Thought I should start by telling you a bit about myself...
I'm 17 and this year will be my first as XC MTB racer, I'm also a sailor and will be doing all this while studying for my A-levels.
I've been sailing since I was 8 and currently own a Europe dinghy for club racing. I'm lucky enough to also have a spot as foredeck/mast on a Beneteau First 35. My aims for this year are to keep up the sailing, retain my ladies race trophy and compete at the Europe nationals.
I don't remember a time when I wasn't riding bikes but I made the decision to take it to the next level last September This season I will be racing in the Pedal-On Southern XC series as a junior. XC MTB riding was my decision as I own a road bike and and hardtail but always preferred riding off-road, XC was an obvious choice as good downhill and trails are hard to come by round my way an there is good XC riding on the doorstep.
Details of my bikes and boat will be in future posts but for now, get out and ride!
Links:
Europe Class
Beneteau First 35
LOSSC
Southern XC
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
Thursday 7 March 2013
Gear - Part 1
Right, here’s what I’m riding:
Part 1 – The Road Bike
Used for winter training, getting to college and when the MTB is in the work stand. We rescued this from a friend’s garden and a bit of work got it back to a rideable condition. My dad came home and told me he had a ‘present’, walking out to the car he opened the boot and there was a road bike in bits. Over the next week I cleaned it up, decided what was worthwhile keeping and budgeted for the bits that needed replacing.
 |
| The Bike Then (September 2012) |
At this stage we had replaced the crankset, chain, bars (and tape), seatpost (and clamp), saddle, cables (inners and casings), the headset bearings and the pedals. Everything else was original and cleaned up.
This was what really spurred me to ride some more – I had a good bike and study leave & summer holidays meant I had all the time in the world to ride. If I could go back to last summer
I definitely would and aside from a few upgrades I wouldn’t change a thing. My old bike (a 2008 Mongoose Rockadile AL) was left in the garage after a few offroad rides where I really found the bikes limits – which as it turns out weren’t much. I finally realised that cycling could be for me and I knew I wanted to race.
I definitely would and aside from a few upgrades I wouldn’t change a thing. My old bike (a 2008 Mongoose Rockadile AL) was left in the garage after a few offroad rides where I really found the bikes limits – which as it turns out weren’t much. I finally realised that cycling could be for me and I knew I wanted to race.
That summer was spent on the road bike but for most of the time I was wishing I had a better mountain bike to go and explore the trails and have some fun. Parts were changed to keep up with the wear they were now experiencing – a new bottom bracket and rear derailleur were added. After a trip to the local bike shop in May, Dad had offered a new MTB as an incentive for GCSE results. A week after the results were out I was off-road once again and keen to race XC. In September I started A-levels and was now riding 14km there are back to college. The road bike became my commuter and it became very clear that parts needed replacing pretty quickly. New wheels, cassette and tyres were quickly ordered and fitted after college. The next hour was spent fitting tyres and tinkering with gears followed by a very nice ride.
The bike is now my commuter and winter training machine although winter seems to last too long and it’s frequently ridiculously muddy in summer…
The Final Spec:
Frame: Claud Butler San Remo 2005 7005 ‘Aero Profile’ Alloy
Fork: Hi-tensile steel ‘Aero Profile’
Wheelset: Shimano R501 Black with Monotone Decals
Crankset: Shimano FC-2300 (52/39)
Cassette: Shimano HG50 8 Speed (13-26)
Rear Derailluer: Shimano Sora 8 Speed
Front Derailluer: Shimano Sora (original)
Shifters: Shimano Sora 7 Speed (original)
Chain: Clarks 7/8 Speed
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Square Taper
Brakes: Tektro Alloy Dual Pivot (original)
Pedals: Shimano M520
Tyres: Schwalbe Lugano Yellow
Seatpost: Unbranded Inline Post (from my spares box)
Saddle: Mongoose (it's comfy)
Bars: Cinelli Vai – Standard Size Clamp
Tape: Charge U-Bend
Stem: Unbranded (original)
Headset: Unbranded (original with replaced bearings)
 |
| The Bike Now (February 2013) |
It doesn’t bother me that the finish on the fame isn’t perfect, that the components aren't top spec or matching, that the chain drops more frequently than I’d like or that the shifts aren't super crisp every time. It’s my bike and I own it - I can look at it, tweak it and ride it whenever I want and in that fact I take great pleasure.
Happy Riding
Kim
Links:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)