I agree deadkenny you cant change things like this from the outside.

Get on the inside, the ramblers and horse-riders understand this and are well in there. Even if its just a 50p a week donation to keep the Ranger working.

Is that a pedal or medieval torture instrument?

the Am41s while a bit joey deacon in the publicity shots do not look half as ‘gopping’ when you wear them, and are grippy, weather resistant, laces out the way, wipe clean etc etc

£53 I paid

aracer – Member

To get your power up it has to be steep hills as there is no hiding. Power intervals on the flat are too easy to back off on

I find it just as easy to back off on a hill as I do on the flat if I’m not in the mood.

hills arent steep enough then!

Im talking steep – with 18-20% sections where you have to go in the red just to stay upright

“Then Why if the landowner had – had enough of mountain bikers on his land, then why would he not just fence it off as private property and stop everyone using it ?”

I suspect you haven’t ridden from the bombholes onto the switchback trail recently. Fences cost money, especially on the size and scale required to keep us out – people dont acquire the kind of money required to buy large parts of rock star Surrey without being careful about money.

TeamHurtmore – you have probably found 2 headed dog, although there is quite a good surprise drop off on the end of a new trail sort of around there.

It’s worth having a look at a map and working out where the boundaries are, just so you know when you can stand your ground when challenged and when you need to be discrete.

The line is at the end of the section of trail with the 3 bombholes in.

jedi – Member

lol @ graeme. i told you that you’ll do it again

As sure as night becomes day. The little chammy sniffer just cant help himself.

Nick last time I looked at riding switchbacks it had been totally destroyed – more in a noone is ever riding this again than a logging way

Scott – we have a ‘tourist attraction’ in my village and the reality is that the annoyances far outweigh the economic benefit for most of the residents.

Just take a look at Peaslake bus shelter on a sunday morning and try to see it through someone else’s non MTB eyes.

Would you want that big a collective mid life crisis on your doorstep most weeks:)

IMO Hurtwood are doing what they have to to keep the residents sweet and for the majority of residents more trails = more MTB = bad. I reconcile the 25 quid by thinking it pays the rangers wages and he seems pretty helpful to us.

I’m curious which trail this is now, it sounds like one on McAll1stirs land where he’d just left a nice surprise trashing on the steepest bit at the end but maybe not? Maybe someone could PM me?

Can people pls look at a map and work out if a trashed trail is on the Hurtwood land before slagging off the Friends?

I am pretty sure the trail in the OP is on someone else’s land.

Let’s not get specific about the details though – just don’t feel any shame or guilt in riding on his land he will ruin Sussex and Surrey given half a chance.

Also don’t get hung up on forestry / logging/ erosion – the real issue is that Peaslake us completed overrun with bikers on weekends and significant numbers of residents are totally hacked off about it. I can’t say I blame them.

Great shoes – I am size 8/42 wear a 43 in the flats version

“He may decide it is too far but its his choice, life is about choices after all”

The force is strong in this one 😉

Brilliant – that’s tickled me.

Can’t wait to see them 🙂

Good job pinches – very very nice – not the kind of thing that ‘a mate’ gets from someone who dont know much about road bikes though

The £800ish Canyon sounds brilliant vfm – peeps may think they don’t look that cool but remember Gilbert rides Canyon and therefore his most awesome roady racy magic dust will rub off on you. Expect to attack everyone at all times.

Sora shifters are better than the press they get on here.

Good for the Campag style thumb upshift when you are on the drops – and with a nice clunky feel too 🙂

I don’t ride that side of Leith much but I think it is more contentious than ever?

If someone is going to share presumably it will be discrete/DM/etc

road riding fun?

you’re not doing it right – try harder.

respray, Carbon forks, modern wheels (eg Aksium black), black low end Campag

there is someone making 1″ steerer carbon forks for £90ish – cant remember who, but it comes near the top if you google it

there will still be enough in it for it to be a shame to singlespeed it

You’ll get used to it

Use a lot more front brake, down there you should be on the drops and then you have a lot more leverage, but work up to it – I wouldn’t want to read a ‘actually road brakes can pull you up pdq’ thread written from a hospital bed

Don’t forget you are going pretty quick on a roady- I do 65-70 kmh down there – which is a bit quicker than I am on the MTB unless in freefall 🙂

Another thing…

As other posters have said – if you don’t think about it then intuition matches your push and speed. Once you start thinking about it – then you might crash and put more thoughts and demons in your head. And possibly break bones separate shoulders etc

Then it takes Jedi ( other coaches are available 😉 ) to get you over your mental blocks and lots of gradual practice to get back to what you just did without thinking.

