About an hour ago – can you make the radio masts out through the mist and rain? We put our tents up and retreated to warm homes for the night!

Control Tech do a 400mm which looks very similar to a Thomson but a bit cheaper – got mine from CRC.

Last year in the dry!

Vid’ I did from last year. Ashamed to say I still haven’t got around to doing/uploading the 2nd and 3rd section!

I’ll be there on my Felt Virtue, doing a ‘relaxed’ solo effort. Put the Mud X’s back on in readiness for the anticipated deluge over the next couple of days.

I’ve got a 19 1/2″ RXC. I’m 6ft and wear 32″ inside leg trews’ if that helps. Fair amount of seat post showing – up towards the limit on the standard fit 350mm post.

Will you be based with Avon Valley Cycles? Fella there is part of the Black Canon Collective who ride around Longleat, so no doubt he’ll get you down there. They go out on Tuesday nights, which is not good for me, so I haven’t been out with them unfortunately.

Might I see you around Bath now then Charlie?

RS Web NSK 6804
or, for an idea of price check on the RS web. They will be more expensive than BSL I’d have thought.

Captain, you in SPAM? Whereabaouts did you get to today then?

Right on my doorstep but I’m down in Devon, sans bikes, on family duty.
Was up there on Thursday night for a quick blast. There was some nice slimy Wiltshire mud up there, but with a bit of sunshine over the next couple of days it will be concrete hard again I imagine.

SPAM web

Yep I’m in. May 23rd/24th.
Reports from fellow SPAM’ers is that the course is very good again with a few new twists and turns thrown in.

Billy Elliot. Quiet street early in the morning on the way to work a while back, shouted out of a white-van. Nobody else around. It took a while, but I guess it was a ref’ to a ‘male’ in tights! Made me smile.

Hey Sharki you jinxed my bike. After annoying you with my squeaky braked full suss bike on the ‘big’ ride, I took my hard tail down on Good Friday and cracked the frame top-tube/seat-tube weld. Do you think A&E could fit a plate and a few screws to that?

RS Web link

Or an RS trade counter – or mail order

I’ve been going out to Cogolin with work, town just up from St Tropez. Last year I had a spare day and hired a road bike (a carbon Giant – where could you do that in the UK?) from the bike shop in Cogolin and pedalled around the hills up to Collobries – fantastic ride. But, the off-road riding looked great. When I went in the shop, I think a ‘Cycle Evasion’ shop a fella’ from Manchester was working as the mechanic and suggested that there are locals who meet and go out from the shop, off-road, if I was ever there over a weeeknd. If your french is good – which mine isn’t, might be worth trying them.

at school with Faye Barker – News Reader on Channel 5 and now on London ITN I think.

Chminey – tick
“Narnia” – tick
Concrete Block – tick
Grazed shins – tick

Great ride, great day. Nice to meet you all. Apolgies to R6ymy for almost making you take an early bath down Holford Combe – the Pace was looking a bit muddy by that point!! I’ll try and cure my squeaky brake for next time….

Just popped to shed – piccy of adapter on my old Trek hardtail commuter. Mine was a Trek part, so I guess as Simon said above.

I feel obliged to say I like the pic! If only we could have avatars, I’d pinch it.
Anyway, probably of not much help to the OP but I’m 6ft on a 19.5″ Virtue 2. Nice bike, well, I like riding it. If the Compulsion is like the Virtue; just be sure to keep an eye on the linkage bolts, mine used to come lose for a past time until I cleaned all the bits well and got some loctite on them.

null

We’ve used one of the above (clicky above)and it really is superb. It’s kept at my parents farm, they managed to acquire it in slightly ‘agricultural’ condition for free. Off road across pasture land etc it is effortless to push. We’ve now almost outgrown a double Instep 3 wheeler which we’d also recommend. The easylife is pretty chunky and doesn’t fold up too small (fits in the boot of an Alfa 156 OK) and seems heavy to lug about into cars etc but is not noticable in use. Have noticed them pretty cheap on ebay, probably because they’re not a big UK brand. Ours would take alot of TLC to get to a saleable condition!

After playing in the snow when I met Knottie and Dibbs, last Staurday, I was looking forward to a ride back in my native Wilts’ this weekend. But after a walk in the woods with my 2 young kids on saturday morning I’d had enough mud. So, sorry Sharki, I sinned.

Badger – I’ve used some vet/animal syringes (about 100mm long, 20mm dia) liberated from my Dad’s sheep farm medicine cabinet, along with some 4mm pnuematic hose and a freezer bag clip. Worked fine for bleeding Shimano which have a nipple to just push the tube onto – haven’t had to touch my Avid’s yet, but I guess they need the screw-in widget. No idea if your local vets would dish out syringes!

Good to meet you today fella’s.
Very opportune meeting some other like minded souls.
Having been let down by my riding buddies from Bath/Bristol it was either a day with the in-laws in Taunton or a nice ride, ahem, on the Q’s.
If I’d been on my own it would have been no fun!

Around Bath, they managed a staggering 12 miles apparently!

Gilles – Possibly foolishly, but we’re heading off to Taunton; so I shan’t be up the ‘horse tomorrow.

Maybe – Plan was/is to go Taunton to see family; which gives me an excuse to head to the Quantocks! Weather may have put that off, in which case a local ride might be on.
I’m in Trow’ as well – are you in SPAM?

Great for throwing the occasional dead sheep into. My father’s a sheep farmer and had a couple now. First 2.0 petrol bit sluggish especially when towing but he’s now got a 3 or 4yr old deisel model which he’s pleased with.

null[/url]

I take it none of you will want to move in next door then!

I had ‘Billy Elliot’ shouted at me this morning waiting at lights in Bath. Took a while, but I assume reference was to a male in ‘tights’. Put a smile on my face, great inoffensive one-liner!

After the first ride I had a fettle – nose was too high, so levelled it off. SPAM was after a the festive gut-bashing and limited time on the bike, so I thought I’d leave the saddle as is and see if it was better yesterday after some time on another saddle doing the commute after getting back to work.

No expert on things photography – but, I’ve got an old Olympus mju – probably 4 years old now and seen a bit of life and still OK. If the new ones are as good/reliable as this one it would be worth a look. Old one hasa sturdy metal body and good weatherproofing. New model on Amazon for £140.

I’m on for the 50Km. Hopefully it will stay nice and frosty othwise it’ll be claggy. Some fun singletrack through the woods at the start and finish, through some farmland field tracks and a fair bit of tank track over the open plains – a good mixture. Start/finsh is generally a registration marquee, a couple of burger/bacon roll vans and a bunch of portaloos.