Sorry, misread your post. I thought you meant it was the first time you’d been on the turbo this year!

Still a dumb workout though. It’s impossible to do well. Max efforts need around five mins recovery between them in my book. There is a place for a micro recovery workout but not with 15 uninterrupted reps.

Revolver is a really dumb workout and certainly not one to do without a ton of training in your legs.Sufferfest is cute but there’s a lot better, progressive stuff out there these days. Sounds like you just went too hard, too soon .

There’s one on this weekend isn’t there?

And I’ve got the impression from the calendar that the rest of the world cups will be on the uci channel. Fingers crossed.

The full Olympic course at Hadleigh actually fell into this category. The nationals this year was such a hard race.

I’m more looking for massive climbs and fast, technical downhills. There don’t seem to be many race courses like this in the UK. Am I wrong?

NPS races not out yet. Dalby would be on my hit list. Glentress was very good as well apparently.

After receiving a ‘so glad you reached out to us but screw you our monthly subscription costs are €30/month’, I’ve found a fix:

Am watching the 2013 cx season. Started the odessey with GP Mario de Clerk (13th Oct) which was a total mud fest. Nys, Van de Haar, Niels Albert, Meusen, Pauwells… it’s got it all. Even better, Meusen is riding my bike! Not just a bike like mine but the actual frame set I bought from Paul Milnes Cycles last year. Some bastards just stamped on it; explains all the paint chips.

3hr ride in the rain today, cx on telly in the warmth this afternoon with the cat on my lap, actual cx racing in the rain tomorrow. 18mm studs fitted, beer being consumed (a nice Triple), order is resumed.

Screw you back Flobikes!

I’ve emailed flobikes asking if they could provide a sensibly priced subscription just for cx races.

I’m so cute aren’t I? Thinking that these mega companies actually would give a damn about me. Properly deluded. Oh well, makes me feel a touch better somehow to have at least pointed out to them that they’ve taken my ‘cross from me but they won’t be getting my money.

Had a look for the Waterloo wc on the uci channel. ‘Not available in your area’.

Such a shame. It made me so happy to hear commentary in Flemish and see signs advertising Prik&Tik and such like whilst enjoying a brew after a tough day at work out in the wind.

Let’s make this thread a resource for naughty cx streams.

No spoilers, just heads up and links.

Brico cross on VTM shown by Veldritfan on youtube. Nice loose course. Enjoy!

If you monetising nobs knew cyclocross then you’d know how to fall flat on your arse and then leap straight back onto your bike, however you’ll probably organise a committee meeting to decide how to go forward on the issue.

it appears I needed to rant about this.

Man I’m with Ferrrals on this. You race on a Sunday and want to watch some cx on a Monday night for inspiration/education. Used to just browse YouTube for loads of videos but now everything is geoblocked or withheld etc. I really hate these corporate scumbags. Can’t you just leave our little sport alone and concentrate on filling your pockets from more mainstream stuff. I don’t mind a half arsed feed and Belgian comenatary, just leave it alone.

Eurosport for wc, flobikes or whatever they’re called for the rest, it ain’t going to happen. I’ll just not watch cx then. Hope your business model falls flat on its arse.

We got to race at Crystal Palace today at London league, including running up a flight of stone steps. Proper CX racing, massive festival atmosphere with 100’s of kids getting stuck into their races and the general bonhomie that comes with the off road scene.

Very good day.

I’m loving this Vuelta, particularly that the breakaway’s are succeeding most days giving two races to enjoy.

Slightly ashamed to say that I prefer watching slightly anomalous performances as part of thrilling bike racing to the team Sky approach of stifling every race they want to win. Team Sky have singlehandedly ruined my viewing pleasure, I even couldn’t care when Geraint won the Tour despite liking the guy.

Thrilled that Sky aren’t even in the arena at the Vuelta.

I’ve met two e-bikers out in the wilds of Pitch Hill now. First one was derestricted but the bloke was nice enough. I challenged him to a race up a steep climb and beat him on my xc bike.

Second was on the road climb up Holmbury and I once again instigated a race. Held him off for a while by staying over 15mph but then I blew up and he cruised past.

Not sure how I feel about them as a concept but I enjoy using them for motorpacing when out training.

If someone buzzed my back wheel they’d be challenged to a race also. I’d turn myself inside out trying to beat them

Yeah but there’s getting down stuff and getting down it fast! I’m pretty naff at descending but do practice it regularly. Plan to really tackle it full on next year. I’m loosing massive handfuls of time to the leaders and you are worse than me. Makes sense if you’re training your arse off to get fitter that you devote equal time to getting faster doesn’t it?

Can we stage a group intervention for Kryten? I keep banging on about how he needs to work on his technical skills more than his strength but he won’t listen! He’s losing more time on the downhills than the ups yet he has no time allocated to improving this weakness in his weekly schedule. His reply to my suggesting that he should push himself into becoming a better bike handler and maybe try some enduro’s to work on his skills was: “he’d rather not as technical wasn’t his strength”.

Sorry for dropping this on you Steve. It’s a pretty small community on this thread and we all know you quite well so I hope you don’t mind my impertinence. Hoping you’ll see the light and come smash up some trails with us this winter after you’ve fitted a dropper and done a couple of skills courses to get comfy with drops.

I did this to a Spesh grid casing.

Hey Kryten. A question dear to our hearts. I’ll wade in with my current thoughts as I’ve been giving it more thought since our last ride together.

I don’t think giving up everything bad will change our results drastically however I know for certain that I feel loads better in the mornings when I’ve been a good boy the day before.(Hence sitting here typing rather than getting straight out riding this morning due to having a couple of glasses of wine last night).

So does it matter? I’m going to say yes. I figure that what we’re searching for in this sport is the feeling of being the best we can be. Neither of us is going to get the call up for the national squad or any kind of recognition beyond the odd ‘nice one mate’, so our satisfaction has to come from a sense of personal achievement in our endeavours.

We’ll never get full satisfaction if we feel that we’ve let ourselves down by failing at one of the tasks we’ve set ourselves which in this case is managing addiction.

Think of all the effort that we put into training yet we reduce our ability by giving into the subconscious demands of nasty addictive chemical compounds called alcohol and sugar. It’s a bit lame isn’t it?

Simple sugars have their place (probably). We know the current science about timing intake etc. Alcohol has no place in an athletes nutrition.

We know the answers, we’d be so happy with ourselves if we could live cleanly for at least certain blocks of the year, yet find it almost impossible to achieve. I know I keep failing at giving up booze and it really annoys me. I’m just so addicted.

Maybe start a stw help club?

Clear your mind completely of what you think you SHOULD do, then allow yourself to think what you WANT to do each day whilst you come back from illness or a break. I think your body and mind know exactly what they are capable of if you’ll just listen to what they are saying.

In fact this thread has highlighted what a waste of time the internet can be. I’ve just spent an hour typing shit to an audience who doesn’t care and all it’s done has irritated myself and others. I only look at this site when I’m bored, it’s a bit of an automatic thing.

Time to try go cold turkey and stop doing it. Wish me luck! I’ll be cool when I see you out on the trails whatever you ride, I only get antsy when on here.

Right, it’s a beautiful, sunny day. Laterz xxx

And wouldn’t it be great if walking/public transport was utilised more? I find driving the single most aggravating thing I have to face each day.

In fairness I did race a second hand, singlespeed, rigid 26’er until a couple of years ago when I finally got fed up with being disadvantaged on some courses and had to buy a 29er to keep up.

P.S. before you point out that xc racing is not carried out on simple pieces of equipment, I’d add that I heartily agree. I think racing would be great if it was based on one-design, cheap, simple bikes where you paid your money, pulled a bike off the rack and lined up to compete on equal terms. In road racing/crits i find it ridiculous that you have fifteen year olds on 5k superbikes. Legs should do the talking, not wallets.

We’ll have to see how this all pans out over the next decade. I think it’d be a shame if ‘clockwork bikes’ became museum pieces but judging from the posts on here I’d say that there is a chance of that happening. When I first came to mountain biking, articles such as Guy Martin riding his Cotic Soul (with heavily patched inner tubes)  around the moors with the poor interviewer try to keep up, were what inspired me. I don’t see that adding more expensive, complex machinery to a beautiful, simple piece of equipment, as a good thing.

I’m fortunate in that I’ve found a niche for myself in xc racing where hopefully bikes will remain purely human powered and I’ll continue to be able to enjoy the company of like minded people. I only come into contact with ebikes when I go to trail centres anyway which is once in a blue moon, but I must admit I hate the thought of being overtaken by someone less fit than me on a climb, doesn’t seem right, but that’s my problem and I enjoy giving chase and using them as a rabbit to make me push myself harder in training.

So why do I feel so anti? It’s so hard to explain to people who don’t let the following things bother them: TV – generally, what a waste of time, plastic food in plastic wrappers, big expensive cars bought on credit by people who can’t really afford them, credit in general – if you can’t afford it then you can’t afford it! I won’t go on, I’m sure you get my point. I’m not a Luddite, I just think that actual happiness is often achieved when you stop trying to have the next thing and slow down a bit to enjoy what you have.

Bracing myself yet again for the howls of derision by the extremely shouty pro group. Don’t slay a man for trying to look into the future and expressing concerns about the human condition. Just look at the state of our planet and ask yourself do we really need millions of new units of bulky, toxic trash dumped into our consumer train? As mountain bikers couldn’t we take the high ground and say ‘no we don’t want your sh*t, we want to enjoy the woods and hills on the stuff we’ve got already, powered by our own efforts’, a little bit separate from the madding crowd fighting for the next iPhone in the cities.

I know this arguament is full of flaws and ridiculously eutopian, and the fact that I’m typing on a forum instead of going out in this beautiful morning rather goes against my preaching, but I keep feeling compelled to post on these threads and keep banging my head against the wall when I just ask you all to think in a different way for maybe a tiny benefit to the world we live in.

