Here’s my homemade attempt:

They took me 45 minutes, 200 hundred sheet metal screws, and a 6 pack of beer. And less than a tenner!

Blatant Self Promotion here[/url]

Generally about life and bicycles in Colorado. (and occasionally trips back to the UK too!)

Ahh, fisherboy – I’m back in Devon over christmas and I’ve been chasing as many ‘KOMs’ as I can! Made a few segments around my area too, so we’ll see how they stand up when the tourists (or is that tourers?) arrive in the summer.

Just started using it with my heart rate monitor too and its actually pretty useful for training, if you’re into that sorta thing.

Well, I live in Colorado, where Humidity rarely gets above 10%. I doubt your dehumidifier is going to get that dry, even if its really strong.

And my bikes haven’t shriveled up and desiccated yet….

Walt works is a small frame builder who made a DH 29er a long time ago.

In that blog post he was lementing not being included in Bike Rumours coverage of the same topic….

Cannondale scalpel 29er (not released yet AFAIK). Je. sus. Christ. Three lungs required.

Rode it at the Breck Epic this year for a couple hours – one hell of a bicycle, but didn’t feel much faster or smoother than my current 26 inch Scalpel. Maybe more than 2 hours of testing would be needed to find the differences though

My God, I really am so so so different from you in every way….

Seeing that I am an XC racer, I can only take that as a good thing Loddrik!

Thanks everyone – some interesting races out there, it looks like its growing every year. I love the fact that this category isn’t “standardised” like XC and DH – every race has its own format and its own rules, I hope that doesn’t get killed by the UCI.

Everything seems to be in France though – are there any events in Canada/USA that are similar?

Thanks Beej, but I’m looking for a 54cm. How did you like it when you rode it? There are plenty of TK2’s on ebay so its a possibility.

My budget is less than £1000. I basically want to spend the minimum possible to get a reliable bike.

For those data-oriented people, STRAVA is a very cool way to ‘follow’ what other people are doing and also track your own progress. There are a lot of top atheletes using STRAVA that have open profiles allowing you to view their entire training program.

the athlete search allows you to find anyone that wants to be found!

@mtbfix: Have you got any recommendations for better Camera angles? I’ve been playing around for a bit and thought this one was pretty good. I’m trying to find a way of mounting it to the downtube to get the front wheel and suspension in the shot, too.

You can walk from north to south in about 40 minutes

That’s an exaggeration! It takes at least 45….

I’d leave the bikes on the mainland and enjoy a really good ride on Exmoor when you get back. Or if you’re sailing from Ilfracombe, I could give you a pretty good route starting there that would be entertaining

Qualifications of a statement like that are going to be hard! And of course, its mainly based on my opinion, but we’ll try!

I’ve ridden in Moab a lot, and feel like I know most of the trails well enough for them not to be new and exciting. Also, it gets really busy for most of the season, and I hate queueing up behind people to ride sections of trail. Somehow it takes away from being out there in the desert. Also, Moab is very much dependent on either multiple cars or a shuttle to get to the really good stuff, as a lot of it is outside of the town, or starts on the top of the La Sals and is downhill only.

St. George has a lot of riding from town. We were staying 2 blocks from the centre of town and we could ride to 5 different starting points, covering over a weeks worth of riding. There’s also more riding to drive to if you do end up exhausting the local supply. The best thing though is that there were absolutely no people. none. whatsoever. And this was ‘spring break’ week in the US, where the desert gets rather busy. I’ve never felt solitude quite like being on top of a rocky mesa overlooking the desert with no signs of humanity for miles around. The trails are mostly loops as well; this means that we could ride 2 loops in the morning, have some lunch, and head out again afterwards. Makes logistics a lot easier.

St. George also stays dry for a lot longer than Fruita or Moab. Fruita at the moment is still snow covered, and all the higher stuff at Moab is snowy too. Barring the occasional rain, St. George is dry most of the year.

