Margam Madness 8hr solo

I've been quiet on racing and reports, knowing the time for long races was approaching, I had a small adventure across the south downs way at night, but this didn't go to plan so I didn't want to dwell.

Pre Race, bikes prepped

I believe Margam near Port Talbot in South wales is a classic venue for racing, and as we arrived early saturday morning i can understand why, rolling hills and nice woodlands. Margam Madness is now in its 3rd year, i've wanted to race here before, but it used to be later in the season, when motivation was dwindling and weather was unpredictable. luckily this year it was a fine spring day, if a tad windy, and it had been dry for a week or so, perfect.

After a quick catch up with friends I set off on a practice lap, keen to check if the rumours of a brutally hilly and technical course were true, they were! The course was made up of several climbs, some short and steep, others longer, then a mixture of fast flowing descent then three more technical black run descents, part of the new Margam trail centre, and two river crossings. The practice lap didn't help my nerves.

The race started without incident, I made sure I kept near the front to miss any traffic on the first descents, few minor hiccups with riders which clearly hadn't pre-ridden the course, then I made my own mistake. Knowing one of the descents was on the limits of my abilities I took the easier line so as not to hold up other riders, this was fine, until I missed a course marker, arriving at the top of the  hill after a long climb, bugger, I saw other riders who I knew would be near the front of the race and linked back up with the course, this rattled me, I completed the rest of the lap without error, I told the race organiser of my error. I continued onto my second lap but I was still annoyed with myself, this lap I rode the technical descent so as to not make any more mistakes!

Arriving back in the arena I was told it had been sorted, I had been docked a few minutes, cool, I was third, cool, time to prove I should be third. The next few laps rolled round with incident, I was enjoying the course for all its lunacy and I was riding well. I stayed in third, the gap to second was around 15minutes, quite a gap!

After the 4hour race had finished the course was much quieter, I  knew which lines to take on descents, until the front end washed out on a black run descent! bugger! bars twisted, luckily I had allen keys so I straightened them, and carried on, but it did shake me up!

I swapped to my spare bike for the last two laps, nice to have working suspension and a fresh drivetrain! and I was also up to second! I felt good, the last two laps came without a fight, the last lap felt good, no major aches, good times! I finished second in 8hour solo 18-40 male, 3rd solo overall. 63miles, 7:30hrs, 9300feet of climbing. Chapeau to George Budd solo winner and the only person to do 11laps, beating the teams and pairs!!

Big thanks to the organisers to sorting my issues and putting on such a tough but rewarding course! thanks to my sister for pit help.

Thanks to Bike Photography for the photos

New Race Bike- Hongfu FM056

I have been impressed by my first chinese carbon 29er, it has been light and dependable, not the stiffest but it has survived several xc races and around 1000 training miles. So when I was looking for a race bike for this year I knew I could trust another chinese frame.

Frame: After further research I settled on the Hongfu FM056, it looked good and the geometry mirrored the  Scott Scale 29er so it should make a good race bike. Its light, but not the lightest at 1355grams, build quality is good, internal brake and gear cables are neat and tidy, and the headtube is a better length than my first frame.

Fork: I've always liked the design of Cannondale Lefty forks, stiffness is superior to standard forks and its a similar weight, but all packed into one prong. I opted for the XLR carbon version with remote lockout with a Project 321 tapered steerer adapter. Initial opinions are good, it tracks well, the lock out is great and it looks Badass!

Wheels: These have been a while in the making, Strada pulled through and built me some awesome 29er wheels, DT Swiss 240 rear and Cannondale Lefty front hubs  built on Strada carbon 29er rims with CX ray spokes, they are light, around 1450grams, which helps them spin with minimal effort. The best thing about them is the lateral stiffness compared to my regular aluminium rims, which is a disadvantage of the big wheels, but with these, there is no lateral flex, awesome! A great addition to any xc bike.

Drivetrain: I had originally wanted to go Sram xx-1 but parts were impossible to source and the huge cost of consumables (£300 for a rear cassette!) put me off. Since i've started using gears again Sram seem to have been reliable and easy to set up, X.0 throughtout, with 20 speeds, including a new Type 2 clutch rear mech, this gives me the option in the future to run a spiderless xx-1 style chainring for shorter races where 20 speed range isn't required.

Hope Race X2 brakes, well priced, light and relatively reliable, plus I have so many break pads from the other bikes it made sense.

Finishing Kit: Trusty Selle Italia SLR saddle. MT Zoom 700mm carbon bars, good quality, 0deg rise. Ergon GS-1 grips, round grips don't make sense to me, these are much comfier. Specialized S-works -12deg stem, in an effort to get the front end lower, looks great and lighter than Thomson. Trailbright Seatpost, Glynn contacted me asking whether i'd like to trial one after I broke my KCNC post, first impressions are good, its very light, the mechanism works well and the build quality is good. Matching Trailbright headset with ceramic bearings, nice quality and works well with the Lefty.

