its the business.

I'm currently running mine with revelations, mavic 819s, XT finishing kit and Bonty Jones XC 2.35" tyres in 'relatively burly' mode, its also been in full XTR race mode and does that pretty well too.

you won't be disappointed

thanks all, will take a look tomorrow. The roof is just one element in the whole equation of location, space, bedrooms etc but good to have a bit of a heads up

Matthew

accomodation was top drawer, stayed in hotels which got progressively better as the event went on. The start line each day was where you finished the night before and the hotels were pretty much all within staggering distance of the finish. Another plus point was a large table of food at the finish line, plus you could drop your recovery drink off in a box the morning and have it waiting for you at the finish.
Lots and lots of food as well, basically a week of binge eating with some biking chucked in

humidity – wasnt' really an issue, the first 3 days were REALLY hot but it was a dry heat. I was getting through about 8 – 10 bottles of Torq per day to start with (note to self – always take more than 1 flavour to these things)

GPS – you can rent one from the organisers, they are also the dealers for Garmin in Portugal, think it was about 100euro, I bought my own a couple of years ago, got it for cost from the organisers as I was a competitor. Have used it loads since then.

Water spots were briefed out each day, a mixture of fountains in village squares or cafes. The laid on an extra water stop on one day when it was biblically hot and people would have run out.

Portuguese – I got by with please / thankyou / and the all important "2 big bottles of water and an espresso please". If you make an effort the locals seem to understand.

If you do it make sure your shorts / saddle work well together, a lot of people suffered really badly with saddle sores, I carried a small amount of assos with me most days "just in case" but didn't need to call on it

that would be here http://www.trans-portugal.com/

I've done about 15,000 miles in 3 pairs of MT500 bib shorts in the past 2 years, they are the business and I wouldn't risk my arse in anything else

thanks for the thoughts, 2 big locks would certainly be cheaper than a new bike, although its not such an exciting purchase.
I think a bit of experimentation on the train first before committing to any purchase

I did the transportugal on my soul at the beginning of June, 1000km in 8 days and didn’t have any back problems. Have also done all day rides round the peaks on it, so I’d endorse it as suitable for pretty much anything.

having ridden 100km round that course yesterday I can tell you why you’re back is stiff – it was hellish bumpy! I did it on my cotic soul and its one of the few events recently where I’d have preferred full suss, that field we went through on the loop before the start was just horrible. I found I wasn’t sat down that much during the day, a lot of time stood up on the big ring just because of the surface.

bad luck with the seat rail, its a sickner when your kit breaks. I had a frame snap at the selkirk merida the other year having driven up from basingstoke, was properly gutted.

one thought on the event yesterday, the time cutoff to do all 8 laps was pretty ‘sporting’, I just made it but when only 1 third of the entries for a 100km event (just looking at the male vets and seniors) can make the cut off it seems a bit cheeky to charge people £25 for the pleasure of entering

Matthew

middleburn give their compatibility info here http://www.middleburn.co.uk/chainrings_mtb.php

can’t remember where I bought mine from but for £50 it seemed like a worth while punt given the shocking costs of XTR, plus if they didn’t fit then they would go on my XT chainset at some stage in the future anyway

i’m running middleburn hardcoat (?) granny and middle at the moment on mine, no problems to report. Big ring is still Shimano and hopefully will last out the year

20yrs on and off, although hardcore commuting for the past 5 years of up to 200 miles per week
Two biggies
– 1991 got taken out by a guy on a roundabout, I was going straight ahead, he was going right and took me with him. Ruptured ACL just before my finals, 2 operations. Sued him and got £4k.
– 4 weeks ago got hit from behind whilst doing about 25mph on the road bike, went down like a sack of spuds, plenty of roadrash. Didn’t even see them brake let alone stop, although I still have the wing mirror they hit me with. Got off very lightly as there was a guy killed timetrialling about a week ago when he was hit from behind
One other impact
– riding on a cycle lane in Germany, it was dark so I was wearing bright yellow Altura top with loads of reflective stuff on it and had spot & flood on my lumis turned on, went across a GREEN light on the cycle way and got hit by an MR2 jumping his RED light, hit my fork and bent my wheel but no damage to me. thought about punching him until he unfolded himself out of the car, mahoosive bloke so just shouted at him in English.

