Well here’s how you DONT carry a cross bike! I think I have a little bit of learning to do before next weekend!

Yes, just updated mine and also playing up.

On Wednesday it didn’t find any satellites for my entire ride. Thursday I left it turned on outside my house for 45 minutes before it managed to lock itself into position. Today it took about 15 minutes; still unacceptable!

Not good – also looking for a way to revert to v2.8

well I ordered a homebrew 36t ring and managed to get my hands on a XTR 40t, which means I should be set for a while.
Will probably keep to the 2×10 set up for now and use the single ring for emergencies only.

Here’s my faithful ridley. Getting on in age now but considering I only use her for 3 months of the year, she’s doing well.

Set up 1×10 with Campy record and Zipp 404’s

I raced him a couple weeks back in Arizona – super friendly guy but not much going on up there. He’s renowned for getting lost on course, and some people say that he needs a team manager next to him on the start line to say ‘PEDAL’ when the gun goes off.

Also, he was on the Movavie Cannondale team for a few years with some of my close friends. They told me how his kit was always special one-off editions because he’d never use shorts with a chamois or any other kind of padding…

coopersport – lets just say I ride more miles than you can probably even imagine 😉 I also run the 28/40 combo which means I’m in the 40t almost all the time; I’m getting almost double the life out of the small ring compared to the large.

I had 1×9 on my scale a few years ago, but switched to a full XTR groupset last year.
I love the 2×10 and would probably prefer to stay with it, but I’m going through XTR chainrings once every 3 months, and at $88 (cost) a time, its getting a little silly. Also, shimano stock control in the US is pretty terrible, and I’m sometimes having to wait weeks for replacements. If I can find a 1×10 solution, then I may alternate between each set up as and when I need to

Thanks njee,

I’ve seen those and the homebrew ones. They look good – I’m just surprised that Blackspire or other such companies haven’t picked up on these yet.

I’ll have a look on the Experimental Prototype website and decide whether to stick with 2×10 or make the jump

I live in Colorado and ride in Crested Butte quite often.

If I could choose any bike, it would be a lightish trail bike (120mm kind of thing) with some bigger tyres, or at least thicker side walls.

Crested Butte doesn’t get steep like the Alps, so a slack bike is no advantage, and a lighter bike will help on the climbs.

Send me an email if you would like to meet up on the Front Range before you head into the mountains.

That’s me on the cover of Privateer! 🙂

Stoner – Its great to see some old school lines too! I have quite a few maps with scrawl all over them. Its a satisfying process.

I’ve just started a map with the unmarked trails around the front range of Colorado – something about having an annotated map pinned on the wall makes me smile.

Ilfragloom

Ilfrascum

FilthandGloom

Heard them all – Grew up in Berrynarbor and went to school in Ilfracombe.

I love coming home now though (I currently live in Colorado). Fantastic surfing, walking, riding. Great food in so many lovely local pubs, and people who are genuinely friendly no matter what car you’re driving.

And now I live here (just for some perspective!):

Yep, I’m in the Specialized challenge. I think I’m 38% of the way through. Looks like the winner is from my locale of Lynton though, which makes me proud as I’m currently so far away from Devon!

Anyone else find the ‘VAM’ measurement pretty useful?

I’ve started to take more note of it, and its a great way to compare effort on completely different climbs.

Finding now that I can judge how well I was riding based on the VAM, and see where I can improve….

Highest I’ve got is 1500 so far: http://app.strava.com/segments/712667

Just to add an extra level of geekiness to the conversation….

Been using it for a year or so now. Its certainly a fantastic training tool.

Heres my profile if anyone wants to see what riding in Colorado is like:

http://app.strava.com/pros/111848

So far this year:

> 1,870 miles

> 136 hrs 13 mins

> 60 rides

That’s one ride every 3 days, not too bad!

In my experience, the shifters are perhaps the only XTR component worth it – I would run XTR shifters with XT everything else. They’re a vast improvement in feel and performance.

1. Clippers
2. Veet
3. Razor

How far up? Well, nobody wants hairy boxers…

I wear my own Team kit on almost every ride I go on, unless its all in the wash, which is rare.

My team gives it to me because its got our sponsors on, and they want us to wear it so everyone else sees it. If I only wore it to race then that would be a very small fraction of my riding time.

Also, being a polite and courteous cyclist means that everyone can see how fantastic and amazing my team is….

Thanks Clubber,

Comparing them next to each other shows the actual body is shaped slightly different, hence the difference in spring position. I suppose I’ll just have to try trial and error for a while and work it out.

have a look here:

Mountain Edge[/url]

In Kitzbuhel Austria.

I used to guide for them and can strongly recommend the riding!

There’s an Enduro on the most famous trail in the world this September in that Moab place

Enchilada Enduro[/url]

I’ll be racing it – if you’re looking to be in the area at that time, I’m sure it will be a blast!

