I do about 100 miles/week and usually get about a year out of a BB. I've had Superstar and Shimano, both seem about the same in use.

I strike pedals much more often with flats than I do with SPDs, so you might be better off switching back anyway. As long as you're sure you can unclip fast, it might help.

I'm not sure why I clip the ground more with flats… They're definitely wider and I have wondered if the wider pedals plus leaning side-to-side (I mostly strike when climbing) is what does the damage.

The new Middleburn X-Type? They haven't been around for long, but they look just as nice as Middleburn cranks always have.

http://www.shop.18bikes.co.uk/products.php?plid=m9b73s474p667

"DID YOU CATCH THEM?!" Bellowed by competitive dad to his son after they had followed our group down some singletrack. Tw*t on so many levels.

Off-road: 15-20 miles on Tuesday and Thursday nights, plus 100 miles on a weekend ride.

Training for the Tour Divide…

People to ride with.

I rode the NZ equivalent of a £99 Halfords bikes when I was out there, but Hutt Valley MBC showed me some fun trails and made it into an awesome day out.

Sugoi! I've used RS bibshorts for 24 hour solo and the Iditarod. I'll be using them for the Tour Divide. Absolutely awesome without being as expensive as Assos.

Even their Gustov baggies are pretty good. They'll do for upto 12 hours for me.

My advice is to pick your routes carefully. In the event, there will be chances to take on more water (and possibly more food) at regular intervals. So ride loops from a base (car/home) where you can nip in to refill and go again. I tend to go for about 4 hours per loop, but find what works for you.

There are a whole load of different things that I get out of training, some obvious, some not:

– Not flipping out when I get a problem with the bike 9 hours into a ride
– Toughened arse to be in the saddle that long
– Toughened mind likewise
– Knowledge of what food works for me and the physical capacity to keep putting it in
– The mental trick of being comfortable while I do stop to fix/adjust/eat whatever. The little space around me isn't the trail for those few minutes – it's my home and I can relax my mind

What other people have said is sensible, too. But I would say that if you want to improve speed, don't ride long distances. The long distances will improve stamina (so you might finish quicker by not fading as much), but won't increase your top speed much. If you want to do speed, do short bursty stuff like intervals or just riding with people who stretch you.

Don't force it gorilla-style but, if you can lift the freehub a bit, then you might be able to squeeze a screwdriver between the hub body and one of the "teeth" on the freehub (the bits you slide the cassette onto). I've successfully done that on a recalcitrant hub.

EDIT: I was pretty late there, and it seems you're already well past subtle methods… good luck!

Ha – I'll turn up in your local one day :)

Glad it's sorted.

If the spacer is definitely there, then make sure that the seal between the freehub body and hub is properly seated. If it isn't, it causes loads of drag. You should be able to press it in by hand and it will snap into place.

If you've got white shoes on a MTB, then you'd better be quick!

Other than that, I think people should spend what they feel comfortable with.

Does anyone know if there is much difference in GPS performance between the older units (Gecko etc) and newer (Edge, Oregon)?

As far as I remember, my Gecko took absolutely ages to find satellites and was easily confused.

I'm just wondering from the point of view of getting a bargain old one or having to get a new one with lots of bells + whistles.

Damnit… I read the subject and was going to try to sell you my Edge, Mick. It's good for training and following pre-planned routes, but doesn't have a detailed map on the unit itself. And (crucially for me) has an internal battery so I can't use it for multi-day trips.

Sounds like you're landing rear wheel first. That's a good plan when dropping to flat, but if you're landing on a down-slope, you should aim to land the wheels together (or the front slightly before the back).

As far as I know, it's open all year round. We arrived after dark in February last year and just paid before we rode the next day. We did get some raised eyebrows from the guy behind the counter, but it was all fine.

[Edit: he was surprised by the fact we camped in the frost, not because he was bothered about us camping before we paid :) ]

If you're thinking of using a bivvy bag and doing multi-day trips, then I'd definitely avoid down. Once they're both wet, there won't be great deal of weight difference between down and synthetic – they'll both be heavy but down will be useless at keeping you warm.

I've used a Vango Ultralite 200 comfortably in UK summer plenty of times and uncomfortably at -5C (as an experiment – I didn't sleep well, but it wasn't dangerous). They're not that flashy, but they can be had for £35.

Yep, depends what you mean by wobble. I've seen a number of bikes with a side-to-side movement of the cassette as the wheel goes round. There was nothing wrong with them, that's just how they were and I hadn't noticed before. One case was a brand new bike out of the box and I noticed it because I'd seen the same on a friend's bike

If the shifting works, then I wouldn't worry.

It's off-topic, but for the person asking about cheap Voodoo, they've got some in Halfords in Twickenham.

It does take some getting used to when you switch, but I find the Mac a much less frustrating experience. Just have a quick look on the internet, there are loads of guides for people who have switched.

On my Macbook, you can get "right-click" by putting two fingers on the touchpad while you click, so you don't have to press control.

I just discovered first person tetris[/url]…

Argh! My head! My eyes! My brain!

