😂😂 that was easily worth 30 mins. CRC got back sharpish to me – pics of damaged wheel sent hopefully quick turnaround.

👍 not delved into one these for while

sorry I’m missing something here with the CEO thing 🤷‍♂️

Ive just sent the standard email following the suggested pathway saying ‘just taken delivery of wheels & one has a crack in it ?

😀 Got a damaged item just arrived sent the standard email but says 72hr response but the site suggested live chat can be used if quicker response is need, so I clicked on but it just gives the option of FB or Twitter (I don’t use either of these) ?
New şet of wheels which I had planned to use this week and ordered next day delivery

Search anything by Matthew Walker loads of great interviews Joe Rogan, Peter Attia, Dan Harris, he’s the man that literally wrote the book – ‘Why We Sleep’

Agree with all of what Rio says & if you’re local (not sure which part you’re close to) The Ridgeway is a much better choice.

Country Got Soul – Vol 1 is on Spotify

Pavel Tsatsouline.

I protect the frame using a simple rule ‘DO NOT TAKE THIS BIKE TO WALES’ 😉

I have a Lux was looking at the Spark but choose the Lux due to the two bottle cage option & was thinking based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever 😉 that the Spark is due an upgrade with an inline shock 💁
The Lux is superb btw its supremely fast but has a very aggressive geometry its a 70 deg head angle, I think the Spark is 68 ? I also found a little bit more ride info & experience on t’internet about the Lux – theres a great Dave Arthur review of it which defo helped me choose the Lux. From what @footflaps says about the RC being an all race machine the Lux is this too so I reckon its a win win either way & same with the Oiz. If your budget allows defo go for AXS the speed & ease at which it shifts is another level. Depending on the model the Reynolds wheels on the Lux have the Industry Nine Hydra hubs which have 960 pts of engagement as well.
Edit : Oops missed the bit that said you bought a Spork😁 I also use Vittoria both Mezcal & Barzo.

I found there’s a real difference between a flat bar XC style geometry when on long distance bike packs. I used to bike pack my El Mariachi & the switch to drop bar specific adventure bike was huge, far more proficient, safe & balanced handling. Efficiency too & the angles of say an ISO lends itself to one being perfectly positioned for long periods of time (days) with an ability to effortlessly switch from one terrain to another (trail, singletrack, road & gravel). I think what sometimes gets conflated is the difference between a gravel & adventure bike, I get often asked about my ISO as if its a gravel bike, then I explain the differences (boost single 34t front ring geometry & loading capacity) – check out the load Josh Ibbett put on his front fork for GBduro.
The venturemax bars on an ISO aren’t low set as you would equate to a road/CX or gravel bike – this is what caught me out when I first rode it and why I suggested to the OP to go straight to the drops, there is a contour to them that fits perfectly into your palm plus the higher pivot point of the GRX brakes allows you just cruise in & out of corners and never feel twitchy on anything technical – It really is a one of a kind bike.

I haven’t used a suspension fork, I have an XC F/S for any type of riding I feel a suspension fork would be required and I bought the ISO with its spec fork in mind. Ive also been riding rigid carbon forks for a number of years on my El Mar so riding rigid doesn’t really phase me for want of a better description. I’ll stick my neck out and say if its more trail oriented riding & bike packing you want then its the ISO, this is what this bike is designed for. There’s a 100k ride I do in the Chilterns its a mixture of mainly single track trail, Ridgeway bridlepath & 10% road & I choose to ride it on the Mason as I can carry all the provisions I need including extra water as theres only one shop on route which is near the end, I wouldn’t ride this route on any other bike I own.
FWIW I would say if you test an ISO one aspect I quickly realised is this bike is best ridden almost entirely on its drops -I never go on the hoods like a road bike even when climbing. The ergonomics of the venture max bars & the geometry of the bike make it such that it fits so well ridden in this position & the GRX brakes are perfectly positioned for single finger application.

I have an ISO ridden it comprehensively over all those terrains you mentions and its an amazing bike as Mason say ‘Fast Far’- it’s a bike that just wants to keep going . I posted about my ride experiences previously in another thread. I haven’t ridden a Cutthroat but do own a Salsa (El Mariachi). The Mason really does exactly what its designed for with aplomb its exceptionally well balanced particularly when fully loaded with bags front & rear also water bottles on the fork. I’ve also played around with it as an XC MTB here in the Chilterns & it snaps in & out of singletrack corners with fun and speed. I went for the ISO due to its leanings towards being more off road – its boost spacing has a 1x XT front ring can be converted to 27.5 and frankly its just that bit more bespoke. I have carbon XC bikes but for me when it comes to the adventure side of riding it has to steel, I just feel more comfortable about it taking a hit and having ridden steel before its a no brainer. Regards the looks it different but frankly its more about its performance I also like it’s uniqueness. The only downside I can find with the ISO is its not fast on the road but I feel this is mainly due to the spec that made me choose it (XT 34 front ring & wide tyres & rims) but it still feels really comfortable on the road & not out of place. GRX is amazing as well along with the Venture Max bars (I went with 44 rather than the spec 42).