Plenty of near misses and too many idiots out there who think its fun to buzz you and shout ‘witty’ comments

new bars it is then, not worth taking a risk for £40

Did it in a ‘racing incident’ at Gorrick Enduro today, I’d just got on the back of a pair of riders on a bit of fire road going at speed on lap 1, chap on the front pulled across to let the next guy through and didn’t see me when he pulled back into the line. Was doing comfortably over 20mph when I went down. It hurt. Wrote my helmet off as well, expensive day playing in the woods, but at least it didn’t rain

“boats are a hole in the water to throw money in” but speaking from experience they are jolly good fun.
From your choice of boats above the enterprise is the nicest one to sail (but I’m biased having raced them for 5 yrs) however the Wayfarer probably fits the family spec better as you can pile more people in and they are next to impossible to tip over.
Pitfalls:
– old plastic ones can and will act like a sponge making them progressively heavier over time, iirc they also loose stiffness
– wooden boats look better but need a bit more love and attention but can last for ages. Depending on how keen you are you may need to re-varnish a wooden boat every 2 – 3 years (just a matter of stripping all the bits off, bit of sanding then slap on the shiney stuff)
– if you are going to leave the boat on the drive then you need a serviceable road trailer to get it to the required piece of water, need to factor that into the buying / bartering process
– if you leave the boat at a club then you get to meet people at the club regularly (most are crying out for new members) and you can leave the boat rigged with the mast up etc which makes the whole going sailing experience a lot less hassle
– you can leave the boat outside all year if you want, but best to get it indoors (farmers barn or similar) during the winter if possible
– a decent cover helps, it will keep rain out of the boat and hence reduce the chance of rotting. You can get breatheable covers but that may be going a bit far
– when buying check out the sails to make sure there are no holes etc, new ones are crisp like fresh £20 notes from the hole in the wall
– also check out the foils to make sure they are straight and not full of cracks on the leading edges.
If you get a boat make sure you use it, the best way to get better at sailing is to spend time on the water, and the more competent you are the more you enjoy it

Matthew

started doing TTs last year to avoid doing intervals, the first ones I did were on a VERY old steel framed bike which was stuck on the big ring at the front (made hills on the way to the course challenging) but having a 53-11 combo was handy for any bit of down in it. When it became obvious the bike was beyond economical repair I moved to a new scott roadbike with cheapo aerobars, and a compact chainset which probably doesn’t help
My tips for 10s would be:
– warmup thoroughly, I usually ride 45 minutes-1hr before
– go off hard
– don’t look at your HRM, do it off feel. If you think you can go harder then go harder
– I find I go faster if I get within ‘racing’ distance of the guy in front
– don’t give up when someone comes past you, use them as a target to chase (obviously without drafting)
– work out the point about 5 minutes from the finish is, then give it everything from there to the finish.
– don’t get fixated on pushing a huge gear, keep spinning on ‘on top of the gear’ whatever that means
– try not to be sick at the end
A spotty youth told me you shouldn’t stand up on the hills last week, I bowed to his greater experience since he’d just taken a minute out of me.
Good tyres make a difference apparently and are the most cost effective go faster accessory. I’m trying to avoid getting into an arms race as really its just a bit of fun(?) and training for racing the ‘proper’ bike

i was playing cricket for Kirkham and Wesham (home game) one of the guys mentioned Senna had died and no-one believed him. Sunny afternoon as I recall

Good news :
– 2.5 months gardening leave that started mid Nov, kept the car and fuel card and spent January in France riding my bike and it cost me nowt to get there
– forced me to move out of Basingstoke where I was working during the week and back up to MK where the better half lives
– walked away with about of years worth of money due to V generous terms and 8 years service
– I’ve ridden full time since then and should be in epic shape for transportugal at the beginning of June
– start a new job in about 3 weeks
– no corporate politics / powerpoint / bullsh!t for several months

Bad news
– killed my bike (frame snapped, out of warranty), but got 50% off a new frame from the nice people at Rocky Mountain
– money in new job isn’t quite as good, but options look enticing and its a chance to move into renewable energy which should be a good move for the future.

