all my singlespeed chainsets have been doubles with just a single ring on, never been a problem

go and see a physio that understands bike people

i have a similar calf pain issue sometimes, just the left calf, it’s nothing to do with my legs but a tightness in my back that was finding a weak spot in my leg to pop out, a couple of days of some specific stretches and it’s sorted

that’s just an example, it’s probably something completely different for you, go and see someone

i have both

a gilet to keep a chilly wind off the chest and put in the back pocket and a jacket for when it’s raining

they’re different bits of clothing for different uses

Option 1, Exposure are very good at this stuff, a quick phone call/e-mail to them would give you an idea of cost, if at all
they might even offer to upgrade the internals, you never know, if you’re nice

ridged bikes are always faster, the ripples help with the laminar flow of air

a frame that fits you will also make a big difference to comfort

i’ve got CX bikes in steel, alloy and titanium that i use for both racing and longer days in the saddle and they all shake me about, that’s the nature of a CX bike really

what tyres you put on them, what pressure you run them at, and what wheels you put on any of those makes a big difference to how they ride

as above, look at the design of the frame rather than the material, the Ti one i have is quite chunkily built and so quite solid, but you can hoon it like an MTB ;-)

depends what you’re using your CX bike for
the racier types go for the same size as their road bike, maybe with a slightly shorter stem
if you’re using it for more mucking about on and off-road then a bit smaller for chuckability

Beryl

in that case get the Cannondale, it doesn’t have a high tower head-tube like the Giant, and dropped seat-stays still look gash ;-)

i’d go for the one that fits me the best

if your wheel is a gnats whisker ahead of the other riders you have control of the racing line ;-)

i’ve been both sides of elbow-rubbing incidents all the time in ‘cross, it’s not a problem, watch a Pro race and there’s all sorts of ‘robust’ moves, there’s usually a robust move in return later on in the day mind you

do you mean the new Danny Baker thing with Peter Kay in it? :-)

i enjoyed it with chuckles

ab1970 – Member
What are the Little Dog courses like? My daughter (U10) likes the idea of entering a bike race but as her riding is mostly along Downslink and similar, I don’t know if the course may be a bit more challenging than she’d be happy with.

Is the “minilap” route available anywhere so that we could have a practice?

the mini-lap is around the grass arena, it’ll go up the hill a bit and maybe into the trees but the paths will all be easy dirt with nothing you could describe as challenging

the Little Dogs are the best races of the day ;-)

Walken’s Syndrome – the urge to do something disastrous, like ……. turn the wheel while passing a HGV

*gets out ‘Rapha Bingo’ card*

*licks end of pencil*

eat what you usually eat on a ride, just more of it, a ride like that’s not the time to try anything new that you might disagree with really

eat a little and often
energy bars, bananas, sandwiches for something more solid and savoury

try and lay off the cake and Lucozade Sport, that’s high sugar crap that will lead to an energy spike and then a crash, and lay off the gels too if you can, stick to real food, but maybe take one for a last hill emergency

and dilute the energy drink so you don’t get sick of that as well, or alternate with just plain water

Shimano, just get Shimano

i’ve used all the other systems and they all have their niggles; cleat wear, cleat squeak, poor bearings etcetc

Shimano just works

just change the bigger ring, it’s what everyone used to do before CX chainsets became A Thing, a 50:34 is quite a road biased ratio

you won’t get a 46/30 on a road chainset, and it’ll get spendy

thanks for clarifying, the general point still stands :-)

just to say that ‘holding the line’ is nothing to do with racing and more to do with riding safely in a group on the road, at whatever speed that may be, something that people who aren’t used to riding in close proximity to others need to be reminded of at times, if perchance a little more politely

in response to the OP
– just get on your bike and do it, lycra shorts are generally more comfortable on the road, it’s what they’re designed for after all, and why most everyone wears them
– sportives are what you make of them
– yes, they compliment each other well

Only mild irritation was the total idiot who came barging through the top of the grassy climb swearing at people to get out of the F-ing way. Luckily the spectators gave him some well deserved abuse.

ah yes, that was me, apologies

but when you’re breathing out your arse trying to get in before midday so you can fire a team-mate out for another lap and riders who are walking their bikes refuse to get out of the way after three times of asking things might get a bit emotional and shouty and sweary, although that’s not really an excuse

as an aside everyone else on course was perfectly courteous when being informed of an over-taking request and in 30 years of mountainbike racing that’s the first time i’ve ever got shoutysweary, i feel bad still

*hugs*

Agro Tourismo

tinybits – Member
Has anyone got a key ring I can borrow?

