Avid Elixir 7s.

He’s still sponsored by them. Mate bought one off him via eBay. Imagine the surprise when you turn up and Warner answers the door!

Definitely worth a trip if the kids are fit!

OR

Dump them on the wife, book yourself on the uplift and join us on Sunday!

1. Get your son a copy of Ender’s Game.

2. Gauge his reaction once he finishes reading it.

3. ???

4. Sit back as your son and daughter take over the world!

Every time I forget to unclip.

@amedias good point.

Hmmm, maybe I’ll go Inbred and spend the £110 on a Chris King headset instead of going for the Whippet. Means I get to use my existing XT BB as well. I will probably have a Hope wheel for the front.

No tubes, I’m tubeless please!

How many kms do you get out of:

– Chain?
– Cassette?

The chain is about 9 months old and about 5000km old. Does seem like a short time for it. The cassette is over 3 years old now!

I rode in the Mendips on Sunday and I got a KOM on my commute to work today. Co-incidence? I think not!

So by my reckoning, 3 days.

Pictures!

I’ve got the tools to do it myself already, cheers stumpy01. Do agree it has saved me a lot of cash over the years!

We get free spannering, so mechanic checked it when I went in to get him to do a brake adjustment. Was surprised at the wear because my fixed checker didn’t pick it up. A bit annoying that. Maybe making use of the Halfords PSA to get a KMC chain and a 105 cassette. Just need to figure out if I go 12-28 or man up and go 12-25 this time!

@CandoDavid Done!

Does that mean the Inbred doesn’t need any additional hardware to run SS? Sorry for my ignorance.

I think 456 is out, just on price. So Inbred or Whippet now I reckon.

And ordered! Cheers mate.

You tried any of the disc brake pads from there? Any good compared to Superstar?

Where from?

Just realised that was the site name (I think). These look good:

http://www.discobrakes.com/?s=0&t=2&c=24&p=135&

Not a believer in prevention being better than cure? 🙂

You’re onto something though. There aren’t any problems with the transmission at the moment. However, I’m in the process of acquiring parts for a singlespeed build. Anything that comes off the road bike will go on the SS pile.

Strange, in the intervening weeks I’ve checked wear once a week. Today, the mechanic checked it using his fancy tool with the multiple intervals and button thingy and I’m now at 0.758. Mechanic says the fixed length checker can be inaccurate at times. Looks like it’s chain replacement time now.

Cassette’s given me over 5000km so could change it, and mechanic advises changing it too. However, I’m in a bit of a skint period so could do with not changing it. Any advice?

Cheers curlie467. Just trying to see all the positives to one or the other.

The Whippet is only 288g lighter than the alloy Scandal. Cost is £110 more. Would mean perhaps an additional month of saving into the SS fund for me.

The main thing for me is to make my mind up and put an order in for one or the other.

Don’t Evans have a no quibble 90 day return policy? I know one person who used it, but he never thrashed the bike round somewhere. He bought it, took it home, got told by his missus he couldn’t keep it and took it straight back.

May be worth having a crack if you can get them to put the returns policy in writing.

Moose Cycles have some sweet bikes in normal person sizes available for demo for about £40. They will take it off the cost if you decide to purchase from them. Hope this helps you OP.

Thanks for the responses guys.

26er Scandal yes.

29er and 650B are out because cost is my main driver and I want to use my existing wheelsets to keep it down.

@Cheezpleez what sort of weights are we talking?

I was considering the slot dropout version of the Scandal. I hoped it meant I’d not have to buy the dropouts?

The carbon is quite nice to ride. What puts me off the Whippet is we already have one, and I’d have to buy and install a PF92 BB.

Do you have rigid forks on your bike as well? If so, what did you go for?

I’m not “worried” about the scratches once I’m riding it. I just look at them somewhat wistfully at cleaning time.

Bought XT rear mech for the clutch, shifters because they felt nicer and XTR crankset on impulse.

First scratch on the cranks was like someone putting barbed wire across my face. Next bike will have SLX crankset, mech and XT shifters. XTR is pretty, but never again. The hurt when you put a scratch in it is too much for my heart to bear. And I consider myself someone who’s not overly precious about appearances!

Take some real food with you on longer rides. Flapjacks or bagels in kitchen foil works a treat.

Probably why the training manuals usually tell you to pay heed to how your legs feel above all else. HR is meaningless as a metric all on its own.

