Am a big fan of Haldon. Usually warm up on the light blue, followed by a high speed blast on the dark blue. A bite to eat at the cafe, then a couple of laps of the red plus the little black section, easily rideable on a hardtail BTW. Watch out for little climb back up from the bottom of the black, it will have you puffing and wheezing and any time the HT lost on the down bit of the black you will easily make back coming back up.

Haldon is very much a family venue and a very friendly place, so dont be surprised to see the occasional family group or parent and young kid on the blues. Leave the ego in the car park and you will have a blast.

On a sunny sunday or bank holiday it pays to arrive early as the car park gets very busy with families.

If you are a regular sign up for the discovery pass to avoid the parking charges.

seemingly invincible on my carbon hardtail with

Rocket Ron Evo Liteskin (Front)
Racing Ralph Performance (Rear)

Ashton Court, Leigh Woods, 50 Acre Wood, Haldon, FoD and Cwmcarn.

Not feeling like I am missing anything with that combo at the moment. Although the roots in 50 Acre might catch me out sooner or later.

RS685s on my Giant Defy advanced (quick release not through axle)

No rubbing, less wear, no need to adjust them as they wear and better feel, no squealing (my MTB discs do from time to time).

The caliper pads on my old Defy used to wear out monthly in the winter where as the disc pads on the new Defy lasted best part of a year before needing replacing.

On the new bike the shimano disc brakes were easily the most noticeable benefit of going from a sub £1000 road bike to a ~£2500 road bike. I would nnot buy a road bike again without them.

Lets see /walks into gear room for a quick stock check…

Original Rab Vaporise (full weight) jacket: No idea how old, still in one piece with some balling on the outer fabric. Very much the dog walking jacket these days.

Full weight Vaporise smock (blue) with stretch side panels: at least 6-7 years old maybe more, used for sea kayaking in winter under drysuit, some minor balling on outer fabric.

Vaporise Guide Jacket, heaviest lining of the lot, with loads of pockets and features, winter mountaineering/skiing jacket. Maybe 3 years old still like new.

2 x Vaporise Alpine Light Jackets. One for warm spring skiing and the other for general 3 season hill use, both a few years old no problems. My go to jackets for hill walking.

Vaporise lite smock, with stretchy side panels. cool weather MTB (10C down to around freezing) use, 3 or 4 years old I think, no problems with it at all. Worn with either long or short sleeve. If its sub zero I swap to a old full weight Paramo Velez.

Vaporse lite waistcoat, stretchy side panels, an extra layer for any activity, often gets used on the road bike as it rolls up small enough for back pocket of jersey.

Original Vaporise trousers, full weight too baggy for even hill walking, very flappy in the wind. used under drysuit for winter sea kayaking only.

Vaporise guide trousers, winter hill walking/climbing/ski touring. My go to snow trousers.

Vapourise lite trousers, like wearing pyjamas, good for drizzly, will it wont it rain hill walking conditions when you cant be arsed to put waterproof trousers on and off.

Have yet to wear out or damage any of it.

I think its fair to say I like Rab vaporise :-)

I have tried mine without a base layer but found the chilling effect from a stiff breeze to be much more noticeable but it does certainly feel nice against the skin.

Couple of tips.

Wear something like a Helly Hansen lifa underneath rather than something like merino wool. Apart from the merino snagging on the arms when you put a vaporise on it seems to work best with a really good wicking base layer.

Its not waterproof but seems to keep me comfortable in most conditions. In strong winds it can be on the cool side but I run hot and once on the move things get better.

Really cant remember the last time I wore a full own waterproof shell.

what sort of trainer, Mag, Fluid etc?

Differing technologies produce different resistance curves. The speed of your rear wheel is going to be a result of the gear you are in and the cadence you pedal at.

With all dumb trainers you use gears to control the resistance. Zwift uses the speed of the rear wheel against a known power curve for that particular trainer to convert the speed into estimated watts (ZPower), which then determines your progress through the Zwift world.

Resting heart rate on its own is not a good indicator of fitness. Yes, many elite athletes will have low resting heart rates but you can also have a low heart rate for other reasons. Actually if you do have an unusually low resting heart rate its worth checking with your GP. I had a routine health check a few years back where they did an ECG, the nurse doing it expressed concern with my 50 something BPM heart and referred me to a GP, just as well she didn’t check it in the morning as its usually in the mid forties and I am no elite athlete!

