I’ve got a Pivot Les. Really nice xc bike which I’ll be racing tomorrow actually. The Swinger dropout system is beautifully made and the really cool thing about it is that there is enough adjustment that I can run a 15T to 22T sprocket on the back without having to change the chain length. With a 38T chainring I can easily choose a nice gear for the occasion with the sprocket change taking a couple of mins.
Picked up a whole bike for £1200 secondhand which is good as it’s a pricy frame.

I’m sure somewhere on the internet is a discussion from glider modellers about how ‘these new drone thingys will impact us all’ with a bunch of arguing from polarised opinions. I mean it’s ridiculous isn’t it? How would these new craft be lumped in with hobby of spending hundreds of hours building models then trekking to remote hilltops to fly them? A pastime that has been going on for over half a century?
When I first saw the legislation I thought sod that, I’m not registering, however very quickly I realised I couldn’t get third party insurance without it and that was that. Compliance.
If you can write a ref number on a bit of balsa and carry an ID then it’s not inconceivable that you would be forced to affix a number plate to your bike.

Musing on it all though I think growing environmental awareness will help here. I doubt politicians will be keen to be seen as anti-cycling. Also the cycling lobby is undoubtedly more forceful than the British Modellers Association.

Me and a friend still regularly shout ‘GET A JOB!’ at each other for a laugh in reference to two extremely fat men in a van shouting that at us at 7pm on a Friday night during a period when we were both stressed and exhausted from running our own small businesses.

Try shouting ‘GET A CAR!’ In your head (or out loud if you fancy) every time you see a white Audi. It’s remarkably therapeutic.

Sweary Dave’s film is about as real as it gets and I love it for that. An Everymans account of the Divide.
Enjoyed the Lael Wilcox film too and other stuff by her. She seems like a happy person.

It’s actually been reassuring to read the sensible comments about the unlikelihood of increased legislation. Some good balanced discussion with a lower proportion of bile than anticipated so cheers guys.

Im suffering from a cold this weekend so instead of doing the bike race I intended I went for a fly down at Bopeep hill on the South Downs. Kept me interested for 4 hours and it was a beautiful morning.
Malvern rider you made me laugh with your post. Had to duck on one of my low height fly passes. Probably could have jumped the plane on a bike.

The reason this CAA legislation hit a cord was that when I first looked into model flying (I wanted something creative to build in the evenings rather than sit around watching TV),I could see that powered flight was pretty restricted to permitted areas whereas unpowered gliding was allowed anywhere subject to some local bylaws. Then out of the blue about 4 weeks ago, BAM! BBC news story; ‘You have one month to register yourself and your planes or you’re breaking the law’! Furthermore if they publicise a few cases then everyone will know the proximity rules and then half of the flying hills will have walkers stating their rights to clear airspace around them. Probably won’t happen to this degree but thanks to the invention and uptake of the drone, this new cool hobby I’ve found has the potential for angry walker confrontation, something that really spoils a ride for me sometimes.

Anyway I appreciate it is a stretch to transpose this particular scenario onto ebikes. It was the similarity between “analogue” flying and electric flight that made me think of it. That and the ‘making the sport instantly accessible for all’ rather than putting up a few barriers to slow down the learning process, allowing time to hear a few opinions and requiring commitment to enable progression. Three things that I personally feel helps to select for the more thoughtful people in society. (Now there’s a massive assumption if you want it!)

Leave it out would you?

Kryton. Don’t discount BPW.
Mat and I went for the day in the summer and used our Topfuels without the uplift. It’s a cracking climb each time and you get to go straight into any number of red/blue trails for the descent. We clocked over 2000m in 5 hours but interestingly enough it was the descending that wore us out more. Proper training session and absolutely brilliant fun too. What’s not to love about that?

As for Afan, I used to ride it on my Boardman hardtail back in my very early days, followed by the Blue Pig. Have never ridden it on a FS but would definitely take the TF if I was going now. This type of bike is just made for loads of climbing and blistering descents.

I don’t think this is purely due to activists disrupting airports. I mean what kind of an idiot would write their registration number on a drone used for this purpose? It’s likely more due to the massive increase of use of drones in public spaces. Most of the questions were about proximity to people/buildings and footage taken on cameras.
I agree that no-one has used a bike for major terror attacks but simple little things like proximity to other land users with a vehicle that’s perceived as dangerous could become a reason for certain groups of people to have their way. I fear that e-bikes could tip the balance against us.

