I picked up my new Whyte 19CS last week and have only just got around to taking some photographs of what is undeniably a beautiful bicycle. I’ve not had a super light hardtail for years. The last such racy machine I owned (a Marin Indian Fire Trail) got pinched in London at the end of a very tough year that included riding it across France, Spain and half of Morocco, and then some DH racing when I got back. This was 1998 by the way – turning up to a DH race on a fully rigid aluminium hardtail being considered fairly laughable but not completely insane as it probably would be these days. I came second to last (I think), beaten only by a Frenchman with a pink lycra covered helmet and a huge saddlebag. Anyway, I digress…

The Whyte 19CS is the midrange model in the Whyte carbon HT lineup. I was originally keen to go for the uber-spec XX Works version, but the CS ended up seeming the best option, offering as it does a pretty awesome specification at a more sensible price. Gearing is SRAM X0, brakes are Hayes Stroker Carbon, and contact components are FSA SL-K with a Fizik saddle and seatpost.

I want to use the 19 for fast trail riding and racing. Probably with an emphasis on the former, but we shall see. As such, I’ve already made some changes to the spec. Gone are the 100mm SL-K stem and straight bars – instead I’ve swapped in a 80mm stem and SL-K riser bars. I’m not used to a really racy bars over the front wheel setup, and for trail riding I think the bike will handle better with a wider, shorter reach.

I bought a beautiful pair of Point One Racing Podium flat pedals for the bike – I’m a flat pedal man through and through. However, it’s a thoroughbred race machine and I thought it about time I gave clipless pedals another go, so on went a pair of Crank Bros Eggbeaters. They certainly look nice – whether they end up getting relegated to another bike will depend on my ability to stay attached when required and to detach myself when things go wrong.

As far as the gearing is concerned, I am very tempted to swap the two chainrings for one. Probably a 36 or a 38. On my existing bike I probably spend 95% of the time in the middle ring, and I think the sweet spot for general riding as this bike is currently set up is somewhere in between the chainrings. I can see the front shifter flicking backward and forth unnecessarily. Plus moving to a 1×10 system will drop a fair bit of weight in the process.

The bike came fitted with Conti Race King 2.0 tyres which while being an obvious and high quality choice for a carbon rocket of this caliber are not best suited to the British winter. These have since been swapped over to Panaracer Trailraker 2.1s – not a tyre I’m familiar with, but a well-respected mud performer by all accounts. I’m actually not really used to narrow tyres full stop, so I think it’ll take me a while to get used to the smaller carcass feel. Incidentally, the maiden voyage on the 19 ended up with me pulling half a dozen thorns out of the back tyre, most of which had penetrated the tube as well. Not really the fault of the tyre though – after going off course we ended up pushing along the side of a just trimmed hawthorn hedge bordering a farmer’s field, and all the bikes suffered from multiple punctures afterwards.

The Fulcrum Red Metal 3s look like decent enough wheels, but there’re not super light, so I have been debating getting another pair for race duties. Not sure what yet though – maybe Stans ZTR Crests on Hope Pro III hubs. Or something in carbon? The bike has definite potential for a super light build though – the 19C XX Works is reputedly around 19lb, and I reckon mine (minus chainring, shifter, front mech, with light wheels, tyres, light cassette, etc) should be in the same ballpark. 18lb would be something nice to aim for.

I’ll try to get some action pics up soon, plus some comments on how it rides.

Whyte
Point One Racing
Crank Brothers
Panaracer
No Tubes
Hope Technology

The last competitive biking event I did was (I think) the Dusk till Dawn 12hr enduro at Bedgebury in September 2009. I didn’t actually do too badly, especially considering that I’d been out of action for most of the summer thanks to a broken hand, sustained downhilling at Cannock. Not only that – most of the solo riders were riding svelte carbon race bikes, whilst I was on a 30something pound Whyte 46, replete with Fox 36 forks that had been stuck on 160mm till the week before the race.

Yes, 15th out of 41. And that was with a 2hr nap in the middle. I missed the event last year, but if they’re running it in 2011 then I’ll be there.

Having ridden the South Downs National Park Audax on Sunday (a tough event with some 20% climbs thrown in along with over 2000m of total ascent) I’ve decided to try to plan some more events for this year. I have aspirations both on the road and off it, and with a baby due in April I think organisation is going to be key.

