Deore cranks with Hope BB.

I’ve done 1000s of miles on them and can’t complain. I think it’s worth upgrading from Shimano bearings and Hope have seen me right.

Possibly a bit less shiny than you had in mind, though…

There is no route choice. You dont get to go around anything! You follow a straight line on the garmin and yer not allowed to budge from it

You get to pick the line, though :-)

Great review! Interesting to read some real-world use of the Moonlander.

For sure that sounds a great idea Al,
we have some crazy idea of doing a coast to coast in Scotland…………..
Sounds normal? aye but as the crow flies!

Hmm, I have exactly the same plan myself. But not fat bike so it might take a lot walking or a careful route choice!

Put your gloves over your grips before you turn your bike over.

I got around to challenging your time on the “Reservoir Descent” at Swinley last night, Nick.

Just pipped you to KOM. In the dark. On a fully rigid singlespeed.

You just got pwned by a STW cliche :D

Eating too little on a ride in an attempt to lose weight is probably a bad idea. You might just end up feeling depleted during the ride, then gorging on fatty comfort food after.

If you do plenty of riding, and don’t eat loads of rubbish afterwards, then the weight will come off.

As a rule of thumb, as soon as your mood changes: eat. If you start thinking, “Ugh! What’s fun about this? I can’t be bothered with all those hills! etc.” Get some food in you, and see how it miraculously becomes more fun. You’ll get that mood change and a drop in energy way before you feel “hungry”.

As others have said, you don’t need to be spending loads of money on special riding food. I rode 75 miles off-road yesterday and ate Mars, Snickers, and Sesame Snaps (about one bar per hour). The best possible nutrition? I don’t know, but it was cheap and did the job.

Big pat on the back for the OP’s wife.

I’ve had to deal with various first aid situations, and had the CPR training a few times. Fortunately, I haven’t had to use it yet.

My girlfriend is a first aid trainer and showed my this (not work-safe) video about CPR:

http://youtu.be/4ArXuQwjj7Q

Possibly not the best practical guide…

Can you imagine, trying to sort out a puncture after a big nail off a building site’s gone through yer tyre? It’s late evening, it’s freezing cold and peeing with rain, and you have a long ride home no suitable train goes anywhere near to make it worthwhile…

I got a nail in my tubeless tyre somewhere before Rawlins on the Tour Divide. The latex did it’s job, and the tyre stayed until the end. I can’t remember the exact distance from Rawlins to the border but it’s > 1000 miles.

Crossmark/Stans – Worked for me

Nick – I think they process segment times in the background, so your historical rides might turn up as segments sometimes in the next day or so.

Need other people to join that club now… it looks lonely with just me and Nick :oops:

Have you got one of those rubber bungs to put in the charge-port?

They come as standard with this year’s lights. A little water getting into there can confuse the internals and make the light switch itself off.

If that isn’t it, then you’ll probably have to send it back..

I’m really enjoying it. Knowing that you’re racing a time on your local singletrack adds some of that race urgency to a normal night ride!

And stats help me to justify running :-)

As usual, well-informed commentary from thisisnotaspoon :roll:

What about the suspention forks then?

Well they tested them in a meat locker which was presumably turned down to ‘a bit nippy’.

Normal freezer temperature: about -20C. Temperature she’s likely to see in Antarctica -25 to -30. If you don’t think that’s a big deal, think about the difference between 20C and 10C. Or normal winter in the South East at about 0C or that time a couple of years back when it hit -10C.

toe-straps are an outrageously bad idea in snow

Look more like those power strap ones, I’ve had them on the fixie, they lyt you lift your foot away when your ankle rotates, but if you pull verticaly they’re like normal straps.

Ever ridden a bike in boots warm enough for -40C? Ever felt what happens to your co-ordination at that temperature?

I have. It’s a bad idea.

FYI regarding her speed, on the bike in the Iditarod 6-8 mph is a decent average. 10 mph can happen in good conditions.

I have no idea what ground conditions are like for her, but I think she made the right decision to get off the bike for a while if 1 mph is all that she was making.

My first thought is that toe-straps are an outrageously bad idea in snow. Anything where the snow is only marginally rideable and you’ll be putting your feet down a lot. Or falling over sideways if you’re strapped to the bike. SPDs are somewhat popular in Alaska but at least you can get out of them quickly.