I also have a huge heart rate range 45-195 BPM, even though I am pushing 50 but again its no indicator of fitness, its just how I am built.

Some fitness watches will measure your heart rate variability. HRV is is the variation in time between successive heart beats. You would think the more the intervals between beats varied the less fit you would be but the opposite is true, the more variation you see in the time between beats the fitter you are supposed to be. Apparently its an indicator of the stress your heart is under. Does it work… no idea, google heart rate variation and make your own mind up.

says it all really.

Zwift has literally changed my life. Been on since early beta. It and rediscovering road riding as a result has meant a 16Kg weight loss over the last couple of years and at 50 I am am as fit as I have ever probably been.

Zwift has many facets, solo rides, workouts, group rides, Event challenges, FTP tests and racing. Never raced anything in my life before but after getting a top 5 in a Zwift cat C race I am hooked.

As for the MTB, well its a revelation not having my fitness hold me back anymore and can think more about technique and that’s not just on the climbs, having a fitness reserve helps everywhere.

Currently running a Wahoo Kickr. A dedicated PC for Zwift, fed through my xbox one and onto a big ass TV. The xbox one lets me “snap” xbox one applications such as YouTube and Amazon prime, in a picture by picture style on the single TV easier than it is to have multiple windows on the PC itself. Mostly Zwift to youtube music videos but a bit of TV and occasional film. Sometimes just a podcast on the phone though.

The key is mixing things up, not just on what you are doing on Zwift but also what media you have playing alongside.

Zwift (like Trainer road) adds structure and metrics, things I can measure in Strava, which gives the whole trainer workout purpose, I can see its effects and its a massive motivator. I now have to ride 4 or 5 times a week, 52 weeks a year, either MTB, road or Zwift and get withdrawal symptoms if I dont.

For the last couple of years I have come out of winter fitter than when I went into it!

been running the KS Lev Integra 27.2 for the last couple of months, so far so good, only 100mm of drop but seems to be enough for my riding. Fitting was super easy on my 2016 XTC advanced hardtail. Not cheap though.

“I’m 50 you know!”… :-)

Just swapped from having ridden clips from riding SPD for what seems like forever to flats.

The world didn’t end, I ride my bike just like I always have.

I find very occasionally my foot slips off the pedal with flats, whereas is it wouldn’t have with SPD.

I am a tad more confident over unfamiliar technical terrain with flats, maybe trying things I wouldn’t if I was clipped in.

But to be honest there aint a lot in it for me.

Yes you could race each other.

You would need

2 x trainer
2 x PC + TV/monitors ( or ipads/iphones but big TV is best)
2 x zwift accounts (£8 each monthly subscription)
2 x bikes
1 x like minded wife

Although you get a 7 day free unlimited trial with Zwift and 25km a month free I think these days.

You can run two (or more) zwift accounts on the same PC but only one person can zwift at a time. My Mrs and me share one PC with separate accounts but cant ride together. Come to think of it I have never tried multiple instances of Zwift running on a single PC but I would be surprised if it worked well or at all. I’ll try later.

You should probably check out the LLama’s video on Zwift setups

https://www.youtube.com/user/gplama

best not do it from work though!

Low cost PC option
Supported classic trainer (this is where virtual power comes in)
PC with half decent graphics
Ant+ dongle for PC
Ant+ speed /cadence sensor
Zwift software
Internet connection

High End PC option
ant+ smart trainer or Ant+ Power meter
PC with high end gaming graphics
Ant+ dongle
Ant+ cadence sensor
Ant+ HR strap
Zwift software
Internet connection

Low cost iOS option (if anything Apple can be though of as low cost)
Supported classic trainer (this is where virtual power comes in)
Recent iOS device iPhone or iPad
Bluetooth speed /cadence sensor
Zwift software
Internet connection

High End iOS option
BT smart trainer or BT power meter
Recent iOS device iPhone or iPad
Bluetooth cadence sensor if not part of trainer or power meter
Zwift software
Internet connection

Recommended extras
Fan
Towels
Mat
Zwift mobile link

If you have the budget go for a smart trainer as you will most likely end up getting one eventually.Prices are coming down all the time.

If power numbers are everything to you use Zwift with the same power meter you use on your bike to keep things consistent.

Rollers are not a good option in terms of virtual power accuracy or feel due to lack of resistance and no real power curve like a classic trainer. But you can use rollers to try it and see if you like it before investing further.

Rollers on Zwift

Your speed through the Zwift worlds is based on the power you generate.

