1 Week To Go!

1 week until my first race. Still not sure what to expect but I have a feeling it's going to hurt afterwards. My training has really paid off - I'm fitter now than I ever was before. Plenty of climbing, especially out of the saddle efforts, and a fair few miles have really pushed my fitness up. Training has been a mix of on and off road; mixing it up meant I always had something to focus on and aim for. Higher intensity training has also been included, being able to recover quickly after the hills will no doubt pay off. 

My focus has now shifted towards metal preparation - a technique I used for sailing last year to good effect. Being able to focus on the right thing at the right time was enormously helpful, as well as being able to switch off and relax. Diet has also played a big part of my preparation - finding good foods to eat around rides as well as fuelling during a ride. I find planning as much as I can really helpful; knowing that I haven't forgotten anything (spares, food and clothes) is somewhat calming.

With my first race fast approaching I'm both excited and nervous. I don't really know what to expect or how I'll perform. All I can say is that I can't wait!

Kim

Gear - Part 2

Beena while but here it is:

Part 2 – The Mountain Bike

We were taking my road frame to the local bike shop to have the bottom bracket taken out and replaced when somewhere along the high street my dad had an idea. He offered me some money towards a mountain bike as an incentive for my exams. Happily I agreed and the very minute we got home I started looking for potential bikes within my expected budget.

As it turns out, my dad and I were thinking different things – come August, I picked up my results and was chuffed to find that the budget I had expected was correct. Dad however, was less chuffed. Suddenly my bike budget was a little larger than he was expecting! Anyway, two days later we were touring round the local bike shops looking for my next bike.

After a many hours of internet research and visits to several different shops I had made my decision. Brand was less important and for the money the bike I had selected gave me the best spec for what I needed. I'd chosen the Boardman HT Comp. Hardtail; 120mm travel SR Suntour Fork, SRAM X5 groupset and Elixir 1 Brakes. Not particularly flash components, in fact somewhat distinctly bottom end but they were the bottom end of very good product lines. The fork was more of a gamble – I really wanted air over coil but getting a half decent groupset on other bikes as well as an air fork was stretching the budget a little too much.

Here she is

White bike looks damn fine in the snow...

Another angle - Budget forks aren't bad!

Still in original spec (apart from pedals) and I'm very happy with how everything has worked and lasted. Only tweaks have been cables bedding in, brakes pads needing adjusting and controls re-ordering. For was easy to set to a good pressure - when I got the bike it was stupidly firm, a quick tap on the valve set it straight to 22% sag - a value I've been pretty happy with so far.

Spec:

Fork: Suntour Epicon LOD, Air, 120mm, damping adjust, lock out

Shifters: SRAM X5

Front Mech: SRAM X5

Rear Mech: SRAM X5

Brakes: Avid Elixir 1

Chainset: FSA Alpha Drive 44x32x22T

Cassette: SRAM PG950

Chain: KMC Z99

Bottom Bracket: FSA Powerdrive

Rims: Alex DP20

Hubs: Formula Disc (Apparently – they're unbranded)

Tyres: Continental MTN King 2.2

Handlebars: cboardman

Stem: cboardman

Headset: FSA integrated

Seatpost: cboardman

Saddle: cboardman

Nothing needs upgrading straight away but I'm considering a double chainset, an inline post and new saddle and new grips. Big upgrades for the future (read: when I can afford them) are obviously the wheels and fork. I'd probably go for 100mm (bit more xc and less bulky, would also lower the from end, racy!) and the wheels will definitely be much stiffer and hopefully lighter. In an ideal world I'd have gone a model or two up but I love the bike I have and love riding it. I’m hoping for a good first race season so I can properly ride the bike to its (my) limits!

Happy riding,

Kim

Links:

Boardman Bikes

A Little Bit About Me...

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

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.

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:

Claud Butler Cycles

Shimano

Tektro

Scwalbe

Clarks Cycle Systems

Charge Bikes

Cinelli

Mongoose