“The biggest issue with the strava app is that it records GPS at 3-4s intervals.”

When I’ve opened the gpx file its always recorded a GPS position every 1000ms for my devices, unless paused.

I did W2 and Blade last Sunday. Hadn’t done Blade for a little while, its longer than Whites or YWall, but not quite as long/as much climbing as doing the full W2.

on Blade, Ghosttrain is probably my favourite trail at Afan, very natural and interesting closely followed by the complete Rock/Happy Life descent which is a full on blast with some drops and rocky sections.

Blade uses the same initial climb as Whites,

I’ve tried it both with and without a camelbak, as said, the car park isn’t far, but its far enough that its likely you’ll miss an uplift whilst getting a drink.

There’s a long thread on Pinkbike about fitting a 200×57 shock to give around 160mm rear travel. Seems to depend on shock and frame size as to whether it contacts the frame at full compression.

How come some seem to wear Full Face helmets and others not so ?
– Personal choice I guess. FF worse on the transitions, especially if its hot.

Seems a few favourites flatted on the rocks, why are they not tubeless or Procore ?
– From what I read the course changed a bit from practice to race day, so possibly line choice meant they just plowed into a rock which wasn’t exposed before in practice. Saw a video with Greg Callaghan and he is tubeless as he has a bar end plug. I guess if the slice is too big its game over.

How come no one apart from TMo wears a Camelback ?
– Many of the riders have said they’ll do anything to avoid wearing a backpack and end up taping everything to the frame or using jersey pockets.

Right! cheers. :D

Some ‘friends of friends of friends’ raced Newnham and some photos popped up on my Facebook. As soon as I saw them I had a look for when the next race was down there. Course looks really good, personally I’m all for more technical A/B/C lines as I’m a bit overbiked for XC, but I do think it does add another tactcial dimension which keeps it interesting.

Yeah stage 7 was by far the best. Having the spectators right up close shouting was great! Some guy was just screaming at me to get off the brakes! :D

I assume they used the steep switch backs at the end of stage 3 rather than the chimney?

Stage 3 the timing chip got nicked early on in the day so it was closed, think some people got to ride it, but we didn’t.

Stage 7 everyone rode it, but some people rode outside the tape (intentionally or not I don’t know) and straight lined a bit so they cancelled everyone’s times on that stage.

This is one of the better guides I’ve found online:

Bikerumor Suspension Setup Series: Full Series PDF – Free Download!

oldfart – I recently had the identical situation ,albeit less than a year after buying the shock.

Cleaned it fairly regularly, but didn’t go crazy. Noticed slight discolouration on the shaft, sent to TFtuned along with fork to service. Shock is beyond economical repair.

Why though can’t rufty tufty mountain bikes stand up to a wet winter without being mollycoddled ?

I then went through the exact same mental process. Bearings had gone too.

Built up a cheapo hardtail for winter riding, but pretty jaded from the whole experience. I can’t be bothered to spend more timing cleaning and servicing a bike than riding it.

Probably can’t afford it. Under 20 then the parents pay, over 35 you’ve got enough disposable income for such luxuries.

This is what I suspect. A new bike is likely to be more than most peoples cars at that age.

Pretty high spec already IMO. :-)

I’d spend the money on paying someone else to do up my house and then go ride the bike as it is.

This might help:
http://yojimg.net/bike/web_tools/stem.php

Rinse Badgers 5000

Phone accuracy has improved.

GPS accuracy, but also the interval they store position. On an old iPhone I saw 2000ms, new ones its 1000ms.

I’d expect Strava’s algorithms have improved too. http://labs.strava.com/slide/

Someone did a test with a load of devices round a circuit which is interesting reading http://www.singletracks.com/blog/gps/gps-distance-accuracy-test-smartphone-apps-vs-dedicated-gps/

Used the Nukeproof ones for a few years, still going strong and they don’t move at all.

http://gears.mtbcrosscountry.com/#27.5I1371I1

Calculates 54kmh @ 120rpm for your setup.

I don´t ride a lot of down hill fire roads and even when I do, only rarely get the bike to 55

Where are you riding to get to those speeds if it’s not firetrack, and are you sure you’re spinning out?

Lots of clearing by the FC went on over the winter, so Puddletown is currently in a state of flux. There’s still stuff there. Including some new jumps and drops. :wink:

Went up to Okeford Hill to watch the opening race and there are jumps ready to ride, a couple small drops, and a big one which lands into off camber roots that scared me just looking at it.

What Euro said +1000

Otherwise you’ve got the above ( Avon Tyrel has some tables I’m sure), plus I think Lordshill has some stuff but I’ve never been.

There’s also a few jumps in Wareham forest.

My advice rather than getting in a car and driving for hours is to spend that time somewhere local with a shovel. :-)

Surprised no one mentioned just heading out into the local woods and building your own. Grounds so soft at the moment you can have a decent drop and run in built in less than an hour.

Building your own means you can just keep adding to the height as you get more confident.

What Deviant said.

Personally I wish more places were left to deteriorate naturally, much more interesting IMO.

That’s about as far as it will go into the frame without the Connectamajig removed. Much further and the hose gets crushed into the frame.

