I’m called Matthew Smith, but I use the name Matt Smith.

*breathes a sigh of relief*

5’9″ with a 30″ inseam here.

I had a 2009 Wolfridge in Medium and found it too short.
This was replaced by a 2010 Attack Trail in medium and found this to be a better fit.
I now ride a 2013 Nukeproof Mega TR in large and find it to be a perfect fit.

One or other of the rides would have been spoiled if I’d have ridden the same tyres.
Why? Melodramatic much? I’ve done group road rides on 2.25″ Rocket Rons at 20psi, not ideal, but hardly “spoiling” the ride!

I had driven from Aberdeen to Aviemore for the first ride and then on to Laggan for the second ride, about a four hour round trip.
A few weeks earlier, while visiting Manchester, I had ridden cross country at Coed-y-brenin on the Wednesday and had an uplift day Antur Stiniog on the Thursday. In total about a six hour drive from Manchester.

On both occasions I used Maxxis Ardents for the XC day and two-ply super tacky Maxxis Minions for the more gravity assisted day. I don’t fancy 1.2kg tyres for a 36 miles xc loop and I similarly don’t want to mincing around on single-ply tyres on wet, rocky trails.

Why would you not change tyres?

Not a great picture of my Mega TR.

Now fitted with a CCDB Inline and Saint brakes.

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IMAG0554[/url] by MattNSmith[/url], on Flickr

Mitchum works for me.

Tubes all the way for me, until I can afford two sets of spare wheels. I have one bike so have to change the tyres depending on what type of ride I’m doing.
On Friday I rode a 36 mile XC ride around Aviemore and then rode Laggan and High Burnside today. One or other of the rides would have been spoiled if I’d have ridden the same tyres.

Who was the girl that got the train to Dingwall with all her gear, rode from there, did the race and then rode back?

Lisa Kamphausen. Won female class as well.

I’m 5′ 9″ with a 30″ inside leg and ride a large mega TR (26″). I would describe it as something like a large medium or a small large.

I run 820’s with 180/160 rotors on my Nukeproof Mega TR. I’m 13 stone and have yet to feel under braked on any descent I’ve ridden. They are better the the Formula T1s that they replaced.

Ah, I forgot about him. I was the one with the most hair before he arrived. I was one of the four older blokes who were gradually getting pissed.
It’s the first time I’ve been and it was thoroughly disheartening the speed they ride up that hill.

Aye, I was the one with the most hair, though that may have changed by next year 🙁

The climb up the rake after far too many beers was sooooo hard.

The winner was about 2 1/2 minutes, I managed it in 4 hours and rather too many ales 😳

I’ll be riding over from Bolton and may partake of a few ales whilst heckling the lunatics 😀

I did the following this year:

Day 1: Ferry from Oban to South Uist. Cycled to the top of North Uist. 45’ish miles.
Day 2: Cycled to Lochmaddy. Ferry to Uig. Cycled to Sligachan……got very pissed. 45’ish miles.
Day 3: Cycled to Armadale. Ferry to Mallaig. Cycled around Ardnamurchan to Kilchoan. 93 hard miles. (You could make this two days by stopping at Arisaig)
Day 4: Ferry to Tobermory. Cycled to the bottom of Mull. Ferry back to Oban. 22 miles.

I did intend on heading over to Harris but high winds scuppered that idea and trashed my Wild Country tent. The first two days were the ones I was looking forward to the most but didn’t enjoy them due to horrendous weather. Ardnamurchan was really nice and soooo quiet (thanks for the advice Colin)

You will cover the miles with no problem. The 93 miles was only hard because I was hungover.

A couple pints at the Sligachan Hotel and an early night sounded like a good plan ahead of a big day in the saddle………..
…..being invited to the birthday party of the owner of the bunkhouse was not part of the plan, still drinking at 3am (necking cider from Rambo the ram’s horn!) was not part of the plan.

Rode from Sligachan to Kilchoan the next day…..93, surprisingly not too bad, miles.

Leave them all behind – Ride

8’ish minutes with a brilliant intro.

Is it just me that thinks that the effort involved in getting up to Coire Grannda (lollipop route) is not worth the reward of the first part of the descent of Coire Lair? It really seems like an effort in gaining height at all costs.
The Classic loop that takes in the lower half of the Coire Lair descent gains its height gradually and offers lovely views on the way.

Oh……amazing pics. I’ll be using these to show my biking mates in the south where I go riding *smug*

Something that can detect when I’m looking at my front wheel instead of the trail ahead. It will have an audible warning along the lines of ‘look-up, you idiot’
Maybe a digital clinometer on the bike and your helmet/sunglasses and relative angles sort of thing.

Stayed here in August, just to the north of Dolgellau:
http://www.vanner.co.uk/

I stayed here in July.
Lovely spot, nice and quiet and about a miles walk over the hill to Dolgellau and a bit of a stagger back.

paladin – Member
The best follow-up to a loop of the fochabers ring is…………… another loop of it.

……and then a visit to the chippy in town

I used to live above that chippy……the smell made me feel hungry all the time.

If my work colleagues (Aberdeen oil & gas) are anything to go by it will be a resounding yes 🙁

Golspie, Torridon and Rothiemurchus…..it was awesome 🙂

Looks out of window in Aberdeenshire………nope, none of that.

eddiebaby – Member
Three toolboxes based on frequency of use

If I’m going away biking it makes sense to have a tool kit ready to chuck in the car.

Household stuff in a toolkit so it can move to the job……rather than me going backwards and forwards to the shed.

This is about when a front tyre gets relegated to the rear for me.

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IMAG0719[/url] by MattNSmith[/url], on Flickr

The techy up bits and slabby bits are part of what make Gisburn interesting.
Ride it faster and see if it flows more.

Not remotely stuck. My mind was set the day the referendum was announced. No amount of manipulated statistics, other peoples opinions or endless Facebook posts (Scotroutes….I’m looking at you 😉 ) will change my mind.

Jarmila Kratochvilova, women’s 800m world record holder

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kratochvilova[/url] by nicksirs[/url], on Flickr

I sent mine to Avalanche tuning in America and had speed specific damping fitted. The difference was like night and day when it came back, soooo controlled over all terrain. Unfortunately I snapped the frame it was tuned to after only a month so it worked out to be a very costly experiment 🙁
I’ve just fitted a CCDB inline to my new frame which feels good after one ride, but not as night and day as the Avalanche tune.
Edit: the Avalanche tune did mean I lost a bit of ‘pro-pedal’ effect, but as I spin rather than mash the pedals I did not see this as a problem.

Brough Superior?

I’m on a Croix de Fer too.
I’ll probably go a bit easier next time, some of the hills and headwinds were a bit testing.

No wonder I found every incline hard work on my tour of the west coast this week….50/34 and 12/25. Perhaps I should have done a bit of research.
It did make for a lot of progress though 🙂

Braver than me………..they’re riding an Ellesworth!

It’s not a bad desvent, but is a bit straight and pedally.
If you want to move up the strava table, pick a dry day and pedal lots :-).

Ask hope to send you a steel replacement.
I did have to send them my snapped aluminium one to get the replacement.

Same as Couger.

I have come close to typing hairyscary in various name boxes though. Maybe I will become hairyscary over time and not Matt Smith!

Cheers all.
I bought the one in my original post in the end.

Oh, and my admiration of Aaron Gwin has gone up, riding on just a rim is scary.

Cheers for the advice everyone. As much as I would like some of the the more expensive ones mentioned I’m gonna have to go cheap for the moment.

Cheers, but it needs to be a disc hub on the Croix de fer. I should have said in the original post.