Final question – for the same money would you choose a 4 year old car with 50k on the clock or a 5 year old with 40k on it (BMW) ?

No way of knowing, but I’d be wondering whether the older car (8k a year) was driven around town whereas the 4 year old (12.5k a year) had done a few more long distance trips.

As I said, no way of knowing, but I’d have a think about it if it was me.

I’ll make sure I’ve got my waterproof socks on next time then!

Cheers Drac,

I’m not a massive fan of Ward Law as a climb as it seems a massive grassy drag every time I use it! I tend to start near the cafe, go up the road through the perma-bog (hence my question – I’ve not found a dry way up and wondered if it ever dried out!), along the ridge and then back down. I think the ridge probably works better the other way, except there’s always a massive headwind every time I’m up there!

Real shame Steve’s had to sack it off. Best races I’ve ever done.

Anyone got any idea if they publish the hardtail results? I want to attempt to console myself after a generally poor show overall

I think the quickest hardtail was a bit under 19.30 (although 2nd place on 19.40 would have been way quicker if it wasn’t for a warp speed crash on the whoops in stage 4!).They don’t tend to publish hardtail results, although Dan from Stanton did at Eastridge.

Surely you know your local trails well enough to be able to avoid the ones that will be permanent bogs/porridge/calf deep quagmires?

I don’t mean that as a troll!

I’ve tried to use CRC’s next day delivery three times now. They have a 100% failure rate. Impressive stuff.

Blimey. That’s a big route. I’m not totally sure when yet, but I might take you up on that offer when I do…

I’m a massive Muse fan, (ok not massive, I’m about six foot), but that’s utter bobbins.

If you queued for the jetwash maybe. Otherwise does it really take you more than 50 minutes to clean a bike with your own kit?

Yes. There were a few of us helping two solo riders. At one point, it was taking over an hour (for one person) to clean and fix each bike – and we were using a dirt worker. The mud/grass combo was nuts.

Does it really matter where his pit is? He has one bike change (assuming two bikes) per lap, as does everyone else. They said in the briefing that solo riders didn’t have to pit in the solo tent and it’s pretty customary for riders to pit wherever – they certainly have done at every solo event I’ve ridden at (MM,SiTS, 24/12, Strathpuffer).

Still still going…

Don’t suppose anyone wants my solo entry?

Still going…

It was/is £60 to enter normally.

How about £50?

Bontrager say that I just have to email them with new details and they’ll happily switch the name on the entry.

Bumpity bump for the evening crowd

After my previous comments, it now looks like I may be doing the Mega on my hardtail…

I have a chance to ride and don’t have a bigger bike (or the cash to get one). I’ll never make the main race but am crossing everything I have for a place in the second final. Or the third. (Anything but the Affinity really!).

Reckon a 120mm Soul is enough? I’ll probably bump the forks up to 140 and get the biggest tyres I can find, with the thickest sidewalls I can find and run them tubeless and a nice squishy pressure. I may be able to borrow a mate’s Bfe frame for some extra stiffness too.

Is the OP racing hardtail? Anyone else?

Tim – I get the impression from speaking to Cy that every time there’s a thread like this, a few people pop up saying they’d ‘definitely be interested’ in an XL soul. But whenever he makes one, they all vanish.

Ps. You do seem a tad angry… 😉

Or just ride them in a slightly responsible manner?

Anyway, back to the OP. Cut Gate’s great and no, I haven’t cleaned it but I’ve seen it almost done on several occasions.

mountain bikes are excluded from 95% of the peak, but i’m sorry to say if you visit those places the type of trail degradation your talking about remains…

It doesn’t happen anywhere near as rapidly though…

I did the Mega a few years back on a Prophet MX.

Normally, I ride hardtails everywhere (the Prophet broke, sniffle). I ride a lot at Wharncliffe and race stuff like Gravity Enduros happily enough on one. And riding a hardtail around Alpe d’Huez would be amazing fun – but I don’t know if I’d race one at the Mega.

On the one hand, if I could accept that I’d handicapped myself before the start and just be happy with whereever I finished, I’d be pretty happy. The course is brutal, and racing would hurt, but you’d get down fine (and wouldn’t be last).