Your threads are interesting and fun but are you opening the door to demons by starting them?

<ducks in case Jedi says different 😉 >

Junkyard LOL agree the armchair expertness of the interweb gets ruined by people who know what they are talking about

Darren if you maim yourself be sure to login here for medical advice before dialling 999

(of course once you’ve been jedi’d you do look more composed on the bike and there will be no more Clagaway shots of you with your rear wheel up your crack)(especially if you make a habit of saying “I have the mental skills to not do that” 🙂 )

Rorschach – you’re not wrong

Even the be alright sometimes – and vice versa

But this is not real life – as the poster above observed – before throwing his toys out – pretty much every MTB rider I meet seems like a decent lad or lass – it’s at odds with the amount of nob ends on here – I assume that riders act like a non on here simply because it’s fun, not because they are really like that.

But… Stw is pretty civilised IMO go to the clinic in cyclingnews and say you think LA is innocent for example

I would just like to caveat my post that if you have hills on your commute and are as ancient as most of us, then track gearing is dumb.

Unless you are the Hutch/elite/etc.

Fit people on track-geared singlespeeds are among the most worthy commuter adversaries in the race that dare not speak its name. Even when you eventually drop them, just before throwing up there is the nagging doubt they would have had you if they had gears – you never feel like you’ve ‘won’. And especially if they have a solid trackstand (ie riding fixed).

Fashion driven factory built 42:16 slowcoaches are among the least worthy.

Choose wisely…

good luck

I know I could land that – but now I have the mental skills to bottle it and not feel unmanly as a result of bottling it.

😉

looks like a good one to progress on though. Start on the rollable bit (I assume just left out of shot) then just keep edging 6″ left, if you get to the tree in one piece then good on yer 🙂

Seems alright to me.

The moderation treads a reasonable line between allowing people to say what they like, but not being totally offensive.

I allow a very high freedom to people on Interwebs to behave like the nob they would like to be in real life, but are prevented from being by excessive social mores and PC.

I bet even TandemJeremy would be good company over a few pints.

There’s a saying in windsurfing “Once you actually know him – amazingly – GRF is a good bloke and he is welcome to shag my mum anytime”.

I am aged 63 1/4.

If there are people around who want to pay for it, then fair enough IMO. And there seem to be a quite a few. Ive got a mate who wears it, succesful small businessman, kids left home, loves his bikes, still in reasonable shape, has the money and likes to spend it on his bikes and bike clothes. Why not?

When they were starting out I worked in Marylebone and they had a stand in Selfridges which I went to have a look at, as one of the guys was a mate of some designers working for me. He was keen to hear what old farts into road bikes thought of it.

I went and had a look at the stand and I reckon they were far more popular with the pink pound than old roadies. And tbh if you want to make money flogging slim fit expensive clothes that is not a bad place to be. But that was then…

All their graphics and brochure design are spot on for their target market – but sometimes for me they do try to be a bit too exclusive. Which is a bit of a dichotomy when that hardman roady 50s/60s Italian vibe is working class to the point of being communist. 🙂

I prefer Castelli. Or my brother in laws shop kit cos that is free 😳

I use mavic Aksium Races as my winter and commuter bike wheels and they have been ace, I have not touched the spokes once. Much tougher than r500s, which admittedly are a lot less money, but you will need to do some work on them from time to time.

Can you get Aksiums for that money these days? I think I paid £99 for the pair on ebay new about 2 years ago.

I would also look at Pro-Lite.

While not wanting to get involved in the general meh of roady drug issues (dope or no dope Contador wins, but with Riis in his earpiece it is humiliation) there is one thing I want to pick up on which is Schlecklette dropping his chain – muppet – deserved everything he got. If the race is on and you get out of your saddle then drop your chain it is a schoolboy error and you will get your backside kicked. It was not a mechanical, it was a cockup – and will have been in spite of the trick fettling his mechanic will have done to stop the chain dropping.

White.

