I rode to Morzine to go biking a couple of summers back.
Twas a great way to beat the peages and eat loads of pan au chocolates.
I regularly ride to Cannock for a few laps of the dog; its all free saddle time!

The local brewery in Fernie offers a free pint to anybody who climbs all three of the big rides in 24 hours

http://www.ferniebrewing.com/trail-ale#

You get a little medal too.

Just had my first real fun ride – yesterdays was

in Fernie (yippee)
in the dark (more fun)
on snow (double yippee)
in the rain (boooo)

Todays was without the rain bit and on some great singletrack too.

Got 40 more sessions to go… bring it on.

Friend is time poor, so how best to improve endurance speed with shorter training sessions.

This from the OP……

There is loads of great advise here, and some pro-level practices talked through. The whole thread is worth re reading but simply what I do when limited on time is going to be ignored by loads of people as its boring.

I get on the turbo and do single leg.

Advise would be to do one minute per leg on a very easy gear and over a period of months build up to being able to do 4 mins per leg.

It engages core, shoulders, triceps, wrists etc.

Time crunched solution!

Going further, faster by training smarter.

OK, I’m not running the top tube bag, but their seatpost bag is superb quality – waterproof with a bleed valve to get air out as you tighten the straps.
The shape of the bag also suits a full suspension bike better than others I have worn out (not naming them)
Cannot fault the quality – did I mention that?

Hmm, no comment about bibs over shirts yet?

I’ve got a nearly complete SC Superlight from that era hanging on the wall, where are you and would your wife fancy a white one this time?
Its only done one event and was my first ever bike.

Remember the days when we all took the piss out of 29er wagon wheels?

Thanks – any advice of best shops, bothies will be fun to hear.

I know the thread title is about ski and snowboard, but I’m off to ride the fattie for 45 days and then hitting the slopes every day for a spot of legendary powder in Fernie.
5″ studded tyres and riding in the dark each morning for 2-3 hours is perfect winter base training for the HT550….

Old ski gloves work – they are waterproof enough for 3-4 hours riding and still slide on and off when wet inside. They obv don’t have the specific padding of a mountain bike but for a short ride, who cares?

45Nrth pogies work too but it needs to be really cold and wet/snowy before I resort to them.

Rode one in the mud and the gloop that is the South Downs for the first time today; got 54 miles done and only needed the e part doing laps of Old Winnie hill.

It was a riot to ride for sure. These things have a place on the trails these days as you can’t put the genie back in the bottle so go out there and give one a go – I liked it, but I’m not ready to hang up my Tallboy just yet.

So, as this thread has become quite long and to reinforce the title of the thread; I’ve just ridden my Tallboy from Portsmouth to Cannock Chase, took all the bags and camping stuff off it and did a couple of laps of The Dog (what’s left of it) and messed around on the locals trails too.

All this on a bike that is nearly 10 years old and SC/Jungle have been there everytime I asked.

Yes, IMHO, they are that good.

For the older generation, a Tommy will always be a soldier from the Great War. I’m doing this ride for sure, plus its a good ride out for me from Portsmouth, gives me a chance to camp in Savernake the night before and ride on trails I’ve never done before. Hope you have a good food truck there at the start!

Endura do good ones, though  if you are getting on (like me) and need to work the gps loads, try BBB with a +1.5 lens set in the base of the lens.

So, I’m plotting to get a South Downs Way out of one battery……. lets find out how I get on in the next few weeks of preparation.

The plan is to get a sub 12 hour SDW done, once I’ve learnt to be efficient on the Scott Spark;  the fun bit will be to turn round at Eastbourne and hoon it back to Winchester in under 7 hours. I will have to average 15mph for that leg and I think it will take 5 batteries to get it done.

It is a standard Spark but I will run it with no dropper post, my own bars, stem and saddle so the bike is set up correctly and some skinnier tyres (Racing Ralph’s or Rocket Ron’s depending on feel). I’ll leave the tri-bars at home.

The lights are going to be USE e bike lights for the return leg and they just get their juice from the bike battery.

Should make for a few weeks of fun training and racing!

I’m not sure about ‘prescription’ but I found I could not read my gps anymore a year ago…. got a pair of BBB photochromic glasses (so I can ride day and night and not have to carry a clear lens) with a +1.5 lens in the base of the glasses so I can glance down and read the gps again and use them for closeup bike servicing in the field and reading menus in food places….. the do stronger lenses too.

Just give a couple of pairs to my Canadian friends and they love them, first ride out!