I’ve seen what happens to a suspension fork at -25C and it’s not good. On the one I saw – a Maverick – the seals shrank and all the air came out. Hey preston: no suspension and wacky geometry.

PS Snow story fans, make sure you get the next Ride Journal (out soon).

Bill Merchant has one of those trailers, he says that he’s only ever used it a couple of time. Good job he didn’t have to pay for it 8O

I know some guys who travelled a stretch of the Yukon towing sleds with bikes. They rode almost none of it because sleds are terrible on the back of bikes. If their team are silly enough to not even try it before they land in Antarctica, they’re probably in for an unpleasant surprise.

I don’t think it’s worth getting stressed about the excessive claims of celebs doing endurance. It’s kind of like the X-Factor compared to hard-working bands that get nowhere. Both avenues take work, one gets disproportionate rewards, but that’s not the fault of the people getting all the adulation.

My blog wittering on the subject here[/url].

Hope SS hubs should come with spacers so, if you don’t have the wheels yet, check to make sure you need spacers before buying.

I rode there this morning and the trails were in great condition. Patches of mud here and there, but otherwise amazingly dry + fast. It was drizzling during the ride and as I went home but it didn’t seem like enough rain to make much of difference to trail conditions.

I barely want to dip my toe in this but, by god, SOMEONE ON THE INTERNET IS WRONG!

flow – Member
The for and against arguments totally contradict each other, what tard wrote that!

He was characterising internet forum arguments… the inconsistency was deliberate.

Sancho – Member
I still dont get the 29er argument.

they are faster according to some on a well groomed trail centre.
and for an XC race,
But then a cross bike is faster again, so why not just forget 29ers and ride a cross bike.
with the bigger wheels and compromised geometry they are not as manouverable (fun) according to everyone I know who has one.

Was Steve Jones riding a well groomed trail centre? He said he was ” testing on reasonably technical terrain (they hold a downhill race here quite often)”

Have you ever tested a CX bike side-to-side with a 29er? I’ve ridden with a friend who usually rides a 29er, and recently was on a CX bike. He was slower on the CX bike.

All the general “Why don’t you get some skills/fitness/go ride on the road instead of riding a 29er” is exactly the same rubbish as could be spouted about lots of changes in bike technology.

Personally, I was a total 29er sceptic… I test-rode one on the twistiest of my local trails and it was great fun. So I bought one. I subsequently found other specific advantages like: better grip while climbing and better behaviour if you absolutely have to go down big steps one wheel at a time.

Sliding dropouts? A Voodoo maybe? I used to have a Voodoo D-Jab and had trouble with the chain coming off a lot. I also knew people with the same issues on Wangas.

Chainline is the first thing to check i.e. move the spacers around on the back cog to get it in perfect line with the front chainring.

Generally, bigger rings for the same ratio is better for wear rate and might help keep the chain on. I use 34:19 on a 29er.

Proper SS chainring/cog will help. I like Velosolo[/url] for drivetrain needs, and always use a normal SRAM 9sp chain.

Showing off photo:

@AidanHarding It’s interesting when I’m doing something interesting like organising SSUK or racing the Divide. A bit boring when I’m drowning in work (and currently snot, too).

For people to follow @MTFU_Training is funny.

The price was already very good compared to the internet, so I got a towbar fitted. That way, I could put a bike rack on it :)

Hitler wasn’t all bad… he shot Hitler.

Straying off topic, but…

They do bikeability at school in y6 (age 10-11) which is about 2 years too late if you ask me.

The pass-rate with y5 groups that I take out is often around 50%, with y6 it’s usually closer to 90%. Lots of y5 kids just aren’t mature enough to deal with traffic. Some of them are just so physically tiny that they get kinda lost on the road.

It’s called Bikeability these days and you need to go on a training course (4 days, I think) to get qualified.

I teach it myself sometimes and find it pretty enjoyable, although it is quite basic so doing back-to-back weeks of cycle training can get pretty repetitive.

I think the training course is about £400 these days so might be a bit expensive if all you want to do is a couple of courses with the scouts.

Of course, you could just download the Bikeability manuals from the DFT here[/url], then deliver the course without using the official name.

BTW, chains and cables don’t freeze if you don’t lube them or use super-low temperature lubes. Hydraulic brakes and suspension would be madness.

