Even more fun when you’re on a bridleway crossing a paddock, pitch black, tyres caked in a fruity mud cow shit combo and the gate you’ve just come through says “beware of the bull”…….and then you realise you’ve got a flat. My fastest tube swap ever despite the fetid slime fest!!

I dont get whats funny about referring to the other half as the ‘Boss’, like you need permission to get a new bike or you need her ok, strange humour

….keep digging timc……

Powder snow on Saturday was amazing…..like plowing through icing sugar, and even easy to ride uphill through. Today it was slush day…..awesome front wheel drifts and sideways action as the front tries to bite down to find traction and the rear sliding all over the place…..whole different set of skills required. All a new challenge and great fun…..especially if you’ve got lake boots keeping your feet absolutely toasty :D

There are the first batch of mk III black souls out there, just none int the latest (Jan) batch…..looks like they now become collectors items……unless the inevitable riots oitside baldy geek towers bring about a black soul recall for batch 3!

Mr Rusty S has divined my true purpose………having destroyed two hilo’s and a trail drop in 27.2 guise I am hankering for my old trouble free and robust reverb from previous frame…..but not any time soon as yes, very happy with my black MkII…….equally perceptive Mr svalgis. Having “turned” wife from bike hater into super keen mtb beginner think I’ve earned some slack….she even demanded we went snow riding at the weekend…..think I’ve created a monster.

Got a little bit heavy going in the wind drift above Lowsonford Warwickshire yesterday morning! A bit of walking in knee deep snow required….but great getting “first tracks” down some of the local bridleway hills….

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@BillOddie…..standard rear cable routing

@smiff….hole in profile above shows thickness. Key word being hole/holes in this particular model being potential structural weak points. Imagine fairly similar throughout these generic posts? It’s hardly going to be high end steel at the cost I’m guessing….

Not the ice post but a heads up re this generic group of cheaper posts…

Cannock grit was tough on my traildrop for the three months I had a 27.2 version…had to service every 3-4 of rides even with a boot or it would start getting sticky. Eventually stopped returning without a pull on the saddle to help….next service revealed a useful bit of info……..

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…..and it’s now back to a rigid with potential disaster averted. My advice…..service and check regularly!! (me 44 and 92kg on a soul, no major offs and occasionally a couple of feet airborne but nothing crazy. Maybe there’s a reason they’re all cheap or maybe only for smaller guys in the 27.2 format??).

Did anyone see the group of blokes – about 20 of them – that looked like they were on day release?

Took the wife for her first Cannock ride today on her shiny new bike around the blue trail (excellent for beginners and surprisingly scenic!)…had to explain that wasn’t typical as we had to manoeuvre through them all blocking the trail at a blue/red crossroad! Busiest I’ve seen it for a while thanks to the sun and frozen hard pack trails I guess.

That’ll learn me for late night posting….half missing. Lets try that again:
STW forum participation has resulted in the following in just over a year……

• 2nd hand Cotic soul frame aquisition (from an STW’er of course)
• Switch to 711 bars from something old school skinny
• Switch to tubeless set up on Flow rims
• A sizeable experimental tyre collection seems to have taken residence in the garage.
• All servicing and repairs done in house with great enthusiasm but lots of swearing.
• A Jedi session (I even sacrificed some chin skin and claret on his singletrack s-bends altar to appease the riding gods)
• what…. dropper seat post for 29er fat bikes/overcast day tyres/spd shoe with built in GPS/pedal colour for the Peak District//Audi badged baby buggy/trail centre with most pubs in 1 mile radius/cake made of sausage meat/beard trimmer multi tool/tie dyed steel frame/WHATEVER…..
• TJ who?

Think I’m almost there……..just have to sort a switch to flats and ditch a chain ring or two and I can be assimilated into the STW hive…..

STW forum has lead to…..

• 2nd hand Cotic soul frame aquisition (from an STW’er of course)
• Switch to 711 bars from something old school skinny
• Switch to tubeless set up on Flow rims
• A sizeable experimental tyre collection
• A Jedi session (I even sacrificed some chin skin and claret on his singletrack s-bend altar to appease the STW gods)

mud x for straight bogs/bridleways/xc, but as above, keep them away from slabby rock edges esp if tubeless….the beads have a habit of pinch splitting as result of low volume/thin sidewalls.

Cheers Jedi…..merry Christmas all!

Road cycling = endorphins

Mountain biking = endorphins + ADRENALINE!

