Hi Bob and Ally – how you doing? Hi from me and Rich in the Surrey Hills.

I’m convinced that the single biggest and best thing all bikers can do to help keep the peace is be ever more courteous. Don’t ride past walkers at anything other than walking pace (or take a moment and just stop) – don’t ride past horses at all (let them ride past you). A lot of riders don’t ever go for a walk – if they did they might realise that a bike buzzing past is a lot more intimidating than you might think.

The Peaslake jam is another pressure point, which would be helped enormously if everyone went round the corner and parked in the car park.

Bump. Just in case.

Hurtwood could really use the support – they are short of money at the moment. It’s a good thing to do anyway – for the maintenance of the whole area. It isn’t the case though that mtb trail work is proportionate to the number of mtb members. The funds are used for everything.

Bear in mind that mtb trails are nothing without the context they are in – the conservation of the whole area is far more important than individual tracks.

Ask Howard in the shop – or just hang around the bus stop and befriend someone. If you just follow the big bridleways you’ll miss the fun!

Ooh. Don’t mock the grub ’til you know something about it! Homemade spicy blackbean burgers and chargrilled marinated vegetables and halloumi wraps. We always sell out, mostly to non-veggies.

See you next year then CF – as you say, good way to punctuate a ride.

I thought inside leg forward on tarmac was more for weight-forward reasons than for actually putting the foot down? The weight of your whole leg and boot, right up near the front wheel. Still doesn’t sound like a great idea to me, but I gathered that was the reason?

Vanishing point is something that everyone should do, bike, car or cycle – it puts your focus as far ahead as possible, helps you judge the radius of the road, and also is crucial for judging speed – ie being able to stop in the distance you can see.

TJ. Of course I slow right down for walkers. Don’t you ever go walking yourself? It’s much more pleasant when riders slow right down. Sounds like you slow down too, so I can’t really see what your point is, apart from being a big girl about dogs. :wink:

Yep, top of the black gets fairly steep, and the furthest parts of the red get pretty relentless too. Hats off to anyone that can comfortably ss it – most people will be happier with a wide range of gears.

Gradients are similar to Afan going up, much steeper going down (in places).

I’m all for courtesy, so fair enough. But it would be rude and discourteous to fail to slow to walking pace when passing a dog walker and dog…

GW I should just ignore you, because you clearly are just argumentative for the sake of it.

But. You def should get your heels down, regardles of saddle height. Having the saddle down makes it easier to get away with, but doesn’t make it a good idea. There is nothing wrong with dropping the saddle, and it does open up new degrees of movement – that isn’t the same as saying that having the saddle up means you go over the ‘bars all the time.

You probably can ride well (at least I’ve no reason to doubt that you can), but I’ve done thousands (literally) of skills sessions and I use and understand a system that is very well proven. The physics of the system are exactly as used by other very well known skills coaches, including the most well known one on here. I was teaching to this system years before that person was qualified to use it. I don’t see you slagging anyone else off in the same way, so I guess it must be personal. So why don’t you just … go away.

Rarely do I get thanked by dog walkers when slowing down to a walking pace but that’s OK I suppose.

Of course it’s ok! Why would you need extra thanks?

I wouldn’t want to do it without a granny ring, personally. There’s a fair bit of slogging up. It is pretty smooth so a hardtail wouldn’t be wrong. Agree that all the tracks are fun. The pub is quite good. Both times I’ve been there we have just crashed in the van in the car park.

That assumption – that in your car you must go as fast as possible, and that is the default, that causes cars to just assume that piling straight past a bicycle without a second thought is ok. It’s the same mentality – rather than thinking about all of the people in the system the driver is only thinking of themselves – everything else is just something in their way.

lets keep this about your personal experiences of uppy downy seat posts

Good idea.

I know a few people that really like them, but not quite to the extreme of being essential. A nice-to-have for those that I have met.

ok, i’m going to leave my seat high and lower my COG or be all nice & loose in the knees whilst the seat is up my ass. please tell me how i can do this oh masterful one…

Didn’t mean to come across as such, and I believe you should ride with your saddle however you like.

I just meant that it did not follow that riding with a normal saddle means going over the ‘bars all the time.

That’s all.

ok, i’m going to leave my seat high and lower my COG or be all nice & loose in the knees whilst the seat is up my ass. please tell me how i can do this oh masterful one…

The seat will be at least the length of a crank away from your ass with the cranks level – why would it be up your ass?

I never said seat up was the same as seat down, only that there are lots of little details that can mitigate against going over the ‘bars. Heels down and head up for a start – you can and should do that stuff whether you have the saddle high or low, and even with a “pedaling” saddle you shouldn’t be going over the ‘bars all the time.

I don’t think you need to give it all the nasty sarcasm. But go for it if it makes you feel better.

Love that cornering picture. Got all the elements in place there – head up, weight through the middle of the bike, heavy on the outside foot, heel down, soft hands and hips turned to the exit. Nice one.

