Done it three times. Qualified the 3rd time in the actual mega which i was chuffed about. Was running a 180mm sx trail which helped during the week of crazy arm pump. I’d say start training forearm / grip exercises at least a month before you go. I’m sure everyone who has raced it will agree that yours arms are what go first physically.

If you can hold on you can have fun!

Tubeless for me was the best never once punctured.

Best weeks of my life. riding mad mountains with my best buddies. loved it!

but we’re omnivores we are designed to eat meat

I’d have to ask where you got this information @jeffl

Meat-eaters: have claws
Herbivores: no claws
Humans: no claws

Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
Humans: perspire through skin pores

Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding
Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding

Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly
Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.

Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat
Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater

Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.
Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits
Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits

Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains

I think all diets can be balanced. Unfortunately as soon as you tell someone you are vegan they start getting all defensive or even concerned for you.

I agree that you can include meat in a healthy way. I know that those that live in countries that eat a lot of fish such as Iceland have very good diets.

I just believe that veganism is even healthier. And also a lot more sustainable for the planet. And a lot less cruel. Maybe I’m wrong. I could be.

I used to love a good steak and chips or lamb rogan josh by the way.

Yes you are correct. My diet is better because I don’t eat meat, or animal products.

I still am partial to smashing a whole packet of ginger biscuits in the evening though!

I know many athletes are meat eaters. I guess this is because it’s what is considered normal.

I also know a growing number are now turning to the darkside of Vegan! Smoking used to be considered normal.

Vegan for 1.5 years now. I’m 33. Yes it can be hard to eat out etc. But energy levels are better. Never feel sluggish after meals. I’ve always been one of the quicker ones in my riding groups.Now my buddies keep scratching their heads as to why I’ve left them for dust up every climb. I keep telling them its the VE’GUNS’!

At first I did it for health reasons. I figured although I was in great shape, my fuelling was awful. Changed to Vegan after deciding I needed a strict set of rules to follow that would force me to eat better. A year in and I feel sick at the thought of eating meat and eggs. I guess as a vegan people send you shit loads of links to videos you should watch etc. After a while I have begun to understand how cruel we are to cows, sheep, chickens , fish etc.
If I’m In a situation where there is only a veg option I will eat something with milk/cheese but avoid it where I can.
I recently had a health screening test done where I was hooked up to a machine that measured muscle, fat, water as part of a package at a very posh hotel that the mrs gets free holidays at ( marbella club) . The doctor was in awe at my results. Apparently I have the biological age of 19. Now I cant say that In 1.5 years I have suddenly reversed the ageing process. But the doc said I was the best he’d ever seen in terms of percentage of real age.

This video about a 78 year old body builder. It was the one that tipped me over the edge to try it. The guy looks about 50 max!

One thing I don’t do Is try to tell my friends and family they must be vegan. It’s a massive decision.

I do get ill. I’ve had minor colds. But they seem to only last a day or so which is great. My skin is better( always suffered from Eczema) and my blocked nose has all but disappeared. I was told many time by allergists and health professionals that dairy was not good for sinus problems and damn they were very right!

I’ve just done this in the last two weeks. Been riding properly for 17 years. Learnt to ride trials and dirt on flats for the first few years then went to clips for xc and ‘enduro’ I still hit relatively large doubles, drop offs etc clipped in.I thought I would never entertain flats on an mtb for general riding. However I tried them just for a laugh last week. Now I have a set of 510s and am hooning around even more sideways before. Tried them on the hardtail at woburn sands and hit nearly all but the longest of doubles.

What I found was on the slash hitting big bumps the suspension would deal with it better and my weight stays rearward. On the ht ( a genesis latitude) big bumps and drops I had to concentrate a bit more to really shift my weight and drop my heels as I felt at high speeds I was going more over the bars as my feet lifted a bit.

One main benefit is that I’m finding myself faster into corners and through them. I was never the type to unclip and motocross style it through corners. I still keep my feet planted even when both wheels are sliding. However in my head I feel a tiny bit more confident that I could be able to dab and therefore I’m committing more initially into them.

Hope that helps.

Thank for the ‘to the point’ answer @scotroutes

@robgclarkson
11- 40t is not necessary for me and I way prefer the feeling of a more gradual change between cogs than this rebranded mega range malarkey . I get over every mountain/hill in the uk on my 1×10 11-32 setup on my Slash and single speed everything else on my other hardtail.

