I remember it being very greasy in 2015 after only a little rain the night before. Dried out after a couple of laps.

I’m gearing right down and being conservative on tyres (Nobby Nic front and Ralph rear) as I fail to see how it will dry under the trees. Plan is to beat the singletrack queue then throttle right back and time trial away.

Almost back to normal. Training back to same levels of intensity just being careful with volume.

Might see if I can ride 4hrs of Big Dog. At least I weigh less – a lot less – like sub 70kg – so same power to weight.

Wessex League – dates? Can only see about 5 rounds on BC. Anyone have a link to the whole series?

Spesh Terra Pros work well for me tubeless on Crests. Have also used Vittoria XG(I think) Pro.

I had just come to that conclusion courtesy of your BikeRadar posts! :D

I’m toying with the idea of doing the local rounds of the Wessex league – fits in quite well with my reduced distance/hours training.

I’ll be riding my HT, no pit crew. Gears if it’s not biblical mud possibly single speed (it’s VERY light) if very muddy.

CX tyres on Crests – what’s the choice?

Very well done! That course is really tough – to race it brings a real risk of blowing up and not finishing.

Was planning to – but cleverly forgot to enter and solo is now sold out

So if anyone have a solo male 40+ entry they aren’t able to use, I’ll happily take if off your hands!

My solo entry is a 50+. E mail in profile

About to pull out. Not well enough to do 6 very hard hours :(

When rain is truly biblical then even brand new Goretex isn’t up to the mark in my experience.

If you can be bothered you ought to look at your cadence data via Quadrant Analysis in WK04 or Golden Cheetah. It’s beyond my level of interest

Using Quadrant Analysis to Improve Your Bike Training

You have powermeter and Joe F’s book? I think he talks about it there.

Anyone interested in a rider for pairs/team at BBD? I currently have a solo 50+ but I don’t think its realistic for me to do this given my recent illness.

Still pretty fit just can’t do 6hrs.

Wow sounds epic.

Do you think Single Speed would have been a good choice or is it too steep?

I suppose that could be wise but to watch 3 years of work head down the pan…..
It’s just a virus I can’t seem to kick even if I sit around doing nothing for 5 weeks as I did. As that makes me want to cry with boredom I am gently mtfu and feel better for it mostly.
My bloods were all borderline – haematocrit, reds, whites, platelets the lot.
Will see what today’s fbc brings.

After a winter’s training and a best FTP my total number of races – 2 xc and 2 mtb sportives.
Now I just want my health back. 5 weeks off random down 25W or 11% but that doesn’t tell the true story. Any lack of rest or overdoing it and the symptoms return.

Z2 and netflix in the winter are your friend. Peak in Feb and move to intervals thereafter.

+2.5% is good.

I’m -7.5% but that’s an estimate as I’m not up to testing yet. Just glad to be able to get on bike.

first race for over 2 years, 8/28 in the lbs summer cx series, mixed cats/mixed bikes – did it on the mtb, everyone loves an action pic

Open with Stepcast – that’s got to be a light bike!

FWIW I’m glad I didn’t go down that route – much as I love the frame and weight I couldn’t get past the HA. I wonder now if the Procaliber etc will have eaten into Open’s market with sub 1kg frames.

Spin up on 28:42?

Unless you are very very light I think the Revs are a WW too far. D lights are as light as I would want to go. The internet consensus is that Crests and Revs are flexy.

Soooo can I do this as a Z2 training ride 2 weeks after having been off ill for 5 weeks………

In other words is the course reasonably flat or are there hills which take serious effort?

https://www.actionsports.de/en/dt-swiss-350-disc-is-custom-wheelset-mtb-29er-4169?c=398

DT350, Dlights, Crests, pro lock alloy nipples – 489Euro and 1578g. I’d take the reliability and decent spokes over 100g. In fact I’d go without beer for 2 months and upgrade to DT240/CX ray and have done with it.

I was a great fan of JRA (and have 2 wheelsets from them) until they ditched DT etc. Now I wouldn’t consider them.

Look back at the various (myriad!) similar threads on this – Action Sports. Now on about 300miles on my DT240/crests which were much cheaper from them than elsewhere. Very pleased.

DT240 or 350 if money is tight.

Hope are great for training and I really like the way that the endcaps are so changeable but I’d not do BC bike race etc on a set. I’ve had cracked freehubs, pawl failures etc and a recent competitor on Tour Divide had a fairly catastrophic failure.