Brinjaals
Ladies fingers
Onions
Bitter gourds (unless they were fried)
Cabbage
Prawns
Crab – unless you broke the shell for me
Fish with bones in it

Things I loved as a kid I don’t really like much anymore
– Deep fried gizzard
– Fried chicken liver
– Curried goat’s intestine

Most of my workouts are planned, so I’ll be aiming to stay in a certain HR Zone on the bike anyway. Are you using a power meter perchance?

Intervals are a completely different matter, as is running. I never seem to be able to stay below Zone 4 on the runs despite my best efforts! Probably because “cycling fit” doesn’t mean I’m “running fit”.

Do your normal workouts.

If your legs feel ok and HR is around what you usually beat for that workout then carry on.
Legs feel tired and HR is around what you usually beat, then carry on.
Legs feel ok and HR is higher than what you normally beat then carry on.
Legs feel tired and HR is higher than what you normally beat, then maybe you need a rest day.

This is the guidance I follow. It makes sense to me and has stood me in good stead.

Another call from the police yesterday saying they’ve got a lead and will follow up. I await with bated breath!

Not sure why they keep asking me if I want them to follow it up. Why on earth would I not?

Cheers, I did look at the Tanita, but can’t justify the cost at the moment. Just tracking my weight daily using some Salter scales with the body fat percentage measurement though I’m not sure the latter is very accurate. Perhaps a log of some sort will help though.

Found a saddle sore the size of a 10p piece yesterday so I think I’m going to be doing a bit more running until it gives over. Blast it.

Out of interest, what is your run split time for the 70.3? Running is probably my biggest weakness. Also, are you doing any gym work? Do you find it helps with the cycling or the running?

So is a body composition analysis worth the money?

Amazed richpips is at the weight he is, but it seems to vary hugely from person to person. I was 10-12 kg heavier when playing a different sport and felt pretty good at that weight. Was more top heavy then. It’s the other way around now.

The main concern for me is fatigue. I increased my training mileage a lot over the last 2 months after making the decision to give racing a go. I also have a half marathon to train for and the legs never seem to recover fully between the running and the cycling. I’ve still not had a week off in 12 weeks of training though. Perhaps I’m due one soon.

I eat pretty healthily. I avoid liquor, processed meat, crisps and other junk food. I try and get as much of my carbs from fruit and veg as possible, sleep sensibly and so on. I’m just not sure what the next step is now.

@wwaswas Too low.

I want to know how much more I can safely lose, or if I’d be better off gaining some weight and trying to put on some more muscle. I’m currently at 61kg, but I’m pretty short at 170cm.

I guess the best thing to do would be to do an FTP test at different weights, but the Wattbike I used to rely on for these things is miscalibrated and the gym have no plans to fix it. Been a few months since I’ve gotten on it too, but I think I’m stronger now because my average ride speeds for my usual routes are going up.

Think about it like this.

If you were applying for your current job, then would it be one you’d want to do for the extra money?

If you can’t ride an officially sanctioned, purpose built DH track at a purpose built DH venue like a nutter then all is lost.

I can understand having to watch your speed on a trail centre blue, or a bridlway because you may come across all types of riders and obstacles, but S2A? The trail where they fenced off all the chicken runs because too many people were getting hurt meaning you had to commit to all the drops at the top to even start? Unbelievable.

I’m pretty sure I’d be well out of my comfort zone on my very first attempt on S2A. My thought process would be more along the lines of “shitohshitohshitohshitI’mgoingtodie”, not “what would I do if a moron in a CX bike showed up around the next corner, hmmm, let me scrub some speed just in case”.

AHA!

Post on the Aston Hill Facebook page about Mr CX bike and see what happens. Maybe someone else has seen the berk.

You need a permit to ride Aston. Fairly sure this guy did not have a permit. If he bought one off the website or spoke to one of the guys selling the permits then he’d have known to not be where he was.

Cheers.

Not open yet, but should be here once it is:

http://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/The_Events/Prudential_RideLondon-Surrey_100/Entries.htm

Ballot for next year on the 14th. Definitely putting one in. Not going to miss this again!

I have the Crank Brothers one with gauge. When it works it works very well. The missus has a Lezyne that I sneakily “borrow” on road rides.

If I went on a trip abroad then Mountain Morph all the way!

Thanks guys – some of the motivation is for me. Visiting would be odd as I’ve not visited them for decades and only see them at weddings etc. A letter may be okay because as families we do communicate that way.

A good friend of mine died this year. When I found out he was terminally ill and in hospital I kept putting off visiting him because I didn’t know what I’d say, or what I’d do. I regret it almost every week.

I’d say go and see her even if you feel awkward. You can always leave, but you’ll never know how it would have transpired once she passes away man.

Ibis Tranny. Thank me later.