But if its not compatible I’ll sling a 10 speed group on there and sell the M8000 stuff.

Woburn sands?

Once you get to it you will know! Park on the main road then you get to the entrance and look to your left. Multiple runs. Some quite rad ones to!

haha, thats one of my best friends Anna.

Thanks @julians. I’ll bare that In mind.

@thisisnotaspoon – For me DH is anything that means a lift or push to the top everytime. i’ll ride supertech descents and very rarely say no to a gap (luckily grew up riding dirt). Just hate being put in a van every 10 minutes.

I’ll have a chat with Mike. Didnt realise he did enduro in Malaga.

Thanks people!

Love my trek slash 7. Climbs well, descends even better. Just got back from cwmcarn and brechfa trails with my buddy. Only upgraded the brakes to m785 and put a zee 1×10 system on. No chain device, just a gamut thick thin. No issues with chain drop so far! . The x9 mech and shifters were fine but i wanted to go back to shimano.

Here is a little vid i made on the final descent at cwmcarn. gets silly quick (imo) at about 2m,14. The slash just eats up terrain. Sayying that my buddy up front is on like a 2008 trance and still shreds. I’d hate to see what he’s like on a more modern machine like mine!

So many capable bikes out there. In my opinion the YT is to frickin slack whenever ive had a short go on one.. And so is my slash in slack mode on long tech climbs. But in the steeper head angle position it is wicked!

I use manuals to..

A) pump through small whoopy sections that would bring me to a snails pace if the front wheel had to go in between

B) Go through puddles. Especially the ones that you don’t know the depth of.

C) do drop offs that are super steep so i dont go over the bars at the bottom – ie I land with both wheels parallel to the ground

D) To make boring descents more interesting e.g Fire roads or tarmac section between trails.

Found it ! Went back yesterday and spent 3 hours searching. It was near the top of milestone hips! Glad I didn’t cancel my contact.

So elated!

Ah, carbonfiberismadebyaliens that was such a good call. Alas my gps is on but the data i think is turned off. IIm going back out there today and im just gonna crawl along the floor! Its water proof so hopefully would survive being stuck in the gloop.

Yeah that was me!

I have chosen to be a vegan over the last 2 months and I presume I will continue as I dont find it hard at all to get the nutrition I need.

My main reasons were.

1. I have never ever looked at my diet or worried about it. Im fit as hell and do loads of riding, cardio and train hard in Ju jitsu to. However I used to fuel my body with absolute garbage. Haribo, chocolate every night and not enough greens and fruit. So i thought, Im 32 now. If i look after my body even more by fueling it right then I will hopefully reap the benefits later on.

2. to actually gain weight for ju jitsu. I’ve always been trim and a bit of extra weight wouldn’t do any harm when fighting. It sounds strange but by actually taking an interest in what i eat it has made a small difference and will do more so when i join a gym at the end of the month.

3. I have never reacted well to dairy products . always having a blocked nose and eczema. when I have cut dairy it has cleared up . The little research I have done seems to suggest that we are the only animal that regularly drinks another’s milk. I’ve never been bothered about cheese. But chocolate has been a hard one to not have.

Results so far after 2 months.

Loads of energy. No feeling lethargic after eating. Power is up. Smashing up hills even more with tonnes of energy for the downhills.
Weight has gonne up 0.5kg. So pretty descent. I have been taking protein ( plant based ) supplements to top up levels after training. Skin is really good. And sinus problems have disappeared.

I think being vegan is generally a good thing however you do have to concentrate on getting the right balance. I eat about 10 -12 fruit portions a day currently! Which cant be bad.

On a different not here is a little edit from surrey hills I made on sunday. To show you how badly vegans ride!

Shimano M540 or XT if you wanna be posher.

I have used and abused pairs for 4-5 years before replacing only because i fancied shiny new ones.

I personally think the trail versions are pointless and add no added support whatsoever. So id say stick to the xc/standard variant.

Pm’ed ya

Cove handjob running 120mm is perfect but I have run 130 revs on it and was great.. I don’t understand why anyone wants super slack hardtails. I had a 456 ss for a week and tried not too puke everytime I rode it up a hill before I came to my senses and sold it. Hj is super light and has taken every gap, double and case ive thown at it.

i think its a problem with the latest edition.

Hi there
One of my cuctomers at the bike shop i work for had exactly the same problem on a red evo.

We exchanged it no problem. He hasn’t been back but i’m guessing its a design fault.

