Here in Alaska I have found blocking off around the brakes/shifters works the best to ensure warm hands I use bubble wrap and then if its cold I will tighten the draw string around my arm. I have been out down to -18F with a liner glove and regular weight Dogwood design pogies.
I have heard that the Revelate designs pogies are really good too, they have a removable liner in them. If you are looking for an alternative to keep your face warm. some friends use these (nosehat[/url]) and love them. I use a wool buff.

Here is little insight into the equipment used from GCN.

I was fortunate enough to ride with Mark out of Anchorage, AK. It’s great to see that he has completed this ride and under his 80day target.

This is our little guy Mort. He is a border terrier mix we think(rescue dog so we are not entirely sure)
Mort instagram page[/url]
We have had him about two months now and he is around 18 months old as far as we know.
Crate trained, house broken and seems very smart. He also seems to hear us and follow commands when it suits him. We don’t have a garden but I can say Mort doesn’t like to be on a leash if other dogs are not, he also likes to sniff and get underneath bushes.
I haven’t been out for long bike trips with him yet but the short ones I have been on he seems to like.
He runs really fast but not sure on his endurance.

This was from last year on a trip out to a glacier Trip report

Get the RCT-3 over the RL it’s a much better damper.

The image I was trying to embed.

1 Glacier and a lot of moose

What a great effort gingerbeardmusketeer, thanks for the writeup. I know from my own experience and reading about yours where and how I can improve my longer rides/races. I really appreciate that.

Giant Revolt 1 may be another option, having ridden one I find the ride very smooth.

I have a 510 (very similar to 1000) and use a external battery without problems. I did read somewhere online that the unit won’t charge if its below 0C but this is not true, mine charged for my whole 6.5 hour ride at -25C to -15C.
The only thing I did was turn the backlight down when I plugged the charger in as it goes to maximum and this will use more power.
I also turned off bluetooth as I wasn’t using live track and had no phone signal where I was riding.
Hope this helps.

Njee20 – I believe there are chargers (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gomadic-Portable-Battery-Pack-Garmin/dp/B0041L0NG0/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A3PSKEB89MZ5CS) you can get that will work with a 500, I only found this out after I bought a 510, though my wife does like the live tracking option.

offthebrakes – Member
What is the difference between TransAm and RAAM? Is it simply a different route?

AFAIK
RAAM = supported
TransAm = Unsupported

We did a countdown calender and a picture a day which we sent to mum, though mine was just over 3years old. Wife was away for 36days on a training course. Skype and FaceTime every other day at Mum’s insistence, think daughter would have been fine every week.

Mum is currently away again, little trickier this time. Skype/facetime not possible and unknown duration, job keeps delaying. We are doing picture a day and trying to keep her updated with expected timeframe. Kids are resilient though.
Good Luck
Nick

From Sunday (30th March 2014) in its current form. Soon to be single speeded though.

Rest of the world thinks it’s safe to turn on a red light

But in America, you are supposed to come to a complete stop before turning right on red.

Great on soft ground, fun on trails. Roll better than you think. Suspension is not the same as a fat tyre. Nates or Bud and Lou have lots of grip. Not niche where I live, if we want to ride all year almost essential, (I’m in Anchorage Alaska by the way).

I have a Trance 29er 0, I’m 6’2″ and ride a Large. I race it as my Cross Country bike and find it to be a lot of fun. If I was buying one now I would definitely want to demo a 27.5 bike to see if it is more suitable for my local trails, I don’t think it would be for me but that is more because a lot of trails here seem to flow really well with a 29er.
FYI I work at a shop that sells Giant, hence the reason I got the bike.

Anyone got or used one of these for a while? Just wondered what the strengths/weaknesses are and how reliable they are over time.

As a full suspension bike (similar to all others) maintenance needs to be kept on top of, checking pivots and following suspension maintenance procedures to get the best from them. We have not see any come back through the shop for warranty issues.

Does the sloping seatpost make the sizing more tricky?

Not really, though if you do a lot of climbing you may want a shorter stem.

Anything need changing from new?

First bike I have owned that I have not changed anything, I even like the saddle. Once you get used to the dropper post you will wonder how you ride without one.

Hope this helps
Nick

Think that Schwable have released (not sure on availability yet) a tyre called the Rock Razor
Looks like a combination of the Hans Dampf and the Nobby Nic, I have only seen it in 27.5 format and have not ridden it yet but looks good, we were discussing at work how it would be a perfect tread for a snow tyre if it came in 4″ width.

I have one (907), although I do live in Alaska so we get a fair amount of snow. I bought a set of the on one 29er wheels and put slick tyres on it to use as a commuter for work. It’s nice as I can run full guards so I don’t get so wet. Can’t comment on its trail worthiness on dirt trails but on snow it’s great. It’s also nice to switch to the road bike after riding the skinny fat as there is about 10lbs in bike weight difference.

We had one, daughter at the time proceeded to look directly at the camera so for us a waste of money. (Think ours may have been 4d DVD of the 3d image)

andypaul99 – Member
There is a range of Giant XTC 27.5 hardtails on the horizon. apparently.

This is true, as well as Full Suspension if that tickles your fancy in the future.

I have mine on the left, though don’t have fork lockout on the bars. (I’m right handed if that helps)

Here is one of mine, 4S picture. Main limitation is my timing when taking the images. Clearly not as good as a big camera but for sharing on the web perfectly acceptable.

4s iphone photo

I only rode one today…. I have a few to choose from.

you should just be able to replace the tyres with road tyres no wheel change. But as above experiment with tyre pressure first. 40 is pretty wide, road tyres for race bikes are 23C or 25 normally.

85miles all on snow 8) some of it towing mini blades.

potentially very fast, could be lighter…. what slows it down well me to be perfectly honest 🙂

Sorry it’s on twitter and I’m not sure I can direct link to the photo.
From yesterday

I was using exchange but I know there are problems with that now so switched to this way.
cardDAV[/url]

do they grit alaskan roads?

Yes well here in Anchorage they do, but a lot (not all) of drivers here either have winter or studded tyres. People still get stuck though and skid off the road. All wheel drive might get you going on sheet ice but you may not be able to stop!

Another Chariot owner here, about to make my own ski connection (refuse to spend $275 for the proper version) to pull the trailer on the local trails here all year.

Great bit of kit and seem to hold their value well for the second hand market. We had the sling and then the next stage before using it without any extra padding. Suspension works really well and is weight adjustable.

We also changed the tyres for Schwalbe ones with puncture protection which when riding tow paths prevented all the sneeky black thorns from getting through.

So we just bought two 907 Fat bikes (one for me and one for the wife)

They are 26″ though as mentioned above due to tyre size they could also be classed as 29″

I read somewhere that you need to have a gradient (1% from memory) on the treadmill to replicate running outside better. PB for me outside sub 21min on out and back course which was very flat. I would like to do sub 20min 5km and sub 42min for 10km but that would require some serious training/commitment from me. Just not that fussed about running at the moment.

So a long time ago I need to insure my friend on my car. It was cheaper just to keep him on the insurance until the end of the policy rather than put him on and take him off again as for the insurance company that involved two lots of paperwork.

Bait, Salami worked for us.

Congratulations

Go Kimi! “Leave me alone, I know what to do” 🙂

A friend sent this to me about the influence of money in the USA election, I found it quite interesting.
a-campaign-map-morphed-by-money

Great article, thanks for sharing.

Some really good pumpkins, thanks for sharing everyone. Link to ours from this year.