Riding Mates around Manchester about 16

Whytepeak

OK dokey

You ride the lapierre on road rides?

Tom's top tip - take a drink :oops:

StealTheR

Nah I'm on a mates old school road bike.

Whytepeak

Koola bula, I've been stealing dad's 'mid - life crisis' road bike. Its fast :shock:

Whytepeak

You want to come out this week Stealthy?

I'll go out today, but it might be a bit wet.

Say if you fancy coming along later this week.

StealTheR

I can do tommorow, thursday and friday after 4:30

where do you have in mind?

over Belmont is good

Whytepeak

Yeah, over belmont - why not.

I've just been riding along the east lancs :oops:

Whick way do you get there stealthy - along the A roads - next to the motorway?

StealTheR

Yeah the A roads are better, I know 'most' of the route. But if we do get lost, which I doubt we will, I will get the proper route off my mate. We can just go back through Bolton and so on.

Fancy it for tommorow night?

Whytepeak

HHmmm.

Maybe the belmont/ rivi ride is better for a weekend, as there would be more time, and light, to work with.

How about along the east lancs or summat, it goes on for quite a way, although there aren't many corners :roll:

Don't really fancy dodging traffic on the A6 at 5pm :!:

Sorry to be such a bore :roll:

StealTheR

Yeah I'll do the East Lancs then today

Whytepeak

I'll pm you then

Whytepeak

Good ride, good ride

Can't be too healthy cycling next to that road, and it is possible the worst surfaced bike path in the world, other that that, good ride, good ride

compo

Whytepeak
you still going to lee quarry on saturday?
Might tag along if theres room in the car

Whytepeak

Your most welcome

I'll have to check the pads on the front of the whyte, I have a feeling one more wet ride will finish them off....

StealTheR

Muc-Off disc brake cleaner

Whytepeak

Good stuff that, but the pads are worn, not contaminated (unusual for me I know :roll: ).

I'm trying to avoid 'running out of braking power' during the race.

StealTheR

You might get to the bottom of the hill quicker, maybe its worth not changing the pads

Whytepeak

Anything to win* :roll:

*walk away in one piece.

I've been reading more about the race course - it looks very technical

course seems to be based around one long climb, and lots on little steep descents.

If my maxxis tyres 'let me down again' -geddit?, then I'm off to buy sealent.

StealTheR

Yeah.

Have fun tommorow, I'm not gonna be able to get there at all now cant get there on Sunday.

Whytepeak

StealTheR wrote:

Yeah.

Have fun tommorow, I'm not gonna be able to get there at all now cant get there on Sunday.

Unlucky

Hopefully me an' compo will have a good time, thanks

I'll take some pics, so you can see what it is like, if we ever find it... :roll:

compo

technical - oh dear
Based around climbing - eeek!

will give it a go though
StealTheR
prepare for many a picture of my crashes :oops:

Whytepeak

compo wrote:

technical - oh dear
Based around climbing - eeek!

will give it a go though
StealTheR
prepare for many a picture of my crashes :oops:

That's the spirit, well, the first bit anyway.

You'll be in expert company, ahem

compo

Whytepeak wrote:

You'll be in expert company, ahem

is that with the crashes or the doubts?

Whytepeak

compo wrote:

Whytepeak wrote:

You'll be in expert company, ahem

is that with the crashes or the doubts?

Neither - you're on your own there

Whytepeak

Well, Lee quarry is great, very technical in some places :shock: .

Not sure whether the black will be included in the race route, but it is very hard, I just managed to ride it all, and compo had a good go at some of it too.

Could have used your lapierre for some of it though stealthy - don't think the whyte will ever be the same again .

Well worth the visit.

Looking forward to racing there next weekend

StealTheR

I think the course for your category and mine just follows the red route. I think.

And the higher categories also does the red but goes into the black at some places.

You'll have to give me the complete low-down of what I've got to expect.

Glad you enjoyed it though

Whytepeak

Well it is based on the red route.

And the red route is pretty rocky. There will almost certainly be a long climb to start off with, as the red route includes one, and it will string the riders out before the more technical parts of the course on singletrack.

After that the red route is good fun, though compo though it was more akin to a black graded trail And in some places I would agree with him :shock: .

A steep an tricky climb takes you up to the nect section of trail.



There are some big berms, and some jumps (all rollable), the berms are going to be the tricky bit though to get right. (I think a lot of it will be tricky at race speed).



For the middle section the red is a well behaved, predictable trail , which is well surfaced.



The final bit includes a rocky and steep descent, after which you must traverse a cattle grid (watch out for animals) and then there is a nice big corner, and a few more (optional) jumps followed by a nice flowy bit of track through the trees.

You are now back at the bottom of the climb

That is pretty much the red route, it is technical and tough on the old machine (unless you have a 160mm all-mountain machine )

There were lots of little chutes and paths onto, and off the red route, which the organisers will probably use to spice up the route.

Here is a good suspension setup video.

Video

Should help sovle any rebound problems you might have - don't want a crash in the race

StealTheR

Yeah, looks good.

I'm just aiming to finish though. I don't want to win.

Whytepeak

Same here. Looking forward to overtaking the lycra clad 'roadies in disguise' on the descents . (aslong as they aren't too fast :oops: )

Just finished cleaning the bike, lots of new stone chips

compo

any Vimto or Chocolate stains??

Tell your dad to remember which side of the road to drive on next time lol

Whytepeak

May see if I can manage to clean my camelback for the race

Still think I should race on the blender