First bit is steep up then it contours round a hillside with rocky rises and boggy dips but its a pretty goid little trail and infinately better than the road alternative. The descent is rock and grass and can clog a high roller under braking and make you go sideways. Ahem.

Yep +3.

endura helium is a good proper rain jacket, does roll up into a jersey pocket but its not a small pack size, waterproof, nice offset zip in rip-off rapha style which does elp it fit round the neck and not rub.

The endura race cape looks a good piece of kit on the hanger, not tried it but it claims to be 100% water proof but is thin and rolls tiny.

They had free cake? 8O how did I miss this!

Low end felts look very good for the money.

yeah, the stepping work on the rangers zig zags has been finished and its a tinsy bit easier perhaps but i wouldn’t say its massively different or ‘worse’. either way its about 10-20m so its incidental. Theres plenty of washed out stoney scree to sketch down before and after if thats what you want.

I think Rangers is like a big version of nan beild if that helps anyone.

its fine. Unless its carbon it’ll also be fine if the stem is the last thing on the steer and the top being 2mm or so above the stem.

edit: i type slow

40 mins drive to llanberis=snowdon

Kirkby Stephen loop surprisingly good. Agreed though a full length route would be great for bike packing transcambrianway-style

I’m in

What have I actually joined? Never been a member of a holding page before

Lovely.

what are the wheels and tyres?

Apologies if its bleeding obvious I’m looking at a tiny pic on my phone.

Was it this years or last years Giro (or maybe M-SR, either way, racing in the rain, up mountains, over roads with the snow still piled up at the sides) where the entire pelaton went for Castelli Gabba and stick on logo/black duct tape rather than whatever their own kit was?

Thats how castelli marketed it, i dont hink it was strictly true – Vermarc had one first i think, sportful as already said, rapha do one for sky now. They are all the same black stretchy windstopper, castelli just best at marketing it.

As you were then. :D

as an aside the estate’s behavour is not that odd south of the border, sadly.

I enjoyed ledgowan lodge at Achnasheen, proper scottish highland hotel. Does good pie and chips and real beer. :-)

I’ve ridden their slack 29er prototype of a few years ago. it was very well finished, light, good going down and with an adjustable fork good in twisty stuff and climbing up. I liked it very much.

If you really want to train you can do intervals, practice dismounts, running with the bike, try different tyre pressures, practice accelerating out of corners…

Or you could ride each race as hard as you can and see what happens, get the heart rate up, try and do better than last week.

For me if I didn’t race cross in the winter I wouldn’t be riding my mtb I’d be on the sofa so I look at it as free riding. Take pleasure in watching the people who are properly good at it be good at it and rock around giving them some pack fill to beat.

Before or after the ban you can park on street in town for free.

Rode and hiked up to snowdon. Telegraph alley was fun and the rangers path descent was worth the effort for sure.if you haven’t done it,put it on your to do list

everything this man has said is true.

Rode it a few weeks ago on a sunny weekday evening. Its about 2 hours up, one hour down doing llanberis-rangers-telegraph. Walkers all cheery. Met a few mountain bikers at the top and a walker bivi-ing out although he would have been lucky to make it through the night without being eaten by the seagulls.

…this morning

Maybe but I’m thinking I want something with more volume/bulk,

boring answer but eat unrefined foods – fruits have high water and fibre content for their calories so make you feel full. Cashews and brazil nuts are good – lots of protein and unsaturated fat that make you feel full.

Slipping star nut?

Yes it will work. Yes it will migrate. Yes the propriety volume reducers will work better.

Id recommend the usual 3 passes or nan beild (but I’d work in the cheeky mardale ill bell it’s great, nice singletrack up top, mahoosive steppy rocky descent) routes for big mountain

But I’d recommend the bike treks big day out red route (with perhaps a detour over lough rigg) It’s all low level stuff west of Windermere but some seriously good bits of trail hidden away.

Yay it happened! Well done all, driving past cross fell this morning and cloud cover was total. You’ve ridden it this year for the trails now come back next year for the views (maybe).

Chapeau nibali
Goodbye Ritchie
Valverde rises to the top like a turd that won’t flush :?

When was it just about mountainbiking?
Been on here for years and it’s been full of job/car/pooh/alcohol/hora/relationship/computer angst since day1

apparently there’s also a ‘magazine’ with the same name as this forum. I know! I was confused as well. Its made out of ‘paper’ and the people in charge only let things about mountainbikes go in it. :-)

Drops on cross bikes are a hang over from road bike lineage. If you never use them I wouldnt worry. Aim to get a comfortable position on the hoods when positioning bars as youll be there 99% of the time. Then the drops are there for that long draggy straight into a headwind in November Drizzle as you try to catch that guy on the bell lap. Some folk like descending in drops but i find it too head down arse up. Tops are only there to connect the hoods to the stem.

All IMO of course

Just been having a squint at the itv highlights and I don’t have a high def telly but the bike in front of contador as he was being patched up was definitely that colour and looked to have a top tube that didn’t meet the seat stays very similar to that bike.

I vote against here (boooo) :(

i really wanted to like it, it even had chris morris in but it seemed to be written and set-designed by arty types who have never been near a real office, ever. It seems really broad brush and misses loads of material about the subtlties and absurdities of office life.

Except the internet in a box thing, that was good. :-)

Grease or copperslip?

If you ride more slowly it burns more fat, above a certain level it burns the carbs you’ve eaten. That might be what you are feeling. Warning – I am not trained and have just read some books.

well thats something, once froome went down i feared a dull race without a climbing challanger to contador but i’ll take nibali with a 3 minute headstart. :-)

In a podcast interview with Brailsford pre-tour, he was saying it was time for Geraint to work on his climbing and become a GC guy.

Whereas my heart sank, he should keep the meat on him and do this against boonen and cancellara in a propper classic :-/

Wtf am I doing sat at work when I should be watching this thunderf**k of a bike race.
Going to have to watch the recorded live coverage when I get home, the highlights won’t cut it

what he said

Will people stop going on about wiggins as a plan B!!

i really think brailsford would love a guy who needs a flatish parcours and has no form on the team right now!

I would love wiggins to have ridden as a thakyou and goodbye for the british stages but if froome goes out brailsford will turn to Porte, or thomas etc. etc.

What i want- cav win

What i predict- All the lead out trains to fall apart on the last up and downs into Harrogate. A Gilbert/Sagan type or a random lead out man to win from a broken field.

Same here. Late developer. Was in denial for a while but started using 1 a day over counter tablets when it flares up and its a revelation. Noticed aldi have packets for 79p the other day. Not tried them yet but much cheaper than boots

yes that is quite appropriate, as is shouting allezallezallezlallezallezallezallezallez :-)

I am still waiting to see if any of the roadside responses really rise above polite claps and the odd ‘go-on-lads’. This is Britain afterall.

It’s not the race I’m wondering about it’s the notorious illegal hooning driving that the support cars and journalist have to do to get round and between stages that seems to be understood and accepted for 3 weeks in France but I’ll be surprised if it works like that in Yorkshire.

Novatec hubs are 50quid eBay, open pros or reflex are about 50 rrp. Your lbs could do 64 of something double butted and a wheel build for both for another 80?