This is also a subject I’ve been thinking about, even at the start of summer!

Just can’t seem to work out if I should go for a mid-winter boot or the full on Lake MXZ303 way?

My thinking is that a mid-winter boot would be enough, coming from Sidi’s and overshoes, and the full monty would too much, being too heavy/bulky etc.

Any comments?

It was all in a wolf whistle back in 1988, whilst riding lycra clad past any slightly easily excitable group, usually middle aged women IIRC 😯 😆

Well, I had an interesting day yesterday at the latest round out the Mitsubishi MTB marathon cup[/url] here in Sweden.

Started well, managed to keep the heart rate down compared to last year which I paid for later, was feeling good and placed 38 at half way in class H40 with 96 starters. Then my luck of many years ran out, never had a mechanical failure that stopped my race, but I managed to ride over the mother of all old nails in the middle of a forest 😯 It killed my tire, spent 15 mins trying to fix it but I’d lost all my sealant and didn’t have a spare tube with me. So gave up and walked 4k back to the car, swearing most of the way, pretty gutted really but that’s life eh.

Lesson learnt and I will carry a spare tube from now on in case of another massive nail or similar incident 🙄

I bought it about 84. Cried so much when my tape player ate it that my dad felt sorry for me and gave me a fiver to go buy a new copy. Can’t remember him ever giving me a fiver another time, ever 😀

Bream are you still in Sweden? We could go to my mums together

Now there’s an offer you don’t get every day 😯 😆

Yes, still happily in Skåne 😉

Where you based then?

Her’s my write up from going there with Switchbacks in 2009 ; some great riding out there for all types 8)

oldracer, I think it all depends on your own preferences, age, size, riding style, budget, type of races/courses, etc…

Seen plenty a fast rider still on 26” HTs but for sure the majority of the field is split 29” HT & FS. Ideal would be for you to test a 29” bike and see how it felt, from everyone I know who’s made the change they’ve been happy and regretted it.

Well done Iain, nice write up, I’ve also having a similar season and collecting an interesting array of cuts and bruises, guess at least it shows we’re fully committed and trying 😀

Thanks for the replies, with the Carmichael TCC plan it works well as you can do the interval sessions indoors during the week to make sure you’re nailing the power and then spend the weekend outside, so it keeps a good balance. From reading about TR I think their time crunched planning is similar.

Great thread, without having to read 82 pages has anyone move to TrainerRoad and regretted it, if so why?

Has anyone move to TrainerRoad from something like Chris Carmichael’s Time-Crunched Cyclist training plan, if so how have you found it?

Is there a better option than TrainerRoad for a ‘normal’ racer trying to make the most of his time to be as fit as possible?

Powertap Powercal can be bought with speed and candence sensor, just wasn’t sure if they were needed if I have the Garmin sensors?

Lol at Quarg 😆

Those with PowerCal; if I already have a Garmin cadence and speed sensor can these be used by the PowerCal or must I have the PowerCal sensors anyway?

Well I’ve committed now and bought a 4iiii unit that I can share between road & trainer bikes. Now considering a Powercal unit as my heart band is playing up, then I can use this for XC. Plus is I run both on my Taxc I can see how the result compare etc.

Will try this for the rest of the year and see how it goes, can always change later if not happy or new tech comes out.

Great input, thanks.

Would you dare to buy a 2nd hand unit? If so how much cheaper would it need to be? And would it need sending back to the manufacturer for recalibration etc?

Thanks for the reply, been researching for many months from reading the other thread, DC Rainmaker and other reviews decided to go Stages or 4iiii. I use Look for road but want to use this meter for CX also with SPDs.

Have read about the leaking Stages, but though generally this was all but fixed with the Gen2 units. Guess it’s another reason to buy from a decent shop ref any warranty issues, and not from eBay from a cheap guy in Israel 😆

So, best new price I can find is for a 175mm silver 105 Stages G2 unit is from Powermetershop.de at £411. For the black 4iiii 105 unit its £349 from Hinde.

Is the Stages worth the extra £62?

Been using structured power meter training ever since I bought a Taxc Fortius 8 years ago. So always power indoors and heart outdoor. Seems like there’s enough experience now with power meters and the price has come down enough that I’d like to invest so I can train outside with power as well.

That’s why I think the DC Rainmaker’s review is great, doesn’t force a recommendation but explains the facts to allow you to chose the best one for you 8)

For me it’s Stages or 4iiii as I have Shimano cranks and both my best road bike and Croix de Fer, so I can swap arms as required, and I want to keep cost low.

Luckily I upgraded to a 520 last year so no additional cost there. That said I can recommend the 520, great head unit.

