Mont 24 advice

Haakon said:
No roadie hate here - bloody wish I could climb like that!!! I got out of their way on the ups, they got out of my way on the descents and it all evened out :p

My next toy will be a Giant Defy Advanced Pro (they are finally putting actual brakes on roadies now! woo.), I'm certainly not prejudiced (but I draw the line at those silly rim brake things...).
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This is my next bike not available in my size til week 52 so pretty much 2015

FastRoad CoMax 1.jpg
 
Yeah, they're pretty cool. You'll get the new 105 crankset on it too - the one that looks like the current Ultegra, not the old version on the photos they have.

Mine won't be in 'til week 52 too... Somewhere out there is a bunch of containers filled with Giants!!
 
They sell well, so they suit enough people. Doesn't matter what you're riding though, so long as you're out riding!

But speaking of commuters, I passed a very nice Genesis Day One Alfine this morning... Steely goodness, BB7s and 11 speed Alfine. Super cool.
 
I observed at the Mont plenty of older riders going around the track and milling around the event centre. I was just wondering if there would be enough riders out there to justify an over 50s team category or two?

Our team in the over 40s had 3 over 50 riders and a few of our riding mates are not far off 50.

What do you think Burners, would there be enough riders able to form over 50s teams? Would it be a stretch to get six over 50 riders? Is it too much for most over 50s to compete in a team of four? Would this age bracket be competitive? Would it cause rifts in existing over 40 teams?
 
Cause a rift? It'd cause outright fucking war!

It's too hard to get together an over 40s anyway. There was only 31 ovr 40 six packs as it was , which frankly is great, coz it keeps the competition down and while ever I can buy fast guys beers I've got a chance of getting in a decent team :D
 
"There was only 31 ovr 40 six packs as it was"

pharmaboy, I counted 46 x 6 packs and 57 x foursomes, 504 riders all up across the Honest 40s categories. Must be a fair number of over 50s in there. Not sure if it's enough to justify another age bracket but the time might be getting close.
 
Overtaking move

Hey Chopsticks, did that happen a bit before going under the fly over (I guess that is a fly under)? I heard a near crash behind me and a dude saying ' You said go left!'. Luckily I passed you on the fire trail before;)
 
Merzy said:
Hey Chopsticks, did that happen a bit before going under the fly over (I guess that is a fly under)? I heard a near crash behind me and a dude saying ' You said go left!'. Luckily I passed you on the fire trail before;)
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nahhh it would've been in around the 6-7km mark... no where near the 13-14km (of under the bridge)
 
Patio said:
"There was only 31 ovr 40 six packs as it was"

pharmaboy, I counted 46 x 6 packs and 57 x foursomes, 504 riders all up across the Honest 40s categories. Must be a fair number of over 50s in there. Not sure if it's enough to justify another age bracket but the time might be getting close.
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Not sure what you are looking at

http://selfpropelled.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/M24-14_Category_Results.pdf

So 32 teams who entered AND completed some laps in over 40s 6 pack ( so not 31). Maybe you saw total registered? I know teams who had got refunds and alternate events who were still on the start list, but obviously weren't there.

At a guess a big proportion of competitors are over 40 - could easily be close to 50%, but only one person in your team under and you are in open. You need to be putting a couple of teams together to have any chance of putting together a competitive over 40 team - it would be even harder for over 50s . Dead easy for the Scott of course where it doesn't matter if some of your riding buddies are in their 30s
 
SF Trailboy said:
Currently looking at a trainer as well is there any reason why this http://www.norco.com/bikes/road/cyclocross/threshold-alu/threshold-a1/
is better or worse than the giant? i do have giant dealer close but prefer not to join the masses if I can. (dumb stance I know....)
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I have been looking for ages at different Road / CX / Flatbar (yeah yeah sissy but i like them on my back) and it is very hard to go past the value of Giant atm. I have no idea why they seem to be just that bit ahead in the spec lists. Giant dealers normally negotiate a bit as well so you feel like you get a win.

