JB - Malakoff Race Report

Saturday
I turned up bright and early at pm11's house on Saturday morning, ready for the trip down to JB. Unfortunately pm11 was still sound asleep, recovering from his work the night before. After convincing the family of pm11 that I was not some crazy person wanting to break into the house, I was let in and put in charge of babysitting duties...

Eventually pm11 rose from his slumber and started getting ready. By now the team manager pm1 and his boss pm21 had arrived too. After convincing the youngest member of the team, pm11's little daughter, that JB was really an interesting place to go to and she would be rewarded with shiny stickers, we were ready to set off. Only to be delayed again because pm1 had to spend a long time in the toilet. Finally, after making sure that everyone was on board, bike securedly fastened to rack and all bags were in the car, team Der_Pacemaker was ready to rock JB.

Team Der_Pacemaker was well prepared for the third and final MMDS of 2004 with a professional setup which was the envy of many other teams. Besides the two runners and a cyclist, we also had a full support team consisting of team manager, team mechanic, psychological coaches, timekeeper, photographers, map readers and team mascot. Yes it sounds like a lot of people but we still managed to fit everyone into a Proton Wira. With the bike on the roof and a boot full of luggage.

The long journey down to JB was punctuated by 2 rest stops and a domestic argument in the pm11 family about whether Skudai and Kulai were the same place. After over 400km we arrived at the M-Suites hotel for the collection of race numbers and the pre-race briefing. This was also a chance to check out the competition in our men's team category. The first name to appear was Krishma, the runner for the winning team in the past 2 MMDS races. Immediately we knew that that was likely to be the winning team. A more detailed check reveal a team from sunny Thailand - they must be very confident to come all the way to JB (unless they worked in Singapore!) so we suspected they would be pretty quick. After the race briefing and video from MMDS2, the hordes descended on the buffet table, being particularly quick at clearing the mini-cakes from the trays.

Having satisfied our stomachs we had a quick scout round the course (oh no there are two big hills!) before heading back to Kulai where pm11's sister lives. The 30-odd km took quite a while due to the heavy traffic - must be all the S'poreans out shopping in JB. We were treated to a nice big meal when we got there. This was certainly more than enough carbo loading for the following day. Not that we really needed any for the short distance. The team mechanic started work on the bike after dinner to get it into top form for the race. The brakes were adjusted, gears were tuned and finally the riding position of pm11 was also optimised to make him go faster on the big day. Everything done, we went to bed, dreaming of the prizes on offer.

Sunday
Getting up early in the morning is always difficult, even if there is a race to go to. Loaded everything into the car half-awake (remembering to put the bike on the roof) without forgetting anything was quite an achievement. Particularly so for pm11's little girl who probably didn't really want to go and watch people run and cycle for several hours. Got to the start of the race about 1 hour before the start of the race, thanks to pm11's fast driving.

After talking to some of the other competitors - Azwar (pm3), Krishma and friend, Cecil, Goh, Don, Thomas... it was time for a warmup. I jogged round for a bit and went to check out the hill with pm11 on his bike. We had to make sure that we knew how long and how hard the hill was. The hour of reckoning came closer and closer. Pm11 parked his bike in the transition area and joined the rest of the team while I proceeded to the start line which was now full of people. After a few customary photos, it was time to get down to business...

Bang went the gun and off everyone went. Round the corner past the traffic lights and the first hill started. Going along the outside, I got into my rhythm and started floating up the hill, overtaking many people in the process. However, the front runners were too far gone. I noted that Krishma did not have a particularly fast start and it was only on the hill that he started moving through the pack. A brief respite in the form of a little downhill, then left at the traffic lights and a bit of a false flat before the second climb. By now race order has been established, at least around me, so there was far less overtaking going on.

Still managed to get past a few people on the twisty second hill but just couldn't catch a tall Caucasian ahead of me. This situation remained the same for the rest of the race with him hanging in there, so near yet so far. On the long home stretch, I had to concentrate on my stride pattern and breathing to block out negative thoughts that invariably strike me during certain part of races. Think light steps, think floating along the ground...

