Up next in 10
We took the Singletrack Outside Broadcast unit (SOB) to the local park to record this week's episode on the world's most uncomfortable park bench.
It's too sunny to be in the hot studio.
Benji and Hannah talk about the state of Enduro racing (It's in quite a state) and look at some new One Up pedals with pins for miles.
There's tiny dogs and other park inhabitants from time to time.
This week's episode is sponsorted by Join.cc the personal trainer that fits in your pocket.
It's an app and Singletrack listeners can try it for free for 30 days by visiting..
https://join.cc/singletrack
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0:22
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do the rest well it won't actually do
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the work that's on you but it's like
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having a personal trainer in your pocket
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it takes everything into account like
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your age your fitness levels what kind
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of riding you prefer to do and for me it
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even incorporates off bike training
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there's a bunch of material available in
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the app and I read a great article on
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weight training for those of us at a
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certain age range i had no idea that as
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you get older you benefit more from
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weight training to maintain fitness so
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that's now part of my training okay did
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you know that no yeah we should be
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picking stuff up and putting it down
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again apparently at our age I do that
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1:55
hello welcome to this week's Single
1:57
Track World podcast i'm Hannah Dobson
1:59
managing editor i'm Benji Howeth in
2:03
severe discomfort this is possibly the
2:06
least ergonomic bench we could have
2:09
picked out here in the Costadel Todden
2:12
yep the angle's very wrong it's just is
2:15
the the angle i like steep seat angles
2:20
but not this deep this and it's like
2:22
right in the bit of your spine it just
2:25
digs in yeah it's really bad yeah not
2:28
coming here again bad choice of bench
2:30
but we thought we'd come outside cuz
2:31
it's been so sunny and now it's not
2:34
sunny and there's a big cloud i've got a
2:35
sweatshirt on now
2:38
so So yeah it stopped sunny it's our
2:40
fault cuz we decided to go outside
2:43
what are we doing today just generally
2:46
today oh yeah today well so today's news
2:49
first of all let's talk about the state
2:51
of Enduro as under quite a lot of
2:53
discussion on the forum this week yes uk
2:56
enduro yes I think yes because
2:59
international who knows what's going on
3:01
including the people racing it well so
3:03
we so this story started because uh
3:07
young Aaron who came to us Aaron Francis
3:11
yeah he came to us as a work experience
3:14
boy when he was but a boy yeah and now
3:17
he's a bit of a bigger boy he's doing
3:19
some some enduro racing yeah in between
3:21
university terms yeah yeah and so he's
3:25
writing up like what's the state of
3:27
grassroots enduro racing because there's
3:29
a a lot fewer races this year in the UK
3:32
so he's done two of the Welsh enduros so
3:34
far so I can't remember what the next
3:37
one is forgotten it was Dy Valley at the
3:40
weekend y and he's written that one up
3:41
it's very entertaining it did make me
3:43
want to go and ride those trails yeah
3:45
totally didn't make me want to put the
3:46
effort into racing well enduro always
3:50
has been a bit speurious as to what it's
3:52
meant to be and it's like it's different
3:54
things to different people isn't it
3:56
people some people on those comments and
3:58
things echoes a lot what we talked about
4:00
over the years isn't it like do you want
4:01
to go out for hours and end doing 50k
4:05
and 2,000 meters of climbing uhhuh or
4:09
are you just a bit more honest and you
4:11
just want to do pseudo downhill stages
4:14
you're not really bothered about the
4:15
transitions yeah pedal between and then
4:18
Yeah i do think there's an argument that
4:20
they should be physically longer and
