Turf Zone – ShielBurnOne
Some local turfing today, this time with my darling wife and turfer Cathryn, aka ChoccyMuffin. We spent a few hours turfing Rosewell and Bonnyrigg, taking around 60 zones. The aim was to allow Choccy to take the zones first with myself getting an assist. The thinking was that I’d head out later and take them again, though that did not happen today. managed to get 54 assist out of 62 takeovers. And in that 8 zone difference, 4 were down to turf app problems.
It’s quite a different game when you are deliberately aiming to get an assist, especially when you have the faster takeover time. Mine is 18.80 seconds and Choccy’s is 21.20 seconds. So, there’s a bit of skill involved to allow the turfer with the longer takeover time to get enough lead time to take the zone. Both of us were on bikes and both had handlebar phone mounts. This allowed us to see where each other were and working together we were able to achieve our goals most of the time.
However, what you see on the turf app is not always what is actually occurring on the ground. On numerous occasions it looked like Choccy was well into the zone and I’d then enter only to find I was leading the take and would get the zone. A quick solution I found was to hold a finger on the GPS indicator icon, disable the GPS then quickly enable it again. This would create a suitable takeover gap to allow me to get an assist rather than take the zone.
One thing I do find awkward is that when you get an assist you personally do not get any indication that you have gained an assist, only the turfer who takes the zone knows you have assisted. Perhaps this is something that would be useful if added to the turf app?
A quick update on my latest bike purchase, the one mentioned in Turf Blog 18-09-24. Well, actually, I cancelled the order after the price dropped overnight by £400.00 which was rather annoying. However, with the order cancelled, the money refunded back into the account and a wider choice available for the same funds, I got down to ordering again. And after many days of deliberation, comparing specifications and gear ranges, measuring tyre widths, working out build weights and a myriad of other totally nerdy and quite possible pointless bike related stuff, I bought the same model of bike again. Yup, the Sonder Broken Road Ti XT.
However, I did use that £400 saving to substitute the standard aluminium wheel set for the Sonder Black i27 Carbon Trail wheel set, saving an estimated 400g of rotational weight overall. Now, I know I’m a bit of a weight weenie, to quote a term I’ve been called recently, but keeping the weight down is important for my back which does not like manhandling heavy weights, like lifting bikes over non-bike friendly gates, carrying it up and down steps, and lugging up hills like Caerketton in the Pentlands. So, the lighter the better.
By my calculations, which are estimates at the moment, at least until I get everything actually in my hands, I’ve managed to reduce the initial stated bike weight of 10.70 kg down to 9.25kg. That is due to swapping the wheel set as mentioned above and also substituting the stock Rockshox Reba RL suspension front fork for the Sonder Pathfinder carbon front rigid fork. I may also be able to save more weight when I start looking at tyres and tubes. I may even go tubeless. Yes, Scott/MuttsCycles, I may even go tubeless!
With the built set for 30th September, I have plenty of time to look at the finishing touches for the bike. The first one is carrying capacity and I’ll be going for the same setup as I have on the Ribble CGR SL, that’s a small handlebar bag and custom frame bag (I have one on order from Alpkit). Other small items include a bell, Quadlock phone mount and Ergon grips, all three transferred from my remaining single speed which I’ll be parting with as soon as the Broken Road arrives.
Now, that leaves the most awkward of item, mudguards. Problem is, while the frame has eyelet mounts, the Sonder Pathfinder fork does not, at least as far as I can ascertain from the website images. I know that it’s definitely most “uncool” to have full mudguards on an off-road bike but I’ve never been a follower of bike fashion or trends and have always done my own thing. I just don’t see the point of getting covered in dust, dirt, mud or even sheep and coo beastie poo, when I can stay clean and dry, well, relatively clean and dry. I have a plan but will need to get the bike first. More soon.
Copyright ©2024 Gary Buckham. All rights reserved.