Deke

Stumpjumper Ht Carbon evo..

cheers Joe..

Not sure if im allowed to do this, but its not going in my pocket. We have a large 2013 stumpy fsr expert at my shop. We can do it at £3200. RRP is £4500. So a bit of a bargain. If any sale comes out of it I’ll be sure to put a large donation to the forum.

ive test ridden all the spesh mtb range for 2013. stumpy 29 is fricking awesome. especially if you get one with a brain. it works flawlessly. ive been riding dirt, trials, dh, xc etc for 15 years ob 26. still love em but unless you are a super technical rider you’l probably love a 29er more than a 26.

nice bike.. my friend alex kennedy is a cult team rider. check him on youtube. ive been riding bmx for several years.. I took my brake of this year. its makes you hit ramps at faster speeds and commit to tricks as you cant just pussy out once your rolling. 95 percent of the guys I ride with are brakeless. however I put mine bk on because its too hard/dangerous to ride to and from the skatepark. right or left doesnt ematter. its what feels right to the rider. I ride left rear like on all my bikes. get yourself a 24 in.ch cruiserbmx and go shred with your son!

im nearly 30 and love riding skateparks.. there are a few guys approachin 40 that regularly ride with down my local to.

my tip is.. do not buy a cheap bmx. buy a descent second hand one or even niceish new .
You can always sell it on if you dont like it.
Make sure u get the right size too.. The top tube length is the important part. if you are anywhere near 6ft you will need around a 21inch nch top tube.

I wear knee and shin armour plus a potty lid.
Make sure you practice the basics before attempting the crazy stuff.. I regularly practice manuals ,.180s, fakies etc whilst warming up.

Just to let you know, the 15 inch jett can be ridden by small people. My colleague is 5 foot nothin and test rode it fine.

Pearsons in Sutton. I work there. We have Jet 29er specialized in small. £1000 in an electric blue . Its very nice looking . We keep having to tell the blokes its a chics bike . If you wanna test ride it on the high street no problem. We also have some mykas in but they are a bit below your budget. Plus you can say you’ve visited the oldest bike shop in the world. Ask for Deke. I’m off on Friday and Monday.

Id say tough it out. Try not to unclip so often. Maybe loosen em of a bit. Flats will just make you dab more often. If you are after improving your skills like hopping and jumpin I’d say put some flats on in a car park and hop some bricks or bottles. Even better get a bmx or cruiser.

I did it for a year.. was very good. I learnt loads of defense techniques with no pressure to do belts. really all about battering the attacker before they attack you. I do ju jitsu now and a lot of it is based on that.

12 stone / 75 kg . Bottomed out the medium a couple of times on my 180mm in the alps.

love my ss handjob. I fly up and down hills on it. However if i ever ride(rarely) my geared hardtail I love how much faster you can pedal downhill. Actually scares me. Uphill is all about sitting and spinning. So it is slower but over longer rides I find my legs last longer . Also much more sociable as my mates dont think Im a miserable git for leaving them at the bottom of hills. For me ss is about the simplicity of it all.

I ride HT in the uk and boost some serious gaps and drop offs on it. Its fine for the odd 1 – 2min blasts of taking a beating . However mega is mega dude. Its an hour down hill. Your arms are literraly screaming at you to stop after 5 mins of gunning it at speeds you cant even dream about. The arm pump is bonkers. Ive done 2 years on a 165mm travel bike with 170 up front .Ive just bought an sx with 180mm upfront, 180 rear and Im still expecting a battering.

Also if you are going for a week before mega to get used to the mountain, it will just be pure pain after day 2 in your arms and legs.

Yes its doable on a ht. But you could also ride a cx bike down a world cup dh

njee20 I dont get ur point..

I doubt I ever will.
anyway.. I just hope when people make an agreement they stick to it.. otherwise it becomes like pinkbike which ive used maybe once and was messed around. I guess some people have lower standards..

good night all

well done! I once did it on my kona caldera with a kmc kool and one halflink for ss.. was sexy

Arcade is fine on for an entry level bmx.

I ride bmx. I love bmx. I hate seeing kids on huge bikes. Unless your nephew is a lanky kid then maybe the wtp seed 16 is an option . Sick little bike. That or the 18 arcade.

excellent rims. I run em on my two ht xc bikes. both of which I hit pretty big doubles and drop offs on. if they are built right they’ll last for ages. even run em ghetto tubeless and work perfectly