I just so happen to be doing my PhD on this very subject, in the lab of Chris Lowry, who has pretty much pieced this whole field together.

Some further reading for those interested on the Hygiene Hypothesis in general

Just saw your comment on Uplifts. Snowmass is open to bikes in the summer, and they rent bikes at the resort. The other resorts are more aimed at hiking and families, so no uplifts but plenty of XC trails.

Here’s a good short loop from Snowmass village. The village express lift is open in the summer if you want to use that instead of climbing up.

Lot’s of talk about the “biggest and best” rides, but to be honest you should just explore the Roaring Fork valley as much as you can. It’s a beautiful place with many hidden gems. The Government Trail between Aspen and Snowmass should be your top priority. Late August is a terrible time to be in Moab – it’s a beautiful time to be in the high mountains. If you really need your desert fix then the Lunch Loops trail system in Grand Junction is much closer, much cooler, and equally entertaining.

Aloha Mountain Cyclery[/url] in Carbondale (20 minutes from Glenwood) is a lovely shop with a demo fleet and a great sense of humour.

I hope he’s not expecting anyone else to save his bacon.

A very strange mix of Devon, Colorado and the Alps. Follow with caution: @chrisbaddick

I’d say TrainingPeaks does exactly what you want. Their android app is really good, and it auto produces graphs showing all the workouts you’ve done.

Perhaps we’re imagining it, and it actually works flawlessly, despite feeling like it isn’t?

I think this is pretty close to the truth. I’ve done about 230 hours now on XX1, and I can’t stand the way it feels… until I’m in a race, when I forget all about it and just ride my bike.

One day of good tuition is more valuable than years of pootling along by yourself. There’s something about the “safety net” that a good instructor provides that allows you to really push yourself. Never had any experience with Neil Donoghue, but considering his history of racing I’m sure it’s a safe bet.

Just click the “add contact form” button on the new post/page screen. You can edit all the fields until it does exactly what you want it. Plenty of options without a plugin.

Yeah February is the sticking point. It’s going to be hit and miss weather where ever we end up going, but it will be better than saying in the UK and not riding.

Tenerife is an option I suppose, but a little more expensive than spain/majorca etc. Italy seems ridiculously expensive in comparison to spain. Strange.

Are you looking for UK focussed or international?

UKXCnews.com is just getting going and looking for contributors.

CyclingNews for big international races. Just click on the “mountain Bike” tab at the top

MarathonMTB.com for aussie-centric reports of the bigger euro races

acrossthecountry.net for german language reports of world cups etc.

There really isn’t an all encompassing source for xc info in the UK, just lots of smaller websites doing a pretty good job. I have them all thrown into Feedly so I don’t have to trawl through each site.

what are the wheels and tyres?

They’re DT Swiss carbon clinchers, with Schwalbe rocket ron tyres attached. I have a set of Velocity major tom tubulars that will be used for racing purposes. These wheels are really good for nothing but posing.

Apparently it’s Rule 8 you require for this, so black saddle and that turquoise blue for the bars, or black, black, black.

Hmm, I’m going to be breaking some rules then. White saddle with pink bar tape for the moment, then black bar tape going on when the racing starts.

Alright, an update for anyone interested. I went ahead and tried the hose switch without having a full bleed kit. I managed to get the front brake done pretty simply, and it seems to be just fine. The rear brake didn’t go as smoothly though; I think it will need a full bleed unfortunately.

Overall they’re pretty easy to work with – the T10 screws holding the reservoir caps on are nice and solid and didn’t strip easily. It’s a shame you have to open the reservoirs to change the hoses, but I guess there is only limited space in those levers to fit everything in.

I’ll be bleeding them today and hopefully riding it this weekend.

Fantastic little read! Great trip!

How did you go about charging the Garmin? was that your sole navigation, and did you draw up a route beforehand, or freestyle it on the way?

Stealthy as a stealthy thing. Any excuse to post some photos!

A completely and utterly biased recommendation for the Czar. It will change you.

Not too sure on the 3 loop format, starting in Minehead means you can’t really get up onto the moor proper and there seemed to be a bit of a lack of singletrack in loops 1 and 2.

I agree it could have made better use of the moor. It seemed like we did a lot of riding on the road to get to the trails. It must take a lot of imagination to change the route each year though. I guess they also have to cater to those who don’t want 30 miles of super techy trails.

I just put some photos on the other thread

Well that was a lovely day out on the bike. Riding up and over North Hill to begin the day was a shock to the system, but the views and trail back down were worth it. I was a little surprised there wasn’t more technical interest in the first two loops – it seems like in previous years there’s been less forest road and more singletrack. The last loop really was a killer: the climb up through Alcombe was only just rideable!