No accounting for dogs, IdleJon, cos mine has never crapped on the path. She just seemed to know to go where the bears go.

Ah – as in deflated. I know that feeling well! Not easy to disguise.

I was just wondering if, technique-wise, you might benefit from consciously getting your head up and your eyes much further ahead of the bike. Can’t say that’s going to be needed, obviously, because I haven’t seen you riding – but generally most people benefit from working deliberately on that. I’m always telling myself off for little lapses in that department.

Didn’t spot the puncture! That explains the body language. Was just wondering if you always carry your head down – clearly the end of a xc race with a flat will make anyone’s head hang. :-)

Dogs should be under control at all times. Its badly trained dogs and stupid owners that cause issues.

2 out of the 4 things the OP mentions aren’t exactly a dog out of control! And the first one (dithering and then stopping in his path) ain’t exactly a problem either when you’ve slowed to walking pace.

Have you got a pic of you going downhill? Just freewheeling, rather than pedaling on the flat.

There’s a hell of a lot you can do to eliminate going over the ‘bars, and you really should do the same stuff regardless of where your saddle is set.

Same geometry as the Cores, which is what our hire fleet is now. I really like them – nice natural riding bike, very easy to like.

Yep – think slower and more deliberately to go faster. Flow is a smooth thing – if you’re not calm your flow will become “turbulent”.

There is a big difference between thinking they are not strictly essential and being a “hater”!

It is well worth practicing getting behind a normal height saddle, even if you have a dropper post, because one day you’ll forget to drop it.

Couldn’t agree more woody – I just go with if I have to use the brakes I have failed. Stopping at red lights etc aside, I can honestly say I almost never use the brakes.

just couldn’t ride it out as I couldn’t get my rear end over the seat

Huh? It is perfectly simple to get behind a normal saddle. It might take practice – but that just means practicing when it doesn’t matter (just rolling along fireroads for example) so that when it does matter you just do it.

If the saddle is so high you literally can’t get behind it at all, it is way too high for pedalling too.

I sometimes exceed the limit – 80 or 90 on motorways if that is the flow, for example.

But I never break the gap to the car in front limit – I like to drive my own car and have good visibility too. It amazes me when you see people who’s entire peripheral vision is the back of the vehicle in front – so close that the other driver will have no idea they’re even there.

There is a powerful flip-side to modern cars too. You feel more invincible and unconsciously raise your risk level. Plus – cars might have improved, but human beings are still being manufactured to the same old design.

I do have to declare that I am the most righteous born-again driver. Like other teenagers I was a complete nob, but I have made up for it in the decades since! The epiphany when you realise that going with the flow is the only way is such a blessing – suddenly you can relax!

The limit may well be wrong, but individual drivers can’t make informed decisions – because as you drive long you are not fully informed. You just don’t know the facts – there may be hidden turnings or any one of a number of other hazards. Not saying I never speed, by the way, but my choice these days is way way more considered than when I lacked the experience. The error that a lot of drivers make is to assume the limit is wrong and worry about the consequences later.

Same with making a choice about going for a gap – drivers feel they are taking a calculated risk, but the collateral at risk is not just their own – they are taking an unnecessary risk with someone else’s comfort and safety.

Equally, the assumption that sufficient progress means driving at all times hard up against the speed limit causes widespread frustration. You don’t have to get frustrated – and certainly there is no point at all looking for an overtake where no reasonable prospect exists.

And then there’s the d!ck who doesn’t stop accelerating until he’s jammed up against your rear bumper, trying to get you to do the same to the car in front. Hey – it isn’t that my car is unable to bridge the gap! I just choose not to, pillock. God (rant coming) why can’t people that drive too close understand? If you get that close you’re not able to drive your own car anymore – all you can do is react to whatever I do. (rant subsiding)

bananaworld – exactly. Just thinking about themselves and their journey, rather than the whole system. I’m convinced it is made worse by big and flash cars – some drivers think they are more elevated and important than everyone else, whereas in reality they are just a small speck in the road system, just the same as everyone else.

How else would you describe these sort of drivers

Relaxed?

Northern Star – not what I’m talking about – I mean when you can’t see the slow moving front of the line. Just making your way without even knowing where you’re going to get back in – feeding on the good drivers who have left a sensible gap – that gap is not for dickheads to muscle in to!

Obviously overtaking is sometimes safe and appropriate – just doesn’t happen very often.

Right from the very beginning of learning to drive, get across that the roads are a system for cooperation, not competition.

It is not about your personal “right” to do as you please (speeding included) – it is your responsibility as a road user to do everything you can to make the whole road system flow – Not just you.

In particular, any blatant act which defies the natural flow of the road should be heavily punished. Overtaking by hopping a line of cars (where exactly are you going?), driving closer than two seconds from the car in front (three or four seconds gap is much more comfortable – just get used to it), etc.