Interesting/amusing article about it on The Reg

Data Mining, noun: “Torturing data until it confesses … and if you torture it enough, it will confess to anything.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/20/sanity_now_ending_the_madness_of_data_completism/%5B/url%5D

If you have any worries about lack of lumens, how about a Diablo?

I’ve done lots of riding + racing with mine and it’s been flawless. On medium power, it’s like a Joystick. If you need some extra oomph, you can turn it up to full.

I’ve seen a 3 or 4 Edges fail due to use in prolonged, heavy rain. Wouldn’t rely on one myself for navigation in the wilds.

I use a Dakota on the bike and on canoe/kayak trips. It’s survived capsizing, getting left submerged in the bottom of the boat, -35C on the Iditarod. Pretty robust.

Could be worse, BBC Radio Devon’s take on that stat was “SHOULD WE BAN CYCLISTS FROM ALL ROADS?!” :roll:

4130s0ul – Member
Aiden, that is one great looking dog

Was trying to get a few good pics of my Labby-Springer puppy but she just won’t stay still long enough for me to get non-blurry shots.

Thanks!

Surely the classic real-world puppy shot has a hand round its throat for exactly that reason?

Anuk: half-husky, half-German Shepherd, all awesome:

Here’s what the head-badges look like:

Nice!

Middleburn sponsor me so I’m biased. Having said that, I wouldn’t use them if I didn’t think they were great. They are lovely cranks and make for a really tidy SS-specific setup. I’ve got the fat version on my Puffin:

If your budget doesn’t stretch to them, Deore will do the job well enough.

No, but I will replace tyres, brakes, and drivetrain before a big event. If you do all that it should be “good as new” whilst still being what you train on.

Probably not the best plan if you race every week, though :-)

I’d look into mobile broadband, if I were you.

Good enough for streaming iPlayer etc and you can take it with you if you do move on.

I work from home, but it was sunny so I sacked that off and went for a ride on the local trails…

I never really liked my Pugsley that much. It was OK, and it was the tool for the job on snow, but the handling was a bit dull.

The Puffin on the other hand, is now my first choice MTB. It doesn’t climb fast, but gobs of traction mean you get there in the end. It’s a right laugh on the descents.

Like anything else, try a few and don’t just them all by one example.

I’ve used and added taps to this Android app:

http://wetap.org/%5B/url%5D

It shows you public tap locations on google maps, so that can help with forward planning. Other than that, improvise like the people above.

I don’t use any bar ends anymore, but Cane Creek Ergos used to do the trick for me.

Charging of device can be done in cafes fairly easily.

Well that depends on how long you spend in cafes :wink:

I used them for a winter and the spokes all started giving up by February or so. But, I’m probably a lot heavier than your 10-year old and I was hammering the crap out of them.

For your intended use they’ll be perfect.

You should be fine on your SS, it’s really not that hilly and not soul-destroyingly flat.

Make sure you use some durable tyres, though – I just got back from guiding a L2P on the Avenue Vert route. 13 punctures in the final 70 miles!

I suspect Margin for Cotic is minimal at what they’re selling for and they need to buy ‘official’ kit as they want to have warranty back up for it.

That’s pretty much it. Trade prices through official channels can be equal or higher than the prices of big online retailers selling direct to customers. Don’t blame Cotic et al. it’s certainly not price gouging on their part.

The prices available to businesses also depend on the volume that they shift… Companies like Cotic are going to be pretty tiny players in terms of selling Shimano bits.

I took mine to Timpsons and the guy there pinched the zip with a plier-like tool.

It was fixed in seconds and they didn’t even charge me, so I threw a few quid in their charity pot.

I put some extra glue along the rails of the mount to make it more secure (and use a lanyard around the bars):

http://www.aidanharding.com/2012/02/how-to-fix-a-garmin-dakota-bike-mount/%5B/url%5D

Don’t want to take all the fun out of it, but I’ll add to the people saying you should get some training before you head out there.

+1 aracer & Matt, plan for all scenarios and ensure you have all the correct safety gear, kids will need the buoyancy aids that keep their heads out the water,

Buoyancy aids don’t keep heads out of water, life jackets do.

Have a read of this and decide whether or not it’s worth knowing what you’re doing:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/sep/23/canoe-tragedy-father-scotland-interview

Then ends are different between Shimano and Campag. I had Shimano road cables for Campag Mirage and had to file the end bobble to get it down to size. Once I’d done that, it worked fine.

More recently, I’ve bought 3rd-party Campag-spec cables.

I’m not really an expert on road riding, but I think they may well be adopted by the pros as the system of choice for days when they are racing in heavy rain.

They make all kind of other race/stage specific equipment considerations, so why not use discs in the wet? Never mind the extra power, the advantages are more consistent feel (e.g. not having such a sharp change in braking force when the water on the rim suddenly clears and then your brakes go from f-all to stopping hard) and better modulation (even more important when the grip on the ground is limited).