I once saw a bike designer take an air fork to Alaska. The seals shrank in the cold and if became a heavy rigid fork with a terrible head angle :roll:

I’m sure you could just bunnyhop this and pump the backside:

Shimano’s like a ninja.

Mavic Crossmax was less clicky than Hope, but still clicky, IME.

I use Sailing Media Sync. It doesn’t sync your whole library, just a checklist of playlists that you want.

Having said that, I’m using a Mac and I don’t know if they do Windows so this might be useless for you.

I did the support crew thing for a friend of mine in that a few years back.

Fantastic place to have the event. Real mountains and grim weather potential – proper day out.

Make sure you watch Troll Hunter as preparation and good luck with it!

I never did like wearing glasses on the bike. Same sort of deal as you – I felt like I was detached and floating off the ground.

But, riding in open, sunny places I had to have something to deal with the brightness. I have found Endura glasses are distortion-free and way cheaper than Oakleys. I still prefer to ride with naked eyeballs, but at least the Endura glasses don’t mess with my vision.

As to whether or not you need to protect your eyes day-to-day, I know quite a few people who have hurt their eyes and would never ride without some sort of lenses. In 10 years of riding, I’ve never hurt my eyes, so I just keep riding without them unless it’s blindingly sunny.

It’s sad to hear that it put him off riding.

I teach Bikeability sometimes and I do sometimes have to send kids back after the first day.

We always go in with 2 instructors. If one or two of the children don’t pick up riding one-handed straight away, I try to give them the chance to have some extra practise with one instructor while the rest of the group do something else. If they are borderline with signalling, but not a liability, I always take them out on the road for the first day. If they can manage some extra practise after school (hard at this time of year) and/or they get the time to practise on very quiet roads during the course, most of them get to the standard.

There are lots of things to take into account, though. Some of the schools I deal with are right on very busy roads, so taking someone that I can’t yet trust to ride safely with the group on our way to somewhere quiet would mean walking them all along the pavement. I might not have time to do that.

Sadly, there’s never going to be the manpower to do an extra class for children who can’t go onto the road with the main group. Funding policy has created a race to the bottom with cycle training provision so that pupil:teacher ratios are always maxed out and timing is as crammed as possible.

2nd cheapest SRAM 9 speed chain for me.

They seem to be durable enough and one of my reasons was demonstrated last week: a geared rider’s chain snapped and I was carrying the right powerlinks to fix it for them.

I personally I’ve never got why Surly etc. chose to use steel to build bicycle frames intended for snow/mud/beach riding. it’s not like you’ll ever “feel” the difference through a 3.7″ tyre at 8psi.

Because they only make steel bikes.

being used to the weight of aggressive tread patern 2.5 dual ply DH race tyres I find fatbike tyres to “look” wafer thin and a practically semi-slick/hybrid tread in comparison but they weigh around the same.

True, but the less aggressive tread does make them roll faster and feel less sluggish on the trail.

If it’s mine you’re thinking of buying, just take the plunge, eh?

They are much lighter than they look. When my normal bike was out of action, I rode the Pugs for day-to-day stuff and enjoyed it. On rocky trails it’s great – no chance of getting bossed off the lines you want. On jumps and drops, it’s very confidence inspiring.

Despite what Charlie says, I had trouble with it in mud at a Gorrick as mud was super-slidey and I only had Endomorph tyres at the time. No edge knobs, meant lots of falling off. In more general mud situations, though, mates will be fighting to ride in the flattened contact patch of your big tyres :)

LOL, ygm on a related topic :)

Low-profile tyres are useless in mud. Might as well have slicks on for all the grip they give you.

Tell that to Steve Webb who won Dusk Till Dawn’s mudbath last year on Racing Ralphs.

I like tubeless but one consequence is that changing tyres is too much of a faff to do more than twice a year. Knobbly tyres on soon, back off again in April probably.

I’m completely converted to the way of the low-profile tread. Racing Ralphs for me last year, Maxxis Ikon this year.

Predictable, fast. That’s what I’m after.

Big knobbly tyres strike me as being a bit like massive disc rotors. Useful in their place, but most often just for carpark willy-waving and imagined radness.

I would only do it with a good (e.g. Shimano) QR skewer.

I’ve torn the wheel out of the dropouts a few times with QR rear. They need to be VERY tight. The Mavic skewer had to be so tight I thought I was going to break it, but that was just after tearing a wheel out so there was no doubt that I needed more tension.