Should be interesting…

Sky are going to try and do what they did last year – stay out of trouble until the hills, then stick everyone on the front and keep the pace so high that most people can’t get away and even attacks by Contador/J-Rod/Valv get reeled in.

But… I can’t help but think that it won’t be as easy as last year. Froome seems to have the Sky leadership sorted (and the respect of his team-mates) but I don’t think he’s got the stature of Wiggins to act as a Patron, and calm things down if chaos starts to happen.

Tirreno-Adriatico showed that Sky don’t do chaos very well, and the Giro showed that they get a bit lost when the Plan comes unstuck.

Which should all add up to some interesting attacking racing (and Evans will probably be lurking around the top 5 somewhere as well).

Meanwhile the Cav/Sagan battle for green will be immense. Cav will have to thrash all the other top sprinters several times, and Sagan will be rampaging away with the hillier stages.

Voeckler is up to something too – publicly announcing that Rolland is the leader so he can drop a load of time and go for the KOM jersey? Or looking to sneak off the front and grab a few days in yellow?

Actually, it’ll probably be really dull, with Sky squashing the mountain stages.

Unless Andy Schleck has been faking it for the past few months and goes on a series of huge one-man breaks… nah.

Those SAB frames are a really tempting price!

Anyway, off the top of my head, bits that might not fit:

Headset (even with the same description)
Fork steerer length (should be OK moving to a smaller frame, but measure the headtube)
Fork dimensions – I don’t think that length and rake will be very different, but I’d check anyway.
Bottom bracket (depends on shell width, threading and axle length)
Front mech band (depends on seat tube diameter)
Seatpost (see above)

You’ll almost certainly need new cables, outers and bartape too. It all adds up.

I recently ditched the 44t and fitted a 36th middle on a 3×9.
Not an slx crank though,.
It works fine – I can use the whole cassette with the 36t and actually use the 22t a lot less than I thought I would.

However, the FD is quite fiddly to get exactly right. Limit screws and FD height had to be precise. Even now I get a tiny bit of chain rub on the FD cage when in 36×11, but I can live with it. I also drop the chain from time to time but I think I left it one link too long.

It looks ok (i ended up with red alloy chainring bolts as they were the cheapest short ones) the FD looks too high, as there’s no big ring, but it’s not so bad that I need to buy an m665 FD.

Edit: forgot to mention that 2×9 is in fact awesome, but typing on a phone is not.

To be fair, the video of last year does show a bit more walking, but also a lot more riding and a LOT more sunshine:

http://www.zapiks.fr/transvesubienne-2012.html

Even when it’s covered in snow? Some of the photos make this years event look like some sort of siberian death march!

My index toes are a little bit longer than my big toes

People with feet like this tend to get on better with the more symmetric shaped shoes like Boreal, Evolv and some of the Scarpa ones. FiveTen and La Sportiva tend to have a more asymmetric shape that focuses power on the big toe.

Best bet is to go to a shop, work out what sort of shoe you want to match your normal climbing (steep/slabby, hard/easy, bouldering/long routes) and then try on that type of shoe from different makes. Shape is the most important thing.

Quite a few vids up on youtube now. The one from the organisers makes it look like a good day out…

Just seen Matt’s strava trace for the race – doesn’t sound like he’s keen to go back next year! So epic that it appears to have crashed his blog…

Well done to you both for finishing. A huge achievement.

My folks have some in a small back garden.

Looks ok, but there are two drawbacks:

The local cats like to poo on it and it had to ne washed afterwards!

It feels wierdly hot when walking barefoot on it on a sunny day.

You’ve already got a control version of The Captain both ends, yes?

My recommendation would be to leave a Captain on the front and put something like a Racing Ralph, Fast Trak, Crossmark (or maybe Larsen, SM8, Ikon) on the back, but I ride mostly dry, rocky trails and that’s what works round here.

Also, although you said you don’t want to go tubeless, if you do then it decreases rolling resistance even more!

There’s a lot of choice in tyres, and you might not like the feel of what other people do. Keep an eye on the special offers on Chain Reaction, you can often pick up tyres from Michelin/WTB/whoever for about a tenner – it’s a good way to experiment.

I’d love to do this one day, but I don’t yet have the fitness, it sounds like a huge, huge day.

