Shoreham (Brighton City) Airport has trails about half a mile away :-)

here – Mountain Mayhem Results

i apologise, if you feel you’re going to gain some valuable use from it then crack on

let me just ponder the rationale of putting a powermeter on a commuter bike for a bit and i’ll get back to you with some answers

The Levellers

Garry_Lager – Member
but guards on a track bike are a foolish affectation IMHO. If they’re important to you then best do it properly with a more sedate bike.

but guards on a fixed-wheel road bike that’s going to be used all year round are a good idea, which is what people were doing for years on their winter fixed bikes before the fixie thing became fashionable and will continue to do so now the fad is fading….

my favourite fixed wheel that no-one really knows about so is always on cheap is the Fuji

putting a bike gear-side down is (old fashioned term) poor practice, stop doing it anyway, a beneficial side effect might be fewer bent rear mechs :-)

if you think it’s because of when you’re putting the bike on the floor to open gates and you’re doing that gear-side down, stop doing that

if you know your issues could be dealt with by stretching and core exercises then do them, a bike fit will only pander to these weaknesses and not make them go away

sticking to an exercise regime will do you, your body and your bike riding far better 3 – 6 months down the line than any bike fit will
go and see a physio who will identify where your problems lie and give you specific things to do to sort them out, there are some bike-fitters that offer a more holistic approach and combine a stretching/core regime with a bike fit and tinkering with both to get the perfect result over time

if it makes you feel better i can put on a logoed polo shirt and charge £150 for this advice

a man on a road bike nodded back at me so hard yesterday i thought he was going to fellate himself

there are many formulas and theories for working out saddle height (and other bike measurements) it’s not set in stone, people usually believe the one they’ve spent most money on

it depends on your road group’s willingness to embrace a bit of dirt and gravel and how precious they are about their bikes :-) but it’s currently dry enough to ride a road bike through Stanmer Park, in fact i did it in a group just the other weekend

the other alternative is the tarmac road through the village and up to Upper Lodges

i’d just buy the CX70 pads as the easiest option, then replace the pads for a tenner each wheel when they get worn

ignore anything you might read online, or might see via any videos and go and see a physio who will give you some advice and exercises specific to YOU to get your problems sorted

yes, i’ve done it before but it was a while ago, best to ask the organisers though

take the rack and guards off, put some grippier tyres on to turn it into a ‘gravel’ bike, ride it

exactly that sort of bike was doing ‘gravel’ riding for a good number of years before Gravel Riding turned up

Assos shorts will have just warmed up at 125 miles, you’ll be fine, unless you’re finding something wrong with them on your current rides you don’t need new shorts

i wish he’d get an elastic-band for his hat

HoratioHufnagel – Member

I believe the record for the SDW double was set on a full-sus

hairylegs – Member
Quite correct: http://www.torqfitness.co.uk/news/south-downs-way-record

that’s old news, Ian Leitch broke that record last year with a time of 15hrs 35mins, on a lightweight hardtail

you won’t need a dropper-post, ride the bike you’re most used to/comfortable on, it can be a long day in the saddle
if you only have a hardtail fit the biggest swiftest whoomphiest tyres you have, unless it’s rained in the last week when you should stay at home ;-)

i think it’s quite a neat solution, maybe that’s because mine hasn’t come apart

either really, whatever you feel most comfortable on

if you go full-suss make it a light short-travel one, the descents on the SDW (and thereabouts) aren’t amazingly technical and there’s a lot of climbing

Gravel/adventure/etc etc bikes without discs used to be called touring bikes (only half joking)

something like the Surly Cross-Check would be spot on, the geometry isn’t any more sporty than your on-trend gravel bike

i’d have lent her my D-lock

slimjim78 – Member

Did anyone catch the name/location of his local pub?

that was The Ram in Firle

rascal – Member
Also – anyone done an audax? They seem to be big miles at a fraction of the price? How does a £35 100 mile sportive differ from a sub-£10 100 mile audax?

you don’t get herds of cyclists at an audax although you can get small groups forming, you don’t get feed stops with out of date energy-bars and bits of banana although the control points are often cafes where you can get proper food, the money saved on a sportive entry fee buys a lot of beans on toast and cake, the routes aren’t signposted but you do get a route sheet and often a GPX file so a level of self-reliance is required, they tend not to turn out to be faux-races like sportives can although that doesn’t mean riders are slow, the level of roadcraft is generally significantly higher

rascal – Member

I really really hope you approve JoB

i had to put my headphones on and listen to something else

what band did you chose to listen to on your headphones so we can comment on their torpor reviving abilities?

i just found some red ones i’ve not used in ages if you want to buy some on the cheap ;-)

aP – Member
[coughs] JoB will you be taking a full sized one on TCR4?

yes, yes i will actually ;-)

proper frame-fit pump

i’ve had several seatpost/saddle combos like this, i cut down an allen key, it took two minutes

without a pad and over shorts for me

i prefer the snugness of bb-shorts underneath, i always find there’s some unsettling ‘separation’ and then ‘meeting’ every time i get out the saddle and sit down again with padded longs

that pattern isn’t about making you look more or less like a person on a bike it’s a ‘what’s that?’ weird moving blob, which draws attention to you, coincidentally on a bike, visibility job done

that Morvelo top up there isn’t urban camo at all, it’s a disruption pattern inspired by the Dazzle Ships of World War 1 where the intention was the exact opposite of camouflage and that of causing visual confusion, and as a complex geometric shape that’s out of context of most road riding situations actually extremely visible, jussayin

and..

bedmaker – Member
Hard to believe people are so keen on defending their choice of lo-viz clothing for road cycling

It’s just plain weird. You don’t look cool, you won’t ride like Wiggins, you’ll simply be more likely to get hit by a car as well as further antagonising already unfriendly drivers.

would this be the same people saying that choice of clothing colour, in their experience, makes no difference at all?

as a general fashion trend ‘roadie’ clothes are getting brighter and brighter, although some still like to wear darker shades, it’s their choice

as a frequent road rider over many many years it makes little difference what colour clothing i wear, drivers will still not see me no matter how many windows their vehicle has, or any other excuse they choose for not paying attention to other road users

globalti – Member
At 5’10” you definitely need a 55, not a 57.

i’m 5′ 10″ and i’d definitely need a 57

there’s internet road bike sizing advice in a nutshell right there ;-)

is there any specific reason you’re looking at buying a new bike that’s longer and lower than the bike you already have that needs a shorter stem to make it fit you because you’re a bit overweight and inflexible?

what’s wrong with the Roubaix that the KTM addresses?
have you tried losing some weight and doing some work on your flexibility so the Roubaix fits you better (and you’ll be a more comfortable cyclist all-round), that’s a lot cheaper than a new bike, i’m not trolling, it’s a genuine question

anything from roughly £1,200 upwards to ‘as much as Sir wants to spend’ for the frame

it probably won’t be a ‘bike for life’ either :-)

that ‘Entertainment Wallpaper” over the Mumford and Sons picture is meant to be a watermark and not a description yeah?

conversely i (and others) prefer a longer and lower position, more room to stretch out on the bike and keep weight over the front wheel

a shorter higher bike can lead to the back wanting to ‘concave’ when standing up climbing which can lead to issues