2 small pork pies for me every 2 hours. Works a treat and it slows down absorption of gels etc leading to more stable release of energy. Not so many peaks and troughs.

I can get through a good 7 hours now on some soreen, a few gels and 6 mini pork pies to slow it all down.

Does potato alley count as gravel?

Dear bike thieves who stole all my bikes a few years ago. Please could we leave them in a friendly forum members garden for me?

Yours sincerely

Mr Chilled76

Makes sense.

Thanks for the info folks.

It was 22mph average so doubt an e-bike flag will apply.

Off road decent. 160 riders on the board. I was testing my new rock razor (see thread from 2 days ago lol).

If someone flags it how do they verify whether it is them talking nonsense or me cheating?

Wasn’t wearing a heart rate monitor, but for what it’s worth I sure as hell know it was at 188 (my max) for a good 40 seconds of it!

All the Hammax ones are great, the reclining ones (there is 2 models) are better for a younger child as its easier to keep them from falling asleep with their head forwards.

As above though, they do affect handling a lot.

Slik graphics ones are really good. Completely matched my paint colour from my frame too

Thanks for input everyone. Just ordered a Rock Razor in Pacestar evo flavour to try on the rear.

Cheers

Cheers for that.

Just had a look and the dampf on the rear is a trailstar not pacestar so a touch more draggy than I had stated.

Think I’ll start with a different rear tyre.

Not too keen on mixing brands from an aesthetic point of view. What’s the maxxis equivalents to Mary front (trailstar) and Razor rear (Pacestar)?

Yeh I thought about trying that.

Is there much difference up front between running a Mary and a Damp?

Pretty sold on the razor for on the rear although I’ve read a few crc reviews of them puncturing easy in the main tread

Cheers but I’m more likely to go for a Snakeskin Pacestar one as they are about 30% lighter.

Regular folding. One fella who was out recommended a rock razor on the rear and keeping the Mary.

That will probably be what I try next unless there’s a massive load of recomendations for an alternative?

You could try dishing it first?

Needs to move exactly 3mm…towards the disc side iirc

Try some Autosol and elbow grease first. Will really surprise you if it’s just raw and tarnished.

Took me 20 minutes to renovate mine to looking like new.

I don’t understand the question?

A recovery ride is usually 1 hr.

A big ride is usually 5 hrs +

A general go out for a ride 2/3 hrs

Focus C max. But I’ve got pushchairs as well as bikes to transport

Really interesting reading around this.

Have you read Joe Friel’s book on hr training?

What I can’t get my head around is that if for the same power you are running a higher heart rate at a cadence of about 100 vs 85 then how does this keep the legs fresher? I would have thought a higher hr means more lactate is being built up in the muscles being used?

It’s not x2. But as a regular rider of both flats and spd’s it’s more than 10%. I find I can recruit hamstrings as my quads fatigue on a long climb to maintain a rate and then bring my quads back in. This allows me to work above a lactate threshold longer before fatigue slows me.

Also.if your quads are nearly spent and you need a sudden hard burst to get over something on a technical climb then bringing hamstring into greater focus for a brief short burst is really useful.

I ride both. I’m faster on really technical steep stuff in flats as I ride trials as a teenager and I’m much more confident knowing I can bail at an instant.

I can get out if clips but not as instantaneously.

I’m faster on most ground in clips, I can be pedalling in places that just isn’t possible in flat pedals due to having to drop heels to keep from losing my feet.

I’m way faster uphill in clips, the addition of full power hamstring to the stroke is huge, especially of you’ve done a lot of miles to get an efficient clipped in pedal stroke and trained your hamstring up.

I Have way more fun in flats as I tend to be popping the bike in the air and pulling small tricks, just little things like trials moves and balance passing through gates etc too that I don’t do when clipped in.

Try riding both for an extended period, you’ll work put what’s better for YOU as know two riders are the same with the same experience background.

Njee20 yeh it’s the sl5. Came with 105 and bontrager tlr wheels. Low spec considering the high quality frameset.

Best rear shock I ever rode was a coil Fox vanilla rc with a PUSH race tune. That thing just smoothed anything out on the dh’s in Portes du solail.