Oh what’s the point in arguing about it? Let’s not do another 10 page slanging match. Too much of that on this forum.

I’m only on the computer because it’s too hot to go outside to train.

What surprises me when I see these threads is how much love for ebikes there is on here. I’m so out of touch with the easier is better way of thinking. For me satisfaction comes largely from effort, practice and pushing yourself. I’m with Dave on his views and wish more were.

Kryton. Do you watch the GTN show? Loads of good stuff on there.

And back to the original question posed by the OP, yes they will most likely evolve into light motorbikes.  The demand will be there for zero effort climbing to enable fun on the way down. The current state of affairs is just a stepping stone. It’s a bit silly really making the throttle peddle controlled, it’s only a way of bypassing the law really. Give it time and humans* desire to make everything easier will prevail.

*All species do this, but it’d be nice if we tried to resist the urge to ‘advance’ sometimes and just enjoyed what we had.

We should pity the poor fools who’ve bought into this new improved way of riding. No longer will a couple of mates be able to turn to each other and say ‘shall we press on and make this an epic?’ Instead of popping into a shop for more food supplies there’ll be bleating about battery range and the idea will be killed in an instant. It’s another cute move by the bike industry. All I see in my mind is a bunch of people walking zombie-like into the abyss waving their credit cards chanting ‘I want, I want, I want!’

(Before anyone gets upset, this is all said in a light hearted manner. I don’t care THAT much)

I raced Southern xc at Pippingford today.

It was the best bit of mtb’ing I’ve done in years!

It was basically a big climb split into singletrack sections followed by the most sublime downhill ever.

Being a bit of an xc jeyboy I rather focus on power and climbing and all that stuff, but this course made me focus on descending. It’s been so long since I’ve had to say to myself ‘heels down, pump into the berms, feel the g-force and squirt out into the next berm’.

I’m so happy! It’s like I used to feel when I started mtb riding.

If you’re not in a rush then they provide a cheap place to shop. I’ve only placed one order with them and after about a week I got an email saying they were waiting for one item to arrive before dispatching the order. I asked if they could send it in two deliveries as I wanted the brake pads for an upcoming race and they did that for me. Fair enough service I’d say.

Generally I use my lbs for stuff but occasionally it’s fun to go online and buy a few bits for bargain prices. Tredz is pretty cheap.

Thisisnotaspoon and BadlyWiredDog, thank you for so eloquently putting into words that gut feeling about ebikes that nags away at me despite all the arguments in their favour.

The jet ski analogy reminded me of a time when I used to windsurf. Trying to come ashore a jet ski was getting pounded in the shore break. We may have spent a while watching the machine getting crunched into the pebbles (the guy was safe on the shore), with plenty of oooos and ahhhs and “that’ll be expensive” remarks, before ambling down to help pull it out. Fellow windsurfer in the same situation would have had guys running down the beach to whip them out of trouble.

Fond memories.

Just checked Wikipedia. 56% fossil fuels in 2016. That is really good news to me, I presumed it was way higher.

Changes tack: How about the environmental damage in the production and disposal of Lithium batteries?

I WILL find an actual reason to justify my irrational (or maybe not?) hatred of these infernal machines!

Just to remind folk. Electricity doesn’t just magically appear, it comes mainly from burning fossil fuels. For transport, electric powered vehicles are a step towards reducing emissions. For recreation they are creating extra demand for fossil fuels.

I do wonder though if we all, myself included, spend too much time being tired.

Training plans seem (correct me if I’m wrong) based on the assumption that we’re all living like pros. For example that a rest day will be total rest. Anyone with a family will know how unrealistic that is

A question I often ask myself is : ‘is this making me faster, or just more tired?’ All too often ‘more tired would be the honest answer’.

I’m trying an experiment this year where if I don’t feel like training because I’m tired then I don’t. I’m just listening to my body and only riding when I’m keen to do so. My rides have definatily been more spirited so I’m hoping this’ll translate into speed.

Focus is on the CX season for the third year in a row, so the results this year will tell all. I’m hoping I won’t be rubbish, but I’m loving not being tired all the time. Life is a lot easier like this.

Stumbled across this whilst browsing a tt forum. It’s part of a longer discussion but I liked this sentiment so much I copied and pasted it here:

…Although personally I went a lot better without a coach, without a plan, without any worries about FTP or CTL, without zones, no easy rides needed or wanted (maybe occasional recovery rides and plenty of warm ups and warm downs), get rid of all that rubbish, cut the junk out – focus on doing quality sessions where each one is dosed based on how you feel and how tired you want to be for your next race, your training should be aiming to elicit adaptation not tiredness, so you’re looking to drive forward your athletic development with a mix of enjoyable training that focusses on metabolic muscle fitness and development, with enough vo2 exposure to keep you sharp and enjoying it, but never so tired you can’t do the next session easily – stay healthy and keep adapting and keep riding consistently. My best power (which I never got to put down in a race) was achieved on a CTL of 30-40 – much higher than my power with a CTL of 75 in previous years.