*Edited:- Mitchy_ below has a way better response
 
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SF Trailboy said:
Currently looking at a trainer as well is there any reason why this http://www.norco.com/bikes/road/cyclocross/threshold-alu/threshold-a1/
is better or worse than the giant? i do have giant dealer close but prefer not to join the masses if I can. (dumb stance I know....)
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funnily enough, i own both a Threshold and a TCX. although i've not directly compared an alloy version of each (i have a Threshold A3, and TCX Advanced 1)
that said; the Threshold is a great bike for the money, my only gripe was the wheels were pretty hefty. they seem to have fixed that on the new A1 at least; mine had a 32h wheelset, presumably used on the Norco MTB's. a 28h offering is more CX-ish, and should be a bit lighter.

i swapped the groupset to sram (personal preference) and a lighter set of wheels, and it goes like a scalded cat now. so much so i swapped my carbon road bike for the TCX, as the relaxed geo of the CX bikes suited me better.

the only standout i can see is the TCX has better TRP Spyre brakes, but it's also $200 more... of which would buy you a set of Spyres if you felt they were lacking. my A3 came with Hayes CX Expert (step above CX Comp) and they are fine though. plenty of power, just the modulation isn't anywhere near as nice as the Spyres. they do the job for a training/commuter/backup-CX bike though.
 
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mitchy_ said:
funnily enough, i own both a Threshold and a TCX. although i've not directly compared an alloy version of each (i have a Threshold A3, and TCX Advanced 1)
that said; the Threshold is a great bike for the money, my only gripe was the wheels were pretty hefty. they seem to have fixed that on the new A1 at least; mine had a 32h wheelset, presumably used on the Norco MTB's. a 28h offering is more CX-ish, and should be a bit lighter.

i swapped the groupset to sram (personal preference) and a lighter set of wheels, and it goes like a scalded cat now. so much so i swapped my carbon road bike for the TCX, as the relaxed geo of the CX bikes suited me better.

the only standout i can see is the TCX has better TRP Spyre brakes, but it's also $200 more... of which would buy you a set of Spyres if you felt they were lacking. my A3 came with Hayes CX Expert (step above CX Comp) and they are fine though. plenty of power, just the modulation isn't anywhere near as nice as the Spyres. they do the job for a training/commuter/backup-CX bike though.
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Thanks for the reply much appreciated - guessing since the giant man is local it will probably be a giant - there is bugger all size/geo difference between them in the m/l and 55.5 but both look great value.

Unfortunatly I have now stumbled upon a 29er revolver whilst searching the norco site - this looks like my new lust bike... Norco seem to have there specs and pricing pretty well dialed which makes me wonder why you dont see more of them..
 
SF Trailboy said:
Thanks for the reply much appreciated - guessing since the giant man is local it will probably be a giant - there is bugger all size/geo difference between them in the m/l and 55.5 but both look great value.

Unfortunatly I have now stumbled upon a 29er revolver whilst searching the norco site - this looks like my new lust bike... Norco seem to have there specs and pricing pretty well dialed which makes me wonder why you dont see more of them..
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the only issue with the Giant that i forgot to mention, is it will be OD2... not really an issue on a CX as you're unlikely to change the fork, but it makes stem choice a little more difficult. there are plenty of OD2 stems in a range of sizes available now though.

they've actually dropped their pricing a few hundred from last year as well. 2014 A1's were $1899, and A3's were $1299. i picked up a runout 2014 A3 at just under a grand, which was the cheapest disc CX available from any brand i saw...
they seem to be making a big comeback with their 27.5" mtb's.. i reckon the rest will follow suit soon enough, they are making great looking and riding bikes of late (some of their older stuff looks rubbish...)
 
Great event that I was underprepared for and I surprised myself that I managed 6 laps.

While we are talking about passing (I was passee more than passer) .... Mostly there were no problems but once when I was behind a slower rider I could hear a small group come up behind me. I listened for half a minute but there was just heavy breathing, so I started chatting to the rider in front. Well, on a right turn I hear crunching behind and to the right of me. I turn and look to see some f-wit attempting a pass over piles of dry branches that were sitting in a hole. I said "geez you're keen mate!" and keep riding. He backs off and starts complaining "I've been trying to get past you for ages". I just say "just call track mate, and I'll find somewhere to let you through". He starts up "I HAVE BEEN CALLING TRACK!!" and I hear one other voice in his group "I haven't heard you call track!" Moral to the story - if you can pass me and it will not interfere with me, go for it but if you are wrong about how much space there is, that's your risk: I may or may not move over. If you can't pass me safely, call track: I move over as soon as I can.

The other passing thing that got dangerous was muliple passers. I saw on course a few times that the additional, unexpexcted passer would force the slower rider off track, to come to a complete stop, or in a couple of cases, put them into a tree. When I would call go left / go right I would also say "1 rider only" or "2 riders only" depending on how much space there was and if going uphill, on a turn etc that could potentially hinder / help the passer. Quite a few times I would say "go left 1 rider only" and get back "no, 2 riders". That would be when I would yell "I SAID ONE RIDER!!!" That was respected every time except one time when I put some fast man into a pile of dead branches. It was him or me.
 
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