From the top of the plantation looking across the Bristol channel:

The famed tea and cake stop:

And the spectators on North Hill:

Thanks for the replies guys. I didn’t know whether any route details were given out in advance. I’m pretty familiar with the trails from Minehead, so I’m looking forward to it. Last time I did it was 2011 (I think!)

Any idea of the course? I just registered, so I don’t know whether I’ve missed out on the pre-event emails.

jobro – Member
That makes three Czars I know of in North Devon!
Clearly a wealthy part of the world

I grew up in North Devon but don’t live here any more. Just taking an extended summer holiday to visit the parents.

Cycling News is definitely the best international source for xc news, but even they struggle to get reports in from all the countries.

acrossthecountry.net is a really good resource if you can decipher some German.

@UKXCnews on twitter seem to be doing a very good job of collating information, too, but they are only just getting started producing their own content.

MarathonMTB.com covers AUS/NZ, and quite a lot of the european XCM races too.

MTBracenews.com is good for western US stuff. cyclingdirt.org is normally up to date with US MTB and CX news, but they haven’t updated for a while (which is a little worrying)

I’d suggest getting a twitter account. Easy to find all the info you need if you follow the right people.

tomhoward – Member
It doesn’t annoy me, it’s just I’ve always seen mtbs as fun, rather than about stats. Road riding, yeah, all about stats, and that’s a big part of the *coughs* ‘fun’ but not for mtbs for me I’m afraid.

Your fun ? my fun.

Isn’t that the best thing about mountain biking?

Blazin-saddles – Member
It’s not the press fit part per se, just the 30mm axle bit. I’ve already got GXP XX1 cranks so want a ‘normal’ b/b. I’m a big guy with a fair bit of power and I’ve never noticed a b/b axle being flexy!

You can keep your GXP crankset – just buy a bottom bracket that has a PF30 ‘outside standard’ and a GXP ‘inside standard’

I think the term ‘adapter’ is making you concerned. The ‘adapter bottom brackets’ from Praxis, Raceface and others are just bottom brackets like any other product you’d buy. The difference is they convert between two standards. The raceface one I’m running is completely flawless. If PF30 meant I had to give up my 24mm spindle shimano cranks, I wouldn’t want it either.

What about the Turner Sultan? It’s pretty much made for people of your *ahem* stature, right?

Blazin-saddles

The Czar is pressfit30, which I think is a bit different, but I don’t know how. I got the raceface bottom bracket that converts from PF30 to shimano cranks, and it’s really well built. You can also replace the bearings without removing the whole BB from the frame, which was a big thing for me. It seems a lot better than the wheels mfg adapters I was using before.

A little bit of a better picture from this morning. I’m starting to regret the extreme stem slamming. I’m going to try a couple spacers underneath and see if it feels better. One thing is certain – rear suspension got a lot better since I last had a full susser. It climbs so much better than the hardtail.

It took a couple of months to get on the trail. It was agonising having it sat at home without the parts to finish it off.

Carbon wheels are definitely on the list. The stans cant be beat for the price or simplicity though.

I put sugru in mine.

Nice report Gee! Are there results up online anywhere? I could only find the top 5 on british cycling.

How warm and dry does that picture look?

Looks California warm and dry to me. Properly jealous.

Spot on. I escaped the mountains for a bit last week and rode some warm dusty trails. Back to the snow and cold now though.

Is it a large?i was about to pull the trigger but silverfish now out of stock!

Yes, it’s a large. I sat on the medium and the large, and it felt a lot less cramped on the large. I’m 5’10”. Rumour is that these are selling as fast as they can make them. I hope they don’t get too popular!!

A carbon frame surely deserves some carbon rims? Something like light bicycle carbon rims on dt swiss 240 hubs should do the job nicely.

I’d love a set of DT hubs, but they aren’t in the budget. I might look into building up a set of the light bicycle rims, but I’m not sure how much time I will have to do that in the next month. At this point I just want to get parts on it and get riding!

I have one bike for racing and training, and I’m racing in the Elites. Not much need for more than one bike unless you’re riding 20+ hours a week.

Always nice to have a spare set of wheels though, if you’ve got the dosh.

If you think it’s a gopro competitor, I think you’re missing out on the significance of it’s particular blend of features.

The CM-1000’s debut lends some credibility to rumors that the UCI is set to legalize on-bike cameras, perhaps utilizing them to provide live streaming video and precisely the sort of live data, like gear choice and current power, that the CM-1000 is designed to provide.

Shimano may be aiming for something more than the casual camera market.

Would also be very interested in the .GPX if you could send it over: chrisbaddick *AT* gmail *DOT* com

Shackleton – I live in Boulder. Send me an email (in profile) if you want some in depth info.

Even this site is wordpress based isn’t it?

Yes