On the other hand, I made the main race last time, so I would be pissed not to do so again. Would I just get annoyed with finishing as high up the field as I thought I could?

I guess it depends on how well you think you’d deal with knowing you could have finished higher? (ie my ego’s probably too big to let me race on a hardtail!)

I’ve used both (15mm axles, travel dropped to 120mm). Personally, I prefer the Foxes. They seem a bit twangier than the Rockshox, but the action feels a lot better (more controlled?). I reckon this compensates for any reduction in stiffness when riding too.

Check out this thread from a couple of days back. There are some good suggestions on there.

I was a little disappointed with it really. But then as I rate Alien and Aliens as two of the greatest films of all time and have been looking forward to this like I’ve never looked forward to a film before, it was probably inevitable.

WARNING: Lots of potential spoilers!

Far too many attempted storylines and ideas, half of which were cheesy and unoriginal and pretty much thrown in and never developed – so you just ended up wondering what the actual story was.

Nothing like the Alien films in style or substance – far too much exposition and pointless character development. The first films just pretty much chuck you in and get on with it.

It was ridiculous in places – wtf was going on with that surgery? There’s a limit to what an audience will accept before thinking ‘this is silly’!

Too many characters who do nothing. Lots of characters who just appear and die without anybody caring (like in the cargo hold). Just have one minor-major character die and it’s a lot more compelling. And on the bridge at the end – you can’t have two very minor characters just appearing and then turning into big heroes. It doesn’t work.

Sorry… I could go on… I had a major ‘ex-literature student trying to re-live uni’ moment in the car on the way home…

I did enjoy it though. The acting was top notch.

Rockshox also ‘need’ to have a lower leg service every 50 hours. I just had a warranty claim refused on a 4 month old set of Revelations because I’d only serviced them once in this time…

I’ve run Revs and Floats set at 120 on my Soul (so not quite the forks you’re looking for). In my experience, Fox forks are twangier, but have much better damping.

A few of the trails that come down the other side of the valley to the Sprint course are good.

The Quali course has some awesome rocky singletrack at the top and some great twisty stuff in the woods lower down.

If you can get up to the top of the Mega Course, there’s some good rocky singletrack after the snow.

If you’ve a car, Deux Alpes isn’t too far away – from memory, it’s fast and bermy where Alp d’Huez is ‘natural’ – althoug there’s a good long descent to Venosc.

I’ve not been for a few years mind.

Have fun!

EDIT – just read the self lifting bit. Sorry, that’s going to make the top of the Quali and the main course tricky… But you can ride the lower sections down into the valley if you take it in turns to drive back up.

Set a date and tell them that if things aren’t well on their way by then you’re pulling out?

I think it’s awesome the way that this ride is great both ways round! I can’t think of any other rides that are as good both ways.

Personally, I always vote anti-clockwise. One day I’ll get up Jacobs, I like the descent off the back and Roych Clough is DEFINITELY better this way round. And although Chapel Gate isn’t an option any more, Greenlands always makes me smile.

As for climbing Jacobs ‘from the back’, it is doable, not getting up without spinning out on a loose rock when you’re knackered definitely involves a bit of luck!

The Lake District Essential Trails book suggests anti-clockwise but I’ve found some of the rides in the Peak version are often the opposite way from the norm.

That’s because it’s a different route to the one you’ve linked to! It doesn’t suggest anti-clockwise, it does the Latrigg Trail both ways as a result. It goes over Latrigg the ‘wrong way’, then down an really nice singletrack stretch to Mungrizedale is awesome, then there’s some okish stuff roudn the back of Skiddaw, then up past the falls and along Latrigg the ‘right’ way.

Personally, I much prefer this to the half road route.

But yes, Latrigg is better north to south.

EDIT: Just looked at the guide – are you talking about the short anti-clockwise loop? That does go the right way along Latrigg.

Any idea if your wheel was sitting centrally before? I’m going to guess it wasn’t, as it sounds like it’s just not dished properly – in which case you just need to tighten all the spokes on one side.

Like I said though, without seeing it, I’m guessing!

(Ignore the chump in Halfords, you want your axle sitting all the way up into your fork dropouts.)

EDIT – missed the bit about your mates wheel. Maybe you’ve bent something.

I get the impression a few of you haven’t looked for a new helmet lately!

