I run a rigid Air 9c with 2.2 Rons run at 24lbs and the fatter ESI grips. Generally fine,I’ve ridden the widow maker on Dartmoor on it and survived, but its a race set up really. I use suspension for general trail

How about a Niner EMD?

Doesn’t have mudguard or rack mounts though. I run a Niner with 700c wtb nano’s

Loving the Trek 69er!

Thanks Soma. Its a delight to ride. And I don’t know why.

Has Lady’s Edge got steeper?

Yes. Surprisingly it gets steeper every time we ride it!

We were supposed to ride Dartmoor but got put off by the weather forcast of fog and drizzle. Typical weather men.

Still, it was a lovely day on the Q’s.

Rexated – Pauls pr on Lady’s Edge must be bad. We walked the last bit!
And who can trust Strava anyway. I got a KOM on my ride on Friday and rode like a sack of spuds?

Interesting links – seconded thanks Soma

So 42mm tyres are no slower on smooth roads than 25mm at moderate speeds and quicker on rougher roads.

Theres evidence for a wide tyred Tripster right there!

rsvktm sums it up in a nutshell.

We make changes to our set ups and then wonder why its not as good, different to how it was before! Give it time. And then change if needed.

Personally I run a Air 9 carbon with the rigid fork and am happy with its performance within limitations. Can’t imagine running a 120 on it. Why would you!

Funnily enough we were talking today about that lovely piece of singletrack on the Q’s which I never was sure if it was properly called Sharki’s trail or Jambo’s trail!

Good to hear you’re back Sharki.

I’ll let knottie know you’re back in the groove and we’ll have to get a Q’s ride in.

Knottie has been proper training on the road and is a climbing god nowadays!!

Some are lighter too, but basically… yes.

I’ve had some really poor braking performance when I’ve used very light weight rotors.

Is it a truism that the very light rotors don’t perform as well as the less holey??

http://bunyanvelo.com

Thanks for that Houns – that’s a really nice magazine

Sierra Nevada

Use the rubber boots provided though – I didn’t :-(

Race Face Next SL for me. Very black and very light.
Works component ring.

the cable running along the down tube looks a bit cheap as do the pedals

presumably that’s a pre production frame before they put the guides on. Pedals are a strange choice admittedly!

*gulp*

*swoon*

And you can walk away!

Any words with that picture Chunky?

And it has discs!!

Turner have made a cross bike – perhaps it is the new thing over there?

Any links to that TurnerGuy? Can’t find anything.

Dave Turner is a self confessed ‘cross nut so I suspect if Turner do a X bike it will be X race orientated rather than the longer slacker gravel bikes.

As a newish Turner fan boy (I love my Czar) I’d be interested in one. Hopefully it wont be quite as fugly as the santa Cruz.

Try this:
http://www.visitdolomites.com/en
this:
http://www.mtb-dolomites.com/eng/index.html
and this:
http://www.sellarondahero.com/en/race/sellaronda-hero-marathon

they may help. You can do the Sellaronda round both ways

We don’t talk to grockles down ‘yer.

Keypitts will be wet and mucky. It generally is and we had a lot of rain yesterday.

Try riding out of Wooly on Marine drive and continue over to Croyde,. Round to Saunton and just past the hotel go right across the dunes on bridleway. Follow around on American road back to Braunton. Work a route out back through Upcott that picks up byway signed with radio masts down to Croyde and the back to Wooly.

Enjoy a pint of apples in Red Barn.

That Challacombe hill is a doozy

I suffered a running induced PF for some time.
Essentially all that sorted it was strapping, coupled with ice (I used frozen pea bag, and exercise. Place a towel on the floor and pull it towards you by scrunching your toes.
But its the strapping that works as it takes the stress off the plantar and allows it to heal. You wear it all the time. You tube will help out.

Dear Jedi

Please audit all wheel sizes and report back.

This will provide definitive proof what wheel size is best for everyone.(well its as good an indicator as anything else on here)

Kestrel

Roberts – I still have my DB but not sure if they still make off roaders.

The Only Ones

Although maybe should be “bands that deserved to make it but didn’t” category?

’twas a beautiful day in Devon as well.

The road was closed at Haldon so we wouldn’t have got to Dartmoor!

If you fancy something ourdoorsy with some mountainbiking then how about Rusch to Glory?

That girl is seriously impressive. iTunes for £6.99

Dartmoor from Princetown.

Singlespeeding with Knottie8 of this parish.

Dressing for a chilly ride!

Macavity has it.

“More or less” programme on Radio 4just tore this apart and explained the flawed statistical conclusion.

I take 5,000iu daily but am in no way suggesting others should do this and it’s quite cheap to get vit D tested anyway.

Its actually, relatively, expensive to test Vitamin D – about £20
Coupled with the fact that pathology tests for vit D don’t measure the free (active form) of vit D, doesn’t measure the various forms of Vit D equimolarly and it doesn’t have a normal range as we would normally understand it, then I always suggest giving the patient Vit D rather than measuring it and see if they get better! Its a lot cheaper.

