Ahh so a pair of 1.8 Mud X’s would cater for all options then?

I’ve got three pairs of wheels I can use so wheel swaps are easy to do.

I’ve probably done 1000 miles of South Downs routes without a puncture in the past 2 years on Razors so have built up a little affinity for Panaracer tyres.

Si – a mate has offered me a 6 pack (the light variety :wink:) for a good price though it’d be too much for road usage. Hmm might sway my decision on whether to do D2D again………

Jim

Was it you I was talking with about sailing boats?

Tis POETS day today and I did wonder about popping down there this arvo and seeing what it looked like in daylight. However it’s plissin it down here in Crawley atm.

wwaswas

Glad you found them ok I always worry when I give directions…

I’m always surprised how technical bits of Stanmer are – the ‘local woods’ always feel like they should be gentle places.

As you see from the trace I took a different route to get there but thanks for the directions. – I did recognise a couple of the features en route.

Overall height/length of steerer = headset, 25mmish of spacers and then stem.

Add another 10mm (of spacers) to start with on the initial cut and test ride.

Ignore the style police for running spacers above the stem as you need to fettle the stem position. 20+ mm of spacers is a no no though….
:wink:

Also it’s sometimes worth running an additional 5mm of extra spacers to take into account differences in stems and headset heights. Unless you can guarantee you’ll use the same models each time a bit of excess can help with future upgrades.

wwaswas

I think I follow you. Something like this?

wwaswas – Member

wheres the best place to park?

upper lodges will be quite good if you;’re coming riding from HH – they’re on the road along from Ditchling Beacon. You don’t have to start with a climb there, either…

Toying with riding down, with a bit of across the downs to get there. Could you pinpoint the meeting points for me s’il vous plait?

If I pull my finger out, can I bring my creaking suspension and squealing brakes along?

Other things I’ve been thinking about today;
I was wondering how old everyone on this list is. I did wonder if I might be the first veteran to do it, but looking at Kevin Izzard, I’m guessing not.

I’m nearly 43.

I worked with Ant Gray a couple of years back and he’s a similar age. I believe Neil Newell is mid 40’s.

However, age is almost irrelevant. Here’s the start sheet for the National 24 hours we had down here in June and as you can see, most of the field was 40 plus.

Here are the results if you want to see (well) how the old farts did.

Spent 7 weeks there back in 1990 and I’d like to think things have moved on.

It is the @rse end of nowhere to get to – 5 hour internal flight from Sydney / 3 day train trip.

The main paper for approx 800,00 folk (The Western Australian???) published what garages were open for fuel over the weekend!!! Like I said, I’m sure things have improved since then.

I’ve also seen references as it’s a great place to retire to and die in.

Were it me, I’d look at the east coast, at least there’s more places to go to!

Just going back to Daisy Duke’s mare of a trip and hearing how he did finish after all the probs he had in the first 5 hours, I felt even more of a woose for bailing with some minor ailments.

If I keep my fitness up over this winter, I will have another go next year, just to prove a point to myself.

Oh and the SDD website is out of date. I know a local chap who did very well in the National 24 hour road TT event in June and then 3 weeks later finally cracked doing the double.

This was effectively my 8th SDWiaD trip since 2004.

I had two attempts at the double in 09, my best attempt involved woosing out after 15 hours / 130 miles; – Ebo – Amberley & Amberley – Winch – Cocking

Some of the signage is pants in daylight and having chugged along there at night, in fog, trust me, a GPS is worth it’s weight in gold.

Aside from various 6 – 12 hour bimbles on the SDW I’ve only done the Marin D2D as a race so can’t comment on how riding a 12 or 24 hour event would prepare you.

The isolation actually appeals to me though there are some spooky mofo sections at night so I’d defo recommend taking some music with you.

All Hail Sir Ian 8)

TBH I’d say the RSX calipers are shiite. I had a set of ‘Ultegra’ grade deep drop brakes on my old winter bike and they were useless.

