Training for a 3-hour x-country

**warewolf** · 25th May 2010, 23:13

Originally Posted by topo

(maybe it was the new tires).

New tyres are the best performance mod you can make to any bike.

Originally Posted by NordieBoy

no suspension and no brakes.

Funny how at the 6 hour the TSS front end was 'the schizz' and now it is relegated to 'no suspension.'

I thought after the 6 hour you worked out what was wrong with the brakes... which implies you bothered to fix it??

Speaking to Sij ('Berg FE450) today, he says he really enjoyed it. Helped pull Nordieboy out of the bog, and also Wazza (G450X) after several off-piste excursions.

**NordieBoy** · 26th May 2010, 09:35

Originally Posted by warewolf

Funny how at the 6 hour the TSS front end was 'the schizz' and now it is relegated to 'no suspension.'

The 6-hour wasn't nearly this rough and I didn't ride for 3 hours in one go

I was riding much faster/harder than I've done in a 3-hour before. Every so often the front would "clunk" at the top/bottom of the travel whereas before that's what happened over all bumps. I wouldn't have lasted half the race if I'd done that pace on the "old" suspension. I'd also put some Vibranators in the bars to reduce vibration.

Originally Posted by warewolf

I thought after the 6 hour you worked out what was wrong with the brakes... which implies you bothered to fix it??

The brakes are probably about as good as single leading shoe XR drum brakes are going to get. It just wasn't a drum brake friendly track. They were constantly wet from the nicely spaced out river crossings and bogs. The enduro-cross section wasn't friendly to low ground clearance bikes either. I kept caseing out on the skidder tyres and the first of the 3 log sections.

Originally Posted by warewolf

Speaking to Sij ('Berg FE450) today, he says he really enjoyed it. Helped pull Nordieboy out of the bog, and also Wazza (G450X) after several off-piste excursions.

I think he looked forward to the rests off the bike

That's the first time I've ever been stuck in a bog.

In a bit dryer weather it would be an awesome track. However with all the wetness it was merely really good.

Almost the whole track would be ADV bike friendly in the dry except for the small steep section straight down through the trees and then a small drop off to a 90 degree right hander in a bog at the bottom. I kept thinking I was going to go over the bars at the bottom of that one.