And today I did......

[clubby]

Is that a guided ride Clubby?

Yeah, don’t really know the trails round Feshie forest and I saw it and though why not. Nice to do something different after the past year of local riding.
Also entered the Bosch ebike challenge at Tweedlove. Enduro style event with up and downhill timed stages throughout a 30km loop.

 

[jimo746]

Clubby, There are so many companies/people doing guided rides/coaching around here at the moment, I follow a few on Facebook/Instagram (Macdui bike adventures, Ride In Peace etc)seems like a good way to explore somewhere new without the headache of planning things, and a good way to find the bits of trail you’d probably never know about if you were on your own.
I’m thinking of booking a few skills sessions focussing on jumps & drops, and to help build confidence , I’m ok with taking off... It’s the landing that causes issues .
didn’t you go to Whistler a few years ago? How did you find it over there?

 

[clubby]

didn’t you go to Whistler a few years ago? How did you find it over there?

You mean apart from the broken collarbone?

Progression is much easier over there. The trails are properly built, and more importantly, maintained. Here they build the trail and never do much else to it. Look at spooky wood at Glentress, no lips left on any of the just and rough as hell now.
Crank it up is Whistlers blue intro trail, nearly 2 miles long, with 25 features. Lift access means you lap it all day long and go further on the jumps each time.

Deliberate practice is the only way to get better, hitting the same stuff again and again. Unfortunately, we just seem to ride the bits as we find them on the trail and don’t go back up again to try and improve. It’s difficult to do if you’re riding in a group. I’m better at doing it if I’m on the ebike as the extra climbing is so much easier. At Comrie I’ll do 3-4 laps of the same bit over and over hopefully doing a bit better each time.
Been looking at coaching myself. The company I’m going with on Saturday (Ride Out) also do this and seem to get good reviews. Quite interested in their trails days, where you get a mornings coaching then a tour of the off piste trails in the afternoon. Tempted by the one at Golspie in October, but will see how this weekend goes first.

 

[keithyr]

sounds good clubby. I had some initial thoughts about getting a guided ride iaround Feshie also as its huge and we've only done some bits of it. stunnig views as well. Will get round to it one year. Let us know how you get on with them.

just back from 2 weeks in Nethy Bridge, we love it up there, thinking of retiring to the neck of the woods lol.

you'll have seen from my strave I finally got round to doing the Burma road loop. Absolutely burst after it, very hard relentless climb and the downhill section was very washed out but still enjoyable. Hardest ride I've done. Be good for a macretor ride that one.

 

[clubby]

sounds good clubby. I had some initial thoughts about getting a guided ride iaround Feshie also as its huge and we've only done some bits of it. stunnig views as well. Will get round to it one year. Let us know how you get on with them.

just back from 2 weeks in Nethy Bridge, we love it up there, thinking of retiring to the neck of the woods lol.

you'll have seen from my strave I finally got round to doing the Burma road loop. Absolutely burst after it, very hard relentless climb and the downhill section was very washed out but still enjoyable. Hardest ride I've done. Be good for a macretor ride that one.

Never done Burma Road but on my list. Which way did you do it? Heard that it’s best starting at the south end and finishing at Carrbridge?

 

[keithyr]

yeah thats the way we did it.

Start at Aviemore, cross the A1 at Lunwig and up the barsteward of a climb. then down to carrbridge and back via Boat of garten for cake/pint stop and then speyside way to aviemore.

Could maybe plan in a weekend retro gathering in spring for this and some high burnside action !!

 

[velomaniac]

Today I built a modern bike, well 2014 frame and forks with usual mix and match junk from my shed. I have nearly submerged myself in the 21st century of mtb. I did this strange thing due to my first ill fated visit to Comrie Croft about 6 weeks back with my upstairs neighbour and his mates. A 20 plus year old mtb and its highly inefficient engine (me) are not meant for the Croft. That place is brutal and so technical but its a challenge I aim to have other goes at.
No pics of bike yet as I am still tinkering and currently it has 26er wheels when it should have 27.5's but cannot currently afford the upgrade.
The bike is a Forme Sterndale 2 with suntour xct forks which I know are not great but dead easy to service and spares are plentiful. Running 1 x 9 at moment with SRAM X0 and X5 bits but plant to change to 2 x 9 when I get 27.5 wheels.
First ride was weird in a good way as the long top tube short stem is totally alien to me. Bunny hops better than my old steeds, maybe because I am more centred in frame. Steep seat tube feels good, can climb seated which I prefer. Geometry though is still reasonably Conservative as its xc not modern progressive geometry, headtube seems no slacker at most than 70 degrees.
Might tinker some more then give it a wee airing at GT tomorrow.

Edit: project back on back burner, need to rebuild wheels due to couple of spoke failures. I usually use used spokes so the odd failure is expected but two on same wheel suggest tensioning issues. Think I rushed build too much. Need to set up a proper wheel building rig and do it sensibly and correct this time

 

[ajm]

It's been one of those weeks. Lovely weather on Monday but duties meant I couldn't go near a bike. Lovely day on Tuesday so quit early and headed out on the road bike - got half way round my loop and the rear end went decidedly wobbly, my first puncture in a year or two! I don't bother carrying pump, tools etc on rides within an hour or two of home so ended up driving back with the bike on the roof - incredibly frustrating as for the first time in months the wind was pushing me home.

Wednesday I set to work repairing the puncture at home... happened to glance at my mountain bike and noticed the rear caliper covered in oil - sure enough a squeeze of the lever gave no resistance at all. ARGH! That caliper was a replacement for an identical (Deore) that had failed in exactly the same way. Fixed the puncture on my road bike, managed to get out for a nice ride (though naturally the wind had reverted to headwind home.)

Spent the next 24 hours agonising over whether to just buy a Clarks M3 brake set for <£100 or to support British engineering and manufacturing by spending more on a set of Hopes than I spent on the (second hand) bike a few years ago... the thought of being able to repair a leaking caliper rather than chucking yet another in the bin after a year swung it in the end.

Still feel queasy at having spent so much money on a set of brakes for a 21 year old bike, but I am fed up with disposable rubbish churned out in China and I do like being able to stop (ideally without splitting my eardrums or causing heart failure in every pedestrian within a mile radius.)

 

[dyna-ti]

Still feel queasy at having spent so much money on a set of brakes for a 21 year old bike, but I am fed up with disposable rubbish churned out in China and I do like being able to stop (ideally without splitting my eardrums or causing heart failure in every pedestrian within a mile radius.)

Think about it more as an investment. No more chucking the unfixables in the bin, anything goes wrong you can easily buy the bits and fix them. So its not just for your 21 yr old bike, its every bike from now on
Every cloud has a silver(or anodized in bright colours) lining.

 

[ajm]

Think about it more as an investment. No more chucking the unfixables in the bin, anything goes wrong you can easily buy the bits and fix them. So its not just for your 21 yr old bike, its every bike from now on
Every cloud has a silver(or anodized in bright colours) lining.

Thanks, that's what I was trying to tell myself as well I was too tight to pay the extra few quid for blue calipers to match the bike but justified that by telling myself I was leaving open my options for the next bike I transfer them to! (Also, the black/silver was easier to get hold of.)