Well that was another amazing weekend at Gatcombe with the Pivot Boompods team and friends.

The weather was dry over the weekend but the heavy rain in the preceding week or so had left the course resembling plasticine in places. Mostly it was fine and fast, but some parts were tough going. There were 3 newly cut singletrack sections which were all brilliant, especially the new swoopy trail which joined onto the old red bull timed section. Superb fun. We also got to ride all of the Kenda Koffin descent as per the first year at Gatcombe. The last two years we’ve just done the bottom half so it was great to bomb down all of it again.

We started inauspiciously, following a decent first lap where I came through in the lead our second rider out had just made a break and then snapped his chain. Usually he carries a spare chain link but it had fallen off. Nightmare! He lost 15 minutes until a friendly rider gave him one. We spent the next 5 hours playing catch up and moved into the lead at about 6pm. Overnight we paired up and rode 3 single laps on/off in each pair. We pulled out a lead which was then closed down when our second pair went out between midnight and 4am. With the gap down to 4 minutes at one point, Big Al and I set about building a lead and within 2 laps we were back out to 15 minutes ahead. Some stunning laps from 24hr virgins Rich and Stu and of course stalwart Big Al late on stretched this to 22 minutes and all I had to do was roll round and take the win. Despite the best efforts of some very, very tired backmarkers to force me into a tree and later into the lake I made it and we won. Superb! Princess Anne was on hand to give out the trophies and even the ice cream van was nice.

An amazing event with superb infrastructure – I’ve never seen so many portaloos and showers!

GB

Ok, so 33 is mixed driving. Driven at a steady 70 on the motorway or autoroute it’ll magic it’s way up to 600 miles on a tank compared to 450 in mixed driving.

What I’ve found remarkable is that my wife’s M135i and my 335d are so similar in consumption. 31 vs 33mpg. Remarkable in that in the 9 years since they built my 335, petrol engines have come on such a long way in efficiency terms that a modern twin turbo 3l petrol is (almost) as good on fuel as a 9 year old twin turbo 3l diesel.

Yes – a great day out again! I’ve written a few words here

http://www.xcracer.com/form-is-a-funny-thing.html

Nino put so much power down in the sprint you could see his rear wheel dancing side to side over the surface – incredible.

Easiest thing is to remove the entire compression damper and buy a new air valve top cap to screw in the hole.

Ok, so you lose compression adjustment but not that much of a big deal.

Thanks all – I missed the last post before I went (wouldn’t have made 8am anyway) but I had a little play round the Malverns for about 3hrs. Different!

No they’re both 27.5 – the LES and Mach4.

They do a 29 version of both (Mach 429SL and LES 29) but I preferred to stick to 27.5.

Yes I have since 2012… So I quite like it.

Seems big enough to roll well, quick enough in the corners and also a bit lighter as everything is smaller.

I’ve had two Stages, both superb forks. Small bump compliance is unlike anything else I’ve used.

Pivot Mach 4; probably the most versatile bike I’ve ever had.

23.5lbs, 120mm/115mm travel, takes internal dropper, seems durable enough. That’s the same weight as a few Sworks epics I’ve weighed, but it’s a load more capable than those though as it’s a bit more “trail” geometry than XC race.

I can’t believe anything is harder than MB Race. Descents that go on for 30 mins on rooty rocky trails and mad climbs that go on for an hour and a bit.

Looks like a good event though.

You forgot to mention

Negatives – engineers

Try the German shops

Bike24
Bike Discount
Starbike

I also got a sid one off amazon at one point, randomly.

You need to find the SRAM part code for what you want and google that.

Vittoria Cross XG Pro TNT

The TNT bit is a really tough tubeless ready carcass. Very very durable on rocks.

I ride my crosser like a mountain bike, it’s never seen a race course (other than Dirty Reiver!!).

This is the only nice tyre I’ve found that can cope. Everything else died.

If you don’t mind a 500-600g tyre get a land cruiser, but they are a bit of a brick on a nice build.

The log drop at Wasing isn’t rollable down the right any more… That line’s been blocked off from what I can see in the photos.

West Drayton MBC do a 130km ish one – Bucks off road sportive. Great loop.

Yes that’s right. You tighten the big bolt to hold the expander in place first. I usually put carbon assembly paste on the surfaces that contact the steerer or the wedges tend to lift themselves out of the steerer when you tighten the top cap.