Weirdly I ride more in winter than summer.
lots of road miles. Lots of muddy mtb rides either on a basic hardtail or a SS, and some/lots of cx depending on the year.
I’m local to you TallPaul. The whole Greensand ridge remains rideable all winter. Don’t bother with the N.Downs. Peaslake or Swinley are only an hour away as is Hadleigh.
When it gets cold and dry the South Downs are superb.
Gorrick Brass Monkey series gives you some great all weather racing on decent trails. First round this weekend!
Best bit about winter and especially at night is the absence of dog walkers and ramblers on the local trails. Great for exploring those cheekier trails.

We had such a brilliant day on the Gap route a couple of years ago.
We rode over from Talybont via the quarry and then another reservoir and a bog…and then we carried our bikes on our backs up each of the three peaks, then rode natural lines off each summit using the bridleway to return back up to the Gap each time.
Mega day out. 9 hours riding time.

I’ve been mulling this thread over. Once again Kryton has tapped into something with his open and honest approach to life.

I’m asking myself; what do I want?

I stopped racing because I was tired of the:
Suffering,
nervous exhaustion,
guilt from missing training,
travel,
constant analysis.

I miss (in this order) the:
Camaraderie, the hugs and the sheer joy shared between the guys,
the feeling of being on the very edge of control on the bike,
the sight of my legs still pumping up and down despite complete exhaustion,
The pride at getting a good call up,
The knowledge that I’m a cool, hard, killing machine out on the bike.

I don’t really know where this leaves me to be honest. I’ve been away from the scene for 9 months now and still enjoying the release, yet I’m excited about racing again.
I’m at the point where I’m trying to find a path where I can maintain peace and happiness, yet also find that drive to go out on those tough training rides that are somewhat a necessity in such an endurance based sport.

But do I regret that period of singleminded focus on training and competing? No.
I’ve got race numbers pinned to my wall with mud spattered on them like memories. I managed top twenties in National cx and xc and I kept up with Nick Craig and Paul Oldham for 60km once!
Priceless memories.

What a lot of us posting in this thread have in common is that we have in the past tried to live like an athlete and experienced the journey to see how fast we could get.
From my first race I wondered how fast I could get. Maybe I was an undiscovered talent?
Did a couple of years of book led training followed by three years of coach led.
The reality that I was just ‘quite good’ probably hit around year two of coach led. Year three I went all in to see if I could turn quite good into national top ten but I’d reached my limit and finally I broke mentally and physically.
Ditched it all this year and have enjoyed coming out of the madness.
Training is like a drug. It’s pretty fun for a while but eventually it takes over your life.

Ive found a happy place where I eat well most of the time, ride my bikes quite a lot but don’t train and mix in a fair bit of gym work and pilates too so that my body works as well as possible for my age.
I’m not as fast as I was when I trained obsessively but I feel so much more balanced.
I like to live a reasonably structured life, so like to plan rides in patterns throughout my weeks and I like to feel well which is heavily influenced by what I eat.
I’m looking forward to getting back into racing again soon but want to do it for the love of speed rather than chasing that elusive improvement in status (which is an illusion anyway).
P.S. Hob Nob. The xc/cx crowd are some of the most wonderful, fun loving people you’re ever likely to meet. I miss them way more than I miss the racing.

I bought something from them this week. Ordered on Sat and it gave a delivery day for Wednesday. I hadn’t received a dispatch notice from them by Wed morning so I emailed them just to enquire on the status of the order. Got home from work and the package had arrived and then that evening got an email reply saying it should have been delivered.
So all in all, pretty good service, but perhaps they need to work on their dispatch notices.

Solo for me. Have ridden in the past as part of a three and love this course. 2012 it started muddy and slippery which was great fun then progressively dried through the afternoon until the grip was amazing. Lap times got faster which is a really cool feeling.
First race of the year for me after taking time out from all the madness. Looking at the start list I’ve seen a fair few friends from the cx scene so am looking forward to catching up.

The mtb trails round Peaslake were beautifully quiet today as no one could get in by car. We parked at Ranmore and rode in. Crossing the roads around Leith was hair raising but the trails were sublime.

