“£51.2M” and “absolute bargain” in the same sentence?

Pogba on a free transfer looks like a rip off in comparison!

Is this the Alps Epic, OP?

If you choose organic, make sure you take some spares with you! Keep an eye on how much is left on them at the end of each day.

For a similar event (Swiss Epic) I didn’t feel the need for finned pads.

I would recommend you only let him fish, don’t try and do it at the same time. You’re effectively going to be his ghillie, dealing with baiting the hook, unhooking the fish, etc.

Still waters (or very slow moving rivers e.g. like in Norfolk broads) will be easier for beginners.

At that age would recommend a fixed pole set-up (no reel).  Something like this: ebay link

He won’t need a rod licence until he’s 12, but you will most likely need to buy him a day-ticket for the water you choose. Best to find somewhere with a stock of small coarse fish (roach, rudd, perch etc.), (not loads of carp). Your local tackle shop should be able to recommend somewhere. Some fishing clubs do taster sessions for kids/beginners, so that’s another avenue to try. If you give us a rough geographical area, someone on here may be able to recommend a suitable venue.

Yes you can run with tubes.

@didnthurt if you really want to do it this year I may be able to assist. I’m looking to either recruit a teammate or sell the whole entry. PM me if you want details.

This one in May

North Wales 150

this one in July

Yorkshire Dales 300

and maybe this one in August, if I can find a teammate who’s not too fast and not too slow (stealth ad.)

Swiss Epic 2022

#threadoftheweek 😂

Is that Kinkladze

A shining light during some very dark seasons. He was all left foot and it was lethal!

We could have a game here. Tell us your clubs best player and the rest of us can guess your age 😃

Not the best ever, but night-and-day the best at that time.

One Up dropper has low insert length AND low stack (stack is the length that can’t be inserted, eg the collar and the seat clamp).

Give it a good shake first!

Swissstop are better than OEM in my experience

+1

Reassuringly expensive!

Surely W/kg and VO2 max are more important?

As the law stands you are correct. However (quoting UK Cycling about racing on bridleways), “this is an unreasonable anomaly, and the law needs to be modified to allow appropriately organised events to take place on this type of way”.

Alternatively, the bridleway sections could have been untimed transition stages.

I still maintain that it’s a missed opportunity for the area. (In this case, Wales’ loss will be Andorra and Croatia’s gain)

Anyhow, I’ve found an outfit that’s organising NOT a race (more of a 3-day guided riding type thing) on the same trails/bridleways/PROWS etc. Significantly cheaper than the MTB Classic, but I guess this won’t fall foul of the access issue.

https://dirtshenomad.com/product/the-journey-north-wales-150-2/

Mini Melton Mowbrays, your favourite hard cheese, boiled eggs. cake, marzipan. dried fruit and nuts. Wash it all down with full fat milk. Don’t be surprised if you put on weight during the ride, but at least you won’t bonk. If it’s just over 4 hours then the eggs and cheese will probably be enough, the rest is for proper long rides.

TRP

And it was on a Twosday!

Conventional wisdom is to have the bigger brakes on the front. However, I really like having the better modulation that 4 pots give on the back. You could try that first and swap over if you don’t like it. Or even just upgrade the front to 4-pot at a later date?

Wales C2C, various versions to choose from depending how demanding you want it. Enough B&Bs along the way to make it comfortable over 3 to 5 days.

I don’t confess to knowing the detail. But based on the fact that local accommodation (not just the race hotels) were all fully booked during the event, I doubt that lack of entries was the issue. I’m aware that there was a lot of international interest in the event. With this in mind I’m prepared to take the official announcement at face value, and assume that permissions for temporary closures were the sticking point, despite buy-in from the county council.

Personally I think it’s a massive shame that this isn’t going ahead (even though admittedly I hadn’t entered). It would have been a huge opportunity to showcase Wales as a MTB holiday destination. The Epic series has a strong media output, and would have helped promote the region to foreign tourists who do have money to spend. I guess some “locals” weren’t so convinced of the benefits, or would rather maintain the status quo?

After a 1 year hiatus I’m back on it, (turbo trainer broke under warranty last January, but spare parts didn’t arrive until the summer when I had no incentive to ride indoors). Since getting round to fixing it on Boxing day, I’ve manged to up my training miles dramatically! Now using a Garmin 530 to record training effort at the same time, and it’s showing some significant gains including +4 on my VO2 max in the last month. It’s certainly made a noticeable difference to my climbing performance in the real world as well.

IME phone gps is ok, but slow response, so when moving at speed it takes a few seconds to update location. Garmin watch gps updates noticeably quicker. I put this down to the phone’s processor trying to juggle a myriad of tasks, and probably prioritising some things ahead of gps location. All the watch has to do is tell the time and measure my heartbeat whilst working out where I am.

I wanted the Epic Evo but it wasn’t available in time for when I “needed” it in summer 2020 so I opted for a Trek Top Fuel instead. I can’t fault it for long XC riding. The latest version now has a threaded bb shell (like the spesh), so I’d probably opt for the Trek if I was buying now.

This assumes you’re not at the sharp end of any XC races, if you are then you might prefer a trek supercaliber.

I just use a Vivoactive HR watch to broadcast heart-rate to the Garmin 530. If I forget the 530 I can still record rides on the watch as it has a GPS, but it has less overall functionality than the 530.

A bottle of rum.

Graubünden in Switzerland has a very enlightening approach to shared use trails. As well as some awesome climbs and natural descents, with a bit of man-made thrown in for good measure.

You forgot the mandatory “spoilers” joke in the title.

Grayson was probably just peed off that they were bypassing loads of fantastic mountain bike terrain.

When are the GPX files going to be emailed out?

Afan.

New to this running malarkey, having just completed the Couch to 5K program. Don’t currently have the ambition to step up to 10K, 40K etc, but also don’t want to lose the progress made so far. How do I go about maintaining current form? Will one 5K run per week be enough to do that? (If I do go outside and get sweaty I’d rather it be on the bike)

Great stuff! Well done Rick! Enjoy!

The One-up lever is pretty good. Feels like it has a bit more leverage than the CB lever (I’ve used both on the same dropper).

One-up for me.

I’m up for it. Just the motivation I need to get the hardtail ready for some winter rides.

I’ve heard the Hartz Mountains are good for MTB, but don’t have 1st-hand experience.

Saw this sticker on someone’s front door in St Day: