Whether you consider the players athletic or not, baseball I think probably has possibly the biggest schedule. 190 days of regular season play, 168 games. If you make it into the post-season there could be another 10-15 games over a month. Before the season starts there’s a month and a bit of training camp and practice games with other teams. By my count, an every-day baseball player could be playing from February to the end of October playing over 200 games if it all works out. It’s not as high impact as a lot of sports but it does seem like a hell of a schedule for a player.

Yeah but its not a sport that requires a high level of cardiovascular fitness. When have you ever seen a baseball playing in a world of pain about to bonk? I think we can both safely say never. Whenever I flick past baseball on the telly, half the players just seem to be standing around twiddling their thumbs.

The grueling nature of cycling is that its a tough sport and always will be, I guess all the pro’s love it though or they wouldn’t do it!

And I doubt many footballers train as hard, or work as hard as cyclists.

Shotput and discus have much higher injury rates than cycling, they put a hell of a lot of explosive power through the shoulder and arm joints and walk a tightrope of maximising power and breaking the body far more than the act of cycling.

That may be true, but you can’t tell me shot putters train even half as hard as cyclists, the big belly on most of them being a big give away :| .

Brilliant.

Those are all pretty smooth trails though, relatively speaking.

Paulio beat me to it but keep happy and keep going. You’ll see lots of miserable people on the course….just cuz they’re misery’s don’t mean you have to be! It’s bliss…not being at work, just riding your bike for 24hrs!

Don’t know what kinda races you’re doing but i rarely encounter many miserable folk in 24 hour racing.

MaD what year was that you were 2nd in 24/12?

What sets this event apart from others IMO is the length of the night. This was my first solo too and as far as I remember there was about 13 hours of darkness, compared to about 8-9 at 24/12 and mayhem. If you plan on riding all through the night make sure you have enough lights/batteries.
Also, there will be times where you will do a lap or two without seeing any other riders, as its a small event, only a few hundred riders. You will question why you’re doing it but just think of all the training you did and how good you’ll feel when its all over.

A bread roll with honey and butter, and banana if your feeling brave. Can’t beat it.

Ok, thanks. What does the click to call thing do anyway?

Also, I’m not exactly sure what it is. I use skype, didn’t know there was a separate programme called click to call. What’s that all about?

Yep you’re right I’m in google chrome. Any benefits to running Fire fox?

And thanks!

Love that pic, haha!

Tin openers.
My old Nokia mobile.
Nail clippers.
Our microwave.

CaptainFlashheart – Member
Line skis are rather lovely to look at! Never tried a pair, though.

I was on Line Prophet 98’s all this past season, such lovely skis in every way for nearly all conditions, except for ridiculously deep pow. And Ive heard nothing but great things about there wider skis! This is coming from Whistler though where nearly everyone has phat skis, the euro style carving skis aren’t very common here.

And ye that JP street section is pretty sweet!

Favourite ski/snowboard film everyone? Mine has to be Tanner Halls Retallack, or Level 1’s Eye Trip if I’m in the mood for more urban/park stuff.

@ GrahamS, pretty sure that helmet isn’t fitting properly.

Just posting these to try get things back on topic, and cuz I really want a pair for this season! Might try pick up last seasons ones for cheaper though.
Priors are my other dream ski, pricey though.

Its a pretty battered trail and not as well built as new ones these days. Still fun though.

Oops! Looks like they need to find some balance in the cost cutting department.

MBR is a rubbish mag anyway, don’t buy it. End of problem.

not enough food.

Not good! Was it extreme catering or a different crowd? They were good at Transwales 2 years ago.

Bump.

Any more news on it?

Are you sure you’re all mountain bikers?? :? I find it hard to think about skiing/boarding when its still very much summer.

I did watch Retallack again a few days ago though, by far the best ski film I think, for those who haven’t seen it! :-)

:roll:

Lots of tired arguments. XC has changed. DH also changed. It used to be hip for DH riders to slate Lycra riding XC riders but that is OLD. Fast riders, who really understand what it takes to be a fast XC racer never slated XC riders. I am thinking of Palmer, Peat and Minnaar as examples. The slating usually comes from wannabes who would never get close to Nino, Kulhavy, in fact the top 50 World Cup racers, either up or downhill. And they have more skills than you’d imagine too but save those for less important days.

Too true.

The kids who ride XC are the sort who started reading the Telegraph when they were seven.

:roll:

Really???? Get real.

As said before, most peoples first bike is an XC bike. Not many people (if anyone)goes to their LBS looking for a downhill bike as a first ride.

Unfortunately (and why traditional XC will always suck) the races are always won on boring fireroad climbs.

Not sure I could disagree any more.

I blame MBUK magazine for promoting the baggy clothes wearing all mountain rider who’s anti pedaling uphill. I remember they even had an article called “How to get the look”.

:roll:

I have a fox lid and mount mine on the very top vent in the middle, no problems with it there

The closest vent I have to central looks a fair bit further back to central to me. Can’t remember the exact fox model of mine. Its an all mountain style looking one if that helps.

Nice I like the link for CRC, its not back in stock til the end of August though :( .

Don’t want to derail my own thread, but what makes them so good for trials?

On of my mates used to swear by bleeding his with water. I still recall being sat outside the Tesco in Doncaster, in deep mid-winter, as he tried to thaw his frozen master cylinder with a cigarette lighter. What times they were

:lol:

You imagine wrong, as Ben Thomas managed just that! Kielder isn’t representative of most racing anyway.

Oops, didn’t realize that.

Cool some good advice and suggestions there cheers. I don’t need anything too bling, just want something that lasts.

I think some of the differences between folks on this thread boil down to whether they race or not. Many trail riders don’t really understand the obsessive gear dilemmas xc racers have.

It’s a long time since I raced xc and had 3×8, which suited me just fine. I couldn’t tell you what the ratios were, nor did I care – they were what came in the bike. Having said that I was always a mid-pack sport rider at best.

I now just trail ride with the occasional DH race: on the trail bike I have 2×9 & on the DH bike I have 1×9.

I simply don’t get why everyone jumped on the 10 speed bandwagon so enthusiastically. I’m now on 9 speed because that’s what my bike/groupset came with – it wasn’t a conscious choice, I just bought what was available. I went 2×9 because I like the clearance a double and bash gives me.

seemingly every other day someone is selling their 9 speed gear setup because they’ve discovered that 10 speed is n% better. It’s just not. Your brain and legs will adapt to whatever work and compromise you’re asking them to make by having 1 less gear. It’s marketing balls, and if you do some soul searching then you’ll agree.

Yep i agree with that.

try a little research…here & here. then come back and we can all talk like grown ups.

Just did. The figure for the lowest gear in each is totally different, 16 compared to 19, comparing my old 26″ 3×9 to my new 29″ 2×10.

I heard also that when you go 29, you lose a gear. So a 34 at the back becomes more like a 32.

5 mile fire road descents at Keilder?

I never said descent :roll: . There is 5 mile long fire-road sections though.

mcc are you thick?
you fella have a fast cadence others however do not. simple really.

I was simply asking in my first post who else is switching back.

mcc are you thick?
you fella have a fast cadence others however do not. simple really.

I was simply asking in my first post who else is switching back.

and yet you can win a DH world cup with a 36T

AND… you can also do well in a DH world cup race if you break a chain and simply freewheel down the course, with the steepness of them (Like Cedric Gracia has done). Totally different, like comparing apples with eggs. When do you ever see a 5 mile fire-road section in a DH world cup race course? Never.