Jonba – Yes, a proper bonk is a triumphant a rite of passage…Speed dropped to a wobbly 3 miles an hour, head down, legs shaking and the longest 5 miles home you’ll ever ride.

He needs to redo that video properly and drop down into the driver’s seat via the sunroof.

Quite like those Torm ones. Shutt do some nice sportswool jerseys too:

http://www.shuttvr.com/shop/category/31/

One of those needs to make a Logan’s Run version, though..

(shutt threatened one but maybe not enough interest..)

how about a prize for whoever guesses what I was actually thinking/looking at?

Running shoes?

Pinkfish: From your posts, you really sound like you’d benefit massively from buying a bike from an LBS. The service, support and backup you’d get would definitely be worth the drop in spec over buying mail order. £5k should give you some very solid negotiating power and get you plenty of decent bike for your purposes. Good luck.

Andypaul: Lap Times

Same – annoyed as bikes over 2k used to be included but still quite reasonable really and friends that have claimed have found them to be very good.

Rode the Big Dog (Brighton) XC course last night on my SS. Will do a proper timed run for comparison soon but despite being very new to SS I reckon there’s very little difference in my lap times between hardtail geared and rigid SS.

It’s interesting to see that, despite years of marketing to the contrary, gears don’t make that much difference and neither does suspension.

Sorry to make a comment that doesn’t involve bi-lateral pivot actuation but that blue finish is lovely!

Nope….Still seems like a **** to me – Sounds like a Frank Spencer impression with longer words.

I wouldn’t say “just unlucky with that boulder“…Samurai is right: He takes so many risks and does so many stupid things in the book (fighting a bear for his food, jumping into a frozen river, leading his friends into an avalanche) it’s actually a miracle he survived long enough to get his hand trapped.

I did enjoy both the book and film though 🙂

Rarely ride on footpaths but wouldn’t hesitate to if it was a good route and there was no reasonable reason not too.

Delay pedals can be very different. I think you need to buy one to play with it extensively to find out what you want from it…then you can buy the one you really want 🙂

For that reason I’d probably go with one of the more fully featured models, such as the flashback as it will give you lots of options to try out.

Minor women’s whiplash

it appears MHR is a genetic thing.

That’s still not what I’m getting at…If you read the article, you’ll see that though you are correct that your MHR is somewhat genetically determined (along with age), it is also determined by fitness: Friel: “I’ve noticed that as athletes’ aerobic fitness changes their max heart rate (MHR) also changes“

In respect of this thread and discussion around “hitting high numbers”, I thought that it was worth pointing out that if a given rider could hit, say 185 in a max test 2 years ago but only 180 now, after training, this is likely an improvement rather than a regression 🙂

This looks great, very interested in joining in (won’t be doing it in 8 hours though!) thanks for doing all the legwork!

Mikertroid: Nothing to do with effort levels…..MHR = Maximum Heart Rate.

http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/06/max-heart-rate-and-fitness.html

Amazed at the amount of people on here training with an HRM seemingly by just seeing how high they can get the number on every ride 🙂

A high MHR and, particularly, a heart rate that leaps up close to MHR under any decent effort is commonly indicative of a lack of base fitness. Your MHR should actually lower as you get fitter as the stroke volume increases and the heart just doesn’t need to beat so fast to supply the same volume of blood.

I think race organisers would do well to have a paragraph on overtaking etiquette in the entry info / briefing.

Contrary to Dragon’s post, I’d say it’s the overtaking rider’s job to get past safely, not up to the slower rider in front to move out of the way. The exception is category leaders – If I hear “race leader” (combined with a plausibly fast approach) then I’ll make a special effort to get out of the way.

If I witnessed some deliberately knobbish overtaking I wouldn’t hesitate to complain to that rider’s sponsor. I doubt they want that kind of rider wearing their kit.

While I’m on the subject, top marks to the Wiggle rider at Erlstoke (James Braid, I think) who overtook me on the back of 3 other riders (I’m guessing GB at the front) in the first singletrack at Erlstoke. Nice bit of riding – there really wasn’t a gap for him but he shimmied through somehow without encroaching on me at all. I suspect him of having telescopic bars…

Some other threads here on this if you want more info..

I did mine on day one of a 3 day point to point lakes trip. Rode the next 2 days to the finish riding very carefully (walked anything technical). Was painful sometimes but no worse than it would have been being landrovered out and all the hassle of getting me and other half 300 miles back home etc.

After that I gave it a few days and then rode on it carefully. Actually, riding was far less painful than lying down or sneezing. You’d be amazed how carefully you can ride with the thought “punctured lung!” constantly idling in the back of your brain 🙂

It might not be so bad. My better half did a spell of jury service a few weeks ago. Every other day I’d get an email from her at about 12:30: “He pleaded guilty (or whatever) and they’ve let us go until tomorrow with a fiver for lunch, I’m off out to the trails, bye“…

I quite like it normally but the casting directors did too good a job on the twunt hunt this time – they need to back off a bit…I can barely watch this gang of self obsessed numptys. It’s like all the cringe bits from the Office but 10x worse.

Whoever said they are all possessed by the spirit of Alan Partridge is bang on.

Have a search for how to manual mtb on youtube. Some older guy taught himself by turning the stem around and made a tutorial. He said it made it TONS easier and he learnt in about a week.

Edit: Here you go:

It sounds like you’re limited by time rather than by recovery so how about adding some running? It’s a lot of bang for the buck time-wise.

I have a long commute (25miles each way) that I do occasionally in the winter but I usually car share. Driving in, in January in the filthy rain one half dark morning, we passed a fit looking chap on a road bike, obviously commuting a long way in the drizzle. My work colleague, who was driving turned to me and said: “I bet you’re glad that’s not you today!“. I replied: “Hmmm…not really, those are the guys that will be beating me later in the year“.

