I would harvest them quickly
Today's Ride
- Thread starter FairfaxPat
- Start date
thom04
Gary Fisher Fan
Kids were napping & it wasn't pissing down with rain so I managed to get a cheeky ride in today! Opportunities seem thin on the ground at the moment so I try to make the most of a free hour 
Went the opposite way to normal & went down the lanes to Clevedon. Plenty of head-wind, it took twice as long to get there as it did coming back
Went the opposite way to normal & went down the lanes to Clevedon. Plenty of head-wind, it took twice as long to get there as it did coming back
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2manyoranges
Old School Grand Master
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No today’s ride.
Instead walked up to Crans UCI XC track.
We followed ruts until we found the first big drop off - a ramp, then drop onto 40 deg loose slope, RH still on 40 deg. All typical local stone - slippy slidey shale.
See first photo.
Terrifying.
Doable on a DH rig - but XC? Mental.
B route is board
Followed by jump then LH into 40 deg drop to another sharp LH.
Mad.
See photo 3.
None of these photos show how fugging steep this all is.
Then over to the now notorious rock garden.
Two riders were seriously injured on this in the WCup last month.
No sh”t Sherlock.
This is totally unforgiving.
Again the photo (no2) does no justice to the steepness, the huge gaps between boulders, and the skill demands.
The boulders are maybe 75cms across?
Gulp.
It does show how any error of judgement has HUGE consequences - a fall onto Dragon teeth rocks - on a man made course. I could get a DH rig down and wear armour as I did it - but an XC bike?
Mad.
Seriously, I absolutely disapprove of this course design. Maybe great to watch in TV, but such a threat to riders. And I understand riders complained to Discovery and out cane some ski safety matting.
Which is a silly situation.
We now surely should have course design nailed. Nothing which threatens life and limb - these are professionals who for their livelihood rely on competing - and instead we should have features which penalise poor decisions and low skill by time penalty, not by potential mutilation and DNF.
Instead walked up to Crans UCI XC track.
We followed ruts until we found the first big drop off - a ramp, then drop onto 40 deg loose slope, RH still on 40 deg. All typical local stone - slippy slidey shale.
See first photo.
Terrifying.
Doable on a DH rig - but XC? Mental.
B route is board
Followed by jump then LH into 40 deg drop to another sharp LH.
Mad.
See photo 3.
None of these photos show how fugging steep this all is.
Then over to the now notorious rock garden.
Two riders were seriously injured on this in the WCup last month.
No sh”t Sherlock.
This is totally unforgiving.
Again the photo (no2) does no justice to the steepness, the huge gaps between boulders, and the skill demands.
The boulders are maybe 75cms across?
Gulp.
It does show how any error of judgement has HUGE consequences - a fall onto Dragon teeth rocks - on a man made course. I could get a DH rig down and wear armour as I did it - but an XC bike?
Mad.
Seriously, I absolutely disapprove of this course design. Maybe great to watch in TV, but such a threat to riders. And I understand riders complained to Discovery and out cane some ski safety matting.
Which is a silly situation.
We now surely should have course design nailed. Nothing which threatens life and limb - these are professionals who for their livelihood rely on competing - and instead we should have features which penalise poor decisions and low skill by time penalty, not by potential mutilation and DNF.
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fennec
Retro Guru
taking photos like its the 90's
on a bike from the 90's
29 miles total, had to do some detours i didnt enjoy because theyre paving part of this trail?
except the part theyre paving is the only reasonable connection between the rest of the trail and the bit that connects to my town, so i had to do some highway miles which sucked
on a bike from the 90's
29 miles total, had to do some detours i didnt enjoy because theyre paving part of this trail?
except the part theyre paving is the only reasonable connection between the rest of the trail and the bit that connects to my town, so i had to do some highway miles which sucked
bikeworkshop
Senior Retro Guru
Rode with colleagues newport through woodland to tintern them chepstow, they peeled off to Bristol, i rode back to Newport.
PhillB
GT Fan
I spent most of the weekend in the workshed, working on a 1990 Karakoram, restoring some old Shimano brifters and polishing some Sugino cranks for a future Breezer restoration... I ride a fair bit during the week, but at the weekend, when in theory I have more time, I often miss out on a ride! Weird, anyway, it was hot (for the UK) today - 30C and sunny.. so around 7pm I headed out for a ride. the park is mega busy on days like this, but it begins to empty out around 6pm on a Sunday.