I’d have them on my road bike, for sure. For the above advantages and for wear+tear. Right now my rims are pretty worn and I’m trying to decide when to pay out for replacing them. Or go ride fast descents with that voice in the back of my head telling me that the wheel might explode. Plus, there are local road that I avoid in the wet because the descents are on steep twisty lanes that finish off rim brake pads in one ride. With discs, I could ride some of those more often.

I have a wide set of X-Types with a Hope BB on my fat bike.

Much nicer to fit than the Surly fat cranks (fewer random bolts + washers). They weigh less, and look about a million times better.

I used them in the Iditarod and had no issues for 1000 miles. After the 1000 miles, I had to take them off again to fly back from the finish line and I did that in the airport with no trouble whatsoever.

A little west of what you asked for, but I live over that way (just outside Barnstaple):

http://www.strava.com/activities/111633374

I’m relatively new to the area so just expanding my knowledge to encompass N Moulton area as well.

From my experience with the prototype and first production Puffin, you’ll need a duster to wipe down your other neglected bikes in a couple of months.

Fun, fun bike.

On a practical point, you might need a fairly long seatpost. I don’t know the lengths off-hand, but I had to use a longer post on the Puffin than the Swift. But the big standover is very useful for when your feet punch through snow and your nuts don’t quite get smashed on the top-tube.

If you’re going to put much weight in it, I’d avoid the seatpack on a road bike. The waggy tail effect is quite alarming on a skinny road bike if your seat pack is loaded. Especially if you stand up and mash the hills.

It tends to work better if you have a frame bag for the heavy stuff and only use the seat pack for bulky, light items.

Signed up… that’s another Singular to throw on the pile. The only question is, which one?

I’d go hydraulic every time except for very low temperatures like the Iditarod where the fluid can have trouble.

Mechanicals get the cables gooed up, require manual adjustment for wear, end up costing quite a lot compared to something like Deore.

It’s the manual wear adjustment that really puts me off mechanicals on a wet day.

(I’m sponsored by Singular)

If you want it for bikepacking, I won The Highland Trail, The Cairngorms Loop, and finished 3rd in the Tour Divide on a Singular Swift.

I certainly wouldn’t see EBB as a negative – the EBB on the Swift doesn’t creak and is easy to adjust.

I haven’t ridden the Salsa, and you might not find that much to help you decide if it’s all on paper. So I would see about a test ride and find out which one feels right to you. If you’re in Devon and around 6ft, you’re welcome to have a go on my Swift.

There is actually a list of crimes that count as moral turpitude.

I know this because I always get grilled when I go to the US on account of having a visa. If you had committed a crime of moral turpitude, they might require you to get a visa – hence the grilling.

A bit annoying since I had to pay money, get letters from my employer, and queue at the US Embassy to get a visa for a long hiking trip. But at least I eventually found out why they treat me like a dodgy criminal.

As above, Rebas at 100mm are good.

If you’ve got the money and you’re game to try something new, these look interesting:

http://www.laufforks.com/

I find it hard to look past Shimano brakes. They’re all good, so choose the price/weight that you’re comfortable with.

Singular Swift winning the Highland Trail Race:

Full kit list over here: http://www.aidanharding.com/2013/06/highland-trail-race-kit/%5B/url%5D

For what it’s worth, I had BB7s in preparation for racing the Iditarod and they annoyed me so much that I put some Deore hydros on instead. I’ll put the BB7s back just before I head out to AK.

Some ideas on here:

http://www.selfsupporteduk.net/%5B/url%5D

And my own thing:

http://www.aidanharding.com/ewe

Some sections of EWE would make good point-to-point rides.

I just moved to within 100 metres of the Barnstaple area bit that I used for EWE, so I’ll be honing it to perfection over the next few months. There are a couple of really good ones that I’ve discovered within close reach of home!

The existing route is:

Sustrans from Plymouth to Dartmoor, off-road to Okehampton, Sustrans to Barnstaple, some road to get into Exmoor, then off-road through Exmoor and into the Quantocks.

There are Neos overshoes… Very warm indeed, but quite bulky.

I have some Navigators:

https://www.overshoe.com/Pages/Product.aspx?category=Insulated&cat=HLS-OVERSHOE&pid=N5P3

That I was thinking of selling on if he might be interested: I wear size 46 but since they go over the top, there’s probably a range that the Neos would fit.

Routebuddy is good. OS mapping, Satellite views, maintains a route library where you can overlay various routes then join them up.

I use it loads to explore new areas.

If you’re somewhere with good mobile coverage, you might be able to save by switching from fixed broadband to mobile.

I use a 3-mobile unlimited internet package as part of my mobile contract and then tether with wifi from my phone. The whole lot is £35/month for a mobile that I would have anyway and all of our home internet usage with no line rental.

Avid ones are pretty narrow in my experience

I use Gore ones now, but when I looked into it, I found some RAF waterproof trousers that were plain blue rather than camo. Lots of shops if you just look for general army surplus stores.