Cheapist 4iiii 105 5800 units I can find is at Hinde for £349.

PBK nor Evans have no stock of 175mm black 105 😐

Haven’t seen an MTB pedal system yet, but Stages do some MTB crank arm versions.

Any deals about for Stages or 4iiii? Can’t find any myself and am seriously tempted to buy a unit.

Crikey, those conditions look challenging to say the least 😯 At least you got round and finished well placed.

Good luck, I’ll be watching with interest as this is something I’ve been debating with myself lately. I’m not aiming for anything this high because I simply don’t have the hours spare, but what hours I have I ensure I make the most of them. For this very reason I use the Carmichael Time Crunched training plans and they work well for me.

Over the past year I’ve been able to up my power output but I’m struggling to lower the weight; but part of the later is my inability to give up beer completely (have reduced) and not willing to diet, just eating healthy meals made from scratch, no processed meals, and I am now actively reducing portion sizes. Current target is to lose 4kgs (5%) weight, a very realistic goal for me.

For me it’s all a life balance, I want to race like a pro but with work, family, house, etc, being a pro isn’t ever going to be real 😆

Bit of a late update from last weekends race due to a long weekend celebrating Sweden’s national day yesterday.

It was the 3rd round of the X-cup at Vallåsen last Saturday, a course based at the DH venue which was pretty much half a lap up (150m evlivation) and half a lap down. For the hours race time I managed 4 laps.

Due to the high amount of climbing I didn’t expect to do so well but it went better than planned and I actually won! Important to point out this was start 2 race, start 1 being the fastest for Elite riders etc. So I won start 2 for men with 108 racers, and placed 41st overall from 304 racers.

Even my son enjoyed himself:

So to be honest I felt rather proud of myself given this was my best result for some time and the hard training had made a difference. Then I took a look at my heart rate during the race and it’s scared me a bit, I turn 45 next week, is this kind of heart profile normal for a short course racer? Is this similar to any other racers on here?

Another vote for the Elite Custom race cage 8)

Problem I have with the ally cages is they bend to easily, sure you can bend them back but I did have a bottle jump out mid ride before.

The other one is more setup more as a tarmac/gravel/XC machine come winter road trainer with mudguards. Genesis Croix de Fer with Ultegra group set and hydros, wheels are heavy but strong.

Less glamour here I guess as not that pretty 😆

Any excuse to post a photo of my CX love 8)

Bar tape matches the hubs? Check & check: Zipp and black.
Bottle cage bolts match your bar tape and hubs? Check, check & check: Zipp and black.
Chainring bolts match your bottle cage, bar tape and hubs…? N/A with am Absolute Black direct mount oval ring 8)

Full spec is:
Specialized Cruz Carbon frameset
Specialized CG-r carbon seat post
Zipp carbon bottle cage
Fizik Tundra M3 saddle
Zipp Course SL stem
Zipp SLC2 V2 Carbon bars (short/shallow) with Zipp Course CX tape
Zipp 303 Firecrest Tubular wheelset
Dugast Typhoon Tubs 33x700c
Ashima Ai2 discs; 160 front & 140 rear
CX1 Cranks
Absolute Black oval direct mount front ring
XTR pedals (25th anniversary blue)
CX1 rear mech
SRAM Red cassette
KMC X11SL DMC 11sp chain (black/red)
SRAM RED Hydro Levers; left hand ghetto tuned to remove front mech lever
SRAM RED Hydro brake calipers

Great find and story, thanks for sharing.

Great job, labour of love 8)

Depends on the race but for long events (3+ hours) I eat a small high carb slow burn pasta meal 2 hours before the race. A banana 30mins before followed by a High5 gel 15 mins before start. Short races circ 1 hour I skip the pasta.

During the race I run with High5 Energy Source mix in bottles, 750ml per hour. Sometime one with Caffeine just after half way. Combined with High5 gels, 3 per hour.

I have struggled the last few years with cramp over longer races and with the above plan I’ve managed to pretty much remove this, it worked spot on for the last marathon race two weeks ago.

But I guess you need to know your body also and plan accordingly. I know some riders who can’t stomach gels at all.

I know you said without custom but you can spec an English BB on a Parlee build, doesn’t get much more high end than that!

Mate just had this Z1 built, serious money but if you have the cash, why the heck not:

Mixed bag for me yesterday doing the 2nd round of the X-cup[/url] in Sweden.

Got caught in heavy traffic at the start because I was too nice and that slowed up my first lap, into the 2nd lap and was passing well heading to the front but then clipped a tree and went over the bars, lucky nothing broke (me or the bike), straightened the bars & saddle and back on but dropped about 6 positions.

