Guns n Roses – Chinese Democracy (Chinese Democracy)

Crazy Town – Gift of game ( Butterfly)

Oasis – Standing on the shoulder of giants (go let it out)

The norm is 5 working days, the last stuff i ordered arrived two days on a standard DPD delivery. I think it depends how busy they are.

Living in central Europe i initially loved the idea of eating fresh bread every day, but it is a pain in the ass because you literally do have to buy it every day as after 24 hours it turns to rock. Fine if are on holiday but not when you have a busy work life.

Things are definately changing as over the years ive noticed the supermarkets range of ‘american bread’ as they call it growing to the point now it can regularly sell out.

Sad but true..

Did somebody hit the frame with a blunt object?

Being that we have bern eating bread for over 30,000 years but the obiesity crisis really has gained ground in the past 10-15 years ld say the bread isnt the issue, more likely what is inbetween it!

I have the Judy Gold on my 2018 Chisel, I must say i was initially dubious about the fork as ive always previously had Reba and Fox 32’s on previous 29er Hardtails.

Ibe ridden about 500km on the fork and it works pretty well, its definately not as stiff as the Reba was but in terms of smoothness its about the same.

The downsides of the fork as i see it are weight, it comes in at just under 2kg and you’ll save about 400g with the Reba, and the compression adjustment is very much either on or off, i cant feel any notable difference between the ten or so clicks on the fork crown adjuster.

If you are going to be riding light XC / Fireroads the Judy will be fine, but if you are going to push the terrain especially high speed downhill sections of trail i would go for the stiffer Reba, its worth the extra long term.

Should be seeing some Bear action from that region. That said there are many places closer to home that would be equally suitable, over here in Slovakia for example its all kicking off the Bears are everywhere getting ready for Winter. Maybe i should just film my own show?!

We have a PineMarten that lives in our Loft, there are literally piles of walnut shells up there on the floor. Not sure if you have them where you live, but if you do thats the likely culprit.

The words ‘ hunting tradition’ keeps coming up in articles, which is the standard excuse for continuing the practice of something which belongs in the past..

In fact is there any tradition which is worthwhile? Im struggling to think of one…?

Stunning.

What is it by the way? (sorry!)

Ive always had a hatred for the combination of French Hunters and Farmers since the sole Brown Bear that had been re-introduced into the  Pyrenees was ‘accidentally’ shot by Hunters.

Accident my ass.

Love my gravel bike, its a bit more of a challenge on rough terrain and downright nasty on rocks and roots but it was never designed for that type of use anyway.

That said it would never replace my 29er Hardtail. I have learnt with gravel riding that you have to plan your route carefully to make sure you dont come across ‘ the wrong type of terrain’, wheras on my MTB i can just get on with it!

The Diverge is good value at that reduced price, has a brilliant frame, decent brakes, wheelset and the tiagra groupset works just fine and is durable.

Budget another £100 for a threaded BB conversion as the press fit BB is the weak point of that bike, i cant think of any other negatives.

The Diverge rides really well and that bike has bags of upgrade potential for the future. It wouldnt be difficult to get that bike well below 9kg.

I have little route to town that runs alongside a river on a forest road, the route is 60% gravel 20% rough bikepath and 20% road.

Its 10.5km with 74m elevation gain and on the Diverge i have managed 24:32.  My Canyon Exceed CF 29er is nearly two minutes slower, 26:29.

Its a similar story with other segments , its the climbs especially the longer ones that the Diverge trashes the Exceed. However when it comes to descending, unless its smooth gravel the MTB has the advantage.

Diverge running trigger sport 33mm tyres, Exceeed Racing ralphs 2.25

PS Diverge 10.3kg , Exceed 10.0kg

I appreciate the quality in goods and am prepared to pay the price.

Thats why i only shop at John Lewis, drive a BMW and wont put my leg over anything that doesnt have the words S-Works printed on the frame.

Im also a compulsive liar.

If you are borrowing 4k over 2 or 3 years 13% APR isnt that bad for HP.

Most representative APR’s for Franchise dealer finance are around 10%, representatve examples are normally amounts of around 7-10k over 4 years the APR will inflate as you are borrowing less im and ( im assuming here) over a shorter term.

I also doubt anybody could get a personal loan for £4K at 3.5% APR. If they can let me know, i might have one myself!!

A couple of decent spin classes will help get it back some top end cardio if thats your thing. I have always found that running also helps the top end, as most of us can get a higher heart rate on a run than on the bike ( unless you live in the mountains)

For the first time in many years i couldnt ride my bike last winter and had effectively 4 months off the bike, i took up trail running as a way of keeping fit. When i got back on the bike i was expecting the worst but lost little or no time on strava compared to peak season even on cat mountain climbs..

Sorry to hijack this thread OP

Kuco:

Regarding the stiff shifter going into the big ring try some GT85 or Similar lube on the cable where it exits the downtube. You literally have to lube it after every ride but it makes the problem go away, I think its grit getting inside the plastic housing.

Lux was 2 months early. Nice problem to have but did catch me out with finances and had to move money around quickly! Bike was packaged superbly, wouldnt hesitate to use Canyon again.

For what its worth i had the same thoughts, but the Judy (its a judy Gold on the Chisel but not advertised as such) wasn’t actually that bad. I was expecting flex city but i could tell little or no difference between it and the Reba fitted to the Expert, only downside of the Judy is the weight which is just shy of 2kg.

What i did upgrade on my 2018 was the Stout crankset along with the BB which was awful and converted the tyres to tubeless, the rear cassette also weighed a ton so i put a XT one on there that i had lying around.

I’m going to give the fork a year or so service before upgrading.

The bike itself rides very well indeed, enjoy!

Yes 1” 1/8 to 1” 1/2 tapered. Boost 110 with a 51mm offset.

Is it the Judy fork you are changing?

I’ll probably have to when it comes to replacing my Anthem 29er, if Giant decide to dump out of 29ers altogether. 650b does make more sense on more trail focused bikes though, and id like to get my hands on a Trance X 650b at some point.

The point being there often isn’t any “problem” to solve.
If there is a concrete problem then obviously it needs resolving. I’m not sure the OP mentioned anything concrete?

The problem is lack of rest both mentally and physically from what i can see from the OP post

Kryton – The most important thing you need to do right now is to address your lack of sleep. Truly. There is some good advice here, but you will burn out if you dont address the rest factor :-)

You really have to do nothing and accept it all. This is incredibly difficult at first but when it clicks it all becomes obvious.
Doesn’t mean you’ll be “cured” just that you’ll cope with your personality much more easily.

Thats ignoring the root cause and ‘trigger’ , which wont solve the problem, its merely suppressing part of it short-term.

Rest, Sleep and Diet are the fundamentals here.

I sleep on average 11 to 6.30. I go to bed at 10, sometimes read. Yes, I usually wake up approx twice a night and my mind is racing. It takes me 45 mins to an hour to get back to sleep, unless I’ve been on the beer in which case I sleep through.

You need to make a change quickly, as that is not enough sleep and you will find yourself in ever decreasing circles.

If this carries on like this you will start to get panic attacks, and could develop into CFS. As your body will just want you to stop. At this point the recovery time will be long and drawn out.

I was in exactly the same position as yourself and i ignored the early warning signs (loss of sleep) and burnt out. It took me 2 years to recover fully, which included months off work and medication. Bike racing takes alot out of you, both pysically and mentally, the mental aspect is not to be underestimated either as the constant worry about ‘ am i doing enough training? ‘ or ‘ im scared im going to loose my gains ‘ overcomes everything else in your life, which is a bit silly really because in reality nobody looses fitness that quickly, especially if you have been cycling alot in the past.

My advice would be firstly cut right back on alcohol and stop drinking caffine, replace hot drinks with herbal tea which will de-toxify your system. Increase the fruit and veg in your diet. Take two to three weeks OFF the bike completley. Re-evaluate your competition goals, make them realistic bearing in mind you will need to cut back your training. And most importantly talk to people, dont coup things up emotionaly let it all out.

Sorry if any of this seems harsh, but this is coming from experience.

Oh gosh, that sounds tough. From my own personal experience I would say that, for some people, sport actually takes over thus creating stress based around training and performance.

Probably the root of the problem.

Serious questions – are you sleeping ok? How much per night on av? Do you wake up in the middle of the night frequently?

Give up coffee.

Not Froome.

It would have to be a rider that has improved unsupported by team Docs,state of the art pharmaceuticals, nutritioists, chefs, massuers, sports physcologists and lots and lots of money.

So it needs to be a young rider that impressed by getting a promotion up to elite or winning big races as an amateur

any ideas? There must be some xc racers on here?

i cant believe your swapping your sb66C for a giant! the giants well specced for £3050 dont get me wrong, but your sb66c is such a looker, seems like a massive downgrade to me

I’d have the Giant SX over the sb66c any day of the week :D

Andypaul can you tell me why it was the worst bike you owned??

I just could’nt get on with it, the bike felt heavy, unresponsive and the stock gearing was awful no matter how many adjustments i made, which could only be put down to the internal cable routing i guess. I lost patience with the bike in the end as it had no redeeming factors to it.

As ive said here before, when i was riding it off road i wished for my MTB and on road i wished i was on my road bike, sorry just my honest john opinion, others may disagree!

For me the best part of a ride are big climbs, and the sense of achievement when you get to the top. I’m a crap descender and don’t really enjoy that anywhere near as much.

As ever, best money to be had by splitting.

Split a bike if a part is damaged and not replaceable, otherwise sell it complete. After all the faffing about breaking the bike down and then posting a zillion individual items, then always being left with parts you cant sell.

as oldgit says, i think 700-800 is a good shout for a complete bike put it on E-Bay as a second hand road bike will be on many peoples new year resolution lists im sure.

For that price Yes. At retail i would run a mile though, had one for about a week. Quite possibly the worst bike i ever owned.

had the same model bought from LBS, i was told all the stock bikes had to be modified prior to sale. Its highly unlikely yours slipped through the net, especially when you bought the bike in 2011. Im pretty sure the recal was issued in 2010.

In a word .. No.

Theres only one proper place for 29er wheels, and that’s on a cyclocross bike

Been there, done it and sold it. There are only ever two bikes you need to own, a MTB and a road bike.

Ive yet to find anybody who whilst riding their CX bike on road, wished to be on a road bike and off road, were wishing for a MTB. Like i said if you RACE CX that does justify it but for casual use, no way!. Sorry.

Schindlers list is hard to beat, if a
little depressing i think its a film everybody should see.

Others are Pulp Fiction, Star wars a new hope and Scarface (which i must have seen 200 times!)

Dont racers have down time anymore? when i was coached i was told most of them have Nov and Dec off, to start base again in Jan?

Is racing all year really good for long term health? Just interested to know some all year racers opinions :-)

Queens of the stone age – Go with the flow

[quoteI’ve learnt from reading this thread that some people of a particular nationality can be different to other people of the same nationality.. I would never have known that..[/quote]

Glad i could be of service