I went on a group ride last June attended by Hannah Barnes. She kept doing a ‘tramp’s hanky’. Kind of put me off. I had to fit a new BB to my bike that weekend and needed advice from a handy mechanic. The only knowledgable person around was Shaun (Jared Grave’s personal mechanic), he seemed to know what he was doing…

Yeti have now gone 100% carbon across their range so replacing my alloy SB95 is going to be a bit of a money struggle. I’ve decided to just get my frame professionally repainted by Chromaworks at the end of this season and convince myself it’s a new bike!

Unless the supplying shop is willing to change the description of the bike to remove the time trial references, Cycle to Work scheme will refuse to allow it. Specific racing equipment is excluded. Sounds odd but them’s the rules!

They’ll also do the following:
Check your height against the size of the bike to make sure it’s for you (your height is on your driving license).
Check your gender against what you’ve ordered (female specific? Is it really for you? – small chaps may get away with it).

I used to work in a bike shop processing vouchers so I have some knowledge…

Laggan Black is intermediate 8O

It’s challenging but once you’ve done it, you see your usual trails in a different light. It’s probably the hardest sustained Black ‘trail centre trail’ I’ve ever been on, most Blacks elsewhere have nowhere near as many rocks. It reminds me of soloing rock climbs back in the 80s. When I’m doing it, It feels ‘wrong’, my body is trying to tell me it’s dangerous but after I’ve finished it, I kind of crave that rush again! I need to go back and do it more cleanly next time (no dabs or 1st refusals!). I have a local trail called(Strava segment name) The Rocky Horror Show (South descent from Mither Tap, Bennachie) I may not be so gripped this time!

Staying in a campsite about 30 miles away from Glenlivet

Check out the Bridgend of Glenlivet campsite. £5 per night per tent, fantastic showers, peaceful, relaxing and within off-road biking distance of the trail centre. Almost no-one uses it because it’s not well advertised.

Deveron53. Do you do all of that in one go

I take all day! Those coffee stops can get loooong…

DON’T upend your bike to fix a puncture in the middle of the trail just around from a blind, fast corner.

DO say hi to everyone on a bike (even roadies)

I like Strava!

I wish I could filter it show only mostly off road segments though.

I get very distracted by ‘fly-bys’. I like finding mass-start events and watching all the little discs flow along the trails! (megavalanche is cool to watch!) I even tried to find out who was in the area of the Alps shootings! (you never know…)

it’s great to see everyone commuting as well. I wonder if I could crash the Strava server by looking at London at rush hour….?

Glenlivet is great for people who live in the greater area but I wouldn’t travel more than 100 miles! Combine it with a trip to Laggan.
My usual Glenlivet visit consists of: cycle from Bridgend of Glenlivet via local trail, descend the Red, have a coffee, do the Blue, have another coffee, do the Red again and then do the Red ascent and go back down to Bridgend of Glenlivet (where I usually camp).
At Laggan, do the Black followed by the Orange. Then repeat. Then move on. There’s a nice-ish loop around Grantown as well, so the three areas make for a decent weekend of intermediate riding.

Where do you carry your phone when using Strava?

It was the magnet that finally swayed me!

I checked out ‘flybys’ on your ride, no-one else was on Strava today at Glenlivet :(
Your GPS data looks all over the place, loads of jumps and straightlines.
What’s the dampness factor there at the moment? I might go and try to find the SES stages this weekend…

Did you use Strava?

It would appear that they do if only on a limited basis

It appears that the riders are ‘guided’ so can’t escape and run amok on the Cairngorm plateau!

The only thing that would improve the MT91 is a better ‘laces management system’ (i.e. an effective cover or strap). And NOT a bloody BOA system either!

Some people (like me) prefer a boot design rather than a shoe. I find that shoes cut into the back of my heel. Also, my ankles feel more protected against flying rocks.

Sram mountain bike specific chain. Get the most expensive that doesn’t have hollow pins or perforated side plates. The cheaper, heavier chains are the strongest, up to a point!

I find the MT91s to be the best SPD boot I have used EVER! And I’ve destroyed many pairs of lesser boots over the years (AXO, Scott, Shimano, Nike, Adidas, Northwave, Answer etc).

I’m normally a size 44 but I needed a 45 in the MT91 FYI. I have a high instep and wide foot.

I’ve been using my current pair for the last 3 years (approx. 3000 miles of offroad in Scotland) and recently inspected them close up (as the original laces had just let go!). Apart from a bit of cracking around the rand, they look solid. I may buy a pair and mothball them to avoid the future pain of discovering that Shimano have discontinued them… OR: I may get them resoled in Stealth rubber!

Has anyone seen that MASSIVE ****** SKI RESORT ON THE SIDE OF THE BLOODY MOUNTAIN?

Just wondering…

I always thought the theme from ‘Brookside’ was by Vangelis.

I’m thinking ferry from Mallaig to Inverie now. I’ve found a few Strava segments so I feel happier that I can justify to the SO in taking my bike. I’m planning to go for an end of season ‘rest’ in a luxury apartment but I may decide to do the final SES at Largs then drive up and cross over on the Monday morning. I’m a Grand Vet now so the bones will be crumbling by then!

I just remembered – check Strava! Quite a few routes there. One of the climbs is an HC! I dunno how rideable it is though…

The Knoydart ferry website says there is a skills loop and some trails there. I can’t find out any more so far.

