i found flapjack bars with honey and seeds in my local cheapo store for 20p. they taste great and have now taken the place of the musli bar (whichever was on offer at supermarket). usually throw a couple of bananas, trail mix, malt loaf into the mix. i dont stick to a particular diet as it gets boring and i dont beleive the sports bar/gel/drink hype brings any benefit to weekend riding. i’ll use em at races though.

just H20 in the camelbak.

beans on toast or porridge for brekkie.

did it a few weeks ago and it was great. one of the standout rides of the year so far! did it with a fair-sized group (15 i think) of mixed abilities and it took around 3.5 hours to summit. reckon more like 2.5 for a small group of good, fit riders. there are a few places where you need to push up but it gives you chance to check out lines for the way back down as they are the most technical places.

30 minutes of great DH on the way back, including a couple of stops to regroup and give the old fingers a break. the good thing about the descent that i found was that it was broken up into sections. the top being quite smooth and fast then turning into rubble and baby skulls followed by a techy rock section and then man laid slabs for pretty much the whole of the second half.

we arrived at the bottom around 1100 i think and the trail was packed with walkers. most were happy to step off the trail and watch in bewilderment (is that even a word?!) as the quickest 6 riders bounced, rattled and flew by. must have been quite a spectacle! there were a couple of, mainly older, walkers who tried were adament to stand their ground, but a bit of courtesy on our behalf (read: slowing and adding a sarcastic thanks) shut them up before they could give us their thoughts.

we set off at 7am from Llanberis and did the main tourist path (think it’s the only one you can do easily with a big group). and it was the last weekend of March so we planned around the voluntary ban, but yeah it is april to september after 9am.

highly recommended!!

does anyone know of any pads akin to the kyle straits but with a shin guard, but not full on DH. looking for something that is comfortable for xc rides but with a bit of shin protection.

there’s a good japanese film i watched years ago called ‘Audition’. It’s directed by Takashi Miike and was released in 1999. Not really ‘jumpy’ like you remember horror films were when you were a kid but truly disturbing.

The whole Japanese horror film category is worth looking at if you dont mind the subtitles. Original Ring trilogy is miles better than US adaptation and there’s a few other’s that the yanks have shamed – dark water, the grudge etc.

this was my first enduro and i’m still not sure if i enjoyed it or not :?

i usually enjoy the challenge of a climb but these were stupidly long and boring…only one technical climb??
the downs were fun but having to fight my way passed the excessive brakers and being forced into lines that i usually wouldnt choose put a bit of a damper on things.

clocked just over 4 hrs for the full loop and quite happy with that. but wont do it on a 36lbs FR light bike next year!

Avid rotors

I need a 185mm – rrp £40 !!

haven’t tried these yet, but i will be doing soon! http://www.mtb-direct.co.uk/cgi-bin/index.cgi?item=MERGE080515170751

i like the look of the parachute. dont see why MET would design a helmet and then not test the jaw-guard thing for turning into a jugular slicing device upon impact. my guess is that the negative comments are coming from people who have never even picked one up.

i’d buy one, i think it’s a great helmet for people who ride a bit harder over the rough stuff but also head out on all dayers.

part one; circa ’93/’94 on some multicoloured piece of junk riding around shaw/oldham & rochdale with mates. were were at lee/buckstones quarries way back then! bought 2nd hand Marin Indian Fire Trail off LBS owner with Manitou 1 forks. still got the frame that i’ve been wanting to rebuild for many years

interlude; university, travel, beer, women, parties, 2 snowboarding seasons

part two; a top a hill whilst living in new zealand. hired a Giant something or another and took it up coronet peak near queenstown. took me just 1 hour to realise i had to buy another bike. arrived back in the UK a year later ’08, got a job and first thing i bought with my first pay cheque was my norco six-one. haven’t given up on the beer, women, partying and snowboarding yet…

find out what bearing numbers you need and get yourself over to http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk/index.asp.

order the MAX type bearings as they are designed for low rotation & should last longer. will work out cheaper than buying the official Trek kit.

you’ll need a big mallet, screwdriver (to knock the old bearings out) and sockets that have the same diameter as the outer race of the bearing (to press new ones back in). don’t be scared of using a lot of force and make sure you clean and lightly grease bearing housing!