Finally the padang came into sight so I quickly checked behind to make sure no one was trying to sneak up on me. Upping my tempo, I made a final last ditch effort to catch the runner in front (not easy if you are also trying to smile at the photographers dotted all over the place!). I was extra careful to physically step on the timing mats (actually this is not required - RFID should work as long as you pass over it) going into the transition. A quick swap of the leg tag and pm11 was off on the bike. Leaving me to walk slowly to warm down and rejoin the support team. My time of 32'15" definitely meant that the course was less than 9km.

The support team was working hard. Pm21 had already noted down the finishing times and time gaps between all our major competitors. It appeared that we were over 2 minutes behind the two leading teams but still well ahead of the 4th team in our category. Pm11 was told to take a conservative approach during the 1st cycling lap to familiarise himself with the undulations of the route before going all out in subsequent laps. When pm11 came round for his first lap, we noted that the Thai team was not pulling significantly ahead of him while Krishma's team with a Singapore national rider was nowhere to be seen. I decided to walk up along the Lido for the second lap to have a better idea of how the race was going. Seeing pm11 flying down the seafront, on his way to finish the second lap, I reminded him to eat to keep his energy up for the second half of the ride.

By now we had a fairly good idea about where we were likely to finish. The cyclist in the first team was taking massive time out of the Thai cyclist (3 minutes per lap!). The Thai cyclist was only a little bit faster than pm11 but they started around 2 minutes ahead of us so we were not going to catch them. Our main concern, the fourth placed team who started their cycle section over 6 minutes behind us, was not gaining any time on pm11. Therefore, unless something unexpected happened, we were going to be third. So the last two laps were a matter of holding our position and getting to the finish safely. What was particularly amazing was Ben, the eventual winner of the men's individual race. He did the first run in 29' and managed to keep up with the Singapore national cyclist from the 1st team nearly all the way until the final lap. Very very fit racer!

After a quick warmup (pm1 did not realise that pm11 was already on his last lap!), pm1 set off on the final leg of the relay after pm11 arrived at the finish after a great ride, having been fighting with a strong headwind down the seafront for the last couple of laps. It was very hot by now and the runners were fairly spread out. After overtaking several people in the first half of the run, pm1 found himself running on his own with nobody in front who was within target distance. We forgot to remind pm1 that we had a huge gap to the fourth team before he started on his run. Therefore, he valiantly tried to push hard despite the heat. Subsequently he did mention that it was nearly impossible to go fast because he was cooking under the sun.

As the last runner, pm1 had the privilege of breaking the tape at the finish line and getting his photo taken under the digital clock. 2:52:15 was our time, though I must say that the photo looks very much like a marathon finishing photo with pm1 having done sub-3 hours. Der_Pacemaker team was euphoric, this being our first ever podium finish! We had several photographers taking photos of the team, many of which had big expensive cameras so we assumed they must be official photographers. After our moment of fame, we retreated to a shady spot under the tents to have some food, drink lots of fluids and waited for the official prize giving ceremony...

Two hours later, after lots of cheering for other competitors finishing in the blazing sunshine, the time came for our moment of glory - the men's team race. "Fifth place....", "Fourth place....", "Third place..." - eh why not us? Must be because one of the top 2 teams got disqualified. "Second place..." Hey that's the Thai team. Where are we? Have we been disqualified? That is when the world collapsed all around us. This cannot be! I have actually seen a list at the finish line where "3rd" was marked against our team name.

In a state of traumatic shock, we searched for answers. After grilling a few officials, we spoke to Melody who checked the hand written results sheet and noticed that team 312 Der_Pacemaker had been missed when copying results over to the listed used for the prize presentation. She was very apologetic and promised that we will get our prize money. Unfortunately as we later found out, the list used for the prize presentation was already handed out to newpaper reporters who used it in their report the following day.

So we missed our chance of glory on stage and also the chance to see our names in print. The rest of the story as they say is now history and the correspondence between us and the organisers have already been posted. I have to emphasize that the organisers on the whole (especially Melody) have been very helpful and very open about their mistake. Der_Pacemaker team will be back to rock MMDS. Maybe even two teams... Hope I get the chance to do it all again.