You just missed the 8 hour at Gorrick but they are holding another event longest duration is 4 hours on 26th Sept limited numbers available though

https://www.gorrick.com/racing/spring/

I used these for my 13 yrs old.

https://kidsracing.co.uk/

I raced with it for the first time yesterday at Gorrick 8 hour, it’s absolutely superb it never misses a beat shifts effortlessly under pressure when racing and dare I say saves energy – one small click and it changes no pressure no worries. I have it synchronised with my Wahoo so I can see the ‘gears’ on the head unit. All round amazing piece of kit.

I’ve got 4 teenagers though only 3 in school & just been informed that they are required to wear masks in corridors. One of the teenagers is a looked after child of which I’m the legal parent & is on a reduced timetable & EHCP the other is mildly dyspraxic & spends time in the SEND room. My eldest one is no longer of school age but was frankly a **** nightmare at school (alpha male type) the other is good as gold – that’s just my kids so all I can say is good luck with enforcing that rule in a school of roughly 1000 pupils.

Atlanta anybody ?

The ISO is definitely not an MTB, though I can see why comparisons are made but in real time the only similarity is the boost spacing. I used to use a Salsa El Mar with rigid before my ISO. The ISO is a substantially more capable bike particularly when you load it, it has more balance & handles its load with ease significantly more planted and defiantly faster. Though I said it’s not fast on the road Ive always felt out of place on an MTB on the road where the ISO makes the transition from trail to road so smooth.

Yeah I have one. Shimano GRX version it’s exactly as Mason describe it, a bike designed specifically for going a long way fast. To be more specific I’ve bike packed the Ridgeway double recently as well as ridden it round local trails for fun. It can handle a lot of rough & technical terrain as well as the standard long standard off road trails. I initially noticed how stiff the fork was but this wasn’t under load then I added bags & water bottles which then made me realise why it needs be so stiff as the bike was really well balanced with all it’s weight on it. It’s the first drop bar disk bike I’ve ever owned & at first I was riding on the hoods a lot but felt quite high then I realised that this bike & the Venture Max bars work & control best when ridden almost entirely on the drops with zero back strain. Climbs great even under a full bike packing load surefooted on the descents & surprisingly snappy into corners.
It’s not a gravel bike though as it’s relatively slow on the road, it’s just a bike that’s capable on the road but at the same time doesn’t feel out of place there.
Never felt beat up on it and it also felt like it could ride much further that what I’ve done so far.
I know it’s not the greatest looking bike up front but I don’t care I’m far too long isn’t the tooth for that and it does it’s job with aplomb.
I love it.

👍 May I also suggest looking into some techniques for your stress as well, there’s plenty out there so spend some time researching it’s a win win outcome & I personally find my way of coping not only benefits myself as a person on & off the bike but also those around me. Also talk to your coach, a coach works best when you give them feedback about how you’re feeling and responding to the input they are prescribing you.

Without knowing the exact details of what you’re eating I’d be surprised if if you’re bonking on such short sessions I see somebody mentioned Ketogenic – are you Keto ?
I’d look at two issues here first which has been mentioned is ‘life’ this is difficult to measure but its impact on training & performance can’t be underestimated. There are ways in which you can counter act act this though & the most important & critical to all recovery is sleep. How many hours are you getting of actual sleep as opposed to what time are you going to bed are you staring at iPads etc just before drinking caffeine/alcohol ?
The other is FTP P/wpkg obsession & variation. Yes FTP is the base measure for power performance but it’s not the only metric to use to improve or train to. Like I said I’m not sure what software you’re using to gauge your TSB etc but I’d suggest staying away from the threshold workouts look at doing some short FRC or even Pmax sessions add some variation. Recovery rides too by these I mean rides where you enjoy the freedom & ability to ride a bike and have fun.
The good thing is you’ve seen the best option to take when you’re fatigued & not hitting numbers is stop, carrying on just creates more fatigue. With WKO there are optimised intervals with specific rep numbers to aim for EG let’s say an FTP intensive aerobic session the reps will be 1-4 so an minimum of 1 & a max of 4. If by the end of a rep you’re really struggling don’t aim to do another finish the session. Don’t let you’re ego get in the way better to get good data from less reps than junk from more.

I concur with rollindoughnut and FTP test shouldn’t be anywhere near as intense so wondering which one your doing & in August ? Also how are you monitoring your fitness & training how do you know if you’re over trained if you’re using power – WKO ?

I see now – Garmin & FIT files I get it.