Thanks: Have to say thanks again to Strada for the wheels and fork and Finely Tuned Ride for putting the pro touches to the build, I know my limitation as a mechanic and my bikes always ride better after Rob's fettling.

Southern XC- Round 1

With Gorrick 100 and UK12 only a few weeks away I would be wise to try my legs on an XC race. The run up to the race wasn’t ideal, I broke my spare set of wheels and rode most of the week either road riding or on my Singlespeed, luckily Jonathan from Strada Wheels pulled through and I picked up my new bling set of Carbon 29er wheels. 29er wheels have a notorious habit for being flexible, luckily with carbon rims these wheels are super stiff, and get up to speed super quickly.

Arriving in plenty of time to Matterley Basin near Winchester I signed on and rode a quick practice lap to check conditions and learn the course, the course suited my strengths, it was not very technical and it had several long climbs. Conditions were good considering the heavy rain the previous day, summer tyres worked well, even on the slippery rooty sections, I was relieved and looked forward to racing.

Having not raced xc properly in 2 years, I opted for the sport category, lining up for the start I was happy with my choice. I had a good start and was easily inside the top ten by the end of the first climb, reaching the first singletrack we had caught the master cat back markers but the course suited overtaking.

At race pace the laps felt even shorter, first lap done, pushing on I was in second place, comfortable with the pace the second lap went well, onto the final lap I needed to make up over a minute to catch first place, this didn’t happen. I finished second which I was happy and surprised with, my lap times were all within 10seconds of each other and I had plenty left in the tank, which makes me think I should have stepped up to the expert cat, but as I confidence checker I was happy. Next race Gorrick 100.

More to follow on my new race bike!

Chinese 29er review- Carbonal Gaea 29er

I’m obsessed with bikes, but i’m quite tight with money. As much as i’d love a Scott Scale or a Santa Cruz Highball the high frame costs are out of my reach

I’d seen a forum thread on MTBR which featured chinese carbon 29er frames, it was almost 100 pages long and mainly positive views, a few horror stories, but as with many things to do with cycling I take these with a pinch of salt. Still undecided on which frame to pick I emailed a few contacts who I knew had a chinese frame, they both came back saying that the Carbonal Gaea was a safe bet, it also had the best suited geometry to my needs, as I had noticed many had incredibly short top tube lengths compared to the seat tube, the head and seat tube angle were also similar to my Niner frame.

A few promptly replied to emails from the seller at Carbonal and I had ordered a 19” UD matt finish frame, with integrated headset and shipping, for the some of £320. 1 week later it arrived, packaged well, but with very little documentation.

The build was simple enough, I’ve built a few bikes so i’m quite confident doing it myself. The internal gear cable routing caused a few headaches but my choice of Alligator I-link cables was to blame for that. Setting the rear mech was also tricky, the original mech hanger was not of the best quality, so it promptly snapped after a small amount of fettling, using the correct tool I hasten to add! replaced with a UK sourced alternative the gears work spot on, I used a 1 x 9 setup as I am used to one gear, so nine is a luxury. I imagine a 2 x 10, 3 x 10 or 1 x 11 would work just as well with the correct front mech.

I was not familiar with the tapered headset type, but the two bearings fit into a race, which is a structural part of the frame, I used an FSA 1.5” to 1 ⅛” adapter so i could run my existing 1 ⅛” RockShox Sid XX fork, no problems encountered.

The remainder of the build was simple: the brake routing is neat and simple: i’m using a mixture of Hope and Superstat hubs on Notubes Stans Crest rims, I particularly wanted a hub with 10mm quick release skewer compatibility to improve rear end stiffness and as Hope’s are too heavy and DT Swiss too expensive I went for Superstar, I know sealing isn’t great but the bearings look easy to replace.

Overall the quality seems good,I have noticed due to the incredibly short headtube is that the brake levers and gear shifter clash with the top tube, this can be remedied by having a stem which points up instead of down and more spacer, but as I prefer a low front end I will gamble on protecting the top tube and having low torque on parts which clash, incase they need to move. Initially I have had trouble with the seatpost slipping, i’ve heard this can be a problem, i’m working on a few remedies, carbon paste and well placed zip ties have helped, but it still slipped 2mm in 4 hours so it requires more thought.

So in conclusion initial thoughts are good, with a tough but simple built the complete bike with pedals etc is 21.8lbs. Its first proper outing was at the first round of the Brass Monkeys 4hour race series, I had a silly crash which saw me chase back to 10th overall but the bike felt good, fast on the hills and handled well in the slippy conditions. I plan to get the matching rigid fork to save my suspension forks over the winter, and matching carbon wheels to increase stiffness still further and reduce weight.

Update:

I decided to buy the matching rigid fork, initially put off buy the longer a-c height than my Niner rigid fork. First ride seems good, it is less refined than i'm used to, very stiff, with no "give" compared to the other forks i've tried, but for a winter fork for local riding I am happy so far.