commute 3 times/week plus a Tues night group ride.

There are five of use and everyone has an Exposure Strada/Toro or more powerful MTB style front light so it is like daytime really.

Five of those completely freaks cars out and they pull into the verge – where I live is pretty rural and I think it looks like a combine coming down the road.

If you do a regular route and are properly attired then you get to know all the potholes and nasties and it is pretty enjoyable, especially on a clear starry night. If it pisses down, then it is **** miserable in the way that only road riding in the rain can be.

5 – my roady, winter/commuter and MTB then the wife’s MTB and my daughters (which is a 20″ Spec Hotrock, no idea why but I have so much fun on it)

maybe get in touch with Howard who owns the pedal and spoke bike shop in peaslake?

he is youngish and wont crack your lens and will do all the big stuff.

There is a good shot to be taken lying at the bottom of the Flytipper gap looking up as someone goes over it.

However hard you think you are, or even actually are, noone is hard in road cleats or cycling shoes in general.

So don’t kick off you’re wearing them – just leg it.

Did you go far on the trails going N from the tower?

So many lines, so much fun, worth following all the way to the log rolls

The gully at 1’30-2′ ish in the vid below is splendid.

No.

I havent got or tried those but have wide feet and specialized shoes are quite accommodating.

I prefer my pimp mavics but I have to get 44 instead of my normal 42 to get them wide enough

However, the price and reviews of the dhbs cannot be argued with – why not get some and send them back if they aren’t wide enough?

Bit late to this but I got them a size up from normal (42 > 43 ).

If you aren’t bothered about the joey deacon aesthetics then they are great shoes. Grippy, wipe clean, don’t let much water in, if any, keep your ankles safe.

I’ve even been told by young people in the pub that they are ‘ wicked ‘ shoes. But they may have been taking the piss 😥

OMG Awesome as a young person might say. That is a proper Gilbert style spanking.

And behalf of all fathers with daughters – I know what you’re thinking – stop it NOW.

tyres

then wheels

in particular dont ruin niceish wheels like RS80s by running ghastly gatorskins on them 🙄

Hmm healthy Cat 2 pace and asking about nutrition on a 100km ride 🙄

Already busted by oldgit so why am I bothering

Had a look today – No way for me – cant imagine myself carrying the speed to clear it and it is pretty deep.

If the pic above was taken from the other side it would look a lot deeper.

Dave’s been busy hasn’t he – some nicely built dirt/gaps on another one near there. Sure they werent there last time i rode it. Too big for me again. They’re on Dave’s YouTube .

It’s both easier and harder at the same time.

It’s more efficient but gears on even a low geared roady are less friendly.

Find a decent roady bunch to ride with and no hill will ever be easy physically again.

The extra fitness you get from that will help your MTB riding no end.

Roadying uphill is never technical or thoughtful like climbing on an MTB can be though, it’s all power ( and tactics if you’re racing) – never a skill.

jam bo – Member
can I get away with a 500 lumen one?
Yes. Until someone with a 1000 lumen light rides up behind you.
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

He’s not wrong

I have a joystick and whiteeye and its plenty – until someone with maxx D or similar comes up behind then the bit of trail you most want to see goes dark

If you’re riding in a group then it’s an arms race

Guy in the red jeans for me.

Some of the others, its all getting a bit like kite-surfing or freestyle windsurfing where its technically mind boggling but lacks what roadies would call ‘panache’.

Although that last spinny front flip jesus thing is both technically mind boggling and full of panache at the same time.

And it makes me feel old and crap. Little shits. I love em.

Like has been asked I am curious what long travel is for a HT ?

I thought I wanted a P7 (140mm) but after riding a few went for a Whyte 905 (120mm)*

What would I find different if I got eg a 160mm BFe or a 120mm FS instead?

* I have measured the travel on this bike and it has 130mm – anyone else got that travel on their Rebas?

Yes thanks I’d just found it – well hidden isn’t it?

The last paragraph you linked to shows what your permitted to take on, but not what you have paid for – If you were travelling with a windsurfer and it all weighed 50kg then you would pay 18kg excess.

