how much are you looking for it? i’ve got a large which is a smidgen too small for me for xc and always fancied an xl to see how i’d get on

Pimpmaster Jazz – Member
gazc – I didn’t envy you in that suit…

yeah i was boiling alive under that and the helmet had no vents at all which doesn’t really help! the kids in mach seemed to be a fan as we rode out anyway!

really enjoyed it again, great overall vibe and loved the beer tent/dj and the fast rocky descents :D got a timbuk2 bag for the fancy dress (i was the spaceman). first time for claire as well she loved it especially the world cup dh :D cheers to fraz n the crew again, keep up the good work n see you next year!!!

yeah dob him in anonymously, if he’s genuinely disabled enough to get the benefits then he’s got nothing to hide

cheap casio, do have a nice seiko somewhere but it died i keep forgetting to get it fixed

montane slipstream, got mine for around £25 i think in the sales last year if you can find similar offer (sorry i can’t remember the shop – it was online though) and it fits in my shorts pocket/road jersey with plenty of space to spare :)

if you know anyone with a garmin etrex/dakota that you could borrow they take 2xAA batteries so you could take spares. sorry if that’s no help though (it was the reason i went for an etrex vista over the bike specific ones in the end)

my mate at work rode home last night with two new sleeping bags he bought strapped to the tri-bars on his road bike and gave me an idea – something like these http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tranz-x-jd-tb01-tri-bars-black-aluminium-prod13580/?src=froogle

some cheap secondhand ones cut down to the size you need and without the armpads and mounted beneath the bars would make a good front rack, they clamp down pretty tightly so should be quite robust

no pics but:

ribble reynolds steel road frame – snapped the top tube cranking up a hill

stab primo 2002 – cracked the shock mount

stab primo 2003 (replacement) – bent the down tube after a stack on a rock garden

brand x xc frame circa 2003 – cracked seat tube/seat stay weld and not much use either

highly recommend the white industries freewheel as a replacement, will easily outlast 10 shimano/acs efforts

some ideas from our van:

easily accessible small fire extinguisher and a fire blanket, and a smoke alarm too – luckily we’ve not had to use ours but you never know…

split relay for your coolbox/fridge so it powered off the engine when its running and off the leisure battery when stopped. biggest beer coolbox you can fit in there ;)

we’ve got a small torch with a bulldog style clip – great for reading at night/general van use as you can clip it on curtains/trim wherever you are in the van

roof light/vent

wheel chocks for levelling out when parked up on inclines

240AC convertor for charging phones/DAB radios/laptops etc

as many windows as you can fit/get – just bought an old caravelle door for our T25 as it was pretty dark in the back with just one side window

Haynes manual, specific coolant/oil/filters/plugs/commonly broke parts if you have an older vehicle, small box of carefully selected tools spanners/sockets/drivers/hex’s etc plus a tube of silicone sealant

we did it last year, well not the entire route, just carlisle to newcastle in 3 days with bivi gear. if you have two full days and don’t mind a long walk, start off in carlisle, camp up on the wall above gilsland/greenhead then do the best bit over steel rig etc the second day to chollerford (we camped by the hotel there!). you can get a bus from there to newcastle or hexham where you can get a train i think. if you’re more pushed for time try and start closer to gilsland, some nice bits down that way, and camp up on steel rigg then down to chollerford the next day. after chollerford it pretty much just follows the military road so you’re not missing much down there

been using my C2W voodoo wanga with pretty much original spec for bivvi/camping/off road touring and it’s been great. really like the versatility of it – v brake and disc, singlespeed or geared, rack mounts, 2 bottle cage mounts etc pretty similar to the inbred for that

did st bees – robin hoods bay lightweight bivvying with bags strapped to the frame/bars and a semi off road tour of the picos with camping gear stuffed in ortleibs out back on a pannier rack and its been great for both, but would think i’d take my commuter (surly cross check) for a more road based tour

got a couple which we’re hoping to do in the next few years

1. taking our camper on a big trip, iceland via shetland and faroes currently fave, following by a trip to the arctic circle in norway or a tour of spain. got to build the interior first after ripping out what was in it at the weekend :D (and for anyone thinking of getting one i definitely recommend it!)

2. ride to africa – england, france, spain then straight of gibraltar ferry to morocco possibly on bikes which we’d donate to some charity over there (after a good service of course!)

3. ride to asia somehow maybe a bit further off that one

4. maybe buy a bigger house for kids n stuff (well thats the line when the missus asks – actually i just want a garage!)

we’re in but managed to put the missus in the male 18-40 category by accident… might have to dress her up in man clothes and a tash :D

onzadog – doesn’t have any as such, he’s stated to bring the company ‘up to date with current business models’ or some b@ll@cks like that

cheers for the comments, the second one is the bugger for me as i’m currently thinking of elsewhere and a colleague has potentially been offered a job with one of our clients so he’s bricking it that the old company would come after him if he goes

we’ve already had a email/letter saying that if we do not sign by mid march but continue to carry on working we’re automatically agreeing to the terms. will have to have a chat with him an voice my concerns…

a mate of mine is going to be renting his house in chopwell village soon, not exactly the nicest area in the north east but cheap and smack bang next to chopwell woods for riding. about an hour commute to/from newcastle city centre by bike on 90% offroad route, 20mins bus/car. if anyones interested my email is in my profile

i live in newcastle (heaton) – you can do a bit of cheeky riding in jesmond dene/various other urban woods if you stay central say in gosforth, and chopwell/holywell dene are about an hour buy bike

personally i’d go for south of the tyne, Co. Durham way (burnopfield, consett etc) or Tyne Valley (wylam, hexham etc). it’s all a bit too flat north of the river till you get further out past morpeth

just got a bianchi via nerone off the classifieds here, great bike only ridden it a few times so far but very impressed especially as it cost less than the bike i was looking at with a way higher spec. maybe put a wanted ad up if you’re looking 2nd hand?