4:21
probably not as steep as downhill or not
4:24
be purely steep and down and have some
4:28
suffering in there
4:30
cuz that's it otherwise it's just lame
4:32
downhill
4:35
soft downhill light yeah yeah which is
4:37
what most people what a lot of people do
4:39
at the weekend is it that's kind of the
4:41
other thing about is trying to put a a
4:43
metric on normal riding for some reason
4:46
people just want to judge turn
4:48
everything into a race and have you done
4:51
any enduro races yes not for a good
4:54
number of years you did one uh last year
4:57
yeah oh that one yes i did do that one
4:59
yeah it was great that one the ones that
5:00
I've forgotten the name of was it Was it
5:02
the Walty Bash no naughty North Umbrean
5:05
oh the naughty North Umbrean ah it was
5:08
very steep wasn't it in places that was
5:10
very steep and very
5:12
long it was great do it again that was
5:15
in August yeah August half term so the
5:17
Naughty Norumban got won your vote yeah
5:21
but before that I've not done a lot of
5:22
them i've done some little Penine
5:25
Mountain Bike Association ones because
5:27
they're a bit near and a bit round here
5:29
mhm but um was there not one of those
5:31
that went from uh Lee Quarry way over
5:36
Bakeup Way and then ended up going
5:38
through Havoc as well i think that was
5:40
one that that's quite long yep
5:43
that was my idea that loop was it oh wow
5:47
could use it he said yeah so yeah that
5:49
was uh Lee Quarry then over Limer's Gate
5:52
Whitworth over the top and then drop
5:55
into Havoc and then crawl back over and
5:57
do another one in Lee at the end i think
5:59
I did do that one you did it i did it
6:01
yeah and that is We don't talk about
6:02
that cuz my brother beat me so we don't
6:05
we don't talk about that one but that's
6:06
like a big day out kind of a ride like
6:09
the sort of ride you might do in the
6:11
middle of summer uh when there's plenty
6:13
of daylight of a weekend and then go for
6:16
big pub meal afterwards or something
6:18
like that isn't it so that is kind of
6:20
like normal riding
6:22
yeah i've only done one enduro and I
6:24
think it was a
6:25
mistake
6:27
so I was asked to go and do this enduro
6:30
and I was like are you sure you want me
6:34
um I've never done a race never mind an
6:38
enduro race and they were like "No no we
6:40
do we want you to come out and race the
6:43
Jurro." The Jur the
6:45
Jewel Jura in Duro by Jeulbo wow that
6:52
Yeah juulo sunglasses that's in France
6:55
yeah so it wasn't an amazing landscape
6:58
but I was so far in over my head so uh
7:03
you'd be all right now i don't know now
7:06
what bike did you do it on i did it on
7:08
um a live rain like a women's enduro
7:12
bike right um the bike was not the
7:15
problem it was definitely the rider so I
7:17
had to get a full face helmet and a
7:19
backpack with a spine protector that was
7:22
like the first time I'd ever used those
7:24
y you had to have those for French
7:26
regulations you had to have a note from
7:28
the doctor to say that you were fit to
7:30
ride i don't think I'd get that now
7:33
actually too old i can find you a doctor
7:37
and then got there and it was basically
7:40
like all the pros from Europe would go
7:43
there as like a weekend chill out fun
7:48
thing gl So he built my bike for me when
7:52
I got there right there you go home
7:54
commence yeah i was sharing a room with
7:56
the with the Gerig twins all right yeah
7:59
yeah and they were telling me how they'd
8:02
been there the year before and it had
8:03
rained epically and they'd all just
8:06
scooched down everything on their bums
8:08
because it was so steep and so slippery
8:10
limey limestone it's limestone yeah so
8:13
the jura are like these like molers
8:15
imagine your back teeth right so they're
8:17
like basically straight up at the sides
8:20
and then a bit lumpy on the top so
8:22
that's where you get your like alpine
8:23
meadowy stuff yeah um and then you just
8:26
plum it straight down the sides yeah go
8:28
for a while and uh yeah so they do tour
8:31
to France climbs like up the up the
8:34
sides so what we were doing was going
8:36
straight down across the tour to France
8:40
uh
8:42
I did not do the whole thing it was it
8:45
was
8:47
long as well it was long there were a
8:49
lot of stages yeah uh I can
8:52
recall using my bike as like a pickaxe
8:56
to get my way up or an ice axe like to
8:58
get my way up one of the the stages cuz
9:00
it was so steep and boiling hot with a
9:03
full face helmet and all the pads that
9:06
was quite hardcore but there was a
9:08
practice day where I went with Jerome
9:12
Clemens and his wife Pauline and uh
9:17
there
9:18
was a drop in through some bushes
9:22
