I've got a Vaude Splash 20+5 pack with the suspended back, and it is very good. I use it pretty much all the time – the only issue I've had with the pack is the lack of compression straps, but the unused belt that came with my Endura Humvee's works very well as a compression strap when wrapped around the bag (through the red tabs on the back adjuster), and if you don't have those a bit of elastic shock cord as used in tent poles works just as well. With that it means I can compress it down small enough to be useable for short rides as well as longer ones.

Similar to above I've never had an issue with the water in the reservoir heating up. But running ice cubes in there is probably a cheaper option than buying a new pack :)

The layout is pretty broken in Firefox over here. It's a shame as the design very clearly borrows from other retailers, which isn't a problem in itself, however doing that and then implementing it poorly makes it look pretty bad.

I would agree about the options in the products not being very intuitive, they get pretty frustrating to use on products with multiple options as well. To be honest the site doesn't look or feel like a finished product.

I don't have a flapjack recipe to hand to share (I think I usually use one I found in What Mountain Bike some time ago) but my top tip if you have a hopeless caffeine addiction (as I do) is to buy some of this: http://www.myprotein.co.uk/bulk-powders/health-and-wellness/caffeine/ and chuck a bit in the mix.

It's cheap and it gives you a kick when you need it, and gets around the tricky problem of getting enough caffeine when you're some miles from the nearest cafe.

managed to resist the bibs.

Good call. I made the mistake of buying a pair of the bib-tights and they are shite. The pad on them is HUGE and fits terribly – although the way it bulged out in the front as soon as I bent in the middle may well help with the ladies. I rode home in them last night and vowed never to wear them again.

The shirts however are quite nice, kind of wish I'd bought 2.

I went in hoping to get shoes: http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/2827_11210.htm – but there were none

Me too. Although I came away with a fair bit of other stuff anyway. I asked and apparently the shoes were all pulled for some issue. They did say what the issue was, but I'd stopped listening by then.

I don't know if it's the best, but Stormsure is pretty good. It sets really strong, and is flexible and waterproof so pretty good for shoes. I've used it on shoe soles before and it seemed to do a pretty good job.

Jees, people are pretty narrow minded about their hobbies aren't they? Here's a nice point for you: motorbikers are just people who like riding bikes, just like you. Except it's much harder for them to find places to ride.

If someone on a motorbike rides across your pump track / downhill track / jumps / etc, normally the best course is to have a nice chat with them and point out that it took you a lot of work to build and them a little time to destroy. I imagine you'll find that they don't mean to be malicious, they just didn't realise/consider the damage they were doing.

You have to be careful not to have the lock out on when you wind it either way though.

Why's this? I've done this in the past I think, although the forks have been serviced since. What's the risk?

The bridge between the seatstays will hit the seat tube on your Pitch if you fit a shorter eye-to-eye shock. It comes pretty damn close with the stock shock.

Not just close… I've dented the bridge on my Pitch on a couple of rather big hits with the standard shock.

No idea on Saturday, possibly resting my bruised and battered legs. But Sunday will be spent up on Dartmoor, probably adding some new bruises to the collection.

Just pick up anything you like the look of that's supported by Rockbox[/url]. Unfortunately your iPod isn't yet, but a lot of older ones are. It's a great and really customisable bit of software.

Now featuring 36t front and BBG Bash. And in bad need of some new pedals.

Delusional – Pic taken at start of July. Maybe it's shrunk.

Either that or now I'm back in the UK and AlpsVision has receded everything looks bigger!

That jump's grown! I'm sure when I was there a few weeks ago the one you're jumping was half that size with no real kick to it.

My uncle runs a site in Cornwall that might be worth looking at: http://www.bluehillscamping.co.uk/

Very short walk to a beach, great views and situated directly on one of my favourite trails. My uncle does a bit of riding as well, and knows the area very well, so would be more than happy to point out some of the good riding locally (especially useful as most of it is a little cheeky).

It's a bit tricky to piece together long rides around there without good knowledge, but for quick hour or so blasts there's some fantastic stuff.

I'll pass on a recommendation I picked up from here a while back, try BBG bashguards: http://www.bbgbashguard.com/

Cheap (around £10 inc. shipping), strong ("guaranteed for life against breaking or bending no matter how hard you ride") and light (75g for standard 36t 104).

The only thing that put me off was ordering from the states, but mine just turned up this morning less than a week after I ordered. It looks pretty nice as well, no complicated styling or huge logos. Just simple black with a small "BBG" print. Should look really good fitted.

I understand that mixing whey protein with milk slows the uptake of the whey protein, as the casein (protein in milk) is more slowly absorbed.

That's interesting, I hadn't heard that before. Would that hold true for soya milk as well do you know?

I've been meaning to order from myprotein as well, the overall costs are certainly cheaper. But the initial outlay is harder to find, even when it akes so much long term sense.
Also I have a more mundane concern about the size of the tubs. Don't they come in 4kg+ or something? A 1kg tub takes up a fair bit of room in my cupboard.

