You could do that many races in a 5 month CX season and take the other 7 months off.

OP – make sure you ignore any advice given to you on an internet MTB forum for starters. How many people here are likely to be qualified coaches or sports scientists? Would you ask your mates to advise on tooth removal? ;)

Get a copy of Joe Friel’s book and read it. Brilliant investment

A bottle and my van key on a lanyard. Although sometimes I don’t bother with the key. :)

Can’t believe how much people might carry in an xc race. If you mechanical you’ve blown it anyway surely?

Poopscoop – Member
vdubber67 – Member
Was quite interested until I saw who designed them.

Do you mean the company or a specific frame/ bike designer mate?

Sorry if I skim read and missed it.

The designer. Quite like Alpkit themselves…

‘Trail Dog’

Isn’t she just ‘your dog’?

;-D

Grifos at this point in the season? ;-)

Was quite interested until I saw who designed them.

Other than Havana…

Santa Clara for the Che monument etc.Try and get to Trinidad – it’s a great place (and a World Heritage Site). Valle de los Ingenios is nearby and worth a look for the slave tower.

Cuba is a great country. Enjoy…

Bought some CX tubular disc wheels on ebay from China last year. Fairly slow to arrive, but quality good so far. Customs was about £39

Clubs are great if you race ‘cross. You can pool resources in terms of jet washers, water etc, and pit for each other. Quite happily train on my own however :)

Donate them to someone new to MTB-ing…?

A little ‘out there’ perhaps…but…https://www.etsy.com/shop/freebirdvelo

Seeing as no-one else has asked, why not look at Traffic/Vivaro etc? More van for your money. I replaced my Vito (which was actually a great van to be fair) with a Trafic, and I feel like I got a lot more for the money.

If the decision is Vito yes/no though, then go for it – they’re excellent :)

Your dog is called Ziva? Not as in Ziva David? :-)

Compression tights. Recent research suggests that recovery element isn’t just a placebo effect.

Planet X XLS are great bikes at that price bracket….(the 1k bracket!)

Sudety MTB is excellent. You can read my feature from last year here… http://ukxcnews.com/?s=Sudety&submit=Search

I reviewed some a while back. http://ukxcnews.com/2014/08/26/review-29er-rubena-zefyros-tyres/

Still on a bike in the garage actually if anyone wants them! :)

I think the UCI width limit is 33mm, not 32mm, and you’ll only find that coming into play in a UCI race, which your local league is highly unlikely to be ;)

If you want a tyre that will cope with the eventual muddy conditions, go with Challenge Limus (open tubulars)

Swap your 34 for a MTB middle ring 32….

Just built one of the Ribbles for someone. SUPERB bargain.

I’d also query the whole ‘train on clinchers’ thing. If you’re training in terms of bike skills etc, I think you need to train on the wheels you’re going to race on. Might as well train on a MTB or something otherwise :)

Tubs for racing. Certainly when it’s muddy.

http://www.aqrcoaching.com/kate-and-ian-potter/

Kate Potter can do assessments and advice. Recommended.

I often wonder how proper cycling coaches make a living, then I remember some of the things I read in threads like this :)

Couple of good features over at UKXCNews:

http://ukxcnews.com/2014/10/07/wembo-rider-focus/

http://ukxcnews.com/2014/10/06/wembo-no-fuss-events-qa/

Maybe the shocking dual standards in terms of pay and the need for some women pro roadies to have to partly finance themselves with jobs in the off season means they can’t afford the sophisticated ‘ahead of the testers’ doping strategies employed by the whining, overpaid men.

Just a thought.

By the way, I actually find all the sexist ‘jokes’ and ‘banter’ really sad when I read posts here. You wouldn’t make pseudo-ironic or ‘tongue-in-cheek’ jokes about black people, so why do it about women?

I’m a bloke by the way if that matters.

Planet X ones are great. They’re so cheap I even threw some away during a race as I was annoyed at them taking up space in my jersey ;)

Why not just use a 10sp 105 mech?

32 cassettes work fine with road mechs…

MTB Marathon isn’t really a race, and not really a series (i.e. there’s no league table) etc

Might be too far south, but look up Friday Night Summer Series?

Not a sarcastic question (honest!), but is there such a thing as a ‘night ride specific’ route? Are you just after a route?

Just get a CX bike the same size as your road bike. Top tube will be shorter by design usually.

You can always do the first few NDCXL races on a MTB before it gets muddy? Hilton’s worth taking a MTB to anyway – rather bumpy :)

If I owned / managed any sort of business, or their customer service department, and I found out that anyone in the business was taking it upon themselves to communicate with customers on a web forum without me knowing, I’d be really upset with them (even if they were doing a ‘good’ job)

Businesses need clear guidelines and processes for dealing with customers. ‘Well-meaning’ staff can massively impact a businesses reputation…..

This thread may just be the one that stops me ever looking on this side of the forum ever again.

Haibikes are great. I’ve got a Greed RC. Raleigh CX bikes are ok, although a little pricey for the spec. I’ve got an RX comp. The US ones seem a little better

Our team has been Raleigh sponsored this season. Nice bunch of people actually…

A waterproof. Last year’s Grand Raid got crazily wet and cold :-/

Keep an eye on the articles here[/url]. More to come…..(What works for 24 works for 12 ;))

Check out this.[/url] We’ve only done two parts so far, but there’s more to come. ;)

Planet X XLS. Yes, you’d save £200 on that Roux, but it’s alloy with a Sora group set.

Ergons are your friend here….