This forum is full of skill-less wannabe MTB’ers.

Nice.

My concern is not for myself, but for the novice riders that ride Afan all the time.

I have ridden it just the other day, there is no problem, just the OP’s skill and your mouth.

I don’t see why there has to be animosity directed at me, or at my ‘skill’. I’m raising a genuine concern.

And it depends on when you rode it. I was there on Friday and Saturday. Just to put this in perspective, I’m a local and ride Afan all the time, so do know what the trails are like most of the time.

I will be contacting the ponds to see what’s going on, but I raised this thread to see if someone knew a bit more than I did… I’m surprised at the reaction from some people, when all i’m doing is trying to look out of others.

Afan’s a great place, and the trails are fantastic. Some of the new sibgletrack that is about to open looks absolutely amazing, proper swoopy berms and sweet looking twisty tracks to replace the fireroad climb for y wall.

I want people to be encouraged to come to afan, but the current wall singletrack needs someone to sort it out.

All sections of singletrack until graveyard. Theres forestry work going on by the final descent, but it doesn’t affect the trail.

I’m posting out of genuine concern, as the sections with the blocks in the path are all fully open, with no diversion or warning signs.

If it wasn’t for the amount of time required to move the rocks I’d have said it was vandalism.

Rocks on an MTB trail, who’d have thought.

Some people….

Right, these are in the middle of singletrack. Think about a foot wide, by about foot high.

About every 10 feet.

Then a random collection of rocks, which would have fallen over in the wind – or by someone knocking them over.

Think about riding your usual singletrack, at a descent speed, only to be greeted on a blind corner by a massive rock in the middle of the track.

Not nice at all.

Take the bearings out, Pop the rubber seals off – Silicon spray the sh1t out of them, put in new grease.

No more grindy headset. Simples.

Much cheaper.

Team Loco-BM-Racing did well:

1st in Female 6 hour solo (7 laps)
1st in Female 12 hour solo (13 laps)
4th in Male 6 hour solo (9 laps)

Plus…. we annoyed probably everyone by banging pots, pans, and Luffy’s 36 Fox steerer and crown fork assembly by the changeover are from 9pm to 12am :)

Well done to everyone who competed, it was a tough course and you all did amazingly well :)

My team mate got 83km on his computer. Course was great fun, lots of road – but TBH I really like road sections at the moment, they were swoopy, steep and fast.

I had a big off on one of the descents, where my front wheel hit a half buried log and exited me sideways off the bike.

Also followed someone the wrong way and had a couple of bonus climbs – all good training though :)

I got very confused when I saw very clean people at random parts of the course, when I was caked in mud. Realised that the 50 and 70k courses interweaved over the 88k course.

I thought the signs were very good indeed, except one where I was leading the pack and got to two gates in a road with no sign – we all stood around looking at each other for a bit, road back down the road and realised we probbaly just went straight on. Someone mentioned there should have been Benny Hill music. I agreed.

Finished 11th in the Open male category.

Good fun.

Silicon spray every pivot joint you can find, and the BB, well… everything…. it’ll probably sort it.

Yeah, I have a girl at work who comes in with her

Cardiff
University
Netball
Team

T-shirt on.

WIN.

Oh well, it’s not stated in the rules – so I’ll go by intuition and go for what my age is currently – so into the Open Male.

Our team captain, Huw Thomas, finished 2nd in the 12hour solo, and won the UK and European Rookie 12 hour champion jersey :)

Good result for Loco BM-Racing indeed.

Simon should be able to take a look and let you know the cost, possibly he may be able to diagnose the problem over the phone to give you an idea of cost.

He’s a clever chap :)

Send them to Simon from Loco tuning – or just give him a bell, and split the cost with your mate. He’ll sort them out for you, and you’ll get a better fork than you paid for, and your mate should feel less guilty then.

Simples.

http://www.locotuning.co.uk

Is this the right kit for the Hope Race X2?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20422

I was thinking of the plastic Goodridge hose….

I wouldn’t have said my navigating was to ‘perfection’, at one point I couldn’t figure out what the maps were supposed to be….. something about them not being stitched together… basically the conclusion was that I’m an idiot. :)

I had an awesome time supporting Dave, with the privilege to ride with him from night, through the dawn to lunchtime. We rode through some simply stunning scenery, while I chuntered on about pretty cows, ugly sheep, macaroni cheese pizzas and a load of weird stuff not fit for sane people’s ears.