i would probably go for a 24″

NHS admin. 4pm on the dot :D

reporting back on my tubeless attempts – received all the kit last night and i now appear to be in the tubeless gang. i left em overnight and no air seems to have escaped so looking very good. i used the 20″ bmx tube method which seemed to make if difficult to seat the tyre at first and i couldnt get it inflated with a track pump. had about 4 trips round the corner to the local petrol station to use the air compressor which seems to have worked a treat.

just need to take them out on the trails for a test ride now!!

i totally agree with what peterpoddy says. you can read too much in to the ‘need’ or hype about riding shoes. sure they do have a sticky sole but you dont really need it. i ride with a pair or etnies skate shoes and dont have any probs sticking to the pedals. the only problem i have is walking in muddy conditions and getting small stones inside me shoes. 510’s look ugly.

glenh – Member
Ah, Bike 2009. All those purple anodised bits!

jmc = legend

it’s my first dyfi – consider myself relatively fit and had couple of good results last year. those of you that entered in previous years, what were your times???

used one of them wirey garden rakes to get more leverage on a 12mm hex to remove my freehub. worked a treat compared to the previous (failed) methods.

havent had a dog for years but have been to the park with my mates pup recently and she was at the biting stage. i found that letting her bite my hand and then gripping her bottom jaw so she couldn’t move or do anything made her stop wanting to bite. she’d still come in for the bite but would be scared of the hand because she knew i was stronger than her. not sure on the implications this might have though.

nice dog you got there.

a good week at work, got offered an interview for a promotion. midweek ride from hayfield was perfect – got to watch the sun set over manchester. more peak district action tomorrow. beer and fettling tonight.

nice one – my mate’s looking at getting into MTB and wants an Aggressor. £440 for the Aggressor XC 1 model not bad value at all!

did snowdon on saturday and used the downtube on shoulder method as it’s probably the only real way i can get my norco up and out of the way. the saddle method wont work on the steep stuff as you’ll end up with the front wheel hitting the ground and pedals in the shins/thighs. anyway, downtube on shoulder (i used the camelback hose for padding) holding fork & chainstay for balance. managed to do this up the steep bits for up to 30mins in strong winds. not bad for a 16kg bike.

i enjoy messing around with my bike and learning new stuff. just replaced pivot bearings for the first time last night and have got a new headset to fit tonight and then have to re-assemble the bike. riding tomorrow so it could turn into an all night thing :roll:

hate it when i dont have the right tool though…

i would say weighting depends more on the gradient of the climb or how compact/lose the terrain is rather than the degree of the turn.

as a few people have mentioned on here, practise riding in tight circles until you can pretty much control your bike with the wheel at 90 degrees to the frame. it’s all about balance so get your trackstands down too!

edit:
oh, and a consistent pedal cadence

go for it!

aus is a great place to live – i travelled all over during a 24 month trip and have lived in various places (all the major cities) at some point or another including just south or Brisi (suburb called marsden) for 3/4 months. overall i got the impression that the aussies have a great time and a great lifestyle. i’ve discussed this many a time (usually drunkern) with aus residents and travellers alike and the one thing when comparing the UK to aus that stood out was the fact that in aus you get to spend more of your time outside and in the sun. sunshine makes you happy. fact. of course you’re still going to have to work, same anywhere so it’s irrelevant (unless you’re being offered your dream job) but instead of watching cr@p tv of an evening you’ll be able to throw your kids/dog/wife in the back of the truck and head to the beach for beers and a bbq. sounds like a bit of an aussie cliche i know but once you start it you’ll wonder what the hell you were doing previously!

there are things to consider, like the cities being nothing like here in the UK. you can walk around places like townsville at 10pm and it’ll feel like a ghost town. obviously brisbane’s got more going on but still nothing in comparison to here. and if you go to QLD expecting to while away sundays in the beach dont go too far north as the stingers will ruin everything (having to swim in an enclosure in the sea sucks!).

you get used to the heat (eventually), although i never went mountain biking in 37degrees yet…

hope my experiences help your decision! :-)