Note: Photos will be put in later today

Location 3°N 101°E

Life passing me by,,,

Haven't updated this thing for a while. Life has been really hectic for the past 2 months. Moved countries (or more accurately moved back), started a new job in a new field, quit the job (but still working out the notice period), finding out lots of useless information about various things, writing and rewriting countless reports, doing valuations of many companies, working 50-60+ hour weeks, getting up just before 7am every morning and often not getting home before 10pm, getting up even earlier on Sunday to go training (only 1 day in the weekend, have to work 1/2 day every Saturday), spending around 3 hours commuting every day, did two races with more to come, ran hundreds of laps round KLCC park in the dark, met a great group of runners & cyclists, tried but usually failed to get to Kampung Pandan track on Tuesdays and Thursdays for track training with coach Chan, ate countless Rotiboys after running, discovered that drinking coffee can cost more than lunch itself, flashed at many middle / fast lane hoggers in the car, drove far too quickly for the speed limit on highways, didn't do a lot of photography (pity...), read many many books (and research reports, yawn!) on the train, slept a lot on the train, still practising how to squeeze onto the LRT and KTM Kommuter in a big crowd, caught the 9:18pm train with seconds to spare too many times to count, failed to email my dearest often enough, made hours and hours of international phone calls to the same, tried most of the food courts in the buildings around KLCC, haven't had any real dark chocolate for nearly 2 months......

Location 3°N 101°E

Running downhills is bad for you!?

Went for a run with the local running club this morning. A 0630 meet up (yes, Sunday morning) at the local track which I know so well from school days. It's been upgraded from black cinder to synthetic some years ago. I still remember the days when running in lane 1 after heavy rain was good training for cross country. After the upgrade, there was a big controversy regarding the fence which was put up round the track to stop people from using the nice new track. Eventually common sense prevailed and the track is open to public use in the mornings and evenings unless there is a prior booking. Well no one in the right mind would use it around midday anyway.

Took it fairly easy on the run in case I fall dead from the heat. The route was one of my former usual training routes, including one ascent of my favourite "HRmax Test Hill" about 1/2 way round. Why this name? Well last time I was back, for my *first* run, I did 3x hard up this hill and notched up maximums in the high 190s. Partly because of the heat though. My experience is that HRs are usually around 10-20 bpm higher in these conditions especially in the first few runs. Unlike the Worcester Joggers, there is no requirement to "muster back". Therefore, before long there was just a long string of runners along the road.

Overheard today: "Running downhills is very bad for your legs so I run down this hill 1-2 minutes slower than I run up it." I think thus guy really needs to do more training downhill because he was complaining of very sore legs after doing a hilly 15km race the week before!

Location 3°N 101°E

Stranger in a familiar land

Saw many anvil shaped clouds on the bumpy descent into KLIA. It's thunderstorm season! KLIA still half empty - great airport but where are all the planes? Met dad who arrived a bit before me on another flight and split up at immigration where I had to go in a separate queue because I didn't have the machine readable new passport. I'll hold out for as long as I can... Told someone off for cutting the queue at immigration. No one else said or did anything. Meek sheep they were.

Bike bag reappeared with contents still the same shape as when it went into the bag. Conveyor broke down and other bag was delayed slightly. KLIA must be one of the only airports in the world where there are at least 2 people attending to each baggage carousel. Their purpose? To shift the bags around at the point where they emerge so that they don't crash into one another.

Rained hard on the way back from airport, continued on and off over the afternoon into the evening. Took the edge off the temperature a bit so it was only around 29°C. Now that I have gotten used to broadband, dialup is SOOOO SLOOOWWWW...

Location 3°N 101°E

8 miles up, and down to hidey hole

For the last part of the flight into Dubai, the flightpath skirted close to the Saudi-Iraqi border. Was sat on the left hand side of the plane again so I didn't get a view into Iraq. We were flying at 41,000ft at the time (7.77miles up), the highest that I can remember seeing. Certainly the big twins usually cruise than 4 engine jets, but how high do they normally (or abnormally) go to?


