Any possibility of overtraining? Including stress off the bike?
Lyme Disease? Any tick bites recently?
Malnutrition (IBD/IBS can cause this not just diet)?
Glandular Fever? Do you have a sore throat too?
Medication?

None, I don’t want to pay full RRP for Trek or Specialized

If I ever give in to my disturbing desire to buy that bright pink Charge Plug it will probably be from Evans

I think I may be indulging that urge tonight :D

what does your “actually its..” value come from?

See post #2 in thread:

You need to do a 30 min FTP test and record HR for the last 20 mins of it.

http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/04/determining-your-lthr.html

now the calculation for LT (lactate threshold) is 85% of Max HR. going by strava’s figures that boils down to 161.. and if i spend too long above 160 i’m done in fairly quickly. so he was right on the money with 160.

Basing LTHR off MHR is totally useless. If I followed that formula my LTHR would be 159, however its actually 172.

(the problem of determining your actual max HR being one of the reasons)

Total non-issue as MHR is useless anyway.

Presumably your trainer can use virtual power

Also quite useless, i’m on my 3rd ‘identical’ trainer (lifetime warranty – yay!), and all 3 have had different resistance curves to each other, and also have a wildly different curve before they ‘warm up’ which can be anything up to 45 mins depending on ambient temperature and power output.

The main thing it means is that 220-age is useless.
You need to do a 30 min FTP test and record HR for the last 20 mins of it.
HR is pretty weird, and is highly variable from person to person, and even for yourself depending on stuff like fatigue/coffee etc.

In general you are right that top zones are supposed to be anaerobic, but if its only a 5 zone system then it’ll record Z5 all the way from LTHR+1, so in theory up to 59 min efforts.

Without a power meter the best thing to do is use your HRM as a point of reference against perceived exertion.

Isn’t a small SUV just a car with jacked up suspension and a really high roof to make it waste as much fuel as possible?

Access is free of charge…arrive in/on a non-motorised believe and you don’t pay

You know thats such an amazingly good idea I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it already. So good infact, I invite you to come and share the experience with me. I’ve taken the liberty of knocking together a brief itinerary.

According to google its 86mi to Glentress (my nearest FC trail centre) by bike.
So I figure if we leave around 1am, allowing for a couple of short breaks we should be there by 10am, cafe will be open and we can grab some breakfast.
Probably hit the trails around 10:30, and if we keep the pace up, we should be able to get a lap each of the red and blue in time for a late lunch around 1:15pm. Another quick lap of the red will take us to about 3:15pm, sadly no time to stop for cake as we’ve still got a bit of a trek home again. Guessing we’ll be a bit tired on the way home, so may be a bit slower. Figure we can make it home by midnight including a brief stop at the chippy. ~200miles all in, should make for a good day.

A bit of digging finally found fluxient’s website.
The U2 mini is indeed run at a lower current for a claimed output of 600lm.
http://www.fluxient.cn/products_index.asp

Another vote for Scott Spark.
Should be some good deals on 2016 models as its being replaced by a new version.

@northwind. Rooty bits are fine – as you say, they are like that by design. Also totally agree its a different trail on an XC hardtail 5hrs in compared to weekend warrior on his enduro sled.
I just kinda think that if there’s an obvious high speed berm on the trail its ‘broken’ when the most efficient way round it is not to use it.
Not a complaint in any way, just an opinion/observation.

@steven, i can’t ride properly, so that’s probably part of my problem :oops:

@Northwind – Magic Mushroom.
There were for sure worse bumps on the natural sections of the course, but clearly bad enough to upset the flow of the trail.

Summer bike will probably move into fixed position on the turbo around 1st week in October.

A lot of people have strong opinions about the trails at GT without understanding this sort of detail. So common to hear “its so boring and sanitised” vs “it’s completely trashed, worse braking bumps than Morzine” in the space of a single day on a single section of trail.

Comes down a lot to what kind of trail it is.
IMO most (not all) of the red at GT is clearly designed to be a flow trail, and as such a ‘sanitised’ surface that allows you to carry speed into the various berms/jumps/drops is appropriate.
Certainly last time i was there (GT7) braking bumps were causing most of the field to totally ignore the entry to a couple of berms as it was faster (and gave less of a beating) to take an inside line to the centre of the berm and then scrub speed and turn tighter.
In an ideal world we’d have a 2nd (way-marked) red with a different character to appeal to people wanting things a bit rougher.

1) Decide roughly what requirements are
2) Research a shortlist on the web
3) Go visit dealers to see them in the flesh
4) Test drive
5) Pay in cash

It doesn’t help that not all charges/venues are equal.
If I park at GT for the day my £5 not only gets me access to the trails, but also to changing rooms and an onsite cafe. In fact I went and parked there for a road based ride in the borders for exactly that reason.

