The Get fit club!

[J4MIE]

BTW did 41.25km which is the furthest I've done in one go so far. Did the last 10km in 40 minutes after realising the time and how far away I was, finished with 90 seconds to spare....

[airshifter]

How tough is the actual riding in those events J4mie? It sounds like a challenge either way, I just wondered if the actual riding is hard... or just figuring out in what direction to ride.

[J4MIE]

How tough is the actual riding in those events J4mie? It sounds like a challenge either way, I just wondered if the actual riding is hard... or just figuring out in what direction to ride.

Here is a link to the map showing all the control locations on, this is what you are given at the start.

Here is a link to the results (I am in class M21). There you can see the controls visited and if you click on the splits you can see the time it took to get to each of them.

I don't find it hard to navigate as I love reading maps, could maybe do with choosing a better (easier) overall route to get through more controls in the same overall distance - think that will hopefully come with more experience and learning from all the mistakes I'm making. I guess it's more important to keep a decent pace up over all the ground you cover, I tend to go quite slowly and get overtaken by most others and push up most hills.....

The riding isn't really that hard, and there are there are so many different directions to go round and on different types of tarmac roads, forest roads, forest tracks, singletrack and bridleways etc.

Seriously considering getting a road bike for next year which seems to be a better way of improving strength/stamina in my legs which is basically non-existant at the moment, even though I think I've improved quite a lot since I got my bike in May.

[Mark]

Seriously considering getting a road bike for next year which seems to be a better way of improving strength/stamina in my legs which is basically non-existant at the moment, even though I think I've improved quite a lot since I got my bike in May.

You don't necessarily need a road bike. More that riding on the road I think you put in a more consistent effort than you do when riding off road. But if you can afford it then why not, we can go on rides where you aren't being held back by your bike.

[Iain]

Seriously considering getting a road bike for next year which seems to be a better way of improving strength/stamina in my legs which is basically non-existant at the moment, even though I think I've improved quite a lot since I got my bike in May.

Stick some slicks on the MTB! Like Mark said, a few of us had events this weekend. Along with a friend and two of his workmates, we did the 47 mile Pedal for Scotland ride between Edinbugh and Glasgow. I was the only one running full knobblies, the others had skinnier road-based tyres on their MTBs. Took 4 hours 55 minutes to do, not bad at all. I reckon if we hadn't stopped and consumed the free milk and bananas at every stop, we'd have gone quicker, as it took a wee while to warm up again after those. Not to mention there were big hills after two of the feed stations! Just disappointed it's another year until the next one now! Still buzzing about it.

Someone mentioned walkers and joggers with earphones in, what about cyclists? There were a pair of teenage girls doing this event on their own and they both had headphones in, hogging the road and completely oblivious to what was going on around them!

Before

After


Some things we saw on the way......

[Mark]

Awesome . You won't have to wait until next year. There's always plenty of events going on. They can just sometimes take a little hunting down. Evans and Wiggle do MTB events.

[Iain]

Unfortunately I've missed the Tour de Forth! 66 miles from Edinburgh across the Forth, then the Clackmannanshire Bridges and back to Edinburgh!

[J4MIE]

Still not too late to enter the Tour de Ben Nevis on 21st September Iain

Mark's right, there are lots of events on all over the place, just need to find them.

Keep meaning to buy different tyre s but never q unite get around to it. Though can see it not being long until the bike will be staying in the garage for the winter.....

[airshifter]

How tough is the actual riding in those events J4mie? It sounds like a challenge either way, I just wondered if the actual riding is hard... or just figuring out in what direction to ride.

Here is a link to the map showing all the control locations on, this is what you are given at the start.

Here is a link to the results (I am in class M21). There you can see the controls visited and if you click on the splits you can see the time it took to get to each of them.

I don't find it hard to navigate as I love reading maps, could maybe do with choosing a better (easier) overall route to get through more controls in the same overall distance - think that will hopefully come with more experience and learning from all the mistakes I'm making. I guess it's more important to keep a decent pace up over all the ground you cover, I tend to go quite slowly and get overtaken by most others and push up most hills.....

The riding isn't really that hard, and there are there are so many different directions to go round and on different types of tarmac roads, forest roads, forest tracks, singletrack and bridleways etc.

Seriously considering getting a road bike for next year which seems to be a better way of improving strength/stamina in my legs which is basically non-existant at the moment, even though I think I've improved quite a lot since I got my bike in May.

Great scoop on the event. It looks very interesting, and sounds like a good challenge of several skill sets.

As for the road bike... no need IMO. Resistance is resistance, and it really doesn't matter if you do it on a mountain bike with full knobbies or a road bike. I think one of the best things to build legs is to intentionally run taller gears on some rides. It's easy to overcome with so many gears to choose from, and cadence can overcome using lower gears. Treat the bike almost as if it's a fixed gear bike now and then, and you'll feel some solid leg burn if you work at it.

Naturally the road bike, or slicks on your mountain bike would improve your pace but that isn't due to being in better shape.... it's due to having less rolling resistance.

[janneppi]

I think the Best reason to get a road bike when riding on tarmac is that the riding experience is much more pleasant. you Don't go running in hiking boots do you?