Had pretty much exactly this with a smartphone – new battery required I think.

Wow, everyone is saying get the nicer one! Didn’t really think that a 256 ssd would be that much better than a hybrid ssd+hdd . Thanks all

Same RAM (8GB). I like Zenbooks too, but is 256GB really enough?

Yep – got a 29er as a warranty replacement for an obsolete 26er. First try was after I’d picked up the new bike – immediately felt better for size and feel.

Varies a lot by region. Some départements have a busy racing scene (either FFC or FFCT) wherever you go there will be a few clubs. You’ll need to find the ones that do races.

Might be able to get race results and club names from thé régional ffc website.

Can’t help about hire, but th ere j is a gravel Event round there, and thé route maps are here http://www.laresistance.cc/en/event/course-detail-and-maps/

I’m using Player FM..

I’m another using those Decathlon trail shorts – except the lycra version. Pockets are great, but they make the waistband a bit high which some might not like.

I carry a sony z1 compact in the front pocket. Seems to be more comfortable than behind and feels more protected, but I think I’d struggle to get a 5″ screen phone in there.

I tried belt/minimal bumbags and hated them. They always ride up on me, and jiggle around a lot.

A guy I run with has some Salomon ones, and easily fits an iPhone into the one zipped back pocket. Don’t know which model of shorts or phone though sorry!

I’m keeping things simpler than that – mostly because I’m still working out what pace I can sustain over longer distances.

I tend to do reducing sets of 400m, 800m, 1200m, with pace being “flat out”, “faster than comfortable”, “can’t quite talk but sustainable”, so 3x400m, 2x800m, 1x1200m.

Not too many reps as I lose count.

I actually prefer doing hill reps, or 3 to 6 km tempo runs, as it’s easier to set the level of effort, but I want to be doing some flatter faster running as well as going up or cruising along.

I can’t imagine running that fast! Fortunately I’m happy just being a plodder (might aspire to be a punter one day).

Now – some basic training advice please. Just starting a second mini-cycle of training (7 weeks until next race – another 15km trail race). I’m pretty happy with 3 runs a week, and before the last race I was doing

Tuesday – longish intervals/hill repeats

Thursday – Tempo/Threshold sort of thing

Saturday – long trail run

Felt like it helped, but I think I’ll swap round Tues and Thurs this time, so that I’m a bit fresher for the 5 or 6 km tempo runs and have a shorter workout before the long outing sat.

Sound sensible?

That Millau race looks really good – have to remember that for next year.

As I posted a couple of pages back, I had my first trail race yesterday – the 18km Tour de Pic St Loup as part of this : https://www.festatrail.com/ It was quite an ambitious objective, as I’ve only been back to running for about 2 years and seven weeks ago I was only running once or twice a week, up to about 10k max. But then I had to give up climbing due to dodgy fingers, so thought I’d better find another sport fast. I’ve always wanted to run around Pic St Loup (I can see it from my village) so I planned seven weeks training – basically intervals on Tuesdays, tempo runs on Thursdays and long runs Saturday, building up to about 80% of race distance or time. The actual race had 800m of climbing and I had trouble finding close trails to do that kind of altitude gain.

The day started sunny, a relief as I didn’t fancy the final downhill kms on worn rocky limestone in the wet. Photo taken during warmup – the route goes up to the castle that you can just see in the middle and then all around the big lump to the left.

I saw a colleague at the start – he’s done a few of these so he was in the 2h-2h30 start wave. I was being conservative and was in 2h30-3h, but I was really aiming for 2h30.

The route hits steep singletrack after the first 1.5km, so the start waves are really spread out – by about 10 minutes! I didn’t know, so finished warming upo then ended up stood around for 20 minutes before the start.

Despite that I started well. I’d told myself not to go to fast at the start, but quickly found myself near the start of the group. This actually really helped, as I didn’t get held up on the first big climb, and had mostly clear trail until we started to catch up the slower runners from the previous wave on the first descent over the other side. I concentrated on pushing on the ups (but not too hard) recovering on the flat bits and not letting up on the descents. As planned I had a gel about half way, and felt pretty good.. right up until nearly the end – there’s a long, long descent on a really rocky trail then a final 1.5km road descent. But as soon as I hit the road I lost all my energy, I had almost nothing left after concentrating furiously all the way down the singletrack. Fortunately I had a second emergency gel, which got me to the end. My colleague had arrived a couple of minutes before, and was on the finish straight waiting for a friend of his, but I was so cooked that I went straight to the water/food station then ended up sitting under a tree for about 10 minutes, unable to talk or move.. By the time I went back he’d gone!