Dubai Airport duty free shops

Dubai airport to me is highly overrated. Duty free heaven? Maybe I am looking at the wrong shops, but I didn't find the choice or prices there to be all that good. No Wifi APs anywhere too. Most of the eating areas are not non-smoking too. Thought I would have to sit on the floor next to a pillar with power sockets again like last time. This time I struck lucky in the Irish Bar place near gate 22. At the extreme righthand corner next to the visible kitchen, there is a little alcove with two power sockets. Another guy with an old Mac laptop was there too. Yeah us poor guys not on Pentium-Ms who have to keep the batteries topped up. The waiters joked that it looked like a mini internet cafe. We told him that if they install free WiFi they probably would have to beat the customers away with a stick.

Location 25°N 55°E

Overweight and Overpriced

8kg overweight I was, I mean my check in luggage. Hardly surprising as I had one case filled with clothes (3 sets of running kit, 2 sets of cycling kit, 3 shirts, 1 full suit, 4 pairs of trousers, 2 ties, 1 pair of running shoes, chargers for various things...) and a bulging bike bag (green monster with copious padding plus some tools, 1 pair of cycling shoes, 1 pair of racing shoes, 1 pair of sandals...). Looks like a pretty full flight from the way that everyone's hand luggage was weighed. My "hand luggage" consisted of one laptop bag (laptop, heavy book, several CD-ROMs...) and one camera bag (camera, mini tripod, 2 sets of batteries, filters, CF cards...). My laptop bag was 2kg over the limit, remedied by taking out the Investment Valuation book which weighs exactly 2kg. I was told to "carry it by hand" so that I am considered to have "No Hand Luggage" because I am already overweight. In theory laptops and cameras are looked at in the same vein as umbrellas, baby strollers and similar items - their weight doesn't count. Something to remember when you are in a similar situation (read the small print on air tickets).

Now for my gripes. Emirates will carry certain sports equipment in addition to the usual luggage allowance for free, including golf clubs and scuba diving gear. So why not bicycles? Because it does not fit in with their image of senile golfers and sunkissed divers in the red sea? Total bullsh*t. Deduct one point from Emirates for this. Another thing about Emirates, they have a 3-4-3 seat arrangement in economy class on their B777 compared to the usual 3-3-3. Don't know whether they do this by using narrower seats or narrower aisles. I certainly haven't had any trouble with this (see below) but worth watching out for if you are slightly wider than average.

Furthermore, I feel that I am discriminated against when I fly due to my lack of bodyweight. Eight bl**dy kg overweight. More than 50% of people in the check in queue would be happy if they were my weight + 8kg. And it is 50% because there is a high proportion of people of Asian origin on the flight, otherwise it might well be 75%. People should be weighed together with their luggage on flights and discounts or extra charges being applied on total weight. Have given a lot of thought about these over the years. Need to talk to people who know more about the cost structure of airlines about this.

The T1 departure lounge in Birmingham Airport was its usual bustling self. Except that a few keyboards with TFT screens have been set up as internet access points. There was a WiFi logo upon closer examination with SSID clearly indicated and no WEP. Happiness! I can spend the two hours of waiting on line. Booted the laptop up, scanned for connections with Netstumbler and immediately found two open AP and one WEP encrypted AP, the latter likely to be someone using their own laptop. Opened the browser up... uh oh... https... please pay £4 for 1/2 hour, £6 for 1 hour, £12 for 1 day etc etc. Oh well thats killed my plan then, despite a bit of fiddling about trying to find a way round it.

Location 52°N 2°W

Out in the big smoke

Night out to the bright lights of Brummieland last night. Picked up the lady from work, late, because my mind was wandering off somewhere else at M5-M42 junction. Got there in the end after a scramble through the southern reaches of Birmingham suburbia through Kings Norton and down Pershore Road. Again places I used to know so well. It's hard to gather any real sense of nostalgia for such mundane places little worth mentioning, but hey this might be the last time I go round that bit of the world for a while.