Fruita, in my opinion is better than Moab, and perhaps a close rival to St. geroge in terms of variety of terrain and accessibility, but a lot of the loops are not very inspiring, with only small sections of trail that take your breathe away.

St. George is also a good base for further exploring; Hurricane is just up the road with amazing trails. Its only an hour and a half from vegas for cheap flights, and its within easy distance of some amazing national parks; zion, capitol reef, bryce, and grand canyon.

So…. although the above is entirely subjective, that is my justification! Anywhere you travel in Utah/Arizona etc has unbelievable riding, and if its your first time to the desert, you will not be disappointed no matter where you choose.

@skidsareforkids – The snow has almost completely melted from the front range now. We’re at 5300 ft, the snow is still covering everything above about 8000 ft. There are normally a few big spring storms, but the snow melts a day or two after those.

The high mountains don’t really open up until late May, and the really high stuff (read: really fun stuff) is normally a late summer/autumn endeavour.

If you’re thinking of driving somewhere to ride early season, Pueblo CO has amazing singletrack and its dry almost all year round. Also, if you end up in Boulder, give me an email.

I live in Boulder.

Shoot me an email and I can maybe even show you around.

Racing however, takes me thousands of miles a year!

Me too!

I live in America though, so fuel is a lot cheaper. I have fantastic singletrack from my door, so I hardly ever drive mid week. Weekends the drive varies from 30 minutes, to 7 or 8 hours, depending on which part of Colorado/Utah we’re travelling to.

This year so far:
Old Pueblo (Arizona): 2000 miles
2 x Desert trip (utah): 2000 miles

I will be racing almost all of the national series over here this year so still to come:

2 x California : 2000 miles each.
Texas : 1500 miles
Wisconsin: 2000 miles
Montana: 1000 miles

Plus countless 1000’s of miles in and around Colorado.

When it comes to racing, Mountain bikes are not cheap or environmentally friendly!

Everything in Boulder at the moment is unrideable; either icy or muddy. Hopefully two weeks time things will get better.

Buffalo creek is one of my favourites too – if you’re into it, you guys should sign up for the Baily 100; the most fun race in CO, and based entirely around the Buff creek singletrack.

I’m heading down to Utah this weekend to get my fix of Singletrack… hopefully Fruita will be dry soon too.

@Clockwork667 That means you’re just down the road from me!

Yep, I work at CU… and enjoy the fact that everyone has the same mindset when it comes to powder days and long weekends in the mountains!

I wont be racing 18 hours of fruita, but will be at almost all the other events in CO. Send me an email if you want any bike related stuff, I have a few good hook ups in the area.

Haha, good point Mackem. I didn’t want this to just be a blatant plug for my team, more just an expression of my relief!

I’ll be riding for Epic Endurance Cycling[/url]. Our main sponsors are Mix-1 (recovery drinks – very tasty), Zeal Sunglasses, Ergon, Crank Brothers, Stans wheels, Ritchey, Honey Stinger, and Schwalbe.

O, and I’ll be racing in the USA, so not as relevant to those people trying to sniff out the UK competition!

Hey Clockwork667 – Where in Colorado are you?

I just got back from a weekend Skiing and back to the day job. I work in Academia, but the real reason I’m here is bike racing.

Boulder has the most vibrant mountain bike scene I know of; the local Wednesday night race series attracts some of the fastest riders in the USA. Just one of many reasons I’m here.

enjoy living out here in Boulder, Colorado.

Its rather snowy at the moment, but looking forward to this when summer rolls around:

Again, no plans to move back home any time soon

Order of changes:

1. Change saddle height/position
2. Change Chamois/shorts
3. Add Chamois cream
4. Loose weight
5. Change saddle
6. MTFU

I have been racing on a Romin for the last 9 months. Its the best saddle I’ve had. Its been on a 21 lb Hardtail and my current 24 lb full susser. Durability wise; I’ve had a few small crashes and scuffed the saddle but no reason to think its less durable that anything else

I dont understand how a saddle can be ‘too hard’ for offroad??

