Damsons a-plenty right now.

We found three damson trees down a quiet country lane whilst walking last Saturday. Nipped back in the car on Sunday morning and from one tree we got over 10kgs 😀

We now have enough damson jam to last till 2012!

Riding down the High Peak Trail, went off it slightly to muck around (I was bored with riding with an ex-railway line) and stuck my front wheel in a pot hole. Went straight over the bars in front of a family and bent a brake lever.

I could recommend the company I work for but I think that would be cheating!

Oh, and Lombard's Pizza is mmmmmmm!

http://www.firstpizza.com/home.html

Top of the Rock early in the morning on a clear day
Then Empire State at night – no queues after 10pm when we went

Oyster Bar in Grand Central is fab if you like fish, fish or fish.

ourmaninthenorth – that looks very solid. I do like the idea of building my own work bench as it would give me the excuse to buy some more power tools for a start.

Did you have a proper plans or just draw something on the back of an envelope?

Do you want mudguards and/or pannier mounts?

Planet X have some good deals on their SL Pro Carbon with Ultegra or SRAM Rival but they can't take mudguards or panniers.

Roach – thanks for that. Bolt it to the ball? Or wall? 😀

Garage pr0n – ace!

Now I've got the misses to skip the old sofa & armchairs that lived in our garage (thanks to a nice bit of help from a mouse – she can't stand the sight of them), there's space for a workbench.

Need to measure up to see if I can fit one of these in:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cwb-r1-workbench-red

I've not a specific Duathlon but the I've been doing the Questars Adventure Races for a few years now and this year in the Duo class. That's just MTBing and running.

I run in my bike shorts. For one race this year I'd worn my full length bib tights as we were warned the bike routes had lots of nettles and nasty undergrowth. Boy did they chafe when running!

My Altura baggy shorts are fine for running in. One theory I've had is to wear my normal lycra running shorts, then a pair of padded baggy shorts over the top which would make for a quick change at transition but I've not tried it yet.

I'm 85kg to 90kg (before I put my lunch in the Camelback) and my two sets of Rebas have been faultless.

You can get a pocket sized guide book from the guys at Zero G in Chamonix – could be a good starting point

I use Mozy for my photo library and other stuff – about £3 per month for unlimited space. Currently have over 100GB uploaded to it.

Initial seed took ages but nightly backups are no problem now.

I broke my femur in a car accident and a nail/rod put into my leg. It was taken out about 7 or 8 months later. Taking it out was an overnight stay in hospital. Can't remember having that much physio afterwards, at least when compared to when I broke the femur.

I've also broken my wrist and that was plated. The plate has never been taken out and I did it back in, ooo, 1995.

That looks very nice Jonathan. What size is it?

I've had a Sirius as my HT for almost two and a half years now.

Had been thinking about changing it but thought it was great for SITS this weekend. I've got Reba Team U-Turns (85-115mm) on it. Currently run a 105mm stem but I think the OE Spesh' riser bars on it are maybe a bit narrow. I might try a wider bar and a ~90mm stem at some point (once I measure the Spesh bars to see just what they are)

Max, is the out 'n' back to Llyn Anafon in the same boat as Drum?

Depends which model, but Wiggle sell some kits:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Met_Helmet_Pads/5360025323/

I took my HT as I was expecting a mud-feast hike-a-bike-o-rama and I'd got bored of dragging a 50lb Trance round Mayhem last year. Four out of the five on our team rode HTs, with 3 of them having the choice to bring a FS.

Certainly agree it's more relaxed than Mayhem. Riders coming past were much more polite and would wait for you to give them space, rather than just barge past.

BadlyWiredDog, I spoke to a guy who was his 14th lap as a pair. Damned if I can remember what bike it was. Was inside the last 3 hours and, I think, just after crossing the tarmac for the 1st time, then going along the edge of a field before turning right uphill. I do remember him saying he'd had 20 minutes of sleep since Saturday.

Update from somebody who's tried a lap today:

…lot have done a practice lap (well nearly) and said it is very muddy and unrideable in many places. As a result they couldn't finish their lap as they ran out of time.

Not a fan of the PunctureSpeed Kings after 4 punctures on a single Lakes ride.

Alpkit do two pairs for £9

http://www.alpkit.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16444&category_id=251

Some top notch riding around Fernie. We rode with some of the guys from Fernie Fat Tyre (now Sacred Rides) : http://www.sacredrides.com/

Note : If you spend a day with lad called Eddie (looked about 12 when we were there), don't try to keep up with him on the climbs, even if he's on a 8" Santa Cruz and you've got an XC bike!