i ride flats 50% of the time, spds 50% of the time. if i’m heading out for a ride i just choose what pedals i want for that ride and stick them on my bike ie: flats for DH days, hike a bike, pub rides and spds for xc and cross etc

really worthwhile getting used to riding both imo – that way you can get the benefits from both types

johnny63 – ygm! :)

actually if you would like it could you mail me as your email isn’t on your profile?

got a pdf of the woodcock route will mail you it :)

did it on my own last year carrying all my own gear. yeah mosedale is a bit boggy and a trek in places, but it’s all part of the fun of biking IMO

i’ve not rode it yet but some of the passes on the leh-manali road in india are above 5000m, highest at 5300m i think. we saw quite a few people biking it with fully laden panniers on rickety mtbs and beards (we were in a jeep on our way to ladakh). would love to go back and do it over a few weeks as the scenery is spectacular and people are great. pic from someones blog on the net (not mine)

people were camping close to the lifts when we were there a few years ago – don’t know how formal a campsite it was but it looked like there would be some facilties and close to town too

few washers here too – you may need longer bolts otherwise a doddle

and get a lipo charger like this and lipo batteries like this (you’ll need to put a tamiya connector on it) and it’ll run for about half an hour on one charge :) just be careful with lipo batteries though, you need to ensure you charge/store them properly as if mistreated can do some nasty damage!

tamiya make great classic rc cars

check out ansmann madrat buggys and the macnum truck as well – basically copies of top end associated b4/t4 here. great fun and easy to get parts as well

gone back to 899.99 now!

i snapped my old reynolds ribble road frame using it for ‘light off road’ duties, noticed a small crack in the top tube riding to a mates house and then it went ping as i was cranking up a hill (i had it singlespeeded…) think one of those buses that bend in the middle to go round corners! tourer would probably be fine – i have a crosscheck now :-)

TPT is ok and does have some reasonable off road sections over the pennines. can get a bit boring at times but me and my girlfriend did enjoy it, we camped in farmers fields/campsites along the way and plenty of pub stops too. not done all of the sustrans C2C but its shorter, and will be more rural so much nicer surroundings than the outskirts of liverpool/hull…

Camino de Santiago would be great, me and my girlfriend did part of it when we did a tour of northern Spain/picos de Europa earlier this year :)

Off road coast to coast solo would be a good bet too, also did that earlier in the year over
4 days. U can camp, bivvi, bothy or hostel it and felt pretty epic for me!

best – enduro mt500 overshoes, been keeping my feet toasty warm the last few weeks (and dry too along with sealskinz and coolmax liners which were best product 2005/6 8) )

worst – new style camelpack mule i think. not a bad product at all, just the shape of it means it hits my helmet on steeper descents – not good!

too right :D

ours has been doing the same thing, luckily not flooded the kitchen though. we’ve taken the waste pipe off the wall (outside) and just pour half a kettle of boiling water down it when we put the washer on. not had any other issues with the washer filling with water since

chopwell was really icy on friday, 3-4inches snow, only had time to go down the powerline trail but it was very icy in places and had me walking some sections due to ZERO grip (think mini rivers of ice down the trail!). unfortunately i left my spikes at home so couldn’t even say how it would be with them on :(

under the trees was fine with little/no snow so maybe some of the other trails will be worth a punt too

i’ve been using large/long handled side cutters to cut my spikes down to around 2-3mm protuding from the tyre. front spikes have worn very little but the rear ones are rounding off after about 100miles mixed road/off road and some of that with chains too! i’ve lined both my tyres with split inner tubes held in place with gaffer tape, no issues with puncturing yet but my mate who only used gaffer tape has punctured (looked more like a pinch than the screws fault mind) – took them off for last week but will be putting them back on tonight for more night riding antics :)

btw took 5mins to put on (and can be taken off in less than a minute) as opposed to the 4hours or so it took to make my front spiked tyre!

had snow chain on rear wheel in the last lot of snow a few weeks ago (and home made spike on front) – it worked great in snow, lots of traction on compacted snow and ice which made riding in the snow fun/great BUT it’s extremely draggy and noisy on the road and after a few days could see where the chain was wearing through. i ended up commuting a snow only route avoiding roads and popped it off when the snow had pretty much gone due to the drag/potential catastrophic failure if it snapped! might not be the best solution for roads with patches of ice/black ice

for info i just used a 4m length of 2.5mm chain from b&q (about 8quid) wrapped round the rim/tyre every 3 spokes with a zip tie to hold the ends tight together – it was an old disc wheel so i’m not too attached to the cosmetics of the rim after wrapping the chain round it

mate is 6’4″ and has a kangoo with no issues – seems plenty of space