or another drop in off like a small
9:25
cliff and I walked my bike down both of
9:28
those things i decided not to and I got
9:31
back on my bike and rode and within a
9:34
hundred meters I'd hit like a sniper
9:36
limestone rock in the middle of the
9:38
trail gone completely over the bars done
9:41
like a full forward roll deployed my
9:44
helmet and that was the first 100 meters
9:46
of the practice
9:50
so yeah it was all a bit of a mistake a
9:52
launch for something or what was it oh
9:53
it was to go and visit the Juulo factory
9:55
because they made the glasses there
9:57
right fine
9:58
so yeah but it was really it was really
10:00
good fun it really pushed my riding and
10:03
so there's nothing quite like having a
10:06
whole pile of pros at the bottom of like
10:08
something steep and they're all going
10:09
"Come on you can do it." Gosh I better
10:13
have them it's interesting the um the
10:16
Welsh enduro series how it how it's
10:18
going to turn out cuz I think like the
10:19
first one at Land
10:22
Degler doesn't use a purely Landler
10:25
Trail Center things but I think that was
10:27
generally a bit more all abilities or
10:29
something but I think the one that's
10:30
just happened in Dvy was a bit more uh
10:33
committing I think yeah that looked
10:35
quite tricky so it be interesting to
10:36
pick and choose which ones you had a go
10:38
at and it's good to find out just ask
10:40
the organizers as well cuz they want you
10:42
there so I've never done one before i'm
10:44
a bit
10:46
ca do that one i think it is quite a
10:49
good way to push yourself a little bit
10:50
because you're riding something that's
10:51
unfamiliar
10:53
you're there you've paid to be there
10:55
you're there for the weekend and you
10:57
don't have to race down everything like
11:00
even if you just get down some things
11:02
and do some features and and just think
11:04
"No I'm going to keep my feet on the
11:05
pedals instead of getting off to push."
11:07
Yeah there's something about the fact
11:09
that it is a race and it's an event that
11:11
I think makes you try things you
11:14
wouldn't always try it's a way of just
11:17
finding out the best trails in the area
11:19
as well a lot of the time in it so
11:20
that's what was good about North Umbian
11:22
i wouldn't have find any of those or
11:23
would have had to deal with they weren't
11:25
open for the rest of the year and all
11:26
that so there's kind of an exclusivity
11:28
of new cool tracks there
11:33
so yeah state generally they're
11:34
expensive and you don't get a lot of
11:37
riding racing time if you want to be
11:39
mercenary and look at pounds per minutes
11:43
depends how fast you go down the hill i
11:45
get a lot more time for my money yeah
11:48
right before we go on i'm not all right
11:51
fine
11:55
we'll find one yeah okay um before we go
11:58
on to the next topic then let's go for
12:00
an ad break
12:07
okay welcome back to the most
12:09
uncomfortable bench in Todden we might
12:11
make it a series find the most
12:13
comfortable bench in Toddman
12:15
it'll be taken I would imagine yeah
12:19
so from the state of UK enduro uh via
12:23
the fact that Hattie Hondan won
12:26
the EDR on a belt drive Nikolai yes not
12:32
not the A on that she's racing downhill
12:35
this was a Nikolai correct yeah and
12:38
onto belt drive
12:43
ear ebikes what have you been riding
12:45
this week i rode a guy's
12:48
mustache i rode a mustache clutch
12:50
yesterday and was the person that
12:52
delivered it delivered it called Guy
12:54
that was scraped against a wall no it
12:56
was called Russ okay so you rode a
13:00
pinion
13:01
MGU moto gearbox unit god I don't even
13:05
know if that's right yeah so it's an
13:06
ebike motor with integrated gearing
13:09
inside it okay 12 speeds the summary I
13:13
got from it was that the back end is
13:15
amazing yeah just instantly first run
13:18
down to woods what's so good about it
13:22
then what's diff or is that anything to
13:24
do with not always good about it you can
13:26
run more rebound because normally I'm
13:29
always chasing the correct rebound speed
13:31
and I normally have it a bit fast but
13:33
that makes it
13:34
occasionally spike back at you or go woo
13:37
like that so you put more rebound on but
13:39
it would still be really fast so it was
13:41
really good at getting back after little
13:43
roots or breaking bumps or something and
13:46
has that got anything to do with the
13:48
fact that it's a gearbox and not got
13:50
derail yes it's not got I mean derailers
13:52
aren't too bad but chains themselves are
13:55
depressingly heavy and lower to
13:58
mid-range cassettes are well heavy right
14:02
and uh things like free hubs are heavy
14:05
