I’ve got a large and am 5’10. It pedals extremely well but does feel pretty damn big. I may have preferred a medium.

Rode the Sunday Sport, a memorable and wonderful day. The rain through Saturday night and Sunday morning didn’t inspire much confidence but both body and bike managed to survive the challenge. Enjoyed stage 1, some hairy moments but managed to stay on the bike and moving most of the time, bar a few holdups to let some riders move out of the way. Stage 2 quite the opposite, front wheel slide & crashed into rocks about a 1/3 of the way down. Made a decision to wear elbow pads that morning and so glad I did as I took a hit to the forearm with the pads soaking up the majority of the impact. The mud was horrendous, definitely need to ride more through winter slop to improve skills. Stages 3 and 4 were excellent, as were stages 5 and 6 but I was flagging quite a bit by then. Stage 7 was also brilliant, hit the final drop and finished in the top half.

This is the fourth time I’ve been and ridden and I’ve never seen as many people pushing up transitions as I did this year, many at least half my age! And those were the road climbs & gravel road sections, not just the steep push up to 2 and also out of 4.

It is deflating getting back to a half empty field, thankfully there were some pizzas left and the beer cans stall hadn’t packed up and gone. I really could have done with a shower though. Stayed another night and woke up to glorious dry weather on Monday morning. Food queues are shocking. That is something that needs sorting as it appears to have outgrown the allowed resources. A 2 hour wait for a shoddy burger or pizza on the Saturday night with hungry kids in tow is definitely not one of the highlights. Allow more catering to sort the food and drink queues please!

Problems aside it’s still a great weekend. The camping & spectating with friends and family, riding those trails, seeing old and new faces, all adds together to make it a brilliant weekend!

I’m in on the Sunday, had a few years off but looking forward to another good weekend.

I’m following a local pal, Ant Ball. First time rider and doing great so far. His facebook posts have been terrifying and inspiring at the same time, now he’s past the worst of the stormy weather it looks amazing. It does sound a bit hot now, going to new extremes within every few days.

Ah no worries, glad to hear that it’s not too far way now then! Enjoy it when it does arrive, hopefully on your trip to Aviemore.

@househusband – You any closer to getting your bike delivered yet?

@domtrax Glad to hear you’re happy with it – and were actually able to buy one! I’ve had one on order with Epic Cycles since mid-August and it still hasn’t arrived from Spain yet. I’d have liked to ordered locally as LBS only a few miles away is an Orbea dealer but he can’t get stock; he placed an order for 400 Orbea bikes for the 2021-2022 season and was told he’d get 35…

There are some left in various sizes from Leisure Lakes, who will deliver if you aren’t nearby to one of their shops. Worth a look perhaps!

Well done for starting this off on here, I’ve chipped in my idea to the letstalk site.

I’m sure the area has enough height, I walk my dog around and its a decent size and I’ve also ridden my snowboard there some years ago. There is plenty of room to generate a variety of trails there at the very least.

Orbea Laufey H10 – Got one a couple of weeks ago, price matched which made it £1500. Mix of Deore/SLX and a Bomber Z2 fork. As my first 29er, it absolutely flies!

Took it to Cannock last weekend and it was very impressive, I’d not been for nearly 2 years and it was a real hoot around the dog/monkey.

Not too impressed with the Upride I bought, so removed it to tighten last year as it wobbled and creaked far too much for my liking but that didn’t make much difference so have since stopped using it. No confidence in it holding the bike securely. I’m fairly sure it was ok at first, but not worth the money paid as I didn’t get more than a years use out of it.

A & B, roughly 50/50. Enjoy B more, it has to be said.

Enjoyed the article, good to see the segment in the film, a great watch! That put a big smile on my face for the entire hour 😀

andybrad – What fork offset are your Pikes? There’s a fair few options so wondering what would suit mine.

Interested in hearing how you get on with this. I’ve got the 27.5 Stumpjumper, 150mm forks and have been considering an upgrade from Rhythm 34’s to a 160mm 36 or Pike, Lyric etc.

Hoping to raise the bb a little as I get so many pedal strikes, even with the flipchip in the high position. Working on my pedalling technique also!

My local riding is natural trails, rocky and fairly technical so tweaking the front end may prove beneficial!

I’d go for the Yakima Highroad, if compatible with your bars. I have the Thule Upride and its not great, lots of wobble at the front which the Yakima doesnt suffer from apparently. Around £150 online.

Bought a Wild 24 from Go Outdoors for our 9 year old a few months ago, which replaced her smaller frog 55. Its every bit as good, and 100 quid cheaper than the equivalent frog. She loves it :-)

Forest of Dean 😀

Over the bars 😯

Accident and Emergency 😥

Get a professional opinion on your knee pain (and any potential injury) sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t consider a support until its been looked at.

I use paste as above, and also on top of any textured area on the bars themselves. It’s one part of the bike that I dont want any issues with when hitting some terrible line choices through rocky sections!

Far too much rain, months and months of the damn stuff. The odd good day here and there, and I have had some fun muddy rides but on the whole its been grim and way too long.

Have been trying to avoid the local trails to preserve them (Ambergate, around & about), and the only trail centre within an hours drive is Cannock which I enjoy riding but I don’t have much motivation to make the journey again and again.

Commuting in to Derby there are now many new lakes appearing in fields. The swans and ducks that have taken up residence seem to be enjoying themselves at least!

Saw this a few days ago, only remembered this afternoon to measure for you – 40mm.

Went out last Thursday evening, only got 2 minutes from house attempting manuals down a lane and flew off the back. Skin off one elbow and portion off my back, and somehow managed to fracture big toe on opposite foot to the side I landed on!

Thoroughly gutted, as just got bike back after shock repair, and daughter was off on a weeks holiday with grandparents, giving me lots of free time to get out. Old enough to know better. Too daft to realise.

Had trail skins for about a year, can’t get on with them. Not comfy and constantly fall down, so back to my fox launch pros for every ride which are brill.

I live in Belper robbo and can show you chevin, shining cliff and so on also at some point if needed. A good start is from Milford, if you have a car to get you there.

1 from Samways, 2 from The Bike Shop Derby, 1 national and 2 online (including 1 for the wife and 1 for my daughter), over the last 8 or 9 years.

Sad to see it close, bit of a shock as they had such a long history but it shouldn’t really come as any surprise. As iain mentioned the website was awful, and brands stocked were both limited and uninspired. I thought service wise they were OK, had been helpful and knowledgeable when needed and I’d spent plenty there over time. But over the past couple of years, visits to the shop left me cold. Very small selection of bikes, specifically mtb’s, to make me drool and want to spend any cash. They seemed to try and do a bit of everything, which was probably a major flaw and may have led to their closure.

Are they Bontrager rims, and if so what type? Bontrager recommend using their own TLR rim strips. I’ve recently used some, and stretched them onto the rims straight over the original rim tape. Next time I’ll probably just get some Gorilla tape, cheaper and probably just as effective.

Hans Dampf, just used one for the first time at Ard Rock and was impressed.

Everything looked huge on my head, except for a Specialized Tactic II. Great fit and good price.

Hopefully your commute back goes without a hitch, honeybadger!

OK thanks Northwind, good to know. Once snapped into place I did wonder what removing em would be like. You have confirmed my fears there also!