A pre-ride dump probably gains more weight saving than that. Mine certainly would.

Going to the toilet pre-ride and using XTR brakes are not mutually exclusive. 😛

I had the same thing – spikes and massive low dips with my Garmin HRM band. Switch to Polar and it’s been consistent ever since.

There’s a guide to the conversion here: http://fellrnr.com/wiki/Garmin_Heart_Rate_Monitoring

I had an Azonic Steelhead. Way too stiff in the back end and weight a ton, so swapped it out for a Chameleon.

Chameleon was still stupidly stiff so tried a Soul.

Sold the Soul. As it turns out I just don’t like hardtails – everytime I’d ride any of those three I’d be thinking “this trail would be much more fun with a bit of float in the back”. Much happier aboard a FS 😀

Zoggs Predators here. Brilliant goggles, lots of lens options (yellow, grey, polarised), not stupid expensive, last for ages.

Congrats munge-chick! A friend did Wales last year, the course looked properly horrible – I’m glad I stuck with a nice flat one for my first 🙂

I could’ve had sub 14 if I hadn’t stopped or 5 wee’s on the bike and 2 on the run

This should be part of general race prep as well – there’s a decision to be made about peeing on the bike. Given you’re going to change entirely into clean run kit, you can gain a fair bit of time if you don’t stop… 😈

I googled “bluetooth cadence sensor” and got this in the first couple of hits:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/wahoo-blue-sc-speedcadence-sensor-for-iphone/?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&utm_source=pla&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=uk&kpid=5360576255

You could also use an Ant+ dongle in your phone and a normal Ant+ cadence/speed sensor, but that would make your phone a bit more bulky.

No experience of either though I’m afraid – I’ve got a Garmin for this sort of thing 🙂

I’m running a mid-compact 52-36 on my roadie. Deep section race wheels have 11-25, training / climbing wheels are running 11-28.

However, both are Shimano 11-speed – so the 11-28 is effectively a traditional 11-25, but with an extra bailout gear. It’s one of the major advantages of 11-speed IMO, you get the traditional ‘steps’ between gears but the bailout is there if you need it (much like 10 –> 11 MTB).

I used o-rings on mine with no problems. Stem was too short though so it gets mounted on the bars, just to the left of the stem (same place as it lives when it’s on my road bike).

Bus Driver Simulator

Already exists: http://bus-simulator-2012.en.softonic.com/

Buses – pah! Train Simulator is where it’s at 😀

NWS, #YOLO

Agree with a lot of the above. I was on the study with petrieboy for Challenge Barcelona 2013, finished in 13:27 or so.

I’m considering doing the same race in 2015, but the big thing is the amount of training time it takes up. For a 4-week block, ~2 months before the event, you won’t really much weekend time free – you really want to be doing long bike rides (100 mile+), followed by decent long run sessions. If you’re doing that on a Saturday, you don’t want to be out Friday night, and Saturday night is a write off…

Also agree with losing a lot of short-distance speed and power – my interval work and hill climbing went down the toilet with IM training!! Hoping to get things back in order with a winter of squats 🙂

It’s a really great experience though. Takes a lot of time, but is excellent fun! Some of the triathletes are really scary though – people at the sharp end are running 2h40 marathon legs 😯

How did you work out the “zones”?

Whoops! Edited so as not to confuse future generations 😀

I never managed to get the “don’t remove the core” extenders to work – I tried Zipp (same sort of thing as the LifeLine) and Topeak (with the long internal sleeve to open/close the valve) and neither really worked satisfactorily. Of the two, the Topeak ones worked slightly better as you can at least open and close the valve core, rather than having to leave it open the whole time.

After a couple of months I just bought tubes with removable cores. So far they’ve been far more reliable and easier to work with.

Your valve extenders aren’t working because they’re upside-down. If you want something to just stick on the end of your current tubes, you need extenders like turboferret posted. However – they’re shit, don’t bother 😀

EDIT: Ignore me, I’m confused. njee is right 😳

I’m using Turtle Beach X1s with my X360. Relatively cheap, fairly sturdy, and include all the pass-through cables with them so you don’t need to faff around unplugging stuff once they’re set up.

We stayed in Plas Curig last weekend, and they were great. Unfortunately it’s 10 minutes further away than Betws y Coed, so probably too far away for you!

