I’ll try and stick my footage together tonight, it’s quite wobbly. Mega packing is the priority though. I need to tighten the straps on my GoPro…..or grow some breasts :oops:

Great vids so far!

Looks like I’m on the 4th row, heat 8, which isn’t too bad. Same heat as Fabien Barel :D

Do you know, I may even have got a touch of sunburn!

Me too! Strange.

I might pop along for some riding. Though, I’m not too sure about this whole lycra lark :oops:

Cheers everyone, particularly our guides, for the day. Great ride! I’m looking forward to doing it again sometime.

I’ll get some shonky video up when I get it sorted.

Shame we’re not doing Mam Tor, I have a KOM I need to claw back 8)

Pook, I’ll send you the good bits* of video post-pootle.

*Read: someone accidentally dropping their flapjack in a dog turd

My new toy just arrived, it’s a grubby old GoPro. I’ll bring it along for testing*.

*Read: filming people sat around eating cake.

Fun was ultimately my aim, but once that europop starts pumping, who knows what will happen. As it’s my first year i elected to ride a semi-dh bike (Turner highline) which should let me get away with a bit more. I have no problem riding technical trails, or leaving the floor, so the track doesn’t worry me that much, it’s the 400 other people that do :-)

I’m hoping my healthy hardtail pedigree will see me through nicely. 8)

I’m not out till Wednesday and am quietly crapping myself. It’s my first year and I have no idea what to expect/aim for.

They’re also from superstar.

Not sure if you can make them out, they’re the same as the stem spacers, which are a bit more obvious.

I’d say they were deeper blue, but maybe not royal. The ones I have are about the same shade as blue Hope bits or the compression adjusters on Rock Shox forks. I’ll try and find a photo.

Oh, so you’re only ‘nearly’ a self-righteous prick (unlike the rest of us on STW)

Haha, yeah, narrowly dodged that bullet :lol:

I think I generalised a little earlier, apologies are due. My experience of architects is purely from the same side of the fence. I have several good friends who are now architects and they’re hardly ever self righteous AND a prick at the same time :-)

Architects are self-righteous pricks. I should know, I nearly became one 8)

Any chance I can dump a change of clothes in someone’s car while we pootle? Train drivers get angry when I leave bum shaped puddles of mud on their floor/seats.

You’re offending Anthea! I wouldn’t get on the wrong side of a 40lb Turner if I were you.

Is Derbyshire even still there? I saw, what looked like, large parts of it floating down the Don earlier.

Pulled off the non-drive-side QR spacer on mine yesterday and slapped a bit of grease in there. It feels a little less draggy and doesn’t squeak, but it’s still really notchy.

I didn’t have chance to get to the bearings as I was in a hurry, but will check them each as soon as possible.

Near a station?

It’s not that I’m considering skipping on insurance all together, it’s that £40 above the cost of Insure&Go, for Snowcard, seems like quite a lot when it only offers equipment protection on top.

If only I could guarantee someone would steal my bike…..hmmmmmm :roll:

I’ve heard instances of the seals being installed the wrong way around, which causes rubbing.

I highly doubt it’s a bearing, it’s only a couple of months old and has only had one properly wet ride. I’ve not had the ends off yet, as I don’t have a vice to hand, but will check before sending off.

Like you say, it seems to be a tolerance problem.

I have a similar problem with my new rear pro2. Bought a few months ago and it now feels stiff and notchy with a slight squeak/whine at low speed.

I called Hope and they said grease it up. I’ll have a go as soon as I can be bothered to find a vice.

i’m a bit annoyed, particularly as the wheel it replaced cost half as much and has never caused me any trouble over it’s 6 year life. I don’t feel like I should have to post a brand new, £200 wheel back to them after less than 100 miles. I kind of wish I bought Superstar now :/

why cotic ??
I love hardtails and Cotic seem to make very good ones. It was between that or an 456ss at the time, I couldn’t resist the lovely blueness

why that model?
It was to be my only bike and it needs to be able to do everything from all day XC to uplift days/Alps…..so BFe.

set up
AM set up, ZTR Flow/Hope wheels, Pikes, Big stupid bars, 1×9 (coz I’m norvern ‘n’ ‘ard)

opinions
I love it, really, it’s quite amazing. So direct and sturdy. I do sometimes worry that I could never love anything as much as I love my BFe. The only thing I would change is that I want to try it with 160mm forks, but other than that, it’s perfect.

Original build:

With super-duper bars

In the air up at Inners

There’s a bit about it over on Pinkbike.

Thanks a lot chaps, I think I’ll just take the lot and mess about while I’m there.

