The annual Runners versus Riders race is 10 miles of lung-bursting strength sapping agony. It’ll be my first race in over three years, I’ve trained hard and I want to do well.

Warming up before the start I’m a little nervous. This manifests itself in the form of phantom pees, almost as soon as I’ve put me willy away I wanna go again. This is normal, and a good sign. Also warming up are Doc, he looks fit and purposeful. Gary, he always looks fit, has won before, and in my mind is the man to beat. Marcus is here, he only shows if he has some form, and he’s a past winner.

As we sit on the start line there’s a young whippet on a Litespeed titanium with trick bits next to me. Someone is telling him that he’ll go well and will win! We’re off!!! I jump into second place on the tarmac so as to keep out of trouble but take some shelter. We start the climb accross the field towards the forest. The ground is very soft, like riding with flat tyres in porridge. Dave Price (Pricer) puts in a stinging attack, and Gary goes after him. There’s no way I can match that.

We cross the road into the forest, I’m in third place. Litespeed lad comes past me and opens up a gap. The climb through the forest is a tough one, Gary has caught Pricer and is almost out of sight. Down the ramp and onto the fire road. The gradient eases slightly, more my sort of climb. I clang down the block a couple of gears and mash on. Litespeed lad comes back to me in no time, I slow for a second behind him then lift it past him to deter him from hanging on. I catch Pricer just before the singletrack at the bottom of Chemical Bank. I scramble past trying to look smooth and strong. Continue reading →

With the Pearce Cycles annual runners versus riders just over a week away, plus the fact that I’m in second place on the Pearce Cycles Champion of Champions 2006 leader board, the pressure is on, and a final push will see me on the start line in good form.

For the last couple of months I’ve been out with the Radbroke Wheelers, a mix of roadies and triathletes who thrash around the lanes of Cheshire for an hour or so each lunchtime. They ride roadbikes, or cross bikes with road tyres. I have been riding my mountainbike. It has been absolute agony, but come rain shine and gales I’ve been there. On good days I have contributed, on bad days I’ve just grovelled on wheels, but I’ve not been dropped once, and the hard work is surely paying off. I feel fitter, faster, and more aggressive on the bike.

Why am I trying so hard? Well, after last years poor performance I was dissapointed in myself at having let my fitness go so much, and resloved to do something about it. It’s amazing how having a goal spurs you on.

My Chances? I know that my main rivals have also been out training hard, but I don’t think they’ve put in as much work as me, and I’m banking on the fact that they won’t have the miles in their legs, and will fade early. I’m playing my cards very close to my chest, and haven’t mentioned to anyone how much work I have put in.

I’m cutting back on the miles this week, but keeping the intensity high, I’ve lost some weight, and I’m feeling mean. A final push…..

I’ve used Crank Bros pedals before, for cyclo-cross. I had two sets of Eggbeaters. I chose them because they were light, simple, easy to use, and fantastic in mud. They gave a couple of seasons of faultless service (I stripped and regreased them regularly). After that I sold the bikes. They may still be going strong.

I’ve always associated the Crank Bros name with quality specialist products. To me the Smarty pedals looked cheap. Maybe it was the plastic, or the shiny black spindles I’m not sure. Also not sure about the spare plastic covers in different colours. Seemed like a waste of plastic to me. I expect they’d end up in that drawer where things go never to be found again. But they are very light, much lighter than the Shimano pedals I took off.

Fitting the Smartys was a piece of cake, no problem, simple. Pedals fitted to the bike in seconds, and the cleats only took a little longer. Because Crank Bros pedals have such good float there was no need to spend ages lining cleats up, then testing and tweaking. Just line ’em up fairly straight, tighten the bolts and you’re done. No tension screw to faff about with either. In fact they were so easy to set up I tried them with three different pairs of shoes. Top Marks!

Once fitted it was time to ride. As a rider with experience of clip-in pedals the Smartys took no time at all to get used to. Clip in was easy and sure, clip out was the same. I could use them confidently straight away. Top Marks again.

But, they creaked. The shoe creaked against the pedal. This was worse on the oldest pair of shoes I tried, and it maybe that the creaking would stop as they beded in. They didn’t seem to be designed with maintenence in mind. The plastic end cap was difficult to remove, and I could see how it could easily become loose/worn and get lost. The pedals had a larger Q factor (meaning that the riders feet are further apart) than the Shimano ones I took off. While this was not a problem for me, I know it is a biomechanical issue with some riders.