I went up there with a mate in June. We were quite proud that we managed to get roughly 4 full runs in plus about 6 half runs (to the fireroad) plus a few goes of poppety ping on our journeys up.
I must say it was very relaxing not having to be involved with the uplift and what tremendous value for money it was just paying £10 for a day pass.
Total climbing over 5hrs was 2000m but it was the downhills that exhausted us not the climb.
Think it’s a fantastic place. I love it!

We went there a few weeks ago on xc bikes, riding the climb, and in Lycra/clipped in, so we mainly stuck to blues.
Favourite top to bottom runs were:

Melted Welly into Bluebelle into Bushwhacker.
Terrys Belly

We did Sixtapod about four or five times but then rode back up to the top again.

I’ve just got round to watching the video. I was expecting some high speed drama not the sort of instance I expect every single one of us has done at some point or other. Yes it’s not ideal to startle walkers and for sure I personally practice polite cycling (nice phrase that), but just occasionally you make a slight judgement error and go a bit fast in the thrill of the moment.
I’m sure Ben will go round this corner at super slow speeds from now on with all this damning judgement rattling round his head.

Get the bike maintenance done then yes a couple of light bike rides during the week would be a good idea. You want to end up champing at the bit by Friday, so try hold back a bit. Personally I’d ride easy on Tues and Thurs for about 2 hrs.

WTB Cross boss we’re too tight to go on Stans Iron Cross rims for me.
OP I’d just put those tyres in a box somewhere and buy something else. At some point in the future you may find a use for them or someone you know will.

Sorry, I thought that’s what you said. It was five hard interval sessions a week anyway.
Seems like trying to help has not gone down so well.

Here’s how it looks to me as a personal friend of Krytons.
His coach is a young man with all the science at his fingertips but not enough life under his belt to appreciate the demands on a 40 year old man with a demanding and stressful career and two children. He’s been training to a model that would probably work well on a young pro.
Krytons been doing VO2 max intervals multiple times a week since November as part of a ‘reverse periodization’ process. As the season has progressed some of the intervals have been replaced by long Z2 riding but by then in my opinion the damage had been done.
From the start of race season Kryters has been complaining of fatigue and ‘unexplained’ poor performance. (I’m afraid the statement that your top end has gone is just silly mate after all the high intensity work you’ve done. Your poor xc performance is not due to a specialisation in marathon, it’s down to being worn out.)
I’m frustrated because this is exactly what happened last year and his coach said he’d learnt from it and would persue a more aerobic model this year… and then started up with the vo2 max, five times a week again.

It’s hard to tell your mate he’s getting worse despite all his hours of hard work, but it’s also hard to just step away and leave him too it. I’ve sent plenty of personal messages but I know he struggles to let it go and completely understand why. This is why I’ve posted up on here. Hoping to get a bit of backup from those that know him either in person or from this timeless thread.

Sorry S for sticking my oar in. It’s just because I care.

I’d highly recommend an extended break at least once a year to enable you to step back from it all and allow you to see how over obsessed with training all the time you’ve become. We’re all the same so I’m not having a go. I speak from experience.
Once you’ve had a good few weeks off or even months if that’s what you need, then you can return to training in a more measured and balanced way to help ensure you enjoy your hobby.
My tip is to treat learning how to recover as seriously as learning how to train. Stress + recovery = adaptation. We’re great at ladling on the stress but terrible at balancing it with recovery. Podcasts by Simon Ward are a great resource for learning. Perhaps start with his interview with Dr Phil Maffetone.

I think/hope e-bikes will fizzle out as people get fed up with their whizzy little motors wearing out and their 5K toy not working any more. They probably won’t feel like stumping up for another one every few years, well some will but not the majority.
Just like I’d love all car drivers to be forced into riding a bike for a while, I’d love all mtb’ers to be forced to ride a single speed for a winter. Aaahh, the silence! Something that’s been lost in the new generation of assisted cycles. Whrrrrrrr, whrrrrr, whrrrrrr, the sound of an electric drill taped to your bike. Great!

How about something like a Jones bar? Would give you a few different hand positions and with some extra taping you could probably rest your forearms on them too.

I really enjoyed the course at Llandovery. Most of the fun tech was out on the monster loop though. As to the weather, it’s Wales, occasionally it rains I believe.
So yeah a good day for me and a mate. We rode it rather than raced and got to eat lots of the homemade banana cake at the feed stops. Top marks to the baker, it was lovely.

