London to Brighton Offroad Bike Ride Review 2013

28. September 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Bikes, Mountain Biking · Tags: , , ,

The Finish LineThe Ride

Last week I took part in the London to Brighton Offroad Bike ride, organised by the British Heart Foundation (link).  I did the road version a few years ago which totalled 54 miles.  I tried to ride it ‘properly’ (yes on my full suspension mountain bike), but soon got very frustrated with the amount of forced stops due to bottlenecks, people crashing etc.  Instead I should have just enjoyed it for the day and stopped off at more of the village fetes and pubs – that’s the plan for next time I think.  I hoped the offroad version would be full of more serious riders, thinking that the distance of 75 miles alone would deter those who had not ridden or trained recently.  It mostly did, but there are always some people who should not have entered.  Now I will admit that I hadn’t done this kind of distance – a typical ‘long’ ride for me is 40 miles and taking 4-5 hours with 2000m of climbing, all offroad battling the natural single tracks around the Chilterns. More »

New Bike – Giant XTC Composite 29er 1

21. August 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: Mountain Biking · Tags: , ,

I recently bought a new bike – a 2013 Giant XTC Composite 29er 1 to complement my 26 full suspension Giant Trance X3 2009.  My riding style has started to change slightly over the last couple of years, with more emphasis on mile munching off road at a faster pace, rather than jumping around and getting air all over the place.  I will keep my 26er for trips to Wales and other trail centers, because it is still fun in its own right.  But the now toy is a 29er – I have joined the big wheel revolution or marketing hype – call it what you like, but one thing is for sure: the big wheels just keep on rolling over bumps with much less effort than 26″ wheels.

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