I finished faster than I expected – 2h23. Feet and knees were OK, thighs are hurting today but I’m really, really  pleased. I had a great time all the way round, felt like the training really worked and really enjoyed it.

Planning an easier week now, with a couple of easy runs.. then it’ll be another seven weeks until the next one : Trail d’Ebron near Grenoble. Similar distance, slightly less climbing but should be less rocky trails.

Same unclesomebody as on ukb? Might be better to ask over there.

But as we’re here… With two children under three it might be better to prioitise a bit differently. You’re essentially looking for nice campsites that’ll be a good place to hang out with small children with nearby biking (the closer the better, as I guess it’ll be shorter trips per parent) and nearby crags or boulder areas that are comfortable to be at with small children (can be a bit further away as it’ll be all-family trips).

Somewhere around Grand Bornand/Clusaz might work – the valley campsites can be a bit noisy (right next to the valley roads) but you’re not far from La Clusaz (I think there’s a bike park there) and there’s a few XC loops around the valley. Not that far from Col de Colombiéres crag/boulders (although I haven’t actually climbed there – not much above 7a so might be a bit bumbly for you).

Serre Chevalier? Nearby bike park, day trip to all the Briançon/Argentiere/Ailfroide crags and road/xc riding up and down the valleys. Nice campsites at Les Vigneaux between Argentiere/Ailefroide with nearby climbing and XC but daytrip to any bike parks.

There’s some nice alpine bouldering potential in Piedmont (around Cuneo, http://www.cuneoclimbing.it/boulder ) as well, but I don’t know the riding at all. A cursory google found this http://www.mtb-piemonte.it/index.php?lang=GB

(should mention that I know France a lot better than Italy/Switzerland/anywhere else, thus the bias to the alps)

Don’t shimano mechs have different top and bottom jockey wheels, with the top one able to move a bit side to side? (I might be misremembering this…)

If so, and if someone had installed new jockey wheels the wrong way up then the bottom one might have enough play to rub the chain against the cage. And it’d do it when changing gear, so you wouldn’t notice the noise.

Will be trying to get a short steep run in to prepare for race next weekend. I’d also agree with Jonv’s recommendation for something like C25K. It’s an excellent way to build up gradually and get all of you used to running without doing too much. I started with that a couple of years ago.

But it’s amzing what progress you can make with a bit of proper training – after 4 weeks of more regular running I went out and did my fastest ever 5k last night, without feeling destroyed this morning. Really pleased with that, hopefully it’s a good sign for next week!

Looks great – I really like the Caroux for walking and climbing, Never actually ridden a bike there!

It’s quite different terrain to most of Southern France. The Caroux massif is a big lump of granite, so the rocks, soil and vegetation are very different to the stereotypical limestone countryside all around. Looks like most of the trails will be free from the piles of slippy chestnut tree leaves that build up in the autumn, and most exposed rock will be pretty grippy. But it’s steep round there!

Well, less than two weeks to go until my first trail race, and I know it’s going to be tough. Aiming for 2h30 to do 18km with 800m climbing.

I’ve been running three times a week, on the same kind of terrain. I’ve done a mixture of longer intervals and tempo runs with a long run at the weekend. I’ve run similar distances in training (but without the same kind of altitude gain as the race….) and I’ve done outings of about 80% of my target time.

Last Saturday morning I went and did a half-length version of the race circuit (missing out on the first big climb and last big descent), and as I expected I’m lacking experience in managing effort on long (1km) climbs and my knees aren’t used to doing the long descents! I’ve recovered OK, so the fitness is there, but I think I’ll go and do the half circuit again this weekend, as the experience gained should be more worthwhile than any final fitness gain from a flatter longer run… I hope. Bit of a shame to do the race trails as training, but there aren’t many others with the same amount of up or down nearby.

You’ve a Grail haven’t you? If the wheelset is tubeless ready and the G-ones are TLE then it’ll probably be the work of a couple of minutes to go tubeless – mine went up first go without sealant!

I’ve been to Decathlon for the correct size tubes today, which will give me a bit more confidence to experiment with pressures. I’m also still getting used to the new bike (SuperX), so will take my time adapting position and pressures, not all at the same time.

I fitted a pair of the 40mm (well, 40-622 or 700 x 38c and I haven’t actually measured them..) G-one allround tyres a couple of days ago. Went up amazingly easily tubeless.

Only had one ride so far, with 4 bar (in the middle of the 3-5 range printed on them). Felt good on tarmac, but very rattly on fireroad. Will be trying closer to the supposed minimum next time.