Assuming you need 49mm std drop brakes, 105 and above will be noticeably better. I just got a pair of 2ndhand Dura Ace 7800 calipers for £60 on fleabay and if you’re happy to hunt / spend some more money, you’ll get much better braking.

OG are you not on the TT forum? If not I suspect you’ll probably get answers from people who rode the event(s).

I’d also hazard that the last 3 miles timing may have it’s own little prize / results recognition? We have a (very) hilly 25 outside of Brighton in April that has a separate prize for the last 2.5 miles, which are mainly up hill.

Hey @55hole, This is the ultimate fV<k you, I just poked your wife – Tin Men.

Duke Henry: You Sir, are not one of my vassals… who are you?
Ash: Who wants to know?
Duke Henry: I am Henry the Red. Duke of Shale, Lord of the Northlands and leader of its peoples.
Ash: Well hello Mister Fancypants. Well, I’ve got news for you pal, you ain’t leadin’ but two things, right now: Jack and shit… and Jack left town. – Army of Darkness

Aaaagh

The triathletes infection of surgical stockings looks bad on roadies and this is just wrong! :D Can someone ban this man please? :wink:

Here’s a couple I’ve taken

George from Urban Shadows Parkour in 08

And some geeza on the Mammoth Ca, Half Pipe, Feb 06

Here’s our perambulation from last week: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/106311084

Bit disappointing to lose 3 hours but we did have visits from the puncture and rear mech fairies

Slightly OT but should make folk smile in a rueful FFS way.

Friend of mine was out for an Friday evening meal earlier in the year and parked up on a High St parking bay.

A completely plissed up driver smashed in to the back of his car, trashing the rear and forcing the car in to the one parked in front.

Cue a lot of agro with the authorities (Police included)and the car being left in situ over the weekend. When he went back to meet the recovery truck on the Monday, some dozy twunt council traffic womble had ticketed the car.

Possibly understandable you might say, but for the fact that the car only had three wheels on it,had heavily damaged front and rear bumpers and had two very conspicuous ‘Police Aware’ stickers front and rear. :roll:

You do have to wonder at the intelligence of some ‘officials’………..

coatesy

You may also want to check your air pressure, bent pivot bolts are often the result of the shock bottoming out.

Ahh interesting point and thanks for mentioning it. :-)

Kaesae

Cheers for the offer. I’m going to take a punt with a Ti bolt from http://www.pro-bolt.com though they only have tapered cap heads.

If that doesn’t work out I’ll drop you a line.

I have a Ti time trial bike which is very comfortable and has done stirling service since 2006. Recently added an Enigma Etape as a ‘winter hack’ but have only done a few hundred miles on it.

Both of these are more comfortable than my two CF road bikes but they’re not as light.

If you want comfort I’d definitely say Ti but if you’re a weight weenie, go down the CF route.

I can promise you that the ESCA / National 24 hour course in June was anything but flat.

Most of the folk involved in putting on the event didn’t think topping 480 miles was going to be doable so the fact that John Warnock and Andy Wilkinson blasted past 500 was in itself impressive, let alone Wilko’s phenomenal final distance.

Wilko did the first 100 miles in under 4 hours which was a silly speed on a very lumpy course. The rest of the event featured loads of other hills and numerous laps of the aforementioned lumps.

Oh and Wilko rides a MTB :wink: – here’s one of my shots from Saturday afternoon showing his custom 650c Dolan with V brakes.

Conti tyres are a complete PITA, especially their Tubs. Try imagining doing what you’ve just tried, but with a tyre that has to be glued on, and you don’t want to handle it too much in case you take the glue off.

Me, I’d go with another brand.

+1 Parr’s recommendation.

They recently repaired my Corima disc wheel. – Excellent job for a good price.

bikerbruce – Member

10spd chains dont work on 9spd blocks.fact

Bugger, I better go and take the 10 spd chains off the three 9 spd bikes I’ve been running for the past 2 or 3 years. Oh and I also mustn’t forget the 8 spd wheel I occasionally use……

On a slightly connected note, for those that use Shim chains, are you using 3rd party power links? I gave up with Shim’s connector pin back in 2003 and am curious what their new mtb 10 speed kit is like, seeing as they seem to have engineered subtle differences in.