My first race was just over a year ago, and I’m rubbish, but my advice would be:

As above, don’t worry about gear. I use flats, baggies and a 150mm bike and feel like the bike is not whats holding me back, my fitness and racecraft is.

On the start line, grid at the back. If you’re fit enough, you’ll pass people later on, and you’ll not have to worry about the pressure of so many people being behind you.

Don’t change anything on the bike before the race. Ride the setup you’re comfortable with.

Don’t forget to eat and drink, but don’t over eat before hand. I prefer a light breakfast a couple hours beforehand.

Also I’d say stick at it. I did 4 or so races then nearly stopped, did the next one and everything suddenly clicked and I placed way higher. I think it takes a while to get your pacing and fuelling right.

I think most people would agree that riding brand new fresh cut stages for a race is ideal, but from an organisers point of view, having to dig and test 4 or 5 new trails in the last few days before a race (as building to far in advance would allow sneaky people to practice) would be a huge undertaking.

I thought the stages were way too short, a total of just 7-8 minutes of racing. Double the loop to 20k and there would’ve been plenty of other sections they could’ve linked up on the same hills

Initially when they announced the stages I was surprised how short they were too, but personally on the day thought it worked well. Being able to have multiple goes on shorter trails was good imo.

TBH I’d much prefer the stages to be kept secret (locals were out sessioning every day in the run-up to the event), practised only in the morning and raced in the afternoon.

Whether they are secret or not its still a locals advantage (and is always going to be) At least announcing them 2 weeks before gives people from a bit further away at least a bit of time to do a recce.

That way everyone has to do a decent bit of pedalling. It is enduro, after all, not downhill.

I thought this format works well, as it gives you the flexibility. If you have the fitness, then you can keep hitting the stages over and over, which should result in better times. :-)

Sunday racing went smoothly, only glitch was friend who entered with me failed to get a time recorded for stage1, judging from the results sheet seems his was the only glitch, which was a shame.

I had an issue with stage 4 timing, quick email to Charlie and it was sorted very promptly.

Yeah I went in well prepared with good jacket and change of riding clothes and is was actually not too bad, the rain eased off pretty quickly and the trails rode really well, I think the muddy bits actually added to them. First time I’ve done some of those trails and loved them. :-)

Everytime I’ve been to Afan even mid winter its been lovely blue skies. I’ll make sure I layer up and keep a spare everything in the car. 8)

well its gonna be wet, windy and wild!

I’ve been watching the weather all week! Hopefully it’ll be showers rather than full on downpour :-)

Looking at some recent Youtube clips, it does look a lot rockier than before in places, but it is what it is I guess now

One of my friends said that its much rockier than it was a while back. Personally that’s why I like it so much, feels much more natural than some of the ‘motorway’ trail centres.

How are the trails at the moment? Thinking of heading over Sunday.ade was really hacked up last month, apparently…

I’ve found Afan to be in pretty good shape whatever the weather. Note that there is the WGES race over on Blade side on Sunday so some trails (I assume) will be shut.

The format sounds great for calamity-prone riders like me to get a second and a third and a fourth chance, but to be honest you’re probably not going to want to do more than your usual practice lap and race lap anyway. I went up for a recce and sectioned some bits and was pretty knackered after one lap, and I’m xc fit.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. I think its a great format, takes the pressure off a bit so its still fun, but it’s still a physical enough loop to make sure you can’t just endlessly loop a stage until you get it perfect.

Also been enjoying trying to work out what order to do the stages. :-)

Giant Trance, gone through 2 sets of bearings since last summer, so roughly 3-4 months a set. Completely seized. That was with no pressure washing , but also without taking apart the frame and regreasing.

From now on I’m going to get into the habit of checking on them more often

Were you looking at the Glory?
nope…i was looking at the 2016 Reign Advanced…geometry can be found here

I think he meant were you looking at the 09 Glory instead of the 09 Reign X.

Geo for 2009 Regin X is:
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/bikes/model/reign.x1/2415/32131/

H/A 67
Seat 72.5

I bought a cheapo £3 mount and drilled a new hole right at the end. I’m on small frame, and even then I’m only able to get a 500ml bottle in (and a specific one at that).

I usually just use a Camelbak.

From memory you need a 6802 and 6900 puller/press (If you are replacing all the bearings you’ll need some more sizes I think). Superstar was out of stock of there ones, so in the end I took it to the LBS.

I had same issue. Removed the connectamajig and added the £8 part. Took a couple goes to get the hose perfectly sealed on the £8 part, but now its fine.

So that was fairly brutal! Really nice course, was expecting some fire road or Tarmac but almost all woodsy tracks.

Yeah its a great course. Usually if it rains it just gets a thin film of slippy mud on top and its not too bad. I’ve done about 10 races there now and yesterday was far far far the worst its been. :twisted:

@BoardinBob

There was a new red on the Pleney which was very steep in places

Yeah that was it. It was the most scared I’ve even been on a bike, the steep parts were dusty, so very very little grip, and it was just hold on and hope for the whole way down. Made it to the bottom, went straight to the pub.