No mountains in the south, although lots of canoeing/kayaking which is cool with the family. Hire them from a centre, paddle downstream, camp, (get eaten by midges), repeat until bored then ring the centre up to collect you.

By car then look at Dalarna, they promote themselves as a very outdoors county, good biking trails:
http://www.visitdalarna.se/en/Biking-Dalarna-Start/

Or come to Göteborg and the west coast and I’ll show you round.

Swedish Tourist site is good for booking mountain huts and the like:
http://www.svenskaturistforeningen.se/en/

Quick answer for now. Yes the hoods are normally set higher as you spend most of the time on them and very little in the drops except for steep steep slopes. As you’ve noticed this can actually be quite comfy.

Pressures, well I’m 73kg and run my clinchers at 27-32 psi when they’re my spare race wheels and about 60psi for long days riding gravel/pave roads.

Play around and see what works for you, there is plenty of time until the season stats to get it feeling right.

Edit: nice bike btw

if you’re training on a turbo – you certainly don’t need one to train with power. look at something like trainerroad.

A turbo or rollers is the perfect place to train with power! Consistant, no hills, expect when you want them, no traffic, nothings better

I am surprised a pro team like sky didn’t have an exact copy of whatever bike Wiggins was currently riding for him to swap to

I was too, however that was what was generally reported, inner ring was an standard 38 and not what was on his race bike.

He changed bikes, (using the excellent self parking system in all Pinarello’s), and his new bike had different gearing meaning he was over geared for the very steep climb to the finish.

Not sure I saw/read anything about a power meter. Seems a little too reliant on them if that’s a real excuse.

Scott seems the obvious choice at the moment, however I’d be interested to see what Giant bring out soon.

Given your details and goals then I’d agree with the others and say get a fitness test, (VO2 max/lactate/HR Zones), done with a coach who is also qualified to create a training plan for say 12 weeks based on the results of the test and the equipment you have, (HR monitor).

Do the training, learn about your body, repeat the tests, see an improvement, then assess the need for a power meter.

I use a PowerTap, its taken my racing results up a level, however it took me a couple of seasons of proper training without one to understand my body and the numbers I was seeing.

Not unitl it supports sport specfic heart rate zones as running and cycling are so different there is no value in the scores they produce.

Well I did 24 miles today into work, and therefore will ride 24 home again, (shortest route).

Bike is in my office and we have excellent changing facilities, otherwise it would be a non-starter

I’d say that doing it every day would be hard work, (I’m in the grand scheme of things quite fit), however I would expect to see my race results improve if I were to throw in a few intervals and take a longer route home now and again.

Now that’s a class looking Orange, needs some skinwall rubber on it though 😀

WOW, first CX racing question in April, great enthusiasm!

You’ll be fine on an MTB, many many people got the bug this way

My LinkedIn picture appears on the first page

Have we answered the question as to what the OP was doing on Mumsnet in the first place?

Enjoying the Walter Gibbons disco, good call huws 8)

looks like it could be an interesting bike.
Liteville 301, part 1

PM me your address and I’ll dig it out once I’m back home

The actual hub, unscrew the plastic non drive side cover and there is an interface. The dongle was a once only operation but the geek in me says it should be hackable

I’ve got the usb type dongle if that’s any good to you?

Make a great geek project

Interesting question. You’d need to upload both files and then meege them. Not possible in Strava as I know so I’d look at TrainingPeaks or similar.

I updated the software in mine to be Ant+ but it was wireless to begin with.

Thanks, interesting. Will read and digest

And another, love the Enigma, is that an Elite? I thought they used Columbus not Reynolds tubing.

Second the idea for Strada! They built my CX wheels and I’m going back for another pair.

Which Condor frame is that?

So much quality on this thread.

Stunning bike there matthew_h, really nice.

I’d be a proud owner of that.
(would look even better with a little less post showing and the bars parallel to the deck) 😉

Thanks Rorschach, interesting.

Someone mentioned this the other day.

Yeah this thread:

Why are power meters so expensive?

They however very very good tyres!

My thinking based on your post:

You’ve 3 weeks to race day, we’ve written off one for a cold/recovery time, leaving you two weeks of training including taper.

Last week before the event is, as you say, a couple of easy runs with strides to open up the legs in the week, with the previous weekend including a tem mile effort, (at race pace I guess).

Two weeks out is normal training with the long run of 15 miles at 7:30 pace.

I see little advantage of increasing the 15 mile run to 20, unless you’ve either a good base and know your body would recover, or you’ve never gone that long before and need the mental boost.

Job done:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vittoria-open-corsa-evo-sc-clincher-tyre/

Yes in training.

Both depressing and awe-inspiring at the same time. Their ability to float over bumps and take meters out of you round every corner is out of this world.

sound sensible?

Yes, very. Bin the long one, recover, follow the plan.

My first one is in 7 weeks, Stockholm.

Nice one, quality effort!

^agree with paulosoxo

Was it a holiday in the US today? Monday for a major marathon?

Ambrosio Zeniths are lovely, but will they come in at under 200 quid in the OP budget request?

Interesting as last year Fox forks were able to fit both 26 and 650 wheels, unlike RS or DT.

Something new for 2014 then?

I use a pair of Miche wheels for CX training. Not light, but they’re strong and still round after a winter’s riding.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/miche-race-clincher-road-bike-wheelset/

Raises the bottom bracket, changes the rake, reduces clearence.

Voids warranty?

Not as yet, they’re the DH ones with teeth like the XX1 rings, thus meant to be chain guard free. We’ll see how it goes in training, although I’m not racing till June as I’m marathon training at the moment, hense the close build process.

Right this thread has got my enthused to finally finish the 2013 race build.

Trek 2012 9.9ssl frame, 19.5, (replacement of a broken 2011 model)
DT Swiss forks
American Classic wheels with tubeless Geax tyres
1 * 10 with X0 Gripshift, X9 type two mech, KCNC rings, (32,34,36, course dependant), XT cranks
3T carbon bars and stem
9.7kg in the picture