Hi Dave!
I still owe you a disk of pictures from SITS and Clic 2008.
You might recognise the night time shots / scenes from Clic.
Thanks – where were you at 2009’s MM?

Tim

“Jump off the top of your house” And did you?
No, I thought not.
Besides, it wasn’t me.

whilst I am uploading the images, there is a gallery in the mountain bike section at http://www.t-f-p.com

This year’s MM images start at about image 31 onwards.
Some are 2008’s some SITS, some Clic24, some from a Demo series at Afan, Glentress and Dalby.

Tim

For those who endured 2008:
Imagine how this course would have held up under 2008’s torrential rain.
Now tell me, hand on heart, that anything has really changed.

It might have less of the mud / grass / off-camber stuff but none of the sections that need all-weather proofing received any such detailing.

Why take the hard route when the mince route was quicker?

I enjoyed it far more with a constant middle (or sometimes the big ring) everywhere bar the tarmac Kenda Climb and not at all technically demanding.

Comments 2 or 3 posts above about the layout of the actual trade stands and start / finish straight , ride to and the loss of some stands are correct.

Tim

http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/directlink.cgi?event_id=83826

No, I rode the last lap from 13:45hrs, completed in 56 mins, my favourite ride of the whole event, on a Ti29er with 2.25 RRalfs. A cracking choice.
Other bikes were also available (a Turner Flux).
Tim

In all probability that was me speaking to you!
I am going to start working on them later today.

http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/directlink.cgi?event_id=83826
or
http://www.muddybum.co.uk

Tim

The same frame is better (for a 6 footer) in the 29 version.
My fastest laps at MM this w/end were on the 29er On-One and I’m 5ft 10.5.
Try it first before dimissing it!
Tim

I put RRalf’s on my 29er today and within 90 mins another puncture.
I am begining to think schwalbe tyres are completely sh%te.
Every ride (90%) with these tyres in the last 18 months ends in a puncture or two or three.
And that’s both NN and RR’s.

Convene the Escape Committee and under cover of darkness make good your escape!
T

In my case I expected some local riders to come good after some rides last year together as they all expressed interest in doing some events summer 2009 and in the meantime it’s me that does all the chivvying and emails and prompting etc, so I never told them I’d got a team entered just in case I lost faith in them.
One of the guys messed me about for about 5 weeks with a bike I was selling and then never bought it so he was left out of the plan for the summer events, then they all sort of lost the plot over the winter / new year, so I thought I’d see if they were actually worth maintaining contact with and the answer, sadly, is a resounding No!
Thus I offer up the spaces.
Tim

I too have some spaces – who wants to ride?
T

Going the 100mm travel route will make things lighter.
Is there a real need for more than 100mm?!
Tim

If I make the electrolyte solution too strong it makes me thirsty!

As you say, hydration in the few days before an event is an absolute must, a good mixed carbo-protein breakfast maybe 1.5hrs before the event on the day and a weak solution during the race.

I too think you might be taking in too much during the event but
a post work-out drink on the way home won’t hurt.

Beer, coffee and to a lesser extent tea will not help you either before or after the race but a cuppa to get me moving is a given at sparrow’s fart the morning of an event. A pint or two of water over the hour before the race and a last minute pee and you’re sorted!

I rode the Polaris at the w/end in the Peaks, 7hrs & 5hrs of 20+ degrees and this worked a treat. A Gel every 2hrs and an energy bar every hour for such events as a Merida or a Polaris will see you right.

Hope this is of some help. Hydration in the 2-3 day before the event might need more scruitiny, maybe?

Tim

I have a 305 I never use. YOurs for £125 if you want it.
T

The Turner gets my vote too.
T

I think he’s DH-ing.
The XC lap is not worth committing both body and new bike to if it’s a first visit IMHO. Too slippery on the chalk and steep in some places. Fun in the dry though.

If it rains I stay away from Aston.
The chalk (all chalk) is dangerously awful in the wet, especially on this XC course. Roots galore on the upper section too.
Ride elsewhere and save your clavicle for another day!
Tim

I can understand the rule of not being on a footpath with a bike for the Polaris Series, it takes the temptation to ride instead of pushing your bike away from the outset.
Is this the case nationally I wonder with regard to the actual law?
Thanks

I too have tried the tablets with my elderly mutts of 10 & 14, but they seem unwilling to fill in the feed-back forms that I give them!
Again, I haven’t seen any marked difference, although the cod liver oil has a marked effect on their coats.

It’s not my family member, but a guy in the street next to mine!
He’s proving something of a problem (there’s an ongoing court case with him already) and I have learnt that he’s got Alz’ but still tries to drive his car. His family live not 15ft away from his home.
The DVLA it is in the morning!
Cheers

I didn’t catch any, but I was agog when I saw them falling through the canopy of the tree. One missed me by 3ft.
One little-un was out cold, so I gave him / her the most help, another was swimming like mad, ‘cept he was sunnyside down and making no progress at all ’til I set him right!
The last one we found with the help of a pointer dog, the last of her brood, lost in the long grass and so I popped him onto the pond too.
Tim

Of Mice & Men …. was written as a play and so is more of a short story. Farm workers in America’s Wheat Belt during the Great Depression. Bad Lenny the retard. Soft hands for the Mrs. Bang! The End.
Does that help?

I doubt you can be foreign in your own home-land!
Besides, you’re not being PC.
Won’t they be Korean People of a Different Political Persuasion and Ideology or some-such?
You’ll still need to kill them though.
Would you like some Soy sauce with that deep fried dog, Sir?

Andy McNab & Chris Ryan’s first Books were worth a read and after that, they lost the plot. Not read any since their 2nd offerings.

