I’m thinking of going to the Sept event, but I have a trip to US with work and the 3 Peaks all in Sept, so I may not be too popular at home if I do the Polaris too.

It was a good event, that was well organised by the OMM – loads of check points over a big area, so plenty for you to think about in terms of route planning. The course was based mostly on the forest tracks and roads, as the bridleways were less well defined and slow going. So the scenery was a bit samey, but non-the-less good riding. Weather was decent on Saturday, but Sunday was a bit dreich.

There were some big rides and suitably big scores. Not from me though. I had a decent 5 hrs on the first day, but wasted the last 2 hrs with some daft decisions and some bad navigation. Sunday was better in that regard, except I misjudged how far I could ride. Although I executed my route perfectly, I finished ~1hr EARLY, with no options for a few extra check-points. So, more bad planning I guess.

There were only ~75 people taking part (compared to ~275 people in an enduro event my mate rode in on the same weekened), so it’s going to take some effort to build the event back up to it’s previous levels. I don’t think that is the plan. Stuart from the OMM was really enthusiastic and is making a big effort to put a quality endurance MTB event together and keep it going. I will definitely be taking part again.

I’ve got a CRC £5 off £50 that you can have – unused and should be active still for a few days. What’s your e-mail address? Send me a PM (email in profile)

Thanks Martin, have a good ride at Gisburn. Try and not break anything 😉

esselgruntfuttock – I remember competing in events with 450-600 teams of 2, but those times have passed. OMM picked up the Polaris name/format in 2012 for an event around Askrigg. The course and organisation was superb. I thought the turn out was pretty good given that MTBing seems to have moved on; IIRC there were about 100-125 teams of 1 or 2 doing the no wild camp format, with about 50 teams of 1 or 2 doing the full Polaris format.

Interesting to see that the OMM have posted separate maps for Sat/Sun on their website

http://www.theomm.com/events/OMM_Bike_Spring/

In all the past Polaris events I’ve done (maybe ~10) I’ve never seen that. Ok, they’re not providing details of what controls are active, but still surprising.

Looks like it is just me and PB at the mo, so a podium finish is on the cards 😉

Thanks for the advice globalti. Was planning on using the HT so good knowing it’s the right tool for the job. Not sure I have the legs for massive distances this w/e, but it’ll be good to ride there.

When I asked the manufacturer of my carbon MTB (Tomac) they were adamant that I should not use a bike carrier that clamps onto the down tube.

I got sucked into the FS world (Kona Four Delux) a few years ago and regretted it, so went back to having a HT and love it. But …

I like building bikes, so I also now have a Cotic Hemlock (looks great – pretty much completely black), but it’s boring and heavy compared to my HT. So I’m back to thinking I don’t want a FS anymore. It only really gets ridden in the winter, or if I’m going in my mate’s car and don’t want my carbon HT downtube to be clamped onto his roof bars.

Now I’m riding the HT most of the time; long or short rides. The simplicity of the bike, low weight, speed on the ups/flat, and picking smoother lines on the downs is winning for me.

oh yeh … 46 1/2 yo, and ride in the Peaks

I did look at a hug gear as being the holy grail of winterproofing my commuter bike, but having only had the hub for a few months I’ve still to experience the all of the “joys” described above.

I’m running a 5 speed Sturmey with disk mount. It was great fun building the wheel myself. Putting it on the bike was less fun. I echo the comments on the anti-turn washers above, and indexing the gears is a fiddle – perhaps it’s my failing eyesight, but lining up a blob of paint on the chain thing that goes into the axle through a plastic roller was a PITA.

Cable stretch (hopefully only initially) makes the indexing go out quite easily. It only needs to be a fraction out before I get gear slippage.

I need to ease off a lot when changing gears, and like the Alfines, my Sturmey hub doesn’t like a lot of force through the pedals (when indexing is a fraction out) – last night I nearly went OTB going up a steep hill when the gears slipped.

Finally, I have strained my thumb, which I can only attribute to the overly stiff shifter that came with the hub. 🙄

The jury is out, but I recognise some of the problems

Like 😀

I love em all, they need to be seriously bad to make me think they are ugly.

That got me thinking about this homemade carbon FS bike featured in another STW topic.

Fair play to the builder. He’s doing something I wouldn’t attempt, presumably learning a lot about bike design and having some fun in the process … but it certainly isn’t pretty

No you’re thinking the wrong way round.

Mini Vs require less cable pull than full sized V brakes. Road levers don’t pull enough cable to work with full sized V brakes that is why problem solvers came about.

