So, for 2/3 of the descents you dropped the post?

I have one on my 100mm forked 29er XC HT (prompted by my Dyfi Enduro experience) as it helps on the steep and rocky descents. I don’t drop it that often (and have never dropped it during an XC race), but it is a useful tool.

I missed the dropper when I rode my full suspension bike recently.

slowpuncheur – Member

It’s a scene thing.
What does that actually mean?

If you are over the age of about 35 in 2016 (and managed to buy a house when they were more attainable), have a reasonable(not massively paid) job/household income and have managed to avoid serious illness, divorce, supporting children from a number of different women and have resisted the urge to have/borrow the lifestyle of a premier league footballer/reality TV star on a middling salary, then there aren’t really many reasons why you shouldn’t have something in the bank for a “rainy day”, even if you do owe a fair chunk on a mortgage.

Taking a loan to pay for a holiday…. that’s the kind of thing I can’t understand.

No, that has always puzzled me too. Holidays are something you do with the money you have left over from living, aren’t they?

Spending £1,000s, that you don’t have, on cars (mostly in an attempt to impress others, given that almost all cars are comfortable, brisk and well appointed these days -you just choose your price point) and short-lived holidays has always seemed daft to me.

The opposite case, where you have stacks of money, but live like a total pauper is equally peculiar.

No, I’ve no idea why they do it either. The “bra” will probably cause paint damage anyway.

Who decided that it was to be “a thing” along with roofracks, car resting on the bumpstops, garlands obscuring the driver’s view etc?

I think many of us go through this at times.

My thoughts:

Cycling to & from work is superb, get away from your desk/workspace at lunchtime (running/other exercising can be great), keep a calendar/diary and use it to plan for enjoyable things as well as chores/DIY
-regular time for hobbies/interests should also be in the calendar and your family will know that you do X on a Wednesday evening.

If you want to read books or the like, go to bed earlier. Go to bed earlier anyway.

Unless there is something that you particularly want to see, don’t watch TV. Don’t waste time on social media (like STW…)

If training for sport is becoming a chore, why do it?

If you are well-paid enough to support the life that you can cope with on reduced hours, reduce the hours.

thomthumb – Member
marathon racer is a durano

Had these too and the glass goes through them too often. Great tyres, loved them on my gravel/ tourer for gravel/ touring but no good on the bad streets of east southampton!!

Are you actively seeking out glass????

I have ridden 2.5K miles on my Duranos and had only 2 punctures -from big thorns (in the dark) last winter.

Every week or so I pick out the bits of glass that have stuck into the rubber, this prevents the glass working through the tyres.

A few years ago dirt jumping was really popular with teenagers. I don’t see it much these days

Had a lady of about 60 pull alongside me at lights and told me she’d like to “rubs my thighs”

Haha.

The woman of similar vintage (rather than the younger, attractive one) who works at my office reception once made a similar remark about me as i walked past in my cycling clothes. I felt as if was being objectified, of course. Counselling helped eventually.

I did wonder what would have happened if had made such a comment to one of the women at work…

I’ve just remembered that I was once waiting at traffic lights when a woman of about 50 (I was about 30) in a 4×4 lowered her window and said, “ooh, that’s a bright top you are wearing”. She had a distinctly flirty look in her eye. :lol:

She wasn’t hot.

“looking good, lads!”

Shouted at us by a woman of about our age driving past in a Qashqai only yesterday.

As not particularly youthful looking blokes aged 39 & 40, we were surprised, but not too offended….

Resistance training allows some/all/groups of the muscles (weakest link or otherwise) to be trained to a level higher than that currently demanded by the sport/activity. This can aid an improvement in the movement in original sport/activity.

Plus, if you can push/pull/carry X kg then X/2 kg during the activity will feel much easier to you in future and you may be able to endure more

hora – Member
An 8yr old doing 32km?
I’m out.

A bit harsh there, Hora.

I’m sure the lad was fine once he understood the benefit of training in different zones, all-out power intervals and periodisation ;)

OK, and it is a wider issue than you personally, but you did write:

My lad has been instructed to get in the woods first so he can attack it correctly

About an 8 year old.

I have to agree with Hora…

It is good that your son is doing the races, but it sounds as if it (you?) could become a little too competitive/focused if not careful.

It shouldn’t really be too serious.