I specced that up with £1500 rrp for the frame which I know you can get for around a grand.

GG, another £1K on a £5k purchase is err another 20%. I guess you don’t need to worry about money so can I interest you in some unobtaniumsnakeoil? :wink: :D

Oh and who’d honestly be happy thrashing around on a £200 saddle?

Blackhound – Member

Goodwood was actually used for a road race championships about 30 years ago, thing Saronni won, certainly an Italian.

A chunk of the route still gets used on the classic 27 mile TT held each October. – Tis a real marmite course, mainly on the horrible climbs…..

Off the top of my head;

Dunsfold (Top Gear track) hosts road and cross races, oh and running events.

Goodwood motor circuit has events as does Brands Hatch on occasion.

I even believe Silverstone has been used in the past.

Tis a subject that comes up a lot on roadie forums………

Junkyard

not read it all but only an idiot tries to race roadies on a MTB you have no chance unless you are world clas sor they are seriously unfit

I can’t even begin to tell you how carp I am on technical stuff and have no chance keeping up with a 1/4 decent mtber. – I know my limits.

However there’s nowt wrong with mixing it up a bit even if I did come last on this ere 10 mile TT, cos I rode my full suss set to bounce

Junkyard
Pah DS that is nothing real men average over 20 mph for 500 miles in 24 hours
LEJOG in less than 2 days before getting a little tired and slowing meaning only an 18 mph average for the 1000 miles
Goggle Gethin Butler
24 Hours – 509.3 Miles
Lands End/John o Groats – 1 Day 20 hrs 4min 19 sec
1000 Miles – 2 days 7 hrs 53 mins 7 sec

You missed out Wilko’s stunning ride on the ESCA / National 24 hour event in June: 541.17 miles in 24 hours!!!!!!!!! 8O

Those of us involved in the event didn’t reckon anyone would go much over 480 miles due to the ‘rolling’ nature of the course.

Anyhoo, back to the topic. Don’t fret about average speeds until you’ve built up a history of rides. I reckon that within a month of regular road riding you’ll see that average noticeably increase.

However don’t do the same route day in day out as you’ll just train yourself for one distance.

plumber

itll be fine, all mine have been

+1

Obviously don’t forget a plug adapter.

Depending on what BB is fitted, you may need to change that as well. – The older octalink units have longer axles for triple chainsets.

If you’re on HT2 then a compact cset will have the right length axle.

A triple front mech should do the job but you might need to spend time fettling the position and adjustments.

I’d also consider Hewitt’s especially if you are local.

If you want to take a page out of my book of spunking money, retire a fairly knacked Bob Jackson 531 and get an Enigma Etape as a ‘winter hack’ :roll:

I’d have preferred a horizontal top tube and conventional headset but a custom build would have been 4 months and I’m an impatient burgger

Complete nutter bikers 8) and a cracking set of 360s.

There are some stitching errors in there but we’ll let him off as there’s a lot of stuff going on in these scenes.

Tilt shift lenses are generally meant to get as much as possible in focus / on the same plane / remove converging lines.

If I ever spunk the cash for one, it’ll be for this purpose though I dare say I’d ****t about with the miniature effects that are de rigueur these days.

Trouble is £1900+ on a lens that won’t be used to make money is a difficult one to justify…….

I brought another pair of Roval’s yesterday.

Have had set of Traversee’s on one bike since 09 and they’ve been faultless.

Yesterday’s purchase was a set of Controls SLs as found here.

About 150g lighter than my current Traversees and I’ll let you know how they fare after 100 miles of the SDW on Sat.

Don’t know the area but based on the distance and time scale, I’d go with what you can peddle the fastest.

Averaging 20mph (which is not easy) = 8:15 so you’re realistically looking at 10+ hours, especially if it’s hilly etc etc.

Road bike IMO.

This is stunning still image time lapse as well 8)

Here’s a couple of write ups of the Fred from one of our strongest, quickest and nationally ranked riders.

2010

2009