Other places the same £5 gets you nothing other than parking.

Personally I always pay, as £5 for a day out is still great value for money compared to nearly anything else.

Sunlight

Joystick was definitely lacking

Down right frightening at TT bike speeds I suspect 8O

Just like Northumberland then but it’s not an issue as you’re awake during the day not asleep.

Pretty big issue when you work in an office with no windows.

But back on topic:
Raid Corsica at the end of the month, followed by ~10 days off, then ~10 days hard intervals and another short rest before Relentless (pair). Then probably the last round of the SMBO (Day/Night event :) ) before taking end of season break and planning next year.

Might depend on how old the ipad is? Older versions probably won’t support BLE.

Rode one of the rocky descents on 23c (very slowly and by accident) a few years ago. Tyres were cut to pieces, but amazingly not punctured by the bottom. Wouldnt deliberately do it on anything less than a tough 35c tyre.

lol, don’t need to work nights, just come to Scotland, no daylight outside normal working hours for 2 months.

And if its anything like this year no sunlight for 11months of the year. Last years SAD didn’t even wear off yet we’re headed back to the long dark again.

Can’t you put the fork face down and put something under it to stop the guard getting compressed?

Face down runs a bigger risk of brake lever being squeezed with no disk/spacer in place. Also propping bike up not so easy if transporting more than 1 person/bike. Will probably look at giving it a try though

Depends which way the wind is blowing and where the moon is relative to Jupiter

Here’s a question that i’m sure someone must have a good solution to that i’ve not thought of.

I transport bike in the back of estate car, front wheel off, bars turned = back of fork flat on boot floor. Is there a type of front guard that maybe has some sort of quick release clip to remove for transport?

No guards, but I don’t mind at all.

How can you not mind a chamois that is being continually blasted by <5°C water?! :|

Might just try and divide either climb into 30 second intervals, go as hard as I can for 30 seconds (90% on my heart rate monitor, if I can remember how to set it up…) then rest 30 seconds, then repeat until the top. Descend, repeat. Unless 20s/10s would be better but that sounds messy, I’d spend the whole time looking at my watch!

I don’t doubt the threshold stuff is effective but frankly it looks like it needs more gear and time than I’m willing to commit

HRM isn’t that useful for efforts as short as CX tbh. HR lags behind effort too much. And power meter whilst nice is not needed – no need to spend any money at all – just sweat!
Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is your friend.
Sweetspot(90min pace) ~6.5/10
Threshold(1hr pace) ~= 7.5/10
VO2Max(5min pace) ~8.5/10
Max Sprint (~20s pace) = 10/10

IMO, look for stuff like 30/30 sessions @ 8.5/10, and under/overs to practice recovering at a still quite hard effort.

Day 1 – Short intervals
Day 2 – Threshold: 3 x 15min / 2 x 20min

Disagree with that. Need fresh legs for quality threshold work, and they’ll be anything but fresh after a session of short intervals the day before.

Jersey pockets.
Works for me just fine at GT7/10utb.
Whole repair kit wrapped up in large ziplock bag then forced into the central pocket. Waterproof and food in side pockets.

Bl**dy kids!

Sellaronda Hero?

Not quite lycra, but theres some ‘race fit’ pyjamas on display today.

Nice run from Danny! :)

OUCH!

Does your time count if you cross line 2s behind bike and KO’d?

http://www.bikelightsuk.com/front_bike_lights/beema_as2000_front_bike_light_2000_lumens_bicycle_light_P600.html
+
http://www.bikelightsuk.com/front_bike_lights/fluxient_1xu2_xml2_led_single_1000_lumens_bike_light_2015_model_P595.html

£160 for the pair
Both backed by a 2 year warranty, and the beema comes with a really high capacity battery for the money.

Wiggle price is superb, but only black left in my size :(

My worry would be that racing CX in combination with trainerroad would give nothing but intensity = no base.
That said, nothing to stop you doing a split session – do your CX race, grab a recovery drink, and go ride 90mins of Z1 after.

Looking at image above i’d say it looks like bad combo of rim/pressure and the tyre is rotating on the rim under heavy braking leading to the rim acting like a saw on the tyre.

Total volume of 32 mins of sweetspot, not much leg hurty at all imo. SS for me is more a gradual accumulation of fatigue that starts to feel quite hard after about 50 mins.

Agreed its pretty nobbish, but have been known to indulge in the odd 630° when i really need to get somewhere in a hurry.
Folks doing it on a regular basis probably need castrating before they pass said behaviour onto any offspring.

Yes, and for sure its not a heart