Skol was the original low alcohol lager – 2%

Back to the 70s theme:
Games – Yahtzee and Mastermind
Food – use lots of bay leaves
Music – those weird Top of the Pops LPs with inappropriate/random pics of girls on the cover

Let’s not forget though, the 70s lingered longer in some areas of the country, so we have different ideas of what the ’70s’ means. Rotherham springs to mind… 8O

The Renthal bars seem to have a really good bend shape. I swapped from Answer to Renthal and they feel much more ‘comfy’.

I’m using a Minion DHF 29 2.5 3C and I can attest to the compound being grippy as ****. Laggan Black on Monday, kept hearing the knobs release from the rock sometimes with a ‘pop’ as I made my way down. Not a single slither from either end! (16f, 20r)

The Bluegrass Goldeneye is the basis of the new Met Parachute. They both have the rubber forehead grip thing instead of foam. Brilliant attempt at head gripping and sweat management but… Why put two ‘slots’ in the strip just above where most people’s eyes are? Two rivers of sweat right in the lamps!

I have a special pair of tyres for long distance race type situations: Specialized S-Works Renegade. Surprisingly grippy and surprisingly tough. Survived the sharp granite so far… Just don’t try and corner on them thinking you’ve got your Minions on!
They go up great with a track pump on Crests.
My front wheel weighs 700g. With the Renegade at about 425g, that’s a seriously light front end!

Her current bike was sold to her years ago by a ‘reputable’ bike shop. It has a massive long stem and NO standover clearance! She has always hated it! The new bike has to have a load of features to rebuild riding confidence…
Riding will vary from flat trails to the Red at Laggan. She did the Red yesterday on a borrowed bike with bald rear tyre and almost seized Manitou Axel forks. But the bike was the correct size for her at least! There was a bit of walking involved, I’m sure that a new bike in the proper size with a better set of components will give her the confidence to ride it all…

A ‘unisex’ bike would be ok but the standover height is an issue. It has to have a swoopy top tube. The Orange Diva looks good.

Just one more thing… What is the usual race format? It’s over two days, is it practice day one, race day two?

Thanks all, I’ll have a check this weekend. Apart from Pitfichie, Bennachie and Glenlivet, I’ve not done much beyond Peaks and Cannock.

bumped for the evening crowd…

I’ve never snapped a Pedros. I still have a Milk Lever somewhere.

I too had to get some metres in to finish the Strava 9000m challenge. Normally I have a total rest of at least one day between intensive off-road rides. But I decided to go for an easy fire-road hill ride and fitted some S-Works Renegades instead of my Minions.
I rode for six days without a break and found that I ‘felt’ a lot better having done ‘easy’ days in between hard days. It was nice to go slowly, enjoy the scenery, not sweat buckets and just relax…

Nice!

I wear Mavic women’s shorts… As liners under my baggies. I find them more comfortable around the ‘nads area as they have less padding at the front. I don’t like cycling with things ‘moving’ left to right like someone’s grabbing hold of a bar of soap and squeezing it so it ‘pops’. Don’t wear them without an outer cover though as they’re a bit see-through!

American Optical – look them up on ebay. About £30 inc shipping.

they don’t exactly sneak!

yes they do! The radar is in the pod above the rotor. The apache sits behind cover with just the pod visible while the crew select targets. The chopper pops up, fires and then drops back down again. Very sneaky!

I had an old Saab 900 which decided to break it’s exhaust just after the centre box. The exposed broken end was pointing down and forwards, scraping on the road. I grabbed a jump lead from the rear footwell, opened the driver’s door, got my S.O. to open her door, I threw one end of the jump lead under the car towards her. So she’s holding one end of the jump lead, I’m holding the other. I shouted ‘pull!’, then ‘slam the door!’. So we completed the journey to the exhaust repair centre, waking everyone in Beverley.

I’m planning on converting an Iveco later on this year and have thought very carefully about the internal layout. Obviously, the Iveco has much more internal space than a T5 but I’m going to be creative with the bed/garage area to allow a huge living/dining space.
Two main ideas that I’m working on:

1. As we are dealing with bikes, not MXers, why put the bed above the garage?
2. Why do you need a full width bed? 4ft will do nicely for camping.

Depending on your available internal van length, put the 4ft x 6ft6ins bed in longitudinally against the offside. Just high enough to clear the wheel arches. Head end right up behind driver’s seat. Build a ‘garage’ using the rear unused end of the van, right up and over the end of the bed. Build a platform over the bed (remember, only your legs are going this end!), maybe sloping the deck as it gets further up the van. You’ll end up with enough room to stand at the back of the van, and a ‘workbench’ to place the bike/s on. I would think at least two bikes with wheels off and stored sideways.
Now the living/sleeping area: The wall of the ‘garage’ will come up to around the line where the side door starts. It will start at the ceiling approx. where your waist is and slope down towards your feet. Make the bed folding so that the front end of the bed folds onto the bottom of the bed and leaves a seat type platform sticking out to use as a sofa.
The kitchen can be built into a movable trolley unit which will store down the side of the van (see the ones that come with some Mazda Bongos)
It’s difficult to explain without pictures but I think my basic design will scale to smaller vans. In a full size Iveco it will allow huge living space and a proper bathroom!

Aberdeenshire
Moray
Tweeddale
Yorkshire

The Peak District is great but too crowded. And English access laws are crap compared to Scotland. Scotland is free, empty, gnarly and lumpy – ideal for mountain biking