I’ve got a Signal Ti. I go to Leeds Urban Bike Park with it, I’m no Danny Hart but can get it in the air. It’s the best bike I’ve had. I just love it. I’d drifted away from mountain biking before I got it and now I’m fully back!

One of the Blue Peter presenters did the climb up the dam as part of a Blue Peter challenge last year. I think it took 4 or 5 hours.

I’ve got a Sonder Signal Ti. It’s a great all rounder. I use it for XC and days out at places like Leeds Urban Bike Park. It’s a very capable bike, comfortable on the technical trails and happy churning out the miles on the XC rides.

Have a look at the sessions they run at Leeds Bike Park. I think they recently did a session on jumps and drops. It’s a great place to do skills training as there are a load of features to session and it’s easy to progress your jumping as your confidence grows. Give them a call and ask for Jeremey Hayes. He used to be the BC Elite BMX Coach so he’s right up there when it comes to coaching.

I use Xert as well. My second winter of training on that platform. I like the fact that it adapts your training plans if you decide to do a social ride with your mates. All of the workouts can be exported into Zwift and if you run the workouts from the app they have ‘Smart’ functionality and will automatically adjust the load depending on your performance. I came into our club track sessions last April fitter than I’d ever been and in the first session set my fastest lap, two laps, 5K and 10K so the proof was in the pudding.

I have had one of these for almost a decade Baked Alaska It’s the best MTB top I’ve ever owned. It’s my goto top for autumn, winter and Spring. Its been washed countless times and has never lost its shape or started to smell. It has a wind proof chest to keep the chill off when you are descending.

I’ve had a Sonder Signal Ti for about a year now and I love it. I’ve done everything from Leeds Urban Pike Park, The Dales, trail centres to bikepacking along the Northumbrian Coast. It does it all. I’ve never been stopped and asked about the frame as much since I got the Signal. I just love riding it.

I’m 6ft 1 and have the large frame and find it a good fit for me. I’m not sure I’d want to go with an XL.

Most of my riding on my Signal TI is XC and I’ve got no problems with it. It’s such a versatile bike I’ve used it trail centre rampaging, long XC routes and even bike packing. It ticks all of those boxes. It’s the best best mountain bike I’ve ever owned, I love it.

Nice one Dave, it looked like a great adventure.

I’m a regular at LUBK. It’s an ace place. You can easily spend a couple of hours playing. It’s a great place to go and work on your skills. The trails are easy to loop back on and you can easily session stuff over and over. Treat it with respect though on your first runs down the trails as there are plenty of people who’ve rocked up on expensive bikes then wrapped themselves around trees etc….

The Cafe is good as well.

That was ace. Well done.

I can recommend Tim and Jenny at Pure Mountains.

You can get a cheap flight to Malaga.

http://www.puremountains.com

Sonder Signal Ti

I’ve had mine since September. I’ve got 2.6s on front and back. With these tyres it runs like a short travel full suss. 2.6 gives you acres of grip and comfort. I think this is a really versatile bike. I use it alot at Leeds Bike Park and it really is fun to ride on those trails. The first time I rode out locally I blitzed some of my downhill times without really trying. The geometry really works for me. You always feel like you’re weight is balanced in the middle of the bike irrespective of the steepness of the descent. I run mine with a 130 Pike which is superb. It does feel slightly more sluggish on the steep uphills than my old steel XC hardtail but it is a different beast. I wouldn’t swap it now. This is a hardtail that you can play on at your local bike park and take it to the full sussers or power you on all day epics in the Peaks or the Lakes. I couldn’t recommend it more highly.

Bear in mind some of the route was on the Raby estate and they made this clear that the access was a one off and they made a plea to not ride it after the event.

It was a brutal day out. I managed to get to the 30 mile point before the cut off but suffered like a dog till then end.

Apparently later on there were riders riding down transmission while people were going up having ignored the signs and the tape. This is very disappointing.

The cut offs should have been made clearer but I really feel for the organisers who are getting a kicking on social media. They’ve put an enormous of time and effort into making the event happen.

A bloke knocked on our door earlier as our neighbours are finally getting their horrendous leylandii cut down and he didn’t want anything falling on the car.

Their leylandii were almost as tall as our roof. Good news indeed!

Have a look at the Powerpod. You can pick one up for £199.

I use this. You can swap it between bikes easily and the support is excellent.

I’ve got a Sonder Signal TI. It’s a great trail bike and has rekindled my love of mountain biking.

Sonder are a good company to deal with as well.

Leeds Bike Park is really excellent.

It’s a great place to go and session skills. The woodland trails are ace. They are fast and flowy and are full of fun. All the jumps are rollable if you’re not confident in jumping. The Cafe is excellent and the staff are always friendly.

They are working hard to make this place better all of the time by maintaining the trails and building new ones.

I wish I’d had something like this on the doorstep when I was a kid. Saying that I might never have gone to school!

