When you’re ready…
When it’s safe…
When there’s room…

etc

If you’re wearing a helmet light, try and remember to turn it off, or swing it away as you come into the pits for a changeover. It’s practically impossible to identify someone when you have a gazillion lumens dancing on your retina…

Also at the end…

Good point! I lost count of the number of times my gym had to replace full length mirrors due to people dropping free weights which then bounced into them…

I invested in a personal trainer when I started weight training, more to get a sound base in terms of technique as well as an idea of the exercises, which I thought was worth it.

There’s technique both in terms of the lifting exercise itself, but also lifting the weights into position to start the exercise. Not so much of a problem at the lighter end, but lifting a pair of 34s into position to do some chest presses is not trivial (well, it wasn’t for me!)…

Do – ride in the Alps at least once, respect other trail users and the environment, remember which way round the euros put their brakes…

Don’t – fix a mechanical by putting your bike across the trail, take yourself too seriously, assume your mate’s ‘give it some welly’ is the same as your ‘give it some welly’ when jumping a push bike…

I just don’t like the thought that the majority of people don’t give a shit about others.

There’s no need to ‘like the thought’, as it’s almost certainly not true.

Unless you are rich, own multiple properties or own a decent sized business, you are a moron for voting Tory and do not understand how MY VIEW OF the world works.

FTFY

How anyone can claim to know how ‘the world works’ is hilarious!

on and on – Just out of interest, how much carb drink were you carrying when you did your 130 miles? Sounds like an awful lot of fluid to get down you if you were drinking every 20 mins. You must having been stopping to pee that often too!

jonba – love the potato with cheese idea!

I ate a mixture of gels, sweets, cereal bars and pork pies on my 50 miler last weekend, and didn’t feel hungry either!

Pork pies – This for me…

On long rides I tire of the constant sugar intake. I really look forward to something savoury, and pork pies are calorific and have some protein in which means you feel like you’ve eaten something proper.

I get the Tesco Finest mini pork pies and put them in a Ziploc plastic bag.

Can’t see that this is anything but a good thing?

Although their brand probably isn’t considered ‘premium’, they do sell decent kit – as others have already said.

I have bought from and sold to Flatout – had great service…

Yes, four hour for me this time. First timer last year in the two hour, and they were great races. Friendly, well organised, and more interesting courses compared to the other long duration (team) races I’ve done.

Looking forward to more of the same!

Also consider a kickboard heater for the kitchen, if underfloor isn’t an option. It’s made a big difference to ours…

Sealskinz ultra grip gloves work a treat for me…

Also giving your brake levers a good squeeze first time you changed the pads on your first pair of hydraulics ‘to see how they worked’

Upgrade the wife’s brakes, including increasing the rotor size (I had one spare), and utter those same words to her in the car park first time out…

I reckon a monthly round up of the high (and low) lights from these boards would be a pretty good read – perhaps expanded with some additional research / ‘informed’ comment.

My Z1 Compact is waterproof. Got a handlebar mount, and it goes there, as I use it as my cycle computer / nav / HRM etc. Also have top tube tri bag which has a phone pocket with window on the top which I’ve used lots as well on xc epics. A battery booster lives in there too… This is on my hardtail and road bike. When I’m riding ‘bigger’ stuff, it lives in my Camelback.

What’s zone 2 indeed!

Equally, what is fitness?

Compare two Chris’s – Froome and Hoy?

Ahh, yes – It took me many attempts to get through my thick head that aerobic fitness doesn’t mean you can jump from one exercise to another without consequence.

I avoid running, not because I don’t enjoy it, or think it’s bad for me, but because I know if I go out for a straightforward run, say 10k (45ish mins), I will be ruined for at least three days, and that’s lost time I could be doing other things.

If you’re interested in exercise generally, I can recommend reading The First 20 Minutes. Lots of interesting bits of info based on up to date research, a lot of it contrary to popular/common exercise belief.

I only mention it here, on reading comments above re ‘proper running shoes’, importance of stretching in exercise etc. You can take what you want from it, but I found it really interesting…

I think they’re great (2.0 x 29 front and rear on my race hardtail) but they need to be used on soft (not necessarily wet) ground. I found them not so confidence inspiring on armoured trails, where the tall and soft nobbles on a narrow tyre squash and squirm around around a bit.

I have two wheel sets – one with Ikons which are also fantastic (IMHO)and get by far the most use, but swap to the Beavers when things get soft / muddy and the Ikons just clog.

Putting build quality to one side for the moment…

…at the risk of stating the bleedin’ obvious, presumably you need a pretty good idea of the geometry you’re after / understanding of geo if you’re going down this route. I have some idea of what geometry means, but would I trust myself to pick at distance, a frame I’d like based purely on geo???

The last bike I bought was based on test rides, on a well received / reviewed models. I didn’t really look too hard or compare the geo figures.

Just checking that I’m not missing something…

A little ‘big-up’ for this event from me – had a great time. Thought the setting and the course were great, as was the relaxed atmosphere, the live music, and the cafe and bar. The only main lowlight being the 25kph headwind on the beach! Will definitely look to do it again…

Love my 29CS… Perfect for southern riding and xc racing I get up to.

