Top Tips for Festive Ride Happiness:

1. Get off Strava

2. Stop buying into Rapha’s marketing BS

3. Go ride your bike – have fun.

The end.

Cheap Shimano SPDs

Love my Kona Paddy Wagon – and it shrugs off current weather.

If you’re starting in Moab and ending up in Vegas then I can recommend the following. I’ve been there many times (used to live in California).. if you want more ideas/info email me.

Biking:

In Moab, do all the trails of note plus make sure you get a shuttle and do the “Whole Enchilada” (30 miles). Check out the Turner Forum on MTBR (search for Whole Enchilada) for many pics, ride notes.

On way to Vegas stop for a couple of days at Hurricane (near St George) and ride Gooseberry Mesa.

On Interstate 15 is also the Brian Head Ski Resort which has developed its summer DH/Park/lift access business in recent years. I never got to stop there but drove past thinking “damn, I wish I’d known about that before!”

Hiking (& Camping):

Around Moab:

– Arches National Park

– Canyonlands National Park

– Bryce Canyon

On way back to Vegas:

Lake Powell – I slept several nights wild camping under the stars at Lake Powell. It’s a beautiful, sensual place to be.

If you head that direction to Vegas down almost via Flagstaff then you can also take in the Grand Canyon (well worth a visit and also great camping) and also a stop at Lake Havasu – which is a summer magnet for American teen partygoers (read really hot chicks in Bikinis) plus is the location where the original London Bridge ended up being located after being dissassembled brick-by-brick, transported to the US and rebuilt at Lake Havasu.

Some pics from Moab:

And this is Gooseberry mesa, Hurricane, UT:

Chocolate! :D

I’ve been looking into that Chocolate Fish stuff – it’s made from the same stuff and at the same factory that originally made Howies and IceBreaker, before each of those was taken over and moved production elsewhere.

Anyone got any Chocolate Fish Merino?

Any experiences?

What is the On-One/Planet X Merino like – I see SportPursuit have Planet X 160g Merino Tees on sale for £22 right now.

Would I really notice a difference versus £55+ for Howies, etc?

I’ve had five 5 Spots through all generations from HL to TNT to DW link. Current one is a 2010 and while I’d love a 2012 it’s not sufficiently different to me to warrant a swap-out, especially if I run a Works Components angle set.

They are extremely well made, the journal bearings are bombproof and as maintenance-free as you could wish – far, far better than the skateboard bearings used in most full-suss bikes.

As Coogan says, the 5 Spot is incredibly versatile with many ‘personalities’ in 1 bike: mine has been built light for singletrack blasts, medium for all-round fun, and with coils shock/Lyriks and DH kit for Morzine (where it rocked by the way).

The DW suspension is a big step ahead of previous generations – it feels very deep and plush, equally it’s easy to tune to your personal ride characteristics with an air shock. I’ve done everything from XC races to DH weeks on mine.

I’m 5’10 and ride a Large. I’m a ‘tweener’ (in-between sizes like you) and having ridden both (my wife has a Medium) I’m better suited to the longer TT length and feel of the Large.

As you can see from the below, mine have been ridden around the world, from Peaslake to Whistler to Morzine to Moab!

On One is cheap tat for a reason.

Just to present the other side of the ownership love…

I really loved the Cotic’s small diameter steel tubes and for me the frame was a beauty to look at from a distance… but (you knew there was a ‘but’, right?) there are some really poor design flaws (IMO) which over a surprisingly brief time got on my tits so much I ended up selling it – which is a shame, as I still really loved the overall look of it.

– Unless you’re running discs the bolt-on canti bosses are an ugly Heath-Robinson abomination that can at best be described as an a’fterthought’. They detract from the visual beauty of the rest of the frame. Horrible.

– The 2 bottle cage mounts on the down tube is just annoying. It looks wrong, feels wrong, the top one makes inserting/removing even short 500ml bottles tricky.. I mean, come on – what was wrong with a bottle on the ST and another on the DT like every other bike??? Cy’s rationale of placing one bottle higher up the DT when actually shouldering the bike in a CX race doesn’t wash – no-one uses bottles in a CX race anyway. The bottle cage placings are just plain naff.

– The steerer tube angle is very slack compared to other CX bikes. OK, it’s only 1 degree – but try riding an X back-2-back versus other CX bikes and there is a very noticeable ponderous nature to the steering.

– Rear spacing at 135mm. OK, for those of you who want disc brakes on a CX machine (and it does seem the market is going that way) you’ll love it. But for traditionalists and those who actually race CX (how many disc-equipped bikes do you see racing??) it limits your choices as to wheel sets. I had my Cotic X just over 1 year ago, and while there has been a noticeable increase in availability of 135mm-hubbed 700c rimmed wheels, it’s still somewhat limiting.

– Finally, it’s heavy as a pig.

I’d love one if it were built out of better quality tubing, had a better fork, a steeper HA giving sharper steering, bottle bosses in the right places and canto bosses befitting a good frame rather than something from Fisher-Price.

