😳

Thanks for a very valid Thread OP. May your day be full of happiness as a result 🙂

I guess if you were dedicated enough you could make up little tubs each week to bring into work…..

Yep – that’s the sensible thing to do! My other half did that for me for a few days but soon got bored and I’m not organised enough 🙂

Had them for the past few weeks. I think they’re pretty good – not sure how long I’ll carry on but I like the fact that there’s a lot of variety. Yes you could get similar for less money, but that would mean buying larger amounts so I’d just end up eating more….if that makes sense? 🙂

Those Scott pads look interesting but they are expensive!

crotchrocket – I’m not sure a 50km CRC marathon is “longer” than the enduro routes?
And yes, I agree re the crowds – that’s another appeal of this format – you get the social side of things on the ups but, when it comes to the timed sections, you’re on your own.
As for following way marked trails, the stages aren’t just on a circuit of trail centre routes – they’re apparently using a mix of well known bits along with variations on these and some “off piste” stuff too.

Regardless of your views, the increased costs are predominantly down to the top end timing systems used – 5 stages = 5 separate systems. That’s been the stumbling block with previous attempts (Kielder Avalanche included) and that’s what Parr and his team have focussed on.

Edit: and iirc, Kielder was around 50-60 euros 2 years ago which isn’t far off the cost, with a very basic timing system

The cost issue is going to run and run isn’t it? I’ve just entered my first sportive ride next month. What do I get for my £25? The opportunity to ride with a few hundred other people, round public roads still open to traffic, on a circuit I could easily get off the internet and one or two feed stops thrown in. CRC marathons – £32 to follow some sign posts round mainly public rights of way along with a few hundred people getting stuck in bottle necks on the downhills and getting a rough time at the end ‘coz this most certainly isn’t a race’…. etc etc.

I’m not complaining about these fees, I gladly pay them and I’ll do more of the same because that’s what I enjoy doing – the event, the atmosphere, the buzz of racing your mates and others etc etc.

Yes, these rounds probably could be done cheaper – just like the Kona Mash up…..oh, hang on, that got abandoned with a flood of complaints about poor organisation…

I guess the people who are entering this series just “get” the whole concept of proper enduro racing and are happy to pay the going rate to have it done properly, with accurate timing and good organisation. I’m sure people will argue against these points but fine – don’t race, that’s your choice. I can’t wait 🙂

I guess to a lot of people new/more expensive=better, plus the theory sounds good. More suited so winter sports though probably?

I find the Kyle Straits comfoy enough (I’m looking to get some new ones as we speak).
A mate did have the Evos and said they were a little more comfortable but didn’t really work that well if you actually fell off – I think the stuff inside them is very good for blunt impacts but not for anything sharp (rocks etc)

It’s about that long since I last did a Gorrick race – they were great when I was at uni in London 🙂

I wasn’t a Junior then though…. 🙁

I just tried one of the new “Xar” helmets on and I have to say, the new RocLoc system does seem to grip the back of your head better compared to my Xen. More impressive given the voluminous size of my bonce and the difficulty I have finding helmets that fit!

Having said that, if I wasn’t looking to replace my old helmet anyway, I wouldn’t bother upgrading for the sake of it – the Xen has done me well for a few years with “just” the old roc-loc 4!

NyA – probably my favourite “Trail centre” to ride. You get an amazing feeling of just being out there, especially in winter when the motorised brigade arent razzing round.

its one of the smoothest trail centres I’ve ridden

You need to do some of the stuff that isn’t way marked – there’s some great stuff heading North – it crosses over the southern tip of the Mach 3 trail too so potential for a pretty epic ride 🙂

That’s the great thing about seasons. Night riding’s ace but it’ll be nice to get out in evening daylight again…..then when it comes round again, night riding will still be ace 🙂

I know it’s a hassle but the customer service from GD is legendary. Surely you’re best sending it back to them before attacking it with drills etc?? Got to be worth an email at least.

Good news – there’s got to be some potential for great riding round there too 🙂 .

Given the track record I’ll play the wait and see game

To be fair, Steve Parr (the organiser of the Enduro) has a pretty good track record, having sorted various races including the NPS DH in the past. Admittedly, the history of this sort of racing in th UK is a bit patchy (Kona Mash Up being the classic example) but, according to Parr, that’s why he’s got the top end timing systems sorted, so that that sort of cock up doesn’t happen.

