You’re under-recovering / over-training. Sleep more and eat more, do less, or lower the intensity. Time off should be helping you adapt and improve, not get worse.

SaxonRider – Member
Yep. I love a good wide tyre, but I wish I had have known before I bought them.

Tyre size database: http://www.reifenbreiten-datenbank.de/

YEah, the 130s are too long for the inbred, but it doesn’t suffer the usual sloppy head angle and horrible handling because I just end up with boatloads of sag which corrects (my sagged A2C length is approx the same as a “properly” sagged A2C length on a shorter fork, if you get my drift). It does make it feel a bit more spongey due to the heaps of “negative” travel.

Poor handling is only a problem when the wheels are on the ground, though, it’s not too big a deal. Problem is when you’re going off a drop or your front wheel is unweighted. The fork’s going to extend fully and the impact of landing is going to put stress on the frame which it might not necessarily be able to cope with.

Race Face do a cheap 45mm with 10 degree rise, Respond I think. Heavy though, but that’s probably not too big an issue.

One leg being longer than the other points at tight muscles in the hips and hamstrings. Be wary of simply stretching your hamstrings though. Tight hips and glutes can cause you to improperly stretch, shortening the hamstrings to compensate for problems elsewhere. Include some sort of hip hinge in your stretching, really focusing on getting yer arse back without bending at the knees.

For hip flexors, the Sampson stretch is a good one. Also look at leg swings (stand up, hold a wall or for frame for support, swing one leg back and forward, increasing range each time, really push back as well as forward).

Probably a trip to Comrie Croft on Saturday morning before the rain starts again. That was last weekend’s riding too, although “before the rain” ended up being my wettest ride of the year. Fully expecting that again tomorrow!

The 2016 version of the Whyte T-130 S is slightly over budget but it’s well rated and runs a wide range 1×11 drivetrain, so no extra expense if you were to want to upgrade from 10 speed in future There was a post on the STW front page yesterday (I think) about it.

[list][*]Flat pedals make it easier to stay upright if you slide out[/*] [*]If you unweight your front wheel and lift it over the root then you won’t slip on it; the back might, momentarily, but that’s easily saved[/*] [*]Hop them if there’s a clear landing![/*] [*]If they’re mossy, or polished as someone said above, avoid or find a rougher part of the root to cross[/*][*]Go faster! Skim over them and your tyres barely have a chance to slip[/*][*]Don’t brake on slippery surfaces, brake where there’s good grip[/*][/list]

Yes, just ditch the ones you don’t need. Use the middle ring position of a 3x crank. Using a 2x crank may cause chain line issues. You get cranks specific to single rings but it’s mostly down to aesthetics.

You don’t need superhuman legs if you use a wide range cassette. But many don’t and it’s fine.

makecoldplayhistory – Member
switching between windows.

Aerosnap is another feature I miss when working with a one-screen computer (laptop)

Cmd+Tab does window switching. I prefer using the gestures to swap windows though (four fingers up for all maximised apps, four fingers down for all windows of the active app).

For window snapping (assuming I understand what you mean), check out ‘Spectacle’ (it’s free I think). It provides a bunch of keyboard shortcuts (and an icon in the toolbar) for arranging and snapping windows. I’d be lost without it.

nickc – Member
I thought the article was saying that very short amounts of anaerobic training 3-4 minutes at a time “can be as good” as aerobic endurance training, but the difference isn’t pronounced if your’e an experienced endurance athlete already

Not quite. We already know that HIIT (as in really high intensity, for no more than a few minutes) can be beneficial for increasing endurance; the main contribution of this paper is explaining why it’s beneficial. Having read the paper, they make no claims that it is “as good as” other forms of training, just why it is good. A lesser finding is that taking antioxidants (in this case, a really high dose) can limit some of these beneficial effects of HIIT.

trail_rat – Member
no thats how i read it too nickc .

basically if your a fat lazy slob you will make big gains or is it losses – quickly….

but if your actually fit then it makes sod all difference and you still need to do a balance.

You’re underestimating what “actually fit” means. The study participants were 36 people who were already active (including marathon runners) and 14 ‘elite endurance athletes’; the paper qualifies ‘elite’ as being competitive of a national level. It’s not necessarily the case that it made “sod all difference”; rather, the elite athletes may not have shown as pronounced benefits as the recreational athletes because they were already exceptionally fit.

I love OSX, despite initial reservations and frustration. Now I find the opposite, where going back to Windows feels weird. If I ever have to give back my work Macbooks I’d definitely buy my own.

I’m a little confused. You built a light weight bike but found the ride too rough and now you want to swap to lighter tyres? Your current tyres (2.4 Rubber Queens) are high volume, relatively strong and add quite a bit of cushion. Swapping to a lighter tyre will probably make the ride feel even rougher, because there’s less air between you and the ground.

Since your goal is a “functional hardtail”, I’d keep what you’ve got and look at making adjustments elsewhere. Run lower pressures in your tyres to soften the ride and check your body position. If you’re finding a blue run too rough with huge tyres then you’re probably putting too much weight on your hands.