Thanks for all the tips – been riding the bike here is Fernie and have 4 days left till its back to the slippy south downs and some winter miles getting ready for this and the HT550 in late May.

Final training for each could be riding to the startline?

Obv rookie question…. apart from asking a helper to feed and water me, don’t most folk go through an event like this without needing a mechanic on standby? My Tallboy is going to be 9 years old by the event and I just fit it out with XT kit and it keeps going through all my adventures – is an event like this designed to tear your equipment apart (I have had issues in wet Morzine rides so I know it does happen).

I wear Endura kit and it seems to like me as I can live in it for 50+ hours with the addition/ removal of a rain layer and I can usually dress myself (adult now) – not that I want to do this without a buddie or two to help out, but is it absolutely needed?

Also, if there is a big mechanical, can I just jump onto a replacement bike for a lap or two?

Thanks.

Nothing wrong with a camelbak – I was trying to keep the weight down and I was thinking 2 litres would be too much to carry around (the soft flasks are 500 ml) and can be changed out each time by the crew in seconds.

I’m not really wise on pit strategy at all – working out is it best to resupply every lap or every other lap?

Swapping a camelbak every other lap may work – advice is welcome here!

Certainly I will be on a weak mix of High5 for the whole race, getting slightly stronger as the race concludes.

Hi Trail Rat – it will be my first 24, so not even planning to finish at the sharp end of things…..

OK – thats all the riding strategy dealt with. Can I stop for  a wee halfway round or is that bad form and you have to go in some Portaloo in the pit area?

As you can get resupply every 30 mins I’m planning to use an ultra runners vest with chest floppy bottles/flasks and carry snacks on a top tube bag – good idea or is there an established way of carrying food and drink?

Thanks all of you  – it all makes sense (though I had to look up what a T5 was).

Any other hints about pacing? I am concerned that the pack will start as if it is a 2 hour race and I’ll get lapped/dropped. My pace is more developed to steady all day effort rather than punchy sharp climbs when jockeying for position and I tend to let folk pass me rather than have them gnawing at my heels.

I went for one back in 2007. Never ridden one, just knew it was advertised as a long-haul trucker. I got it as a complete bike and then spent some time on the trainer getting stem length and bars etc changed out to suit me.

I’m still riding the same bike today.

It was an early edition of the Santa Cruz Tallboy 100mm travel and I’ve still not found a better bike for my kind of riding; its ridden from here to the Alps, then around Morzine for a week. I know there are 29ers now that are designed to do a particular job in mountain biking, but this one still does (nearly all) the biz.

I’m plotting to better my 30 days from last season – it will all be in Fernie BC  as its the only place we’ve been to in the past 10 seasons and we’ve still not skied it out. Last year through January it snowed pretty much every day and the biking pre-skiing each morning is superb. Got a 3 year old pair of Armada JJ’s still on the go and no plans to change unless a pair of DPS Wailers come my way. Happy skiing, biking and hot tubbing. Why waste the time getting pissed each night when there is more powder to trash the next morning?

https://www.trailforks.com/video/17627/

I forgot to  add this to the above post.

My first time ever posting on a ‘chat’ forum, but a buddy sent me the page…..

I’ve been visiting Fernie  BC for over 12 years now –  best snow in the world (if you take your snow powdery), some of the most diverse mountain biking on your doorstep (the Trans Rockies is due to finish there again in 2019), the Tour Divide goes through main street, the single track is unspoilt and you have to earn every descent. The bears come into the town so you don’t have to go hunting for them and we are still civilised enough to support two sushi restaurants and a McDonalds and everything inbetween (Chinese, two curry places, South American etc).

Not bad for a population of 5000 to have over 300km of singletrack!

You want wild? Ride into the Flathead and be at one with the largest concentration of grizly bears in north America, you want rafting, golf, hiking, flyfishing etc just step out of your door.

I’m going back in two weeks time to cut firewood and prepare the hot tub for winter.

There is also the South Downs Mountain Bike Club – we meet on Wednesdays at Walderton, Fridays at a pub very near QECP and have a random ride on Sundays. It is for old slow riders like me. They rarely stop for cake or coffee and are very happy to have new riders of all standards – they took me in when I was a beginner and made me feel welcome (though they still laugh at me!)

Whiteways is often on the Sunday hitlist and it is an easy ride-out from Chichester.

http://www.southdownsmtb.co.uk/

My 2010 Tallboy is all the things you want on your dreambike. I was not planning to sell mine but if you can’t find what you want, mine knows its way, has been overmaintained, never raced or rallied, is perfect for trips to the Alps, many trail centers (its happiest if you ride to Cannock or Wales before whizzing round the trails), it is epic on Tour Divide and the South Downs way and promises not to leave you with numb hands or toes. It has an aversion to SRAM running gear and coffee stops.