Northwind. I gather the plan is a mix of all available trails in the area. The recce runs to Ae included some of the XC Loop, the DH track (minus the obvious Coffin drop/Step down) and there’s talk of some more natural stuff too. Same with Inners, Afan has some new stuff involved and there’s plenty of building in Eastridge at the mo.

I’m genuinely excited about this series – fingers crossed it will stay afloat!

Yup, booked in for rounds 1-4 and really looking forward to them. Ae forest stages are looking good…

There’s some concern at the moment though about lack of entries, especially at the later rounds. Fingers crossed people pull their fingers out and get signed on quick.

Is it only me that remembers exactly the same being said about aluminium, around 15years ago – poor quality, too weak and it’ll fail catastrophically, and probably kill you in the process..?

I’ve got lots of CF on my CF frame and I love it 🙂 . Oh, and I’ve snapped 2 aluminium frames…..

As others have said, it’s fiddly but very doable. If the lever isn’t returning, it could be you’ve got the large washers/seals wonkey/dirty/in the wrong order. You have to be careful not to trap any or them in the spring when you tighten everything up, and a dash of GT85 helps everything run smoothly. It’s difficult to explain but a bit of fiddling normally gets things working again.

There’s some good walk throughs on the MTBR forum – that’s where I got my info from. The X-9 & X-0 shifters are the same as far as a rebuild’s concerned.

I don’t think Beics Betws exists as a shop any more – last time I went there, it was just a hire place.

yep, uwe-r’s link is the place. They don’t do direct sales now.

There is a shop at the top of the village (past the bridge, on the right) but I can’t remember the name.

Hite Rite – as above. Great idea, never really worked very well IME.

What an all round decent thing to do 🙂 . I wouldn’t go mind – not for anyone’s money, or charity 😉

Fine on my Desire using the standard browser. No problems on Chrome on my PC too 🙂

yep 🙂

Now look – you lot have scared the poor guy off already 😯

😆

Make sure you’re running the lastest version of Android, then install ApptoSD. It will go through your apps and let you copy as many as possible over to your SD card, freeing up some space.

To be fair, I think this is a pretty steep loose section that used to provide plenty of crash footage when used as part of the DH track.

There’s certainly some excellent examples of XC Jeycore riding ability though 😉

“D.A.P.” spray/plug in diffusers can make a big difference if you’re concerned. It’s a copy of the pheromone the bitch secretes when suckling her pups and just helps to keep them relaxed.

Other than that, somewhere warm, draft free. And if you don’t want to create a rod for your own back, don’t go back to her if she starts crying – she’ll soon settle down.

Good luck – I’m sure she’ll be fine. Borders are great little dogs

Thanks for the update. Got mine on Saturday – fortunately it’s worth the wait – one of the best issues so far 🙂

Shame – I did like most of their stuff (BBs and Chainrings of cheese excepted obviously).

As others have said, I’m sure the name won’t die – ripe for a buy-out?

Yep – my parents had the same. Again, they hung up when my dad pressed him for details of the system he was using. @*&*@*s!!!

Yeah – I’ve seen the Edge specific ones. I guess if I was buying new, I’d probably go for those, although 22days sounds a bit excessive! If I remember rightly, someone on Amazon marketplace was selling some recently.

Edit – just checked and it looks to be the same company selling on Amazon. They quote 3-18 days delivery there – ratings seem good so I guess the range is just to cover themselves?

I’ve used cheap iPhone/iPod touch screen protectors cut down to size, mainly because I had some spare and they’re pretty hard wearing. Seem to do the job. Isn’t heli-tape a bit thick for the touch screen?

McHamish – not great, especially when mounted on the bike as the new style mounts cover the speaker port.
There are several threads on relevant forums describing ways to drill holes in the mount to solve this but not ideal.

If you read Into Thin Air then read The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev as well. Two sides to every story

Definitely agree. Krakuer’s book, whilst excellent, is very one sided – Boukreev’s version of events gives another angle to the disaster that year and is also a superb and interesting read.

this realy makes me laugh, my specialized command post is bloody usless too.

Just use a standard post…

I agree. I believe there have been some issues with suspension forks failing in the past too so I’m going back to rigid. It makes sense 🙄

Wiggle with personal discount, £5 off and topcashback (further 4%)? That’s what we did

It’s very good and will do pretty much all that. Some 1:25,000 maps would be better for proper off road navigation but the supplied 1:50,000 have enabled me to pick short cuts and things without too much hassle.

Lots of comment on the search button but I love mine. Too early to comment re longevity but lovely, controllable action, easy to adjust, minimal play (only an smidge on full extension but nothing noticable when riding) and it looks nice too 🙂