Aye Ponduro and Mud and Roots were easily the most challenging sections but so much drier than yesterday! For a first timer I feel really fortunate to have done my first Velluljah this year.

Mondraker Dune. Love mine.

XL 6’3 with 34″ legs. Brilliant bikes. Sounds like a large wouldn’t be too far off unless you have tiny arms?!

Try fasted runs early in the morning. You will still use some of yesterdays carbs but you will start the reprogramming to use fat a bit more at higher heart rates. In truth, improving this is about doing long runs and taking in just enough carbs to burn fat. You never burn purely glycogen and sugars in a long ride as you simply couldn’t. The long term answer is go for longer runs over 3 hours and then you will burn lots of fat. At the same time if you are really wanting to train hard you must take in a large amount of carbs as you do not burn fat efficiently enough to fuel very high intensity rides. There you must have sufficient carbs on board or you will certainly bonk. If i’m doing a long sportive or enduro and I want to go as fast as possible then I will start swallowing glucose early on and keep doing so very regularly.

Learnie is the only proper mtb centre on the actual black isle. It’s great but quite short so I get a bit bored these days although the rock ladders are quite challenging on the black! Golspie, Laggan, Torridon are all within an easy drive though so you are quite spoilt in many ways!

Well at that price I have found the vectors give me interesting feedback. Not hugely useful in some ways but interesting stats to enlighten. For example I am pushing laterally on my right foot on the downstroke. Don’t know why but interesting to know in case I developed a chronic injury for example. Not essential though.

I have to second the be careful warning. At 10k for a fully converted van, you are likely to get a lot of fairly dodgy vehicles that are both older and have problems. To give a comparison, I bought a base 11 reg T5 LWB for 10.5k in 2015. I felt mechanically any older and if they have been a work van, then you needed to be very careful regarding the sort of life they have had etc. It’s all about the body work and stress on the body/suspension. We then spent around 10k on the initial conversion and a further 5k getting a pop top, heater and bike storage bit at the back installed.

You don’t need to buy a T5 obviously but even if you go for something a bit cheaper such as a Ducato or Trafic, I would still reckon on needing around 15k to build something fairly hassle-free.

It can really be a minefield out there and requires significant investment of time to try and find what you’re looking for. On the plus-side, having the van is amazing and gives so much flexibility both on heading off and also moving stuff around which is an amazing added bonus. In my mind well worth the cost!

Good luck!

If it’s the MT8000 and it’s the piston seals then you can’t new service packs to replace them frustratingly but Shimano will do it if still under warranty. No other option AFAIA

Druin I am disappointed to be honest. The Dune is going to be a fantastic bike but I had my heart set on a geometron tbh! Ah life. I just can’t wait as getting some coaching etc for the new season. The Dune is incredibly beautiful to look at though!

Yes. It makes my life complete however. I’m on my second bike build of the weekend.

Hi Duir,

TBH they aren’t THAT small though are they?! And they are also not new! Given they produce hundreds of frames a year, I would have thought that planning ahead would be an essential part of their business model. I’m sure some people can tolerate these kind of waits but it’s not just that. I specifically asked them to confirm just a few days ago that it would be arriving when they initially said it would and I was again reassured that was the case. I was speaking to a guy from Mojo earlier and they have a lot of G16 frames on order that are also being postponed by 6 weeks. Can this really just be one person being unwell?! If they are that small then their whole business is very vulnerable in that case.

Personally I can’t wait as I have been needing a bigger bike for a long time. In regards bearings, I may just buy some spares now lol!

Well Honourablegeorge, it seems that MOJO are also the victim of this 6-week extension. Really poor customer service as I was promised twice very recently that the frame would be with me around the 16th February. I’m really disappointed but I can’t wait around as I have all the parts waiting to go on and enduro’s to train for. It’s just not what I expected from a company like Nicolai..

HI folks,

Thanks for your replies. It was a production order so no money has changed hands. I’m sorry but 6 weeks extra is not acceptable from a customer service perspective. They really need to not promise the earth if they can’t deliver. I am interested in the MOJO frames although I have all the kit ready to go for the frame that was supposed to be delivered by the 16th.