I remember daft parents shouting at players (and other parents and the ref) when I was playing u10s football and u12s Rugby League. My Dad only ever shouted encouragement for which I am grateful.

It is hard to balance encouragement against pushing. My 6yo daughter has now started showing an interest abd more aptitiude in games/sports and physical activities, including her bike, having until recently not been keen
-which is good. I have resisted the urge to push her towards riding and other things too much.

It is also important that children aren’t always involved in “organised” activities.

Free play is very important too.

I will admit that I would like the children to do wrestling or judo (they both like a bit of grappling), but not for the medals and wouldn’t force then into it.

My children will hopefully see that the healthy, active lifestyle of their parents is preferable to the sedentary, unhealthy life that many others appear to have….

I have known quite a few people who were pushed into sports at a young age because their parents wanted it and then abandoned them all. Others took the sport very seriously and did nothing else.

Yes, it could be the way to produce a future world champion, like Lewis Hamilton, but would you want your child to resent you or to turn out like Victoria Pendleton, other than the Gold medals?

+1 for Moon Dust.

I am assuming that you have tried moving it fore/aft (and possibly a non layback seatpost) and changing the angle a few times?

fifeandy – Member
Often feels like i just don’t have the leg power rather than cardio being maxed out.

Lower gears, pedal faster?

-Like a 600cc sports bike rather than a diesel bus.

Good weights to use:

Army surplus kit bag (£10)
+
bags of sand (£3 for 20-25Kg from B&Q)
+
plastic rubble sacks to put the sand in inside the kit bag

Do bearhug, Zercher and shoulder squats, shoulder pickups and then carry it up and down the road in a bearhug to finish you off.

You will sweat a lot and will get stronger.

chrispo – Member
On a similar note, I’ve spent this year riding and racing enduro rather than XC and my upper body is still now down to skin and bone. How come all that manhandling the bike round corners and over roots hasn’t turned me into a bronzed adonis?

…because the Enduro entry doesn’t include a spray tan?

Throwing a bike around isn’t *that* hard on the muscles, compared with doing pullups, pressups or wrestling, but weak muscles will be taxed and tired by throwing a bike around a technical trail.

Improved “core”/whole body strength is likely to improve the endurance of your riding, heaving on the bars, pumping the bike and you will also be able to do hike-a-bike and bike carries better too.

Obviously, having fashionably pumped-up biceps, but no chest/core/back/leg strength/conditioning wouldn’t be much use to a bike racer.

What don’t get exercised are the secondary, stabilising, muscles like the inner thigh. Something like off-road running can help here if you don’t want to do gym work though there are theraband exercises that help.

For all-round strength conditioning, simple, old-fashioned bodyweight circuit training is the way forward.

Improving the trunk strength and stability can make a big difference to the application of strength to the pedals, the maintaining of position and manoeuvring the bike around off-road for longer periods.

Deadlifts may more closely mimic the cycling motion

What sort of events are you looking to improve in?

Is your bike position set up to allow you to work at your most efficient?

Muscular endurance, strength:weight ratio and strength endurance are more important that absolute strength for most cycling activities.

Your body will adapt to the demands put upon it.

I can lift and carry a reasonable amount off the bike, but people who are not as “strong” can be (and are) quicker on the bike.

I know of small and large people who are fast on bikes, over different distances and/or climbs. I don’t see many World’s Strongest Man contenders winning many races locally, though.

Did the big gear intervals help much?

If it is quads/leg (and glutes/back) strength that you want to build, then squats, deadlifts and heavy carries would be the way to go -Most desk-based people would also benefit from some more general all-body strength and conditioning training.

As with any training, proper nutrition and rest & recovery are very important.

which is why a Crud Catcher is also used.

Llandegla seems smooth, but when I rode it on my CX bike last year I realised that it wasn’t actually thaaaat smooth ;)

(preferably made out of a piece of old inner-tube)

+ Crud Catcher is the best and cheapest method to keep your eyes clean.

Now that you are past the initial trauma, I would go to see a decent sports physio.

I had recurring problems with my calves (soleus’, rather than Gastrocs) for a number of years.

Once the physio has freed up the muscles (if that is required), it is important to start strengthening to repair the muscles -calf drops and raises with knees bent and with knees straight.

When the calf muscles have recovered the lowers/raises may not be as important, as they don’t really simulate/contribute to running.

