£25 instead of £80 http://www.mandmdirect.com/products-Oakley-Mens-Compression-Short-Black_OK612.htm

Never tried them, but will be doing so v soon.

Drop the pressures – low = more grip and much less pinging and richocheting off roots n rocks.

When you get down to a pressure that gets you pinch flats every now and then, first of all try and stop whacking into stuff so hard, and if that doesn’t work then you have indeed gone too low on pressures.

The photo is good – squishy like an orange, not hard like an apple!

If you fancy a guided ride we can pick you and your bike up from Dorking station. There is a schedule of rides on the web site (skills sessions too), all graded to suit experience etc. http://www.allbikedup.com

Otherwise, as has been mentioned, a short ride from Dorking will get you to Leith Hill, and from there the Surrey Hills stretch out to the west. I’d say the Surrey Hills offer quite a lot more than the North Downs.

If you want grip, esp on things like tree roots (and who doesn’t?), then go as low as you dare. If you keep catching pinch flats then go a bit higher.

So much attention is paid (and so much money paid!) on which brand of tyre, and then, in my experience, so many people run them at silly high pressures which don’t give grip.

If the hybrid fitted you then when you put drops on it won’t, because the reach will be too much – surely? The hoods must be miles in front of where the grips used to be with flat bars.

A short stem might help I guess. Basic problem is wrong bike.

We’ll upgrade your riding for £55. http://www.allbikedup.com

I strongly doubt that the difficulty lies with the forks. Also, I wouldn’t screw up a good bike by sticking a longer fork on it – especially since it won’t solve the problem!

If Reigate Hill is 10 mins from your house you’re driving past Surrey Hills to get to Swinley?

+1 Optilabs. Great service, fantastic price and quality. Photo-sensitive is same price as clear.

They will send you some frames to assess – give them a ring, I found them very friendly and helpful.

Short trip to Surrey Hills for much more woodsy singletrack on sandy soil – Reigate is either North Downs on chalk (ok if not wet) or the low-lands to the south which are scenic but not exactly mountain biking. Having said that, the bit to the south and into the weald of Surrey is superb road riding, and great for just getting about on any bike.

Surrey Hills will take about 30-45 mins to get to the edge of if you ride there. Or train to Dorking/Gomshall.

My respect for him went up substantially on reading that. Very respectable average speed on a good distance. Very tidy for a grumpy old bloke.

Crap taste in bikes and clothing though.

Sintered are excellent in my experience.

There is a lot of snobbery in bike circles in my experience.

This is a massive factor if you’re taking groups out – we always make the finale of the ride a twisty singletrack that feels fast but carries less risk.

It can apparently give you the equivalent of about 60-70W being on a TT bike instead of a roadie

And most of that benefit is from being flat and low, rather than the type of bars.

Actually, like Mrs Stoner’s Planet X above! The tt bars won’t give you much at all unless you radically lower the position. From what I understand the Planet X would be quicker with your hands in the drops than on the tt bars.

I read a good thing once which listed the time/efficiency benefits of clothing, lower position (ie riding in the drops), tt bars and so-on. Gist of it is that using a low position makes a big difference and then tt bars add a relatively small benefit on top of that. So I’d say get a regular road bike and try and ride with a flatter back as much as poss – having your arms closer together in front of you makes not as much difference (and there’s virtually no point in using tri bars with a higher position).

You might consider Llandegla – same CTC developed skills system, very nice people.

Thanks for the plug munkster.

If we’re within reach (Surrey Hills) then we can certainly help out.

If it makes any difference we do have qualified female instructors. It is quite common for the ratio of boys to girls to be high on the ladies’ side, plus we do women only sessions from time to time.

allbikedup.com

Bit too subtle eh Ewan?

The general idea with Hurtwood is to make what there is work better and be more sustainable. What is not going to happen is anything that will transform the place into something else – like a trail centre for example.

The style of riding is going to be the same – woodsy singletrack plus the extensive network of linking fire roads and other bridleways, rather than high adrenaline freeride/jumps/downhill elements.

As far as I know anyway.

Totally over-run is putting it a bit strongly! Not as if there’s a queue at the top of Barry’s or whatever. Its all good for the local economy.