I have bought a Mondraker XR frame instead and will be cancelling the Geometron sadly. Chainline, people just don’t have the time to wait around forever for things. If a company promises something then it needs to deliver. I’m really very disappointed as I genuinely believe the Geometron was going to be amazing but, given that at the time of order the frame was supposedly “in stock,” I have already waited well over a month and that would be 3 months by the time it was delivered. Not a good outcome.

Thanks Wiggles i’ve emailed them. Will they just send a frame and shock or do you have to go and do the test thing?

So I have just had an email from Nicolai to say my Geometron frame is going to be delayed by 6 weeks :cry: What do folk think i should do? Wait? Try and get one of the ready to ship G-16’s? Go somewhere else? I have Vallelujah in about 6 weeks so i was hoping to have a bigger bike than my Blur before then. I have all the parts but the frame ready to go on a 27.5 beast..

I bought a new Merc C250 estate today and had immense guilt for the first couple of miles with a feeling that I should just take it back and be more sensible. But then I settled into the driving experience and realised it was just fantastic and that other part of my brain could STFU!

Picking up a Mercedes C-class estate tomorrow. £12988 on the road. Although diesels may be going out of fashion, I would assume you will still be able to buy diesel for many years to come so if you plan on keeping it for a long time then it’s fine. Mine does 55-60mpg too and does 0-60 in 7 seconds!

Name the book please.

Hi Rone. It’s called “Racing Weight” by Matt Fitzgerald. I think I can definitely identify where I have sometimes gone wrong in my nutrition.

To second others, Big rides use huge numbers of calories and you need to be careful you don’t go too low when replacing them as this may lead to poor adaptation. The type of nutrition you eat is very important though and the above book emphasises the need to replace bad habits with good ones. For example i’ve switched to >80% dark chocolate for snacks which is an improvement on buying a toblerone on the way back from Inners and stuffing it down my gob before I get home :D

I would hit Fort Bill and either Kirroughtree and Mabie or if you’re keen, Torridon. All brilliant riding depending where you want to base yourself.

I am reading an excellent book on weight loss when endurance training (or doing over 5-7 hours a week exercise). The author presents convincing evidence that, whereas for a couch potato trying to lose weight cutting down on carbs may be the answer due to their significantly reduced carbohydrate need, for people who are doing a high volume of exercise their carb intake should be around 50% of their diet. It’s always about total calories so overeating will still be a problem but you will be so hungry due to the massive calorie deficit you build up and it’s important you take in the right type of nutrition to feed your body. There is a guilt amongst everyone now for eating carbs but this is a false evil. Obviously this doesn’t mean spooning a pot of Ben & Jerries daily but it does mean you should eat to fit your output.

I got a reduced pair of Blue AM wheels in the Superstar sale so am now blinging the grey and blue all over! Never been this ponsonified with a bike!!

The wait is literally killing me now!

Stu TBH I have a supergravity Magic Mary on the front of my blur LTC and it is most definitely super-draggy. But coming down it’s like I can properly attack the trail instead of going into sections with uncertainty as to how the tyre will react. All about balance of what you need it for I reckon. I won’t keep it on in the summer though as I think I will go with the evo trailstar. But for winter slop..

Duir I think that’s the most beuatiful thing I have ever laid eyes on! Cannot wait to get riding on it now!

And to those who think it isn’t beautiful, well, you’re just jealous ain’t you :mrgreen:

My frame is coming!! Went for the Raw Matt finish as, in the words of Vincent at Nicolai, you can take scotch brite wool to the frame to “refurbish” at any time! I have high hopes for this bike being the only one I need for enduros and big days out for a number of years!

Alloa brewery ales are awesome but my favourites have to be from the Cromarty Brewery. All brilliant.

I did this Do not do the route this way round and do come up the road to the radar station! I did it the other way and didn’t and had a nice refreshing dip in the Tyne after hitting the most incredible mud imaginable! Great views and would recommend. 4 Hours would be tight though.

