Mucky nutz works fine, is a bit more angular than rounded but I don’t pull it right to the top as there is plenty of clearance anyway. Been using one for a few years now with no issues.

Malt loaf, flattened, and some jelly babies or similar for variety and a treat. Always carry one gel just in case on big rides, rarely need it but..

Power meter is a constant measure ie can use all year round in the real world and can use same figures to work off. Smart turbo is great in that you don’t have to think about matching efforts it does it for you and doesn’t let you slack off.
I’ve got both and if I had to have only one it would the power meter as not overly happy with smart turbo accuracy and power meter is more useful year round. Sometimes I use the power meter to control the kickr for accuracy.

Done. Good luck to him and hope weather good…

Ac wheels are really easy to swap from qr to bolt through, just new axles. Well my race ones are anyway.. Just this new boost standard is stopping me swapping to a trek pro caliber at the mo as I have a few wheels.

Everyone else uses NP and strava uses their idea of average. Difference between can be huge, especially if the ride is full of big efforts.

Nutcracker rd 1 at Whinlatter this Sunday, weather looking good. Should be a fast course with plenty of elevation 😀

Good course at Sherwood today, sure there was some trees I didn’t bounce off..

I did ok but wife got a second 😀 She’s a bit bruised and battered though as misjudged speed off a fire road, apparently still bounces well !

Another one for Vets at Sherwood, first race of the season and not doing the full series so a bit of a try out before Nutcrackers. See if winter prep been enough or blow up on the first lap !
Good luck all and hope it dries out.

Giro hv fitting work for me

Glad to hear some good real world feedback re the Lauf, still trying to convince my wife (with no success) that they would be ideal for her xc and marathon racing. At 84 kg I might not be the target audience..

Decent enough lap round Dalby for someone terribly unfit 😉 Glad you managing to get out again, we were in Sherwood the day after you. We got the rain !

Peter S

Wife and I going to have a go at that Midlands first round as well, been at Sherwood today for a quick go as not been for a while. Thunder burts were interesting in the mud after a lot of rain this morning !
Anyone know what the course is normally like ?

Wife and I will be doing the Nutcrackers again, have done for a few years, very well organised and good courses. Few more marathons and possibly the first Midlands at Sherwood. Away for the Nationals at Dalby which is annoying…

Got one recently, got it for when bike either hasn’t got a bottle or need more than one and don’t want a camelback. Impressed so far, no movement and packs a fair bit of stuff. Only issue is having to tighten when water level drops and still find putting the bite valve back a bit awkward.

Training zones, power zones, ftp and then change or change through garmin connect

Never bothered with squats for leg power, devolped a pretty decent sprint power from low cadence high torque efforts. However always been intrigued by box jumps, just not very good at doing routines.

http://www.xcracer.com/shop/viewproduct.php?productid=351

Works well for me and only a fiver..

From my simplistic point of view, doesn’t matter what your actual power is as long as it is a consistent measure. Which is why I have fallen out with my Kickr, now using a stages to control it, as I use the stages on the road and want it to be the same.
I haven’t regretted getting a power meter but I did regret a year or two back getting a bit lost with too much info, I now just follow a relevant trainerroad program on the turbo and have a good feel of what I want to do on the road from these programs.
I would say pick one method and stick with it, I liked Friels but haven’t read any other to any extent.
Edit: what he said ^

I don’t like the front wheel fixed in place so have put a bit of smooth ply under the wheel, allows a degree of movement with less friction than just straight on to concrete. Whilst won’t stop the bars turning might mean that the bars return central more naturally.
I also try and make sure I am not pulling on the bars during intervals, I loosened off the stem bolts for a while so if I put any pressure on them they creaked badly. The game was to keep them silent, sad but kept me amused.

Brother had a KR1-s at the same time as he was racing a rotax, sure he would have been faster on that, but probably no more reliable 🙂

Rxs 100 – 17 and proper freedom

Ktm 525 exc – looney offroad and awesome with supermoto wheels

Aprilia rsv 1000 – the handling, so planted

Had a Montesa just like that as a hand me down field bike when I was a kid, poor thing..

That’s it, seen my a..e with the kickr. Been doing short power build and been thinking harder than should be, hadn’t checked against stages for a while so changed bikes prior to Fang mountain. Kickr under reading by around 10% no wonder been hard.
Will have a mess with belt tension and calibrate again but think going to have to use the stages to control it in the future. I know the stages is ok as have compared it to my wife’s and they are pretty much the same. Might be the push I needed to get a stages for the mtb 🙂

mrblobby, my erg does follow cadence quite quickly, if you slow down it does increase resistance but not in a sudden ramp up there is a soft edge to it. However you wouldn’t be able to back off for any time mid interval unless you can pick it back up from a low cadence.
Which is why it’s perfect for me, I have no issues with hitting a certain power over a time period but hitting that same power with no variation is what is hard. Certainly helping with mental game for next season.

