Have just put some Specialized Purgatory tyres on my rigid single speed 29er. Been very impressed so far, grip well in the mud and on fireroads. A bit weighty at 740g, but they are tubeless ready and seal without a hitch. Have them at 30-35psi and for the muddy stuff.

Picked them up at my LBS for £21 each

I know what you mean, it only takes a few seconds to shove a wrapper in a jersey pocket.

I love the fact that on the 12:12 course there are two dustbins where wrappers can be thrown – I saw this as a challenge to get a wrapper in each most laps – with no misses I might add. On my final lap my caffeine gel wrapper went in and I noticed the bin was pretty near the top, so imagine what the course would have been like without the bins.

On a particular point on this course, I would hope the MOD would not moan too much as there were plenty of silver ration pack wrappers round the course / site.

Third year of doing it solo and best yet. The changes made to the course (Crusty Bob, etc…) by the organisers and trial elfs were excellent – made it much more rideable and safer. The changes made to the course during the race, by rain and riders were great too. I loved the way you could ride a section, sort out your line and then one lap later it looks totally different and your line has disappeared.

Great atmosphere as always, though found there were less words of support for solo riders – could this be because the blue glow sticks were fairly dim (especially once covered in mud)??????

Yep loving the mist on the hill, but also the final rays of sunshine on the back course – a beautiful sight after all the rain.

See you all next year

Just been for a 20 minute spin with the new lights.

Have to say I am very impressed. My previous bar lights (Hope Vision 2 with 480 lumens) were starting to show their age, but the optics on them were excellent with a good flood of light, it just did not go very far.

These ebay sourced lights have an excellent flood of light with no brightspots, rings or shaddows and certainly the top three settings are clearly brighter than my Hopes. I expect I will mainly run the light on 75% or even 50% to improve run times.

Build quaility seems good – but to be honest only a winter of night riding prove if it is (am keeping hold of my Hopes til Spring, just in case)

I bought a larger battery pack (6600mAh) which comes in a pouch and without the weighty casing and touch screen – mine weighs in a 315g and should be good for 4+ hours on 75% power (1200 lumens). The proof of this will be if I make it round Torq in Your Sleep.

Mine have arrived this morning – been on charge all day, looking forward to taking them for a little spin this evening.

The cable on the light and the battery are quite long, so thinking about popping the battery in an old water bottle and trying in the down tube bottle cage.

Will let you have first impressions later this evening.

Just ordered my 4 x XPG Magicshine off of ebay, but found a UK seller who splits up the light, charger and battery. This means I was able to get a 6600mAh battery the longer rides.

Should arrive on Friday so I can give it a try for Torq in Your Sleep ( with my trusty Hope Vision 2 as backup).

Cheers for the review, prefer buying from within the UK (even if it does cost a bit more).

Loved the course the past 2 years I have riden it – can’t wait for this year and the new and improved Sponge Bob.

Made a mistake last year of trying it rigid single speed – my wrists nearly exploded after 8 laps.

This year it is single speed Whippet with Rebas up front – sweet.

Had to order silver ones this morning as they were out of the black ones by the time i made it to checkout.

Not worried about what they look like – its defo an item of function over form.

There has been a long stretch of solo camping / parking in previous years and I am not aware of anyone pinching stuff. Myself and a few others from New Force (New Forest Mountanin Bike Club) will be doing it solo, as well as a team of four. If you look for the large trailer tents and a blue flag with a beer on it – you will have found us. I am lucky enough to have a pit crew, so you are more than welcome to pop your box in our area.

As njee20 says dont try anything new and try not to stop and put down your bike, as you will find yourself saying ‘just another 5 minutes’ and an hour disappears.

The other thing is get a chamois cream or similar – it will off-set the pain and agony down below – oh and talking of pain, some ibuprofen or paracetemol will be handy.

It is a good course and a great atmosphere.

Reba’s are 100mm making it nice and agile. I am 6’2″ and have 400mm seat post and it seems fine to me, it is a bit stretched out mind.

If you are going to single speed a whippet, you do need to customise the chain tug to get it fit in the swap outs – try a alloy bmx one. Can do ya photos if ya want.

Hmmmm. I still have days where I can’t breath, speak or walk after a bike ride. But that is just pushing yourself beyond your limits.

The best thing for pushing yourself and improving your fitness, is find a group to ride with who are fitter than you and try and keep up with them for the ride – but let them drink more when you make it to the pub.

Always wear a buff under my helmet – rain or shine, frost or heatwave.
But, tried the 3″ strip of a buff thingy as noted previously, and that kept my bonce cool and the sweat out my eyes.

Here is my 20″ Whippet still dirty after a 35 miler on Thursday night.

Silly – you’d be daft not to.
Switched my Whippet to single speed for Mayhem, not swapped it back as it is such a blast. Only thing I had to do was increase the ratio (34/16) and put in a 1/2 chain (kept braking the other as I am no whippet myself !!!!)

Will get you some pics when home from work tomorrow.

Errrr no……. 26″ Whippet. My best lap was a 1.22 I think – not flying but ok for the atire and for most of the ups – we had a lot of gravity helping on the downs.

Team Sumo were on 32:20 in the main, with one 32:18 for one chap. Well we were heavier than most and certainly sweating more than most.

Best: All the banter from riders and spectators, but especially riding behind geared riders and having a chat, then as they reach for a lower gear on a hill, getting out the saddle and passing them. You could almost hear chins hitting stems as they realised they had been “sumo’d”.

Worst: can’t think of one, except wanting to ride more laps – thought the course was a great.

I have Memory Map on my laptop, so splashed out on the IPhone App. You can upload your pc maps onto your phone.

The GPS works well and records routes better than other apps I have tried – plus it is all on OS maps.

Nice position to be in, but so many choices……

I too am a taller rider, and large size frames can be very different from there medium siblings. I have an a HT Boardman which when reviewed by mags in the medium size, when my large version bends and twists all over the place. So I would stick clear from these.

Just replaced the Boardman with OnOne Whippet – and given you can pick one up for £999 at the mo – this is a fantastic frame with a good kit list. Or for a bit less cash, try the OnOne Scandal (got one of these too) -light and agile.

Good luck with the search

Am 6’2″ and own a Scandal (ace) and a Boardman (crap). I am sure the Boardman frames are fine at the smaller sizes, but in a large mine is very bendy.

My Scandal is a super frame – highly recommended.

Rich

Here is a nice looking one I found …….

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Conway-Canterbury-Trailer-Tent-/230599540619?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_HikingCamping_Tents_JN&hash=item35b0cdbf8b

Rich

Would a trailer tent be a possibility??

I have 3 kids and started camping with a normal tent, but by the time you have tent, bedding, cooking things and the odd comfy chair packed in the car, there is little room for the people.

We picked up a nice Conway tent from a friend, and you get to pack all your camping clobber with the tent, which means the car can have all your families bits. Find the right Conway and you get matresses, cooker, lots of space, sometimes a fridge and lights. They are dead easy to tow and set up too.

Just what needed on this wet and miserable Friday 🙂

Thank you