Look after them with some baby wipes and they will stay looking fresher than an Imperial Stormtrooper’s jockstrap

In my experience the Spec shoes are a bit more solid feeling, but nothing is going to go bad with your foot and Mavics are like getting a foot massage from Uma Thurman, and obviously much faster 😉

Riding through Richmond Park on the commute, down from Pembroke Lodge to the roundabout at Richmond Gate, as its a 90 degree + right hander signal well in advance, rather than take corner one-handed.

As enter roundabout pimp Range Rover coming up rather sharpish slams the brakes on, then gives a quick blast of the horn.

Having formed a stereotype of the driver, turn round and indicate my displeasure and make a gesture suggesting I would like to discuss the matter further.

Pulls up alongside and winds down window – Lawrence Dallagio. My cojones disappeared quicker than you can say ‘Mutha Hucka’ 😆

“Oh it’s you” I say. Regaining my composure I politely suggest that as he is now a keen roady he should not expect people to go round roundabouts one-handed. A line of reasoning he accepts in gentlemanly fashion.

Good job his little girl was in the front seat or I would have given him a right kicking 😉

Speak for yourself allthepies

Back in the distant haze of time I met a young lady outside the Zap who’s opening line was ‘I’ve just put tiger balm up me fanny’ – oh to meet again with a tub of Assos Minty arse lard…

I’ll get me coat

Another mint looking Kuota – they really are the road bike ‘bargain’

Cav’s Mclaren S-works weighs 7.5kg – I bet the Kuota above doesn’t weigh much
more than that. There comes a point when things can get too light…

Mikey74 do some test riding – obviously you have good taste

The Canyon road bikes look gash but their MTBs don’t

On the other hand ridden by Phillipe Gilbert the total king of road biking awesome

Kuota come up light £ for £ the full pro tour KOM is a mere 4 grand 😉 which is half a dogma cost but weighs less

I so wish you’d gone to the chemist to ask for some before posting here 😆

Fisty lube is a heavy duty alternative to minty arse lard if you are going for a long hard ride and a tightwad.

But… Assos minty arse lard is one of life’s most joyful guilty pleasures. £10 well spent.

BKB is OK. There is light debris at the top, but I found because they have taken trees down at the top, I was riding it faster because it feels more open – but the stumps are still in the same place, which led to a couple of moments.

The last berm is fecked by braking bumps now, some work needs to be done there.

Think we need a bit of rain first though.

If you’re riding BKB in a group at night push women and children aside to be first rider, it is so dusty you cannot see because of all the light reflected back by the dust.

Glenp – the original line on BKB on the mini LH berm just after the ditch at the top seems less ridden than the straight line now. Or did last time I was there a couple of weeks ago.

Summer Lightning area has been logged too? Bummer, even if it hasnt affected the trail, I like riding through trees.

Has to happen though I guess.

great pix cheers

Looking at some of the high scores and low scores on that it is no surprise so few obvious dopers are caught.

You also need to bear in mind that a clean rider is likely to have a more erratic, and therefore suspect, profile than a dodgy one, who will have a lovely flat line/

Anyone – one for the roady forums really – this will be 100+pages on cycling news

aP

Im an open-minded chap and like it both ways.

If I’m going down I always have a sniff around first to make sure it’s safe.

Try and ride a few.

That is what I spent on my last roady.

I had an idea what I would like based on tests eg Cycling +, then rode a load of bikes and found what I liked was quite different to what I thought I would like and what was the best bike for my riding according to mags.

I found carbon bikes at that price quite dead*, and liked nice alu frames with a carbon rear much more, which gave me a choice of Colnago Arte or Wilier Triestina. Both looked pimp, rode pretty much the same, but I as the Wilier was cheaper I could spend £400 on wheels.

I would have had to spend more than I could afford to get a carbon frame I liked.

*Turns out I am quite old school in may tastes, compared to the mass of C+ reviewers, so now I just look for which one their mechanic likes, as he is clearly a discerning chap. Other people may call what I call dead, comfortable. It’s pretty subjective. I also like my head down and arse up, so rel short headtube for a given frame size, again, not everyone does

Now that’s nice.

You do get a lot for your money from Kuota, and very aero so with a set of clip-on tribars you wont be able to blame slow TTs on your bike.

cool, ta

Great thread – oral relief to a sperm whale 😆