We decided to go to Lasan for dinner as we have heard a lot about it (Yes I know, the website is under construction - The manager was taking photos as we ate). This was, according to the Independent newspaper (or tabloid as it will only be sold in tabloid size as of this week), one of the 10 best Indian restaurants in the UK. Worried that it would be packed full, a late reservation was made at 3pm for a table for two, seating at 6:30pm, much to the delight of the person on the phone who said that the big crunch usually starts at 7pm.

The outside of the place was well hidden in a side street just off St Paul's Square. It would not have merited another look if you didn't know what you were looking for. The inside was pretty modern and minimalist in style, though I felt that the music was somewhat loud. Shouldn't have bothered with booking at it was totally deserted at 6:45pm. After ordering a Cobra (the beer, not the reptile), we settled down to study the menu - "To Start, To Follow ...".

Decided to share a red mullet with spicy salsa for starters and go for the methi lamb shank as main course with three vegetarian side dishes - marrow curry, okra and pickled mango, lentils and baby aubergines. As none of these came with any form of carbohydrates, we also asked for a pilau rice and a paratha. The red mullet came promptly enough, two fillets stacked on a pile of greens. The fillets were tasty enough, though I was somewhat uncertain about the texture. It felt unlike the red mullets I had before, most of which were grilled whole on the bone which gave a more flaky meaty texture. These did not flake as much and felt more chewy, leading to suspicions that they were not fully defrosted before cooking.

The mains arrived soon after the table was cleared. A hefty shank of lamb stood upright in a green sauce with flecks of darker green. The meat was meltingly tender and slid off the bone easily. It was possible to taste some of the individual spices in the sauce which was definitely a departure from the usual ghee-laden curries. The same theme was carried over to the veggie side dishes which were individually different in taste. The okra, one of our favourite greens, were cooked to perfection, still retaining its shape but far from stringy. They were somewhat stingy with the baby aubergines, or did I misread the menu when it said "baby aubergine" without the 's'. The paratha was a real highlight - light, crispy and fragrant. It resembled the good roti canai / murtabaks more than the usual thick heavy greasy parathas. There wasn't enough rice to soak up all the nice juices so we asked for another portion of it.

Mains over and nearly full, we were interested to look at the dessert menu. After all, the desserts were apparently a strength of this place. We received a small A5 card each titled "To End" with a list of specialties including a choice of Indian sweets. Having decided on one dessert each - firni brulee tart and warm carrot halva with ice cream, we were informed that the desserts may take 20-30 minutes as they needed to be prepared from scratch. Both desserts came after a brief wait, nowhere as long as expected. The carrot halva came with a raspberry couli, as expected, but the tart did too. Perhaps the kitchen was being generous. Both desserts were finely crafted piece of art, and went down very slowly. This was more due to bursting waistlines more that anything. I felt that my brulee tart was a tad too creamy towards the end but it could just be me feeling the strain.

In summary, 1 starter, 1 main, 3 sides, 2 pilau rice, 1 paratha, 2 desserts, 1 Cobra between the two of us was perhaps a bit over ambitious. The damage came to around £40 which I suppose is about right for this type of quality and quantity. The lady said that it was good but not *that* good, but bear in mind that it is not often that she feels that something is perfect.

After the meal we went to watch "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" at the AMC Cinema near Five Ways, first time we had been there (or any cinema for a while, come to think of it). I thought it was a decent enough movie, especially the idea and storyline about memory erasure, though the both of us suffered from nausea towards the end of the movie. Whether this was due to the big (and congealment of fat in the stomach?) dinner or the camera work is a moot point because it sort of put a damper on the evening. Oh yes, the seats were good at the AMC, better than most cinemas we have been to.

Location 52°N 2°W

Who moved my cheese?

Went for a longish slow run with the club last night. Ran through the usual fields and along the river. What was cabbages a few weeks ago is now newly ploughed brown earth ready for the next crop. I will miss this when I am gone, the golden evenings of padded footsteps on fresh grass, bursting through into a hillside covered in brilliant yellow oil-seed rape... Well not the claggy farmyard mud you get after days of rain though. Or the bull that has been moved into the same field you are crossing!