Not sure who’s paying for the bus shelter improvements, but don’t expect its Hurtwood Control?

Hmm – not sure where that story comes from. You’d have to make the quarry itself safe before you even started. Sounds like Chinese whispers to me.

Like others have said – take it seriously. Do not push it – it will definitely happen again because it is now weak. I wish I’d listened when I did mine – ended up happening 20 times and then operated on. The operation (keyhole these days, butcher job 20 yrs ago for me) works by restricting movement – the recovery is very slow.

Get advice and take it to the letter. Do not cycle unless you’re absolutely convinced its ok.

Can confirm is bloody painful, although I have also separated my other shoulder (ruptured ac joint) and that hurts even more!

Did Contador chuck a stick in his spokes?

Aston Hill?

If that was SRAM the mech would probably have melted, being made of brie.

Shimano all the way.

Cars have to break into the other lane to overtake, unless the left lane is uncommonly wide. I can’t think of any road where the cars would be unable to get by for “miles and miles” – there’s usually a safe opportunity if they wait a few seconds – a minute even.

I want a metre to my left and the same to my right – that’s not asking much is it?

Steve TB – how is that any different from a regular bike then? They aren’t slower, or much more wide. I ride in a safe place on country lanes (any road actually), which is not right in the gutter. Cars can overtake me when it is safe, not before.

Juan – you just plain fail to understand! It has nothing to do with the number of people doing each activity, only per amount of time spent. If you can’t get it from that explanation i think there is little hope of you ever being able to grasp it.

One last try (!). Say only 1000 people cycle but one million walk (for example). To compare you only look at head injuries per hour (or any other unit of time) per individual. So total number of injuries isn’t discussed, only the number per hour (well, million hours would get a more sensible number).

Juan – congratulations for misrepresenting the argument!

Pedestrians are at greater risk of head injury PER TIME SPENT DOING THAT ACTIVITY (capitals used for the hard of understanding). It is you that fails to understand the statistics.

The problem with all of this is the prevailing and increasing message that cyling is dangerous and that you thus need a helmet. Cycling is not more dangerous than being an urban pedestrian.

Also, if you look into some recent threads you’ll find links to studies which reveal the safety/health balance for cyling, which is MASSIVELY on the side of cycling, despite the very rare injuries.

Steve TB – congrats on a spectacularly dim-witted post. “They cause terrible tailbacks” huh?

30rpm! Jeez. Even out of the saddle you should be doing no less than double that. No wonder you’re making the bike bob!

Its what the propedal is for, surely? So that you can set the spring rate to offer best suspension and then tune out most of the undesirable bob.

Personally I set the propedal so that it works and then just leave the bike as is.

Pro stuff is nice.

I do, but the qualification was acquired for the purpose, rather than getting qualified first and looking for an application later!

Convinced of that are you? What about the car that didn’t see you or the pedestrian walking out in front of you?

Yes. Completely convinced. I don’t live in town though, and wouldn’t take young kids on to a dangerous road.

When I myself ride or drive in town I most certainly do look at pedestrians to figure out if they’re going to step into the road – never ride in the edge of the road for that very reason, plus others.

What I always find a bit bizarre is parents riding along who decide its important enough to put helmets on their kids, yet are happy enough not to wear one themselves.

Surprisingly enough my kids fall off a great deal more frequently than me. I am simply not going to fall off at the kind of speeds that I ride with my kids at.

Mike T

If your point is that failure to wear a helmet is taking an unnecessary risk then surely you should avoid mountain biking all together?

Glenp – good example of why people should use reference links…i’d be interested in reading the source of that statistic.

Was a link on a previous thread leading to a very good questionnaire with this and other statistics.

I think a big problem with these debates is that they make cycling sound far more dangerous than it actually is. To me, active safety is far better than passive – the idea of riding in traffic with a helmet and an iPod, for example, is just ludicrous. Paying attention to what is coming up behind you is far more important than having a little extra protection on your head just in case.

Totally serious. You are twice as likely to sustain a head injury as a pedestrian near a road as you are cycling (per time spent doing those activities).

If I were doing your route I’d wear a helmet, sure. But I see no reason that I should be forced.

Again, perks. Why do you not wear a helmet when walking?

Perks. Why do you not wear a helmet when walking near a road?