as well weirdly so you just have like
14:07
basically a single speed rear wheel
14:08
which what it is
14:10
um and no cassette and you have a a
14:13
rubber belt
14:16
it's quite a bit lighter okay well your
14:20
uh first ride review of that is to come
14:22
yeah I think I'm going to do the gearbox
14:24
separately to the bike and kind of link
14:26
between them and stuff because they're
14:27
separately interesting things and then
14:29
high have launched something with the
14:32
gearbox this week as well is it the same
14:34
gearbox yes that's the high bike
14:38
tronic
14:40
trn forward slashiq pronounced trronic
14:46
me i love high bikes as you know so I'm
14:49
trying to remain impartial but they are
14:51
I've only been on a couple they're all
14:52
both were well good okay so you're
14:55
hoping to get one of those to test in
14:57
terms of the gearbox what's what's been
14:59
sucky about gearboxes before is general
15:02
non-ebart usage is the wattage and they
15:05
feel like you're pedaling through sand
15:08
um so either that wasn't the case
15:10
anymore or was irrelevant cuz I was on a
15:12
pedal assist
15:13
machine and generally changing gear was
15:17
always best back off load slash stop do
15:20
the change and then get back on this was
15:22
fine button electric it's not cables
15:25
it's tip tip so you just tell it to
15:28
change and it does all its things inside
15:30
and does it there are a couple of spots
15:33
in the um Oh my god sorry oh little dog
15:37
eyes they're like Yeah the smallest dogs
15:40
in the world just went by but they
15:42
dodged the camera and nearly fell into
15:45
the the ditch behind us there my
15:47
daughter's favorite she's not having one
15:50
uh yes so the changing there was two
15:54
points in the so it's got 12 gears so
15:58
from one to 12 so there was one I can't
15:59
remember the numbers I'm sorry but it
16:01
was like from gears five to six and
16:02
backwards and vice versa and like 8 to 9
16:06
there was a bit where it would take a
16:07
bit longer to change and made a longer
16:11
change you're all right um but it
16:14
changed okay fine so that kind of
16:18
rubbishness was all right because that's
16:20
where they've been but in terms of I'd
16:22
like to try one on a normal non-pedal
16:24
assist bike
16:26
um mainly for that suspension so you
16:30
want to borrow Harriet Hunt we're going
16:32
to get another one as well for a bit
16:33
longer yeah I'll have a go on on air
16:35
yeah and the other thing was
16:38
um
16:41
Oh yeah because I only I was only it for
16:42
an afternoon and I only really
16:45
remembered or realize you can change
16:49
whilst not pedaling mhm and I think that
16:53
the more you ride one will be faking
16:56
amazing basically because you get used
16:58
to the fact that you can do it so you'll
17:00
adapt your riding
17:01
okay purely boring things as well like
17:03
you fly down a hill in gear 10 and then
17:06
you go "Oh I've got to get up hill now."
17:08
All right it's fine put it in three
17:11
okay but generally if you're like you
17:14
can see something coming up or you don't
17:15
want to pedal or you you don't have to
17:17
pedal while changing gear it's
17:19
like you don't It's like you don't
17:22
realize how much of your brain's been
17:23
taken up with that while you've been
17:24
riding really short cranks that was good
17:27
160s
17:29
nice clearance yeah nice bike well we
17:33
will look forward to seeing what you've
17:35
got to say about that shall we move on
17:37
to our product of the week i've lost
17:39
them oh they're here
17:42
well you can have that one thank you so
17:44
I No you should have the left one okay
17:47
just I'll have the left one these are
17:51
OneUps new wave pedals yes now I've got
17:55
their standard aluminum they just call
17:58
them pedals aren't they aluminum pedals
18:00
yeah um and I really like them they are
18:04
They're very sticky
18:06
borderline convex i think they're normal
18:09
ones or flat i think they are uh yeah
18:14
often pedals are
18:16
concave aren't they and the OneUp ones
18:20
are Yeah slightly convex which was like
18:23
I was like how's that going to work
18:25
that's not going to work what
18:28
the pins do as well cuz that's what you
18:29
stood on well I find them super sticky
18:32
um
18:34
yeah come on through no problem wave why
18:37
is it called wave wow well I'm talking
18:39
about the oldies
18:43
i'm attacking you that wasn't me it was
18:46
a tree it was a wall i think it was a
18:48
wall i don't know what happened but
18:50
there you go so yeah I've I've got the
18:52
aluminum ones the original ones and they
18:55
are very sticky almost too sticky if
18:57
you've got particularly like soft shoes
19:00
