there is nothing worse than finishing a race feeling like you have something left in the tank.

Agree it’s unlikely in an XC race but not finishing because you’ve started out too hard and fast feels worse.

I got as far as the payment section then decided I’d rather do something more adventurous such as SDW.

Have fun. Enjoy the nerves.

You’re likely to be passed. How people pass varies but they should give you warning. If you’re knackered it’s probably the time you’re most likely to have an off. Hopefully they will shout ‘rider’ followed by something like ‘on your right’ This should mean they want to pass you on your right so if you can move a bit to your left all well and good. Most important thing is not to do anything sudden nor lose concentration on your own riding.

Pacing – whatever level of physical agony you are willing to endure.

Upgrade to a Sumo. This achieves a greater angle when it slips.

^ I was hoping for an MTB XC one first!

^ WAC

Concrete reinforcing mesh is a better option than weldmesh.

Standards options are 200mm squares with wires ranging from 1cm thick down. I’ve got 7mm thickness in my current shed but will be moving to 1cm in my new place as it’s more isolated and large bolt croppers are pretty powerful.

Gary from Curtis prefers the phone. Lovely company to work with and of course fillet brazed.

The BTR looks to have more clearance but not the lovely swoopy seat stays.

I’m about to order a Curtis SS clone of my geared frame.

MCR 9

Mcr9 by [/url], on Flickr]null

2×750 bottles
Seat pack – 2x tubes, tool, repair kit,
Pump under cage
Food,phone and gilet in pockets

For epics add lightweight camel back for fluid only, undo extension on the saddlepack and add energy powder and chamois cream, add top tube tri bag for more food and garmin battery.

Eat bulky items first

Managed 4.5hrs – wrecked and felt good. Now strained my inner thigh day before intervals start. Moving house with short completion => massive time crunch and stress. Feeling pissed off.

Rear tyre clearance isn’t great between the chainstays though; i run 35mm rims, and a 2.25 is really tight.

Thanks – as it’s a dedicated foul mud frame I’m after I think that rules it out. It seems to me the limitations of bending steel plus the desire for short chainstays means steel frames are often a bit cramped for clearance

How do people find the Inbred. Spent a long time cleaning yesterday and would like a single speed to play with.

You’ll have to take my word that it’s a Curtis XC9

Curtis by [/url], on Flickr

I wish you luck – Hadleigh had a reputation for breaking people but has changed? 34T is hardcore – I don’t spin out on 30T in Gorricks 😳

Ha Vets is soft compared to Grand Vets.

5 days rest – feeling fat and slothful. 6hr XC ride tomorrow. There are 28 hills to climb at threshold.

^ Tri saddle position too

^ Which will either be too high to do any good, or get ripped off when the wheel travels upwards

I’m feeling slightly/very stupid now. I suspect I might have tried it if I had an RS1 which could have been amusing.

Training for recovery in world cup technical areas – brilliant

Training for recovery in Gorrick events – possibly not my number 1 priority.

My Niner rigid fork isn’t too dissimilar. I mounted a Mucky Nutz Bender Fender. First I prepped the legs with gaffa tape to prevent paint damage then I used cable ties on the legs. Cable ties hold it secure enough you don’t need to worry about the three ties for the fork crown. Added advantage is you can mount it as close to the tyre as you want.

Works very well.

Love the title, love the front page of the blog, love the menu section (with all the various trips).

The B&W photos could grace a Rapha brochure etc – truly stunning. Some of the colour ones are as good (the climb in the snow). I can’t decide if the more ‘human’ ones which make it more approachable and fun also lower the overall quality.

If the aim is truly to showcase your work then I’d say they probably do and you could edit more selectively.

Trails and XC – keep 5-10% in reserve on the downs and go knee pad free. A pair of G shock elbow pads under a jersey or arm warmers are no hindrance. Lycra, bottles, no peak and be a comfy jayboy. Cuts down on conversation (neither roadies nor mtb will speak to you)

I try to wear baggies and G shock knee warmers when I go on rockier/harder trails – they don’t feel great and as for looks, I only end up looking like a different stick insect.

ps What Moots MTB do you ride 😉 😀

No one has mentioned the little plastic nib that sits in the split gap. You pull it out to take the cranks off and push it in to seat them. If it won’t push in the crank is not correctly positioned on the splines.

If the mud is sticky enough then fork crown clearance is an issue too.

You could split the difference and go for American Classics.

There is no such thing as bad advertising. Slow day at work, I’m just about to look at the Jones website. I would have looked at the Alpkit site but that is now forever tainted by’synergy’.

Racing for position off or near the front of the start line to avoid the queue helped me start to podium occasionally. The wait may be the same for everyone who is waiting but it doesn’t help you try and catch the leaders who aren’t. It’s a lot more painful to manage decline rather than negative splits but it’s more competitive (unless you really over do it)

Cheers @howsyourdad and @mrblobby. I am completely wrecked – couldn’t manage Z2 for the end of y’days ride. Feb was always going to be tough but I had to make it doubly so due to a couple of unscheduled rest weeks in Nov and Dec.

Now I’m feeling bored.

They do look lovely. What is the mud clearance like with a 2.25?

Base done – no doubt I’ll be mourning it when I’m feeling sick mid interval soon but as it stands now I’m enjoying my celebratory glass of vino!

PS I’m feeling smug as I only have 250TSS to go for my 3rd and final week of 800TSS base.

Thing is do you actually need miles? If you were doing traditional base obviously you would but as you’re obviously time crunched why stress about it.

Have a lie in, rest up, get some browny points and do one quality interval session to complete exhaustion – job done.

You can top up base miles with ‘training camps’ mid season.

Long, fast and rough (as in rubble) descents. One descent has rocks the size of old computer monitors and breeze blocks that used most of the travel of my 100mm forks.

It’s really simple take good photos, write a good description and stick it ion Ebay with a 1p starting price. Job done.

hopefully will have opportunity to put in enough training to get around without wanting to cry

No matter how trained you are you will still want to cry. In fact the memory of the pain regularly makes me consider sacking all of this. Generally about week 3 of a 3 week training block (ie now).

It might help if they made it easier to buy one. There is no doubt I’d be an SWorks Epic owner if I could have bought one a couple of years ago.

Wentwood 50 – for fun
Gorrick 100
BORS – for fun
Summer Monkey
Brighton Big Dog
Torq
Oktoberfest

Involuntary rest day tomorrow. 2 laps of Swinley today and barely able to manage Z2. Only 4 days till the end of base 😀