I am inflicting my family on my other half but she seems to enjoy it and talks to them more than I do!

You live abroad and have a cleaning lady?

Well la-de-da

Get me. :oops:

Must rectify. They gave me full refund on pads despite the warning on website.

Yay! Sport Pursuit!

Bit of paint rubbed off my liteville frame and they sent me a bottle of touch up out FOC too.

Tube, pump, levers, a set of worms and reamingthingywotsit. IME the MTB-specific worms are pretty poor so I just buy motorbike ones now and cut them in half.

Any recommendations?

Did nobody else think that they respect Dan Atherton for his riding and trail riding prowess but probably don’t need life advice from him whilst he’s peddling Red Bull? 8O

I did my CELTA course 12 years ago in Madrid and I’m still here. I moved on from teaching in businesses and small groups of adults to working in schools as a proper school teacher.

The month of the course I still think is the hardest I’ve ever worked but opened doors to me and helped my awful teaching to be not so awful.

I’d recommend it. Even if you don’t like it you’ve only lost a month and some money, or you could end up living somewhere exotic.

Unless you’re very tall for a female, I’d caution against putting 27.5 in the back end of a 301 anyway!
I have an XL 301 and am currently trying a 27.5 Syntace W35 on the back to see how it copes in Winter slop. It’s quite tight for clearance with a Magic Mary on it.
Normally I run a 26″ W35 and clearance is not an issue with that.
As the chainstay lengths are size specific on the 301, I wouldn’t recommend 27.5 rear on less than an XL.

Does the 26 out back alter stand over and BB height much? For the better? I’m really trying to talk myself out of buying another w35 in 26

In my great experience of one race I thought that although I’m quite fit and can churn up climbs relatively quickly I found that I did not have raw power to crank out on the pedally bits. I’m slow on the technical bits due to technique but I thought that I’d be able to make up time on the flatter sections. Not so.

Great! Thanks for the spiffing advice.

That would be great if that were the case! Any experts on the forum?

I have a 27.5 ish frame that will only allow certain tyres out back. I had to take off a Michelin Wild Grip’r 2.25 (really rated to be honest, lived up to the name) and I’ve replaced it with a Geax Mezcal.

The geax hasn’t got the grip of the michelin but there is much more clearance and it didn’t do too bad at the weekend scrambling over rocks covered in slimy moss.

You’ll probably be fine but I’m selling a trail king i just bought semi unused. It just wouldn’t air up tubeless. I tried everything, track pump, c02, c02 no valve, garage air compressor valve and no valve. I just feel the air escaping and it wouldn’t catch. 2.2 on Syntace w35 rims.

Yay! Wheel size trolling

I’m so Enduro I’ve even got Enduro socks.

So… First race over.

I came in around the bottom third of the table (not sure though as I had to rush off before the results were announced), got passed loads (though by the fastest guy in the over 40s) and had a great day.

Couldn’t sleep the night before and made loads of mistakes on the day that could have been avoided with more practice time but hey.

Overall very pleased with myself. I got through the day only taking one tumble and a knock to the shin from my platform pedals but nothing serious.

Will definitely be racing again in the future even if I am a mincing softy.

When completing the returns form, a text appears next to the item saying “Unless you received this product in a damaged or faulty condition we are unfortunately not able to accept returns.”

Just by recognising you have a problem you’re already on the right track.

That’s what my therapist tells me too.

Hi Aus,

British Ex pat living in Madrid so here goes:

Nice weekend in Madrid could go something like this:

Arrive friday afternoon and check into accommodation. I would go for a ‘hostal’ (like a Spanish B&B without the breakfast) somewhere fairly central. A bit cheaper than a Hotel and often just as nice:

http://www.hostaloriente.es/ is a good one in a great location.

http://www.h-plazamayor.com/en/ is a bit more expensive but it’s a hotel.

I would spend Friday evening walking around and checking out some tapas bars for dinner. Calle Cava Alta near Metro La Latina has lots to offer.

Saturday morning could be spent looking round the beautiful Retiro Park, you could even get a row boat if you fancy.

Lunch in Spain is typically eaten around 2pm and if you come in winter see if you can get Cocido Madrileño somewhere. There are several restaurants specialising in this dish but i must say that it normally isn’t cheap (35€ a head with wine). The most famous (obviously touristy, but still good) one is http://en.labola.es/. (metro opera/santo domingo)

That should set you up nicely for a siesta if you should so fancy it or if not you could go and check out the bars around the Malasaña district. It’s full of interesting streets with funny little bars and shops. Very busy at night if you fancy having a drink.

Sunday morning can be spent visiting the enormous flea market The Rastro (metro la latina/puerta de toledo). Not much of interest to buy but a great place to have a beer and soak up the atmosphere.

Sunday afternoon can be spent visiting some of the museums or even hiring mountain bikes http://www.oterociclos.es/ and visiting the Casa de Campo park which is where several UCI XC events have been held in the past.

Getting one of those tourist buses isn’t a bad idea to see the major sights.

If you need any more specific advice then my email is in my profile.

Things to watch out for!
Pickpockets are notorious in Madrid. Don’t let anyone wave a map under your nose and ask you for directions whilst nicking your wallet off the table. Don’t leave any nickable bags on the floor when sitting in bars.