I’ve seen a few videos, but the one that really gave me an idea of the scale of the event is this one, from a guy who did it last year (Wicen). His mate (Bilou) did it on a Ti 29er hardtail (and I think finished top 50?). The guy in the vid decided to do the race about 48 hrs beforehand, did it on a alloy 26er hardtail without a dropper post, and finished!

I saw this on the vtt34 forums – lots of info there if you speak French. One guy was suggesting that the best training for the TransV would be to go and do the local steep, rocky mountain descent three or four times and carry your bike back up to the top after each time :D

Thinking about it, it might be two years.

It wasn’t completely dead, but had noticeable play and a grinding noise when pushing hard.

I ride in mostly bone dry conditions, so I guess it’s just one of those things.

As the LBS didn’t charge me it’s possible that they put in a pre-used BB from another bike. At the time I thought they were being extra nice to make up for a mix-up that had occurred.

Just been for a test ride.

I think I can convince myself that having my feet 5mm apart feels much better…

Orange, because of the spec:

Frame Yup
Wheels Yup
Bars Yup
Tyres Yup
Saddle Yup
Moustache Nope
Style She sure is perdy

I don’t know the area, but you might find some routes on here
http://www.utagawavtt.com/gmap/carte-generale-topos-vtt

Yep, Balcons de Vaunage it was. Some of the guys over on VTT34 are slagging it off a bit – I can see how it would have been a really crap rando, but it seemed quite a good race. Everything they’re saying about the start/finish area being weirdly spread out and void of any kind of atmosphere was right though.

It was muddy, especially in the second half, but there don’t seem to be any vineyards up on the Vaunage, so we didn’t get sent through any clay-rich wheel-clogging hell.

Wasn’t the Jacou ride quite muddy? I missed it this year. Might make it to St Croix this weekend, but probably for one of the short loops with the kids.

For the cramps, I think you’re both right – mostly unfitness with a touch of dehydration. Seem to be OK today though.

Seen this?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/kona-22-good-deal-yes-but-how-good

The BR review is here: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-kona-22-dl-11-44883

I get pictures of a Marine who’s about twice as wide and seventeen times as steely-jawed as me. :-)

They all look like they’re designed for flat bars – anyone using them on low/high risers?

Geoportail is the official site for the IGN.

I think you can buy portions in DWG from http://cartes-numeriques.ign.fr/index.php

(Edit: ian beat me to it!)

Can’t find it now, but sometime recently there was a guy (posting either here or over on bikeradar) who had managed to drop his chain off the little ring in front, which had then cut through the front mech Di2 cable.

Does that help?

edit: ah, found it: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40013&t=12915119

If it’s for kids cartoons, then Youtube has loads of good (older) stuff

Anyone put their kids on one of the Luath road/cyclocross bikes?

I’d be interested to hear opinions about them (for 10/11 year olds)

The French have stock:
http://www.probikeshop.fr/search/xx1.html
http://www.alltricks.fr/recherche.php?keyword=xx1

Did this for the first time recently.

Cutting straight across the steerer without a pipe cutter is hard – be prepared to file off a fair bit afterwards if not using a proper guide and/or a decent hacksaw.

For this:

Hardest bit is getting a SFN in straight. It really is worth trying to get the proper tool, either borrow or a 2 minute job in a bike shop.

I agree. Using a short bolt and a rubber mallet was really frustrating as the starnut kept twisting. If you don’t have the proper tool, then the reason that many of the youtube how-to guides suggest a small screwdriver is so that the longer part of the screwdriver inside the steerer stops the nut from turning too much.

I started with the supplied nut, but had to restart about 5 times! Worked first go with a screwdriver instead.

Oh, and don’t forget the crown race – unless you’ve a tube the right size to push it down equally then you’ll have to do what I did and nervously hit it down with a screwdriver, a little bit all round and round.

I thought that the MT66s are the 2013 version of pretty much the same wheelset?

I got MT65s for a bargain price last year – cheapest tubeless wheelset I could find. They are still round.

This:

Or pretty much anything be Hayseed Dixie:

or

or

or

This : best pop song ever (x2)

oh, and this

Forgive the intrusion, but are intervals THAT good?

I think so too, for a number of reasons:
Efficient use of otherwise wasted 1 hour slots. 1 hour is long enough to warm up, do a few hard intervals, warm down and it’s short enough to be able to recover quickly before your next slot, unlike a full-pelt 3 hour session that leaves you wrecked for days.