Power meter: Most accurate
Smart trainer: Potentially slightly less accurate but good enough for most, with the advantage of resistance control.
Classic Trainer (Virtual Power): Zwift have measured the power to turn the trainer at any given speed to create a power curve. Power is then estimated from the power curve for each model of trainer based on how fast your rear wheel is turning. Less accurate than power meters or smart trainers and resistance is controlled by you changing gears and not by the trainer itself.
Rollers: Least accurate as no resistance to create a power curve from.

Having used Mucoff and Fenwicks extensively I would so no.

A bucket of hot soapy water and a sponge works just as well. I use a wax free car shampoo, usually as I have loads of it knocking around after evry christmas. However I was away on a MTB weekend a few weeks back and had no cleaning kit with me, so used some washing up liquid and a dish sponge from the kitchen, worked just as well and any salt in the washing up liquid isn’t a problem as its washed away when you rinse. Think about how muh grit and road salt a bike is exposed to during normal winter use and the salt in washing up liquid becomes insignificant.

The only possible advantage I see of bike cleaners like muc off is that they are slightly more portable, being in a spray bottle, so easily used in a car park after a ride where you might not have a bucket of hot water.

I used to run 28mm Conti 4 seasons on my old 2011 defy 4 no problems. Pretty sure I could of gone bigger again.

Used to take it onto rough gravel forest tracks regularly with no problem.As onewheelgood mentioned, its gets interesting very quickly if its at all slippery and your nerves may be in tatters by the time you get back onto tarmac. In the dry no problem though.

Lots of different reasons it seems.

Fashion: Nothing wrong with wanting to look the part or wanting to fit in.
Modesty: Not everybody has legs like Chris Hoy, especially if you take the uplift…
Pockets: Seems like a pretty good reason to wear shorts over tights to me.
Shorts are harder wearing: Dont buy this one, my Endura MTB unpadded, fleecy inner bib tights must be at least 10 years old, possibly older and have been crashed multiple times off and on road and are still going strong.
Warmth/rain: The above mentioned bib shorts are warm and comfy even in the rain without shorts, and with them over the tops of my sealskinz socks my feet stay dry as well. No pockets though…

Of all of the above only the pockets has made me think about wearing shorts over my bib tights, might give it a try this weekend.

Bluetooth Low Energy(BLE) isn’t supported natively by Windows 7 and earlier, even if you plug a BT4.0 domgle into the PC, you wont get BLE. BLE support on Windows 8 and Windows 10 is rather sketchy to say the least.

For a Windows PC, an Ant+ dongle is by far the easiest way to go.
On iOS go with BLE.

My Mrs at FOD on friday

Rab VR is pretty much my go to clothing for any outdoor activity. I have the Alpine lite for general hill walking, the guide jacket and trousers for winter walking and skiing or ski touring as well as an old smock for sea kayaking.

For mountain biking I use the lite smock with the stretch side panels.

Vapour rise is great if you run hot and perfect for damp drizzly or light rain days in the uk hills. In the summer I throw a montane featherlight a windproof over the top and in winter a lightweight waterproof like the montane minimus when it gets really wet. Actually I hardly ever wear a traditional hardshell any more.

Vapourise isnt the most water resistant, nor is the most windproof but most people get too hung up on staying dry, staying comfortable is more important and VR does a great job for any high energy activity. Dont judge VR by how it feels in the car park waiting for your mates to finish fannying around, judge it when you have worked up a head of steam on the hill.

Base layer choice is important, dont try and use merino directly underneath, a more slippery synthetic base layer works best. you want to move moisture away from skin as fast as possible, not collect it like merino does.

I have literally just moved from a Anthem 29er to a carbon 650b XTC hardtail. Ok so not such a big change as both are XC rockets.

Three things struck me

1. Push the pedal and the XTC leaps forward, instantly. It feels alive and agile.
2. The back end bucks on the XTC when powering up rocky climbs, very noticeably compared to the short travel Anthem. Lots more feathering the power required on the XTC compared to amshing the pedals on the Anthem
3. Some trails feel best on the Anthem others on the XTC and not always how you would imagine. Ashton Court feels better on the Anthem than the XTC, which surprised me as its hardly technical.

But overall having a new bike outweighs the pro and cons of either. A new bike just makes you smile. I’m riding the same trails at pretty much the same overall speed but I’m smiling cos I got a new bike :-)

Does make me wonder, based on the way the world seems to be going, if this is just an intolerance of those who are different, in the case of cyclists, both on and off road we dress differently from non cyclists and therefore must be of dubious character!