If anyone has a 12hr solo available let me know!

^^^
A very good session is ‘criss cross’

Warm up then 5 minute threshold intervals with 5 minute Z4 recovery and repeat x4.

This mimics climbing at Zone 4 which is reasonable for that distance/elevation with bursts of threshold for the really steep bits.

5000m in 130k is intense – very intense!

Just completed my first week riding after 5 weeks ill. I’ve ridden to heart rate and taken it easy – down about 12% and pretty weak. Noticed a marked improvement on last ride.

Will need to build carefully – 2 week blocks, reduced intervals, reduced power targets, rest days etc etc.

Brighton Big Dog may be a bit much a bit too soon. G25 should be about right.

You going to race it in the retro BBD class?

Micro bottles of champers, white, red, desert, port, whisky and a final cleansing ale.

Not ridden for 5 weeks so have been careful.

I’ve cut substituted fruit for cake, dropped carbs from lunch, am eating slightly smaller portions and don’t drink. Snacks are pickles etc not crisps.

Lost 6kg, look unhealthy and get comments as such. Realise as i have literally no body fat now that I get cold if it’s not actually warm and when I start riding again that there will be no reserves to ca?l on if I get fuelling wrong.

Not sure it’s worth it or even wise but from a w/kg perspective I might come out of this with limited losses.

ferrals – just wondering if you saw anything about what happened to Nigel Brown in the race at Builth Wells where he crashed on the ‘feature’ (or if anyone else did?). Maybe you could drop me a quick email to iainwight@aol.com as his family are trying to understand what happened and what was changed on the course between sessions.

Nigel is still in hospital awaiting an operation which had to be postponed as his condition was more serious than expected unfortunately.

Nigel Brown from Westbury Wheelers – as in the fastest GV by some distance? Very sorry to hear that – any idea how he’s doing?

In other not very interesting ‘news’ I’m still ill. 4.5 weeks. Blood test results awaited :cry:

Quick update.

No better really. Not ridden bike for 3 weeks. Half day’s haven’t cured things so I’m signed off for 10 days. Gone beyond watching a years training bleed away and am now just hoping I don’t have EBV or CFS.

I’ve used a Stages for nearly 3 years. It’s a great training aid.

Some pointers:-

It will give different results to other power meters so you will need to do an FTP test for your Stages power zones

Your body will gradually learn that left leg effort counts and your left leg will probably get stronger

Do not under any circumstances equate Stages power to Friel categories or indeed willy wave on results. Either I have an elite left leg and sport right leg or it over reads for me.

It’s a great training tool.

Been to doctors twice. Diagnosis is rumbling viral illness. I shouldn’t have been run down – proper training plan with rest weeks.
It’s possible it’s stress related – work and house build. Cannot stop wife’s massive list of jobs which stretch out forever. Together with no planning it means every time I come home I don’t know if I can relax or have to do so.e time critical shit in the new build.

I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike after 2weeks illness. First day I’ve felt OK. At least I managed to stick to project eat well June. No booze, no snacks, small portions etc. Down to 72kg with another 2kg to go. 6 foot and 11 stone….

Kudos for finishing.

I more or less take the view that a mechanical on XC is endex. Then again I don’t travel for them nor do I tend to do a series.

Don’t worry, triples will back soon

They won’t they really won’t. Neither will 26, elastomer forks and flex stems.

Thing is if you are going to have a front mech it costs nothing to add an extra chainring. Weight is negligible and it’s really useful.

38/26 – 38s not really good enough for road transitions or decent fire roads, 26 isn’t exactly alpine. 38 is quite big for a lot of single track (I wouldn’t race on 38) and 26 is pretty useless for that so you’re in no mans land a lot of the time.

42/32/24 – leave it in the 32 (the most popular 1x chain ring) for everything apart from road/fire road/descents or steep climbs. Think the granny on my XTR M980 weighs about a fart.

Rorschach’s El Mariachi wins it for me.

My ‘fish 12hr racing. Not necessarily it’s forte but pretty good all the same

TORQ 12-12 2015-475 (1)

Oh shit that’s annoying.

Torq coaches average joes all the time

Guilty.

My journey over 3 years with them is slightly complicated by the fact that I was more interested in my 12hr+ power for the first 2 years (3w/kg)

Look on the bright side – you can do other things.

I have a viral infection that mirror of this time last year. Glands like cannon balls, completely washed out and nauseous. End of week 1 and getting worse not better, same as last year.