10KG!?! Seriously? I think that’s your answer 🙂 Try riding with / without a 10KG pack if you doubt it.

Cripes! That’s difficult – so many amazing players! As with everything, it’s almost impossible to separate taste from ability (and ability from technique for that matter).

Surprised to see May listed as a technician though! EVH too – he’s really not a “technical” player. Not a Queen fan but Brian May is real hair on the back of neck twitching stuff.

Friedman: Totally unique soling – At his best there’s no one to touch him in metal IMO.

I don’t get the Johnny Marr thing, though – maybe I’ve just not heard the right track but he never sounds particularly “outstanding” to me…

Don’t think I could limit to 5 but here’s 5 good ones that (I don’t think) have been mentioned yet:

Danny Gatton
Eric Johnson
Greg Howe
Ed Wynne
Jerry Reed

How is it going to work for solos with no trackside camping and no solo camping?

I would think the top solists have a pit crew, spare bike/s, big selection of food, cooker for a hot meal etc. Do those have to live back at the campsite or do they all cram into a solos marquee?

For the soloist without a pit crew it sounds like they either risk leaving all their stuff unattended or face a trip back to the camping field any time they want anything…

If you’ve got a PA you HAVE to play “Eye of the Tiger” – it’s the law.

Covered transition: This is really important….If it IS wet, there’s a strong likelihood that your mate is going to take another 20 minutes to get round in the mud and you really don’t want to be stood there in your racing togs in the rain waiting.

Hmmm…I’m hearing rumours that there’s no trackside camping?!?

– I would have thought continued support (whether from non-riders or other members of the teams) is pretty dependent on spectators being comfortable, ie: they will mostly be in the camping area under their gazebos in front of a nice warm brazier on a lounger, not perched at the side of the track on a shooting stick in the dark…

Gee: Thanks for the advice, that’s useful stuff and congrats on your win. At least it’s reassuring to hear that it hurt 😀

XCWanabe: Sounds like you’ve got your racing pretty dialed! Thanks for the tips and for the encouragement. I’ll probably stick to 6’s, though – I find them short enough that I can still go for it a bit on the climbs. I imagine that at my pace, a 12 would feel like I was “just riding” if you see what I mean. My wife did the 12 at Erlstoke but then she has a different (more determined) mindset to me. Good luck in the mixed pairs next year! Will keep an eye out for you on the podium 😀

Agreed on the compression section – you really felt like you’d been catapulted up that hill! One of my favourite bits on a superb course.

What an awesome weekend! I finished 10th in male solo 12-6 with 8 laps – how you fit another 2 laps in there I have no idea! Course was absolutely blinding, atmosphere was very friendly and it’s a lovely place to camp.

Bah! about the timing and the early start (Caught me completely off guard so started late and from the very back on the first lap, though it made little difference to my finishing position I think). However, I would hate to think that you guys wouldn’t run it again …it really is one of the best events of the year for my money.

Impeccable course manners amongst all the racers too, really nice to see. Congrats to everyone who pushed themselves and hope you all had a great race.

I have a question for you front folks, if you don’t mind?…I can ride for 6 hours no problem but after a lap or two of hard efforts I start to get a bit tired, use easier gears, less standing on the climbs and my lap times start to drop. Besides the speed, you guys seem to be able to hold very consistent times lap after lap – are you riding more aerobically so are able to keep it consistent that way? or are doing enough interval type training stuff to be able to keep putting in those very hard efforts lap after lap? (ie: you’re recovering better from the hard efforts?) Cheers for any advice!

Again, Brilliant weekend, thanks a lot to all the Spam biking folks and I really hope there’s an Erlstoke 12 in 2014 🙂

(29er) Stans Crest / DT Revs / DT Ali Nips / DT 240s Hub

Really like the 240s – Nice and light and the freehub is a brilliantly simple piece of design. I recently put a 36T ratchet in it and it’s a buzzier than I’d like! – scared to put more molokyte in with those tiny 36 teeth in there.

I just get Shimano stainless. After trying numerous cables I’m unconvinced that a PTFE coating makes any difference (though obviously, stainless is a lot better than plain steel)

The thing that seems to make the difference to me is buying cheaper and changing them more regularly.

Thanks guys. I’ve never had one come lose before and reusing them once seems like it wouldn’t weaken the fastener too much, so suspect you are right and perhaps it wasn’t quite snapped in correctly on one side.

Rocketdog: Crikey! New PB on the power meter when that went eh? 😉

If the threads are showing it might be worth taking a peek under the rim tape to see if those spokes actually go into the nipple heads or are stopping short (unsupported nipples are a lot weaker)

Fuzzyfelt: Yes, that was me – Wife was battling for 3rd in 12hr solo and wanted frequent updates from the supporters. That’s good to hear about Timelaps, thanks.

Are you gonna get an extra digit for the big clock? (or you could just cap the race at 9:59:59..? ha ha:D )

I’m just kidding, a whole bunch of us went last year and we all had a great time, you guys did a grand job 🙂

last year was the first visit for me – Brilliant event and really nice venue for camping on that beautiful Montana style prairie too. Completely blew up in the heat last year but will be back to face my demons next week.

Course was excellent last year, one of the best I’ve done, I think – plenty of singletrack but not too techy for a long race. I liked that road climb, it let the brain relax for a bit….

Someone (Leonardi, I think) actually makes a replacement lefty hub that removes with a quick release. There’s no point IMO though. The standard hubs are very simple and very light and it barely takes any longer to remove the front wheel than with a QR once you get used to it. Just leave an allen key in the back of the car.

And yes, Lefty’s are ace.