I had a pair of neoprene socks lying around at home, I wear them under footwear when sea kayaking in winter. Thought I would give them a go. I wore them under some super light Inov8 trail running shoes which are not water proof and not warm, you can actually feel the breeze through them when running.

So thin liner socks + neoprene kayaking socks + mesh running shoes and flat pedals and my feet remained warm and comfortable on a cold frosty morning ride recently.

Neoprene itself is waterproof (the seams are not though) but doesn’t breath well but that didn’t seem to be a problem until back at the car and I took them off, when you need to dry your feet and put some fresh dry socks back on otherwise you will now notice the cold.

Worked really well for me and will be using them again.

Kayaking socks[/url]

so is the Garmin 820 sending GPS data to strava on the phone via BT?

I would be really surprised if the phone was using GPS data over BT in preference to its own GPS. Normally what happens is the phone recognises a BT or Wifi device as being in a particular area and uses that not for precise position calculation but to know which satellites to start looking for so as to reduce the time to first fix. For example if it see’s a wifi AP with a particular SSID, it will look online to see if that SSID has been seen by another devc

Ghana is just north of 0 degress lat and 0 degress Lon (over the sea). Its possible that somewhere some one has cocked up their maths, most likely the Lat. I have done that a few times myself.

Some quick tests

turn the phone BT off, does the phones position improve?
turn the phone GPS off, does the phone still record a position?

I have a BLE sniffer but no 820, otherwise I could tell you exactly what was going on between the phone and the 820.

No, there are big differences between some of them.

I have found that Merino is good for low intensity activities, especially in winter. It absorbs and holds moisture but manages to feel comfy, up to a point.

The classic Helly Hansen Stripe I find really good for moving moisture during a high intensity activity and is my go to base layer for most conditions. The days of the smelly helly seem to be gone as well.

Capilene, especially the lighter weight ones can be pretty good as well and super comfy.

For me though, what I wear over the top is just as important. At every opportunity I try to shed any sort of waterproof layer, no matter how breathable, preferring to use windproof shells where I can, even it it means getting a little damp from time to time. I gave up trying to stay dry long ago, now I just focus on staying comfortable.

I didn’t wear my Northwave boots once last year, it just didn’t get cold enough here in Somerset!

Zwift… I came out of last winter fitter than at the end of the summer. Mix it up though, join a Zwift group ride, ride along side a pro or ex pro, try a Zwift race, enter one of the Zwift challenges that crop up from time to time (Win a Cervelo in October), test your FTP, estimate your VO2 max with a step test, complete a Zwift training plan or just ride. All with not a splash of mud anywhere to be seen.Come the spring you will be riding harder, further and faster.

Treat yourself to an interactive smart trainer for the best experience.

well, everybody is already dressing like wannabe motocrossers…

I’m a roadie and a MTBer.

Natural cadence for me is 90-100. A higher cadence on a big effort can help reduce muscle damage/fatigue, meaning you can sustain it for longer or recover quicker before the next big effort. When training on a turbo or doing an FTP test I will often top 120rpm, as for a given power the higher the RPM the longer I can sustain that power/ the more often I can repeat it.

I run Michelin 28mm GP 4 seasons on my Giant Defy, honestly cant remember the last time I had a puncture and thats on some pretty rough and thorny country lanes 4 times a week.

Everybody is different, so you need to find out what works and what does not work for you as part of the build up for any big ride.

On a long event (60-120 mins+) you really will feel better if you eat on a regular basis. But eating isn’t always as easy as you might think. You might not feel hungry, you might not fancy the a gel or you may just be preoccupied with the ride. So most importantly take something you want to eat and can eat easily without it upsetting your stomach. Maybe even set a timer to remind you to eat.

My strategy on an 8 hour road bike epic across the Serra de Tramuntana last week was 3 of my fave best tasting energy bars, taken with my fave energy/hydration drink for the first half of the ride. Backed up by 3 isotonic gels for the second half of the ride when I might be running low on drink/energy levels. My stomach objects to energy/cereal bars if I dont provide plenty of liquid for it as well.

2 x bottles energy drink. drunk as and when.
3 x energy bars. eaten on hour 2,3 and 4.
3 x isotonic gels. eaten on hour 5,6 and 7.

the bars and gel easily fitted into a rear pocket on my jersey.

I still only used 2 of the gels and supplemented the energy drinks with some freshly squeezed orange juice at the top of Sa Calobra.

