I liked the show and will no doubt watch it again. It is a risk but they will be getting a shed of cash so they have little to lose.

Personally I think they should have drawn a line under it

DD – looks like the moment has passed . There was I ready to splash out on a bottle of fine German wine as well 🙂

Anyone else able to help?

🙂

In fairness he did not tell me.

Wife is out to night, few beers…. who knows 😀

Free bike of choice for the first 20 replies on STW

Repeat periodically & randomly

Also need some new T-shirts

Thanks guys

Sorry one other question

What type of food is typically on offer at the food stations? Bananas really mess me up so need to think about how much I need to carry

aP – Love to hear how the Maratona goes. Potentially one for 2012

Guys – top advice. Very much appreciated

Looking forward to it in that strange I know I’m going to hate it but…. way

Guess I need a new cassette (12- 25 currently) 🙂

Thanks Guys

Tony – The Tumble was a great event and it was great that a few locals just turned up on the day to join in. Certainly didn’t feel like the easy way on the 15th climb :-). Was a beautiful day but the wind was brutal

Have a long w/e in the Pyrenees end of May to hopefully help get some long climbs and descents under the belt.

SBZ – Terrified of heights. I guess that is not good 8O.

Will do the very light packable jacket and arm warmer thing. Have reactive light glasses so hopefully that will be ok.

Just use a shim from 34.9 to 30.9 (or 31.6) Did this when I used a Gravity dropper. Works no problem at all

Very happy with my Reverb (as is my mate)

MTG.

It is difficult to give advice on how to work intervals into your commute other than follow the logic of fast, slow, fast slow.

I did when I was commuting a few years ago. A few hills where I gave it laldy, 1 longer hill where I went hard for 1st third, slow for mid third and hard at the top plus a few sprints out of junctions. Just mix it up. Made a big difference to pace AND endurance and I was pretty fit at the time. It also made the commute a lot more fun. More Headroom is good phrase for what I got.

I struggle with ‘traditiopnal’ intervals like ride the same hill ten times. Just bores me and I do not put in the right effort

You need to work hard to get the real benefits. First few times I puked or dry wretched (lovely!). You will notice a difference quickly if you do put the effort in.

Good luck

Thanks all

Checking a few things out

Do the Timberland Trail in Ashton Court? Flat, ok for novices, fun for any level Loads of pubs nearby in Clifton. Hour or so of riding

Went from DHX Air to coil on my Helius FR

The coil was soooooo much better. Was a few years ago so no doubt the air will have improved.

If I was to switch back to Air (which I won’t)would go with RP23, if that is what they are still called.

My advice would be to stick with coil, get a Ti spring, and try and save weight / spend the money elsewhere.

Ride solo there all the time and as of yet had no incidents. That said I am generally there very early.

Heard of more incidents at Blaise

The issue of having such a good venue close to a city centre is that it is also close for scrotes.

Thanks Tricky – much appreciated.

Will you be back?

Pretty sure I will give it a go in the mid May event.close enough to Bristol for a punt.

Could you let us know how you go Tricky?

I may be a danger if I join 😳

Thought that but wanted to check – thanks

Out of interest where are you thinking of doing your first race?

Mulletus – what do you mean by ‘half wheel’

27mph average – ok. That is faster than I thought but still probably just about do-able though may well see the contents of my stomach in the first few attempts

I find intervals pretty boring (as in ride up and down 1 hill several times) and as such don’t give them the effort that is really needed unless I do them on an infrequent basis.

I like & use Molgrips approach of finding a loop I enjoy and doing that as hard and fast as I can manage

On the road I have the imaginatively named 5,6,7 & 8 hill challenge loops I use. All the hills are on the longer side so I throw in some sprints out of junctions to mix it up a bit.

The final thing I do is meet up with a few like minded mates and we race each other on our local routes in Bristol. Eg “See if you can drop me in the 50 Acre section of the Timberland Trail”. We do this in the few weeks leading up to the Bristol 12 and that more than anything helps sharpen my fitness up no end

With the exception of a drive to Cwm Carn (and I’n only using that as an example) the others can be done in pretty short time frames and extended if more time is available.

Mix it up, keep it interesting and it keeps me motivated to put the effort in. Assuming you have a good base the benefits will come in a few weeks

Agree that under an hour is a reasonable/ good time and tells me I am getting reasonably fit.

At peak fitness and in optimal conditions I have broken 50 mins three times.

I find getting to 55 mins relatively easy, after that it tends to be pretty hard to make incremental progress.

Wet vs dry can make a big difference as does wind direction (much easier if you get blown most of the way up!)

Thanks Lab Wormy

The house number thing would have had me stumped forever

I’ll content myself with the belief I would have got the vowels vs consanants eventually 😉

Congrats Molgrips

Not to put a damper on things but I did find going from 1 to 2 harder than going from 0 to 1. (I know many will disagree)

It really means that both you and Mrs Grips will be tied up most of the time. That said in a year or so they will really start to entertain each other and it does get a lot easier.

With the best will in the world no.2 does not get as much attention as no.1 did. It simply is not possible. It’s not bad or wrong just how it is

I do not agree with kiss your bike goodbye sentiment. I just had to change my riding habits (very early or very late typically). I got in the habit of having my bike & kit ready for opportunitic riding when I was not expecting it. Finally I bought a road bike to make the most of those opportunistic rides. I actually got fitter. Just felt I had to make the most of the rides I had

We have 2 girls 14 months apart. Would not change it for the world 🙂

I went from 55 to 49 mins at Cwm Carn this summer.