Slightly OT – was my first time ay C-y-B and we did Tawr Du. Don’t bother – that trail is **** dreadful. Fireroad all the way up, and then back down on more fireroad! What a waste of 90 minutes 👿

IMO OP is in the right here. Yes, cables and guards can rub but that is a ****load of damage for one ride – and the fact that MudHugger don’t include tape or even instructions to “use some tape” is pretty shit.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a product whose entire purpose is to protect you from mud to be designed such that it doesn’t wear away your frame when used in muddy conditions.

If you’re somewhere with internet access, could you not just clear the balance mid-way through your holiday? If you’ve got the details set up to transfer from your current account to your credit card, it should only take a couple of minutes in an internet cafe.

Freespeed in London are excellent. I’ve had a road and TT fit from Richard and he knows his stuff – especially in terms of what brands of bike fit certain “shapes” of rider.

http://www.freespeed.co.uk/

Austentatious are very good – improv Jane Austen with a fairly surreal twist.

Also Cariad Lloyd & Louise Ford’s Character Hour was quite good at Latitude. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Cariad is properly stunning 😳

They’re for Thailand, but that includes 3 days in Bangkok.

Wear normal shoes in Bangkok, it’s not that hot. Take sandals for the beach.

Thanks everyone for the input. I particularly liked the first two suggestions, which I think are probably the best option right now!

Also liking the “veg in the desk” approach to eating. I used to try that with nuts (cashews, almonds) but they’re pretty calorie-dense too so may not be that helpful.

Maybe I need some sort of public embarrassment motivation, like promising to post the Rapha kit photo in 3 months 😳

179cm, 81.7kg, shade over 26 on the scale. I definitely could do with losing a bit of weight, but am probably as fit as I’ve ever been…

I guess that means: Good News, you’ve put on muscle; Bad News, you need to lose some fat 😀

It’s by Michael Bay, of course its shite.

Factually incorrect:

Looking at your motherboard spec sheet:

– 6 xSATA 3.0 Gb/s ports
– 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports (gray)

So you should be able to plug in the new SSD, clone the old to the new and then switch to booting from the new drive. Bear in mind that for the clone, you don’t HAVE to have both drives on SATA 6.0 Gb ports.

There shouldn’t be a problem cloning the small to the large drive – Intel and Samsung both provide utilities you can use (if you buy a new Intel or Samsung drive) to do the cloning for free.

In terms of decent SSDs – Samsung 850 pro, 840 pro, 840 Evo are the best (in descending order of performance). Intel SSD 530s are OK too. Don’t buy OCZ (now Toshiba), Crucial, Kingston, Plextor drives – various issues with the different companies.

Indexing-wise, Tom’s Hardware has a brief discussion here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/294861-32-ssds-indexing
In summary – turn off indexing on the SSD, it’s fast enough that you don’t need it. Leave it turned on on the 1Tb HDD, job’s a good’un 🙂

Well this is looking fun! 48 laps and 4 seconds in it, let’s see what happens 😀

Hmmm. Maybe it is just EE being shit then 👿

I also get connectivity issues with losing 3G altogether – to the point where I have to turn the phone off and on again to re-establish a connection. Really getting annoying now!

If you’re using these end caps, then DON’T! http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/solid-bar-ends-x2.htm

The grub screw tightens the cap on by pushing into the bar, not by clamping round it. That’s a big mistake on carbon bars, as it’s very very easy to break the bars. Get an end collar that clamps round, not into, the bar, then plugs to go in that.

If you’re talking about web pages loading, then it’s not just you. I’ve got a 5 and I’m seeing exactly the same thing – web pages takes ages to load.

Having said that – I don’t think it’s the handset. I just swapped mine out at the apple store for a replacement (battery wasn’t lasting well), and it sees the same thing. I think it’s most likely the network – ever since EE introduced 4G (and I didn’t pay to upgrade), things have been getting worse and worse on the connection side. Very tempted to jump ship (or at least try a different network SIM and see how it goes).

I think it depends what Mrs Stoner’s mentality is. If she’s gunning for a podium and if she doesn’t get that then the race is over, then yeah I’d say go tubs.

If on the other hand she just wants to place “well”, clinchers are a hell of a lot easier to fix on-course. IMO the weight penalty (maybe 200g) is worth it to be able to finish the race.

