36-22 didn’t seem too big a jump when I was running my budget 2×9 setup – it’s also what the M665 2×9 SLX crankset comes with as standard (and what Specialized are currently putting on their 2×10 hardtails)

I think I was using an XT 36t middle ring as the big. I also kept the 3×9 front mech and no bash ring, and I did lose the chain down the outside a couple of times.

Getting the same popup: in France, WiFi only, Android and Dolphin mini browser.

Only way out seems to be to force close the browser. AVG free seems to stop it happening (there’s a message about an invalid security certificate) but the installation is a bit big for my old phone!

Hoping to do the Lozerienne VTT around the Gorges du Tarn: http://www.lozerienne.com/indexvtt.htm

It’s like the Enduro format, but for XC (so the timed specials go up as well as down).

edit: just noticed that LoCo listed IronBike… Good luck, that looks amazing, and incredibly hard!

If stage 4 is something like “See you at the old graveyard at midnight” then that might explain it?

It depends whether you were watching TV, watching a training video or just staring at a blank concrete wall.

There are shades of wrong-ness.

I prefer this:

(OK, it’s from last year, but I only heard it recently)

If you’re going to be doing longer events, then make sure that your bike fits properly (saddle position, bar height), check that the saddle is OK over longer distances, and make sure you’ve got padded shorts, comfy grips, reasonable tyres (consider going tubeless?), spare rear mech hanger, multitool and spare tube/tyre patches.

These are all things I have learnt the hard way (apart from the spare hanger, but I’ve seen enough other people ripping them off) :-)

Wait, she was fined £337? When did British courts start basing fines on internet memes?

Split BMX tube and sealant is how I gave it a go on standard rims.

Worked well enough that I went to proper tubeless rims after the old wheelset became warped beyond repair.

“Ride like you’re being chased by wild dingos” was the most useful bit of advice I had.

Thanks for all the comments.

A quick trip to my local specialized store let me compare the A1 Rockhopper and the M4 Crave, helpfully next to each other. Difference in weight seems pretty minimal, but the slimmer back end and smoothed welds on the Crave make it a lot nicer looking (also has postmount rear brake mount and no rack fittings) .

The M4 frames also make a much nicer noise when flicked with a fingernail in the absence of a shop assistant.

I’ve been using Captain Controls on UST rims (shimano MT65s).

Generally they go on with a track pump but only if the bead is as close to being in place as possible. I actually have to work around the tyre pinching the sidewalls and pulling the bead up onto the rim out of the central channel before they’ll pop into place with a track pump. After they’re mounted they’ve been fine, even remounting easily after having a look inside to check sealant levels.

I had a 2010 one, and really liked it. The chainstay cracked over the summer and Spesh Europe are offering me a deal on a complete 2014 RH.

It’s an A1 alloy frame, and a crappy fork (XC28) which are giving me pause for thought.. All opinions would be interesting!

OK, thanks, I’d thought that there might be more of a difference between them.

No-one have any opinions on Specializeds alloys? Is it all made up?

Sudocreme cat was brilliant.

Funny in a different way was (I think) Jamie simply posting

Has he got a chimney?

in some “what to do” thread the day after pushing for a new revenge meme based on the news story about someone dumping down a chimney.

That was a great mini series. I had the softback novel of all the episodes for ages.

But wasn’t it Scarlett with two ‘t’s?

Edit: i’m wrong. Ah well, it was most pleasant searching..

Only one of these in the fridge:

… and I think that image is actual size!

At this stage i’m fairly certain i’ll never get back the standard of my younger self

I wouldn’t be so sure of that (unless you were a particularly talented youth). I’m over 40 now and having a bit of a resurgence – turns out that pretty much everything that I thought was good training 20 years ago was probably actually doing more harm than good!

Read up on some of the recent training and injury avoidance info from Dave Mac and others, have a skim through the UKB training forum ( http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/board,4.0.html ) and before you know it you’ll be climbing like your younger self, except without being permanantly overtrained and injured.

What those vids also show is how well she places her feet – the only time you hear a foot knocking against the plywood is when she puts one out for balance, or when the lower foot moves off a hold. Her foot placements on the holds are all precise and where they need to be without bouncing around or readjusting.

She’s also precise with hands as well (no slapping around or readjusting), although that’s harder for beginner climbers to work on, as it mostly comes from having a lot of contact strength.

The other thing to notice from the vids of her and Ondra is how good climbers position their bodies in relation to the holds. Both of them move from side to side to ensure that they’re always in the best possible position relative to the holds.

