Actually now that I’ve downloaded a fresh copy the last lap is there, please ignore my previous moan! Looks like I’ve hit the spacebar or something on my keyboard to blank out the last time, oops!

Results are indeed in and one lap less than we managed. Not sure what’s happened as all the times look right, think it’s just missed the last one. Sure the timing mat bleeped as I crossed the line and it was about 15 to 20 minutes before the final cut off. Was in the van getting changed when they announced the finish line closing so 100% sure it should have counted. :?

Never mind I suppose, wasn’t exactly in the running for a good position but a bit hacked off that the effort that went into the last lap (running for a few miles with a puncture) never got counted. :cry:

Got to echo that, well done. 12 laps in those conditions is completely mental!

Most anoying thing for me was that on my last two laps (pretty late in the day) they opened up the bit of singletrack we used on the first lap instead of the mud bath. Not sure if it actually was the best bit of ST I’ve ever ridden but it certainly felt it at the time!!

Pretty miserable conditions. I’d pretty muc jacked it in as a pair until I saw how far down the leaderboard we were. Just glad I got a few goes on the new track.

Ended up running/riding on a flat for the last three miles trying to beat the final finish time, thought I didn’t have tyre levers for some reason and with yards to go remembered there were some on my multi-tool, oops!

Looking back I’m already thinking it was great but at the time when my last set of dry clothes got wet I just wanted to get out of there and get a shower. Wasn’t very happy heading out of there at 10 o’clock yet again soaked!

I’ve ridden FS since coming back to the sport (around 10 years ago now) and built up a HT last year basically because I had most of the parts lying around except the frame.

eBay steel frame and far too many new parts later I had a HT built (way over budget) and it’s now my go-to bike.

Not sure why I like it more, seems to be more suited to trail centres than my bigger travel Iron Horse or the smaller travel Boardman FS. Just seems to work.

Legs still remain un-shaven though – no plans to do that yet!!

Wait until you start racing and riding with a club.

Already do (ride with a club, not much racing) and it still ain’t happening! Also play five-a-sides a few times a week and the (fully justified) abuse I’d get from them (and my mtb buddies) more than cancels out any club related abuse!

Kevtoo – just keep a careful eye on what you start looking at online! All very easy to get into buying road gear too….. Think I started with the Aldi stuff and it’s spiralled from there.

Congratulations!

Was that the one I suggested topless waitresses for?

If so did you do it????

If you did pics are definitely needed for this thread – if you didn’t I’ll find some pics on my own you selfish git! (PS please don’t post pics of that nature as I work in an open plan office where that kind of web browsing if a no-no!)

This might help your rage a bit.

One of my mates (a well built rugby player) had the same happen to him, heading towards Fountain Park the taxi driver passed him and turned straight left while he was pretty much along side. He dropped his shoulder and connected with the rear light cluster of the taxi (from what he says he didn’t have much option) and heard the lovely cracking sound as he connected (fortunately not his shoulder!). Could have ended badly but he was fairly happy with a sore shoulder for a few days.

Just to clarify to any taxi driver reading this to whom the exact thing may have happened in the exact place – I made this story up based on something I overheard at a bus stop and have no recollection of who the people involved in the story may be!

Legs still remain un-shaven though – no plans to do that yet!!

Cancel the order right now!

Seriously, step away from the road bike. It just gets far too expensive. Can’t just have one set of gear as pretty much nothing from the world of mtbing can be used. Tyres and tubes are different sizes, clothing and shoes has to be different, can’t even wear the same style of helmet. Only thing I actually share is glasses, possibly socks!

Even the training gets difficult, I’ve been doing loads of road training for the Etape Caledonia and now this weekend I’m riding 10 under the Ben. Not even sure I can remember how to ride off-road!

Apart from the cost side, you’re probably going to end up loving it. I bought a cheap roadie for commuting and am now a member of a club and my roadie actually costs more than any of my mtbs – something’s not right there!

I’m working on the Friday, if you go into my work for me I’ll head out on the Friday around the Glentress/Innerleithen to work out a route for you to do on the Saturday. How does that sound??? Please!

I could fit pretty much any bike (including my DH bike) straight into the back of my Volvo V70 estate with the seats down.

Mondeo hatch takes up to a large bike straight in the back with no wheels off, all my medium bikes fit straight in and my mates large road bikes will fit in. The DH bike needs the front wheel off (or at least it’s easier as the thing weighs a ton!).

The Mondeo is the ST Tdci and don’t believe for a second it’s more fun than the petrol one. It’s good for what it is and handles well but the petrol has a lighter engine with 65bph more and the sound track of a V6.