Might be worth looking at Source Hydration:

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/6222

I work for a small-ish company and the only person interested in C2W to date is me. My bike on C2W is from Planet X and I simply used the company credit card to pay Planet X and they shipped it out. Invoice etc was done in the business name. Planet X gave me some sample C2W forms which I sorted with the boss and everyone is happy.

Sorted.

First time at SITS for me – mixed team of 5, we're even in the Vet's sub-cat.

I've learnt from Mountain Mayhem last year – hardtail (Pipedream Sirius) and a pair of 1.7" mud tyres ready to bung on

Has anyone else had more information on e-mail or in the post? I've not had anything since I got the original entry confirmation a good few months ago.

I've bought a pair of Geax Barro Mud 1.7s for this weekend's mud fest.

I'm a SITS virgin but had the character building (ha!) night lap of hell at Mountain Mayhem last year.

Which bit of the "last (boring) section" is going? The singletrack that loops round and takes the bridge over the blue?

My misses had never camped before last weekend.

We picked here:

http://www.peakpub.co.uk/

Pub does cracking food and beer. You're in The Peaks, so pick your riding.

Facilities for the camp site are new this year. Very good showers, plenty of hot water, kept clean, we never had to queue.

Just planning our 2nd trip for September, so I guess she enjoyed it!

For safe family cycling you've got the High Peak and Tissington Trails.

http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/hptt

Depending how far you want to go, you can start at Hurdlow (just round the corner from the Royal Oak pub – great food & beer) or Parsley Hay. It's possible to link across from the High Peak Trail over to Tissington on some reasonably quiet roads, then take the Tissington Trail back home.

That's a corking bargain ski!

Agreed you have to mentally prepare for a rummage otherwise I give up after a few minutes.

Just found a good post on UKCampsite:

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=6&TopicID=43242&get=last

f you don't intend camping abroad , go for calor rather than campingaz.
A 907 holds 2.7kg gas and costs about £18- £20 to refill. A calor gas 4.5kg costs about £15 to refill.
So calor gives you almost twice as much gas for your money.

Cheers (again).

Running two Trangias for 3 breakfasts and numerous brews (most recent camping trip) used at least £5 of meths and two eco-gel burner thingies.

Go-outdoors reckon the big CG 907 cylinder (2.75kg) is £28 empty, then £18 to fill.

Forgot to reply… thanks folks.

Ben – what gas do you use? I've just seen a review of the Camping Gaz stove on Amazon and somebody reckons a calor bottle, regulator and hose cost £80. Ouch.

That Virosol is good stuff – does a good job on car alloy wheels.

If you speak to the people that make it:

http://www.cloverchem.co.uk/uk/products/hard_virosol_uk.htm

They'll tell you your local stockist and you can avoid P&P.

I've got a Rab Generator – £50 from Go Outdoors when I got them to price match Cotswolds.

Lovely bit of kit – bought it mainly for winter riding for lunch stops, punctures etc. Also take it camping and walking as it compresses down quite nicely.

You could tree Green Bee (part of John Lewis):

http://www.greenbee.com/home-insurance

Just scanning the policy document:

Personal Effects
This means clothes and articles of a strictly personal nature likely to be worn used or carried. For example MP3 players, mobile
phones and also sports equipment and pedal cycles. It doesn’t include valuables or money.

Valuables
This means jewellery (including costume jewellery) articles of/or containing gold, silver or other precious metals, cameras (which includes video cameras, camcorders and digital cameras), binoculars, watches, furs, paintings and other works of art, collections of stamps, coins and medals.

So bikes aren't classed as valuables, which have a limit:

The limit for any one valuable will be £10,000.
The limit for any one claim for total valuables will be £20,000.

Home insurance for private residences.
The insurance provides unlimited cover for the total rebuilding cost of your property and/or contents for the cost of repairing or replacing
the contents of your home, but single article and valuable limits apply. It will also include accidental damage on your buildings and/or
contents unless you choose to opt out of this cover.

So it would seem (but worth checking!) they would cover multiple expensive bikes without declaring them.

When our M&S renewal was due I spent ages checking our insurers and loads of them wanted you to declare bikes or would only offer £1000 of cover in total. I eventually lost the will to live and we stayed with M&S.

Oh, Hiscox are meant to be good but that comes a price.

Outdoorsmagic reckon eVent is the most breathable fabric but if you "run hot" (like I do), you'll soon have that lovely boil-in-the-bag effect.

Oh, and given the tractor lump in my 9-3 is a GM / Fiat engine share, I would suspect the same oil-check advice applies to a whole pile of Vectras, Alfas and Fiats.

I'm sure I've checked the dip stick when totally cold and the oil doesn't even show up on it. Which would be worrying if the advice wasn't to check from warm.