My Winter bike this time round has been a Scott CX comp.
I have a 4 mile stretch of off road on my 20 mile commute and it’s fine with the big tyres on. Oh,and the road bit (Fife) is a nightmare just now

It’s been really good ,though next change will be to a frame with disc mounts ,as I seem to be going through a lot of brake pads in the shitty weather. (Really liked Druiths Van Nick that he posted up recently ,looked like an almost perfect all rounder IMO)

I also used it at the end of last year for some weekenders and never found the cross frame set up a problem with higher mileage .TBH I think I went down hills quicker than on my carbon road bike as it felt so stable.

Just leaving from Selkirk and it looks fine here.
Think a lot of it will have melted.

Damn, I thought this was another how to go tubeless thread.

Motorbikes

When I moved to London I sold them all(motocross and enduro bikes mainly ) ,then thought I would try this new ATB thing.

24 years later and I am still hooked.

At it’s best there is nothing to touch it. :-)

http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dentistry/teeth-ache-184438.html

Power of the interweb :-)

It will be those alien implants trying to send signals to the mothership. :wink:

or

you are smiling too much while cycling :D

I got my frame on the scheme last year, no problem (£999).
Don’t know if the rules have changed since mind.

i know it looks like a seriously proposterous endeavour

Yup, it’s right up there with extreme ironing.
Almost pointless ,but as long as they are having fun.
At least no helicopters were involved.

I wash all mine quite a bit,it’s a leftover from MX/Enduro days.
You sometimes spot stuff while you are cleaning that could mess up your race or big day out.

I have had very few mechanicals.

:-)

Beer !

Egads man have you no shame ?
A (titanium )hipflask with a suitable malt ,is the only way to travel,if one must indulge.

Off with you and your special brew crew. :P

Embarrassed ?
I am on here.
By the laws of this forum I have bought

..the wrong bike
..put the wrong forks on it
..then added the wrong brakes
.. + one wrong seat post
.. wrong bars ,check
.. mud deflectors ,check

So I will never post up any photos ,but just carry on enjoying my purchase of strangeness :D

I use these .They can be a bit of a bar steward to get over off road shoes mind :roll:

ATB
:wink:

Ah ,see they never should have dropped the ATB descriptive :lol:

What were you expecting from the event?
Did you have an idea what a sportive was before entering?

For me I treat them like a mass time trial and use them like a big training run.

Oh right . Never noticed any thing like that. Sounds a bit strange.
You would think it would work or not.
The inside of the free hub body has lots of ramps ,so I can’t imagine much delay before it would drive.

What’s a slow reacting freehub?

Bought a second hand set this time last year and have used them a lot.
They have been really good.
Just serviced them (more for peace of mind,they were running fine)and replaced the pawls in the freewheel + bearings while I had them apart.
Easy to work on and the bearings were cheap and easy to get a hold of.

I use these and cannot fault them .

Couldn’t be bothered with all the faff of changing lenses

Got both for the price of a set of Oakleys

Off road

Road

Clear safety specs for night riding .

Chicken ranch

Stayed here last year.
Well set up with good storage ,bike wash ,clothes dryers and close enough for riding to Inners and Glen T .

Say what’s in your heart and don’t worry about it.
The crowd will expect a bit of nerves and hopefully at least half of them love you anyway.

Your best man’s speech on the other hand… :lol: :D

How about this

I bought 3 bags last year trying to find what I wanted :roll:

This has stayed in the attic since last spring.

Notaspoon

Have you got anyone to go out training with ,mates or a local chaingang ?
Have you got any target events booked for this year?

Both these things got me fitter than I could have done on my own last year .
I have a decent commute distance and was going out on long rides,but found that I would drift off into pootle mode too much.
Going out with mates and on big chaingangs really speeded things up and got me out the door when I couldn’t be bothered.

Having events booked up in advance I would get ‘The Fear ‘ when I started taking it easy.

I am going to do the same this year but try and shake up the commute with some intervals.