On the carbon vs alu side – if you’ve got a backup wet-day wheelset that you’re happy to use, then go full carbon. I’d probably go 50mm front / 80mm rear – the rear makes much less difference in terms of handling, so you should just go as deep as possible to maximise benefits.

I don’t drink a lot mid-week, maybe a social pint or two in the evening. But if I’m going out for a big night out, it tends to be 8-9 pints (or the equivalent in shots mixed in). I am the ugly face of binge drinking Britain 😀

Fun as it is, it does royally shag any chance of a good weekend’s riding though – so I try to make a big night out a rarity, and it feels like more of an “occasion” rather than a weekly scheduled thing.

Unfortunately, a friend told me about the “bicentennial” – 100 beers* and 100 miles run in a week. This is clearly an awesome idea, I’m aiming to get it done later this year… 😈
http://doublecenturyandabeltbuckle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/in-summary-running-and-drinking.html

* US beers, so only ~65 pints

Not really, you can’t fit smaller than a 38t on a 130mm BCD, so they’re compacts with larger rings, rather than standard cranks with smaller rings

You’re right – my mistake! Compact and mid-compact both run 110mm BCD on 5-arm cranks. I do like Shimanos new 4-arm design which takes any size though – a new standard that actually has a useful benefit 😮

It’s “mid compact” you’re looking for. You can buy mid-compact chainsets, but they’re just the same as compact or standard (depending on manufacturer), just with different sized rings.

So: if you’re happy with your current cranks, just swap the rings out. First result on google is some praxis works ones, but there are lots of manufacturers making them (I’ve gone with Rotor).

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/praxis-works/mid-compact-double-52-36-tooth-110mm-bcd-chainring-set-ec049758

11-28 here, but 11 speed so I don’t get any big jumps through the block. 52-36 Q rings up front.

In TT setup I use 11-25, but 11 speed again – so just get an extra bailout gear vs 11-23. Was enough to get me up Ditchling Beacon last weekend, and spun out the 52-11 on the way down the other side 🙂

Just having breakfast before doing London to Brighton for the second week in a row – looks glorious!

Then boat party tonight. I suspect an afternoon disco nap is on the cards…

Ok, it was more like 2m50. And I might have spent a little less time waiting at red lights. But I’m pretty sure my HRM was down, and the bike was identically set up except for bars (lower) and *more* bottle cage crap hanging off than last time.
I suppose it’s possible I was having a “good day”, but that aero article linked earlier reckoned 2m for drops –> aero bars, and another minute for a decent tuck on top of that…

Funnily enough, I did a 10 mile TT this morning. Dropped 3 minutes compared to my time last week 8) I’m not significantly fitter, so it must be down to a change of position.

Last week was on standard roadie drops, this week on a proper aerobar setup. Frame, wheels, helmet, etc all unchanged!

Yeah but they’re not the same as ‘normal’ shoes still are they?

Well no, they’re not. But it’s not like trying to wear normal shoes on an ice rink, there’s still *some* grip there.

TBH I think it’s the triathlete advantage – I’ve got to be able to run through transition, so I’ve just got used to running with cleats 😀 *ducks*

Don’t think I ever played as Oddjob…

4 way multi player, one shot kills, slappers only. Bring it on!

…and how much fun were the proximity mines…..wanders off to check eBay

Yes! Archives w/ proxy mines was hilarious once you worked out the spawn locations. Just a series of explosions 😀 We also used to play “You Only Live Twice” mode, with the winner having to take a shot. Great way of levelling the playing field after 30 minutes or so!

On-topic content: unicyclists. Especially “off road” unicyclists who insist in getting in the way down a MTB 4x track. DO ONE 👿

one of the main things alsov i want is to be able to walk off the bike rather than waddle on cleats. Im thinking recessed MTB SPD/eggbeater types would be the only choice

I’ve never understood this. I can happily jog in my cleats if I need to (using Specialized S-Works shoes, so plenty stiff!). Maybe on super slippery floors it’s a bit dodgy, but on tarmac and pavement? Really??

I have nothing useful to add, but I would like to say a big “thank you” for yet another hilarious “Hora bike size” thread 😀

+1 for changing the forks BTW, that’ll probably fix it