NMTBD. The orange is bacccccccck. Sorta :)

[weeksy]

20260302_114706 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Just LOVELY out there today... A couple of patchy puddles here and there, but nothing too bad. Trails were mostly dry really. But was just 2 thin riding jerseys on, which is WAYYYYYY nicer than a big jacket etc...

It may not be gnarly locally, but it's a lovely lovely place to ride.

[weeksy]

Not the most interesting post ever but this is todays little update.

Back in the day the bike came with a set of E-Thirteen Helix cranks.


The BB Setup was like a shit SRAM Dub.... so i swapped them for a set of Shimano.


I then transpired that chainline was/is 55mm. However the crankset was 52mm. This means the crank arms are a little closer to the chainstays than ideal and i guess also the Q Factor is out.

So i spent time more than a few times looking into the plan for this. SRAM DUB Wide is the obvious plan. That's a 55mm chainline and involves a standard BB but with a 4.5mm spacer and a 3mm spacer and a longer spindle which makes it 'wide' and a 55mm chainline.
But the SRAM BB setup isn't my favourite so i've held off it.

I was planning this morning to buy the DUB wide and then thought "Do Shimano make something"

It then transpires that they DO and it's discounted at my favourite online retailer.
https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-xt ... 28228.html

So that's ordered up and will go straight on for the weekend. I don't think the differences will be massive. Well, 3mm further away from the center both sides. But it'll be 'right.

[weeksy]

Pulled the bike down and thought "oooh that was a weird clunk".... checked it over and had play in the bearing... WTF, it was fine yesterday.

So bearing linkages removed and checked all the others... then swapped the affected bearings. I generally have most bearings in stock/spares, this was one i did.

20260303_112128 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Happily, after that it was sweet,..... So off out for a ride

20260303_122121 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Then back home to buy some more bearings

[weeksy]

Me and the beast kinda jumped WAY out of our comfort zone at the weekend and not in the usual way... It was a ROAD ride... We were at Dyfi and the trail i wanted to ride was 3/4 closed so my mate was heading out on his road bike for a 55-60km ride.

"yeah why not says me".

HE's on a carbon road bike with about 32mm tyres fitted. I was on the Fuel with a Minion on the front and a Bontrager SE6 enduro on the rear... Within about 400m of the ride i knew i was in trouble. The HR was off the chart within the first mile and it wasn't going to drop. I was pinned everywhere but still obviously on certain sections losing ground due to aero and rolling speed, surprisingly gearing wasn't often an issue for me as i can get a decent cadence on at times. but the flats were tough and the inclines were insane, not helped by me being 20kg heavier than him and the bike being about double the weight of his.

13 miles in we stopped for a cafe stop, it'd been rolling welsh coastal terrain and it had been a tough one for me. So i called off the longer loop and solo'd back at a slightly more leisurely pace

It was interesting, but not something i want to repeat soon.

20260307_120032 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

By eck. Went out locally today, that tyre combo is soooooo slow rolling. It was ridiculous.

I actually think I did ok against Roadie

[weeksy]

Cracking day out yesterday on the Fuel.

20260315_083614 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

It wasn't too muddy, wasn't too cold... but was arguably a bit of both. But with the wife and boy away for mothers day i had to take advantage of it. So it was off over to Goring-on-Thames first, then up over to Checkendon which is a bit on the climby side, then from there i ended up god knows where, by some big arse holtel in the middle of nowhere and then shocked myself by clearing a tricky climb back up over the ridge and then we hit the headwind from hell that had been building... It was then back to Goring for cake

Then facing Streatley Gravel Hill, which is a draggy bugger of a climb, especially into a headwind.... Then finally home. Not sure how far as i don't Strava, but was a decent 3 hour pedal which wasn't bad, i'd guess 30-35 miles roughly. Trying to build in some base miles of longer distances again at the moment, something reminded me how me and Crust used to do Epics most weekends.. Now it's all 'trackdays' in my riding to an extent, so need to get back to the longer pedal days

[Count Steer]

Hotel? Anything like this?

[weeksy]

Hotel? Anything like this?

HArd to say, i think i viewed it from the back. I was on some little backlane. It's not impossible though. I'd say i'd have been somewhere on the side of that hill behind if it's the correct one.

Edit. Checked location, nah, miles away.

edit edit.
Probably
The Springs Resort & Golf Club

[Count Steer]

Hotel? Anything like this?

HArd to say, i think i viewed it from the back. I was on some little backlane. It's not impossible though. I'd say i'd have been somewhere on the side of that hill behind if it's the correct one.

Edit. Checked location, nah, miles away.

edit edit.
Probably
The Springs Resort & Golf Club

That one is Littlecote House - it's a Warners resort now.

I think Cliveden House is in that locality too iirc. That's quite a humongous pile of a hotel too.

The Springs doesn't look so big but quite distinctive black and white - from the front.

[weeksy]

2 days at FoD this weekend. A long hilly explore on Sat and a bit of a trail ride in the cycle center on the Sunday

One lesson I learned, the Bontrager XR5 are not as good as the Minions for grip. Way better today with a Minion on the front. But the Bontrager roll nicely. Whether conditions changed from yesterday to today I'm not sure.

It was race weekend too at FoD but the boy and coach decided not to race. More time practicing techniques instead. Whether that pays off, i dunno. But I leave it to them 2 to decide now.
I also spent time fixing a random girls bike who'd stacked it in race run 1 and was going home in last place.
I put on a brand new chain, mech hanger and gave her a wheel of ours. Sorted that and her gears out.
She then went out and won.

The karma gods owe me a favour

[weeksy]

The weekend riding also highlighted to me the Manual vs Eeb debate that's clearly still ongoing inside me.

