marg26

This is a push bikes trials forum.

10 years ago I'd have probably felt similar. But got kids now, edging toward 50, and long covid sounds seriously shit and plenty of healthy people are now suffering due to that. I felt much more comfortable* risking the AZ x 2 vaccine than Covid. *Actually I felt quite anxious when I went for my first jab. Thankfully I was in & out in under ten minutes. Just some mild start-of-a-cold like symptons and felt fine a day or two later.

Not purely Covid related, but have you opted out of the NHS data that's going to be sold to 3rd parties yet? https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/features/nhs-data-grab-gpdpr/

Bit of a longer watch, found the start at the top really relaxing and there's some pretty tight gnarly lines in there too. Sounds brutal.

Other than a hunch it's going to take me 5 years minimum to learn the trials basics, my shoulders are the biggest problem I face on a regular basis riding trials. Recently thought they were adapting but now past week or so the same old issue, they feel like they've been pulled too hard by the bike. But Mark's comments above reminded me I had rolled the bars forward a few degrees a few weeks ago (and it feels normal now) to see how things felt - I'd noticed my handlebars were high compared with some other rider's bikes. It's really difficult when learning to have any idea at all how things should be on a trials bike (or street trials bike) if you don't have anyone else to ride and talk about these things with, you can't really tell anything when you don't have a good grasp of the moves. I also find there's no single solution to physical ailments (ie my shoulders/top of biceps) - at least I've not found anything that's a go-to to consistently alleviate issues. Sometimes heavier strength training with low reps such as push/pull ups dips/bodyweight rows helps, other times just small weights <3kg high reps and lots of different movements helps. And of course yoga/stretching, or even that resting thing. I probably need someone to remind me at least once a week to stop being so impatient about it all!

Is that a Deore rear hub with 0.1 engagement points? (Just that the 135QR XT hub I have feels extremely lacking in engagement points by modern standards).

Thanks Adam.

Got a pair of Trialtech Chain Tugs for my Console the other month, fitted them and the bolts for the Pro2 hub and used those big chunky serrated washers as well. Thought though it seemed a bit pointless using the serrated washers against the chain tugs. The chain tugs don't have any serration on them to grip the frame either. Dismantled yesterday and took the washers off to clean the bolt thread then forgot to refit them. All seemed to go together fine without the washers. And thinking about it there's more bolt inside the hub too, so that's got to be better, less poking out the back. It's not going to be a problem is it?

It's a nice clean video for studying moves too.

Or if you want cheap, there's the LEPY LP-2020A amp £25 from amazon (stereo phono and/or 3.5mm jack inputs, speaker wire outputs) - again the mic would plug into laptop. Just got one for a Raspberry Pi hifi with DAC & old speakers for tunes in the shed.

Here's mine from 2018. Was doing this daily 5 days a week all year (milder weather in SE England). Not always this route, sometimes would stay on the roads, or extend it if enough time and energy. Stopped when covid hit. Have moved since so a new commute when I return to the office.

I'm mid 40s, but I only started the process of learning to ride trials just over two years ago. I did a 1h45m session Sunday, and 30m Monday and Tuesday lunch times working from home. I was quite focused on the first two sessions and succeeded (eventually) doing what I set out to achieve, but Tuesday my energy levels were down which meant I tried a few things and moved on to the next when I had enough of the struggle. Have a 2yo boy who still wakes us most nights and early morning, and we keep binge watching TV series where the cliffhangers keep us up late watching the next one! Lockdown/furlough then working from home really helped, and also enabled me to start running where previously I cycled to work daily. I was skinny in my youth and didn't really exercise once I got a car, wasn't until recently years that I started putting a little bit of weight on. Running really helped with getting rid of that weight and also I think getting a bit more strength in lower legs/ankles/feet that trials requires in ways regular cycling doesn't. Motivation as a beginner is some ways easier as I'm sure that I can get better than I am (than I ever was) but due to being mid 40's it's taking longer than if I'd have started even 10 years ago (judging by progress of other riders). Goals help motivation. Decided the other day that if I haven't got a wheel swap or pigeon by the time I'm 50 then I'll call it a day. It's a move my body just can't fathom yet, I can visualize it, I've watched countless tutorials, but if I try to do it feels a million miles away. Saying that, I do just really enjoy doing basic trialsy stuff on my MTB too (really regretting speccing a Shimano hub with such few points of engagement for it now :-/), and which is why I got into trials in the first place. edit: just wanted to add I feel my body is starting to adapt to trials now. I was at some points trying bodyweight strength to improve strength for mtb/trials, but I've more or less dropped it and mostly just using trials as the conditioning I guess.