Climbing helmets aren’t toss or garbage and there are plenty around that offer loads of side/back impact protection (as opposed to ‘falling object’ protection. And there are some that fit as well as, or even better than cycling helmets – check out the new BD Tracer for example.

EDIT – That said, things like the Ecrin Roc and Elios aren’t the most comfortable (on me) – they could definitely do with improvements.

I screwed my hands at SiTS in, ooh, 2004(?). Did both hands, couldn’t really move my little and ring fingers for a few days, couldn’t even hold a toothbrush. I’m positive this was through using gloves with no padding, very thin grips and slumping over the bars a lot.

I just assumed I’d bruised them badly and didn’t bother seeing a doc. (I am now beginning to suspect it was a little more than that)

That passed quickly enough, but anything that put pressure on my palms (even driving!) was pretty painful. It took several months (best part of a year) for that to even begin to pass. I did carry on riding though.

Then I had several years where long rides would hurt, using a spade would hurt etc etc. It’s only been in the last couple of years that I’m totally fine after long rides. Although I did a lot of digging for a mate (not literally, he wasn’t buried) a couple of weeks back and that aggravated them again – so they’re not really totally better even now, 8 years later!

That said, in that time I’ve done a huge amount of riding (including 3 more 24 solos (one of which was this year’s Puffer.) and several stretches of riding for 7 days+) – so it’s not really stopped me.

I make sure I used those massive flat Ergon grips for 24s, (I use ODI Ruffians the rest of the time – so hardly padded!) and always use Specialized gloves with padding on the palm the rest of the time. I also move my hands around a lot when I’m riding – holding the ends of the bars (as if with bar ends), thumbs on top of the bar, hands resting on the brake reservoirs, that sort of thing.

Just try and work round it!

I had a cracking weekend. The weather was great, the stages were even better and the people I met were awesome. I even enjoyed the linking stages. Cheers Steve and co.!

Anti clockwise for sure. 😉 Jaggers Clough is dull as a dull thing if you go clockwise and really quite good if you go anti. And you get multiple choices for your final descent, all of which are better than Jacobs Ladder.

How slow do you drive! it’s about 30 mins in the car to Chicksands from Knebworth

Ha! Said it had been a while…

Mardley Heath is the closest bet. It’s tiny, but there’s some good singletrack in there. You can pretty easily link this to Tewin and onto Sherardswood with barely a tyre on tarmac if you want something longer.

Otherwise, Jedi’s not far away at Herts Shore and Woburn and Chicksands are an hour/hour thirty or so off in the car. Thetford’s only an hour and a bit away too.

However, I moved 4 years ago, so a lot of that could be wrong by now…

I’d say there was a fairly high chance you’ve covered everything (well, pads at least) in brake fluid.

Clean the rotor really well with meths or something and give the pads a quick blast over a flame. If that doesn’t work it’s new pad time.

Bent mech? Bent sprocket? (Both happen.)

My money would be on mucky cables though.

Jeez. The guy asks for a couple of suggestions and WW3 breaks out. Internet forums…

Harnesses are all broadly the same. Some have different features that make will them more or less suitable for you depending on what you’re doing. Essentially, the only things to worry about at this stage are the fit (and comfort) and the number of gear loops. If you think you’ll get into winter climbing then start worrying about adjustable leg loops and what the thing’s made from.

Go into a shop and see what they say. If you’re anywhere near the Peak District, let me know and I can show you what we’ve got in stock and talk you through various things.

Ps. Chalk is not banned in Font, unless you’re an argumentative Frenchman and stuck in the 1970s.

The descent in the pictures is the short section through the woods on the descent from the tower to Westmancote – the last descent in the Vertebrate Guide.

Fair enough. Personally, I’m convinced it is a set up issue, as mine have been bled and bled and bled with no real change, whereas paying really careful attention to set up seems to have sorted it. Maybe give it another check?

Will try using something thinner than the bleed block tonight.

Careful with this one. I tried this using an 8mm allen key. It moved, I didn’t notice. I pulled the lever fairly hard, the piston came out wonkily and the seal blew. That’s the second piston seal that’s gone for me on these brakes in 3 months (the first went while riding) – I think they might be quite fragile…