that took ten hours, you lot are slacking :-)

stumbles in late (obvs)

thank you everyone, after so many years it’s nice to know Mint is still appreciated, i sit in the spare room/office at home and send a page out every month and wonder if i’m doing it right, seems some think i do so i’ll keep going ;-)

with reference to what’s up there, i had a brief conversation about the ‘That’s My Boy’ strip with someone on twitter, they let me know they pressed a folded up copy of the strip into their father’s hand the last time they saw them…

to have had such an impact makes me incredibly proud, and also very humble

there is often talk of a book, but it’s not just as simple as ‘doing a book’, but the time has never been more right, in terms of the technology being available to make it easier than ever before, and the need to get it done before the fan-base dies out :-)
this also includes doing ltd. ed. prints and shit
but i also do a lot of other jobs aside from Mint and they tend to get in the way of ‘just doing’ things

two things, you should like next month’s issue, and i rode the trail in ‘Dream of Distant Places’ the other day, still makes me smile

thank you

soap and water and furniture polish is cheaper

although WD40 can be used as a handy non-stick layer for mud

no

i’ve put my bike in a pannier on the hovercraft, nervous time :-)

was a while ago mind

i’ll start by saying that Mail article is a rehash of a complete bunch of guff by Critchlow in the Telegraph, so treat it with the respect that sort of heritage might deserve

Di2 on a Deore budget?
that’s me, but then i have bike wheels that are worth more than my car, my watch costs about £25, my television was free and i don’t spend vast amounts of money on beer or any other weekend drug habit

where i prioritise my debt is up to me

it works fine and all up-to-date if you’re a member and logged in

if not it’s stuck on April 27, the team are aware of this and are working to fix it

i have Lezyne Road Drive on the CX bike, it doesn’t rattle* or fall off

*well, the hose rattled a bit inside the body but i sorted that with a wrap of electrical tape

grippy in mud and fast on road are mutually exclusive in my experience

this

agree with what’s been said, i can only stand so much of them on record but went to see them live (was the second time of trying, the first time they kept blowing all the fuses in the place) and the successive walls of noise and atmosphere they create is absolutely amazing, you can feel your kidneys vibrate as you slowly get oscillated towards the back wall

it’s was a truly visceral experience in an anodyne world

that said, it’s ok not to like music you thought you might

you ride in the drops, covering the brake levers with your fingers, as normal

riding in the drops gives you lots more control, and braking from there is significantly more effective than from the hoods

if you’re bike’s set up correctly it’s fine
that said, most bimbling about is done on the hoods where braking isn’t such an issue, downhills and tricky stuff are done in the drops

BoardinBob – Member
but I wonder when mountain biking stopped being about riding up and down mountains and became all about the down
A long time ago

did they not put gears on their clunkers so they could ride up the hills to get them to the start of decsents thus turning them into what became ‘mountainbikes’?

it depends which bit of the mountainbike myth you chose to believe anyway…

yes, the point for most of the riders is to try and ride the hellingen, sometimes they can’t and have to put a foot down or they fall off, meaning the person behind them has to stop, and the person behind them, leading to a domino effect and a traffic jam, it’s the inevitable consequence of riding with 16.000 other people

if that’s not your thing then you don’t have to do it, that’s ok, it’s not a compulsory event

The Swedish Chef
With the risk of getting a slightly biased answer, are these, (PR included), sportives actually worth doing? As opposed to riding them on your own/with a bunch of mates earlier/later in the week?

depends on your value of ‘worth’
for the entrance money you get a lot more than a UK sportive, for less money, feed stations, marshalling at junctions, and signage – which means to having to stop at every little road to check the map, which considering the wiggly nature of the route and maze of little Belgian lanes is a *lot* of times, although there are several signposted routes from Oudenaarde you can do any day of the year, but they’re not the RvV route

the event is a bit of a bun-fight though, the standard of riding is variable, some of the bergs can be jammed so you have to get off and walk and they have a weird, and quite dangerous at times, need to use the bike lanes whenever possible
but it’s a very social event, for all the annoying bits there’s an equal amount of fun bits
some people need that date on the calendar to get inspired and motivated, for me it’s an excuse to round up a bunch of mates, do the event, watch the Pros the next day and have some beers in the gaps

i’ve done the RvV and i’ve ridden around the area on any other day and they’re a very different thing, both have their appeal

we started at about 8, it was pretty busy all the way round but we seemed to hit a particularly dense bunch on the Kwaremont and Paterburg
and the run into town was *very* scary, after a couple of close calls with numpty riding and yellow bollards we decided it was best to sit on the front on the road and drill it home

aiming to start earlier is always best, starting late means you’re just travelling through everyone that’s already started before you and all the randomness that attracts

it was packed when i went up it, but i managed to clear the climb, just…

but i did have an electric fat-bike ahead of me (there’s always one isn’t there) that created a bit of a gap and i wasn’t afraid to get a bit shouty and elbowsy, which also helps

didn’t make it up the bottom bit of the Kwaremont though, that was rammed

you need to start as early as possible (if you’re doing the middle distance) and not hang about to get a decent chance, though this year the Koppenberg was well into the ride but last year it was only after about 10km, that was messy

this