I have no idea what it would add up to, but petrol is by far my biggest cost. I’ve made a few upgrades this year but they’ve been mostly covered by selling the bits they replaced (converting to 1x made me money because I bought less parts than I sold).

Plastic Nukeproofs here. Light, have taken a beating but still going strong, and come in bright orange and enduro-yellow (if that’s yer thing).

Mine ruptured two years ago. I also have IBS and my GP reached the same conclusion as yours. Next day I was in A&E because the pain was too much. No keyhole because it was in such a bad condition so I’ve got a nice scar now. Surgeon said it’s one of the worst he’s seen. Good news is that I healed fast, didn’t get any infection afterwards and was back on the bike after about six weeks.

I’ve been watching it most of my life and enjoy it. I suppose understanding what’s happening is a part of “getting” it.

It’s essentially a game of strategically trying to gain ground on your opponent through set pieces, in order to get in position to try and score. For the other team, you’re trying to prevent that from happening so you can get the ball back. The stop-start nature of it is something you get used to. Definitely benefits the advertisers and it’s a huge part of why they’re the highest paid athletes in the world.

You could drop two of the gym sessions and focus on training your whole body with compound movements like squats, deadlifts, presses and pulls. Saves you time and those bigger movements are more effective than training smaller individual muscle groups. The time you save could be spent targeting your weaknesses, e.g. an interval training session to help you work on surviving those short, sharp efforts in the enduro races.

Eating well and recovering well are just as important, if not more important, than training more.

globalti – Member
I like the idea of putting logs across his driveway. It’s non-confrontational but should put the frighteners on him.

What a fantastic idea, you should do this.

OnOne Smorgasbord? 2.25″ wide, chunky tread, made by Maxxis with Exo casing (OnOne call it ‘ekso’), 42a and 60a options depending on how sticky you like your tyres.

100mm 26″ hardtail. Only bike I’ve owned, only bike I need. I regularly ride things common sense says you need a bouncy trail bike for, humbling my skill and showing how much you can do with how ‘little’ bike. It’s great fun.

I was there in November, took Lira.

Hario hand grinder here, works a treat. I use it for Turkish coffee which is an even finer grind than espresso.

Blairadam’s never dry but it’s not too bad at the moment.

A general rule of thumb for the main trails is to ride them west-east and if you’re north of the burn (look at Vorlich’s map), trails run north-south; if you’re south of the burn, trails run south-north. Some of the entrances aren’t obvious so I’d look on Strava for a map.

Academic. I love it.

richmtb – Member
At the caliper the only difference is SLX have a split pin pad retainer rather than a threaded retaining pin, the calipers are so similar that you can actually just buy the threaded retaining pin and fit it to the SLX caliper.

The XT pistons are ceramic so dissipate heat faster. That might make a difference on long descents but probably won’t make a noticeable difference otherwise.

Living in Scotland, the fork guard is a permanent fixture. Given the summer we’ve had, the rear crud catcher would be too, if I didn’t lose it a few months ago.

10 seconds, doesn’t mean it’s worthwhile and certainly doesn’t fit in as part of a good ride.

Still riding my first bike from seven years ago, bought with teenage savings (no job at the time). So… >100%?

It’s not a good place to get out of, if you know what I mean; either a ferry across the Clyde or a long drive to get anywhere. I wouldn’t see it as a move which would make life easier, but that depends what you want/need in life.

Edit: your other options in the Argyll area are similar. Good if you have what you need nearby. At least down in the borders you can get around much more easily. Biking is better too, if that’s a factor.

I’ll second Comrie Croft. It’s short, in terms of distance, but there’s rarely more than a few seconds between interesting technical features. It doesn’t always flow well and I’ve had a few tumbles there but I love it. The drive up is alright too.

The full climb is a good challenging one, too. I think I’ve only cleaned it once without stopping or dabbing a foot.

When fat cells get emptied, they fill with water (unsure of to capacity or not). The fat that was stored in them has gone, because it’s been converted into energy, basically. So, in that sense, the fat goes right away.

But, your energy needs during exercise get met in lots of ways, from a variety of energy sources which includes fat cells. So in that sense, you don’t necessarily lose that weight in that instant, because your energy needs may be met in other ways.

I get them from randoms every now and again. I’d doubt it’s stalking, probably someone browsing a club feed.

grannyjone – Member
Anything else (eg brake pads) just replaced when needed rather than done according to a schedule

I do pretty much everything “when needed”, although twice a year I’ll take almost everything apart, clean, grease and rebuild. It delays “when needed” a little further.

HR zones anywhere are only as accurate as you’ve calibrated them to be.

6’0″, 79kg, most of it in my legs. Could do with losing 3kg or so to get back to my leanest but I like food.

Equally as fast doesn’t mean equally as difficult.

If the freehub’s on its way out it can also cause a loud, intermittent knock. It’s usually one of the last things you think to check.

It’s almost impossible to get lost in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh. Almost everything leads somewhere and almost all of it’s rideable.

Bent or broken axle?