Petrol Volvo would be my suggestion. T5s are seriously cheap now. Not great in the twisties but quick in a straight line. Won’t feel much slower than the Impreza from about 40mph+. It would take years and years of Sunday only trips to make up the price difference between a petrol and diesel car on fuel savings.

If it has to be diesel I’d suggest something from the VAG (childishly giggled when I re-read this!) with the 130 or 150 brake tdi engine. Very easy to remap to around 170 with good ecomony. Leon would be my favourite. Not big enough to fit bikes straight in but plenty of cheap rack options.

The event seemed to go really well yesterday and I hadn’t actually heard about this until after I finished.

I agree that it doesn’t sound like the protestors again, they would’ve got up early on the day, they would also probably have used one type of tack (unless they had a whip round before hand so it couldn’t be traced who’d just bought hundreds of takcs). Sounds to me like kids have got hold of what they can from around the house and done it for a laugh, ar$e$.

Wonder if B&Q in Perth alerts the police everytime someone buys loads of carpet tacks on the run up to May!!!

Another recommendation for Flow. Had a great holiday when I stayed with them, very helpful too if you have any bike problems.

After a drinking session in Prague where 7 of us sat around all day (from 11am) drinking vodka redbull I’m very wary of it now. Three of us stopped around dinner time (probably 7pm) and the other 4 kept going till the early hours, probably switching from VRB to something else at some point.

The 3 of us who stopped couldn’t eat as we were shaking and not feeling at all well, getting to sleep was a complete nightmare. I was sitting rocking on a chair at one point wanting to sleep but panicing about the irregularity of my heart beat. The 4 who kept going were pretty sick the next few days and lost a day of the stag do.

I know a lot of that is to do with the opposing effects of V & RB but it gave me enough of a scare not to overdose on it again!

In addition to the roll call, how about starting times/waves. See who starts in the same wave?

7.01 – Wave I for me.

Second time for me too.

Done enough training to beat last year but suspect the perfect conditions we got last year won’t be replicated and it’ll be hugely difficult to get a better time.

That and the fact I twisted my ankle yesterday thinking two games of fives would be better for me that getting the mtb out in the Pentlands!

I find if I’m tired and not pedalling well Ktree is a bit of a drag. But, with plenty of energy and really on it, it turns into one of the best. There really isn’t much that’s gravity assisted only which makes it a lot of pedalling to get the flow but do find it well worth it.

Only bad thing I find is the place is cursed, don’t think my mate and I have ever made it all the way round trouble free. Quite often ends with one of us breaking a bike or heading back to the car not feeling well, no idea why!

Probably in my top 3 Scottish alongside Inners and Golspie (this is probably no 1). Rode Balblair recently, what a fantastic place that is, can’t believe how much grip the rocks had in the wet. Went down the first steep bit expecting the bike to slide down and could have completely stopped if I wanted to. Real hidden gem.

I’ll be at Cargo @ 6.30. Think my cousin will be out tonight too.

Hopefully my legs will loosen off by then!

Got to depend on how you are carrying the bikes.

If they’re rack mounted externally, not a problem, if they’re in the car you’ll be pretty tight for room but probably do-able.

Well the rest of them must have given you enough room too or you wouldn’t have been posting now :wink:

A group of four of us nearly got hit on Saturday by a van style people carrier, we all said we’d better not see them again or there will be words. We actually did catch up with him, wearing a bright yellow jacket waving us round the corner at the next junction – he was a marshall on the Sportive trying to get from the start to his junction after completing his start line duties. None of us said anything as we were a bit surprised by the turn of events. He was a charity volunteer trying to get past us to help us who put us in danger as he was late, all of us were too confused to know what to do 8O

I got two for the front of my Mondeo. It was discussed in HUGE detail on Pistonheads whether getting two only was a sensible decision or if it was guaranteed that you and everyone around you was doomed to die in a firey death in the snow.

Sensible logic is that two winter tyres are better than none but if you can afford it get all four. With two, the car will have more grip at the front than the back so drive accordingly.

My experience was that the car would oversteer if going round a corner too quick in the snow, not a surprise really, but I could get to places where I would have been stuck without having two on. When it wasn’t snowing I never felt the back end breaking away and the front always seemed to have plenty of grip. Was the right decision for me at the time.

I will be buying another two matching tyres in the summer when the price is sensible again. £300 for the two I got was more than I wanted to pay (they were <£200 when I looked first).

Can’t make it this week, half day booked for a long outing in the Tweed Valley :D

Definitely be back out very soon, probably next weekend. Pedal marks on the back of my legs might have faded a bit by then too!