On the whole a positive experience, took about 3 months of not working for my brain to wake up properly. Actually looking forward to going back to work

i too have scorch frame with prescription lenses. Very happy with them after 18 month. I did have a problem when the frame broke after 11 months of regular use, however optilabs put my existing lenses into a new frame no questions asked, which counts as top customer service in my view

Jonny Mnemonic – although to be honest I don’t think anyone rated it at the time. I missed an episode of Father Ted on the box to go see that pile of tripe at the cinema, bobbins of the highest order

i’m 5’10” with 32″ inside leg.
I’ve got a medium soul with:
– 90mm Bonty X lite stem
– very wide Bonty bars
both the above came from cotic with the bike
– 100mm vanilla RLCs
– XT hydraulic brakes with 160mm rotors front and rear.
Racing in this configuration today and felt quick.
I’ve just broken the frame on my full suss and to be honest I think I’ll stick the revelations onto the soul and ride that for the rest of the summer and see if I want to go back to having a 5″ bike

suggest you try the lamb and flag in bishop monkton which is about 5 miles down the road. proper pub with good beer and large plates of food, the ‘Flag Fry’ will satisfy event the hungriest cyclist, although is slightly lacking in carbohydrate and with its focus being on grilled livestock in large amounts.

probably the best merida I’ve done since the first selkirk one a few years ago, all down to good weather and a great course.
Really enjoyed the night ride, think I did about 2:17 and was pretty much on the red line all the way round, suffered a bit towards the end of the 70km but managed to outsprint a couple of guys at the end (like it matters…) to finish in about 3:27.

bit worried about the standard of secondary evidence after following a loughborough student into the showground on the night ride who couldn’t follow signs 🙂

its all about maintenance of the engine (you)
– spin out the lactic
– stretch
– recovery drink within 15 minutes
– compression socks (like you’d wear on a plane) help
– 65g of carbs at 2, 4, 6rs
– don’t eat lardy, fatty food. Carbs are king
– plenty of sleep, top athletes sleep loads for a reason
– lots of fluids to help with carb absorption
– carb heavy breakfast in the morning of day 2, a couple of hours before riding.
– plenty of fluids on the morning of day 2
Its also easier to recover for repeated days of riding if you fuel yourself properly during each ride with carbs during riding, 1g per kilo of body weight per hour.
And if all else fails, a really strong coffee before setting off works wonders.
The above seems to have worked for me on various stage races

chucking him in a pond and seeing if he floats would probably not satisfy the French, they’d probably want something a little more extreme.

i had a jolly on one of the volvo 40 cats a couple of years ago, after a few years of sailing high performance dinghy it was a complete mindf*ck, apparent wind sailing in a FF2 and the acceleration when you got a gust was amazing. everything afterwards has been a bit of a disappointment afterwards.

not sure about the costs on SLX but replacement of XTR chain rings is a bit of a choker when the time comes

Captain Beefheart – Trout mask replica

unlistenable tosh, and I’ve tried listening to it a few times.

it was the mighty King Kurt at leeds poly in about 1985, a couple of mates of mine were very much into the whole physo-billy thing to the extent of having quiffs and the whole works. The pre-music entertainment consisted of getting a couple of victims out of the audience, the female member of the pair gave a very reluctant blowjob to a chap on stage. Music was loud, fast and brilliant. We then had to explain away my mates black eye at school the following day (it was a bit rough).
In retrospect a top night out, Destination Zululand anyone?
Best one since then was a double header with Ride and the Charlatans at Blackpool empress ballroom around the time of Ride’s Going Blank Again album, fantastic night

I worked from home a few years ago, if I spent more than 2 days at home in a row I’d go stir crazy and just drink gallons of tea & eat stacks of biccies on day 2, I was in sales at the time so visiting customers was key.
Recently I worked a day a week from home, would get loads done but I always felt pressured to work like a nutter on that day in case my collegues thought I was tossing it off so would be at the desk early and finish late.