I’m having similar existential thoughts. TBH my outdoors life makes me happy and saner so I am not going to give it up. At the same time the way I have accumulated stuff recently has started to concern me as there is always the next best things to try that may make a marginal difference! I am going to try and just use what I have over the next few months and concentrate on simply doing the things I like doing. I get so sucked in by the marketing folk sometimes but when I look back objectively most of the stuff didn’t make a huge change to my performance or comfort.

Now all I need to do is pop some tape on my new carbon wheels and get them popped up tubeless. That will be the last thing, honestly..

I ride a fatty (Cube Nutrail, great bike) for XC up to black routes and full-sus for proper rough and tuff.

Mine is due to be delivered today. Ordered 27/12/16.

Nutrail, Lou and Nate. Simply brilliant. Hope you find one as good!

Awesome. Picking mine up tomorrow. Thanks!

I recently bought a Nutrail and very hapy with mine. I would say the Dude is an awesome looking bike. I would have bought it if I hadn’t got a massive Black Friday discount on the Nutrail. I would say you want one with a Bluto fork. Makes enough of a difference on the harder terrain to be worthwhile. You still get some hardtail-type shock through the rear although it’s much, much less. To counter the ideas about climbing, I am significantly quicker on steeper stuff than my Blur LTC and that is no slouch of a bike. I find on the downs I can’t quite throw it like I can the Blur but as it’s a 150mm all mountain bike that’s actually reassuring.

If it was a Garmin 800 found up above Jock’s Road up behind Loch Muick then it will likely be mine! Came off in driving rain and disappeared from sight. Thankfully the 820’s have lanyards!

Yeah is the xenophobia towards 26″ or what??! Might have to buy their carbon ones instead to spite them :D

Hi folks,

What a great thread! You are all showing what a diverse experience taking anti-depressants can be and the fact that one drug won’t always work for everyone with depression. I have an admission to make: I am a psychiatry trainee so I work with people every day who suffers both depression but also significant volatility of mood that can’t always be ascribed to depression per se. The type of anger you are expressing is very normal for depression, particularly for us men-folk who seem to be programmed to express emotions this way. Many people never realise this is what’s causing their irritability is caused by this.

I think you are doing fine and you need to persevere with what you are doing. Sertraline is a great drug but like all anti-depressants takes at least 4 weeks to work. You may experience some difficult side-effects but persevere. The body needs to adapt as the nervous connections it affects don’t just affect that target regions in depression but are global over the whole body. I hope it works for you and things get better as it sounds like it’s affecting your life detrimentally.

All the best!

Or should I buy a fatbike Northwind?! Sounding more reasonable all the time.

Really looking forward to this now and is excellent training for Alpine riding. Anyone riding tomorrow Innerleithen/Glentress way? Going to be out early to get a ride in before the dentist in the afternoon..

Thanks Andy. Something like a Rocket Ron maybe? Saw one at the bike jumble in Glasgow on Saturday but didn’t pick it up. Now thinking I should have! The info says to be competent at reds so i’m assuming it’s not overly technical?

Awesome thanks MB! WHAT tyres would you recommend? Have nobby nics. Or more slick?

Oh dear. What have I done. I just entered this. I’m not even doing much mountain biking currently. Will my Blur be appropriate for this or should I get a HT?

It is a bit more faff than the 800 I previously had but I have gotten used to it more now. I usually just copy the GPX into the new files directly onto the Garmin via the laptop so I have no experience of using Garmin Connect to upload GPX files. This process works for me every time though so that’s one way of making things easier. I don’t trust Garmin’s take on minor roads so I use ridewithgps.com to make a route. Seems to work fairly well.

The most annoying thing is there appear to be black holes in Garmin’s mapping. There appears to be one spot in particular that 100% of the time makes the 820 switch off! God knows what is going on but I think I am going to upload different mapping as it’s total PITA. I really wish Garmin had some true competition in the marketplace but they don’t for what they offer so we’re kind of stuck for now sadly.