No idea about the modern kit though.

Well yeh gotta hold my hands up..

Guess I mean, my hubs need servicing. I’d normally go and buy a really nice set of wheels to replace the shonky stock ones as all the money on my road bike went on the frame (it was the lowest Emonda with the higher spec carbon weave frameset so it only comes with cheap parts).

However as the wife’s been off for 11 months spending £1000 to £1500 on wheels won’t go down well.

What can I get for under £350?

P.s. thanks for the suggestions so far… The Ultegras are a maybe.

Yeh you’re probably right, haven’t even looked at whether they are cartridge or cup and cone.

I’d quite like some nicer rims so almost using it as an excuse. The current ones look a bit naff

Edit, just ‘re looked at that tapered clamp. That’s not what I’m running. I’m running a double 34.9 twin bolt (double depth) clamp from a bmx

Tmars looks like a good shout. Cheers for the suggestion ads678

Joe G. That’s exactly what I’m running… and it has to be tight to stop it creaking

Hence the original question lol

Seat tube twice. A bmx clamp.

Yeh I know a reverb or ks won’t work.

Carbon paste won’t help it’s not a slipping issue it’s a creaking issue from a second crack that can’t be welded. With the double clamp the crack is supported and the lower clamp part is below the crack completely. Can’t be welded or then you can’t get the clamp over the weld.

Rides spot on with the double clamp and a rigid Seat post. I’ll just ride it with the fixed post if I have to but thought I’d see if anyone knows if any of the older manual ones are a bit more industrial… I’ve got no experience of them hence asking if anyone knows of one that can take a bit more umph on the frame clamp?

Really can’t be bothered to explain the semantics of why a further repair isn’t possible and the double clamp solves the issue.

It’s a spares bike I’ve built around a Cotic Soada not one of my other 5 “decent” bikes… so new frame isn’t needed, It rides great with a normal seatpost. It’s only really for taking my daughter out in the back.

I would like to fit a dropper to it but the only way it will work is if I can clamp it tightly.

If there are any clunky older manual ones anyone can think of that fit the bill then please let me know.

Applauds slowly*

*singletrack sarcastic standard response response

Spent 6k on an overpriced framed bike. Went out and smashed pbs on 80% of about 150 segments at a trail centre I’d ridden 100s of times before.

Wasn’t even trying. Made me very happy with my purchase 🙂

I had done hundreds (well maybe 50) of laps of a particular trail centre on a 2012 Banshee Spitfire over about a 4 year period …

First ride out on my sb6c I wasn’t pushing hard, just going out to try my bike out.

Didn’t feel like I’d gone particularly quicker. Uploaded to strava to find 80% of the segments were pbs.

I’d say that’s a reasonable 2k to 7k comparison.

Genuine true story.

Does that mean all 7k bikes are faster than 2k ones… no of course not. BUT this one did in this case, I wasn’t even expecting it too either. Thought it’d be too much bike for the course.

Turns out it descends and corners quicker for me and it’s lighter and pedals better for me.

Was it the frame/new wheel size/carbon everything/different tyres/suspension platform or a combination?

Who knows, but the bike did and continues to make a difference. Ive got a friend who used to be neck and neck all the time. He cant keep up now and is subsequently looking at relacing his bike.

The sb “turq” are £3700.

Wait ten months and you’ll get one nearly half that price.

I picked up a brand new sb6c frame with a free hope headset for about 2k at the end of last season before this year’s frames came out.

This is indeed a slippery slope.

I FEEL the need to stand here and admit… my name is Paul and I am now a road cyclist who rides a bit of mtb.

My journey over the last 6 months started the same.

Rode a road bike in mtb kit
Road bike in road kit with mtb lid.
Bought a road lid..Road bike in full road kit
Started getting really fussed about aero, realized I needed matching Castelli kit to not look like a wally.
Turned up to mtb rides with my old crew wearing lycra with no baggies.
Shaved my legs last week so as not to look like a hippy douche.

Here is my confession 🙁

P.s. it’s made me 300% quicker up hill on the mtb!!!!