I’m already booked in for the Hell of the Ashdown at the end of February, which will be followed shortly by the Puncheur Sportive. I rode most of the hills in the former back in the autumn of 2010 – the climbs were challenging but not particularly cruel. The Puncheur is quite a different animal I think – a fairly fast rolling sportive, and hopefully I can record a decent time. There is also the Wye Wednesday audax in the week running up to Hell – a not particularly hilly 200k ride that I quite fancy, weather permitting.

Another 200k in March – the Man of Kent audax. I’d also like to get up to North Wales around then for a crack at the Snowdon Rangers Track / Llanberis trail combo (before the post-Easter weekend voluntary ban comes into play), plus a route we recce’d in 2009 north of Capel Curig.

In April there should be a few TTs here and there, where I will hopefully be rolling out the completed Project Lo Pro. Having only ridden 10s up to this point (and spectacularly uneventfully) I am planning to try all the distances up to 12 hour this year. Also in April are the Tour of the Weald and the Wiggle Ups and Downs MTB sportive at Dorking.

In May there’s the San Fairy Ann Sportive that follows a great Kent and Sussex route. Not long after is the South Downs 100 and the Eastbourne Sportive.

June I’m keeping fairly free – it would be nice to escape for a few more mountainous challenges around then – maybe a trip to the Lakes, and also the Peak District. There’s an ESCA 100 mile TT on the 26th that I quite fancy before…

2nd July – La Marmotte. The biggie. I don’t want that to become the focus for the whole season though, as I have no idea how it’s going to go. Fingers crossed. I had previously thought about riding the Megavalanche the following weekend, but I think that idea is now shelved for a variety of reasons that include self-preservation and a desire to pursue a slightly more adventurous attitude where Alpine riding is concerned. I’m hoping to get back out to the Alps later in the summer for something more All Mountain in flavour.

The Kent 12hr TT takes place on 4th September, which annoyingly is the same date as the nearest Southern XC round at Pippingford. Shortly after that is the Afan round of the SixSixOne Gravity Enduro. I really fancy doing that – it should be a decent opportunity to see how my fitness stacks up against my mountain biking technique and speed downhill.

The last idea in the calendar is L’Eroica, which I’ve been planning to do for a few years now. Maybe Jess and the small child can be persuaded to come out to Gaiole in Chianti to see lots of tough Italians in wooly cycling gear riding crazily-geared bikes on the strada bianca.

Audax
Hell of the Ashdown
Puncheur
Tour of the Weald
Wiggle Ups and Downs
San Fairy Ann
South Downs 100
Eastbourne Sportive
Southern XC
Gravity Enduro
L’Eroica

There is an obscene amount of money spent on bicycles, bicycle equipment, training aids, clothing and other related paraphernalia every year, and while most of it probably proves at least pleasurable to the splasher outer, it almost certainly doesn’t make them a better cyclist. As touched upon in a previous post, there are very few cycling experiences more popular that hammering past a fully paid up member of MAMIL.CC on one’s old boneshaker. Similarly, a trail centre day out on an ageing fully rigid mountain bike (perhaps a Pace R200, replete with bendy, purple anodised cantis and a Girvin Flexstem) spent systematically overtaking Lapierre Zestys and their podgy owners would be just magic.

Yes, fancy kit is nice, but riding your bike better is nicer, and that’s what we all should be working on. Well, except Chris Akrigg and Mark Cavendish who are getting on just fine as they are.

There are various elements involved in such a plan. The first is bike fit. I’ve been riding around on road bikes for 15 years and I don’t think I’ve ever been sitting in exactly the right place. Well, until last Wednesday…

Adrian Timmis runs Cadence Sport from his house in Barton-under-Needwood. Adrian (pictured below) has pretty much done everything in cycling – finished the Tour, ridden the Olympics, road, track, cyclocross and mountain biking, all at national level. A pretty impressive CV I think you’ll agree. His bike fit service is very popular by all accounts, and very reasonable value. For £100 you get a pair of custom footbeds and a big enough chunk of Adrian’s time to ensure that you and your bike end up in a mutually efficient and comfortable position.

