dknwhy

i was all over turkey last September and mindful of what was happening only hundreds of miles away but no problems as long as you keep away from the obviously dangerous front line stuff in the south east / far east parts.

Totally recommend you look at Kas further west along the coast, we got a taxi from Kas to Antalya (around £40!) for 200 miles. And then the bus to Goreme in Capadoccia but you can get internal flights as well but i absolutely hate flying and it was an opportunity to see some stunning and varied landscapes. soaring craggy peaks and a road through the high plains that has one bend in over 100km.

Hired a bike in Goreme from ‘Middlearth’, they wanted to take me on a tour (130eur) so i did my usual of just hiring a bike (30 eur), buying a map and headed out on my own. Six hours later i returned after having an amazing solo tour of all the main valleys. Body and mind totally blown (the call to prayer from the next village a few miles away getting carried up the valley as i reached the top of a big climb was unforgettable – as was the emergency stop down a sandy section of single track due to a resting tortoise!)… its one of the most incredible places I’ve ever been, never mind biking. Even Goreme is totally amazing.

just remember to drink shed loads of water…

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bwm_IchIEAAvThp.jpg:large

id be more concerned about weather when i go north west – total lottery, further west, more exposed to the atlantic you go, the great chance of a ‘breeze’ that keeps the wee turds grounded. and june might be just be early enough to miss the worst part of the season for midges in my experience. i just need to think back to knoydart in august – truly amazing place with truly insane local flying lady insects.

i use an x-tool wall mount very similar to the op – even fits the 29+ knard.

i think that looks great

the jones is 3.5 years old. just finished paying of the bank loan this month!

still the best bike I’ve ever had and has that oddly amazing still ‘fresh’ feeling. still totally love it.

and its not my main bike – its my only bike.

34 then 32

all with a 10 speed 11-36

its very hilly here

the best advice with loops is to tinker. you might be fine with your current stem.

I’ve got the slightly narrower older ti loops and 0deg 110mm thomson. i love the widest part of the bar which pretty much level with my head tube (which equals to a 0mm reach stem??)

the sweep totally changes everything though – its remarkable how different/natural it feels from straight bars. i adjusted stuff for months before finding the sweet spot. remember to try the bars upside down as well – that was my eureka moment.

its Courier New

i actually think that because there is a pretty good selection of bike packing gear that doesn’t rely on braze on / panniers etc that pretty much any bike is ‘adventure bike able’.

and seat packs, frame bags and bar bags etc don’t give you that ‘just about to topple over’ feeling as much panniers either so your bike is still a slightly heavier version of its natural trail friendly self.

having said all that, heading on an extended trip brings in other factors like simple set ups and being able to sort stuff that break enroute in the middle of nowhere. but there is a difference between a malfunctioning xtr di2 (joke!) on ben alder and totally off piste with a soggy map in alaska as well.

i suppose their needs to be some sort of general agreement. i’d suggest most proper mountain bikers have a degree of common sense about this stuff. in my experience, its other trail users that complain no matter what you do.

for me though its simple. if i was climbing up a trail and saw someone coming down, id pull over. simply because id remember the effort getting up and the reward is clattering back down again. as long as you get acknowledged for doing so – im happy.

I’m sure yoda could put it better…

gladhouse reservoir, bowbeat hill and then continuing south down through the actual glen tress is great with some big descents and climbs. some interesting and very remote stuff around the moorfoots as well.

pretty unpopular / unfashionable but i love it.

i had real back issues when i reverted to rigid just over 3 years ago. got pretty beat up.

fine now though

I got use to it (I’m reading the trails better now)
wide rims and low tyre pressure (I’m embarrassed how stupid i was previously – sky high psi)
layback seat post
foam grips (and wider bars)
a bit more flexiable/core strength from swimming etc (and relaxing more on the bike)

i went from 175mm to 170mm and noticed a difference. im 6ft 2″ with long legs.
(wanted to attempt minimising pedal strikes that seemed to happen more on my lower bb bike.)
I’ve got use to it now but its a slight weird subtle adaption for your legs.
i’d reckon 10mm difference is a pretty big adjustment.

jodorowskys ‘the holy mountain’ continues to knock me sideways.

considered ‘of its time’ or ‘drugged out nonsense’ by many but id always defend the effort and creative originality of the whole thing. the more I’ve researched it and dug around it, it still stands as a true work of art in my opinion.

my 2p…

I’m a pro graphic designer and i’d say that you’d be better off buying any decent 1tb external drive and regularly backing up your stuff manually. once and week/after a projects finished, stuff from elsewhere you need in one secure place etc…

time machine takes away the pain of needing to physically drag and drop as and when you choose. perhaps I’m just ‘old school’ but i’d not trust time machine for anything of real importance. so for some more casual folk time machine might be the perfect solution!

i think it looks nice though…

pivot les fat?

