I know, 'not another newbie!'

[Mark999]

Hello all

I've been floating around on this great little forum for a few months now, since I decided to get more into mountain biking. Well, I say mountain biking, when really I mean leisurely (relatively) rides through forests and along the Midland canal paths.

So, just introducing myself. I'm Mark, living in Coventry and keen to find others who may be interested in showing me how to progress on my bike (please don't reply to that with 'just use the pedals!'

).

I've got a Trek 6300disc and so far, it's proving to serve me well. Haven't really pushed it much, more the lack of others around me that are interested to go out and about than anything else.

So, feel free to slate my bike as long as those of you in and around Coventry offer to show me the local haunts, in a gentle-ish way!

Cheers all and keep up the good work on here - helps ups newbies out muchly!

 

[Hop3y]

Welcome pal!

I think I'm still classed as a newbie as such!

 

[Mark999]

Welcome pal!

I think I'm still classed as a newbie as such!

Thanks mate. Really trying to get into this - done the London to Brighton a couple of years ago and hopefully this year too. Off to read all about training for such a ride on here now (I know 57 miles odd isn't that many to most on here!)

Hope to get some inspiration from this site about where to ride, particularly those that prefer some gentle off roading but live in cities.. (well, outskirts).

 

[Hop3y]

Thats more than I've done in one go! I'm doing Burnley to Leeds on the canal at the end of the month. That's 52.5

 

[Mark999]

Thats more than I've done in one go! I'm doing Burnley to Leeds on the canal at the end of the month. That's 52.5

Excellent. Sounds good. Enjoy and let us know how it goes. Would be interested to hear about the gradient and surface type.. 52.5 is a challenge, to me anyway. All the best with it.

 

[cyberknight]

Welcome

slates bike ..

 

[Mark999]

Welcome

slates bike ..

Very good CyberKnight.

 

[Norm]

Greetings, Mark, welcome to CC. Your post sounds similar to mine 18 months ago. Great fun, isn't it, just meandering along the off-road tracks, the hum of the tyres matching the rhythms in your head. Beware, though, you might just be heading down a slippery slope with many n+1 traps along the way.

 

[Panter]

Welcome to CC and don't worry about your steed, the Trek 6300 is a great bike


Enjoy your cycling

 

[skudupnorth]

Welcome ! No snobs on here so don't worry too much about what you ride !

 

[cyberknight]

Welcome ! No snobs on here so don't worry too much about what you ride !

+1 mine are definitely in the budget camp If you passionate or even mildly curious we welcome you with open arms and will aim to lead on the road of bikes needed =bikes you have + 1

 

[Mark999]

Greetings, Mark, welcome to CC. Your post sounds similar to mine 18 months ago. Great fun, isn't it, just meandering along the off-road tracks, the hum of the tyres matching the rhythms in your head. Beware, though, you might just be heading down a slippery slope with many n+1 traps along the way.

Yep. it is great fun. Thats exactly it - meandering away, sometimes finding a bit of a downhill and just going for it.

Call me a dummy, but what do you mean 'n+1'? I'm sure it's blindingly obvious when you tell me!

 

[Mark999]

Welcome ! No snobs on here so don't worry too much about what you ride !

Thanks skudupnorth. Finding so many useful tips and tricks on here already.

 

[skudupnorth]

Thanks skudupnorth. Finding so many useful tips and tricks on here already.

Yep,loads of help and good folk on here and i'm on the budget fence aswell,no need to go too mad if it works for you !

 

[Norm]

Call me a dummy, but what do you mean 'n+1'? I'm sure it's blindingly obvious when you tell me!

Ah... the power of the N+1 is such that, once you know what it means, you will be under its spell.

It's a formula in which N = the number of bikes you own currently, and +1 is the number of bikes that you need to own when trying to persuade the holder of the purse-strings to loosen them up a little.

So, you currently have 1 bike - N=1

However, (the discussion goes) you do actually need a road bike, for those times when the weather is lovely and you want to head off for a day in the countryside covering a bit of distance without the weight of the off-road bike. So, there's your N+1 = 2

Then, you need a bike to head into town, a bit of a beater, nothing special or flash, but it would be good if it had a rack and panniers so you can do the shopping without paying parking charges. So, now N+1=3.

Then, you find you love riding on the road but your aluminium frame, whilst light, is a bit buzzy, it would be great to have a steel framed bike. It's 30 years old and a friend was selling it very cheap. And now N+1=4

etc