I stopped for a while by one of the lakes, as usual, and this giant pigeon came to check out my Kuwa
About half way around the park two Ravens were on the trail. They are often in this place and tend to perch on top of an old dead tree. (I often stop and talk to them...but don't tell anyone as they'll think I'm nuts...) Anyway, they were on the trail and seeing me approach the seemed reluctant to move. As I approached I could see why. They were pecking the liver out of a dead rat....
anyway...
it was still warm enough so pace was easy most of the time. I've put a new stem on the Kuwa and bit shorter with some rise (The original stem is 0deg 150mm...which I felt was too much reach...but not sure this one is quite right either
- will get there eventually). After every build There's always a few bits to iron out.
I stopped for a while by one of the lakes, as usual, and this giant pigeon came to check out my Kuwa
About half way around the park two Ravens were on the trail. They are often in this place and tend to perch on top of an old dead tree. (I often stop and talk to them...but don't tell anyone as they'll think I'm nuts...) Anyway, they were on the trail and seeing me approach the seemed reluctant to move. As I approached I could see why. They were pecking the liver out of a dead rat....
anyway...
it was still warm enough so pace was easy most of the time. I've put a new stem on the Kuwa and bit shorter with some rise (The original stem is 0deg 150mm...which I felt was too much reach...but not sure this one is quite right either
- will get there eventually). After every build There's always a few bits to iron out.
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Stepping out of the front door this afternoon was like opening the oven door. A long meandering 3 hours. Since the Peaks Ride I've put wider bars on this bike, and it's made it more comfortable, possibly calmer. Now the nervous steering is more relaxed, I have, however, noticed the frame has a very flexible feel to it, almost unnervingly so. I do like riding it, but over challenging surfaces it wanders about all over the place. Then again, that might be just me.
A balmy 3 hours. Mostly offroad, wandering around the masses of open land around here that is either disused railway or disused colliery. Temperature was close to 30°c, and felt like it. Everywhere was dry and dusty. Felt good. Feel good. Is good.
A balmy 3 hours. Mostly offroad, wandering around the masses of open land around here that is either disused railway or disused colliery. Temperature was close to 30°c, and felt like it. Everywhere was dry and dusty. Felt good. Feel good. Is good.
PhillB
GT Fan
So, most of my rides are coinciding with sunset right now, an unwanted reminder that the days are getting shorter
Still today the UK was...
So it was nice to get out and create my own breeze.
Shortly after this photo I actually came off the bike on some gravel...bit of a surprise and entirely due to trying to avoid some idiot who wasn't looking where he was going. He didn't even stop to see if I was alright. What a ****! I'll admit my language momentarily reverted to full Anglo Saxon and he is in no doubt the we have a meeting Next Tuesday...
After all these years though, I still know how to fall off a bike well
and I effectively shielded the bike from any damage with my leg... result!
Pleased to report that I got my first top 10 finish, with 9th (out of 13), which secured a joint 7th series placing (out of 42. That's 42 people who's entered at least 1 race. As the organiser says, you've got to be in it to win it). Before anyone thinks they're looking at a future Pidcock, my fellow 7th finisher only did 2 rounds and the overall winner had double my points!
That said I had 3 objectives when I decided to give this a shot:
1. Finish a competitive mountain bike race. Even the 2 Mayhems I did, I never actually finished the duration i.e., cross the finishing line at the end.
2. Get a top 10 placing in race and the overall series
3. Have fun
I'm stoked that I ticked them all
Sunday's final round started in humidity and sea mist, but at lap 2, finally disappeared and scorchio scenes appeared. it was proper roasty, so it became an exercise in preservation, especially when I saw 2 nasty crashes and a few folks completely who bonked due to lack of fluids before or during the race. The course had some interesting revisions to the last round with some questionable A lines. I'm sure they were fun to do, but they didn't look like there was much time to be gained compared with B. I even braved a B line instead of taking the C, thanks to a chap who gave me some much needed encouragement.
I think that's what's been the nicest surprise. The competition, whilst fierce and mega-quick, are welcoming and down to earth. I think it helps that I get out the way early when I'm passed, leaving lots of space, and offer encouragement on the odd occasion I do the same.
Biggest kudos goes to a chap who raced a 1995 Raleigh Dyna-tech, ti version, with Royce BB and Middleburn cranks. He came 7th in my category on the day, a good 10 minutes up the road. And with faulty forks with dodgy compression. In small world scenes, it turns out he's marshalling at the Malverns Classic in a few weeks time, so hopefully we'll catch up again.
Anyway, here's some sweaty action pics. Note the Canadian champs version of the 96/97 jersey. I was channelling my best Dave Weins impression
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