Why only go for half the chemical kick???

For me…..

Warm hands: Base layer merino glove under waterproof sealskins. Toasty and if anything too warm in anything above 0°. Usually just go merino under normal (fox unabomber) for above 0°

Warm feet: thin merino socks and Lakes Winter boot. Toasty down to 0°. Add 2nd thicker merino sock and toasty down to -10° plus. The Flash Gordon boot aesthetics are all forgiven when you finish a ride with your feet still warm and maybe even a little sweaty.

How about a bit of TRUE legend….yeah “only” 10.8 sec 100 ms but 120kg of pure freight train! Think everyone else has a way to go before besting this collection (and its only part one of two!) guaranteed to make you smile….(especially if you’re a kiwi trying to ease the pain of recent tickers events :oops:)

You know who…….

LUST 2.1 for me at 14 stone……..goes up with track pump no problems on a flow rim. Have used standard folding in past and it was fine….there’s a weight advantage over the LUST but it’s a bit more hassle to mount (mount one bead with tube, remove tube, use dish washing liquid for seal, pump like lunatic etc) but I need to swap the rear tyre in winter when I visit friends in Herts for riding as their version of clay based super sticky mud demands a specific mud tyre. LUST makes for pain free swaps…..

I’m 94 kg and had a 3rd gen 34.9 reverb for 6 months in my old rockhopper frame no probs. Switched to a Soul and 27.2 and had two failed Hi-Lo fusions (one seized, one bent upper tube) and a failed trail dropper (tube cracks at drop holes+bent lower tube). Sticking to rigid seat posts until an eventual Soul upgrade and a chance to return to a (31.6) reverb……don’t think the smaller diameter droppers are up to dealing with us 90kg+’ers…..just my experience. Very temped by the new LEV though!

Rear wheel standard quick release swop out. 9mm is for front.

Soul….(so) sorted

Another for viewranger…… remember to turn off wifi, bluetooth and dim the screen brightness and there’s hours of battery life available.

http://reviews.clasohlson.co.uk/7053-en_gb/Pr184300000/coline-coline-shoe-dryer-reviews/reviews.htm

£9.99

@stumpyjon……..brilliant! But now £19.99. Still, seems not bad even at that price. Think I got the last one in stock though….sorry all!

They do a 4 shoe/boot option one as well for £29.99 wall mounted:
4xboot dryer

Use the later version of the fox unibomber for my (kind of important for work) physio hands….Top has foam that goes hard on impact stuff that is good for protecting from occasional tree strikes on the outer knuckles with wider bars! Thicker grid type protection little finger side of palm for falls on hand. Not very robust stitching though and only got about a year out of my first pair. Found another pair on sale though ad worth it if you can find them discounted.

Same problem here…..switched to a spoon when the gobi self destructed…..about 2 months in and the creaking is driving me crazy! Watching keenly for magic solutions…..

bump….and make that specialized in the title (anti-american spell checker)!

Good point….unintentional ambiguity on that one! Meanwhile the kiwis salvage a score that gives them a slim chance…..

And another for viewranger

Find a “magic drainpipe” 2nd hand if you can. Older generation 80-200mm f2.8. Brilliant pro quality lens, although be warned it’s pretty weighty. Had a 70-300 prior to getting hold of one……worked OK in decent bright light but image quality drops off fairly quickly on zoom/low light compared to the drainpipe.

You’ve overlooked a good grippy and much praised alternative for the front, the 2.35 single ply Maxxis Minion DH front in 60A for longer wearing/faster rolling or super tacky for better grip/slower rolling. The classic combo is either the same 60A out back or high roller out back. Baron and rubber queen in black chilli compound seems to be the new classic combo in the making but I can’t comment as haven’t tried them. 2 ply HR is weighty overkill for XC. Dabbled with HR on front but have gone back to the minion DH front….it’s a hard front tyre to beat!

Fellow Kiwi and ex st Albans…snap! :-). The altura attack waterproof shorts get the thumbs up from lots of buddies for when it’s wet, otherwise the better breathability/less rubbing noise of your normal shorts will do over padded cycling unders. I drag out full length lined bib tights to go under shorts only when it gets sub zero-ish so guess I’ve acclimatised the past 15 years!. Covers over shoes helps a bit, as does a thin merino sock layer under your sealskins. For ultimate winter luxury I’ve gone for a pair of Lake MXZ302 boots…toasty feet in the snow and -8º conditions! But one to find in the sales as ridiculously expensive.