3 things drove that

Road riding (sorry but it just gives you the leg power that is needed for the CC climb 🙁 )

Lost ~ 1 stone in weight (not unrelated to comment 1)

Weds 6am informal races against my mates round the Timberland trail. In other words other really hard (but fun) riding that sharpens the fitness and the skills

HTH

Thanks Njee

I may try the ti version. Mainly because it offers the ratios I want for the Marmotte in July. Will test it well in advance

My curent Campag cassette is not exactly a sweet shifter 🙁

CFH – Agree the Irish need now to move on from the Wales try incident

Done and dusted.

Part of me thinks Wales will get thumped next w/e. Part of me thinks France will go into melt down and Wales will thump them. How’s that for fence sitting?

What odds a Celtic triple victory?

I expected the Scottish lineout to pose problems for England’s. As it transpired it was the opposite :-(. Ford had a mare and I think that was key. Interestingly I thought his game in the loose was his best in a long time

It was also interesting to see how much stronger the Scottish scrum was with Cross on. Better set piece possesion and Scotland may well have won.

In the end the better team won though world beaters they are not.

The Welsh try was embarassing for the officials and for Wales. They cheated and I don’t believe it was in the heat of the moment.

France / Italy. Well done Italy but France are simply perplexing!!!

Played high level rugby to around 32. I gave up then as I was losing my motivation to train hard enough to stay at the top level. Think it was having done it for >15 years. I simple was not enjoying it as much. Time was also a factor as other life commitments started to take higher priority.

Took up biking a couple of year after I quit rugby. Last year (40) I beat all of my times on the few things I measure myself on. Fully expect and plan to improve again this year

Thanks. THis is what I was thinking. Will give it a try

OK I would not have got that

Thanks so much

Intertesting one to call this year. In truth 5 of the teams are pretty well matched and those games could go either way.

If Wales lose to England (and I think they will) it could be a awful year for them. If they win then I can see momentum building. Ireland are on the slide but are perfectly capable of beating anyone on the day.

Scotland are learning how to win and close out games. Defensively they are hard to break down, the pack is an excellent unit, but boy is the backline impotent.

England have some good players (Youngs in particular) but will win or lose most games by only a few points so difficult to call.

France – well as always could be anywhere from awesome to awful

Italy – whitewash I think

Cannot wait 🙂

Longwayhome – how long have you been in Bristol? If you’re newish then you have a very rose tinted view of the local trails as this last year or so has been great due to the frost and the very long dry spell. If you were around in 2008 /9 then you will have seen the trails at their worst :-(.

If you were here then and still claim to be ‘in the dark’ around the moves being suggested then shame on you for not getting actively involved and then criticising those that could be bothered to get actively involved

For what it is worth we rode locally at the w/e and every one of my riding buddies welcomes the proposals and believes that a weather proof AC is worth some trade offs (and frankly we don’t know what those are yet!!!). In crappy weather we will have something decent to ride and in good we can go and scare ourselves down the gorge runs.

Ant – top work, as always, just remember to personally talk to Longwayhome in the future and to then actively work his proposals for him.

Flashy – 4 doors up from the Hobgoblin. No sign outside yet. Some thing about planning permisison???

Too Tall will pass on your comments. Fires up pretty qucik for me!

Thanks – just used. Much appreciates 😀

I have the Reverb (2.5 months now) and have (& still have) the Gravity Dropper & The Pure Racing i900.

It needed bled before it worked (which is a very easy job though I agree is very irrating). The cable is too long, though this is purely cosmetic. I chose not to cut so I can use on my longer bike if required.

That aside it is in a different league to the other 2. Smooth, easy to get a slight drop for twisty singletrack, perfomed faultlessly in every weather condition possible and no noticeable side to side play. Only open question for now is longevity which I have no worries about just do not know yet.

I bought on a US trip so paid ~ £180. CRC have them for £250. I would buy again even at that price

Went from XTR to XT – no difference I could notice

I was out on my hardtail with the gravity dropper this morning. First use since the Reverb purchase

They do work, have better cable routing and are very reliable. As Duir says they are a dawdle to service.

Downsides for me are the 1 inch drop is a pain to get at times (for my local rides that would be the most common change -fully up to 1 inch down)and they do move a bit. The lever is also not as good.

I think the Reverb, if it fits your bike, is a better product by a margin. Only time will tell if they are as reliable

Ahhh! Got the cable question now. The Pure Racing has the same ‘issue’. I used 2 loose zip ties to route the cable down the side of the frame when the saddle is dropped. That has worked fine for both the Pure Racing and the Reverb. I agree it is not as neat as the Gravity Dropper. A non issue for me though.

Weight wise I didn’t actually weigh but little or nothing in it either way.

Lever is excellent. Easily the best out there.

The Pure Racing and the new Rock Shox Reverb have no noticable wobble. The Gravity Dropper wobble is at worst barely noticable. My mate had a Joplin that wobbled all over the place. I could not have tolerated it.

In response to the OP. For me it is up there as a must have piece of kit now. Just makes riding flow better. No stopping or starting You also drop your saddle a lot more than you would if you had to stop which just makes rides better (for me anyway)

Still very expensive though 🙁

The cable routing is on a par with others. Certainly not an issue I could see. The fact the cable is pretty long is a bit messy looking.

One point I missed in my summary was no side to side play of any note.

No pics. May try one tomorrow if I remember / have time

Is there a code for this or is it automatic at time of checkout?

Thanks

Do it. Worse case it will grow back. Though personally I think longish hair on balding men is laughable

Grade 0 all over for me now and it is great. Started at 2, then 1.

Just buy a buff for the winter 🙂