Chapeau to Jeremy and his team.

I use a sleeveless base layer off ebay (£4) under a Decathlon long sleeve base layer (£7) then on top of that I use a Ground Effect Baked Alaska. This will do me down to quite low temperatures riding around the Pennines. If I need another layer I’ll throw on a windproof gillet and in extreme rain I’ve got an eVent jacket.

If the ground is sloppy I’ll wear waterproof shorts. For all my winter riding I wear SealSkinz waterproof socks.

The Baked Alaska is probably the best bit of kit I’ve got. I’ve had it ten years now and it’s still going strong. The windfoil front keeps the chill off on long descents.

I’ve had mine a couple of weeks now.  I got the large with a Pike up front.

I love it.

On the first ride I managed to comfortably beat some of my own long standing downhill PBs on Strava.  I’ve come from an old steel Genesis so the change in geometry was a big revelation for me.  The big wheels really do roll over stuff I had to ride around on my old bike.

The only change I’ve made is to convert to tubeless.

I did. I went from a steel Genesis 26er hartail to the new Sonder Signal TI shod in seemingly huge 2.6 tyres.

Without even trying I’ve already beaten some long standing strava downhill pbs.  I love the geometry and the big wheels.

No regrets here

I’ve ordered a Signal Ti and have swapped a number of emails with Neil and have found him to be nothing but helpful and prompt.  There aren’t many places you can buy a bike and deal with the guy who designed it.

Beasting yourself every ride will just lead to increased fatigue.

Use the winter to do a structured training program to get yourself into shape for summer.

I did this a few years ago and went from being a recreational mountain biker to the fittest I’ve ever been.

I bought a Turbo and followed a structured plan with Trainerroad.  I came into our club spring sessions way fitter than I’d ever been and then my normal summer riding built on that.

There are loads of good options out there now to do this. Zwift has a number of structured plans you can follow as well.

@merak, that looks nice. What is the weight of the build you have?

6ft 1 I was going to go for the large. 

Same dilemma for me. Damn my indecision.

So sorry to hear of your loss.  I hope you can take comfort from the support you’ve received from the brilliant people on here.

Thanks for all the input.  Certainly a lot to ponder.

These are the 29ers I’ve looked at:

Stanton Sherpa

SolarisMax

Genesis Mantle

Saracen Zenith Eilte

Now, I just need to make a decision…………………

Thanks for the replies so far.

I’ve been riding an old Genesis Altitude which is an 853 frame and that comes in around 28 lbs.

I’ve finally decided to get a more modern hardtail but didn’t want a full on XC 29er.

It does, but it just doesn’t use a strain gauge.

If you want a power meter that is not crank based and can be swapped between bikes have a look at the Powerpod.  DC Rainmaker has a pretty in depth review on his website.

I’ve just got one but don’t have it setup yet.

I’ve done it twice. It’s a superb event. I’m not really a roadie but the chance to ride closed roads around London was something I didn’t want to miss out on. Both times I stuck slick tyres on my CX bike. The atmosphere is superb and the support from the side of the road is something else. Finishing on the Mall being cheered by loads of people is something I won’t forget for a long time.
Chilling out in Green Park post ride while watching the elite race on the big screen was a good way to spend the rest of the day.

We stayed at the Limehouse Holiday Inn and probably ate at the same Italian as IHN. It’s not that much faff, let’s be honest. There are plenty of people who go into meltdown on Twitter when they don’t get into the ballot.

If you’ve got a place, my advice would be to do it.

I had someone knocking on the door this week to offer ‘Free’ cavity wall insulation. They were offering the microbead insulation. They said OFGEM were funding it but when I looked at the Ofgem website we didn’t fit the selection criteria for funded cavity wall insulation.

I looked up their company details online and they’d only been incorporated in September so I decided to leave it.

Earlier in the year someone from British Gas told me our house wasn’t suitable anyway……..

I’d recommend Pure Mountains.

Tim and Jenny are excellent guides. We did a week with them last year and the riding was fantastic. The guiding was excellent.

Terrible news. He was such an inspiration to so many cyclists.

RIP Mike

Vikings
Mr Robot
The Man in the High Castle
and the most underrated series on TV, The Americans.

I love this:

Baked Alaska

Not a pure roady top but it is a very versatile piece of kit. It’s durable as well, I’ve had mine for 5 years+ and there is very little sign of wear.

Have a look at the Huddersfield Central Lodge. Very highly rated on TripAdvisor. We had some friends stay there and they rated it. It’s a family run hotel and their customer service is excellent.

If you are into Real Ale, then you are only walking distance at Cathedral House from The Star and The Rat and Ratchet. The town centre has a number of superb real ale pubs.

For good food in the centre of the town you’ve got the following:

Thai Sakon
Apadana
Lost Property

There’s plenty more but these 3 are among the best.

For an afternoon out, get a local train to Marsden and visit this:

Stanage Tunnel