Contacted a local coach and should be out for a day’s training in a couple of weeks’ time:)

Good to hear it’s not just me, especially when starting/returning.

Tyre pressures – I’m about 95Kg, and I’ve not gone tubeless (yet), so yes they are relatively high (although less than half of my road bike’s!). I did let them down a bit the other day after skittering across the first set of rocks (my little previous riding has been much more forestry than mountain), grip felt better so confidence/speed increased a little, then my thigh started up…

I loved my JDM Legacy estate… you’ll find lots of info (and a good bunch of people) on uklegacy.com as they cover the Outback too.

How far “back” do you mean?
Have seen some people who are over the rear axle going down a gentle slope. You’re not one of them are you?

I don’t think so… I move my hips back and it helps a bit, then feel they need to go further and drop them a bit… and then the muscle shouts! I guess it is basically getting into a squat position, albeit I can do normal squats just fine. I can certainly get further and lower back when just rolling down the road, so I’m guessing terror/tension is coming in to it.
The coaching I’m looking says they use video to show you what you’re doing, so I’ll find out then ;)

If you don’t have a dropper, use the QR to drop the saddle for downhill. If you don’t have a QR, carry an allen key 🙂

I’ve got a QR, but don’t tend to put it all the way down as otherwise I’m in trouble if I do hit a bit of uphill; a dropper is on the shopping list but after some coaching.

I’m sorta concerned that I’ll go to the coaching and find out I’ve bought completely the wrong sort of bike for me (either through comments, or having a go on some others that I find I like more), so I don’t want to spend too much on it first!

Not sure I want to ride that one in 2 minutes… it was a lot of climbing!

So hopefully mostly a dose of MTFU, and maybe practise riding right foot leading.

I think I may invest in some professional coaching, too… there’s so much to this that I’m just kinda blagging and relying on decent brakes and tyres at the moment :|

Maybe your lycra is too tight

Ha! Ha!
oh, actually now you mention it…

I’m right handed, but my left foot really wants to lead. On the road, I tend to have the pedals up and down rather than flat when descending; it’s much easier for me to swap legs like that and give each one a rest.
I tried swapping them to help, but my body swaps back without me even noticing?!

I’m not convinced my weight is too far back; the position I’m in feels much better, more control, less on top of the bars as the trail steepens and speed builds… …the bike I bought (no knowledge, just got offered this one when I asked around for an old bike to try mtb with.. after all an mtb is an mtb, right? ; ) ) turns out to be very much XC/race biased (2012 Trek Elite 9.8). It had a 7′ 120mm stem on it, and I was far too far forward to feel safe descending, even just tipping into downhills (although it felt ok just riding – my road background I guess), so I’ve just fitted a 35′ 90mm stem to bring the bars up and back… it’s taken a lot of pressure off my wrists, which is good, but now I’m a bit more confident to gain a little speed I’ve hit this new issue…

Oh, and I always wave to everyone… even the local pensioners on their ebikes ;)

My bike fit was … meh. Seemed competent, but the only real upshot was “you’re flexible, the exact fit won’t matter too much, you can probably ride anything.” Which is kinda useful, but not exactly what I was expecting.

Trying a few different saddles helped more – I’ve actually gone with a very-narrow-with-a-cut-out one for the Zwift bike.

Also, rather than spending loads on a wobble board, I cut up a 7 or 8 quid camping mat from Sports Direct and put it under my trainer and its legs several layers deep (also raised front wheel) to give some movement, and comfort increased massively – struggling to reach an hour went to ok for 2 hours.

I’m using my old, worn-down-at-the-heel Gore-tex lined Salomans on my flats (with Sealskins.. or, rather, Sealskins so old, they’re Porelle Drys :) ). They work pretty well, not cold at all… obviously no cleats, but as they’re basically walking shoes, they’re good for the odd walking bit!

Don’t touch with someone else’s barge pole. Hard sell; coupled with those “discounts”… they can offer 2k off + an extra 1k for your car, ‘cos their cars are £4k overpriced in the first place ;)

A tiny bit of research will find a similar car for much less, or much nicer at the same price.

Oh, and here’s the boss, annoyed because he gets noise from the skate park opposite his multi-million pound house on the Mumbles:

Short rides, <2 hours: nothing bar a bit of iso in the water bottle.

Medium, 2-4 or 5 hours: caramel waffles (‘cos Lidl don’t carry the proper Welsh toffee ones). Pretty much 100% carb, and a lot of that in simple sugars. Easy to slip into a back pocket, keep forever if you don’t happen to eat them.

Longer, 4-5+ … I’ve never not found a shop/cafe/burger van at some point. Plus the waffles. if I knew it was going to be impossible, I’d probably pack my normal lunch – Sandwich Spread sarnies, apple, nut+berry mix… I’d likely take a lot more nut+berry than normal though.

I’m going to add the mini pork pies as an option on the mids though :)

There’s just been a post on the Brechfa facebook group that Cwm Rhaeadr is mostly ok with a few trees to carry over.

Top of brechfa green, plus all of blue and IIRC some/all of black are closed for maintenance for a few more weeks now, be surprised if there’s not a few trees down but no-one’s reported any major trouble.

I liked the music ;)
Makes a change from all the pop covers around – just take a song and sing it reaaaaalllllllyyyyy slllllloooooowwwwwly.
But then I was turned to the dark side by The Toy Dolls’ Nellie The Elephant many years ago!

And the riding looks great but Leeds is a long way away from me…

+1 for SJS, although they tend towards road/touring. One of the few places that just keep stocking the older stuff. My old bike being a Thorn doesn’t mean I’m completely biased ;)

If you like a drop of whisky as well as ale, try Innis & Gunn Original. Matured in old whisky barrels, it really does take on a very mellow whisky side. I find it’s a great slow drinking beer as I don’t take another sip until the previous one has faded, and that takes a while.

Even my wife, who is not keen on ales but in a former life was a fully accredited beer taster/tester (!), was impressed… “you keep waiting for the bitter taste to come through, but it never does.” High praise from her! Mostly I just get a grunt and a scowl when I hand over something tasty for a sip :)

My favourite ever was several runs through of The Kinks’ “So Tired”.

I have also had Blondie – Hanging on the telephone!

I assume these were done on purpose….

I went to Solovair a couple of years ago after many many years of Doccies.
The welting failed at about 12 months, not the end of the world but not great given the price; then I took them and and the spare soles I bought at the same time as the shoes to the local cobbler… who refused to fit them. So that was all a big waste of time and money.

I’m back in DMs and perfectly happy to pay for them as they remain the only shoes that don’t fail under my weight for 10 hours a day at work within a few months. Somehow, the sizing has changed a little recently, and I’m now a size smaller than I was for the previous 30 years!