Into the 3rd lap and was on a mission, finally could ride flat out, over took loads to finish with the leaders in sight but needed another half lap to take them.

Finished a little frustrated because of how things had gone, but seeing the results I calmed down and should be happy finishing 6th in start 2 group (117 starters) , 47th overall (363 riders incl. Elite).

So I know my engine is in good shape and I prepared well, just need to be more assertive from the start and don’t crash 😆

Had a good race myself on Saturday at Billingeracet[/url], Skövde, Sweden; quite pleased but of course still want to improve. Placed 37 in race H40 class, 15 places better than last year and 13 minutes faster. Finish time was 3:34:18, place 135 overall, this time would have been good enough for 6th in Sport or 36th in Elite

So I’m fitter than last year at this time and the fitest I’ve been for about 30 years 😆 Still room to improve as the fastest H50 guy was 3:09, placing 27th overall 😀

Godson also had a good day, coming home in 9th place in the half distance race, he was 40minutes faster than last year at 1:51 8)

Finally the time is nearly here for my first race season to start, Saturday is the first round of the Mitsubishi MTB Challenge, the marathon XC cup in Sweden with Billingeracet in Skövde: Billingeracet[/url]

Done it the last couple of years and it’s a good course, albeit I’m already dreading the final death climb to the finish straight, that seriously hurt last year. Good entry this year again with ~800 entries so far and 75 in my class of H40. Last year on the start line I had a heart rate of 160, before even doing anything, very impressive start up a long hill that allows you to make up some good positions before heading into the forest.

Training seems to be on track to improve on last years’ time, only concern is my endurance base so I’m expecting to have to deal with cramp as normal.

Quite excited 😀

Scott – after seeing them all snap/fail during a DH season running them as hire bikes, put me off for life! Although this was back in 2012 so maybe things are better these days.

Adversely I love my S-Works and Crux carbon.

Thanks for the reply Tracey, I’ve dropped them a line to see if they can help.

Had a bit of adventure myself last Saturday, finally got the time for a proper ride so planned a 5 hour XC tour with my god son. Weather was always going to be pants, ~3degree and rain, but thought it’s only rain and we headed out.

After 30 mins the rain started to turn to snow:

After an hour it started snowing more and temps were dropping, god son’s gloves were already wet through and hands cold, but he was still smiling.

Pressed on for another 20mins and his hands weren’t better, decision time as the sensible adult, decided to turn back, by now the weather was getting worst and the snow was settling:

Another 10 mins and the god son stops, he can’t feel his hands or arms! We’re in the middle of the nowhere with no escape routes! Take the tough decision to leave him at a known point with some cover from the snow, I bomb it back to the car, by now the snow’s really bad and snow/ice is freezing on me and I start to lose feeling in hands/arms. Takes me about 40mins to get back to the car but I just make it, 15mins to take clothes off and no feeling in hands, warm up enough to text him to let him know and then 15 mins drive back to his location. By now roads are covered in snow/ice, thank goodness I still have my winter ice tires on but still nearly slide off the road on every corner. Snow’s so heavy the signs are covered so nearly miss the turns to his location.

Finally get to him and he’s ok, very cold but ok, luckily he found a forest toilet near where I left him and he sheltered in there, he’s a good scout as well and that helped.

So all in all, what started out to be a fun ride turned into a near nightmare, even now I’ve not got the feeling back on the back of my hands, think the ice lay there too long and it’s damaged the nerves but this should come right with a little time.

For tires I run tubeless 2.1×29 Thunder Burt Evos on 1st wheelset, and 2.1 Rocket Ron Evos on the 2nd. These are good for the types of races courses here in Sweden which don’t normally have any large rock or slate type content etc. which can kill these.

Cut my 760 Enve Sweeps down to 730 after a few test rides last year, for me that’s the sweet spot.

Bought a Stache 9 Autumn last year for winter/fun duties, this came with 760 bars which I thought would be fun for this type of bike, but after breaking my thumb in Jan clipping a tree with the bar end I’ve just cut those down to 730 as well!

I have been through this exact situation, went from racing a carbon HT to the then new Anthem 29er in 2011, for the reasons you mentioned.

Loved the Anthem so much and even with the Al frame and rims got it below 10kg.

Only sold it last year to buy the latest generation of XC FS race bike as I think the geometry changes make a big difference. I had a long list of potential bikes I’d buy, like the list from Kryton57, in the end the decision came down to the best deal I could find. Ended up with an S-Works Epic WC, that I managed to buy with 40% discount, which was a cracking deal. If that deal hadn’t turned up then I would have been happy to go with the others mentioned.

So it really depends on if you ‘want’ a new bike rather than up specing your Anthem lol.