Sounds like a fun plan Kryton. I love starting from the back, it’s so much more rewarding moving up through a field than down.
Is your plan to go hard from the line? In my experience it only takes a couple of minutes to get to your usual position, or are you going to hold back a bit and ride negative splits?
Anyway I applaud the fact that you’re thinking about ways to make a training race more constructive. How about also identifying a few technical twisty sections during your pre-ride then aim to ride them smoother and hence faster with each lap of the race. When you get home you can create some Strava segments to see if you’ve achieved it.

Got to laugh. Top three of vets were Mat Webber, Rob Purcell and Stuart McGhee. Not exactly an easy local race then. (To those that don’t know them, these three are legit national standard racers).

Did some snooping. Thank god you didn’t start Kryters!
I saw your post whilst drinking my morning coffee and thought; No! Don’t race, It’ll kill your morale.
You’re actually on a decent trajectory with your training this year so stay cool dude, play the long game. Glad to see you were smart.

Don’t dread it, it’s a brilliant day out. Big Welsh countryside, awesome scenery, and the guys and girls who put it on are the nicest bunch of people.
Don’t get carried away on the first climb then settle into your all day pace and have a smashing day out.

How much wobble is normal? Mine was lovely and tight when I got it but after one ride moves fore and aft a mm or two and side to side about the same.

The guy who used to own Cycleops Tonbridge retired a few years ago and a good thing too as he was pretty unpleasant. The lads who worked there bought the business and have put their heart and soul into the place. They’re good guys, great mechanics and have become friends of mine over time. I go there for a chat most weeks and always buy my bike stuff from them. They’ve done me a ton of favours and will often sort out any issues with my bike for free after ridiculing me for my half arsed attempts at fettling first of course.

I use a Pivot Les with a 120mm fork as my training bike. Use it for road miles too with the fork locked out. Have added some small frame bags to it with all the essentials in plus extra waterproofs and layers. One side of the main bag is kept full of snacks so I can just grab the bike and go without any hassle.
Love that bike so much.
I wouldn’t train on my race full suss. The components are too expensive. I run 2×10 on my Pivot which means I can get a new cassette and chain for about £25.

I did the double last year at Builth. The night race was one of the standout races in my life. It was so wet, muddy and slippery (like your front wheel was never tracking straight the entire time) that it was ludicrous, hence magnificent. The marshals out on the course were the real heroes. What a night to be out in.

Thanks Trailrat.

Some Googling has revealed that superglue might work. Its hard to find the right search phrase to find more specific information though.

Had to reply to the comment that the Topfuel wasn’t a modern xc bike or didn’t have a modern head angle.
The bike companies push for steady change to make your bike seem obsolete. One of the current drives is that a slack head angle is better for the ‘new generation of xc courses’. Sorry but xc courses are not getting markedly harder, they’re just not. World Cup maybe but nationally, no.
Now think about what you want from an xc bike. You want super fast handling, a great climbing position, and a taught frame that doesn’t waste energy. You do not want a slack trail bike. Please engage your brains before just following the marketing blurb like sheep.
If you are worried about technical challenges then a dropper post allows your body to move by massive amounts thus totally changing the geometry of your riding position.

Kyrton.
Would you agree with the following?

I think when you test ftp you come in a little under what’s expected, thus your zones are set a little too low.

Whether this is due to a natural phenomena or because you’re not trained in this department would have to be assessed.
3x15mins at 105-120% is a bit out of normal parameters in my experience and from most accepted studies, even that article you linked too stated above 8mins in this zone was not really possible.

Please note mate that this is not a dig, quite the opposite in fact, as it could be that you are underestimating your ftp and could be further along the bell curve of cyclists than you think. (I know this doesn’t affect race performance but it’s nice for bragging rights).

Further anecdotal evidence to support this would be when we discuss sweetspot work (90-95% ftp). I find The difference between doing the intervals at 90% or 95% very marked, so a 5% difference makes a large impact. If your ftp was just set 5% too low then your 105% intervals would be actually at threshold and 3×15’s would be possible (but still brutally hard)

If you can do 3×15 intervals at 110% then I’d say that figure would be darn close to your actual ftp.

Food for thought?

Sorry OP. By the way my wife’s a teacher and it looks to be about the most exhausting job there is. I’d suggest fitting riding around your job, forget training and just getting out whenever possible. Record your tss and see how you ctl graph looks after a year. You might be able to see trends then get into some more focussed training.