Counters the typical amateur athlete tendency to make easy sessions too hard and hard sessions too easy – 100% effort intervals are easy to gauge effort levels for (try not to black out or vomit too much).

Gets me out of the office at lunchtime (also makes my colleagues think I’m some sort of awesome sportsman, how little they know…).

The majority of my training time is short lunchtime interval-style sessions. Although I don’t race, I can feel the benefits when I occasionally get out on a 2-4 hour ride at the weekends. I don’t think that it’s possible to make big advances in endurance by doing just short interval sessions, but it certainly seems possible to maintain fitness by doing them.

In reply to the OP, I’m not following a fixed training plan this year, but in the past I’ve read Friel’s book and drawn up plans based on that. His blog is also very interesting and fills in a few gaps. Currently I just try to go on feel, but keeping in mind the general principles about nutrition, session content and cycle planning that I’ve picked up.

With Viewranger you have to create a free account, then you can upload gpx files to the my.viewranger website, then synchronise with your phone (simpler than it sounds).

I’ve got that far, but not actually tried following one yet!

Oh, and the comment I made above about the maps – actually I was being a muppet. I wasn’t using the OpenCycleMap map tiles I’d carefully downloaded, but looking at cached OpenStreetMap mapping, which is why it went fuzzy round the edges of where I’d been.

I’m currently trying out a wildfire s with viewranger (and free opencyclemap tiles downloaded) – it let me down a bit yesterday, when I seemed to be outside the map area that I thought I’d downloaded.

GPS seems to be pretty quick, and pretty accurate, but I suspect that most GPS mapping apps are going to have the same limitations, namely the quality of the offline maps that you store. It’s probably worth paying for the proper national maps.

It puts the chainring near your neck – if it’s going to be really scrambly I generally put the chain on the big ring for a bit of reassurance. As others have said I find it by far the best way, it you’re wearing a small sack then the downtube rests partly on that.

For me it’s also stable enough to take one hand off to grab trees/rocks for steeper climbs. The only disadvantage is on narrow trails, where it can be a bit awkward to get through gaps.

Like this (not me)

I’m currently trying out ViewRanger (on an android phone) with free OpenCycleMap tiles downloaded (you can pay for IGN mapping too).

I’ll report back next week.

Don’t let the kids run out to grab stuff thrown by the caravan, and watch out for fast-moving police motorbikes etc.

The caravan goes by ages before the peloton, and the first sign of the race approaching is the helicopters.

You’ll be by the side of the road for ages, the riders will go by in a blur and it’ll be ace.

I ride a few French “VTT Randos” each year – non-competitive (allegedly), not timed, typically run by local clubs with a choice of circuits all marked in the countryside, all very good natured.

The main reason I do these is to have the chance to ride some different trails. It’s like going riding with a local for the morning with them showing off their best/favourite hard to find trails.

Sorry to disagree Martin, but I think a complete beginner should be working on technique rather than flexibility – and by technique I mean footwork and body positionning.

Being able to put your foot on something next to your armpit is no good unless you can actually apply some force through it, and teaching people to do massive high steps right from the start will mean that they miss out on learning how to use tiny edges and smears for the feet.

Obviously this isn’t true at the top end, as the video of Mina on careless torque shows!

If it’s like the set I got three weeks ago, there will be a spare barb and olive for each brake and a yellow plastic block in two halves with them, but no instructions!

I can’t get the link on this PC, but if you google for “pdf shortening shimano brake hoses” then you’ll find a couple of guides of what to do. Dead easy and no bleed required.

Just remember that you only get one go (only one extra barb and olive) so measure twice.

I always get confused about this (and I’ve a new chain to fit tomorrow for a 2×9 conversion…)

When people say “two links” that means one inner and one outer, yes?

Like this:

So you can’t actually add one link – unless people mean “one link” to mean “one inner and outer pair for a total of one inch”

I’ve had a few things from them – wheels and a fork. Both deliveries came very quickly (within France), with email updates and online tracking and were well packaged.

I’ve never had to return anything to them, but for buying they’re as good as the German stores I’ve used.

Cities in the park 1991. I’ve been looking for this footage for years and it’s just popped up on a youtube search thanks to this thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ_2XaAgPXw

I’m in this clip – OMG I look young!!!!!!