Y’know, you see a lot of bikes that look well made, and a lot of bikes with nice paint jobs… but it’s pretty rare to see one with fantastic paint (design, colours, textures) AND a really beautifully made frame (chainstays, welds, headtube, proportions… and the rest).

Lovely.

Fortunately I have already been training!

Signed up to the 18km of this : https://www.festatrail.com/ over 800m of ascent, and a bit of Strava stalking suggests that people with my kind of capacities take around 2h30, which seems a long time.

You lot (and friends on Strava) have inspired me.. just signed up for my first ever trail race in 4 weeks time.

Cheap ones could be fine, but wear out a LOT quicker than expensive ones, in terms of stitching, pad comfort and the aforementioned transparency…

Main difference I’ve found between makes is the position of the pad. Some brands just don’t feel right on the bike, some do and I barely notice that the pad is there. Unfortunately trial and error seems to be the only way to work this out.

Have finally cracked and ordered a new bike, to make the most of the roads, fireroads and trails around where I live and commute.

The OP was asking about good deals – I’ve ordered a 2017 105 SuperX from Start Cycles. OK, so it comes with CX tyres and gearing, but it’s 42% off and I’ve never had a full carbon bike before.

It was between this and a Grail – disadvantages are the AI rear wheel (but I’ll never be in a race where neutral service is a problem), heavy wheels (but solid is good, and they’re tubeless ready), and the 25.4mm seatpost (no chance of fitting a dropper, but I’m not that gnarly anyway). Advantages are the adjustability in the bars and stem, compared to the grail, and hopefully the frame.

I’ve also ordered 50/34 chainrings (same type as the 46/36 fitted so I should be able to mix and go to 46/34 if I need to), an 11-32 cassette and 40mm G-ones to go full gravel.

I’m not sure that this will be easy enough gearing, but unless I go to 1x I can’t go smaller than 34 on the front and even then it’d have to be the Si crankset with a 40t – don’t think any other cranks will fit the BB30-83 nonsense.

There are also ultegra 11-34 cassettes, but they’re much more expensive for 2 teeth more, and the SGS 105 rear mech is only supposed to handle 11-32 although the Trek Checkpoints seem to be all equipped with 11-34 and the same mech, so perhaps it’s OK, unless they’re doing something with the rear hanger, or fitting a longer B screw.. Anyone know?

Forgot to add the 3T Exploro and Orbea Terra.. and probably a lot more

Been idly looking at this myself.

I think that you have to compromise somewhere, as Road racing to MTB singletrack is quite a broad range of application.

Looking at what you want to do, you don’t mention bikepacking or epic touring type stuff, so you’re lookig at the same kind of bikes that interest me, suitable for shorter faster rides, potentially sacrificing all-day comfort for speed but capable of unexpected gnarl.

At the boutique (eye-wateringly expensive) end there are gravel race bikes (Open UP, Rodeo Trail Donkey, Niner RLT RDO, Lauf True Grit, carbon Specialized Diverge, Canyon biplane thing Grail, Rondo Ruut)

There are growing number of allroad things, usully with less clearance, around 38mm  (Focus Paralane, GT Grade) pretty close to CX bikes.

Planet x have a few options, but most are limited to 38mm for 700c wheels – Pickenflick, Space Chicken, Strada Bianca.

Then there are loads and loads of alu versions, but I suspect that most alu-framed gravel/adventure bikes are going to be less rapid than carbon framed bikes on the road : Pinnacle Arkose, NS Rag+, Rondo Ruut or Specialized Diverge in alu and so on.

You can probably build a reasonably sized shortlist by setting budget, max clearance and geometry (a lot of the allroad/adventure bikes have quite a big stack, even compared to endurance road bikes)

Here? 28% off apparently

https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;product=144487;menu=1000,18,154

They also have the lairy torch version a bit cheaper, but only in 44

road.cc are saying that the Adept will take up to 42mm tyres – sounds like a cheaper Arkose! Be interesting to see the geometry, and if it could be a cheapo gravel bike. I wonder what the Vista will be.. carbon frame and big clearance would be nice.

But this is mainly good news because “B’Twin” is a dreadful name for bikes. Say it with a comedy French accent and it’s “between”.. because bikes go between your legs…

Let’s be honest, for climbing shoes FiveTen have never really needed outside help to mess up successful designs (Anasazi velcro/pink/blanco etc etc). And who else remembers the days of having to try on every pair in the shop of a certain size, just to find the ones that really were that size?

Not sure that posting from Google photos will work…

I don’t like to generalise… but every single French person knows the words to this.

