Seat too far back for thigh length? I have my seats very far forward.

Dual Air Rebas were/are still great.

Solo Air Rebas nowhere near as good.

New Pikes are far more sensitive than old Pikes, but old Pikes still good on big hits/rocks.

We ended up riding the cross bikes along the Coastal path through Newborough Forest, which was great, and then across some fields and over stiles/through gates, which was good in parts, and along the Menai Straits, with a return along the roads.

The weather was really good. Quite enjoyable.

Cheers

Increasing core strength & conditioning can make a massive difference to technical riding (and life in general), especially if you are a desk jockey rather than a manual worker.

It is one of those things that you are told, forget/ignore and then, many years later, when you do finally get around to working on your core strength, you think,
“Why, oh why didn’t I do this years ago????”

Start off with simple bodyweight exercises a couple of times per week. variations on Pressups, planks, pullups, squats, lunges, skipping and the like rather than focussing on “abs” exercises like crunches.

Vary your riding, with hard efforts, and become comfortable/relaxed on technical terrain -good core strength will assist with this.

ps. Do try to avoid over-training. I fell into this trap earlier this year and felt tired a lot. Get a lot of sleep.

Hard Intervals interspersed with sets of 50 burpees and 100m bear crawls.

dedrater – Member
I’m just about still in my mid-thirties and so I doubt I’m going set the world of MTB racing on fire!
I do 30mins (6.5miles) each way commute along Sustrans routes (tarmac, gravel, woods, road) 5 days a week and ride this years Boardman 29er Pro.
My only means of pacing/training is beating my segments on Strava.

You’ll be fine.

I’m in my late 30s, ride a 2014 Boardman Pro 29er and mostly just commute by bike these days too. I always seem to finish half-way down the “racer” class.

Some of the busier, muddier races can be quite frantic. It’s great.

I’m hoping to do some cyclocross races this year too.

jonnytheleyther – Member
If you’re up north I can highly recommend this https://www.facebook.com/MidweekMTBMadness/

I’ve done a few of them, well organised, high level too.

Yes. I really enjoyed them too.

For general robustness, deflation resistance, decent speed and surprisingly very good grip in all weathers,

Schwalbe Durano.

I use 28’s on my commuter, will switch to the set if free 25’s that BC gave me
-When the 27s eventually wear out.

I just used a big piece of plywood, painted white and hang the tools from panel pins.

I dabbled in XC racing many years ago, and re-discovered it this year. Partly as a result of getting back into biking and being unable to commit to (m)any full days out. Short races are a good way to get involved locally.

I have really enjoyed it. Riding around a park as fast as possible against other poeple is great.

As I am pushing 40 and in the middle of the “racer” category, I’m not in any danger of becoming the UK’s next great hope, though.

Interesting, thanks

Yes, the UK is choosing to spend money on a halo/vanity project to buy an international profile and a “feel-good factor”

If it was spent on the NHS, for example, instead it would be rapidly absorbed, with little extra to show for it.

Thanks for that, Monkeysfeet

More or Less: Olympic Medals expectations

I stuck (very sticky)adhesive velcro to the top of my older MTB helmet and to the top of the Solar Storm X2 light. The battery goes into my camelbak.

It works really well for night rides. I don’t use a bar mount light.

mikey74 – Member
Pannier(s) -much preferable to a backpack.
To you maybe, not me.

I was obviously referring to myself and I genuinely believe it. They are the tool for the job.

I’m not sure why somebody would be opposed to them.

Over many 1,000s of miles of commuting on different bikes, I have found the panniers to be much more comfortable, less sweaty and better for handling than a backpack or messenger bag whilst riding a bike.

If carrying a heavier load, the benefits are even more clear.

The only downside being that a pannier rack of some sort is required, of course.

Pannier(s) -much preferable to a backpack.

It’s “luxury”

A bit like all 1 and 2 bedroomed flats now being “luxury apartments”.

luxury, eh?

Gates on a fairly standard looking cul-de-sac. That would be a pain, wouldn’t it?

I’ve just come back from riding in the Black Forest area of Germany….

…It was lovely.
I wish I lived there.
I had similar thoughts when I went there. Freiburg was great and full of people riding bikes.

I really like other parts of Germany too.

The level of observation by people driving cars is a major factor.

Walking or running towards the oncoming traffic along a road with no pavement in daylight can be quite an eye-opener.

It is quite disconcerting just how many people only appear to notice/respond to you (ie. swerve) only when very close to you, even if wearing bright clothing.

I have noticed similar whilst driving behind cars that have encountered people on bikes.

Whilst cycling, the tell-tale is that the overtaking car is still heading towards the centre of the road as they pass into your lone of forward vision. They have got very close behind you and have only just starting veering away from you.

Observant drivers will be established on a parallel path to you or even heading back towards the left side of the road when you can see them.

