sometime

Absolutely right. My fitness and therefore race results have been transformed since I started riding through winter. I've never ridden and raced so well despite being well past the age deemed optimum for a cyclist. To be honest our winters are very short and getting through it is not such a hardship.

+1

That car was just big enough to offer her a suitable slipstream. If that Tannie or her Camelbak was any bigger they would've needed a bigger car

Iron first we find out you use hairspray and now we see you have flannel PJ's and a blue towelling gown! Probably just as well we can't see your sheepskin slippers in that photo... Cute puppies!

Great idea. On other forums I frequent they have a classifieds template that must be completed in full else the mods simply delete the ad. That also weeds out some of the fly by nighters who place their ads all over the web and never check back on the actual sites where they placed them, but rather wait for the calls or sms's to come through.

Budnitz = Hotness

Very nice looking bike - well done!

That's the whole point. You can brake later and therefore make up time if you carry front brake into a corner but only if you have the feel to moderate the front brake pressure appropriately. Have a look at the TV coverage or even the telemetry from a MotoGP rider and you'll see they carry the front brake right up to the apex of almost every corner.

I wonder - all those Scott engineers who have probably forgotten more about bike design than the rest of us here collectively know about bike design, obviously weren't thinking when they chose a QR axle. Either that or the team responsible for the front suspension design, chose paper instead of rock when they had a ching chong cha contest to decide which axle type to go with.

Logic? Your relative strength of your hands is meaningless - one finger on either your left or right hand is enough to send you over the handlebars no matter which hand is the dominant one. There is however a big difference in relative sensitivity/feel/dexterity of your left vs. right hand so which hand you chose to activate which brake depends on which brake you require more feel on. For me carrying speed into and through a corner is about carrying as much front brake as I dare heading into the corner's apex. To do this without losing the front end and falling requires more feel than carrying the back brake into a corner which if you over brake which mostly results in a slide not a fall.

I know how you feel - I've got used to lower intensity rides through winter but based on the harder pace this morning I'm afraid that's not going to last much longer BUT I'm NOT in the right headspace for that at the moment. Time to remember Rule #5 methinks.

I live on MK east but I haven't riden MK west for a very long time. There were far too many muggings at one stage so we stopped riding there. I assume it's safe now?

Dunkeld had quite a few Scotts in stock when I was there this weekend - 2012 and 2013 bikes.

Cycling through winter can be a lonely experience, with your regular training group slowly being whittled down to 2 or 3 diehards as the FWC (Fair Weather Cyclists - it's always nice to make up a new acronym ) avoid the really cold mid winter rides. But going out on our regular Tuesday ride out east through Bedfordview this morning and with the temp. above 10deg the whole ride, there were suddenly loads of other cyclists on the road obviously deciding it was time to dust off their lycra and get back on their bikes. Welcome back everyone!

By the sounds of things the LBS and CRC should be stocking hairspray

Windowlene works perfectly for putting the grips on and taking them off on both carbon and ally bars meaning no need for oils and then having to wash the grips each time you take them off. Lie the bike on it's side, pry open a gap between grip and bar, drop/spray a little Windowlene in the gap, repeat in two other places around the grip, allow about 30 secs for it to penetrate and then twist off. The Windowlene dries very qucikly so you can be riding in no time. Iron I never took you for a hairspray kinda guy?

Well if that's the case (and no disrespect intended) maybe you've not yet done some really long, hard climbs? e.g. if you can climb the 916m in 13 odd km at the start of the barberton marathon (1+ hours of non-stop climbing) and go on to finish the rest of the marathon at a decent pace on a 28 chainring, then in my book and you're a real cyclist.

One day when I'm a real cyclist I'll be able to say that

28 - Ouch! I remember the Magoebaskloof race (the one that ran from the school) from a few years ago and I know I would never be able to turn a 28 on that route

I found polishing my bike to reduce wind resistance even more ineffecient than pushing it - each to their own I guess

You're right - I wanted Shimano XT on my bike when I built it last year and I thought I wanted 2x10. But with shimano then only offering a 26 tooth chainring on the 2x10 I knew I had to go for the 3x10 which offered a 24. Even then the change from a 26er on 3x9 with a 22t chainring to a 29er on big volume tyres with a 24t took some getting used to and there were a few times, at the Garden Route 300 in particular, that I wished I had a lower gear to spin out when I was at my limit . But like you I'm certainly not going to spend money on a new crankset just for the sake of having a 2x10. When I need to upgrade I'll certainly look at 2x10 (not sure I'm up to running 1x11 or can get my head around a cluster the size of a side plate).

What was your smallest chainring on the 2x10 - a 26? If so I would have a similar feeling to you. I use the 24 chainring on my XT 3x10 and am very grateful to have it. I couldn't pull a 26 with any real comfort up some of the climbs I've done this year. But with Shimano now supplying a 24 on a 2x10 chainring I can't help but think that 24/38 on a 2x10 is the way to go. I agree with Eldron about range being the relevant point of a 2x10 vs 3x10 debate and for me the lower end of the range is most relevant. But to be honest I don't know how often I would use/miss a 42/11 when a 38/11 with a aero tuck and freewheel will probably be as fast?

I finally got to do this race after threatening to do so for ages. It was good fun - nice little course which took me some time to learn in the dark. The intensity of a 1 hour lap race came as a real shock after a winter of low intensity rides, but just the thing I needed to blow off some cobwebs. Being lapped twice by 2 single speeders was just as shocking but at least I have something to work towards now. Next time I'll bring my single speed and see how I do on that.

Doh!

I understand that but in practical terms that's very hard to replicate: Ride exactly the same route with each "power" tool, with exactly the same wind and road condtions, on exactly the same bike, doing exactly the same speed at each point on the ride, doing exactly the same HR at each point on the ride. If you can do this then the comparison is valid.