You're kind of right about the Pace btw, I've realised that it only works if you treat it a bit like a long travel hardtail and sort of attack stuff on it. If you sit back and expect it to do all the work, it just sticks a middle finger up at you and thuds through things rather than over them. Then again, I quite like that
I suspect the Pace is for the enthusiastic and skilled MTBer, whom relishes the challenge of going as fast as possible despite trail conditions.
Whereas I am a rider who just wants to survive and not delay my riding colleagues so much that they leave me behind at the bopttom of long descents
Think I'll get a demo of the Cotic - I like the concept. Are they well made?
'Are they well made?' Erm, no idea to be honest. I'll ask a couple of people who might know. The impression I got was that it was very different in shorter and longer travel modes as well btw.
Dave - I did look at the Hemlock when it first came out, and almost as quickly started hearing bad reports about very flexy long rockers (sounds like a Quo fan?!) when trying to run it in long travel mode. In fact, 18Bikes never sold them with the long rockers fitted, as they made the back end feel like a plate of spagetti (that is a bad thing btw, when it flexes madly from side to side, not uppity-down)
Anyway, I think the Mk1's were never really that popular as a result of the subsequently underwhelming praise for them on STW, and that probably accounts for most people who would buy a Cotic or an On-One for that matter.
The new Hemlock is meant to have sorted a lot of those issues and looks pretty nice overall. It should be fine with a Revelation/Thor up front and run in short travel mode for the majority of the time. I just wonder how often you would fiddle around with changing rockers over, when you fancy trying 'this' trail rather than 'those' rockers for that trail? Certainly the Cotic brand is counting for a lot, as the suspension design is no more advanced, in fact less so, than the new Trek Remedy or Fuel, or the Spesh Stumpy, or Giant Reign/Trance or (shudders) the Whyte 46.
Obviously not a patch on an Iron Horse 6 Point though
Macs have a look at the Montane Bionic longsleeve baselayer. It's made from Sportwool (wool next to skin and polyester outer - works really and has the anti pong , and vapour absorbing properties of the wool, and fast wicking of the polyester) They come in fluoro yellow and have big reflective patches on the sleeves. you could team that with a featherlite velo gilet
which also comes in fluoro. That would keep the wind off and also stop you from overheating, whilst also doing the bright and visible thing.
God knows what that 98% means, but gilets are generally a lot cooler than you think because you lose an awful lot of heat through your exposed arms. In fact it makes you realise just how much heat you dissipate simply by rolling up your sleeves to your elbows.
What you really need, of course, are reflective tattoos... Hmmm, it's such a long time till April and I'll have forgotten all about it by then:
'Scientists have developed a radical new safety feature in the form of permanently reflective tattoos. The ink used incorporates innovative nano-technology particles which mean that the design reflects light for the life of the tattoo with no fading expected.
'The development could be a major step forward for runners and cyclists who use unlit roads after dark, but the real benefit, say scientists at the Koblenz Institute of Reflectology, will be to committed naturists, who will be able to take advantage of safety benefits of reflective materials, while still adhering to their principles.
'Laboratory tests on shaven tattooed mice have so far suggested that there are no side-effects from the technology, though when a batch escaped into the wild, their survival times were unfortunately somewhat limited...'
There, you're read it on the internet, so it must be true
FWIW Macs, I've a very lightweight pertex windproof smock which I've used for running in on cold breezy days. Even with a short sleev base layer on underneath, I still boil after about 10 minutes. I reckon that the Sportwool top/gilet combo that Julie mentioned would be a better idea. In fact I'm interested myself and have a Birthday coming up.....
Oh, and I can now make the "Rob Dean 34 mile spirit crushing spectacular" on the 19th December. Tempting though it was to throw a sickie, I often find that I get phone calls from the office when I'm ill (the price of being indispensible eh?!) and claiming to have the raging shits and then talking to colleagues from the top of a windy peak district hill may have rumbled me. In the end, a combination of cashed in flex-time and a 1/2 day unpaid leave did the trick!
Whilst I'm on here and rambling, is this Saturday's "Edale Caff Ride" still on?
I've sent the Fox 36s back, and am waiting on a set of Magura Wotans, which should hopefully solve the 'compatibility issue' I had problems with last week (as I'm running Magura brakes). The only thing that can lead to an issue after that is the hub.
Fingers crossed I should have everything together by the end of this week.
Ade - I think Ros and millions of gurlz are going to be hanging around Edale caff for a few hours on Saturday. Some of them might even go for a ride, but the main point of the meeting is to drink tea, eat cake and paw over Ros's new bike. I'll let someone more informed than me tell you what time they're meeting.
And FPDave if you're out there, I hear that High Peak Cycles are selling an ex-Demo Intense EVP5.5 for £1,600 in your size. £3,400 of bike. Sounds like a bargain to me....
Hmmm... I may be out saturday. given your / our recent record on gurlz rides, do you think it's a good idea?
And fwiw, I just been running in a Montane Dynamo, leggings, a merino baselayer and, erm, shoes. Just steady but it felt about right to me. Just above freezing I think with a bit of wind.
High Peak are nice guys btw. Rode with them on Sunday.
Good point Jon. Suppose we could always....(ahem) spl**ter... off and add a bit of an extra loop at a different pace if required. You never know, we could do a bigger ride and still beat them back to the cafe. What are the odds of that?
Hey you guys - you should come out with us. Take it easy, chat a bit, eat lots of cake and drink lots of tea. It will be fun!
Seriously though - the plan is to start from Edale station at 10am sharp! I have told everyone that we need to get moving on time as it is too cold to hang around and wait for everyone. I think there will be about 20 people (maybe more, I have slightly lost count!). There will be 2 groups so you should come in the fast group - me and Julie are organising the fast group and India is leading the slow group. Planning to do a route involving jaggers, potato alley, concrete switchbacks, hagg farm, back to bottom of beast, maybe push up but if not then take that steep climb up to the edge on win hill, back to hope cross, jaggers, edale. In time for tea and cake at the caff!
Mmmm, I'd rather it was smaller groups rather than groups of 10-12 folk - we'll spend all day opening gates then hanging around for 20 mins for the '...and then I tried on this pair of shoes, but they didn't come in pink...' chat to pass by before carrying on riding!
(Runs away and hides )
Route sounds fine though. Oooh, it could be my test ride for the Iron Horse - just how over-biked can you be for a pootle around Edale?
) 