My own position had been the result of various adjustments over time, and whilst sometimes an element of it felt better, it was never quite right. Most friends who have had fittings done have ended up with their saddles much higher than before. My saddle was actually about 25mm too high, and too far forward on a zero layback post. As such, my legs were overextending, I wasn’t getting much help from either glutes or calves, and generally I wasn’t doing myself a lot of favours. Over a couple of hours Adrian adjusted cleat position, cleat float, saddle height, saddle setback, stem length, bar angle and hood position. By the end of it, I was in a better position power-wise, with much less pressure on my wrists and generally a lot more comfortable. I wish I’d done something similar years ago, and I would recommend his services to anyone. I would also go so far as to say that the purchase of a fancy new bike would be a total waste of money until you know for sure what position you need to be in. If I’d based my English on my old position and then found all this out later I’d probably go beserk…

As far as mountain biking is concerned, I am going to experiment with a slightly less extreme but similar seat position on my Whyte 19, and then tweak it from there. I think for a more trail / AM position on a full-suspension bike there are other things that come into play, especially a stable position for descending, so I will probably work on the setup for that bike as and when.

However, what I am going to get some help with is my technique. There are countless mountain bikers (myself included) who are convinced that they know what they’re doing, and are happy to attack rough rocky and root-infested trails at high speed without a care in the world. It sometimes works, but usually in spite of technique rather than because of it. However, when I see someone who is gifted with truly impressive technical skills, a little voice starts telling me that maybe it’s time to seek out some instruction. The two things that I tried to work on last year were jumping and fast flat cornering, and I think I will revisit them this year.

As far as jumping is concerned, I most recently put my money where my mouth is and called in the help of Tom Dowie (pictured above). Tom is a 4X racer and rider most frequently to be found at Chicksands. I spent a day up there last July for a session of private coaching. Chicksands is a fantastic venue, and there are plenty of jumps, drops and trails which make it ideal for learning and progressing new techniques. My own jumping ability was largely the result of the application of various experimental techniques that, over the years, have caused lots of crashes, a few broken bones and, very infrequently, the intended result. A common problem of mine is basically a catalogue of bad technique – approach fast, brake too late, absorb rather than pump the run-in, pull up jerkily on take off, and then land in the worst possible place. Often hooked up on the front side of the landing.

Tom’s instruction rapidly erased such behaviour, instead concentrating on a controlled run in, with a pump to gather momentum, followed by a smooth controlled take off (with no yanking on the bars), a balanced position in the air and then a soft landing. The particular jump he chose was also being ridden from time to time by a couple of blokes on DH bikes – at first my efforts looked pretty pathetic in comparison – but after an hour or so I was flying ever further and by the end of the day me and my lil’ hardtail weren’t giving anything away. The application of the technique learned on that jump was a little trickier to master in the context of a more complicated situation – the 4x course for example, or a loose off-camber bend just before the take off. But I did take away a lot of useful stuff that I want to build on this year. Tom – I will be back for more!

I remember seeing a rider at some local trails last summer who effortlessly pumped the terrain on a flowy section of singletrack, achieving an amazing turn of speed without pedalling. It’s skills like these, along with a re-evaluation of cornering technique that I also want to work on in 2011. Astounding Adventures offer various skills courses in the Surrey Hills which I think I’m going to try out. Also, I am hoping to venture further north for some instruction from Ed Oxley @ Great Rock (pic below, courtesy of Henry Iddon) – guardian of the most impressive beard in mountain biking. Ed has a reputation as one of the most patient and thoughtful mountain bike skills guru in the business, and also organises coaching sessions with all round bike legend Nigel Page.

If these guys can’t get me riding a little faster and harder and steeper and flying higher and further with a bit more style then there’s no hope for me at all…

(Of course, coaching for road riding is another big subject, and one that I will probably return to before long. As Tom Copeland pointed out on his blog the other day, most road riders who make a point of spending cash on fancy frames and components to shed weight and increase stiffness (either on the bike or when they’re admiring it locked away in their garage) would be far better off spending a fraction of that amount on a coach who would help them lose weight, get fitter and massively increase their SYKE (sic). I do think this is a route worth taking, especially if you have some specific goals. Personally, I have a number of things I want to achieve on the bikes this year, and they’re not exactly run-of-the-mill – how about enduro mountain biking, short distance time trialling and L’Eroica (pictured below)? Anyone up for the Eroica by the way? Furthermore, I’ve also managed to train (for the first time in my life) in a pretty dedicated and organised fashion for the last 6 months, and it would be nice to see how this year works out, so that the comparison with a coached year in the future might make more sense.)