I am blown away by how after riding for 48 hours he could still drop me and Rich Holmes on a descent, and sprint uphill out of the saddle.

On the way back into Cardiff, Dave turned to me and said ‘Now I know I can ride forever’. He can, and bugger me, can he do it well.

Legendary.

Yep :) Zero stack headset – i always use the FSA ones as they’re awesome.

Ooo… and well done to anthoer two local lads – Simon Smith – 3rd in the 24 male open, and Luke Morris – 5th in the 24 male open.

Fantastic results lads.

Legends.

I wasn’t there, but have to say a massive congratulations to my Team Captain Huw Thomas (of Loco BM Racing – sponsored by Loco Tuning), who won the Rookie Jersey for 12 hour solo, and finished 2nd overall in the 12 hour solo.

Massively good effort for him, he’s been coming into form recently and is a scary presence at the moment.

Well done also to Matt Page, another local lad – fantastic result, I followed him on XCracer’s Twitter page, proper good fight between him and Ant White – who also did brilliantly.

Also well done to Mark Spratt, again another local lad – finished 1st in the vets 24 hour solo. Really nice chap, and so talented.

Well done to all that raced throughout the night, from the photos I’ve seen it looked like a tough course.

Cheers chaps

Ricks

ff5spot…. bought some CB Candy pedals… ended up being Smartys. Took ages to arrive too.

Torq bars are lovely to eat, easy on the stomach and taste really nice. If you can buy a few different flavours to see what you like, the key is to have something that is moist – as it’s far easier to eat when you’re not really thinking about eating.

Nuun tablets are good – but I’d really recommend an energy drink, which has electroltyes in it – i.e. the High5 stuff.

If you want to go a bit more advanced, and not eat – check out infinit nutrition. The idea is that you drink 600ml per hour, which contains all you need to ride – carbs, calories, electrolytes etc… all based on you body’s osmolaty (how fast you can absorb food).

It’s worth thinking about, but you want to make sure you’re happy with what you’re eating pretty soon – so you can get used to it, and stock up.

Personally, I find it hard to eat when racing, so energy drink and shotblocs are brilliant for me – you need to have a trial of different food to find what works best for you – too much fat or sugar at one time will be detrimental, so little and often is key :)

Yes – very good advice, our team captain told me this a while back – as your stomach wont know what to do with the extra carbohydrates if you dont aclimatise yourself to your race food.

Try out different flavours and brands, to find what you like the most. Personally at the moment I’m into Pineapple and Ginger Torq bars (think moist ginger cake), and orange shot blocs (jelly with caffiene), and citrus High-5, 4-in-1.

True, but if you’re only doing a 45 minute lap – strap a tube to your seatpost, a pump to the seattube, tool in your jersey (with tyre levers), and a bottle in your bottle cage.

I’d find carrying a walkie-talkie a PITA, as long as you don’t camp miles from the changeover area, 5/10 minutes waiting in the corrall is good to get you psyched :)

The most important thing on race day is not to blow through your energy in the first 3 laps – it’s important to try hard, but don’t ride so hard in the first 2 hours that you can’t enjoy the next 10.

Remember, there will be seasoned and experienced riders racing at the same time, who will be able to sustain a very fast pace for 12 hours, don’t feel de-moralised – and don’t kill yourself trying to keep up.

Ride your own race, overtake when safe, always stating which side you’re going to pass on: ‘on the left’, ‘on the right’, ‘can i pass when safe’…

If you hear someone behind you that wasn’t there 10 seconds earlier, chances are they’re riding faster than you – so let them past, again when safe to do so.

Endurance races are awesome, your first one will be a learning experience – just enjoy it, and do your best.

Oh, and food – if you can get something like High-5 4-in-1 for your liquid, and some Torq energy bars, and some shot blocs. Keep eating and drinking to make sure you dont cramp up.

Carry mobiles or walkie-talkies to avoid cock-ups.

Personally, just turn up 10 minutes before you reckon your team mate will be in. After a few laps you’ll get to know what pace both of you are running at.

