I hear the alcoves in the park are lovely.

I’d highly recommend mine. Size wise, I rode a 54cm tricross a while ago, and now ride a 52cm Caadx but with a longer stem. So roughly similar in size.

The brakes are crap though – the only things which need replacing to make it a truly great bike

That’s in Moab. Looks like he’s jumping from the overlook on Slick Rock over the Colorado River.

I have a couple of the air chuck elites. Excellent, never failed, and weigh next to nothing.

Get the Bath Uni CC guys to have their socials in your place. They often do evening runs followed by a quick pint. Sure you can find their details on facebook.

Ever heard of Mosiac? Seen some beautiful bikes of theirs around

First thing I did when I got one was to change the brakes. They’re dire, verging on deadly!

2 bags of D J Miles

Now we’re talking. That is a proper cup of tea. Their tea bags are only marginally less tasty that the loose leaf stuff too. Leaves at home in the morning, then a convenient bag for the mid morning cuppa.

Looks good that. I wonder how many miles of trails they’ve got?

It’s about three miles from my parents house and I’ve only just found out about it!

As a scientist, this is actually a validation of the scientific method. It shows that renowned journals are not just trading on their reputation, but actually adding robustness to the science reported within them.

It’s called “warming up”, and I think it’s a reasonably well known phenomenon!

I raced the Grand Junction off road in Colorado! Superb, frighteningly technical, magically remote!

They even let me stand on the box at the end, and take home a cheque!

Stop messing around, Enves

Yeah, I’ll keep dreaming. I don’t have enough internal organs to sell, otherwise I’d go right ahead!

Have I finally found a question that STW doesn’t have an opinion on?

If you’re running a newer shimano shifter, there will be a little switch on the underside of the shifter that you can turn between 2x and 3x.

Geax Mezcal

Very rapid, very light. If you know how to handle your bike, it’ll get by in the damp too.

Axle length and hub width are not the same thing. Your frame is likely to be 135mm wide. I don’t know of any bikes currently using a different width with a standard 9mm QR.

It sounds like your middle chainring is worn. Especially if it’s mainly happening under harder pedal forces.

If thats the case, it’s very likely that your cassette will be worn too.

Don’t mean to patronise, but if you follow this video, your problems will probably disappear

People run bike/ski gear to and from the French Alps, someone must do the same from Austria.

Hadn’t thought of that avenue. Good place to start, I’ll do some googling.

It looks like posting in the normal mail would cost almost as much as they’re worth. I knew this was going to be a hassle!

The boardman is awful, anything over 30mph downhill and I get a wobble of doom on.

So you want a bike that climbs well or descends well? They’re often mutually exclusive.

You’re going to have to spend crazy money to notice a significant difference from you Boardman going uphill, and if you’re spending that money there isn’t much between the top frames anyway.

Can I give you the standard STW response of “Try upgrading the wheels first?”

first off, September is the perfect time to head to the east coast. Trees everywhere, and the colours will be magic!

I would suggest that Boston is indeed a lovely city, and the Maine coast is idyllic beyond belief. Also, if you can stretch your miles to Vermont, too, you won’t be disappointed!

I have two current set ups: First is Stans Alpha rims with Clement Strada’s tyres, second is the Ironcross disc rims with Clement PDX’s.

Like said above, cross tyres don’t have the thick sidewalls of MTB tyres, so the tubeless option is great for avoiding thorns and pinch flats, but you’ll slice a tyre much easier than on an MTB.

Just be warned that a few shops may be a little shirty if you walk in with all the stuff bought cheap somewhere online.
I’m not saying it’s right, but a few places I’ve worked have used the profit on parts to make the labour worthwhile.

But, like above, I’d say that 20-30 per wheel would be a fair estimate

Slight hijick – has anyone seen any offers of Hope Disc hubs on either of these rims? I’m looking for something that can switch between rim brakes and discs, and these would be ideal

Sounds like you need to replace your cable and housing.

Great little write up! Good luck for your ride!

You’re doing just fine Scoutroutes. It valued my blog at $8.57!

The width was my main concern to be honest. The shimano shoes are about as narrow as I would want, so if the Mavics are narrower then they’re probably a no go, specially if they’re longer too.

I have Ultegra on road and Sram on cx bike and think the double tap is better suited to cross and more intuitive.

This is what I have at the moment, but was thinking it would be nice to have Ultegra on both bikes. Then again, the Sram shifting is more ‘clunky’ and perhaps it would be better when I can’t feel my fingers.

I’m not too worried about how pretty it looks, after all it wont be staying pretty for very long no matter what I choose!

The only thing worth replacing a Headshock for is a Lefty. Anything else will leave you sorely disappointed!

Looks like Mike Hall is in the Peace of Art cafe in Del Norte. If anyone ever heads that way it’s the best eatery in town – I had a fantastic carrot soup last time I was in, but I’m sure Mike is sampling something a little more calorie dense!

Jered Gruber?

Here’s a good news report about the weather Mike Hall is riding into at the moment.

West Fork Fire

It’s going to be touch and go as to whether they’ll be able to ride through.

Schurters dominance on a 650b wheel

It’s not like he’s dominated though is it? Absalon had the win in the bag til his bike exploded in Albstadt, and the other two races have come down to sprint finishes? So he’s winning, but domination seems a bit strong.

I’m not commenting on the wheel sizes though, talking about such a minute detail detracts from the amazing racing we’ve got to watch so far this season.

Rode up the Rangger Kopfl – A reasonably insignificant peak on the skyline from Innsbruck. I’ve been looking at it for ages and only just got around to getting to the top. It was worth it!

My nake you smile story:

back when I was guiding in Kitzbuhel, the majority of the riders we’d get would be groups of lads, 20 – 40 years old with all the kit. But one week we had an older couple, maybe 60 years old, that were staying for three days.
I don’t know how the Husband had persuaded his wife that Kitzbuhel was a good destination, as she’s never ridden a bike, not even in Childhood. Her goal for the end of the week was to be able to ride to the Lake; about 3 miles away along a flat gravel path.
I’ve never taught anyone to ride from scratch before, but it was brilliant! We laid some cones out in the car park, and within 30 minutes she was riding completely unaided around the cones, cruising, standing up, making turns! It was the best feeling ever to impart the ability to ride a bicycle to this Lady.

We spent the next two days riding 30 miles on the tamest of tame gravel tracks, eating amazing Austrian cake and enjoying the sunshine. The huge smile never left her face, and she was so genuinely thankful for me teaching her to ride a bike. I’ll never forget that feeling – so much more satisfying than riding even the most amazing singletrack with a fun group of people!

I don’t think they can be carried as normal luggage. They have a charge of 150 USD per bike, and if the bike is in addition to your two pieces of luggage, you’ll have to pay the additional baggage fee too

Have you looked at Iceland Air? They are the best transatlantic airline going at the moment IMO

I run a 36/46 on an Ultegra compact crank.

Thats for racing though – are you talking cross racing or cross riding?

@jambalaya I’m actually in Innsbruck, Austria for the summer (It’s a hard life), but I’m looking forward to returning to Colorado soon. If you ever happen past Boulder, I’d be happy to take you out for a ride!