As long as you’ve got a track pump, you can let the air out and push a bit of one tyre bead down into the central well to have a look inside.

Tyres that have already been seated should pop back into place with only moderately psychotic pumping. Probably.

On a similar note, anyone posted a frame to France recently? Trying to get an idea of cost and reliable carriers.

Thanks.

2010 Footon Servetto kit – or “how to look naked in the middle of a peloton”

Because they do! Look like Magura Durins.

This one?

Although the only picture I can see of someone on a road bike that isn’t Cancellera or Ciolek is on p51

Still laughing at the “one shot gun spray” on p2!! :D

Having a dunking beaker actually seems quite reasonable compared to a guy on a US forum that I used to use, who happily recounted how he kept a “nut cup” on his bedside table to finish off in, as he didn’t like condoms and didn’t feel right about making a mess… I think the female forum users were more disgusted than the guys.

Whilst not of the tattooed persuasion myself, by coincidence I was listening to this song about tats earlier today, from the Dropkick Murphys (Celtic Punk band from Boston). I really like the sentiments, the narrative flow and the mixture of pride and regret.

slightly regret it now and would un-follow but don’t want to appear rude…

If you unfollow someone they don’t get a mail notification – I know this because recently a friend of mine managed to accidentally unfollow a whole load of people (me included) and the first I knew was the rather puzzling Follow Request from someone who I thought already was.

The imperial system

<insert Pulp Fiction pastiche here>

They’re OK.

Better than Juicy 3s, not as good as Shimano Deore.

Might be slightly on the racy side, but the Titus Rockstar will take a 120mm fork (according to the on-one website). If you can transfer groupset from the Trance then a self build could squeeze in under your budget.

There’s the BMC fourstroke as well, which comes in cheaper alloy or alloy/carbon versions.

Or sell a kidney and get an Ibis Ripley.

edit – sorry, just realised that the Rockstar only goes up to Large
double edit – the BMC only goes up to large as well, but BMC say it’s for a rider up to 195 cm tall (about 6ft 4)

Disney hotels are expensive.
Food and drink are expensive.
Get fastpass tickets as early as possible in the day.
Think about how much time you really need there – you can do almost all of the good stuff in 2 days (and the age of your kids will limit the stuff to do).
Be open-minded about going on rides, some of them are better than they look!
If you’re going all in for a Hotel/Park package you might find better prices combined with plane/train tickets.

I really enjoyed it, but we did it in one day outside the school holidays and stayed in agite with friends nearby.

I went along with loads of spare clothes and waterproofs…

…and got sunburnt! :-)

First time I’ve ridden around there. The trails up into the hills weren’t really that different to the garrigue north of Montpellier (except steeper!), but the parts next to the lake on the red earth were great fun, really grippy and fast.

I set off on the 45km loop, and the first two long climbs and descents were really slippy, two guys looked like they’d broken their collarbones. The friend I set off with really suffered on the climbs so we missed the cutoff times for the final harder loops, but it was good anyway.

I uploaded the trace to Strava that evening and was quite surprised to see that I’d got two KOMs – on segments that I think another guy had created that afternoon!

Erm, I’m in France too. And you can only see his rides by searching on the names of segments that he has the KOM on, then clicking through to the ride from the segment leaderboard.

Ooo, just noticed that the auto-generated name can be changed. Voila “STW climb of certain death”. http://www.strava.com/segments/4931315

No, that’s too strong. Hang on I’ll change it again…

“STW climb of near-certain discomfort”. Much better. Should still keep the local fast lads away from it (assuming they speak English)

It seems to just take the nearest road name and add “Climb” at the end, without any effort to be humorous. Very disappointing.

Like this (the only auto-generated one I’ve had): http://www.strava.com/segments/4931315

Strava DOES auto-generate segments, but only if there are no existing ones, and if they are long/steep enough to fit their cat 4/3/2/1/HC criteria.

It’s only happened to me once.

Up to no good as in editing GPS data to be the fastest.

And I’m really not bothered about losing the “1st of 1” position. I was more miffed a couple of weeks ago when one of the local fast lads took a road one off me without even trying, at the end of a 100km ride. :-)

all the pros are still using cantis

Judging by the photos from Cross Vegas, this is no longer true (although the mens and womens winners were both on cantis!)

Decathlon’s bike brand : B’Twin

because bikes go between your legs (say “B’Twin” in a French accent and it kind of works)