I'm definitely getting a fluro yellow one for commuting this winter.

Basically since becoming a regular driver i've realised that the only cyclists i spot early are the ones wearing bright yellow.

Bright orange might work as well (like the roadworkers pointed out bove).

and also they're dead easy to set up tubeless. Just have to use a bit extra stans, as initially they weep through the sidewalls.

I do. There are narrow but they hold really well and when they drift they do it predictably.

Good in the wet for quite a smooth tyre as well. Have been riding them at afan on a regular basis.

I felt a bit out gunned at Cheddar last weekend and would have liked somehting a bit wider for all of the rocks (but then I was on a borrowed hardtail and would have been happy enough with them on my full sus).

avids go bad if left upside down.

Doing a cheeky lap of the whites at afan after work tonight before the mobs arrive tomorrow.

Maybe something else depending on how saturday night goes.

Do you feel better for the crash?

I really enjoyed it. Thought the course was awesome and the campsite, while not your usual set up, was pretty good.

Elvis was a shock

I think if you do 6 miles everyday there and back your fitness will plateau at that level. If you want to keep improving then doing some sprints within the 6 miles, or an all out blast, or doing a longer route back are all good ways to get faster/fitter.

Not to say that 12 miles, 5 days a week won't keep you fit and healthy.

Over the winter I did a lot a flat 10 mile commutes on a single speed this was good for putting in the base miles but when I wanted to start working in some speed and power training I had to change my plans.

Now I do a very hilly ride home and want to get a proper geared road bike for a bit more flexibility as well.

ourmaninthenorth – Member
helps to eat the healthiest but still tasty things – like a good curry perhaps.
Genius. At what point did eating something made with ghee become "healthy"?

For me, immediately post ride is 50g whey protein mixed with 500ml orange juice and water. Then eat normally thereafter.

Racist!

Seriously, you obviously havent made many curries. I use olive oil in mine.

Besides, a good curry combines lots of rice for carbs, some meat for protein, lots of veg for the 5 a day, and lots of spices to keep the immune system in good shape.

Sounds a lot tastier than whey protein mixed with orange juice! Idiot! :D

Well assuming that you're not that fit to start with it's probably best to quite a lot of base level indurance type training to start with. So probably do something like 2-4 rides per week at a low intensity for about 1-2 hours in length. Careful not to over do it – if you feel knackered don't go out till the next day, equally if you feel good, get out there.

After doing this for a couple of week, you can start upping the intensity a little bit, perhaps adding in some hills, or doing some sprints. You could try going fast for 5 minutes, followed by going slow for 5, and then repeating another 2 times.

After a while you could start setting yourself targets, e.g. I used to be able to get round a local circuit in 1hr15 but now I can do it sub-1hr and that was a big target to me to meet.

The best advice is to ride more, but its maybe a bit easier to do this if you can find some other people to ride this. Also riding in different places helps to keep things interesting. Likewise a mix of mountain biking and road riding can help.

On kit it's important to make sure everything is in top condition before you start (someone on here gave me that tip and it was a good one). Take recovery drink.

For training like the man says lots of riding under your belt. Not sure you have to do lots and lots of 6 hour plus rides but certainly quite a lot of longer days in the saddle. About 2 weeks before I had a period of 5 days when I did some hard training everyday, some long rides, some intervals, some spinning – seemed to give me a good prep for the TW.

Also if you want to do well in the racing aspect, you'll want to get super quick over 15-30 minutes, cos all the special stages were that kind of length and most had big forest climbs on them too. Quite hard doing the racing because you have to turn up the pace dramatically compared to the rest of the time.

This year was a classic. One of the best things I've ever done.

Big meal asap after finishing your ride. Then smaller meal or bowl of cereal a couple of hours before bed.

Do you eat when you're riding? Torq bars or similar or flapjack etc are pretty good at keeping you going and reducing the hunger pangs later on. A recovery drink might help as well.

I get a similar thing after big rides, helps to eat the healthiest but still tasty things – like a good curry perhaps.