What probably happening is the expander wedge is moving up out of the steerer in use, as it’s not right enough.

It’s worth tightening the expander up (as above) with the stem fitted (but not done up) as I have seen one where the steerer tune bowed out so much when the expander was tightened you couldn’t fit the stem.

Grumpster – what size and roughly how much?

I’ve used a lot over the years. If you want steel, look at a Salsa Nickless Cage. Carbon, Lezyne or USE.

Anything else I’ve tried turns into a bottle launcher after a few rides.

No – it’s too far to drive up there twice a year. Plus I don’t really have a free weekend between now and the 17 August. Sorry!

How does 100 miles round the surrey hills mtb trails sound?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10145663/Surrey%20Hills%20-%20the%20standard%20epic.gpx

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10145663/Surrey%20Hills%20100.docx

It’s not a cyclocross race bike – I’ve used it for everything from road to Mtb trails and bridleways. Never been near a race course. Great for just riding about and exploring. Couldn’t think of much worse than a cyclocross race… Carrying your bike round a muddy field… Mmmm fun.

Not do it justice? What’s wrong with having a decent bike with nice (pretty much new) components??!!

No CTW, but do drop me an email if you want to chat.

I have a Salsa Warbird for sale if you are interested – have a look at my posting history for the advert.

I just tried to go for a ride. Failed. Back home again 30mins later. Ruined.

Well I rode the SDW on a mountain bike… So much easier. Also the hills don’t go on for as long on the SDW but there are more of them and they are more regular and steeper in places. Bits of this were properly rough – the bit alongside the wall to feed 2 is an example. SDW is a slower average speed due to being hillier.

Yes it will alert you to route points – it gives you an audible warning and visual countdown.

I use Garmin Connect or Bikehike which adds the turns either automatically or where you tell it.

I’d run wider tyres. My frame takes 38c, so 38c.

I’m all honesty a mountain bike (hardtail, front sus) would have been faster but that would defeat the point of the event, wouldn’t it?

Very pleased with being the first back in 7hrs 58mins in the inaugural Dirty Reiver 200km notarace.

The course contained some really rough and rocky fireroads, mental 35mph+ fireroad descents and 3000m of climbing. A hardtail on semislicks would probably have been faster, but then that defeats the point of the event which is to ride an inappropriate bike a very long way as fast as possible. Oh how envious I was of those with 40c tyres…

Standard me, I went off like a rocket; partly as it was so bloody cold but also because I like having a gap in case something bad happens. One puncture made it interesting and close for a bit but I ended up 10mins ahead by the end. Good to ride with Jo for a fair bit of the event. Great event – Paul and co did a fantastic job – it felt like a seasoned event with all the little touches (free beer! Free soup! Free finishers badge!). Hard to believe nearly 500 people entered – these sorts of “a bit different” events really are a growth area at the moment.

Says more about the reverse evolution that seems to be afflicting huge chunks of humankind than it does about road design.

Still got a bed in a twin room available if anyone wants it…

I have a feeling Swiss count a bike as an extra piece of allowed baggage too. So you get a bag and a bike. Need to check though.

Surrey Hills were riding really well today :)

Yes they are powerful and can be modulated, but then they are running 200mm rotors on a tandem so they ought to be, really.

Yes they are bled properly…

I have some 5s on my tandem. They came on the bike.

If I was buying some brakes I’d just buy shimano.

The lever clamps are fragile plastic, the feel isn’t as positive as shimano and the lever travel is a bit random.

Yes – 2 sets

Stans crest on Pro2 Evo
Reynolds Black Label Carbon XC 29

Both excellent, tubeless no problem, 11 speed road freehubs available for both.

BA club Europe can be excellent value as it includes 2 X 32kg bags. So if you and a mate are going you can take 2 bikes on the club allowance plus another bag on his economy allowance. Plus you only need one leg to be club to get 32kg both ways, so just book economy home.

Milk.

Like the dry powdered version you can buy branded as “recovery drink” but only 60p a pint, which in motorway service stations is considerably cheaper than water. Go figure.

GB

5 years ago I nearly bought a TVR Cerbera. I was tripping over choices at about 10k. Now nothing under 20k.