Picture from the BBC website

Booked a physio appointment today. Good to get a checkup and learn some strengthening exercises. I must be one of the most misaligned people around. Funny that I haven't had more trouble with injuries. Went and did a minor food shop and then on to the Cornish Pasty place in town where the production process is in full view (get to see how much meat they put in). Now I am not the greatest fan of lardly pasties with unknown mush as fillings but this place really does decent pasties. Had Beef and Stilton Pasty and strawberries (unfortunately not little English ones) for lunch, not together of course. The chunks of meat are still there in the pasty but where is the cheese? No this is not selective memory. I am sure that you could taste the Stilton before.

Location 52°N 2°W

Stourport (nearly) 10k

Yesterday evening was the first race of the Worcestershire Mid-Week 10km League for invited clubs only. Perhaps its a reflection of the ability of Worcester Joggers to put bodies into local races that we were invited to take part in this series. Should help with our affliation attempts with the MCAA.

Thinking that this was going to be based on the Brambles 10k course, the pair of blue suede shoes went into the kit bag. Of course this was not to be and we were told at sign-on that the course will be "mostly off road". The number of people with Walshes and other off road footwear also provided another clue. The question of what exactly is the route was met with the great reply, "There is only one course map but the head marshall has it to make sure that the marshalls are in the right place". Nevertheless we were reassured that the course is well marked with the usual red and white plastic strips. It was sort of an "out and back" course so the initial and final 1.5miles or so follows the same route.


"Blue suede shoes"

With many of the usual suspects present today in their various club colours, it should be easy to execute my race strategy of following certain individuals for the first part of the race. Hopefully starting slower would avoid a repeat meeting with my good friend the stitch which ruined a recent race. By the end of the first lap round the track I quickly realised that my first two pacemakers were rather slow. A few quick steps and I was past them to be stuck firmly on the back of two other pacemakers just before the route narrowed down leaving the track. These two pacemakers did a good job at maintaining an even pace and eventually I left them on a slight incline to latch on to someone else. This tactic was repeated for several times around the course. Quite useful too as I had no idea which way we had to go.

The hardest bit of the race was definitely "the Gulley" which was as its name suggested a dried up stream. It was soft going underfoot in various places with many uneven hard steps. At the speed (lack of!) I was going up it, I imagined that people behind me would overtake me left right and centre but strangely this never happened, but neither did I close the large gap to the runner in front. From there on it was mostly downhill all the way to the finish with about a lap clockwise round the track, keeping an eye on the group behind me to make sure that I didn't get caught. My finishing time of 37'20" (20th place) was clearly not due to my superb fitness but rather a somewhat short course.

With the benefit of hindsight I should have attacked a bit more on the hills especially as many other sections were narrow with little chance of overtaking. Knowing the course would be useful to know how much to push at various places. Off road shoes were not a requirement because the surface was reasonable dry. Felt fairly good throughout the race, perhaps an indication that I wasn't going at 100% effort so there might just be some sort of form hiding somewhere in my legs. Being a bit disorganised and currently subscribing to the "organic" approach to running, I did not use my HRM during the race so I'm unable to check my HR to prove this. Next race is probably this coming Sunday at the LRF 10k in Bromsgrove (Note it starts at 11am, not 9am as the website says!).

Location 52°N 2°W

Journey down memory lane

Drove up north to Sheffield and back today via the M5-M42-M1. Been up that way a couple of times in the last few weeks. Made me think back to the days when the big junction between the M42, M6 and M6 Toll was being built. It was as if all the cones and diversions in the known universe had all come together in one of the busiest stretches of motorway in western Europe. Had to pass through that stretch twice everyday for six months. Let's just say it wasn't the best way of spending your life.

One would expect the driver of an articulated lorry carrying a whole load of Portaloos to be spoilt for choice when he needs to attend to a call of nature. No, he has to do what everyone else does, ie stop by the side of the road. At least he has all the Portaloos for cover against the coach full of grannies which invariably comes past at the right time.