Finally feel like I'm starting to get somewhere with trials. I'm no longer getting frustrated 8 out of 10 rides and/or getting unrealistic expectations about how good I'll now be on the next ride. Haven't purposely been avoiding pushing to bigger things at all, it's just worked out that way. Still lots of trials techniques to learn and that's not even including street stuff which I've more or less given up on until I've got more of the trials basics covered.

Slight update, I still get bit of a strain, currently in upper left arm, and is a few days after AZ covid jab there (probably coincidence) but I've found, thanks to work colleagues having an informal plank challenge, that attempting to plank longer than 2 minutes actually sorts it right out afterwards, which was nice. Edit: and to add, as far as technique goes, I'm slowly improving. Read an interesting Bashguardian article about rear wheel control. For a while I've been lamenting my lack of efficiency at the technique, but without any idea about what I could do other than keep practicing. Today, realized the connection between muscular tension and balance, so tried less muscular tension and more balance, in other words, I have not been balancing enough and to compensate used muscular tension to avoid completely losing balance. Why not balancing enough? Not relaxed about it. Why not relaxed? Not practiced/experienced enough. Carry on.

That death slope thing above, I've seen evidence that it may in fact be TOO DEATH. Kinda. Evidence by omission. Some riders put a video in the UK Trials Riders facebook group, it must have been too death for them because there ware not clips of them even considering riding down it from the top. Iz disappoint. I imagine it being absolutely terrifying on a proper pure trials bike even if one is a competent trials rider though.

I guess I've made all the same newbie mistakes as all newbies do with it, namely, buying during a spike, expecting it maintain rather than dipping way down below what I paid. I haven't put much cash into it so not a big deal, but hoping to make it back at some point when things rise again as it looks like they do. All the biggest dips are like 3am when I'm in bed so slightly irritating to be unable to take advantage for purchasing.

Yes and all that energy means larger transaction fees as I learnt last night. I've been using Coinbase, playing around with small amounts of crypto, watching the numbers, doing a few conversions when one was up and the other down (until they all went down). Then last night I setup a crypto wallet on my desktop using Exodus. First thing I decided to transfer was the Cardano - a proof of stake currency, the transaction fee for the transfer was around 16p. Next went to transfer the district0x until I saw the transfer fee was around £8-9 almost a quarter of the amount I was playing with. Left it where it is.

I think its the "proof of work" thing about Bitcoin and Ethereum that's the problem with their longevity? Ie it's computationally intensive on hardware, so slower, so the miners have to charge more (gas) for the transactions whereas newer crypto such as Cardano ADA use "proof of stake" which is faster, less resource intensive so cheaper. The UK government is looking into plans to create it's own crpto.

Apparently Paris Hilton litterally dreams about non fungible tokens

Quarter a sheet of medium/fine grit paper, wrap it around a pencil, and sand the excess down. Wear gloves when the callouses are worst. I always get them worse on my left hand too, the right hand they don't seem to get too bad, I'm right handed.

I was just thinking of Fountain by Duchamp, not to mention Carl Andre's Equivalent VIII - an arrangement of 120 fire bricks in a rectangle on the floor, might as well mention unmade beds, shit in tins (is there or isn't there) etc, all this conceptual stuff about authenticity, ownership, value, what-is-art, etc has been a staple of Art for long before NFT came along. Difference I guess is there's still physical objects, so these age, that age increases value, rarity. Also sure there's at least one artist who's exhibited absolutely nothing at all, and probably sold it, but can't remember name from Art History lectures.

£50 last year in ETH would be well over £500 now. I've been well aware of this stuff for years just not looked into it, it's not even like I'm remotely IT illiterate, just ignored it. It never came across as something to casually dip your toes in the water with.

I was speaking to a youth the other week about bitcoin etc, found it really interesting, then this thread, and now I have some Cardano, District0x, and Stellar Lumens. I'm on the waiting list to 'earn' some stuff on Coinbase. I utterly failed as a painter after graduating from university with an art degree.... Maybe NFT's are my chance!? Any tips on where to start being an NFT artist? I've googled, found a couple, found "If you’re planning on selling a couple NFTs for huge prices, Rarible is likely your best bet. On the other hand, if you want to create a multitude of cheaper NFTs, you’ll want to use OpenSea’s Collection Manager" so thinking OpenSea... Uhhhhhhmm Yeah. No idea what I'm doing. Watching numbers is a bit addictive.... hoping I might recoup the transaction fees atleast!

John Langois got one out now, parkour dude "steals" his phone. Ridiculous "chase" ensues.