5’10”

XC race bike: 71cm (90mm stem, inline seat post)

Trail bike: 68cm (75mm stem, inline seat post)

I’m sure it has as much to do with flexibility and riding style as it does with height.

The most recent evidence suggest it is wiser to “sleep high, train low”

And for training purposes, most athletes think about 1600m is the right height to train; enough oxygen to train without keeling over.

What about New Mexico? the old UK atheletics training camp was in Albuquerque

You can have a look at mine; I try to update somewhat regularly, but its not always bike related. clicky

The best blog I have ever read, by a long way, is the Gooney riders[/url] blog.
A bit of background: Its the blog of a couple, Eszter and Chris. Eszter came 3rd at World 24 hour champs this year. Chris is an excellent skiier and photographer. They live in Crested Butte, Colorado and have the life that everyone dreams of living!

Enjoy!

It won’t be lactic acid; you get lactic acid build up after shorter (less than an hour) high intensity periods of exercise. A day at work wont cause this.

The problem is more likely to do with vascular return and blood pooling. If you’re standing up a lot, or generally dont get a chance rest your legs at work, it will cause more blood to stay in your legs, slowing down the rate at which waste products can be removed, and in turn, how quickly freshly oxygenated blood will be pumped to them.

Although your body will sort this out in the first 20-30 minutes of steady exercise, it will still make you feel slow and terrible for the beginning of the ride.

You should try RICE: rest, ice, compression, elevation. Although more generally applied to injuries, it will help vascular return too. Resting is obvious. Ice will stimulate blood flow to your muscles, bringing oxygen and other essentials. Compression will aid blood flow by preventing blood vessels and muscles from expanding to accommodate excess blood, and therefore causing greater venous return. Elevation will give your veins an easier job of returning de oxygenated blood back to your chest.

Or it could be that you just need to man up and ride more!

I would go for something with an external battery: Having 3 batteries lasting 4 hours each is realistic, quick to change over (you’ll want a 2-3 minute break every now and again) and means you’ll be carrying less weight on the bike.

Try Parcel2Go[/url]

Ooo, this will make life interesting!

Trout!

Well here in Devon it was 18 degrees and beautiful sunshine all day! I went for a swim in the sea and sun dried on the beach afterwards.

What a great and varied island we live on!

i'm more shocked someone who went to school in Bromsgrove claims he got an education!

At £16,000 a year I would hope he'd got an education!

Daily protein requirement (in grammes) = (weight in kg – % bodyfat) x 2.5

add a bit more the day after a tough training session to aid recovery. I dont use supplements; full fat milk and some meat do the trick just as well.

Flying to the USA tomorrow, visa supposed to arrive with Guarunteed delivery this morning before 10am. Just looked at the tracking system and it hasn't even been collected yet. Doubt I'll be making my flight 🙁

I grew up in Combe Martin and went to school in Ilfracombe. There is a mountain bike group that rides from the pack o' cards (Combe Martin) at 6.30 every wednesday night (all welcome, no one gets dropped etc) and plenty of riders around. Southfork is also an ace bike shop and have club rides

As mentioned above, Ilfracombe is probably the worst town in North Devon. It is surrounded by lots of lovely places, and has its plus points, but I could not (at all!) recommend you move there!

As for Combe Martin, its only 10 minutes away but its a whole 'nother world. I can ride up onto exmoor from my doorstep, wheel the kayak 3 minutes to the beach and explore the coast, and its 30 minutes in either direction to Lynton or Croyde for surf no matter what the tides are doing.

North Devon is fantastic!!

Leggyblonde – Croyde has been real dangerous for the last week or so. I was in on Wednesday and Thursday last week and the lifeguards were working overtime due to the rips at low tide. been amazing surf though, some of the best I've ridden down there (and I'm a local!)

If you don't mind mixing it with Aussies, then try Alpen rider[/url]. Can't beat them, for any money!

Only just started playing around with video, so its a learning curve. Makes a short ride fun though