right like flexy shoes which is kind of
19:02
what I like y and indeed is what the
19:04
video of these waves shows people riding
19:08
in yes well they this is the same as
19:10
yours isn't it like the general out
19:12
outline and size I think is very similar
19:14
very similar aspect side on so what is
19:18
going on with the side on it's meant to
19:20
be concave at the front and convex at
19:23
the back
19:25
is that right and why
19:27
cuz it's better so they say they didn't
19:30
really say why did they but well so they
19:33
say it's about having that heels down
19:36
position so he heels down yeah although
19:38
the pins are angled as well so that Yeah
19:40
they are angled forward so when you go
19:43
heels down they're up yes slightly yeah
19:47
and when they were down they were down
19:49
and when they were up they were up yeah
19:51
when they're only halfway up i I can't
19:54
get my head around how these are going
19:56
to work because I feel
19:58
like you don't Yes you ride with your
20:01
heels down on your enduro stage but then
20:04
you do a jump or something and your feet
20:07
kind of go through a a motion of uh
20:11
pointing your toes down a bit and are
20:13
your feet just going to like slide off
20:16
at that point and then remove all the
20:18
skin from the backs of your calves uh
20:21
the fact that the other oneup pedals are
20:23
so good you're using these aren't you
20:25
you give them a go well I suppose I
20:27
could do yeah makes me think I pass them
20:28
around we generally give them at least
20:30
two or three people it's another option
20:32
isn't it might not be for me might not
20:34
be for you or the other way around could
20:36
be really good because the other ones
20:37
are so good I kind of feel like oh yeah
20:39
they've they've probably got something
20:41
right one-ups generally uh don't release
20:44
uh Duff stuff they're only a small
20:46
little bunch relatively very good lots
20:50
of colors oh are there So yeah they do
20:53
lots of colors and then I've got black
20:54
peggles and the We've got black peggles
20:56
here yep
20:59
can't remember quid okay well you can
21:02
check that out 99.99 in Fresh Friday
21:05
fresh Christmas Friday will tell you now
21:07
then do you know the answer to this that
21:09
this has holes in it that don't have
21:13
pins in it is that so that you can add
21:14
pins in places of your choice gosh I was
21:17
not ready for that question ah we'll
21:20
have to find out it does look like it
21:22
there's threads and holes oh yeah good
21:25
you could you could remove a lot of skin
21:26
if you put all of those I imagine pins
21:29
in well you can only really put them in
21:31
that bit there that's a choice isn't it
21:33
you put one on that side and one on that
21:35
side the rest are just accessing other
21:37
pins access holes so I'm assuming cuz
21:39
they're kind of convexy and quite raised
21:41
body they're probably not keen on having
21:43
a pin there right but if you want to go
21:45
pin mad
21:47
stick one in there
21:49
okay you convex crazy person well not as
21:52
crazy as those crazy pedals that don't
21:55
have a middle and have pins all around
21:57
one side and no pins on the other side
21:59
oh yeah they're like um the weighted
22:02
like uh the opposite of toe clips and
22:04
straps they look like some kind of bear
22:07
trap elephant trap to me
22:11
so my my shins are shuddering just at
22:13
the thought oh you know innovation
22:16
across the nation oh wait my spine is
22:18
definitely shuddering should we bring
22:20
any Let's bring this to a close so we
22:23
can stop sitting on this awful bench yep
22:26
and uh take our ergonomically designed
22:28
pedals give them to put them to the test
22:31
world Series this Sunday downhill come
22:34
on
22:35
don't know who just generally Come on i
22:37
just hope downhill's the winner
22:41
which is highly unlikely but there we go
22:44
all right then okay bye for now bye
22:49
oh that's a good dog good trotting
23:06
okay we're in um let's just lie why
23:10
don't we say we're in across the del
23:15
um longer dock
23:20
yeah it must be a place though isn't it
23:23
yeah look at my weird varicus veins oh
23:26
yeah i got some of them all good yeah
23:29
mine are there mine are more and my fist
23:31
fighting injury yeah okay it's getting
23:35
worse visually
23:37
right there is somebody coming so let's
23:39
let them go by and then and Oh Jesus we
23:42
really don't want to be sitting on this
23:44
bench any longer should we sit on it
23:45
like you how do they do it like this sit
23:49
like that yeah that works too
23:54
beautiful it's ergonomically
23:57
unsatisfactory m hello
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