A taxi to the centre costs 30€ flat rate so don’t let them try and charge you for extra bags or anything. Any problems tell them to involve the police and they’ll soon back down.

I’ve only ever been to the Bernabeu with a mate who had a spare seat so i can’t help you there. It’s very popular with tourists though so I’m sure that it’s not too hard. If you can’t get tickets then remember that Atletico de Madrid are also pretty good to watch and the atmosphere at the ground is about 10 times better. Enjoy the football!

Talking about the adjustment of the brakes, I was on a skills course with Ed Oxley and when trying switchbacks I couldn’t get round them because of poor braking (locking up back wheel).

The next day he fettled my reach adjust on the XTs and I found that it made my braking much more controlled. I’d always thought that reach was just a matter of preference till then.

The best take away snippet I got from a bike skills course a couple of years ago is that sessioning is the key.

That sounds like solid advice, practice makes perfect, but what about when your bitch braking round a new trail or like me, you have a terrible memory for trails and forget what’s coming up unless you ride it every 4 days!

Is it somewhat odd that people buy expensive full suspension bikes that make them go faster yet then feel the need to comfort brake? I knew there was a reason why I was still on a hardtail!

I have both and go plenty fast enough on the hardtail to comfort brake on that too!

I like the idea of more purposeful braking, I’ll deffo give that a try, and looking ahead is deffo something that I need to improve in my riding. If I don’t consciously do it then I end up staring at the bit of ground about three metres in front of my tyre. I need to get to the point where I’ve interiorised it.

It’s your bike, you don’t need someone else’s permission to ride it the way you want to.

Very true. Maybe what I meant to ask is whether I may be hampering my development as a rider through excessive braking and if anyone has any tips for overcoming it.

brake dragging compromises suspension action, reduces the amount of traction from the tyres, and makes you more likley to accidentally anchor on if you get knocked by something, results in more arm pump and less control of the bike, and overheats the brakes meaning they are less effective….

so your making it worse for you….

Yeah but going really fast is scary

I like the ‘bitch brake’ concept.

I shall have to pretend I’ve got Jessie Pinkman shouting it in my ear every time I do it.

I’ve thought that maybe I should have gone 26 for rear wheel but too late now and to be honest I haven’t found the tyres I’ve put on to be too small so no regrets either.

I’m quite prone to falling off and I think the thing I’m most worried about is pushing it too hard and stacking it spectacularly which will hurt a lot and may damage my bike on the granite paving slabs.

Bit far for most I imagine!

It’s in Trujillo which is about three hours drive from central Madrid.

It all looks quite easy and since my other half is from that part of the he world and I’ll be visiting in laws the week of the event I thought I’d go for it.

Here’s a vid of last years event.

That’s also a concern of mine, saying sorry about 40 times down the run as I’m mincing round another corner.

PING to mutha crushing PONG mofo

They’re even cheaper than the spray! Ta very much

Mongrels

why is broken collar bone in 2 ? I guess 6 hrs in surgery is comparable to a “deep cuts needing stitches”

I was under the impression that the majority of broken collar bones were just reduced and then bandaged/sling. V few end up in surgery.

Great suggestion for levels 0 and a sad 4. One of mate’s brothers died otb straight into a tree during the nineties at what is now a popular dh spot.

So it seems either the stw readership are not all that good at mtbing or the good ones don’t post on the “I’ve crashed make me feel better threads”.

Thanks to all for making me feel much better though!

Does anyone have any experience with one of these?

Looks ace!

1000€ though, ouch!

So main benefits over a on bike child seat are weather protection and I guess overall comfort on longer rides.

I guess that goes for sun protection too as that would my main concern over rain living in Spain, it seems that my daughter has inherited my pastiness instead of her mothers hue poor thing.

Thanks for the info and sorry for being lazy and not reading through previous posts.

ENTP FTW OMG WTF

How are they in comparison with the Endura MT500 ones? I’ve been thinking about a pair of those.

I can’t comment on the trail skins but I find the Enduras unbearably hot and sweaty. They offer good protection but I have sensitive skin and come up in rashes around my knees every time i put them on.

I’m sitting about 3km away from the hospital where the affected nurse is being cared for in downtown Madrid and although I can’t offer any so,unions which is what the OP has asked I can’t help but express my enormous anger at the situation.

The Spanish government decided to fly in two missionaries in order to keep their staunchly catholic voter base happy despite being ill equipped or prepared to deal with it. The following catalogue of errors makes my adopted home country look like a laughing stock.

It’s just another shitty deal that normal hard working spaniards have to bear the brunt of.

I had this after a nasty off onto v hard hardpack.

Took the course of antibiotics and put on some very expensive french plasters that have a wierd foam/gel layer meant to combat infection.

Properly freaked me out and i thought i would never be the same again. Just give it time.

I had arranged to meet a mate to do a local xc loop and he said that he rode past a porn film being shot near the entrance to the park. He said there was a middle aged guy getting a bj from a young lass and was even close enough to see an unfortunate amount of “floppy knob”. I had overslept my siesta and arrived 15min late only to see Madrid’s boys in blue giving a stern talking to to the would be stars whilst the camera crew hid around the next bend in the trail. Talk about dissapointed.

All true by the way.