I did an XC race on my Cotic X – wouldn’t do it again!

Surprised Dan’s not wearing his neck brace after all he’s been through. Must be a reason…?

I’ve been through 2 acquisitions as the acquirer and 3 as the acquiree…

All of them destroyed value.

The latest, by a global Fortune 50 firm that prides (deludes?) itself that “All of our acquisitions have been successful” has resulted in:

> 100% of the worthwhile staff from the acquired company leaving within 15 months – leaving the dross/no hopers

> A customer attrition rate of 1 per month (versus zero for the prvious 5 years… yes: Zero!)

> The products being repriced making them unrealistic in the market

> Key partners walking away in frustration

Yeah – I’d say it was a disaster.

I have one for sale if you’re interested..

Works Components -1 Degree Angleset for 1 1/8th inch Head Tubes, Size 4
(this was on my large 2010 Turner DW Spot)
£50 posted

I found this hilariously funny..

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2012/09/19/rally-driver-admits-he-has-no-idea-what-co-driver-is-talking-about/

Been MTB’ing 23 years…

.. riding CX 17 years..

.. riding Road 15 years..

… and DH’ing 6 years.

It’s all bikes – LOVE ‘EM ALL ‘cos they all love you. :D

Check out the video at the end of this gallery (click thru the pictures) of Andrea Bruni, Italian national Enduro Champ, on his Covert.

http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/Bike-Check-Andrea-Brunos-Transition-Covert,2944/Slideshow,0/sspomer,2

OK, this guy’s got skillzzz coming out his @rse, but my God, it made me WANT a Covert RIGHT NOW!! :D

If the carbon one rides anything like that – I WANT ONE.

Mind you, I’d have to learn to ride like Andrea Bruni too… nevertheless, it shows you just what a Covert is capable of.

People often put too much grease in freewheel pawls – and just as often put in too viscous a grease as well.

Strip it, clean it out, and put a smear of lightweight/flowy grease such as Prep M in it.

Don’t turn it on will ya!

Discs not always so good when touring – too hard to fix ‘in the field’ as it were.

I’d recommend any old bike really – just a good, sturdy but basic Hybrid bike.

The best touring is done on a bike that’s comfortable to ride, cheap to fix, and not bling enough to worry about if damaged or stolen.

Kudos to a 75 year old doing that kind of adventure – you gotta post up some pics/story when he does it.

One for sale here:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/diggers-xmas-fund-clearout-661_kcnc_works-components_frogglegs_sram_cinelli

Cheers folks.

Quite some recommendations for Paramo then? :-)

I’m not seeking a rainjacket, or hardshell, or necessarily a windproof.. I’m after a roadie type winter jacket for cold/icy temperatures that b-r-e-a-t-h-e-s exceptionally well.

When I ride I sweat, and when I go downhill, or briefly stop then restart I’m freezing because of the wet, cold condensed sweat.

I’ll check out Paramo and Assos – any other recommendations still welcome! :D.

This is my base layer Kipsta

66% polyester , 29% polyamide, 5% elasthane.

Rode it last year.

Unless they’ve made significant changes to the course you’d be better off riding it on a 29er MTB. The route didn’t match the advertised profile much – there was a LOT more off road than the advertised mix of road/trail/singletrack..

What about longer length knee warmers?

I find many are too short.. as I like my knee warmers to come down lower .. sort of halfway down my calf – than they’re supposed to, meaning they don’t stretch over the top of the thigh and stay in place.

Any recommendations for longer knee warmers?

The good thing about the middle (still 90+miles) distance is no boring slog into the wind along the coast beforemtheninteresting bits

Depends on your outlook I s’pose… I certainly didn’t find it a ‘boring slog’, neither did the few thousand others who rode it.

Zipping along for the first couple of hours in pelotons that are forming and disbanding was great. So often we don’t get the opportunity to do that in the UK, but in Belgium riders know how to ride in pelotons more comfortably.

The RVV can be divided into 2 segments strategy-wise: the first 100 miles is pretty flat and you can zip along with a bunch, hopping into and out of pelotons going at whatever speed you like.

The last 60 miles is where all the hills are – deliciously painful in a sheer human endeavour kinda way!

Here’s me after 244kms and 10hrs 15 mins in the saddle…

and no getting up early to get transport to the start then finishing miles away for your hotel/car.

That’s what WAGs are for – chauffeurs to ferry you from one place to the next! :D

Actually, my wife and 2 of our 3 kids came this year and are doing teh same next… they get a great weekend away, Bruges is a fascinating city, they go off to sightsee in somewhere like Ghent all day, collect me from Oudenaarde Sat evening after the Sportive, have splash-out dinners out in fancy restaurants Fri/Sat nights, and get involved in all the buzz and excitement of the Pro RVV on Sunday. Mind you, my wife & kids enjoy watching big races like the Tour de France, RVV in person.

