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 Stu ... |
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| Posted: 25/06/06 20:57:21 21 |
Hi Gary - rode the Fife Coast path back in March with 3 mates. We did it over 2 days - from Leuchars back to Edinburgh, which was about 90 miles, with an overnight stop in Lower Largo. I reckon your 65 miles would be more like 75-80. We were riding for about 10 hours in total.
We chose the E-W because trying to book bikes onto the train was such an incredible hassle but like most Scotrail experiences, the train crew couldn't be more helpful when we rocked up for an early train at Waverley. Ended up with a NE wind as well which was nice.
I think it would flow better E-W but very little in it - main advantage starting in Leuchars is getting the toughest bits done early. The bit from St Andrews to Boarhills is proper hard - probably 1/3 rideable at best, lots of steep steps, boggy bits with stepping stones and very narrow cliff traverses – took us about 2 hours for that short stretch. Unless you are mad keen on doing the whole thing I would very strongly suggest you don't bother with that bit (the MBR boys didn't do it cos they ran out of daylight - lucky lucky!). From Boarhills to Crail it’s quite rocky but almost all rideable then Crail onwards is generally good going – a few flights of steps but nothing much to break the flow. Standout bits for me were Boarhills to Fife Ness and the track along the top of the dunes between Earlsferry and Lower Largo. Lots of tarmac through the towns (particularly Methil, Kirkcaldy and Burntisland) and the signposting is quite, ahem, discreet at times but keep the sea to your left and you can’t go far wrong! We got a bit lost in Burntisland but the rest was OK.
Very worthwhile trip and very different to a getting out in the hills or Seven Stanes experience – make sure you get it sorted!
Hope this helps! |
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| Stu ... |
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| Posted: 05/06/05 20:29:30 30 |
Owned a Cove Handjob for a couple of years, have now replaced it with a 456 Inbred. Never ridden an XTC.
The frames (18" inbred and 19" Cove) are almost exactly the same length (in terms of horizontal top tube), ran the Cove with a 90mm stem and the Inbred with an 80mm stem. The Cove was sweet but felt very XC and went a bit vague with long forks on it, I had Psylos on it for most of its life and ran them at about 90mm travel. I think 105mm Marzocchis would be verging on too long if you want it to steer sharply and be really nimble.
My 456 Inbred has 130mm zocchis on it and feels absolutely bang on. Your weight is put forward enough so it climbs really well and is planted on the descent because the fork is doign all the work - big bonus is that it doesn't tuck under even on steep stuff. Certainly feels pretty stiff up front as well...
I guess you need to decide what you want from the bike, out of the two if it's pure XC then I'd go Handjob, if you're going to treat it a bit rough then I'd go Inbred.
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| Stu ... |
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| Posted: 13/04/05 14:55:27 27 |
"August 13/14 - Sleepless in the Saddle 24hr"
Should we tell them???? |
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| Stu ... |
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| Posted: 08/04/05 08:48:37 37 |
Nice write-up Jon. I've been running XT flippyshifters, mechs and brakes for about three months now, really impressed with them (though the resin pads seemed to disappear like a vampires in sunlight at the first sign of mud).
Good choice running the test in the Dark Peak, I have ridden in loads of places but nowhere has come close in component wrecking ability.
Marke, I get the impression that Saint is a genuine attempt at making a DH/ Freeride groupset that you can't break, while Hone is just dark grey LX with a bit of marketing spin apart from the mech/rear hub which is a "Saint-lite".
I don't think there is anything that says you shouldn't run XT on a "just riding" bike, and no reason why a racer would hammer it more than a hard trail rider like Mr D. Anyway, do you change your drivetrain for race days? |
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| Stu ... |
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| Posted: 19/03/05 15:54:03 03 |
if you have Excel 2003 you can get it to participate as well in a computer voice.
Type something in a cell, go to View - Toolbars - show text to speech toolbar and when you highlight a cell and click the speak button it will read out the contents of the cell.
It's pretty accurate too. |
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