Erg for someone like me who could quite easily give up and back off, no backbone, is perfect. Also don’t have to think doing intervals. Not bothered if it feels artificial or not, I couldn’t turbo without it.
Part way through short power build and just done Thimble, felt the last few intervals…

Regular customer had it, only real frustration for him (that he said) was a badly watering eye. I would say its probably a year now and wouldn’t be able to tell.

Glad they getting you sorted, didn’t want to say too much re the shop as both my wife and I race and Strava under the shops name.
Didn’t want it to be an advertisement but knew they had plenty in and would be more than happy to let you car park play before a more ‘formal’ demo.

Test ride is your friend, what’s fast for some may not be for you. I can hammer round Dalby etc on a lightweight 100mm 29er but sometimes if I want to just want to enjoy it I take my 160mm 26er. Wheel size is only a very small part of it…
If you are near Pickering there is a Trek Dealer there.

A pro’s 20 min ‘test’ just before doing a fairly chunky ride. Got to love ten Dam https://www.strava.com/activities/466510725/overview
Have a look at his laps..

First turbo session in just short of a month as a bit of illness, Christmas then couldnt be bothered. Managed to get plenty of riding in though so wasn’t as painful as thought was going to be.
Grassy ridge and enjoyed it, must be mad but glad I did as can just carry on now with build.

The stretching advice does have a lot of merit, it makes a huge differance in the ability to cope with differant positions.

Look up reach and stack and how to measure, see if any differance there. Also pick a point hip, knee and ankle when on the bike (need someone else for this) and try and check relative angles against each bike when on them.
Could be something as simple as seat tube angle putting you more toward or back from the bb. Check where the front of the knee is in relation the the pedal spindle. Loads on the web re what to look for here.
Hope helps.

Shoe dryer, warm air blower fastened to the wall. Two of us riding every day meant loads of wet shoes, not any more..

Test rode a 29 scalpel a couple of years back on a demo day in Dalby, was the top of the range bling version. Very capable and fast, I was looking into one as more of a race bike but ended up with a Trek FS superfly due to getting a good deal.
Depends what you want from a trail bike ? My Trek is of a similar type to the scalpel and I’ve used it in all sorts of situations from short xc races, marathon events to holidays in Scotland and Wales and had no issues. However whilst I can certainly go quickly round trail centres etc on it, if I’m not in the mood and take liberties it can bite.. Not quite the easy going nature that a longer travel slacker bike has. Wheels and tyres make a huge difference though as very sensitive to set up.

Good worked for you. I’m coming off the back of some sort of bug as well, for the past week and a bit just basic commute and even that was hard work. Trail centre play today with wife and friends woke me up but no turbo til after Christmas now.
All the best to everyone and good luck for the New Year.

I’m same sort of weight to you and race xc and marathons, used a pair of crests for a few years, now use American Classic race. However I’m on a 29er FS, snapped a few spokes in light builds when racing hardtails.
As said above courses are very differant and I wouldn’t get too hung up on equipment as yet, I’ve had my arse handed to me by guys on ‘heavy and outdated’ kit 🙂

Look up testing on an erg trainer in the trainerroad help, it explains it better than I would 🙂

I did get caught out in the wrong gear in my first interval and ended up hitting close to double ftp to start, not ideal ! Don’t worry about it too much, have a experiment, takes practice to get right.

Wrecker, trainerroad uses the erg mode for the ftp tests only for the warm up. The actual 8 minute intervals are automatically swapped to resistance or slope as they call it, so it’s fine to leave in erg. I did yesterday.

Swedish Chef, good luck with that. I decided to do an ftp test in the same way as was not feeling great, it was due anyway, maybe not a great idea as feel rough as … now. Should have stopped halfway through when HR not climbing as easy as normal. Going to use Christmas as an excuse to take it easy, maybe.. Might even have a few runs for a change.

mrblobby, far as I know the treks are designed around the g2 geo its the old Gary Fisher idea. I know of people that have used standard offset forks and not had issues but I think the whole point of the greater offset is to help with stability but still be fairly quick turning.
The other sticking point re me swapping back to hardtail for xc racing is rear wheels, I used to break a few on a hardtail. At 82kg and a reasonable pwr the extra couple of pounds is probably worth it.

I’m still toying with the idea of a trek procaliber to replace my superfly FS in some xc races, not for weight but for directness and the fact that they are so much shorter now. That is the sticking point at the mo though, it’s short because of boost wheels… But interested in the flex for seated comfort.

Just done 8 minute FTP test, 1 watt less than mid season FTP so more than happy. Went for an mtb play yesterday, so not really the recovery day supposed to have before testing but more realistic for me anyway as a comparison.
Was feeling that couldn’t get HR up as easily as normal and evidenced by a reduction in the LTHR so maybe have been overdoing it in my rest week.