Holland and Barrett have a half price offer on whey protein at the moment, so you get a fair size tub (I think about 1kg) for £12.50.

I buy the unflavoured stuff, which has a marginally better protein content than the flavoured as well as not tasting crap, and chuck it in the blender with milk and fruit.
If you're on a low carb/fat kick then light soy milk is good for that and frozen berries are only a couple of quid from the supermarket and make it taste pretty damn good.

@ delusional i see by your post on what 5-6 freeride bike you are riding a pitch, this is also a pike 351 on a pitch pro

It is indeed.

I have to agree with davidtaylforth. I went out on a Pitch this year and while it was pretty damn good I spent a lot of time wishing for a proper DH bike, especially after having a go on someone else's Canfield – the difference in braking bump absorption was unreal. My bike went fairly quickly out there, but felt like it was being shaken to bits most of the time.

I'm currently on the look out for a proper DH bike for next year :)

I had exactly the same thing happen to mine a few weeks back. When I took mine back to the shop I was told they'd had 4 or 5 that week with the same problem, so it sounds like a bit of a common problem!

Mine was all fixed under warranty in under a week, but they didn't have to go back to Fisher leisure – I've been told there's only 2 guys there doing all warranty work for the Uk, which could explain the wait some people have had.

I'm going to be riding it for the first time.

Does anyone know what the access to the campsite is like? I've got the option of borrowing a comfy campervan to get a good nights sleep it, but it's a reasonably wide coachbuilt that I've not driven before so I'm not overly comfortable with taking it down lots of narrow lanes.

In fact, does anyone know the specifics of where the campsite is? Either the details on the website aren't that great or I'm having eye site problems today.

Definitely agree. I’ve been trying to cycle to work as much as possible lately as the ride in and the promise of the ride home at the end of the day lifts me up all day. End up getting a lot more done and leaving a lot earlier when I’ve got the bike sitting there waiting to be ridden home.
It cures a lot of the despondency that can otherwise set in during the day.

Tesco and Asda in my area only do Schraeder tubes, which is a right pain. Very cheap though, Tesco were around £1.25 a tube the other day. Although that only made it sting more when I had to pay a fiver to get my last minute tube in Halfords :(

Hopefully going to get around to a fair size ride in Cornwall tomorrow (after putting it off today) and then ‘up country’ to Gawton on Sunday.

you got a large res copy of any of them you’d be prepared to put up – I want one for my desktop

I was going to ask the same thing. Would love that Afan pic for my desktop background.

Sorry to resurrect a bit of an old topic, but after seeing this mentioned in the letters page of MBR this month (was that you Gav?) I’ve been trying to find a copy of this as well. If anyone can send me a copy I’d be really grateful.

Thanks!

Ian, thats not a tent, thats a handkerchief! one sneeze and it’ll blow away! Sup-air
Also, not waterproof?

Indeed, there are much better options for very little extra weight. The Coleman Rigel x2 does a reasonable job as a single skin tent: http://worldofcamping.co.uk/shop/Coleman_Rigel_X2_2_man_lightweight_tent__1665 and pretty cheap.

But if you want to do things really properly then the Terra Nova tents are the way to go: http://worldofcamping.co.uk/shop/Terra_nova_Laser_competition_1_man_tent__1651

In fact I need a new tent, and those TN Lasers are very nice :)

you do get some incredible short sections, but i mean short and pretty soon its back to carrying a bike

Darn, that’s exactly what I was afraid of. Maybe I won’t bother with that then!

down towards st just, from the cape golf club to be precise

Excellent – I’ve done the Minack->Sennen section before and that was really good. Sounds like that could be extended quite nicely then. According to the SW Coast path site it’s a little over 11 miles from Porthcurno to Cape Cornwall, that sounds a little too low to me though!

I’m among the more trail orientated people myself ;) Probably ought to hook up with one of those other groups at some point really!

I’d be up for exploring some trails down in the Penwith area if anyone organises a ride. I’ve been thinking about the coast path south of St. Ives a bit lately, but it looks like a bit of a mammoth and I’m not sure how rideable it will be.

I’m based in Cornwall, not that I’m entirely active on here…

As well as those already mentioned there’s also the Cornwall Freeriders group on Facebook that’s got a pretty active community. They’re organising monthly DH type races at the moment, and (as the name suggests) are mostly DH/FR focussed. But there’s a small group of more trail orientated riders on there.

Those seem like a very good price! I was being quoted nearly that much to get some 355s built on to my existing Pro2s.

I’m still undecided as to whether the 355s are a little too light to go on my Pitch though.

Well I was thinking of heading out for 3 weeks as the cost of getting there is much bigger than of staying a little longer and holiday isn’t really an issue at work at the moment.

Definitely very, very tempted. Really like the spur of the moment, ‘read it on Friday fly out a week later’ sort of thing as well. Just need to make sure my bike’s running smoothly this weekend!

Is much of the mountain going to be rideable over these dates? I’m guessing the prices partly reflect the fact that quite a bit is going to be under snow cover, but is there any indication of how extensive that will be?