I can get the gears to synch with my Roam head unit it’s just finding my rides in .fit format as on Training Peaks they are .fit.gz & can’t seem to find them anywhere on Strava ?

It came on new bike few weeks ago never used SRAM before & I have to say I’m hugely impressed. I’ve yet to get it to synch with SRAM Web to do post ride shifting analysis as I can’t quite work out how to connect my rides to the site. It’s say drag & drop a FIT file which I cant seem to do & the AXS app it only shows Garmin connect – I use Wahoo & Training Peaks.

That pic looks like the ‘gates’ section nr Barbury Castle ?

“Have you seen the video of the orang u tan using a spear to catch a fish”

Thnx 👍

I ride the Ridgeway a lot. Bike packed the double last weekend & I live about 20 mins from the section that starts in Risborough. I’ve mainly gone it on 2 bikes both rigid (Salsa El & more recently Mason ISO). The Ivinghoe section is pretty standard tbh then a section of road nr Tring then Wendover to Cadsden is probably the most technical also the first tap is outside the pub The Plough.
The worst bit IMHO of the Ridgeway are the ruts at the end at Avebury.

Great thnx everybody gonna order from Mantel

Thanks one last question if anybody can illuminate me on this; Whats Dub SL as opposed to just Dub when referring to XX1 eagle ?

Yeah SRAM stuff XX1 Eagle 104 BCD 34T chain ring to go with a quarq PM. The bike has direct mount ring which won’t work with the Quarq power meter.

Yeah Vaseline a defo had a couple of bad ones this year inc one that got infected & had to make repeated nurse visits for iodine dressing too. FWIW I didn’t think I had an infection I went to minor injuries as I was worried about a fracture but the doc said yeah all that red round it is infection was out on antibiotics & it cleared up.

Thnks everybody all sorted & purchased

Thanks 👍

Your pains sound very real & are clearly causing you so much suffering. May I suggest looking into meditation particularly mindfulness. I too have suffered my own traumas & I’m also the father of 4 kids. I discovered mindful meditation of which I knew very little of before & tbh was probably sceptical through ignorance. It was without doubt a complete life changing experience. Coming to the realisation that one doesn’t have to be a slave to thoughts feeling or emotions & that consciousness is through gentle calm reflection a place of peace & tranquility. It helped me come to terms with my traumas & difficult life situations I found a peace I could only dream of. It doesn’t make the pains & suffering disappear it gave me the insight to be able to understand what they are – just thoughts.

I used to plug to both Don Letts & Craig Charles. These two presenters had almost exclusive free reign on their plays but you would still send them music as they weren’t really the sort of DJs that would go out and keep themselves updated on new trends in their genre. EG I used to promote a San Fan label called Stones Throw who did funk compilations & also an artist called Sharon Jones so I would send them to Craig Charles as I knew he wouldn’t know of them. a lot of these DJs are busy being themselves so don’t really get their hands dirty looking & searching for brand new stuff. I did loads of things with Trevor Nelson including providing hand claps and tambourine for a Slum Village session they did for him but the more successful the DJ even specialists the less likely they are to play new music or take risks they will more likely do it near the end of the show. What you find is most specialist pluggers like myself knew way more about new music even before the most cutting edge DJs – it was our job to find it & then approach the label to be the PR rep. The ‘fights’ that went on to get deals with labels and artists was intense coz everybody is looking for the next Massive Attack if that makes sense. We also knew the shops spent lots of time in there. As a general rule there were two types of plugger – second hand car dealers who just dealt with mainstream music and really had no love of music as such but were excellent at promoing crossover hits and then people like myself who lived for music & trying to get underground music out to a wider audience.
6 Music was interesting as the heads of music there were always in battle with the djs as most in my time were previously involved in the industry (artists bands etc) so always thought they knew more than the HOMs the best example of this was Tom Robinson (nice guy) but thought he knew everything about music coz he was Tom Robinson of course.
There’s even lists within lists so not all A list records get the main A list rotation only the top top major releases would get breakfast time play and then it would move further down as the day went on. interestingly I built up such a profile for crossing over and breaking new and interesting projects I was employed by larger major labels to start campaigns for them so the artist could gain ‘credibility’ then once this was gained they took it all inhouse and it then went mainstream. I did this with The Streets & Amy Whinehouse to name two I was given all the promo material with strict instructions to not allow and daytime shows have the music I also arranged particular remixes of these artist for specialist shows. Once this ground was covered then it moved up another level and so on. Sometimes you would spend a year building a profile for an artist at specialist level before any attempt was made to crossover.
Regards what are called spot plays I think the one that gave me most satisfaction was getting Jo Whiley to play Aphex Twin Windowlicker. Almost anything different electronic or UK based hip hop drum & bass etc you heard on Radio 1 daytime between about 2003-2008ish was from me.