One of these:

Marzochi Forks
Grip Shift
BLT lights
Cook Bros Cranks
Silver Syncros
Lots of blue bling

If it helps all three I rode were by the same manufacture, with the same travel. All three were full on XC hardtails.

I’ve tried all three, I currently ride a 26 and am considering a new bike for next years race season.

For technical, tight, and powerful XC courses 650 would be my choice, for marathon racing then 29er would be the way to go.

29er’s were everywhere during this seasons races in Sweden.

That being said I doubt whether wheel size accounts for more than a couple of percent in overall performance/time. Its still the engine that counts.

That is one nice looking CX bike, hope it gets raced

Dugast Rhino’s are the general choice for parkland, be it dry or wet, good mud clearing too. Only really poor on courses with loads of tarmac.

Quite a few club mates are running Griffo’s and FMB SSC’s all season.

Standard answer is Boardman. Might be able to find a CAADX for that price if he’s lucky. Both are excellent.

Sure someone will say Whyte, Rose, other online reailer but I’ve not ridden one.

shop4cross.de has older Ridley models at good prices too

Last MTB race was Sunday, yup that’s it.

Bring on the cross season!

That and the CAAD are regarded as the “best” ali frames bikes around, (do Cervelo still make the S1?).

I think that they seem fantastic for the price

Griffo’s are nice tyres, and running them a low pressures with normal tubes it perfectly fine for “play at some CX races”. Latex tubes would be better still.

Find a short loop, buy a digital tyre pressure gauge and try out various pressures to see what works best.

No idea if you could run them tubeless, be interested to know

Not longer, shorter if anything, CX is all about intensity, from the second you start you’ll be in the red, it so far removed from running its untrue.

Try that session and also try tabata style sessions, being 20 seconds at 100% 10 seconds rest, repeat 8 times. If you don’t throw up afterwards you’re not trying hard enough 🙂

buy a heart rate monitor and learn to use it

so sorry, that should be “you’re over 12%”

Wife and children out for the night, therefore I’ve just glued my CX tubs in the kitchen.

load of rubbish IMO, not accurate enough to be valid.

Well done for losing the weight though, top effort!

If you can’t see your abs then your over 12%, as long as you feel better it doesn’t really matter.

ohh, climbing in Lofoten is on the bucket list!

See here:

Was about to link in the great MTB film from Nørrøna which was shot in Fjørå thinking it might be close, but Google maps indicated its over 1400km away! So much for my Norwegian geography

Read, then re-read Joe Friel’s blog, that’ll be a good start for base knowledge.

Home

Nice observation Duggan, I think that is quite correct.

Is that as low a HR as you can run at, or are you pushing yourself? I

That pace allows for short chats but not prolonged conversation. I don’t tend to run slower than that as at most I run twice a week currently and want to make each session count.

at what sort of HR can you maintain a steady run at?

I’d run a steady hour at 85% of max HR, so say 150BPM over an underlating course.

example: http://app.strava.com/runs/14953139

I perform the same session running and cycling.

4 * 4 minutes off 2 minutes recovery. Running on gravel roads, cycling on rollers.

My max H/R running is 4 beats higher than when cycling.

Each cycling interval is done at an average of 90% of max H/R or 4.7W/KG
Each running interval is done at an average of 92% of max and I cover 1.1km

The cycling session feels far harder!

Given the half training it will be intensity and technique that you’ll lack on the bike, (I’d guess).

Technique can be worked on during an extended warm up, corning, mounts/dismounts, sand, steep banks, off camber sections. Local parks are surprisingly good for this type of riding.

As for sessions, something like 4 * 4 minutes off 2 minutes recovery is a something of a standard over here. Each interval done at an average of over 90% of max H/R

You could pick up a Cannondale CAAD Sora for around that much, which would be my choice by a long way.

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m7b65s6p0

Out of those two then most likely the Giant.

Tifosi CK3 would be my choice, or maybe a Charge

Interesting calculator that. I’ve been looking into the FIRST marathon training schedules and working out training times and concluded I’m simply not fast enough over the short stuff to do their intervals.

That linked in calculator has a speedster and endurance monster pacing chart, which makes me feel a lot better about things.

I think we’re talking about the actual event, although defining toughness is hard.

Most people, (me), seem to consider heart rate/exertion as toughness, but clearly contact sports and multi events are a different level of toughness.

That being said I bet water polo’s not easy!

That’s still quite a high pressure for XC, I’d run 30 for clinchers, (I’m 74kg for reference)

Depends how we define toughest. But rowing and cycling being non-weight bearing events allow you to push yourself harder than weight bearing events like running.

Having run, (and walked), to a highish level the difference in feeling dead at the end of the event is very different to that of cycling, and I can imagine rowing.

Ride the lap at least twice, once as a warm up to get used to the course, the next to ride the corners and tricky bits at race pace.

have fun

I’ve just moved from the Julia Donaldson books to Roald Dahl, which are longer and a little more grown up, my 6 year old loves them, as do I.

Oh that’s brillant

http://www.xcracer.com/UK-Mountain-Bike-Event-Diary-Planner.php

Cervelo S1 @ £800, and their RS @ £1200, two very nice frames

Nicely done there monksie

advantages:
stiffer, lighter, can be made to fit 26, 650, or 29er wheels with simple internal adjustment, looks, weight

disadvantages:
needs a special hub therefore reduces the chance of borrowing a wheel from a mate if needed, special adaptor needed for roof racks, hard to get hold of.

http://qwertycycles.co.uk/products/cannondale-lefty-pbr-100

tubs are essentially a tyre and tube stitched together to make an air tight tube, its then glued to the rim.

Advantages are less chance of pinch flats as the rim profile is different, ability to run way lower pressures, ability to still ride on a flat tyre.

Dugast produce the Rhino, but they’ll also sew a riders own choice or sponsors tread onto their own casings.

Most common in cyclocross where amateurs like me use them, quite common in elite XC riders.

Great camera, got mine via amazon, along with an additional battery and the how to take good pictures with the X10 book.

Urban myth is that the course will be open but without the really rocky bits, so I guess it’ll be the mother of all family cycle parks.

Would be nice to keep the technical sections but I can’t see it, unfortunately

I don’t quite get that.

Someone crashed a few days ago in training and broke their collarbone so that might explain it

Boardman just said they are running tubular tyres that are glued on to the rims, wrong bikes fatboy.

He is correct, a lot of riders are riding tubs