There's a cheeky shortcut by the lodges that takes you down to the bridleway to Thornthwaite (Seldom Seen) – you drop too far though and would end up having to ride up a similar amount of fireroad.

You've not got a gps record of that have you? I'm trying to work out ways into/out of the forest from Braithwaite.

Stumpyjon of this parish is the man to ask.

Brilliant.

What's gone in so far is very good

Agreed.

Check out the yetifan forum. Happens a lot to carbon chainstays, and always in the same place. If it's under warranty you should get a free replacement. If it's out of warranty they will usually supply a new rear end at a good discount. (Hint – get alu next time)

IMHO you should start at Tosside, and do the full loop. Then go round the top loop again. The bottom bit is OK, but not a patch on the top loop. Tosside has a pub, cafe and (free) bike wash.

Why not just assume that they've got it unless they tell you otherwise

Remind me never to deal with you. You sound like a postie.

Yet another point but still related. Folk who buy stuff off you, then never tell you that they've received it. You then have to start going through Royal Mail's tracing procedure. It costs nothing to drop a quick e-mail saying item received.

Maybe the problem is that the instructions are written in English?

I hadn't thought of it like that, but now you mention it…..

Seriously though, why does OP need to have some organised jolly set up before he can take his wife on a ride. He's not even talking about showing her all the route, just some of it! Who will he nominate to hold his hand?

I thought maybe it would be a good way for my wife to see some of the 3 Peaks

Well why not just take her?

Hi, was down there on Saturday. Can do you a couple of decent all day routes on .mmo or.gpx files. Mail me if interested.

Couldn't be when I asked Hope.

What you really need for a Garmin is one of these:-

http://www.gpsw.co.uk/details/prod2394.html

and one of these:-

http://www.gpsw.co.uk/details/prod4137.html

I've just broken off from reading No Expenses Spared. It's the story behind the Telegraph's Parliamentary investigation. Not really about the MPs themselves, but it's the story of how the story was reported. It's a real page turner. I've read 280 pages this afternoon!!!

That you Dylan? Why weren't you at work?

Sorry boys, hat's already gone.

Don't use detergent, get some wash balls.

Half term approaches I think. Grockles to the right of him, grockles to the left.

Well you've all lost. The tank is at Gatten on the Long Mynd. Nowhere near Bedford, or the Peak, or Catterick.

Wasn't she formerly known as James Moir?

But my god the shop staff need to learn how to smile.

That's once you've got them to open the front door. Last time we went a customer got so pissed off with us ringing the bell he came all the way down to open the door for us. Customer service might be great for on-line trading, but face to face it's joke. But then you can tell from the set up that they don't really want callers at the wharehouse, I refuse to call it a shop.

Spot on, nowhere near Bedfordshire. Don't think I've ever been that far south!

Small beanie here also going spare to anyone with a less than normal size head.

Weel the pic title is "tank at chicksands" –

You don't think that's maybe a red herring to stop sneakies?

Poked my head through the front turret. The armour on those things is bloody thick. Wouldn't like to be the driver with my bonce sticking through that hole in serious action.

As to where it is…a very popular mtb area. I saw loads out round and about, but how many saw this? I've been past it before and not seen it. Couldn't see how it got there; it appears to be wider than the road that it must have come up.

Nah, that's tidier than my garden!!!

i.e. is the Vista worth the extra?

No. You could probably do everything you need with a Venture – one down from the Legend. You don't need a barometer and an altimeter, and you'll probably never use them if you have them. Don't forget that whichever unit you buy the visible screen is comparatively tiny, and the maps you get are really only useful for confirming where you are at a given moment when stationary. Trying to follow them whilst riding is almost impossible, whatever maps you have in front of you.

Use Tracklogs on PC to plot your rides. They won't load to your GPS, but the toastytalk maps will. You've got it about right.

You'll need to be able to fit an SD card, otherwise no it won't work.

when a built in compass would have been useful.

It has one, if you know where to look.

Agree about the mapping, but something like toastytalk maps are good enough. Far better than the Garmin Topo maps.

When you hit the car park at the road head you can turn left and work your way through the quarries. All sorts of routes through there. Some of the quarries are still working too. Barnes has a route that turns right at the car park and down a lane that really is cr@p and hardly rideable, but he'll tell you it's the best thing in the area.

Ah, another postie I presume. Finished your round already? Or just dumped it somewhere?

Plus your assumption that all posties are thieves is just wrong.

Your assumption that I assumed all posties to be thieves is just wrong.

You can't stick 20quid in an online birthday card,

You wouldn't seriously put a £20 note in a birthday card would you? It isn't obligatory to give the postie a tip for doing his job (or not).

And Gordon is going to tax us all 50p per m onth to run broadband out to every home, so the problem will soon pass.

Yes, that's the only problem. But how many fall into that category? Certainly no-one on here. And Gordon is going to tax us all 50p per m onth to run broadband out to every home, so the problem will soon pass.

Me too. Had a similar e-mail. You were lucky – I had to get my credit card company to give a refund. Looks like they might be in the S H 1 T.

Try this

http://chestermtb.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=5904

I run Advantages all year round. Don't ride much mud and in Winter am in Lakes/Dales where the water drains quite well so no quagmires. They are good enough for my limited riding skills!!! Run 2.1 front and rear.