Only a phone picture but a lovely morning up the fell!

Cheers, sounds interesting and worth a bit more research.

What is there on the way up to break up the journey from the Borth west of England?

Blimey Tour de Ben Nevis is 70k! I’m not sure the whole group would manage that, I think 40-50k might be closer the limit. Anything more in that region?

Other option could be to break it up. Take a van and meet up a bit further south to ride on the Saturday, continue up on Saturday evening, stay over and ride the uplift on the Sunday, then same on the way back? Ben Lomond? Stirling way?

I’m not the only one who thinks it’s Thursday am I!?

OP where about’s are you?

We seem to be having a real revival of good pubs around us at the moment (Lancashire). Granted a lot are doing top food too but all still welcoming as a local too. I think they’re realising a good bar gives a pub a good atmosphere!

+1 what stoner said, know a few guys just met through the pub and all willing to lend a cement mixer or whatever is required!!

The beer hall is open anyway so unless you’re looking at really late you’ll be fine anyway.

As above best come up from Troutbeck side and down into Kentmere or it’s a waste of a push up! Don’t forget all the good stuff in Kentmere valley as you come back down!

Diving the Great

Read this book by John Metcalfe on holiday earlier this year and I found it a great mountain biking read!

So something like Trail King Protections or Ardents or High Rollers in EXO?

Which of them three would people rate, guessing the high rollers? What do they come up like size wise? I’m riding an Orange Five.

Thanks for the initial thoughts. Ride quite a bit of Rocky Lakes/North West stuff. Are HR2s the choice for that too?

That’s ok then, I really like Nan Bield. Might as well give it a go, it’s dry and it’s one to tick off the list hey!?

Anything you can recommend as better in the area then? I’ve ridden the other side of the M6 plenty so looking for some uncharted terrain!

An E class hybrid for £40/month in tax!? That’s less than I pay on a basic Leon at 20%!!

That’s why I was going to park at Settle and ride over to Malham Tarn originally!

So are we saying park at Malham Tarn, off road over to Arncliffe, but then where does the tour actually pass? Can I get over from Arncliffe to the Kettlewell road?

Is adding the Settle loop bit on quite a big ride then?

Cheers for the local knowledge!

If I was to do the ride from Settle over and back what would I be looking at length wise and time wise (roughly).

Was aiming to probably set off from settle at around 8.30, figured 2 1/2 hours over there, watch the caravan, have some lunch and the tour then 2 1/2 back for a good day out.

Sound about right?

Ok cheers, hopefully old bars and bike racks will fit from the sounds of it. Will get the foot pack and lot ordered.

Just need the snow out in Switzerland to melt now or the biking might be a bit limited!

Bed normally around 10.30 then up at 6am everyday.

If I’m out riding I might not get in until midnight. Generally don’t feel tired, I think when I do it’s more the 12 hours at work than the amount of sleep to be honest!

I still wake up by 7 at the weekends and I go to bed later so don’t think I’m in a sleep deficit at all really.

Well we did it yesterday and what a cracking ride out it was.

Set off from Stavely and headed over to Sadgill. As we dropped down we got our first view of what we had coming up to climb….

Blimey it’s a good climb up, makes the neighbouring Garburn pass look proper soft! Anyway continued up and over Harter Fell where the views where fantastic as was the biking (when we didn’t have to get off)

We then made it to Nan Bield and could see the glorious downhill laid out before us. Steep loose switchbacks turning into a lovely ribbon of singletrack with plenty techy bits to keep you thinking.

We continued down the valley then up our Green Quarter and down HP Plantation. That bit of riding from Green Quarter down really is a cracking bit of trail too. Finished with a well deserved pint and chip butty at the Beer Hall from a pretty good morning out!

Sounds and looks ace!

Think my plan will be to head from Staveley, straight up the hill and over to Sadgill, up Gatesgarth then take a left over Harter Fell and then down Nan Bield towards Kentmere. Then depending on what takes my fancy one of the bridleways along the side of Kentmere valley and back.

Hopefully I get a bit of good weather for it!

I work as an Engineer in the construction industry.