Road levers pull enough cable for mini Vs, but I’m thinking that problem solvers may improve the force that can be applied (even though tehy are technically not required).

I ride in the Peaks quite happily w/o a dropper post. Could I ride better being able to drop my saddle height easily? … Possibly, but I don’t “need” a dropper post.

I am Scottish and live in Yorkshire so may be true to the penny pinching stereotype, but does a decent dropper post really have to cost upwards from £175?

Anyone gone from dropper back to normal seatpost?

Can’t answer that as I’ve never had a dropper post in the first place. Quite happy with a rigid post on all my bikes.

Funkier shorts have good pads IMO

I was going to say … check out this set-up guide.

Then I re-read your post. I’m assuming your cx bike has drop bars, so are you using the road version of the BB7s?

Yes, one man job. Assuming you started after the first reply you should be finishing in a few minutes

I saw at least one tandem on the Brecon Beast last September. Last year’s route looked fine for a tandem for the majority of the distance. Maybe just a few tricky sections to negotiate.

I’m seriously thinking of persuading my 13 year old daughter to do the “Up the Buttress” event this year on our tandem. It’s only 400 metres, how hard can it be?

marko75 – Member
Does this really matter about the weight of a bike? I have always wondered the effect of the weight of the bike compared to the weight of a <chubby like me> rider.

Well, I’m a skinny 60kg and I can ride my carbon HT a lot longer than my alu FS. The FS is ~7lbs heavier.

@Chew, that’s a hell of a big flag to have attached to the back of your bike

one_happy_hippy

You need to change your name now 😉

Personally I think having 5 bikes is scandalous and provokes horrible feelings of guilt. Reading other contributions here makes me feel slightly better.

So I feel better already about my 4 (the tandem doesn’t count as technically I only own the front end of that, despite “owning” the cleaning and maintenance of both ends)

My wife reluctantly accepts the number I have now, but any more would not go down too well. So it is satisfying to know that I have passed one of the STW benchmarks on the ideal number, but clearly I need to use my favourite bike a lot more.

especially as I have to deal with the roads “theonlywayisup” mentions.

I should have added that I was on a 26″ MTB* with 1.75″ slick tyres, so you’ll do better on 700c wheels.

Good luck, and I’ll remember to say “hi” if I see you gurning up Upperthorpe or Springvale.

* 26″ being the correct wheel size for a real MTB 😉

I did this to a lovely 1990(ish) Dave Yates Diabolo. Ruined a great bike.

would the geometry etc be all wrong?

That was my experience. Handling was iffy, but mostly the riding position was too long and low. 26″ wheels looked wrong too.

I toyed with the idea, but soon discovered that any gear that was useful on the flat couldn’t get me straight up Upperthorpe and Springvale Road.

Clearly I am not man enough to ride a singlespeed in Sheffield, so opted for a 5spd hub gear instead.

Two would be my minimum as I need a hack bike for commuting. Funny thing is I neglect that bike a lot, but use it 5 days a week. Don’t have too many mechanical problems with that regime.

It’s putting my decent bike away when it doesn’t move for a few weeks that causes the most problems.

IHN – Member
Oh sweet baby Jesus and the cuddly little blessed orphans and their pet baby robins, I agree with Hora *sobs*

Do you actually like riding your bike or do you just like looking at the view whilst sitting on your bike?

Without the latter, I enjoy the former much less.

Having never met Hora I can’t comment on whether agreeing with him is a good or bad thing, but INH has hit the nail on the head for me. I like the view and to get a perspective on where I’ve been and where I am going.

I was never interested in night rides till recently when it proved to be the only option to get in more riding time over the winter, so I will do it for that reason only.

On the plus side I have seen a white hare (rare apparently) on a recent night ride.

But on solo night rides my mind keeps drifting to thoughts about the film American Warewolf in London. So if you see me on a night ride going over Houndkirk Moor, just say hello and don’t mention anything about staying on the path

Link to recent thread (and link within that). Should be all you need

Try Swinton. My home policy with them has similar cover to your original RBS policy.

Have you considered WaywardRider he sounds like he should have this covered 😉

From the title I was expecting something more like this …

I didn’t see this book referenced above, but it is highly recommended

http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php

Roger Musson says …

The most important feature of a relieble wheel is equal tension and this can easily be achieved without a tensiometer

He uses the plucking method mentioned above and comparison to similar wheels.

… amazed at the number of riders who made no attempt to get air – not even on the easy low level table tops. Most people just rolled the whole trail! They’re just missing out so much that is fundemental to MTB’ing. I’m not talking big stuff here. C’mon at least make the effort and ride the trail the way it was designed to be ridden

There’s so much in that statement that irks me. Take “fundemental to MTB’ing“.