me and spaghetti junction up the moorfoots…

love it

most of the year, its a gore path which seems to handle most stuff (other than crashing into fences)

lucky to have a mate that works in specialist outdoor repair company and for deep winter i use a rock climbing ‘crux torq jacket’ which was free sample he got!! and its amazing for the hideous wet freezing gale force wind high level riding I’m doing through the winter. tough as nails construction, eVent, hooded, not let me down in 3 winters – top notch.

other than slightly wider arms, its very sympathetic to a cyclist cut. worth a look if you a rich or are a bank robber…

i went from a 3×10 set up to a 1×10 set up after spending a few months experimenting on a single speed. all wagon wheelers (which i love)

i know its not exactly what the op was asking but i managed much better than i though i would with less gears. i’m not really bothered about the weight saving (or racing these days) but i think gearing is ultimately dictated by were you ride and how you ride.

if i lived somewhere flatter, id be running a single speed set up all the time. I’m also riding alone almost all the time so choosing to limit things a bit makes sure I’m still making life hard…

I’ve just set up my own graphic design and marketing business ‘INDUSTRY COTTAGE’, base at home in my wee hoose 12 miles outside edinburgh. its been my plan for quite a few years.

early days and in truth, still adjusting to it but it beats slowly getting ground away in an position id had for 11 years that was frankly doing my tits in. plus no more 3 hours of sitting on a bus everyday.

of course it remains to be seen if the obvious mid week biking opportunities and other advantages out-weight the uncertainly / veggie feast / famine nature of a start up.

i really rate my mavic notch lid.

looked at the poc and bell options before opting for this.

coverage and airflow good, never get too sweaty despite my hippy locks either.

‘oooh stop it, your giving me a wide on’

I’m using a XT Shimano XT RT86 Ice-Tec 180mm 6-Bolt Rotor with finned Shimano pads/ XTR calipers and levers (trail flavoured)

Pads are less than a month old, rotors are a year old.

Including the OP, ive heard off one other instance of this happening (ie 3 instances). Still reckon its a defective disc (crack in alu?) rather than a design flaw. Have emailed Madison.

https://twitter.com/johnjnicol/status/479278700769599488/photo/1

great brakes, reckon ive just been unlucky (or im way too rad for xtr – which is unlikely)

Thankfully I’ve got a spare 180 avid for the rest of my break.
Surely a tiny defect/crack im my Shimano with my particular xtr rotor? (Bought online from Germany)
Must have happened during a ride yesterday. I ride a rigid jones so I’m hardly doing 50mph downhills. The trails pretty dry as well. And I live in Scotland, it’s hot just now but not 600 degree hot!!!

Just noticed my xtr rear rotors done the same thing as the op mentioned.
The metal from inside of the ‘ice sandwich’ has melted and dribbled out the rotor and into two holes within the rotor.
Been on holiday for the last two weeks and done loads of biking but a bits shocked at this. New rear pads and bike serviced only a few weeks back.

ouch!! the hard packed snow/skid at the start of the descent just looks like the beginning of the march to warp factor two… and not much you can do about it. looks like a great spot to ride though.

wishing you a speedy recovery.

anyone tried the 2.25s yet?

im liking the idea. as narrow as i’d now go on the back.

matched to a knard up front (on a rigid) that im bizarrely finding good in the spag bol. floaty grip strangness at 15 psi on a blunt.

running a gato that im delighted with on the back but keen to try other stuff. been running them solid for 2 years and im getting bored of their amazingness.

its also a funny name for a tyre that will make my wife laugh.

‘your jones finally has a beaver’

wordnumb! exactly.

zoom back camera…

the holy mountain

by alejandro jodorowsky in 1973 (the year i was born)

the best film ever made in the entire history of this or any universe. 90 minutes of the most amazing involved visual/mental trip ever.

Two books spring to mind instantly.

‘The Scottish Peaks’ by W.A. Poucher and ‘Eschatus’ by Bruce Pennington both from my Dad.

Totally obsessed by both books from around the age of 9 or 10 onwards (i was always a bit weird, only child, dyslexic etc).

its telling that the Poucher book led me to the mountains and naturally to mountain bikes. The Pennington book, the illustrations in particular was my first exposure to weird almost cosmic creativity i suppose.

ill be 40 later this year, im a graphic designer and artist and am rather fond of the whole rigid 29er thing spending all my cash and most of my free time solo riding in the wild places near home.

so ‘it’ does all make sense eh?

i commuted for 9 months between glasgow and edinburgh a few years back

7am train through – 6pm train back.

totally did my brain in – never again

yum, lots of nice photo’s of joneses…
had my ti spaceframe for just over a year, its true what ‘they’ say. its the best bike ive ever ridden. spent 4 years saving up for it at at this rate, considerably longer enjoying having done so.
so assured and well thought through, bit of shock adjusting to rigid after years of hardtail action but love just about every aspect of the bike. i’m probably boring in my gushing praise for it.
jeff is a clever chap…