maybe not this one
Before we look at that a bit more I need to mention that I've ridden twice since Sunday.
On Monday I got my MTB back out to accompany SuperSam to cyclones, which was only a couple of miles away from home so we rode there. I loved it on Bunker Hill when Sam sledged me with "going a bit slow aren't you Dad?" It was also good to see him out on the road on my faithful Forme Longcliffe. That bike has been excellent for me and I think it's got a lot of life in it to help Sam. Once at the Oxford University Press car park, Sam went off with the big kids and I helped out with the middle group. It was good to get the legs moving again and also good that I got the bike back out because I'd given it a thorough clean but neglected to oil the chain. That Cotswold mud had stripped it dry and rust was already forming. Lots of oil was applied whilst making sure this time that I didn't get any on the disk brakes.
Tonight I got out with C&D Cycles CC for a rare midweek group ride. Andy has planned to do a group ride every night this week to celebrate the predicted better weather. On a windy, damp night, you'd never have guessed that it's going to be sunshine all the way to the weekend. Clothing choice was very tricky but for me it was shorts weather, base layer and summer jersey. We must have had every other combo imaginable in the group. It was just that sort of weird weather!
A good group of regulars and a couple of faces I was less familiar with met at C&D Cycles at 5.50pm for an advertised 28 mile steady paced social ride. My only dislike with these rides is getting in and out of Kettering at that time of day is challenging. I was narrowly missed by a van rushing through a gap with no awareness that I was a split second from filling that gap!
Once out of Kettering things got good. This was ideal for me in terms of length, pace and fun. The wind made it odd in places as the usually very fast Desborough Road Drop was much harder work than usual. I'm always hoping to improve my time on that segment but I'm not sure I ever will. I think it was wind behind when I got one of my very rare top ten times.
With the wind almost behind us, Bairdy and I had some fun on the fast road into Loddington. We were flying along until a disappointing temporary traffic light spoilt it all. I headed home from Loddington feeling great after such a nice spin. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the ride was that in addition to being out with my mates we also had another newbie with us who seemed to enjoy the benefits of group riding.
So back to the Cotswolds and the best bike for the job debate. In the group we had a mixture of MTB and CX bikes. We can even have a direct comparison as I was on my Forme Ripley 1.0 and Andy was on his Forme Calver. Jason who was one of the best climbers on the day was on his Voodoo Bizango, a bike he describes as a "Halford's Special." Ashley who also had areal crack at the hills was on his Scott Scale. Chris, Josh, Will and Ian were all on CX. I don't recall the MTB bike Rob was on, all I know is that he was he only person who rode up absolutely everything.
Early into the ride we were on a rough steep track where full suspension might have been good. It was difficult to get traction and it was certainly Jason's opinion that full suss would help. At other times though we were on those rutted muddy trails where CX can be better.
Possibly the biggest factor was gearing. My 1x set up gives me a 34/36 combo for the steepest climbs. I did wonder if one of those dinner plate rear cogs would help. It's what Rob had with 48 teeth. I'm guessing he had the same chain-ring size so where my ratio was 0.9, he had the benefit of 0.7. In the roughest of terms that means I was getting 0.9 of one wheel revolution for every full crank revolution compared to 0.7 for Rob. Then if we look at Jason with his more traditional 2x set up he had 22/32 as his combo, which he described as: "sticking it in the wee ring!" That's probably the lowest ratio available to any of us at 0.69. I think Ashley had a 34/42 (0.8,) but I've guessed that from the specifications on the Scott website.
Of course there's a little more to it with wheel size and again I didn't notice if we were all on 27.5 or if someone had a 29r. I'm not saying I'd have managed the hills in the style of Rob and Jason if I had their ratios, because I suspect they had better engines than me (not an accusation of motor doping, I just think they're fitter!) However I am wondering if I would have fared better on my Focus 29r with it's traditional 3x set up. It's way heavier than the Ripley but has the lowest gearing, plus....29rs and rolling and all that...(just to clarify again, there's no way I'd take the Focus, I still really love the Ripley, plus the Focus now belongs to Sam.)
As for Andy on the Forme Calver. Well he has a 1x system with a 42/42 set. No maths is required to work out the figures there...it's 1. So he hadn't got quite the low gears we had on the mountain bike but it wasn't far off and he had a much lighter bike by virtue of being a CX rather than MTB. Even our club Mountain Goat didn't have enough gears to ride up every hill though. That probably says a lot about how tough it was. Josh really had to get the wattage out with 40/32 being his lowest gear.
So, with all of that information in mind am I going to rush out and change my rear cassette to get one of those monster cogs? Chris has been really helpful in pointing out that all the stuff I need to convert is easy to find on Ebay. No. No I'm not going to do that. In last years FNSS I can only think of one hill I couldn't get up. I couldn't do that even with the tiny gears of my 29r so a dinner plate really won't change that. If I lived and rode in the Cotswolds every day, yeah, I'd change my gearing. Right now I think the best bang for my buck is to knuckle back down on the diet, shift a bit more timber and work on my leg strength. If that doesn't get me there then I'll have a rethink!
So which bike was he best choice for the ride we did on Sunday? I still think that MTB had the edge.
On that I became even more thankful for the great service I get from C&D Cycles. Today I spotted my Forme Ripley 1.0 in an advert for an online retailer. Forme list it's RRP as £1000 however this retailer was advertising at £1,165 claiming it to be a bargain as they'd reduced from their claimed RRP of £1,300. I'd hate to think that someone falls for that!
I'm hoping to get a few more rides in this week so we'll see what happens. I'm not planning any more bonus blogs though!
Happy Pedalling
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