Top half is merino base layer….short or long temp dependant, and then either just a long sleeve standard top top with a windproof/water resistant gilet (which you’ll probably need to take off as you warm up) or for colder conditions a long sleeve windproof water resistant layer. Full on waterproof only come out for proper rain/cold and even then you need massive pit zips/ front zip if you don’t want to massively overheat 10 minutes into your ride. Flexibility with layers is key as you overheat fast on climbs, and cool down even faster if you have to stop for repairs/buddies etc.

Thin merino gloves under standard gloves (icebreaker ones are about right), sealskin waterproof winter gloves if sub zero (otherwise too hot)…same for under helmet layer and neck sleeve thing…usually to counter wind chill on exposed elevated sub zero or there about rides….merino balaclava the ultimate neck/head combo if it’s really cold. clear lens glasses to stop you eyeballs freezing on the speedy sections, and the snow googles come out if it’s a night ride sub zero. That just about covers it….

Let me know if you need some local riding buddies to hook up with in St Albans.

Mud X

@Kryton57 …..have run them tubeless on Flows……fine for whole of last winter (and a chunk of “summer” when they came out of retirement) but did pinch flat damage the rear in some speedy sharp edged rocky descent (surprise feature while on an exmoor trail first outing in otherwise swamp like “summer” terrain) ….split the tyre at the bead about a cm in length and it wouldn’t seal. In hindsight, pressure was too low for the rocky section so will notch it up to operator error. They’ll be back on soon no doubt!

Love my flows…. pulled out 4 x thorns discovered on tyre interior on switching 2 weeks ago….watched mates change multiple flats in recent rides. Lower pressures means noticeably better ride and grip for me. Maxxis Lust tyres are floor pump only no fuss ons. Only downside is you still have to wait for your tubed mates to fix their punctures!

Other option is KMC 10 speed chain link with the XT chain….has been working fine for me and it’s a tool free hands only on/off ( just have to get the knack of a bit of a mid link squeeze to loosen it).

kmc 10 speed chain link[/url]

Rode both Marin & Penmachno for the first time last weekend…..long planned road trip with a buddy who loved the Marin trail (a multiple return visit veteran) and he had been talking it up since earlier in the year. Marin was first up, and I have to say it was nice (in an apologetic pseudo positive kind of way) but underwhelming……. ratio of fire road climb time to actual descent time seemed very skewed….shortish downhill sections except for the last, which was good, but left you with a “was that it?” kind of vibe. Fine for some lengthy chats but there seemed to be more chat time than grin inducing downhill clatter…..I talked him into trying Penmachno the next day having seen the Ben Atherton clip on midweek movies and a recurrent online review theme that talked up Penmachno over Marin……. What a completely different experience. We only had time to do (19km) Loop 1 but we finished that with legs absolutely knackered from the last couple of flat out rocky descents in particular, massive grins all round and the joint consensus that THAT was a trail worth a return visit. In both our opinions it had a clear lead on both scenic and riding fronts….he now has a new favourite trail in the region and says he won’t be bothering with the Marin again in a hurry……I’d have to concur!

Hungover though, the Marin edges it as you are far less likely to leave your teeth on a large rock somewhere amongst the lovely heather and moss… you need your wits about you a bit more on the frequently longer rocky Penmachno downhill sections and you will definitely not appreciate the rocky juddery bump fest single track uphills that I would imagine are perfect for maximising any residual sore head :D

Northwind…..legend….that worked a treat. Cheers!

Thanks guys…yes cassette removed :D. Looks like some thin nosed molegrips to be sourced tomorrow (pretty tight space between freehub body inner and cap).

Awesome first ride there last Sunday…..a very scenic and suitably grin inducing trail….a little damp in places but nothing drastic, and imagine it would have very much dried out this week. No foliage cover to speak of, just lots of nice juicy ROCKS!

Three weeks post Jedi for me and first chance to ride local benchmark Cannock Chase after a couple of away rides in Wales……shaved 8 minutes off my usual time round dog/monkey. I have loads more to practice and refine thanks to the core principals he’s given me to apply and the self analysis/correction he’s programmed into me…..the end of your session with him is really only the very beginning of your potential improvement…… Cheers Tony!

Great…thanks scruff & Northwind.

I do find that a quick self massage can help, rub towards the torso, nice and firm.

now there’s some frank advice….but don’t forget the box of tissues….