Similar experience here, I ride with a couple of mountain bike groups. A winter of road riding this year has seen me move from mid pack to top 3 on the climbs.

I do feel slightly de-slilled on the trails though going into this spring compared with previous years where I just ride mtb.

Yeh sounds like your football and weights etc is quite hiit based and shorter so only 90 mins or so.

When riding you’re going out and doing a repetitive motion (pedalling) for a longer period.

Trouble with football and weights is they can be very good at building fast twitch fiber which is very prone to cramp during longer periods of exercise as it is more efficient at burning glucose and glycogen and often runs anaerobic for periods. Great for power, not so much for longer exercises without cramp though due to the byproduct of these contractions being lactic acid.

You’ve got two options…

1) immediate relief…back off the gas when riding so you’re in a lower heart rate zone to help your quads clear the lactate and run at a better zone under lactate threshold.

2) go out and get cramp. Then go out for a bit longer and get cramp. Repeat until you don’t get cramp on 3 hour rides.

Incidently I’ve been through this exact process over the winter, mine sets in at about 7 hours at the minute. I’ve yet to be strict enough to back off enough to go out longer although a 160 miler I’ve got planned in June will require a bit more discipline.

Hope this helps

(Fellow lifetime cramp sufferer)

Electrolytes in your bottle can help. They can delay this happening, but the underlying issue is lactic acid build up.

This happens when you work in higher heart rate zones. If you are cycling in zone 4 a lot then you’ve got a lot of lactate building up and your body isn’t getting chance to clear it.

You could try backing off and going out for a similar ride and you won’t have so much of an issue in theory.

As you get fitter you’ll maintain the pace you were doing at a lower heart rate and shouldn’t cramp so easily.

Have you had a lot of time off over winter? In which case you may be working harder than you were last year for the same ride

Don’t know the other one but I also run a Mary up front. You’re either very brave, stupid or ridiculously fit if you are going to run one on the rear. Way too draggy in my opinion!

Scud, yeh I get that. 2 hours is a sprint really and I dont need anything, barely water for that amount of time.

I’m talking about 6/7 hrs+

Up to 5 hours I can get away with my current metabolism just great.

In fact 5 hours seem to be a sticking point in that I think my liver and stored glycogen is done by then.

Good meal a few hours before hand and a whole soreen for a 5 hour ride usually eat half at 2 hours in then the other half at about 3hr30. Last 5 hours at a good pace no problem on that if I’m well fuelled before. Usually have a few min pork pies along the way for 5/6 hours too.

Did 7 hours the other day and took a lot of fuel along for the ride.. really felt it and needed all of it.

I’d like to be able to go out regularly at the weekend for 7-8 hours regardless cafe stops.

Poah.. some literature would disagree. In the same way your body can adapt to training loads and get better at longer slower or shorter faster you can in some ways adapt to fuel sources (from what I’ve read anyeay) hence asking about people’s experiences.

Yeh absolutely that fifeandy.

Thanks for translating. No interest in Atkins, just getting a physical adaptation to riding less carb fuelled.

You say you’ve been at it for a year, can you elaborate a bit more about what you experienced on rides early on etc and how long before you noticed positive benefits?

So in answer to my question Tim how long did this process take?

Any observations as you went through a transition period/advice as what to look out for?

I get what happens at a cellular level and in some ways I agree it could be looked at as being fitter, but fitness has many different specifics.

I have great sprint fitness and if my glucose levels are up I’ve got decent fitness to sit with a fast bunch. So it’s not so much about my fitness as what energy source my cells are adapted to use. Being fairly carb dependent makes me pretty competitive on punchy climbs and rolling hills where you have to recruit a lot of power then back off bit as I’m a lot more efficient at taping into high power outputs for short periods of time than some of the guys I ride with who go out and do longer rides regularly. Probably as I’ve spent a lot of time on the mountain bike where you are on and off the gas a lot more than riding road which I’m moving over to.

I’m finding I’m not so great as you get into 6/7 hours in the saddle and there’s only so much food you can carry/get down you during a ride/race.