Actually reading barcodes is OK – slightly to my surprise the scanner works just like a keyboard so strings of numbers followed by CR are easy to capture.

Interesting idea about reading everything in one go though. We’d need a lot more route tokens adn it means that we can’t collect before the end of the event but I’ll think about it.

I suppose my question is really about writing the macros – Excel or Calc?

Leave enough time to stop sweating before you shower.. I used to work in an office where the one shower room had zero (or possibly negative) ventilation. If I came in from lunchtime exercise and jumped straight in there, by the time I’d stripped showered and put work clothes back on I was actually wetter than when I went in. Even worse if someone had showered just before.

Might feel strange sitting around in running kit for 10 minutes, but it’ll help

If you’re thinking of things like this https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Ascenders

then you cannot use them for fall arrest, only ascending – they have teeth on the inside of a cam that will shred a rope (even a static one). For anything dynamic or for tensioning then you need something with a smooth surface like a shunt or grigri as mentioned above.

Can’t help, but I find it quite entertaining that the photo in the Planet X page for the Ultegra model shows that exact tyre and front mech combo… with part of the mech edited out?

But I also notice that they no long supply 40mm tyres when you buy one..

Taxi from JFK to Manhattan is flat rate (about $70 inc tip).

If there are 4 of you then it’s about the same as the buses and takes you directly to where you want to go.

If you’re 1 or 2 then train/subway or bus

Hmm, missed this thread last week as I’d just got back from.. 4 days in New York!

Things we did that were great:
Empire State Building – either get there early to beat the queues or arrive at the end of the day, so there aren’t too many people, and you get to see the city in daylight, then hang around as the sun goes down and all the lights come on

Brooklyn bridge – get the subway to Brooklyn, then walk along the river and back to Manhattan over the bridge. We did this first morning to make a grand entrance (sort of)

MoMA – great collection

Run around Central Park (or at least the reservoir), just to feel like a local.. or at least to put it on strava to show off

Guggenheim – great building, thought-provoking exhibition (modern Chinese art), smaller than I expected.

Random restaurant in Chinatown. Lots of pictures, waitress who barely spoke English, great food (helped by aforementioned pictures)

USS Intrepid – get there early to have small queues for the Submarine. Nice to see the aircraft and Space Shuttle, but the best bit was walking round the sub and the tower and talking to the veterans who actually served in those vessels. Brilliant guys, happy to chat and makes the history much, much closer.

Statue of Liberty – seems a bit small when you see it from the boat. Seems huge when you’re standing under it! Worth reading the panels around the island.

Mexican and burger restaurants, bagels, donuts

Rich people’s Halloween decorations.

Things that were a bit meh:

The Met and Natural History Museum – huge, but old fashioned

Ellis Island – hugely important site for American history which had no cultural resonance for me

Little Italy – seems to only be one street, surrounded by expanding Chinatown? It was raining so we might have missed some bits

Pizza – bit underwhelming. Should have made more of an effort to get recommendations.

Shopping – everything seemed expensive

Things we didn’t do (time constraints)

The Highline
Smaller museums
General exploring : Brooklyn/Queens/SoHo/Greenwich/etc..

Daytime : one powerful flashing light on the seatpost
Nighttime : powerful constant on the seatpost, small flasher on back of rucksack

Still alive, but I don’t ride on particularly busy/fast roads

Might have to add the updated Felt Edict to the shootout – there’s a rather glowing report over on bikeradar

Bear in mind that everyone has slightly different skin so what works for someone else to keep skin supple might not work for you.

I like neutrogena hand cream, but don’t really get on with beeswaxy things like Climb On. Best I’ve tried is Rhino Skin Solutions stuff, but hard to get outside the US.

Don’t know that area really well for cycling (apart from once doing an ‘XC’ race around Mt Aigoual that nearly broke me), but you’re looking at two very different geographies : from Millau to Meyrueis/Florac it’s Les Causses, pretty much plateaus and deep valleys so either flat-ish or very steep, then east of there to Anduze it’s the Cevennes, loads of small valleys and up and down all over the place.

If you’re looking to go offraod through the Cevennes then I think progress could be quite slow, but really fun. I’ve driven along the Corniche de Cevennes road to and from Florac, and that looks like an amazing road to ride, but seemed quite long and steep.

Oh and check the weather at the top of Mt Aigoual before planning any camping up there – it can snow in June. In fact, there might be restrictions on camping sauvage and bivouacing as it’s a National Park (usually bivoucing is ok, but check here https://www.lecampingsauvage.fr/legislation-et-reglementation/camping-sauvage-bivouac )