The Col du Corbier and Col du Trechauffe are worth checking out and make a nice little route when done together. The views from the top of the Trechauffe are amazing.

Corbier
http://www.strava.com/segments/674683
Trechauffe (Bottom)
http://www.strava.com/segments/2472840
Trechauffe (Top)
http://www.strava.com/segments/4692080

We were promoted to 8th. Can’t argue with that.

I think were ninth in the team event. The constantly changing track condition made things a little interesting. A guy in front of me at the start of the Red Bull section went from full speed to stop in an instant when he hit the mud on the first lap! Kudos to the guys on the tandem, it looks pretty scary watching them go over the jumps on the upper-quarry trail. All in all, a great day’s riding with everyone being very friendly and well behaved.

Just post this every time some of this dribble appears.

Very grateful not to be camping tonight. I expect there will be a few more crashes tomorrow as the AC rock is very slick when damp. Should be fun.

32t 12-36 on a 29er for me and I manage fine including a stint in the Sierra Nevada where the ramps get up to 30%. I’m no powerhouse either. I don’t see the point of the huge 42t cassettes as you have to sacrifice something in the middle, which means the jumps between the gears you spend most of your time in are bigger. Seems silly to me.

In and out in less than a minute; no faffing here! :evil:

Budapest is a great city and cheap to. Prague is good to as long as you don’t eat and drink with the tourists as you’ll get ripped off majorly.

The cost and hassle of owning a full-suss dissuade me from ever buying one. I can own, maintain and ride a really good hardtail for a lot less than an equivalent specced full-suss. I can ride pretty much anything but world cup style downhill runs (though I’d probably manage most of it bar the huge rock gardens and massive jumps/gaps). Having started mountain biking on fully rigid bikes with cantilever brakes and ludicrous geometry, my slack(ish) 29er with 120mm of travel and big 2.35″ tyres is incredibly plush.

Laps are 9 km (under 30 min laps is pretty quick). A bottle about half full with a tube, multi tool and mini pump in the back pocket or attached to the bike.

I’d second the Zealous Division 29er. I was a big wheel skeptic until I rode one. It’s a silly amount of fun to ride with the perks of both big wheels and short chainstays, which make it a blast to ride on singletrack.

Red Bull are as much a marketing company as they are a soft drinks company. All the camera footage you see of their athletes is owned by them, provides them with cheap and effective marketing and is available for resale to TV channels (e.g. Dave showing Imaginate or the Red Bull Cliff Diving). The Redbull Youtube channel has 3.5m subscribers, compared to Coca Cola’s 277k. They market a lifestyle as much as the drink.

Marketing wise they’re probably the cleverest I’ve ever seen. The Red Bull Stratos mission (the dude that sky-dived from the edge of space) cost circa US$30m and garnered huge amounts of publicity from broadcast, print, digital, radio media outlets for months in advance of the jump, during the jump and months after. Compare this to $4m for 30sec during the Superbowl and you can see how wisely they’ve spent their money.

I don’t drink the product at all but I can’t help but be impressed by the marketing and their contribution to niche and extreme sports.

Bristol Bikefest on 7th June is good fun.

GT Outpost

Overburys Pioneer custom
Parkpre Team 925
Commencal Supernormal

Zealous Division

Does no one actually realise that the MEPs cover huge areas (e.g. South West, North West etc) and not just their constituency? I live in a staunch Labour constituency but the vast majority of the MEPs that cover this area are Conservative or UKIP.

Specialized or Lazer work well for my skinny head without making me look like a mushroom

Zealous Division. 68deg head angle, 100-130mm fork, super short chainstays.

I rode through the middle of some sort of medieval film shoot in Leigh Woods. I was so confused I lost the trail. Most annoyed as I was on a stupidly quick strava run on empty trails other than people dressed up in funny clothes twating about with swords.

Anyone used the NRG sealant from on-one? A tenner a litre seems a lot cheaper than most. Basically, will I die if I attempt to seal a tyre with it?

Bought a Bryton, which didn’t work properly so took it back and bought a Garmin 500. Don’t regret it at all. It’s great for longer road rides into unknown areas.

If they can’t be tempted into doing a turn on the front then just sit up and freewheel until they get the hint.

The SPD argument is merely horses for courses. I love it when the trail gets steep and techy and I ride clips. I like to know that my feet are secure and in a position I know and trust on the pedals. There’s a level of confidence to be gained from that, which enables me to focus on the trail rather than my footing. Admittedly, I can’t jump for toffee but I’m going to blame that on being an XC racer as a kid and never really playing around on jumps. :roll:

Re. an 8yr old with SPDs, my only concern would be getting shoes that fit. If you’ve got an 8yr old who’s cool enough to mountain bike then I’m sure he’s capable of deciding whether he like SPDs or not.