I wish my mate still rode bikes as he was a proper vigilante.. Best story was the bloke who cut him up on a roundabout – my mate screamed lots of swear words before proceeding to cycle up the hill to his house. Bloke had spun round in his car and come after my mate for a “word”. As soon as my mate spots him it was bike down, helmet off ready for a brawl. Bloke twigs and spins round (again) with my mate chasing him (now on foot) screaming “what the **** did you turn round for you **** if you didn’t want a **** fight you **** pansy **** OFF!!!”. I reckon there’s a fair few drivers kicking round the North East that probably now think twice about cutting up a cyclist!

Classic!

A lot of people feel ‘brave’ when locked into a car. They don’t actually want a fight.

I find cars behave very differently around walkers on the road, who are just as vulnerable, but thats because walkers and drivers are usually looking at each other.

Yes. If the same people riding bikes and driving cars were to walk along a pavement together, it is unlikely that many of them would barge past or hurl abuse at each other, risking a violent encounter.

Joe Public are an inactive, lazy and status-obsessed bunch.

They see cyclists as somehow cheating the system and “getting in their way”. The fact that the person on a bike is not driving a German saloon, SUV or pickup truck(with a rufty-tufty name) suggests to them that the bike rider should not even be on the same thoroughfare as them.

There do seem to be a large number of very fat men (then again, fat is now the norm for UK adults) who get angry with people riding bikes. These people would probably suffer a health scare if they did attempt to commute by bike.

-There may be an element of male jealousy involved.

This doesn’t explain the aggressive women in big SUVs, though.

I will probably do a few early morning laps of Stainburn, and might also take a road bike for another morning.

deadkenny – Member
Arguably anyone who’s swept up by “extremist” ideology and prepared to kill people for their cause and possibly kill themselves in the process, has a mental illness.

Quite.

Similarly, in the USA these days, there always seems to be a big effort to determine whether the latest gun massacre is “terrorism” or just good ol’ American gunplay -as if there is really a difference.

I have found on my 29er Rebas that not reducing the volume too much, but adding more compression damping is the way to go.

Thanks for the ideas, folks.

As above:

Weather conditions, tiredness, fitness/conditioning or a lack of food. The heart-rate seems very low on the second day.

Experiment with seat position fore/aft.

Thanks

Plastic model kits.

Streetfighter your motorbike -that’s what I did when I was out of action for 3 months a few years ago. Putting it all back to normal when I sold it was a bit of a pain, though…

A few years back, they had a 3 mile run in the games and some of the men walked it, including Rich Froning who went on to win the games….

Watch from 36:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLOznVuXN28

So the 2014 “The Fittest Man on Earth” couldn’t manage a 3 mile run….

-But what were the conditions like and what had been doing beforehand?

I assume that running is a relatively small part of the “Crossfit games” fitness?

As I said earlier, many of the competitors appear larger than I would have expected them to be.

To me, all-round fitness would probably look something like this, WW2 army stuff

footflaps – Member
Still plenty about, it’s just not as blatantly illegal as in places like Nigeria. Large corporates spend 100s of £m lobbying HMG to get laws passed / changed. We allow billionaires to own huge estate of Media and have undue influence etc. Corrupt but technically legal.

Hence my use of the word , “relative”.

The UK is relatively uncorrupt, especially in day-to-day life/interaction with public officials etc.

footflaps – Member
If you define Great as being how much we contribute to the world rather than how much we take, then we’re heading in completely the wrong direction at the moment….

The balance of trade used to be broadcast on the news in the old days. I don’t recall hearing about it much in recent times.

Britain won’t be great again in the way it used to. Globalism has put paid to that. We were great historically because who took control of power and wealth away from the church and monarchy (centuries before other nations did) and by and large managed to appoint competent and incorruptible people to run the whole show.

Yes. Living on a big island provided some defence/isolation at times, although there have been conquerors.

Living on this big island also required that we needed decent boats if we wanted to go out and conquer. As technology improved, we built a formidable navy to do so.

Our climate and geology helped us too.

The relative lack of day-to-day and large-scale corruption in the UK is interesting.

Nico – Member

This is a misunderstood saying. It simply means that the Empire covered so much of the world’s surface that there was always some bit of it in daylight.
Yes. I think that most people understand that, don’t they?

And don’t get me started on the “What’s so Great about Great Britain” wilful misunderstanders.

“Make Britain great again” really means “proud” again. That means not saying sorry when somebody steps on your toe.
but isn’t that what makes Britain great? -similarly for somebody spilling their pint on you. Oh, and queueing too?

Ok, but the Velez Adventure Light isn’t like that!

Fair enough.

I was a bit unsure about the smock before I bought it, but it is so breathable and can be so well ventilated that it is not a problem.

I’m not sure what you mean about pulling, but it is easy to get on and off for an able-bodied man ;)