What concerns me is the headlines will be “UK cyclist fails drug test” when it should be “has an adverse analytical finding”.

Strikes me as a can o worms if you can use Terbutaline if you fill out a form but not if you dont. Of course the form needs you to prove you have a medical condition that requires it. But blimey, where do you draw the line when it comes to medications to treat an ongoing known condition and a performance enhancing drug.

Am not taking part in the event but will be there on saturday. Looking at the event website they do have a fair amount of the roads closed for the rides.

http://www.mallorca312.com/carreteres

What do those in the know think my chances of getting from Palma to Alcudia and then to Pollenca via Port Pollenca around about midday will be.

This suggests that in theory it should be possible

9. Information: vehicles in direction Palma – Alcúdia and vice versa on the main road will be allowed.

with the coast road from Alcudia to Port Polenca having reopened already.

but the ride routes do share a couple of hundred meters with the main road and I would imagine the cyclists get priority at the roundabout on the MA13.

http://4iiii.com/product/precision/

if Strava is important to you go with a Garmin cycle specific device like the Edge 520 rather than a general purpose outdoor handheld GPS.

Strava does not recognise altitude data from all GPS devices, even those with an altimeter/barometer and might recalculate any elevation data. I swapped from an Oregon 600 to a edge 500 for this very reason.

My device has a barometric altimeter, why is Strava recalculating the elevation?

If you recorded your activity with a GPS device that has a barometric altimeter, but Strava isn’t using that data, it’s possible that device is not yet in our database or that the file you uploaded is missing a Device ID. We occasionally see this when activities get synced through 3rd parties so if you know the device is in our database, please try uploading the original file from the device. If you still have questions, please submit a support ticket and include a link to the Strava activity.

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216919447-Elevation-for-Your-Activity#whyrecalc

at it’s simplest, gravity, that’s why.

exactly, you are lifting your body weight upwards each time you step up. Want a quick way to improve your strength… run up and down your stairs at home repeatedly. You can get a pretty good work out in a small amount of time. I do it as part of my training regime.

even with your hands on the hoods or bars rather than the drops you will be presenting a much smaller frontal area compared to having your hands on the grips of wider MTB bars.

Going from my road bike to my anthem 29er, (okay its full suspension but covers the ground quickly for a mountain bike) feels so wrong, the road bike leaps forward when you pedal in comparison. The Anthem feels heavy, sluggish and unresponsive in comparison.

The road bike riding position also feels so much better when it comes to putting down the power.

Even your 1.8″ tyres are fat and squishy compared to a road or fast Cx tyre.

I use it on a regular basis when its too wet to go out on my road bike.

You have a couple of options

1. An intelligent trainer, which varies the resistance according to where you are on the lap based on the gradient.
2. A dumb trainer, but with a profiled power curve, virtual power if you like. Its essential to setup the correct trainer to allow it to estimate your power based on that trainers power profile.
3. A dumb trainer with a power meter

With a profiled dumb trainer Zwift will know how much power is required to rotate the flyweel at a given speed, assuming you are using a standard wheel size at a known pressure (100psi).

As you cycle round the course and the gradient increases for any given power your speed will reduce. So where an intelligent trainer increases the resistance on an uphill a profiled trainer will reduce your “in game” speed. With the end result being that both riders progress at the same rate around the course for any given power output.

Sure its not perfect but its close enough for those who cant justify the cost of a power meter.

Zwift takes into account your weight as well to calculate or estimate (based on your trainer type) your watts per kilogram. Using a dumb trainer I get believable if not totally accurate power values.

I have to say Zwift has played a big part in improving my performance in the 6 months I have been using it. My power output has gone up and I am roughly 10% faster out on the road.

Zwift is still in beta, with plenty of features to come including structured training.

For me its a way to get in a 45 min ride on a shitty weather day any time of the year. Trying to stay on someone’s wheel pushes you and then seeing your power reading, virtual or real rise over time is a great motivator. As is the social aspect of “going for a ride” with other like minded individuals.

I love it.

Select the wrong trainer in the options or lie about your weight and you can cheat, generating higher power than you actually can, blasting around the course at super human rates. its also pretty easy to spoof ant+ power data as well before the power meter master race whinges about virtual power users cheating.

Like Strava, which it links to, you get out of it as much as you put in. Sure you can cheat, but that’s not the point.

What do people do on CX bikes?

Pass me on my Anthem going round Ashton Court :-(