It would help if the medical profession (and the Daily Mail) remembered that Vitamin D isn’t a vitamin but a hormone. The above becomes more obvious.

adsh – Member

Brave man ! Take plenty of tubes

Why? Thought they were viewed as pretty good? Granted not the heaviest construction but I though grip would be better than Durano Plus etc

adsh – I helped out at the London Ride last year. We ran out of spare tubes, mainly handed out to people using GP4000’s. Great tyre for speed and traction, you’re right. But a bit puncture prone. You do know you’ll be riding in the gutter grovelling in mud and crap in the Roubaix don’t you?

I agree entirely Turnerguy. The links between lipid research and Statin manufacturers is very disturbing.

Do you work for the NHS then?

’tis the cross I carry. A clinical commissioner, specifically, Diagnostic services for Devon.

And yes its as clear as mud. Which is why I say Kendrick is great, but look at all the voices out there.

I’ve only just learnt out that obesity doesn’t cause type 2 diabetes! Its a mad world

The good news is that riding your bike is the best thing you can do, and if you ride a 29er its even better. Fact :-)

Cheers – Continental Gp4000ii in 28c for me (can’t fit any bigger)and gel under bar tape.

Brave man ! Take plenty of tubes!

Why can’t you ride a Gobi on the road? I have one on the CX bike which I do a fair few road miles on and I don’t feel its a problem.

Also them cobbles bloody hurt your bum!

oops! got me quotes the wrong way round – don’t know how that happened!

[/quote]Serious answer- it’s often hard to tell from a photo as it makes things look a lot easier/shallower….but yes, probably.

I would second this gentleman’s response.

And yes you can ride a 29er down most things, but its not the law.

If you didn’t feel like it then there’s no shame in that. We all have (a developing?) skills envelope.

But why turn around? You could have walked down.

Think c_g has explained it better than my limited education could….

I know this is probably labouring the point, but actually CG hasn’t explained your point at all.

CG refers to “Doctoring Data”(great book) which primarily looks at the shenanigans that go on in medical research, national guidance and the pharmaceutical industry.

It does not address or imply any link between GP funding and Big Pharma, if that is what you were referring to. There are links I accept, but not around general funding which is primarily an issue with local CCG’s.

Sorry OP this is going off topic I know, but something I care passionately about (I’m very wary of new NICE guidance and wont commission it without empirical trial)

DrP – Member

Trekster… When you say you’re wife know how GPs are funded ‘wink’, could you elaborate?

DrP

Yes come on Trekster. What is this funding model of which you speak. QOF??

By the way. The decision to place a patient on Statins is often decided through a complex algorithm called QRisk. It may be that although your wife has slightly lower cholesterol levels she may have other issues raising her risk of cardiac disease and hence placed on Statins. All GP’s use the same risk calculator so its not a difference in GP attitudes.

Up on Haldon a few weeks ago I saw a rider empty his bag of a couple of wrappers and a plastic water bottle and then ride off. I picked them up and followed him along the trail. He seemed slightly put out when I handed them to him back at the hub.

I also came across a small pile of inner tubes up on Woodbury. weirdly 2 weren’t even punctured. It was at the ‘jump’ spot, so guessing it was youths! Anyway, I’m 5 decent tubes up on it

Well done you. Not many of us would have the bottle to confront such anti social behaviour.

I did cover a tree on the Quantocks with latex once when I sliced a hole in the rear sidewall. I would have taken it home honest, but I couldn’t get the bugger off the tree !

Thanks TurnerGuy

You are right the “great cholesterol con ” is an interesting take on the obsession we have with the link between high fat diets and cardiac outcomes.
It is, however, just one piece of evidence in an ever complex story.

I’m know at work as “the guy who thinks Statins are the work of the devil” Its the peddling of these drugs by organisations like NICE that really worries me.

But to go back to the OP. Get it checked out, do your research and make your own mind up what to do next.

TurnerGuy – Member

You’ll be unsurprised to hear that not all GPs believe in the good/bad cholesterol theory.

read “the great cholestrol con”

I have. Hence my comments

You don’t need a fasting sample to measure Cholesterol. Currently we do ask it for full lipid profile but that’s the Triglyceride, and we are stopping that as per NICE guidance 7/2014.

I’m concerned you say “quick test”. Is that one of those point of care tests in Boots or similar? If so I’d get it checked properly. Some appalling governance and quality control issues with PoCT

And yes, as nickc says above. There is now some considerable debate about the link between high cholesterol levels and cardiac disease. Surprising amount of research funded by the companies that make statins!!

And don’t forget…..you can come down and see the Beavers at Grottery and then have a little bimble around the trails at Woodbury or Haldon Forest after.
Pub at Tipton St. John is also very good and is right on the Otter river.