Had a good meeting in Sheffield, besides some initial difficulty in finding the place. Traffic was pretty smooth both ways. Not a bad day at all. Dad called again to find out what was happening but didn't get the chance to call back. Options options options...

Location 52°N 2°W

Handicap Race

It was the Worcester Joggers Spring Handicap Race this evening. Organisers were Mr Sell and yours truly. The aim is to start off people at different times so that everyone gets to the finish at around the same time to let the slower runners have the chance of beating the faster runners. Not very easy if there is a wide range of abilities, especially if some of them haven't raced very much (or at all before).

It began to rain just after the first runners started. Luckily it was warm(ish) rain rather than cold rain - it's May after all, but I got very worried about the inkjet-printed startsheets disintegrating. This was averted by large transparent plastic bags and umbrellas. In the end, out of the 30 finishers, only 5 were outside 5% of their predicted times (calculated with great precision by me). Nearly a blanket finish, good racing but hard for the timekeepers to keep up.

Oh, another discovery as I left the Green Monster out in the rain during the race. My Mono M4s squeak extremely loudly when the disc is wet. By the time I got back home the squeal had abated slightly so as not to raise the ire of the anti-noise poilce.

Location 52°N 2°W

New toys

Swapping over to disc brakes has proven a bit more painful than I expected! My old trusty RC36 EVOIIs was from the era where disc mounts were an add-on. A quick call to Pace showed how far behind I am - Clamp-on disc mounts have sold out *two years* ago. Being such a weightweenie, there was only one choice when presented with either the RC38 Race or RC36 Stealth Dark LT at the same price. Yes I went for the supposedly slightly less durable but lightweight choice. Hope Monos were the choice for stopping power. Pretty as they were, the Mono6Ti would definitely have been an overkill. In the end I plumped for the middle, Mono M4s with 185mm disc. They came with a French manual of all things as punishment for me running a "froggie" lever setup (god help me if I move on to motorbikes!).

After much swapping round of bits and pieces with fair lashings of WD40 and hairspray, the updated Green Monster was ready to roll. Setup of the Mono M4s were relatively simple, requiring selection of the right combo of spacers. Initially the pads were not backing off evenly, this was solved (RTFM) by pushing the disc against the side which was pushing out too much, a two person job. The RC38 setting were left at stock for it to run in a bit.

First test, the Continental Trail at Nant-yr-arian on Friday. Nice trail, the big climb at the end came as a bit of a shock to the system. Only 600m of climbing, I think not. Second test, an easyish potter around the Malverns on Sunday. The bluebells were out in force on the western lower flanks of the Hills, covering them in a carpet of blue. There was a (electric) fenced off area between North Hill and Worcestershire Beacon where what appeared to be Highland cattle were grazing.

Fork action was pretty plush but I felt that they were diving a bit much under braking. A significant increase in braking power was noted during the test period. Accidental endos became quite easy to do towards the end of the Continental Trail. After completing the trail the first time, I did the initial singletrack section (just after the climb out from the car park) again and had a close encounter with a tree at the rock step with an alternative route round to the left due to overzealous finger pressure of the left hand. A similar incident happened on the Malverns, this time with a spiky bush. Together with the little blister on my left wrist due to a cooking related incident, the scratches and rashes would be enough to get social services worried if I was any younger. Locking up the front wheel was exceedingly easy to do and was accomplished on many occasions. Perhaps I will just have to get used to the brakes...


Blue scraper seals on 2003 Pace RC38 R
These are supposedly letting in more water and cr*p into the innards of the 2003 forks. Wonder why as they have been in use for quite a few years now...


Close up of caliper on Hope Mono M4
The pads spring back ever so little but just enough to clear the disc...


Disc surface after 2 rides
This is what happens to the disc surface after some bedding in.

Location: 52°N 2°W

Done it...

Done the deed. Booked the ticket. Hasn't sunk in yet but it soon will. Less than 3 weeks to go... Ready or not, here I come.

Location: 52°N 2°W