I’d argue with the earlier comment about the Bible (Old Testament) – it’s a fascinating read.

Thanks.
There are many variations within different countries from what I can recall.
I think you continued with the service until about 50 in Sweeden, meaning MD’s and CEO’s of companies had to go camping for 2 weeks of every year and learn how to run again & dress as trees.
It’d not do our society any harm me thinks, but it’s not something we have grown up with. Maybe our fathers and Grandfathers did, and they all had stories of adventure especially in warmer climbs (before the days of Easy Jet et al).
Best get set with N Korea declaring war on S Korea!
Grab your helmet Hawkeye, your respirator and chop sticks; off to the 38th Parallel with you my son!

I am photographing the Whyte’s Enduro.
And putting some laps at about 02:00- 04:00.
Plus the Sportive.
Tim

Ah!
No, I missed that, reading only a few sections as it was 40 posts long.
A pal of mine went for swim on his annual holidays in the Canaries a few years back, aged 32, was towelling off on the beach by his wife (31) and dropped dead.
No family history – just a weakness in the heart they reasoned and too much stress in his life. And leaving it too long between hard physical exercise maybe (?).
T

ps – did you see the post here, about the 29yr old rider having a heart attack! He’s supposed to be solo during the Bristol Bike Fest’ shortly so one assumes he’s not a novice.

Matt.
I’ll go with the latter (pours himself a glass of something suitably fizzy and refreshing!).
Whyte Enduro on Saturday, Polaris mid June, plus Bony 24 & MM still in my sights.
Thanks
Tim (4 man team name Heather Mills Swims in Circles)

I saw 181 last year after being at altitude for a while, but normally I can reach 174 as my max HR. And it feels like it’s my max! I’m 134 yrs old in June.

Are you sure Cynic?
The question is whether getting fitter lowers the HR whilst completing the same task (my training rides) as fitness levels improve.
You’re saying however, that my HR should not differ.
Mine (and Drac’s if I’m correct in saying) is that the fitter I become the lower my HR decreases during any given exercise.
I appreciate the comment about overtraining, but that’s not the case at present.
Thanks
Tim

Just reading Ran Fiennes’s Auto Biog as you post this message.
He had to keep his heart down to no more than 130bpm on his adventures, and he’d had lots of scans and a by-pass, so they knew intimately the state of his arteries and heart.
You will be sitting this one out if you know what’s sensible.

PS – what kit are you now selling before taking up tiddly-winks?
What about your place on the Bristol ride?

The rest of the images are now live.
5 orders thus far!
I was in the bushes on that corner at 11:00-11:15 on Sunday only.
Cheers
Tim

Pics up in maybe 15 mins, although in its infinate wisdom, Adobe has chosen to omitt a whole host of images (why do I hate Adobe sooooo much!?) , so the whole upload will have to be re-done later this evening.
Meaning: if you’re not in this upload and rode on Sunday morning you might still be in the final pictures – so bear with me please.
Tim

I have been looking at this corner and the images in some detail with my assistant this morning.
It’s enormously telling when you look at them. I’ll have the full upload shortly so maybe you can check this out too as there are maybe 30 shots taken on the exit.
In essence, the fast riders look up and firstly into and then out of the corner.

The fastest line is to stay out to the right on the approach, but not too wide, then steering close to the apex (the tree), and running wide under power on the exit which is a down-hill, off camber tightening radius with roots – and it’s wet. A classic corner to observe the various techniques of the quick and the not-so-quick!

It’s at the tree where you see the riders’ eye-lines switch with the fast riders who then look at the exit point and then beyond. If you’re quick through here, the head & lid are up and over to the left.

More steady riders look down at the ground, and put simply, the brain can’t process this macro-vision approach so there’s a limit to how quickly you can ride when you look only 2-4ft in front of your front wheel.

The first set of images are now live.
This takes us up to 08:00
I was only taking pictures on the Sunday & between the mast and the rock garden / the blue bells, which I guess is the first 1/5th of the circuit.

This will help you locate yourselves as there are several pages of pictures, each with 30 imgaes per page.

The rest of the images will be live in probably 2x installments, mid day and later this evening.
Tim

Pictures from Sunday starting about 06:20hrs here:
http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/directlink.cgi?event_id=81124
From tomorrow. Some may be up this evening.

Tim

CLICK HEREIf you want to view some really outstanding photography, can I direct you ?
In short: There are many prestigious international photographic awards each year. One being PX3.

This is an important showcase competition attracting many top named celebrity photographers, and others. In the many varied categories you will not know whose is whose pictures. This is a good thing.

I have succeeded in being shortlisted into quite a number of diverse categories (quite a few to do with mountain biking) , a few of which you’d maybe not associate me with. Automotive advertising anyone?
Art Abstract?

I have spent 18 months on some projects leading up to this event so the competition is not taken lightly. This link became live and active at 16:00hrs on 14 May 2009.

The link to their main site is:
CLICK HERE

I can provide most of the links to my images, but sufficed to say most of my work is on the last page of the various categories.

Many will simply enjoy the photographic showcase.

I hope you enjoy the photographs.

Tim

antigee – not sure you understand chiansuck, which I have stated my well be a coincidence & it’s at the front.
Please read previuos comments on earlier threads.

The nature of a 29er really required a 34T for the long, steep gradients you find in Scotland and some in Wales.

I see Shimano are now producing a 29-specific BB (?) and also a 36T rear cassette.

However, if, as you suggest, you’re that fat and slow and unfit, why not get the bus?! :o

Tim

Simon will be posting up the URL link and a photographer’s credit on the club’s site.
In the meantime, please see the very first post here for the link.

What gear ratios are you running?
I’m still trying to get my head around the 29er and SS concept!
Tim