Chris Akrigg
Cadence Sport
Tom Dowie
Chicksands
Astounding Adventures
Ed Oxley @ Great Rock
Henry Iddon
Tom Copeland
L’Eroica

My mountain bikes have suffered a bit as of late, with my Whyte 46 out of action thanks to a knackered rear shock, and the Cove Stiffee seatpin and saddle-less since the departure of its overweight and underused sibling with whom they were shared. The Whyte is set to be replaced with something more 2011 (the Ibis Mojo HD), and the family will shortly be joined by a sprightly young carbon Whyte 19C, but the Cove deserves more than mere dust gathering, so I’ve recently made the effort to return it to trail readiness.

At 6ft2, a 17.5″ mountain bike is never going to pedal particularly fast, but when I first (over)built it up, the Stiffee was a total pig. I have since managed to shed some of the weight, with lighter wheels, tyres, etc. Yesterday I stuck an ageing Flite (a Marco Pantani signature Flite no less) on a new Thompson seatpost, and swapped some lighter bars and stem over, replacing the Hussefelt ones which must be hewn out of mild steel. I’ve still got to swap the Hussefelt cranks and BB, which when replaced with XT should drop things another pound at least. This is all very boring anyway. Who cares about heavy cranks. Zzzzz.

Right. So fitted with the new bits and bobs Alex and I headed out for an exploratory ride from his new place in Crundale, situated at the foot of the North Downs near Wye. The going was moist to say the least, and neither of us were sporting particularly suitable tyres. Still, we managed to piece together a decent enough loop. Mainly low tech XC, but with mud-clogged tyres it sometimes took a bit of effort to stay upright. The Cove wasn’t an enjoyable ride uphill, but at least it could go uphill. Unlike when it made its debut at Coed Llandegla – I ended up in some sort of hypoventilatory exhaustion fit that had the others assuming that I’d prepared for the weekend by preceding it with a five day bourbon and crack marathon. Ahh, but those were the days…

We did manage to find some nice little lines down through the trees though, and also an amusing little quarry. With fading light and an appointment with a fry up, we didn’t linger long. We had planned to push north west into King’s Wood above Godmersham, but in the end we cut through along a bridleway via Chilham and back to Crundale. King’s Wood reputedly sports a few more established trails, so we’ll try that out next time. Hopefully I should be on the carbon speed machine then, and the Cove will hopefully get to return to its favoured habitat – mini DH trails – if I get the nod from Piers. After a few months of riding solely on the road I’m expecting to get brought back down to earth fairly fast…

Well, I got nowhere near the Rapha Festive 500. Many congratulations to all of those who braved wind, rain and snow to log the miles. I reckon my own festive kms totalled a measly 150. They were not entirely uneventful though, with copious refreshment on this first (thanks to brimming hipflask and a welcome Shepherd Neame stop at the halfway point), ice and masochism on the second (not to mention a back wheel that flew out halfway up Doleham Hill), and multiple puncturing on the third. Our Christmas plans precluded any more time on the bike than that, and a bloody good time was had by all, etc.

Anyhow, 2011 is here and it’s looking good so far. Multiple bike projects – the English, the Lo-Pro, a new trail bike hopefully, something tougher for the big mountains too. La Marmotte, biking in Verbier, biking on Snowdon, biking all over the place. Lots of food projects (hopefully), a bit of vintage car rallying along the way. Oh, and a baby arriving in April. Fingers crossed…

And I leave you with the news that the infamous Serbian warlord and tiger breeder Arkan is apparently not dead, and instead now living under an assumed name in Crundale, Kent.

Ibis make very tasty carbon bikes. I think they’ve been around for quite a few years, but they only came to my attention recently when I heard about the original 140mm Mojo. This tough trail-suited five incher manufactured from beautifully sculpted carbon weighed a paltry 6lb and immediately jumped to the top of my most wanted list.