I had a new thread put on to a crank arm that was stuck. This involved getting a frame builder type bike shop to tap in a new, slightly larger than standard thread.

Might explain why your's is bigger than standard, but very weird if it's new – you didn't get it off ebay did you? A decent bike shop might be able to sort you out.

Hacksaw method is fun if the riding around boltless etc doesn't work.

Lots of routes out of Caerphilly – there was a route guide in singletrack mag (or maybe mbr) not too long ago.

Also I've heard that there are good trails out of Bargoed.

That's what they like you to think!

Try installing google desktop to search your computer. Works much better than windows search function for me.

Argos Cycles in Bristol were very good to me.

Home

What a week!

And what a belter of a night out in Built last night to cap it off.

We were the last vehicle away from campsite this afternoon apart from Mikey's merida funbus.

I'll be on a grey top fuel riding in a blue beyond925 jersey

I've just spent a hundred bloody quid on a couple of plastic bushings and an axle or two for my trek top fuel. Was expecting change from 30 quid.

Does anyone know how to get the bastard banjo off the end of the hose? Struggling a bit here.

Well there's only 3 sub-forums which gets around the issue in the OP.

I'm looking to fit new (fibrax) hoses to some Juicy Ultimates which already have hoses but have been cut down for a smaller bike.

Is this the banjo bolt I need:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20449

And do I need one of these;
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20447

yes it nice here cos its not dictator like and the mods don't act like vigilantes.

From the Scottish Borders originally, now live in Swansea.

Did Cwm Rhaiadr on Fri night, stayed in a bunkhouse and then did the blue at Brecfa on sat morn. All good prep for the transwales next week.

Then rode at Margam park today which was immense lots of lovely empty natural singletrack despite being just over the hill from the crowds at Afan.

ta

Sorry, what does GC stand for?

"Exquisite new wines in store" !

Pah, that's a bit of a joke, I haven't had a nice bottle of red from lidl in about 3 years. For a while you could get some really good ones but no more so it seems. Anyone care to differ?

Damn it, i just did a big shop at mighty Lidl, should have waited for tomorrow

Remember to pedal a bit harder through to corners to prevent losing height on the berm.

Do what coach says.

Wear lycra.

it was working by this time last night.

My mate tells me that I should cut my brake cables down to save a few grams. Looking forward to doing it, and maybe one of the gear outers too, before putting the offcuts on the scales.

200g to chop? High grams per £ saving in any case. (as long as i don't chop too much)

iplayer is annoying to use if you just want to stream the radio

On the packages, I believe that the second, i.e. £495 is what most people go for. This way you, or your helper, puts up your tent, but food is provided. And i've heard that the food is going to be better this year (fingers crossed).

We have 5 or 6 riders this year and did consider having a support crew to do food but was going to be too much hassle in the end so have all gone for the £495 package.

I'll be popping my tw cherry this year.

I believe that Stroma also do courses, although maybe this is just for the Code. I think the course are more crammed than the BRE ones and therefore cheaper but more intense.
http://www.stroma.com/

I also think/hope that they are sorting out the Green Guide so that the methodology is more accountable, so that things like embodied energy are clearer, and they will hopefully give more credit rating accordingly.

I just bought a 1.6 petrol focus yesterday, has aircon, heated windscreen, cd player, FSH, and 65k. All for £2510.

Colour is light bogey green though.

I did consider a 1.4 before realising i need more power. Still good cars and the older models are supposed to be more reliable than the newer ones.

I really enjoyed it, good technical riding in the woods and some really nice open singletrack as well. Awesome countryside too.

A couple of my club mates did their first ever 50km marathon as well and had a brilliant time too.

However, as much as i do relish a bit of mud riding some of those bogs were a bit excessive! Took me back to my youth, knee deep in gloop, bike on the shoulder.

Jim Hatfield!! ha

oh and i quite like zane lowe’s energy but yeah he speaks so much crap.