z2 yesterday which was surprisingly tough and ended up feeling a bit nauseous and now really tired.

Just a bit much and effect of heat or something more underlying? I have this nagging feeling I’m more susceptible to fatigue

Now I really am totally confused.

As part of training for XC I ride my mountain bike on the road to get longer periods of training at a specific power/HR intensity.

Freewheeling downhill is below that intensity so in order no to waste that time I pedal against my brakes.

Clear?

Roadies really are a breed apart. Pedalling uphill against your brakes

Downhill and I’m not a roadie!

Discs not an issue.

I regularly pedal against my disc brakes on long steep hills to maintain my power zone on training rides. With a modicum of common sense it’s absolutely fine.

Lots of people may do 24hrs on HTs but at 12hr races I get a lot of comments from HT riders jealous of my Spearfish (as they pass me)

Unless it was billiard smooth I couldn’t.

Potential for injury vs confidence in nailing it.

Air and bad landing = walk.

I’d say it’s more a case of selecting the frame with the geo, fit, clearances and fittings you like and then worrying about the material.

I couldn’t find this off the peg so I got a custom 853/Columbus HT made by Curtis.

The weight penalty is slightly under 1lb – not an issue. Being brazed it’s more of a repairable prospect. FWIW I wouldn’t take the risk of having custom Ti

Not all posts are equal. My USE carbon post was very tight in my Curtis, all others were just on the snug side of normal.

I’m very pleased with my scandium KCNC Ti Pro with carbon rail kit for my alloy railed saddle. 170g for 400mm and the carbon rail kit helps spread the load on the saddle rails. You can get it with the kit already installed (so you don’t have to buy it additionally) from Bike24.

I used the SRAM PF30 to BSA press in adaptors in my Whyte 29C and was dissapointed.

The first set gradualy started to move outwards as did the second set. It might have been cured by glue but I didn’t want to go down that route.

I used a Wheels Manafacturing outboard thread together part ceramic for 24mm cranks and am really pleased. It spins better than a CK.

And because the tiny amount of air plus the valve meant accurately getting a certain pressure in the negative chamber was almost impossible.

Nah, don’t think NQ is overhyped, and don’t think we’ve seen the end of him at this tour.
He’s a tiny rider – probably gives him a really ‘low’ threshold power at around 360W – he’ll have had a couple of hard days battling in the crosswinds, and won’t have had the raw power into a strong headwind yesterday.

Still the Alps to come, hopefully we can see him at his best there.

All extremities crossed – so want to see him attack and make it stick.

Very sad. Porte looked strong enough he might have dropped Froome.

Sad NQ couldn’t make it stick. Too much hype (which I bought into)?

Definitely a trail to ride with somthing in reserve – hard landings!

pumping it back up is easy enough if its deflating to fast

Until the tyre pops off the bead – then you’re in a world of hurt!

Take care the little strips/turds don’t go off. I spent about 5minutes peeling the plastic off on Saturday – well stuck. Then the larger ones I had didn’t fit in the tyre hole. When I finally got it in the puncture was sorted instantly.

Rode the Cafael climb yesterday. Bone dry apart from the sweat I left. Tip – don’t eat lunch as you’re changing before riding unless you want to run the risk of seeing it again.

Also don’t turn left onto Pedalhounds or all your hard climbing will be gone in one terrifying brake dragging nightmare.

My experience around the N.Cornwall area is that the roads are either tiny single track with giant banks either side and a strip of grass down the middle or quite fast A/B roads.

The tiny single tracks are fun but the surface can be appalling and if wet the amount of cowshit/mud truly awesome. Also be aware if it’s near harvest it’s quite likely you will meet a giant tractor and trailor thundering along driven by a sleep deprived 17year old trying to beat the incoming rain.

I put this loop together a few years ago and enjoyed it.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/675451

You mean you no longer want to ‘get on board the road disc revolution’?!

I’m much as per NJee – not my cup of tea but the execution is, as always, amazing.

FWIW your Psycho was the best looking drop bar bike I’ve seen

Froome seemed to cope very well with it

I’m not anti Froome – would just prefer to see some more individual excitement.

What I want to see:-

For just one big mountain stage, make the entire peleton stick it to Sky time after time so that at the base of a big climb Froome is without team mates and has to ride on his own

NQ to mount a real fix bayonets shit or bust up the road for minutes gain stylee effort with none of this terrier on the wheel business.

I’d rather this was in the other forum

Month off – good

October event – part of winter training block. Treat it as training.

Re ‘crack the whip for 6 months’ – your training should build in intensity and as such start at a level you think is too easy. If you ramp up at the correct level you will find the going hard by December. If you start harder then ramping up will be difficult and you won’t get so much benefit from the final month(s)

Don’t know why I’m saying any of this, I may train ‘betterer’ but I’m slower than you.

Waiting list for solo – what are my chances? Won’t make any differenc to my training until November.