Since then, Ibis have also added the superlight Mojo SL, a superlight hardtail called the Tranny, a lovely looking cyclocross bike (the Hakkalügi) and, most recently, the longer travel Ibis Mojo HD.

This frame, suited to forks with 160 – 180mm of travel promises to build up into an awesome all mountain machine. Frame weight is a scant 6.3lb. 160mm of rear travel comes courtesy of a DW-link setup – arguably the most efficient pedalling platform for longer travel bike designs. The wheelbase is a touch longer than my Whyte, but not as long as a Nicolai Helius AM or an Intense Slopestyle. The head angle is 67deg, although this would slacken to 66 with a 180mm fork. Play bikes are being specced with slacker and  slacker angles, but I think anything below 66 is pushing it for a really versatile all mountain ride.

The Mojo HD could be built into something devilishly light – Fox 36 Floats, light wheels, 1×10 gearing, etc. Or a tough Alpine-ready machine – coil forks, coil rear shock (previously not recommended, but now Ibis are suggesting the Fox DHX RC4 would be fine, thanks to its ability to have dialled in bottom-out resistance), dual ply tyres, etc.

It’s the carbon that makes it, and for a lot of people it might be the carbon that breaks it. The Mojo HD is supposed to be super tough, but I can imagine that there are a lot of potential customers who might be finding the concept of a carbon all mountain bike quite hard to swallow. However, with more and more carbon coming onto the market, especially from Santa Cruz with the Nomad and V10, I think there are a lot of other people who are convinced that this is the future.

As far as I’m concerned, it is. Having spent some time musing over these various choices (as well as admiring the images below) the Mojo HD is definitely the natural successor to my Whyte. It has the potential to be so much lighter than the competition, whilst still retaining a tough, all mountain readiness. I think my mind is made up…

Intense Cycles have been producing some very tasty machinery for over 15 years. Their DH bikes are legendary, partly because of their podium record, and also because of their association with snowboarder turned DH champ Shaun Palmer (notorious for sporting little more than piss pot, jeans and a Slayer t-shirt when the opposition were suited in full body armour).

The 2011 line-up features some fantastic looking bikes, from the new M9 DH rig, to the flyweight XC Spider 2. The new hardtail DJ / 4X Tazer looks nice too – in fact, it’s the nicest looking bike of its type I’ve seen in ages. However, it’s the Slopestyle 2 that is most interesting as far as my All Mountain needs are concerned.

The geometry of the 2011 SS2 has changed quite considerably from 2010, and appears to be moving very much into Mini DH territory – the head angle is slacker, at 65deg (vs 66.5), wheelbase is longer at 1181mm (up from 1162), with a longer top tube – the large now measures 610mm (vs 596.9mm on the 2010 bike).

With a head angle of 65deg, 2deg slacker than the Ibis Mojo HD, and nearly 3deg slacker than my Whyte 46, and 6cm longer than the latter too, the 2011 SS2 should be a bit of an animal when it comes to descending. It pretty much looks like a scaled down 951. Riding it uphill might be a different matter though – even if the VPP suspension means that pedalling is a doddle, it wasn’t designed with climbing in mind. A Fox Talas fork would probably help, but a bike like this really deserves a dedicated, no messing around fork – either a Van or a Float, or even a BOS Deville.

The seat tube on the original Intense Slopestyle was uninterrupted, which made things much easier if you wanted to ride uphill, and as a result it did develop a bit of a following as a super tough, quick descending trail bike. When the SS2 was released, the tube developed a kink, and saddle drop and extension became much trickier. However, with a Joplin post or similar, there should be room to achieve both a low descending position whilst allowing enough extension for effective uphill pedalling.

The Slopestyle tag is a curious bit of marketing. It seems to be a case of pigeonholing which is not entirely deserved. With a sturdy frame, 6″ ish of travel, decent pedalling abilities, and an AM to mini DH geometry, this really sounds like the perfect UK play bike.

EDIT: I think I confused the geometry of the Slopestyle VS SS@ above. I have since been led to believe that the SS2 has always had a 65deg head angle, and it was the original Slopestyle that used 66.5deg. The recently released Tracer2 looks like the best bet for more all round duties now – the SS2 being more of a mini DH play bike. I’ve decided to get a Nicolai anyway now, but it would still be fun to try these two out sometime…