I found that rope skipping is very good for calf rehab once the pain has gone.

I went to the Marin Trail a couple of weeks ago, for the first time in about 10 years, at the end of a weekend riding at CYB and clambering on the Snowdon Massif.

The Marin Trail was ok. The new bit was excellent, but much of the rest was fire road and/or quite forgettable. Some of the southern part was quite pleasant.

-As one of my friends pointed out, it illustrated just how far things have improved at other trail centres.

Interestingly, as somebody who often has a good recollection of these things, I had hardly any memory of the Marin Trail at all, other than the (good) Dragon’s tail(?) and the (fairly good) final descent, from the previous 2-3 times I’d been there.

I wouldn’t make a special effort to drive to the Marin Trail, but would to Penmachno and CYB.

agent007 – Member
…at Llandegla ….and then have one of the over-biked full face brigade nipping at your heels the whole way round.

??? Surely you would be nipping at their heels, at least on the ascents?

In my own experience, I’ve seen a lot of said people in the car park at DEGLA ;) and a few of them pushing/gasping/waiting on the big climb, but I’m not sure where they are on the descents. They certainly don’t catch/overtake me, even if I am on the XC 29er.

My commute involves about a mile of unsurfaced farm track which is nominally dirt/gravel, with various degrees of potholing dpending upon how long it has been since it was ‘graded’.

My cyclocross bike on 28mm Schwalbe Duranos copes with it fine, even when trying to ride it as hard as possible.

The XC 29er is quicker on most (non-sealed) terrain, though.

A 29er with drop (or Mary’s/Midges) bars would make for a quick all-day, all-terrain bike.

I do like the cyclocross bike for rides that involve roads and nipping onto light trails.

These tyres are widely available in 35mm wide.

Small Block 8:

Land Cruiser:

The Land Cruiser is particularly good for all-round, on/off road use.

On the subject of gravel roads: the UK must be one of the most tarmac’d countries in the world. The proportion of public roads that are not covered in tough black stuff or concrete is tiny. We certainly don’t have long sections of unsurfaced roads between towns.

Everybody already has a Vw Transporter these days, though ;)

Funnily enough, i was thinking similar earlier.

I genuinely enjoy owning a now 8 year old Mondeo estate on steel wheels. Fast enough, decent ride and handling on motorways and cross-country, albeit getting very slightly sagging approaching 100k miles (tempted to fit new dampers) Good wet and dry grip on decent tyres

….and I don’t care about it all or the “image”. Very liberating.

If I were to buy a “posh” car? probably a Jag XF, and I would like to.try a new Mustang V8.

The road climb out of Trefriw is fairly brutal. I rode it on a road bike last year.

I did it on a singlespeed mtb too once when I did the loop in question, about 11 years ago -I might have walked the steepest hairpins, though.

FWIW, I just use a Solarstorm X2 on my lid and no bar light.

Schwalbe Durano (28mm) were recommended to me.

I have left them on the commuter year-round. Excellent all-rounders and very deflation-proof.

Try pressing your body up and down with your arms whilst doing the plank exercises, much better.

Planks on their own seem far less beneficial.

There is nothing wrong with improving strength and flexibility -especially in hips, glutes, hams etc.

What do you do in the gym? Sitting down all day (as i also do) needs a lot of compensating for. I use a Sissel Sit Fit cushion for much of the time that I am sat at my desk, which requires me to stabilise my “core”.

As has been pointed out, bike fit needs to be right first

I’m making a number of points.

Bike fit needs to be right first, though

Saddle forward is used by people with short femurs to bring the knees further forward wrt to the pedals. Bar reach is tweaked afterwards.

It is not necessarily “wrong”.

Having the seat too far back can cause lower back pain too.

Many people do not have a flexible lower back and or weak glutes, as others have said.

Working on strength and conditioning of the core (and whole body) is beneficial to most office-based people.

It all depends upon an individual’s body dimensions.

A lot of people do have their seat too far back, as they never move it from the position it was in from the factory/shop.

I have my cleats all the way back, which suits me.

My mtbs have the seats mid-forward on inline posts.

My (used bargain) road bike frame is too long for me, so i do have the seat pushed very forward to compensate. Not a problem normally, but it did mean that I struggled to get the aero position right for tome trialling.

There is definitely something to be said for improving your base of all-round fitness rather than purely cycling/mountain biking fitness.