3psi! Crikey Bollocks! That’ll throw me off completely :-)

Is the general consensus to run higher pressures for the Mega, fast rolling, avoid pinch flats and the like?

ahwiles – I run my levers pretty flat anyway, for that very reason. I’ve not done anywhere near as much powerball training as I hoped I’d do, so lets hope the lever thing works.

The Hayes are pretty well bled and in good condition, I’ll see how they fare. I’ll just try not to drag the brakes too much.

Does anyone know if I can use the larger Hayes rotors with my SLX calipers?

If it makes any difference, my current favorite descent in the Peaks is Mam Tor – Greenlands, it was mega-quick when we had that lovely dry spell.

That said, I’m a Peaks noobie compared to some. Hopefully after a few Pootles I’ll earn some sort of jacket or badge?

I can’t recommend Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut enough. It’s probably my favourite book. Mother Night is also very good.

I’m currently reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I’ve been meaning to get round to it for a while.

What route do you have in mind Pook?

I had some Creative ones for years that I thought were very good. In hindsight, they were a little bass heavy.

When they bit the dust, I settled on a pair of lower end Klipsch buds. They were a bargain at the time for 14quid and seem much more balanced than the Creatives. I can hear lots of little details that I’ve never noticed before. So, out of the 2, I’d say I prefer the Klipsch.

I got some iBeats buds with my phone and thought they were awful. Really muddy sound that only leant itself to listening to bass/beat heavy toss. Well made though, very solid feeling. They were ebayed quite quickly.

That might be helpful, might not. My thought on the matter is that they only get shoved in my pocket, not much point spending a fortune. Finding that sweet spot between price/audio quality can be quite difficult.

I’m in….though I leave for the Mega on the Monday, so no hucks-to-flat/face please.

It’ll be nice/interesting/an experience to put faces to names.

It’s quite easy to find the good stuff, it’s all along one long, West facing slope. Loads of dh to be had for all different abilities. Find the “fast track” and work out from there. Folks are friendly and should point you in the right direction.

That said, it’ll be a quagmire at the moment, lots and lots of rain these last few days.

I’m not raggin’ on Jedi (i’ve considered going before to touch up my skills) but there must be other ways of learning to ride a bike……like, by riding it? It seems like the go to answer on here, for any problem at all, is now “go see Jedi”. How did Jedi learn to ride a bike?……mind……blown! Cue the flaming…..

So, anyway, I saw this on Pinkbike the other day, I thought it was quite well done. It covers more natural terrain, like you requested.
clicky

I’m the same, all my friends are dead (ride trials) or slaves to the pub now. I don’t mind riding on my own, as Jackal said, you can go and do what you want, but sometimes it’s nice to have a bit of company. I find that I talk to myself in a ridiculous French accent when I ride long distances on my tod, which can’t be good.

What’s all this about facebook?

I bought some Barons just after Christmas (using a combination of those cheap vouchers and deals, worked out about 45quid) and I’m still very pleased with them. My reasoning was this:
The Impacts soak up water like a sponge and looks pretty special….so no.
The Freeriders look great but don’t seem to have much protection.
The Baron is pretty waterproof, has toe protection, but is very red.

I could deal with the red. I quite fancied some of the AM40s from shimano, but the newer ones are just too ugly for words. They’re like rejects from the Tron props cupboard.

In reality, the Barons are pretty good. I ride hardtail predominantly and used to have a problem with my feet getting blown off (the pedals) on fast rocky sections. They haven’t completely cured this but they deffinitely let me concentrate on riding a bit more and less on what my feet are doing.
Also, they are more waterproof than you’d expect for something so trainer-like. The material is like a plasticy vinyl that seems very hard wearing and stops most of the moisture. Mine are showing signs of wear though on the sole, a few chunks missing here and there.

My plan this year was to do it on my BFe, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it wasn’t such a good idea.

I decided that although I COULD ride it on my ht, I wouldn’t necessarily have fun. I’d love to ride the track on my BFe, but race?! Maybe not. I ride my hardtail for everything, but a techy run over at wharncliffe is only a minute or 2, this is a little more full on.

Anyway, I bought a Turner Highline last week for the occasion. It’s a bit more bike than I was originally after, but I want to have fun, not beat myself up.

I’ll see you guys there :) say hello!

Whoopee!

Cheers Warpcow

The hardest thing I’ve ever done?

Architecture degree, it nearly ruined me…..physically and mentally. It took about 3 months to recover after final hand in, I’m not even joking!
I suppose that makes it my greatest achievement. I’m proud of myself more than I am of the actual product of it all. The actual degree is probably the most worthless thing I gained from the experience, I am now rich in soul, knowledge about myself and I’m completely **** zen.

Edge of the lawn needs a trim…

Standard 8) Do you like my collection of rocks? One looks like a frozen lump of meat.