Get a comfy chair like you’d have in an office to avoid back trouble.
Switching off from work helps, just close the door.
second the whole things about getting dressed before you start.

first album was “Oxygene” by Jean Michele Jarre if I remember correctly, big old piece of vinyl, still not sure what I was thinking at the time. Took me a while to come round to buying singles but the first one I bought was “Two Tribes” by Frankie goes to Hollywood, 7″ picture disc. I was swayed by the fantastic baseline.

most recent purchases……
Single : “Trashcan” by Delta Spirit – awesome feelgood song
Album : “Mellow Gold” by Beck – filling in the gaps, i-tunes makes it too easy

just to re-iterate what Paule was saying, you need to keep pushing on the downs. If you’ve got a HRM then try and keep your HR high when descending – takes a lot of effort but you fly. Also how’s your eating? do you find you slow in the later stages, could be you need to put more fuel in at the beginning.
Also maybe try some 30 mile rides and aim for 19 – 20 mph to get some speed into your legs

“that stinks” – usually after letting rip.

assos for me, but then I’m a chap. My better half tried it once and decided against repeating the experience.

prior to discovering assos I was riding in Portugal and developing various additional holes in my arse due to a new saddle that didn’t agree with me, ventured into a chemist in a village in the back of beyond with the hope of buying some savlon as emergency butt lube (it works at a push), after about 10 minutes of pointing to my backside, miming cycling and generally making a fool of myself I left with something that wasn’t savlon leaving several smirking locals behind, reading the packing in the street it emerged I had procured something with the words “…hygene feminine…” on the label which transpired to be thrush cream. I decided to leg it rather than repeat the most humiliating game of charades ever, for the following few days I applied it liberally and applied it often, not sure how much good it did but my shorts have never smelt so good after a day in the saddle.
Moral – prevention is better than cure, and take your own if travelling abroad.
I did the transportugal a few years later, the locals all swear by some kind of halibut oil, doesn’t smell as bad as you’d think

must confess to swearing vigorously at a little old lady in a micra yesterday, straight piece of road with a car parked on the left, I moved to the middle of the road to pass it, she then went to overtake me, noticed car coming the other way and pulled back in, unfortunately I was level with her passenger door at the time. Nearly stuck me in the back of the parked car.
In retrospect I’d have been unhappy is someone spoke to my mother like that, but hopefully she’ll remember and maybe pay more attention in future.

Far too many incidents recently of people hurling abuse at me on the roads, possibly as a result of occasional commutes into Milton Keynes.

chased after an elder lady years ago (without success, again…) who turned out to have had a daughter at an early age. Had an image flash through my mind for some reason that if :

1 – I married her
2 – my brother (9yrs my junior) married her daughter (similar age)
then
3 – I could be my own brothers father-in-law

At this point I decided against the whole venture and slopped off for a pint with the boys.

Had a GF who was a year older than me when I was 14, happy days 🙂

another vote for the proII / ZTR Olympic combo, I run mine with Bontrager Jones AC tubeless ready tyres and they are rather light, and survived La Ruta completely unscathed

my first gorrick event, somehow managed to put a 5mm split into the rear tyre after 10 minutes of supermasters lap 1, bit big for Stan’s to cope with, stuck a tube in a burried myself trying to catch up, but 5mins is a bit much to give away on lap 1. no idea where I finished but great course and really enjoyed it, will be back for the rest.

matthew

my good lady seems to accept it as normal behaviour, what she seems to get wound up about is me laughing “like its the first time its ever happened” everytime I manage a particularly fine curtain ripper. I’m 40, should I be making an effort to grow up?
My 4 year old nephew should turn up in an hour or so, think I’m going to get him to pull my finger when he arrives to set the tone for the next few days 🙂

Farting in a biscuit tin is fantastic

My last day is 4th Feb after 8 years of hard graft (and 2 months gardening leave), I’m in the VERY lucky position of getting a hefty payoff that will keep the wolf from the door until next year. Current game plan is a “gap-few-months” as I have my own little mid-life crisis and ride the bike loads and try growing a beard. Fortunately the bike riding is going better than the beard growing. Goal is to be fit as a butchers dog for the Transportugal in June. Oh and to find another job as well.
Glad I don’t have any dependents or debts, a number of collegues are not in such a fortunate position

I’ve got a set of middleburns on my hardtail that I originally got in 2007, rough estimate is >5000 miles and there is still plenty of life in them yet, and they’ve had some hammer. Considerably more durable than Shimano stuff I’ve had but possibly not x 3.