Can someone who is certain you get 52kg for bike plus bag find a link where it says so?

I was definitely of that opinion til this year when they changed the wording on the site and it is as mk1fan linked to – which looks pretty clear to me.

Bike on it’s own 32kg

Bike plus bag still only 32kg – makes no sense at all but the website is pretty clear it is that stupid

Just get the biggest bag that fits in carrion and take your clothes in that.

successful troll is successful

It’s horrible to think it but Froome’s performance just doesn’t stack up

Wiiggo switched disciplines as an elite elite

Froome would have won the Tour riding like this. And he is ahead of the obviously doped Cobo on the road…

I’ll be surprised if Sky renew his contract. He isn’t taking the piss like Cobo did on stage 15 but his performance is ‘unbelievable’ and in pro roadying that only means one thing…

No but it’s MTB so who cares?

yossarian if you aren’t cynical about Froome then you are either naieve or a helpless optimist

Cobo is almost 100% suspicious and Froome has done nothing like this before therefore…

So don’t feel guilty – it’s just experience and wisdom

Smilies missing from part of above post

Warton – it would be a stretch but Sky’s full strength Tour team next year assuming Cav and Bernie would be amazing and IMO as good as the Zabel team

Anyway Cav doesn’t need leadouts these days and Wiggo can grind the whole peloton off his wheel on French style reasonable gradients

The bromance on twitter is all world champs male bonding

He’ll go to Sky – they can easily lead him out and look after Wiggo at same time, Geraint is as good a leadout as Renshaw, EBH can help out on flat stages and go for wins in classics style stages – they just need Bernie Eisel to do the other 150km of sprint stages and lead gruppetto.

Originally Sky was going to be built around Cav but Stapletons money and Wiggins 2009 tour changed that.

“Fist ride” 😯 😕

Trout how do you feel about your lights being used for sexual deviancy?

Doesn’t the heat make the mintyarselard go all runny

More seriously looks quite smart that.

“MTB is the new golf”

🙂

So is a golf a sport for fat biffers going on about how light their clubs are?

Do Superstar make acid green anodised clubs?

Do On One make minging carbon clubs for tightwads who know the price of everything and the value of nothing?

Where is my nearest course? How do I join?

I think I was on the course with Nickf

Bikes went from 6″ inch all mountain to Nick’s singlespeed 29er (wierd bars? Have I got the right nick)

I don’t think it made any difference in terms of what you get out of it

I did think that being lighter or rubbish I was holding people up cos it took ages for me to get the speed to do the tabletop (hence double/gap cos its the same) and I thought I was higher up the slope to clear the gap Nick cleared several goes earlier than me

So if you’ve got a choice of bikes I’d go with the faster one assuming you love both.

But… You will have a great time and learn loads about yourself that goes beyond MTB

My daughter (7) learns physical stuff the way I do – she can listen and understand – but it just doesnt lead to her changing what she does – she has to feel it * – thanks to Tony I’ve been able to explain to her trampoline and horse instructors and even if it still takes her she’s at least they are less frustrated 🙂

*actually this may have been why it took me ages – I am just a slowarse when it comes to learning and change

It’s great that MTB is such a big and diverse pastime that geriatric benders with spuds and a well thumbed highway code can have their own niche mag and forum to compare how omniscient and uptight they are and belittle people who don’t share their tastes ie commuting, ignorance about road biking, with a few useful bits and bobs thrown in

It should be a charity really

(tbh it is nice to read mag that acknowledges that not all so-called extreme sports are really rad to power gnarr and some of us listen to R4 rather than spend time lowering our jeans – but don’t tell Benjii)

Ibiza? Stay off the drugs?!?

Even Mike Oldfield lost the plot there – get in.

Hmm that WOUld have ben beter wiv raNdom CAPs and no grammer

Anyway those of you that really have done 60mph on a road bike – I salute you

FunkyDunc is that kmh or mph?