I’d not bother with the gym sessions, and use these as riding days – core work is good, but you have a relatively short period of time to train for June now, so riding is key.

As it’ll be pretty much an 85% effort per lap for pairs, I’d be focussing on intervals, hill repeats, and if possible a couple of rides a day to build up your tolerance to fatigue and simulation of hard activity after hard activity. (Say 4 days a week)

If you can, get out on the road bike, do that – as it will be useful for getting you used to pedalling in the saddle for longer periods of time.

If you want to follow a detailed plan, which will greatly improve your performance for an endurance race check out Chris Eatough’s website, he provides the training plans for our team – he’s a 6 time International 24 solo champion – so knows his stuff :)

They’re about £60 a plan, which work over 12 weeks – he will also be able to customise the plan for your lifestyle/event – http://www.chriseatough.com

Cheers

Ricks

Hmmm…. bontys come up a bit small. I’m a 42.5 in bontys and 42 in shimano MP66Ws.

Depends…. my missus races in flats as she’s not happy in clipless, even though she uses clipless on the road…

When I was learning I just went to the local woods and rode slowly, and practiced unclipping.

Its easier is you buy some secondhand cleats, and if you’re using a spring clipless system – put it to its slackest setting.

Personally though, I find Crank Brothers easier to unclip and clip in to – but others will disagree.

Rocket Rons…. is it worth going UST with the sidewalls or jut the standard type?

Yep – and Yep :) Apologies for not responding, I’ll get you a recorded number across to you asap :)

That’s at least two Mars bars :p

I like the KCNC stuff, could be just cause its a bit different – it works, and the after sales support from Clee is excellent.

I like the Shimano stuff too, and run SLX on my other bike, as it’s great value, not much heavier than XT and can take a real bashing without making me cry.

Personally – I’d give Simon at Loco Tuning a call, he’ll sort you out – and it wont cost the earth.

Been running my KCNC crankset for about 3 months now, riding around 20 hours each week (out time), it takes some careful installation – follow the instructions, and a lot of torque (30Nm) – but once setup is great. The Q-factor means that your pedalling is more efficient and you dont get any shoe rub on the crank arms. The shifting is spot-on, and they look very nice too.

The arms and the axle is very stiff – I dont notice any flex when mashing the pedals.

If you get a chance, have a word with Clee-Cycles – they’re very informed, incredibly helpful and will be able to sort you out a set and also work out if they’re right for what you want.

Pants. Got there too late, used to live near Newborough for a good few years – absolutely lovely place – there is riding in the woods – but its a pootle, Marin and Penmachno aren’t too far away mind.

Ah! i forgot that! I roughed up the rims on my alpines! Do i need rim tape though? My rims came with green hope tape inside…

Cheers Strike… is it a semi-integrated or an integrated?

So… looks like Semi-integrated 44mm cups. Is this the same as a headset that is *for* 44mm headtube?

Therefore a 43.95mm Hope headset would fit?

Or….. https://clee-cycles.co.uk/cc/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/43/products_id/368?osCsid=kiu4j92sj39dmq9fc0tb03v871

Which fits a 45mm OD headtube and is the same size as the Hope Integrated headset…

<confused>

So… errr…. one of these?

https://clee-cycles.co.uk/cc/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/43/products_id/369?osCsid=kiu4j92sj39dmq9fc0tb03v871

Fit’s 46mm OD headtube… which is Ritchey compatible…

Cheers for the link, Dave will be pleased :)

48 hours on a bike, it’ll be the longest mtb ride ever recorded.

I’ll be supporting and joining for a bit of the ride, he’s been preparing for this for a long time and is putting in so many hours of training. Top bloke, top cause and amazing ride.

Fire him a pound, five pounds of whatever you can afford, this is truly an epic ride.

Isn’t this the same weekend as the No Fuss events 10 at Llandegla?

http://www.nofussevents.co.uk/event/Benromach-Deg-Yn-Llandegla/2753/

Now I have to decide whether to do the Monster or Llandegla :( unhappy face + 1.

Not being negative, as everyone said how awesome the event was last year – and Afan is my stomping ground, so it has the best trails around :)

Thats the badger! 160mm adapter didn’t work with mine. Good stuff. cheers Dan.