Our contracted hours are 45/week however the contract came with the opt out of the working time directive. I, and most of us here generally do more than that, a 55/60 hour week is fairly normal.

Does it bother me? Not really.

Pay seems quite good, I enjoy the work, every day is busy and times just flies by.

I am only 26 and keen to progress so putting in the extra hours to get a good reputation and to be the best I can is fine by me.

I was looking at his suggestions on a map getting a little confused. Seemed to be turning into somewhat of an epic in length!!

Thanks for the info!

Looking forward to it, hope the weather stays as it is!

This evenings spin!

Also those decents on Calderdale look great. Was planning on doing a ride from Worsthorne to Tod, Hebden and round on Friday. Anyone care to share where any of that stuff is and if I can include it on my route!?

What kind of time did you do it in then? Also was it a mountain bike or road bike jobby then?

Yeah it’s a fund raising thing with work but thought it sounded quite a good laugh and more of a challenge than a sponsored walk!

I went to a presentation by the Chairman of HS2. He admitted to us that it’s being marketed all wrong.

The main need for it is the lack of capacity on the existing rail network. The WCML is already one of the busiest rail routes in Europe and demand is growing. The existing infrastructure can’t easily be expanded due to platform lengths, bridge widths etc.

HS2 will provide a huge amount of increased capacity to some of the busiest rail network. In turn this will free up the existing lines for increased freight and local services.

It’s HS2 because you might as well build high speed if you are going to build brand new hey!?

Fine. I was riding around Elterwater yesterday (Iron Keld, langdales, Loughrigg etc) and the snow line us plenty up above there. Hellvelyn was looking pretty white though!

Mainly looking forward to the alpine skiing.

DH is always a great watch and the skier cross is fantastic viewing too. Se of the crashes on there are fantastic comedy. Most looking forward to the Slalom and GS. I used to race with Dave Ryding (who will be competing in those disciplines) so I’ll be watching with great interest.

Going to try and watch a bit of everything really!

Thanks for all the views so far. I guess any trail centre has people who like and dislike any given trail. I guess any 2 out of the 3 sounds like it would be good for a big day. Any recommendations for somewhere to get a good butty in between would be good too. I think rocky could be good if the weather is really crappy.

I went to the Rising Sunday on Sunday afternoon and was totally underwhelmed. For good food and beer in that area try the Oast House in spinningfields. Regularly have Loweswater Gold and Jaipur on plus the food is tasty.

Bump for daytime crowd.

Hadn’t quite anticipated it going like this, should have known better….

I got a brand new Orange 5 pro with reverb for £3k. She’s a beauty so far! Deals are out there to be had….

TINAS – I graduates in 10 and I’m engineering in the North West. We have just started a big new project and can’t recruit engineers quick enough! I was in the same ship and got offered a better rate with another firm (plus work local to home) so jumped ship.

Yes for me and the Mrs. But then again we are in our 20’s early in our careers so would hope that we would be getting a bit better off each year! I’m sure if interest rates rise then I won’t be so happy!

Be careful if you do your own edges! I one sliced through the skin and muscles/tendons on my right hand after getting over zealous with a file one evening at race training. The result was a general anaesthetic, a LOT of stitches and quite a few weeks of physio after!

Saying that just wear a glove and you’ll be reet.

Waxing is dead easy though. Melt on to ski with iron, smooth over with iron, scrape off, then brush! 10 minute jobs for such a noticeable difference!

Sorry to Hijack – just looking at the otterbox ones. Not after quite as heavy duty so the prefix one says it works with docks which appeals to me. Anyone got one? Do they still work with the thumb print recognition on the 5s?

What is brick training!?

Basically the HA have committed £100+ million to the ALR scheme between J28 and J35. The pollution problem has been holding up the scheme at great cost to themselves. This mandatory 60 from 7-7 will mean they can go ahead with the scheme as they can bring the final pollution level down to an acceptable level.

It was more a reply to this….

Things made here are usually crap and as likely made by people who generally give a toss about as much as their overseas counterparts

Not that I’m saying some overseas don’t take pride in their work .