I’d really like to see someone hit 60/100 on the Alpe straights are just not long enough IMO I’m not saying you didn’t do it – but it would be a stellar performance

(I would not rely on cars as they do not do 100kph down the Alpe)

It’s incredibly hard to get over 52ish mph on a road bike – the aerodynamics are so against it – and the gradients are really not that steep in France as the roads are so well made.

That 112kph of Thors the other day is an exceptional speed, he is a big guy, with exceptional skills – even among the elite descenders.

The MTB rider makes better descender line is BS when comparing pro roadies – what does A Schleck do in the off season – and The Chicken was ex MTB and his bike handling was a joke.

And roadies bike handling is much better than MTBers give them credit for – when I crossed over I was expecting to be embarassed but now I’ve been doing it for a bit think most riders are crap as well as slow and unfit. Obviously there are exceptions… That said my road bike descending has improved a lot since coming over, but I attribute a lot of that to jedi’s coaching

Jcoop Do you ride rest of n downs/Surrey hills much eg ranmore, and S facing slopes more towards Cranleigh?

If not email me

There is also some downhill on Gibbett Hill nr Haslemere which is not that far for you

Ibiza Town is much more STW with the missus ( or fella) than San Antonio, which is prob massive fun , but not very niche

The beach bars W of Ibiza Town eg Jockey Club/ Cala Jongal ( showing my age bet they don’t exist) are very grown up but still a bit hedonistic

Sunday avo on the terrace at Space is the best club type thing in the world – it’s not even mildly debatable

If you are a bit older and have a massive yacht and like charly then Pacha is great

If you like getting your shirt off and taking pills then Bora Bora is sorted to the power messed

I say… Try all 3 and see which you like best

Doing them on a road bike is sufficiently stupid – why would you want to make it dumber by doing them on a 6″ MTB – and the descents are way more fun on a roady too

Ive got R3s and they are nice very strong fast light-ish pimp wheels with great hubs which are very well sealed

I have hit some serious potholes on descents and it takes a life threatening impact to get them out of true.

But the thing I didn’t know when I got them was the absence of rim tape means they are a bitch if you need to replace a spoke nipple. You need some special tools and patience. Sods law dictates the spoke nipple that rounds off will be the one furthest from the valve hole and therefore most time consuming to replace.

As they are alloy nipples they are very soft and easy to round off – so you learn to file the nipple down so you can get a smaller key on it.

Pity cos great wheels – steel nipples would only be a few gm heavier and would make them cheaper

For that reason I would not get them again – I would go with something more conventional like Easton or DT Swiss.

In the Giro Dave Millar was using a Xx rear cassette and mech to get a low enough ratio ( but HR uses funny ovoid chainrings so can’t get compact)

Ivan Basso used 34:29 in the Giro last year, Contador uses 34:28 on steep climbs, and they have the power to turn a bigger year – it’s just that having low ratio gives the option of using a different muscle group so you don’t tire so fast.

Make sure you have 12 or 11 if you have a 50 as your big chainring, ive just got a13:29 which is going to have to be customised as 50:13 is pathetic as a top gear

Quite impressed by some of the times here – roady elite level stuff and then I am going to assume the riders are not fully charged on EPO

(Ventoux, Alpe, croix de Fer, the one next to Croix de Fer, alpes maritimes climbs eg Vence Eze etc)

Someone asked about ratios – I did an event up Alpe last year was completely owned by a load of U23 whippets – they all had 34:27/28/29 – there’s nothing macho about using a big rear sprocket now people are not riding loaded with drugs and extra blood

I’ve just put a 29 on the back of mine for this Summer – it will be a life saver on that horrible relentless bit in the middle of Ventoux

Jedi is so good even GRF can see it…

All other things being equal.

But his bikepark setup means you go from one feature to another in 30s rather than having to ride for some distance to do it. This makes a big difference to how much you learn and how quick you do it.

It’s worth the journey and a day off for sure.

I have children and ride my bike every day – but wouldnt look down my nose at other people who cant/dont either.

I will look down my nose at bell-end churnalists making a poor attempt at recycling forum drivel that someone wrote when they were bored at lunchtime.

Did I say the lad comes across as a bell-end?