Try these:

Handlebar mustache[/url]
twinsix[/url]
Morvelo[/url]

I have a Flash 29er and its fantastic! I wouldn’t describe it as comfortable, but it does remove the harshness from the trails. The only hardtail I’ve ridden that I can be comfortable on for 5 plus hours.

I love the lefty, too.

OK, so this might not be what you’re looking for, and might be entirely useless – but this is what I do for a medium intensity week at the beginning of the season.

Warning – I race Elite XC and have been training for >3 years at this intensity. Don’t dive right in:

Sunday – 6 hours base miles. Little worry about intensity

Monday – 1.5 hours recovery

Tuesday – 1.5 hours zone 3 (HR). basically a good aerobic tempo on flowy fast trails or on the road

Wedneday 1.5 hours recovery

Thursday – Lactic Thresold intervals. Something like 15 minutes hard with 15 minutes recovery. Repeat x 3.

Friday – Off

Saturday – 4 or 5 hours high zone 2 or low zone 3. Long and steady, but not easy.

I hope this gives you an idea of how you might fit specific rides into a week, even if the intensity and duration is less to begin with.

Your goals are what will drive you. Write them down and make them specific, its the only way to work out how to train.

Thank you Metasequoia – the aim is to get people to aspire to it, then go out and do it!

Thanks jhw, I’m glad someone can take some inspiration from it.

I started blogging when I moved over here so the parents could keep up to date, but I hope that the stories are interesting to a wider audience, too!

Mine never gets much below 55-60 and its not something I bother to measure frequently as its almost irrelevant to training.

As an XC racer, I don’t really think resting HR is an indicator of fitness; more of age and metabolism.

Speaking from second hand knowledge – this is what the ‘top’ XC riders that I know do:

– Over 20 hours a week ride time

– Gym sessions regularly

– Yoga

– calorie controlled diets

– Bank of Mum and Dad (or other external source of funding). Very few pro’s in the XC world are on Salary.

– Desire beyond all desire to ride bikes.

– Ability to talk about Watts per kilogram, FTP and TSS for days on end.

– Adoration for their bathroom scales.

– Bike handling skills like you wouldn’t believe.

– Ability to utilise said bike handling skills when heart is going at 200, after 1:45 of racing. This, I think, is the actual secret!

Thanks Everyone!

We found ourselves a worthy winner in the form of Natalie Sykes, but she hasn’t responded to any direct messages. If you’re on here, send me an email! (in my profile)

Otherwise I suppose we’ll probably pick someone at random in the next couple of days.

In the mean time, I suppose I better pack up my bike stuff and buy a few cases of beer for the race!

Thanks guys, STW does have a interesting mix of people, and twitter certainly gives a different outlet than the forum.

I use twitter for updates from races when writing longer reports isn’t appropriate, and also for fetching information from racing, cycling in general, and also the day job which is Neuroscience based.

Living in Colorado, I also feel like I hear more details from my friends in the UK than through other means.

Do it!!

My introduction into the leg shaving world was very similar and I didn’t stop!

The real question is – why would you be training if you didn’t need shaved legs?!

Thanks everyone! I hope someone from here gets the grips – I do like my ESI’s.

I will try and repay the favour by making some fantastic videos of riding the dry, warm dusty singletrack of the Arizona desert!

Our next give away is going to be some Honey Stinger waffles – if anyone can think of a good/engaging/not too stupid way of giving away stuff, I would appreciate it!

Thanks Ton!

We’ve just got hold of some GoPros, so we’re going to attempt some quick-edit videos from the race!

If you want to win some FREE esi grips, have a look here

Gear Movement Cycling team

Just have to press the “like” button on the facebook page.

Garmin 200, without a doubt. Every Garmin product I have used has been flawless in build and use. I have been using a 500 for the last 18 months and wouldn’t want to change it.

And the GPS functions are surprisingly useful too!

I don’t see why people think that Lycra clad racers dont have any fun! Their definition of fun is just different to other people.

I am one of said Lycra clad racers, but I never go for a MTB ride that I don’t enjoy. The competition is fun for me, and the training allows me to go on those stupidly long middle of summer rides that I wouldn’t be able to manage without the fitness.

This is my super serious lycra club team[/url]

The best thing about mountain biking is the diversity of groups able to enjoy it – even Binners is accepted!

Winning was just the icing on the cake (bumdum…..tischhhh…..)

I went out to have fun and see whether my homemade tyres would hold up to the job. Considering I didn’t get gored to death by flying screws, I think they worked!

Try Jenson USA – They do Jamis and have a good reputation for shipping to the UK. You’ll have to pay customs though as they’re a Legit company.

RACE bike??

Without a doubt it would be a Cannondale.

Well I’ve heard from everyone back home that its snowy in England too!

Doubt I would be willing to ride on a lake in the UK though!