@ Euro

I’m interested in investigating the implications of you logic there, linking ability with the need for coaching:

Are you saying any of the following?

> Jedi is not capable of coaching folk with a ‘higher skill set’ (you define what that is, as it’s your assertion)
> You only need a coach if you’re crap
> Professional sports folk don’t need coaches

Just back from a few days in Les Arcs – I was running my 160mm pikes at 75 PSI no token, 4 clicks on rebound from fastest, and 5 clicks on LSC from fastest (I think?). I weigh about 70-72kg all kitted up (ie on the light side!)

This set up was great when riding ‘properly’ (techy steeps and fast rough stuff) but as soon as mincing fireroad action started, then things felt a little harsh as folk have mentioned above. Didn’t get any tokens with mine, so that would be my next step – stick a token or two in and lose a some pressure.

I had already experimented with the other option of running lower tyre pressures, but I was pulling tyres off rims at 20ish psi on my ghetto tubeless 2.4 setup, so didn’t want to drop much below the 23psi I was running.

When I first got them, I set up as per guide (60ish?), and found them very smooth, but they just fell too low into their travel when things got steep, hence the more pressure for the Alps…

The other thing is that any material change to the fork needed to be matched to the shock (CCDBA) to keep things balanced, so it’s been quite an iterative process getting it all dialled in for me…

Most probably… Ran standard Ads on Crests for a good couple years with no issues at 23-28 psi. Got them inflated first time with a track pump and rode them loads around Wales. I weight about 72kg…

I’ve knocked the bearings out of my PF30 cups and replaced the bearings (with BB30 ones – they are the same, no?) (the cups were fine). Is this not the done thing??? Seems to be working fine…

Normally – wheels in padded bike bag, in boot, frame on top, done…

If long journey, with other luggage etc – everything goes into bag (requires pedals off)), in boot, done…

Normally only one bike though, but can easily rest second bike with front wheel off on top of bag…

Most embarrassing recently – Bristol Bikefest, fast fire road decent, into gentle right hander and boggy section, which is the start of the Red Bull timed section. Dab a bit of front and rear to control speed, front immediately starts to slide out, and I’m a passenger as I veer hard right and slam straight into the Red Bull sign / pallet, with inevitable OTB consequences. Fortunate for the soft landing, and bike in one piece.

Another team that had a great time here, despite a couple dramatic moments that included a carbon frame, wheel and handlebar being destroyed in a single accident, and a dislocated finger in another ‘moment’. Pretty chuffed with our finishing position as well!

Course was really good fit for the event, trackside camping really added to the atmosphere, and a special thanks to the guys from Lezyne who let a pair of us sit in their trackside tent and keep warm in the early hours while we were doing alternate laps.

njee20 – you’ve just proved my point really. No I don’t know what the quality of the kit is, because there’s no info about it – nothing.

Ahh – whatever… I’m on a hiding to nothing here so I’ll STFU, and feel all left out when I’m surrounded by everyone in their Wiggle MM jerseys.

C’mon guys, this isn’t high end kit we’re talking about here, or replica kit either, so not fair comparison. I could come back with Bikefest were handing out free T’s, which is similarly irrelevant.

This MM kit fails my value for money test (and that’s coming from someone who is happy to spend money on good kit), and obviously others will happily pay for it… Was just a bit surprised, that’s all.

Before we get too bogged down in tyre chat (ged’it?!?) I did have a chuckle when I flicked over the merchandise page on the MM website.

£35 for a race jersey doing a great impression of an advertising billboard? Really?!? £35 could also buy you an unbranded version, in the colour of your choice, from many outlets nationwide…

Is there a lap length anywhere? Seen the maps, but just trying to work out how long it’s going to take to get round (assuming it stays dry etc etc etc)

allthepies – that’s kinda what I suspected and have heard, but don’t know anyone who’s actually done the journey, and the Paris transfer in particular. Didn’t want to make the assumption though…

the best advice I’ve been given is to spot the grip and not worry about the slip.

Sums up perfectly what I was thinking my advice would be. Don’t forget to look ahead for where the grip is. I know I things start going wrong when I start looking right in front of my front wheel…

You often have to ‘jump’ from one patch of grip to another – not literally (ie wheels stay on the groud), but just accept that there’s going to be a slide between two safe, grippy bits. Looking ahead is key to this, and it also really helps keep the momentum people have mentions on rooty off camber bits. It also keeps the steering smooth, which helps.

Also, not all roots take you down the hill. Look for the ones pointing in the direction of the trail and use them. I try to float the front wheel over the ‘wrong’ roots, push the wheels onto the ‘right’ ones to keep height on the high side of the trail.

When it’s generally off camber, downhill foot down, too.

QECP is great for practicing this sort of stuff, if you’re local!

“…Maybe for skin flints…”

Free market and people can spend their money any way they like. STFU

I’d still try a 29C just because it’s utterly ace.

Love mine… Ponied up for the CS after testing convinced me carbon wheels are well worth the investment…

You can find them in the link below

Ah – saves me having to look too!