When riding the long red it's an uppy downy bugger with long bits of draggy climbing thrown in.... I was absolutely destroyed by 2 Eebs on one of them, just 1 minute not behind me, next minute, caught, passed and blew me away. Friendly enough lads with "that looks like bloody hard work" from one of them.... Damn right it was yes, but the reward factor of clearing sections, carrying on pedalling to the top, that's what it's all about. I don't mind that i get less 'rewards' in the DH/descending context, i'm OK with it. But i want/need/enjoy the effort required.

How long i can keep that up, remains to be seen

I did also have a monster crash on Sat, right over the bars and into oblivion... but it was semi-controlled and not at crazy speed. Couple of bruises but mostly OK... i've not crashed in a long time, so it was interesting. I was running the Bontrager XR5 which seemed fairly loose all weekend.
Sunday i swapped it to the Minion DHF which was SOOOOOO much better in terms of grip, maybe not so much in rolling speed arguably... But grip was superb. I won't be putting the XR5 back on the front again that's for sure.

[weeksy]

Rode Cafall at Cwmcarn today. Oh my. Talk about a slog of a climb, tricky, techy and just up and up.

But a very very rewarding climb at that as the descent was GREAT!

I fitted the Shockwiz in the morning which told me my setup was spot on. Nice.



So tired now lol.

[Couchy]

The weekend riding also highlighted to me the Manual vs Eeb debate that's clearly still ongoing inside me.

When riding the long red it's an uppy downy bugger with long bits of draggy climbing thrown in.... I was absolutely destroyed by 2 Eebs on one of them, just 1 minute not behind me, next minute, caught, passed and blew me away. Friendly enough lads with "that looks like bloody hard work" from one of them.... Damn right it was yes, but the reward factor of clearing sections, carrying on pedalling to the top, that's what it's all about. I don't mind that i get less 'rewards' in the DH/descending context, i'm OK with it. But i want/need/enjoy the effort required.

How long i can keep that up, remains to be seen

I did also have a monster crash on Sat, right over the bars and into oblivion... but it was semi-controlled and not at crazy speed. Couple of bruises but mostly OK... i've not crashed in a long time, so it was interesting. I was running the Bontrager XR5 which seemed fairly loose all weekend.
Sunday i swapped it to the Minion DHF which was SOOOOOO much better in terms of grip, maybe not so much in rolling speed arguably... But grip was superb. I won't be putting the XR5 back on the front again that's for sure.

On an eeb you can still work real hard you’ll just be going quicker for the same effort. I know you know that though

[Mr Moofo]

The weekend riding also highlighted to me the Manual vs Eeb debate that's clearly still ongoing inside me.

When riding the long red it's an uppy downy bugger with long bits of draggy climbing thrown in.... I was absolutely destroyed by 2 Eebs on one of them, just 1 minute not behind me, next minute, caught, passed and blew me away. Friendly enough lads with "that looks like bloody hard work" from one of them.... Damn right it was yes, but the reward factor of clearing sections, carrying on pedalling to the top, that's what it's all about. I don't mind that i get less 'rewards' in the DH/descending context, i'm OK with it. But i want/need/enjoy the effort required.

How long i can keep that up, remains to be seen

I did also have a monster crash on Sat, right over the bars and into oblivion... but it was semi-controlled and not at crazy speed. Couple of bruises but mostly OK... i've not crashed in a long time, so it was interesting. I was running the Bontrager XR5 which seemed fairly loose all weekend.
Sunday i swapped it to the Minion DHF which was SOOOOOO much better in terms of grip, maybe not so much in rolling speed arguably... But grip was superb. I won't be putting the XR5 back on the front again that's for sure.

I am stunned that you kept the Bonty XRs on for so long. They are rubbish at gripping anything

[weeksy]

Yeah the Minions were ace today. I think the XR tyres will go to LBS to give away to a good cause

[weeksy]

Debating trying the 65mm riser bars today on mine. But arguably it's more for the actual tech than the XC side of things i'm thinking, but there's not a lot of tech over here to try it out on anyway. But there's certainly no downside to getting them fitted and giving them a days out there.

I also swapped my cranks back to the 52mm chainline... Which is slightly weird as the bike initially came with a 55mm chainline. I had the 52s on there by mistake for a while and due to lack of options to buy. But then a reasonable set of 55mm came up, so i bought them.

What i've found (and so has the boy on his) is that the largest cog on he rear is now a bloody awful chainline, so must so that the chain feels twisted in it and draggy, i doubt the reality is that, but it feels it for sure. Putting back to the 52mm gives it a nicer chainline in that gear, even though the cranks are close to the chainstay, they don't touch (i ran them for 8 months).

I think i'll like put his back to 52mm as well.

[weeksy]

Had a run out on the bars and they feel WEIRD... but not necessarily BAD... Lets just say, i'm in the 'maybe'.

I'm heading back out in 20 mins and will do a few more trails this time, so we'll see.

[weeksy]

20260330_161217 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

3 hours on them, came home and bought a set

I could arguably have got them for free but I'm not sponsored, he is. So I bought them

[weeksy]

Ouch and oooft. That was a long and tough one. Over to Goring and up the big hill to Checkendon and bumped into the statue. Then cake in Stoke Row. Then over to Nuffield to ride Grims Ditch which was epic. Then eventually back to Goring in a headwind of 40mph. Lastly up to Aldworth for lunch and beer in 4points. I collapsed when we reached the pub. I was fried

[MingtheMerciless]

5 mile dog walk this morning and then a 18 mile road/cycle path out and back just to get some miles in. Hard work on the way out due to a westerly which then turned into a pesky swirling wind on the way back.