Anything less than the full 250kms is not being serious! :D

I rode it for the first time this year – the full distance – and LOVED every single minute of it. I’m doing it again in 2013, have already booked Eurotunnel and Hotels, and have been looking forward to next year’s event almost literally since I crossed the finish line this year (maybe I’m sick in the head!)

Next year’s RVV is over Easter. We booked our hotels 1 month ago and found them already very full, so better get cracking if you want to book somewhere.

This year we spent Fri & Sat nights in central Bruges.. next year we are doing Fri night in Bruges, then moving to near Kwaremont for Sat night, so that on Sunday we can see the Pro’s come through on the climbs toward the end of the race.

What did you carry and never use?

A sense of responsibility. :D

Touring sets you free…

I’m so disgusted I burned the 3 Lance Armstrong books I have.

I thought about it and just decided that whatever he has to say I could not trust a word within them!

Moab is 15hrs drive from California. I know – I used to live there!

Plenty of excellent riding around California and yes it’ll me mega-hot, but not as hot on the Pacific coast as it will be in the inland deserts like Moab. Plenty of great stuff in Moab, but it is bitching hot in the summer. The ideal thing to do would be to ride very early and then again late afternoon/early evening, to avoid the worst of the heat.

In California there’s plenty – both North, South and everywhere else! Lake Tahoe is excellent – gotta ride the Flume trail once in your life.

I lived in Silicon Valley and there was loads around there – Skeggs Point on Skyline Blvd (30 mins south of San Francisco.

Bi Basin near Santa Cruz, in fact all over the Santa Cruz mountains was great.

The best place was Soquel Demonstration State Forest near Los Gatos, but I heard there used to be some trail access issues.. worth checking out.

If nearer Los Angeles then the San Gabriels are awesome – epically awesome trails there. There’s Laguna Beach too, where much of the ‘action’ shots by rad dudes in MBA magazine are shot.

Here we go again…

Someone scammed by Peter Gratwick aka Freeform5spot… what a surprise.

He:

– has scammed many on here (myself included) and on multiple other forums

– is a rogue trader

– has received universal bad feedback

and..

– has been banned for life

:|

Just use this Forum’s search function, enter ‘Gratwick’ and change the timeline to ‘Anytime’.

“I am a drug cheating failure and am withdrawing from cycling for the sake of the sport.”
I think its ….
“I am a drug cheat and I am standing for President for the sake of the sport.”

Certainly hope not… Millar may think he’s redeemed himself but he’s a druggy, cheating liar like the rest of them.

He, like the rest of them, should receive lifetime bans.

Why spend £20 when you can get virtually the same thing for £1.89?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ID-PET-TAGS-CAT-DOG-SERVICE-2nd2-NONE-ABFAB-25mm-nickel-engraved-free-FAST-DELIV-/300711374163?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Dogs&hash=item4603cb6d53

I was a huge fan of Hincapie’s… now, disappointed.

There was a guy who I thought was a hard worker, selflessly giving to his leader (no matter who that was in whichever team), who was talented enough to have been a serious contender at Paris-Roubaix, who was a quiet guy, not in-yer-face… just a great shame.

Spoils your heroes, doesn’t it?

A mate reframed this whole nasty episode for me the other day when I commented what a sad time for cycling this is. H replied….

“This is a time for celebration. Without eliminating drugs from the sport there’s no way a British cyclist like Brad Wiggins, who is undoubtedly clean, would have won the Tour de France”.

Take both SS and Road Bike and mix it up?

No, but I left my Tuna Pasta salad in the fridge at the B&B we stayed at Sat night… doh!

Cav’s not aiming for Paris-Roubaix, Flanders, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallone etc – which are Boonen’s primary objectives.

Boonen ain’t aiming for Green Jersey at the Tour or Giro either..

Anyone having a mid-life motorcycle crisis and not getting a Harley-Davidson just isn’t taking it seriously! :D

I’ve had two (does this mean I’ve had 2 mid-life crises?).. rode them around for a 2-3 years, got very nearly taken out by cars on 3 occasions.

Sold Harleys, back to MTBs, road bikes, Cyclocross. Much less dangerous.

Experiences, not products.

I’m approaching 50… I’d value a great ride, experience, weekend with my mates, shared laughs, time, velodrome/trail centre/special ride FAR more than a Campagnolo corkscrew, Merino base layer etc…

I’d love to spend 2 days with my wife and mates riding in Majorca… or France… or Italy, or just anywhere somewhere special.. could be Wales.

He’ll remember that day/weekend when he’s 70… whereas the corkscrew/merino will be long forgotten.

Best shock I ever had on a TNT or HL Spot was a plain jane Fox Float RC rear shock that had been Pushed by TF.

It did not have any of the RP23 platform gubbins, was a light tune, was very active and very plush, did not blow through the travel like RP23’s do and was soooo good that I still have it 4 years later now, have switched it onto my DW Spot and just had it retuned/serviced by TF!

Find a cheap but good condition standard Float in 190 x 50mm and get it to TF.