i, and many many many other people rode off-road for years with clips-and-straps without too much bother before SPDs came along

getting your foot in is merely a matter of practise, and it actually helps *not* to look at the pedal while you're doing it, but if you're getting on fine without them then that's ok too

"Best I got was a couple of curt nods."

were they "curt nods" or just "nods"?

just because they didn't high-5 you, shout "dude" and touch your bottom, like mountainbikers have to do to each other to validate their existence…

i've ridden 25 miles to go bag some fresh tarmac, up, down, up again, down again, just the right sequence of bends, just the right gradient, then i rode the 25 miles back home

it helps when friends send you pictures of said fresh tarmac near their homes

:)

100K on a 'cross bike, SS as well if i want the attention, i feel fine

oh, tyres pumped up to "quite hard", just the one mystery slow puncture over the tea-stop

trails in just the right condition for a bit of clattery fun, a great event as usual, thanks to all involved, although i feel the bread pudding portion size has shrunk it was more than made up for by the addition of Bakewell Tarts :)

a secret classic

i have taken to decorating my house from the style tips i get from Reader's Wives backgrounds as a direct result of this programme

'cross bike, the majority of off-road isn't demanding at all, and the small sections that are become quite an involving giggle rather than the mindless blat they would be on a mountainbike

"42:18 seems to be the gear of choice as standard. Is that what people tend to stick with? "

38:18 here, for off-road, with hills

Enigma

Kona Major One

i've used a Joystick in a Spec. helmet, i simply rotate the adjustable bracket so it's pointing in the right direction

you are using the bracket, you do know that the ball-and-socket bracket is rotatable?

"Are you going to race? Or just ride a bike on road that happens to have thin tyres and funny bars? If the latter just use the same pedals you have on your MTB to save hassle. "

hmmmm, i rode a bike on road that happened to have thin tyres and funny bars for over 25 years before i even thought about entering a race because oddly lots of my rides tend to be longer than any race i've done, in both ride and race instances road pedals have a more secure fit and offer more support than MTB pedals.

Shimano, Look and Time all feel pretty much the same on the bike with subtle differences in clipping in/out and float, Shimanos and Times just work, although you can't put Shimano pedals on a bike with Campag on as it's 'wrong', and Look cleats wear out in 3 days.
i haven't tried Crank Brothers although i hear they have great warranty.

i had some Speed Kings on my bike. once

dunno what size the Houffs came up as and i can't be arsed to put them on a rim to see, but i do know that i used them for both racing and trail-riding with no problem, nicely robust too

the CX version is still on the Spec. website as well

Specialized Houffalize CX are my March -> October tyre of choice

how can you not list "Steely Dan"?

go back and start again

(edit)

i'll add

Duran Duran
Depeche Mode
Heaven 17

my crystal ball (aka google) tells me the Sea Otter is April 15-18 this year, so there will be some random pics of new bits around about then, at a guess

why is your front QR in the wrong way, why have you got the saddle all the way forward on a lay-back post, and with the nose pointing down, and do you use all that steerer-tube poking above the stem to rest your sternum on when you're in your aero tuck?

the amputee mudguard is a nice touch though

"What is your hourly rate?"

less than a plumber, and that's simply joining pipes together, right?

it's cost me £50 of my time to read this thread, where do i send the invoice?

i nod, gently raise a hand/finger or say hello at any cyclist coming the other way, or overtake or just meet, be that on road or off, but my self-esteem is sufficiently high enough that i'm not bothered if they return the greeting or not, but most of them do, because i'm quite handsome

a variety of road rims on the 'cross bikes over the years, never looked at the recommended tyre size for any rim, never been a problem, your Aksiums will be fine

"Where's JoB when you need him for a pointless argument like this?"

my work here is done :)

the itchy trigger-finger and the itchy crayon-finger are the same….

i seem to have the Hi-Def Yellow lenses in permanently, again, i've never shot anyone

hedge porn

i've run the same 2:1 gearing on my SS in all the 24hrs i've raced both as a team and pairs, wherever the race may be, and i've never recced the course beforehand as there's plenty of time to get to know it over the whole day :)

do you need to go to a trail centre to train for Afan and Brechfa?

Swinley?
Surrey Hills?
spend the two hours you'd waste there-and-back in the car as training time instead on the Downs around Brighton?

what do people do?

i stop at garages/cafes/shops, there's quite a few around so not too hard to pass then on route

"I have never understood why JB/MS is bound to MBUK, a mag aimed at a young audience. His work is much better suited to the ST crowd IMO. I might be a regional thing I suppose, given that MBUK is in Bath."

the average age of the MBUK audience is considerably higher than you may think, and JB/MS live over 120 miles from Bath, several regions away :)

what are you on about sfb, i just don't get it
:-)

a sheep riding a bicycle doesn't stand a chance against sfb's relentless logic

oh i completely understand the "merge in turn" concept and how it should work according to the highway code, but in the real world…

where s this mythical world you live in where everyone queues in 2 lanes and takes turn to go through, i've never been there, i live in a place where people scream right to the end of the closed lane and then arrogantly barge in

i think that though SFB and Mint share a love of the same sport they see mountainbiking through very different eyes, and long may that continue, for then they won't get in each other's way

"I'm not a sheep person so I don't understand Mint Sauce"

it's not about the sheep

or is it because Mint Sauce only has at most 4 riders in it?

Dilbert strips are typically only three panels long, Garfield's can run to 5 or 6 and a Mint cartoon can have at least a good dozen to read, i think i can see the problem

errrrrr, i have a photo

"Why's that Jo? (the not having it in ST thing?)"

any reason for me to move to ST would be the same reason for me deciding to stop, amongst a whole host of other whys and wherefores too tedious to go into here

and i'd love to do a decent print of the 20th anniversary poster, they royally f***ed up the colour on that, and it should have sat nicely in a field of white paper, heyho

and what john_l said

what (stalker)wwaswas(/stalker) said