I know a girl whose surname is Grocock. I'm not sure who has it worse, her or her brother.

I've had an FSA carbon post up and down a lot. Aside from looking scratched, I haven't had any trouble. Then the clamp bolt snapped, which proves that

a. It's a poor clamp design (newer ones have a different clamp)
b. That impact didn't finish off the actual carbon

I would get some of that carbon grease, but haven't got around to it yet.

We were going to, but an old friend's stag-do may clash with WRT so I don't know. It was good to see the article in ST this month… Fame at last :)

How about you?

I'd be pretty interested in riding that.

The more bite-sized Sarn Helen Trail could make another good location for a GDR-style event. Given the distance, it could well be do-able over a weekend, which opens it up to more riders. I had considered suggesting something for the same weekend as Mayhem. Don't fancy riding round a field for 24hrs? Why not ride Wales in as long as it takes?

Neos overshoes are popular with Alaskans that I know…

They're Grrrreat :)

A friend of mine rode the Tour Divide as part of his training to ride the full-length Iditarod Invitational, so that tells you which way round he would put the two events.

The rigid forks I've used are noticeably different in how much they beat you up…

DMR Trail Blades are like having someone pound hammers at your wrists as you go along (but quite good if you want rigids that won't break on jumps).

Surly Karate Monkey is more flexy but quite dead feeling and still punishing.

And Pace RC31s were pretty nice. They do absorb some buzz and they make the front so light that you can float over just about anything.

At the risk of sounding like I have some deal with Pace, I noticed on their website that they have a limited stock of RC31s that they found at the back of the warehouse.

Thin silk socks with thick wool socks on top are my choice for serious cold. Down in the south it's never really cold enough for that though so it's usually silk + normal socks. Something like these:

http://www.penrithsurvival.com/penrith_survival/mia/d/silk+socks/pid/12031

Sadly, not very sexy :?

If you're throwing wet into the equation, maybe silk socks and sealskins, but I've never tried that.

You can still use them outdoors when it's dry. That helps the sweat problem. I use mine in the shed (which quickly becomes a steam room).

The Tour Divide[/url], Sarn Helen Trail, Teddington Lock DJs, and now that I know pro BMX rider… ride some BMX.

There are SRAM service videos on Youtube as well

£1,399.00 from Stif

I quite fancied one for a bit, but I bought an entire Titanium bike for £100 more (it's gone up by another £100 since then).

Well, in case anyone was wondering (or later searching for the same answers as I was), I picked up my new frame from Halfords on Saturday. No charge, no questions asked.

And Brass Monkeys on the Pugsley wasn't fun.

So, a 3 week turnaround isn't so bad and I'm back on my lovely Voodoo :)

Reading these posts, you have to wonder whether HT2 is the result of industrial espionage…

Middleburn send one of their designers out to Japan

He designs a rubbish chainset with poor durability

Shimano sell loads so they're happy

Middleburn are one of the few companies making nice square-taper, so they mop up all the disappointed customers

Oh, yeah, I remember riding the 9feet trail but I don't remember where it was :|

I think we probably did talk at SSUK, I certainly remember someone there who was going to do Arrowhead.

For shoes, in Alaska NEOS overshoes are the most common solution. They like gigantic boots that you wear over your trainers and they're pretty warm. They're also waterproof so that if you step in any overflow, you should be OK. I used NEOS and flat pedals. Some notable people (Curiak and others) use Lake winter boots in a large size with loads of socks. A friend of mine who has lots of winter experience uses Crank Bros cleats glued onto the bottom of his NEOS. It seems like the pedals don't jam up with snow in cold places the same way as they would in wet British snow, but I still prefer to keep it simple.

I suppose you'll just have to try your ratio and see. For me, I did use the same ratio when I carried all the gear for myself and my girlfriend for a few days in Wales so maybe it is all about the weight. For 150 miles, you probably won't need quite so much stuff.

Oh, and the people I know who ride with 2.5" tyres in snow (including Lou Kobin, winner at La Routa) use WTB Weirwolfs. WTB also make some good big volume tubes without going into DH thickness.

Do you mean 1.125" to 1.5" headsets?

No, he means mixed headsets. Another lovely "standard" is 1.5" at the bottom and 1.125 at the top aka "coneheads". There was an article in Dirt recently saying that this could be the standard that wins in the end. Who knows, though?

To answer the original question, there is one company (maybe Cane Creek, can't remember) who sell top and bottom halves of headsets separately and make them in both sizes.

I recommend that you give yourself the chance to rethink your ratio when you ride the fully-laden bike in snow. It looks like you'll be carrying less than I did at Iditarod, but I ran 22:18.

You'll be going well if you can make 8mph, probably more like 6mph if the conditions are good. Arrowhead is supposed to be damn cold, so hopefully you'll get rideable trail.

I suppose it's easy to take them off if they annoy you, but toe straps could be tricky. In marginal conditions you can be on and off the bike frequently. I think the majority use plain flats, but a significant number use SPDs.