I have been using these for the last year. Very comfy

If you don’t mind falling out with the anti bar end crowd,they are great for long days out. :wink:

Wheelie

I was looking at a Mamtor last year ,but went for the Tuareg frame in the end .
I really like it.
One of a hand full of hard tails that were on the TR last year and it coped well with (in my case) the long days and varied trails.
A friend out in Lanzarote (a real racing whippet)has just bought a Mamtor and loves it.

It was him that made me start looking at Van Nics.

Not a problem, people are often incorrect on the internet.

Yup, I am always wrong me.

I spend far too long in book shops and record stores ,when I could get what I want in seconds on the tinternet ,downloaded straight to my tiny brain.
I should have saved time and fuel driving to the wheel builders and had a set delivered to my door,chucked them on the bike and got straight out and perfected my riding god skilz.

Ah well ,as long as it keeps me smiling.

Isn’t that right nurse? :D

Tentsmuir forest 2morra night at 6.30 if you fancy it
Meet at the Tay bridge(Dundee side by the lift) .
Went round on Sunday and they were fine in the snow ,but it should have shifted a lot by now with the rain.
2 hour ish run on non techie trails.

Rootes

Did it in 2008 in 8 days (one was only a half day Edinburger to Dundee)

Went on my own with pre-booked Hostels and B+Bs .

I posted changes of gear and spare energy stuff ahead,so I used my light road bike http://tinyurl.com/2vnru7n

It was South to North ,not just cause I is from teh North ,but (as you may have read),there is a chance of the wind going that way.
It came true on my trip,tailwinds all the way 8O

I went …
Lands end – Crediton
Crediton – Ledbury
Ledbury – Widnes
Widnes – Penrith
Penrith – Edinburgh
Edinburgh – Dundee
Dundee – Inverness
Inverness – John o Groats 958 miles

I used maps (from interweb routes) and bits of paper stuck to the bars with the key places to head for each day.
This caused two major getting lost moments ,one in Cornwall ,where all roads end up down a hill to the sea.Then the worst one, trying to find my way out of Widnes at rush hour.

My only tip would be ,get on the road early every day and enjoy all the brilliant bits that make up our daft wee island.

One of the best things I have done on a bike :D

Choose targets for year ahead (some booked up ).

Form cunning training plan.

Ignore junk food/drink after night rides.

Change commute from pootle/dreaming speed to intervals ,with higher average speed .

Take youngest out on his first proper bike and show him how awsum his old man is (till he kicks my ass :lol: )

You could mail/ring CRC (next year :-)) to ask,they do some spares for Mavic,or they may know where you can get one from.

In my world
My cross bike =

A tourer .
A Winter (road training) bike.
A rollers bike.
A commuter .. 40 mile round trip with 14 of them through forest.

My road bike =

A summer machine,for faster road miles and speedy (all on road) commuting.

+ 1 for Versatile.

The only thing I have not done , is a cross race on it :roll:

What tyres for a best bike? 8O

Nice Bride of Frankenstein look Jedi :wink:

Am I the only one that read the title wrong? :twisted:

Carry on comforting your flap :lol:

Air Tribe .

Remember to mention me when you win,oh and you must have shots of you doing BIG AIR :wink:

If you do A ,E and D you won’t need to do F (she will let you borrow her car) or B .Then if you have any energy left you can do C. :-)

Just finished the cycle scheme at work, and I almost wish that I had just gone for a one of payment(on a discounted bike) rather than bother.
HR at work are all confused about the final payment amounts ,so have told people to wait till they figure it out (which suits me ).
I am not sure about all the new changes to the scheme (tax wise )but I get the feeling that less people will be diving in for a bargain ,when shopping around may be a better option.

Cool-max under merino socks inside Diadora Chillis .
I have also been using my hill walking gaiters which can clip on to the bottom strap of the boots.
Great in the deep stuff and I don’t need to bother with over shoes (which get pushed off with the snow anyway).