Thanks for the welcome along guys. Interesting first ride:

– Big fall including pedal and leg trying to get together causing a 4 inch cut and a 2 inch one too.
– Smashed iPhone screen from said fall
– Steeper hills than anyone should every have to go up
– Broken chain (thanks for the power link and the help)
– Punctured rear (noticed it this morning so was probably lucky to get home)
– Many a near moment trying to get my head into ‘natural’ riding rather than trail centres

All in a a fantastic ride!! Can’t believe how much the Pentlands has to offer that I have been missing all these years.

Don’t think I can make it next weekend but I’ll definitely by back very soon!

Cheers guys :D

Never made it through but by the sounds of things it was maybe just as good making use of the sunshine!

I thought it was fairly well advertised through seeing it on the forums and the like but there were a lot of people in my cycling club who looked at me blankly when I asked if they were planning to head through for a look. Sure word will spread more next year but it seems like something that may have to be looked into to make the event bigger and better year on year.

Sounds ideal, short of any disasters I’ll be there!

Cheers
Steve

I’m planning to make my first ever appearance tomorrow night.

What kind of mileage and pace are you likely to be going? Not a problem if I have to drop off and head home if the pace is too high…

Hopefully see you tomorrow night.
Steve

Traquair Arms in Innerleithen has been good every time I’ve been in.

My old boys got one in the same trim. He’s delighted with it but it was a step up from an 02 Astra estate.

Driven it for a few miles, engine isn’t as keen as the Mondeo 2.2tdci in my ST but it still pulls well. Plenty of nice toys in it and seemed to be pretty roomy. He’s getting good mpg out of it too.

Depends if it’s allowed on the iDave diets or not.

Will this actually work?

For a hammock don’t you need a fair bit at either end where it gets wider to let you sleep in the middle? With the size of the Berlingo you’re going to be sleeping right next to the mounting point.

Not got any helpful advice but good luck!

Had about an hour argument with a French mate.

Him: Look at ze homemade boorger
Me: It’s not a homemade burger you bought it at the shop
Him: Oui, and I cooked her myself
Me: Homemade burger is one you made from scratch
Him: Exactly, I bought ze boorger, ze bun, ze cheese, ze fries and made it myself
Me: Still didn’t buy the ingredients and make the burger

And so on, still rip him for the ‘homemade’ boorger. Was a pretty funny converastion!

Could be absolutely hilarious if it did catch on with a magnet in the shoe to see a whole bunch of riders stuck to a metal floor they were trying to walk across. Or 3 professional riders stuck to a metal podium!!

Will do, cheers!

Thought it must have been tried at some point.

Couldn’t see if being used by anyone who was already used to clipless pedals on road but for off road I’d guess they’d be more likely to release in a crash and could be a great way for beginners to get a bit of confidence clipless.

Not sure how the muddy thing would work but they’re obviously flawed anyway or it would’ve taken off!

It would certainly allow a lot more standard mounting, ie shoes need one type of magnet, pedals need another meaning one set of shoes becomes a lot more versatile. Flats could easily have a magnet built in allowing a magnet + pins combo depending on shoe choice.

Is this a regular Wednesday meeting at the same meeting point? If so I’ll try and get along at some point if anyone is welcome?

Just make sure you’ve got enough cover to leave a healthy payout when you do snuff it and they’ll be delighted! Only kidding but all you can do is make sure you leave them financially sorted when you go and you can’t do much else.

I don’t have kids but to me there are plenty of other things more worthwhile to worry about.

Bit of a left field choice and will probably get flamed!

Saracen Zen 631 steel is worth a look.

I’d been watching eBay for weeks for a Summer 456 and got sick of tired looking frames going for more than I wanted to pay when the Zen went through. It was the steel that swayed me never having had a steel bike and glad I did. Ran it with a 160 fork to start with, was probably more than intended but what was the worst that could happen! Got a 140 on now and although it’s not as composed downhill it’s a good all day bike.

I’ve lived 5 minutes from CH for the last 11.5 years and have been down it once on a bike last year. Thought it was a bit of a laugh but sounds like there’s a LOT more to be tried.

Thanks for the unintented heads up! Anything else (not the urban stuff) I’m missing in the burgh?

My pals and I are guilty as most for the typical round the table banter that no one actually means.

Problem is when it gets out of hand. We were down in Cardiff for the Scotland vs Wales footie friendly and witnessed a guy in a kilt & Scotland top seriously abusing a young turkish lad in a takeaway with what I’m guessing he thought was funny racist ‘banter’. What was actually coming out his mouth was a disgrace and the young lad looked pretty shaken up. The rest of the Scottish guys (us included) kicked him out the shop and told him he was out of order. Didn’t stop the insults though.

Very easy for someone to think they are still being funny when other people have stopped laughing a long time ago.

I never took any offence at the linked post but then again, I tend to ride flats!!