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amey
I drove out to Bedgebury today, first time I've been there. I did a lap of the red circuit, which was fun - I would say that it's more challenging overall than red at Swinley, but lacks Swinleys section 20 and the jumps there. Not that those are hard, but they're larger than anything at Bedgebury.
It's definitely easier to get too from SE London, being down the A21, although it's £13 to park rather than £4 at Swinley - although as a Friend (AKA, member) of Kew Gardens I get a discounted rate of £5.
I'll head down again - Amey you'd be welcome.
Onto the bike - the pad transfer that I'm waiting for is resolutely refusing to occur, so the brakes remain (for big stops) crap.
For those moments when you are just looking to adjust your speed slightly they're fine -so you don't notice the absence of big stopping power on the singletrack, until you over-cook it and end up stopped, in the bush, having fired yourself over the top of the corner. But that's fun in a way.
I'm struggling with the indexing, also, so the bike didn't get exiled to the garage once I got home, it's in the hallway and will go into the bike stand when i've finished my tea. I am wondering if I've maybe tweaked the mech hanger, as on the larger cogs it's as if there is too much tension, whereas on the smaller cogs it's as if there is too little.
Of course, 12 speed may just need the type of fine adjustment that isn't that amenable to being done through full-finger gloves whilst riding down a trail.
The weight balance on the bike has changed - dropping half a kilo off the back means that I need to have my weight slightly further back when going over jumps, otherwise the back comes up too far.
Less grip today when turning than yesterday, probably unsurprisingly given the loose gravel of the man-made singletrack, but less wheelspin whilst climbing than I was expecting (based on experience with my older tyres).