As I understand it Smartys are Crank Bros budget pedal, and as such I think they are great. As I said earlier, i’ve always associated Crank Bros with quality specialist products. If I was looking for a cheap lightweight pedal then the Crank Bros name would give me confidence, and I would look no further. Would I buy some? Well for cyclo-cross yes, but for mountainbiking no. My mountainbiking pedals take such a hammering that I choose robust over lightness every time. I’ve had one bad painful experience with a lightweight pedal, and I don’t want another. Placed side by side with a similarly priced but much heavier Shimano pedal I’d choose the Shimano one.

Bear in mind that I only tested the pedals on one ride so cannot comment on how they’d be long-term. I tested them on my Spesh Stumjumper Hardtail. I tested them with three pairs of shoes – a hardly used but old pair of Shimano, an old pair of Specialized 2000 pro race shoe, and a Specialized 2006 carbon soled race shoe.

Thanks to Julie of 2Pure, and Pearce Cycles for the opportunity to try these pedals.

First some background – The last time I got the chance to test an Epic and an FSR back to back, side by side, was in 2004 (we also rode a 2004 Enduro that day). At that time the FSR had 100mm at both ends, and I loved it so much I bought one. The Epic also had 100mm both ends, and I didn’t like it at all. Since then I have owned a 2005 FSR, which I had a love/hate relationship with, before going back to a Stumpjumper Hardtail for 2006.

My testing partner for the day was my brother ‘Supawal’. The great thing about testing with Supawal is that we ride almost identical set-up, so swithching bikes mid test was a simple matter of switching bikes! Technically we are of similar ability, so differences in bike should show more. We chose Mortimer Forest as our test venue, as it has a good mix of trails and terrains.

Both test bikes looked sexy in their colours. I’ve often prefereed the colours of the test bikes to the colours of the production bikes. The FSR was a lovely purple colour, while the Epic looked hot in mustard yellow. After checking tyre/shock pressures, setting saddle heights we loaded them into the van. Both bikes felt light, the Epic especially. I’d say the 2007 Epic with it’s E5 frame is only slightly heavier than my 2005 M4 Stumpy HT.

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A lovely sunny autumn day, it’s mid morning, and I’m supposed to be working, but can’t wait any longer. I decide to take an early lunch and go out on my bike.

Outside it’s warm enough for shorts and a short sleeved jersey. As I carry my bike down the steps to the road it occurs to me that I have dramatically increased the weight of my bike by adding a bottle cage and bottle (did I mention that she only weighs 16lbs? 😉 ).

Round the sharp left-hander and onto the short climb out of the cul-de-sac she handles beautifully, and surges forward when I press on the pedals. Out of the saddle on the hoods feels completely comfortable. Out onto the main road, and along past the school where there is a long stretch of frost damaged road, a perfect test for the Roubaix’s Zertz damping. I rattle across it at a brisk pace. I can still feel the road, the feedback is still there, but the jackhammer jolts that you would get from a normal road race bike have no sting.

Heading downhill towards Wolverley I pick up a lot of speed. OK, now I’m not so happy, I feel a little wary going this fast. It’s not the bike, it’s the traffic. I move out from the kerb a little and push on, it’s only half a mile to my turn.

Up through Wolverley village and onto the lanes. Kingsford lane runs along the bottom of Kinver edge, at around three miles long it’s a snaking roller-coaster of a lane and a good test for the Roubaix. I float along effortlessly, just the whoosh from the tyres, in the beautiful countryside, under the lovely autumn sun. I weave my way through the lanes to the Sheepwalks, probably the biggest steepest climb in the area. Pushing myself back on the saddle I take the first part of the climb seated, hands on the tops. It feels easy.

The climb eases, and the panorama opens out. I can see the Abberleys, the Malverns, and beyond. The final part of the climb is a steep ramp, and I attack it out of the saddle. Legs stinging with ‘good’ pain I reach the top and decide to stop a while and take it all in.

I’d been out for around an hour now, the bike had exceeded all of my expectations. I decided to push on a bit to see if it was real, or whether I could break the spell. By Shatterford I had worked up a good sweat, the faster I went the more I liked it. Back towards Kinver, sprinting every rise, and feeling funky. Speeding into Cookley with 1:40 done I stormed up the last climb before dashing down the A449 towards the lights at ‘Nabarro’s Folley’. No fear of the speed or the traffic now.

Almost two hours done, and I had worked hard in places. No back-ache, shoulder fine, feeling as fresh as when I started out. Spell still in tact 🙂 But, I was on my own, what I really need is someone to test it out on 😉