Can’t remember how to attach a piccie, but there are some floating around on the forum.

If I was doing it again, I’d ride back. Probably quicker, certainly more fun than the bus.

I did it a few summers back – on the loaded TD bike. It was my first ever organised road ride and the number of stops that roadies make is unbelievable! They were in at every petrol station, pub, bbq etc picking up food and water then overtaking me again.

There was a lot of ‘pack’ riding with folk in matching clothes and on the lanes we had riders on the other side of the road and then shouting out ‘car!’ on a surprised fashion.

Its all quite flat, well signposted and the atmosphere at the start was fun and relaxed – you can get rolling whenever you please and there were lots of places to eat at the start.

The wait for the bus ride back to town was dull and the bikes go on a big waggon. Bikes are then propped up against hedges/walls/on the ground in a giant carpark back in London with minimum security I recall.

Worth doing but I didn’t make it to the coast to see the sun rise as I was riding with buddies who did not hold the pace. I’d rather ride on the downs.

its the third and fourth legs that are hard, though they are generally on the second day.

I’ve been long distance kayak racing since Christmas and this weekend is my first back on the bike proper….. may fit in a SDW in the next couple of weeks and remind myself how hard it is on those final hills.

Will report back soon.

My thoughts too Mr Synch. The 2x system is so much kinder on wearouts and adjustment range plus I can get 3000 good hard  miles out of  my 2x drivetrain. The manufacturers are pushing the 1x for loads of good reasons and I know my type of riding is quite niche so i will watch this Rotor development….. its the first 1x that has made me think of a test ride on the system.

There is some good engineering in there for sure.

I’m cooking up a unique SDW challenge to take place at the beginning of September; should be one to keep the forum riders chatting for a while…. just got to get used to hauling an incredibly heavy bike around for the day.

So if you want to tag along Poopscoop, there will be a wheel for you to get on for a bit of a tow.

You can’t have too many tents.  I’ll keep it 4 sure. At the price its a steal,( I also got a BA down jacket as it was such a good price) but I will continue to use the TN most of the time in the UK as it pitches both layers at the same time so you don’t get the inner wet when pitching in the rain. The MSR will be in second place and the B Agnes third place.

These are all good tents,

I just got one of these from SP – it was too good a price to miss.

For the Yukon River Quest part of the mandatory kit is a free-standing tent so my Terra Nova Laser that I use for TD did not meet the specs.

I had narrowed the choice of free-standing tents down to the MSR Hubba or this Big Agnes.

Can’t give a ‘been in the Somme’ report yet, but just during opening the BA and putting it up in my kitchen, I’m glad I chose the MSR first as the fly is sooooo thin and there is less space for kit as the footprint is tapered.

At this price its cheaper than in the US, and they delivered when they said they would.

I know that Sidi are not cheap, but they are light, stiff, tough as old boots and comfortable – I wore a pair for over 30 days and did loads of hike a bike  too. If you can still get a pair of Eagle 6’s with velcro tabs and the push through ratchet rather than the twisty buckle, they will last ages. I’ve still got a pair form 2011 TD race – these are only ride to the pub shoes now, but they are still alive!

My buddy and I did it E-W last week and he was fair done in by the time we got near Harting – the whole ride was rescued by a supply of simple ham sarnies….. and we finished in 11.5 hours so 3 cheers for simple food.

Endura do a few great pairs – I had to cut one set of arms down so they fitted my helmet better. Super strong and comfy.

BBB do a set that have a clever mini lens moulded into the lower section so you can glimpse down and read your gps and menus in restaurants etc (useful for us old gits) and you can chose lens strengths too.

I think my Tallboy has done around 30 SDW’s by now – got one planned for the early May bank holiday if the chalk dries up a little. In the early days I used Small Block 8’s, then Thunder Burts. Running Race Kings with race sealant these days – that stuff clogs up some massive holes. Going to do it without the tribar setup for once as I’ll be down on Dartmoor the week before, so it will look just like a normal bike for once.

As usual, its all about the pace – steady on all the ups, work hard on the flats and give it everything on the downhills.

Remember to look around – it changes everytime I’m there!

I have taken a grinder to a Prologo tri saddle – there was a part that didn’t like the shape of my ass, so I cut a dip for that bit of me to sink into – worked a treat. Still working a year later. No saddle sores in that spot.