Ignoring the obvious spelling error, to be fundamental something has to be a necessary base or core; to be of central importance. I wouldn’t put jumping into that category when it comes to riding your MTB. Neither, it appears, would one of the UK’s most respected MTB instructors as he didn’t include “jumping” in his basic skills course (maybe it is next in line after Active body position and timing, Berms and Rollers, Bike Setup, Braking, Cornering, Having fun on a bike, Looking ahead, Maintaining speed through turns, Relaxing on the bike).

Most of the trails I ride are natural and not designed to be ridden in a particular way (i.e. not designed at a trail centre), but even so, who is the OP to say how I should ride an obstacle. There are potentially several different ways to tackle each trail feature.

Personally, I have always felt that fitness, route planning, navigation and endurance were fundamental to what I call MTB’ing. But know that those aspects are not necessarily what everyone else values.

Bottom line is that MTB’ing means different things to different people. If you’re riding off-road on varying degrees of technical trail then you’re a mountain biker. Do your own thing and have fun on your bike.

… and yes, I’m too old and wise (maybe) to take too many risks with jumping 🙂

I don’t crash much, it may be luck, I like to think it’s prudence and riding within my abilities (which I know a lot of folk consider lame!)

A couple of others have repeated this post. That pretty much sums me up too. There are many things that make up a good ride for me, and getting home in one piece is top of the list. I ride within my limits and don’t care if I’m considered slow on the descents – I make up for that on the uphill sections 😉

I did go through a period of having several low speed OTB incidents on Stanage Causeway and it really did my confidence in. Getting a bit of coaching from Ed Oxley helped, but getting off and walking that short section was probably the main reason for stopping crashing there.

Maybe you just need to get some confidence back, and some coaching could help there. Good luck with your recovery, and hopefully you’ll be back on your bike before too long.

I always reply Atera Strada to these posts. I’ve had one of those racks for several years now. Brilliant piece of kit.

Try here for other views

Gravel needs weeding, and I hate being the one to tell you this … but from the reflection it looks like someone has stolen your legs. How do you pedal?

Try Bagaboo[/url]

You get to pick your own colours. I had mine made up with extra reflective material as part of the design. Top quality bags.

You’ve got to find your own balance between work and life, but I know mine is tipped as far to the “life” side as I can get. There are other factors to consider than me getting out on my bike, and I have to fit that in around my family, which is getting easier as the kids get older.

But I don’t beat myself up about not getting out. I have a short cummute each day of the week that helps to top up my natural levels of fitness, but I’ll sometimes go for a couple of weeks without riding for pleasure, depending on available time, weather and mood.

Motivation can be hard in the winter, especially this year, so I’ve been trying to fit in a few shorter rides, cross training, and have even bought some lights despite being totally disinterested in night riding in the past. Basically, doing some different rides has helped. You could also consider setting a challenge; entering an event to give you a goal and an incentive to get out on the bike. I’m using a wee ride over 3 little hills in Yorkshire at the end of September for encouragement at the moment 🙂

As others have said, it depends upon what is on offer for the participants. For example:

Brecon Beast is £30 and includes 2 routes (long ~100k), feeding station, camping, pre-ride meal and T-shirt.

OMM Bike (formerly Polaris) is £55 for 2 days riding, loads of check points, map, camping and post-ride meal.

Both of these events are well organised and good value IMO. For a one day marathon style MTB ride £50 would be my limit, unless it was special.

I have BB5s on the commuter and BB7s on the MTBs. I prefer the BB7s – IMO they have better stopping power and require less tweaking to keep in top order. Regardless both are fine when set up correctly.

If you do need instructions on how to set up BB7s get them here

Of course I have never used these instructions so can’t comment on whether they are any good 😉

Remember, only once all else has failed should you then refer to any instructions.

Is that before or after taking the part that is in bits to yous LBS for some piss taking?

Without instructions, my mate once took a SRAM shifter apart as it wasn’t working well. He then couldn’t put the thing back together again. So he proceeded to take the other (working perfectly) shifter apart to see how it fitted together. Great plan! Id have loved to be in the bike shop when he turned up to explain why he wanted them to re-build his shifters 😆

If its less than 5k, a little spinning on the flat/freewheeling shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

So i’m guessing you’ll be able to pretty much freewheel to work, and get your workout on the way home?

Yep, pretty much like that 😀

Thanks for the suggestions.

Remember there are actually three gears – pedalling sitting down, pedalling standing up, and getting off and walking…

lol 😆