For weather, this site is usually on the button: http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Wales/Rhayader~2639470/weekend.html

Kit weight will be ~9lbs with food, excl. water. I haven't quite got it all sorted yet, as Mrs IanB is currently working on a new frame bag for me.

Still deliberating on whether or not to put gears on the 29er, or leave it singlespeed (32/19)…

The bridleway from Teifi pools to strata florida is good, as is the descent off the north end of monks trod. I don't think most of the bridleways from Claewen to Teifi valley are very good. There's a bit of a line over Drygarn Fawr, but that's a bit too far east.

Over-active: take comfort from knowing that Stuart has set some really great checkpoints and the aim isn't to catch you out, but to allow you follow the natural flow of things and take in some good trails. As Chew says, you don't need a computer. Mark your checkpoints onto a map and link them one a time, avoid looking at the big picture. You'll soon see a route emerging. There are a number of bothies on the route too, so if you suddenly decide you don't fancy the bivvy bag or you want to make a brew out of the sun/wind/rain, you should be able to do it under a slate roof.

In a way, a month to plan things makes it a bit harder. I'm reminded of when I've done Polaris (two day orienteering event with an entry fee and rules…) where you get the map the night before and the active checkpoints for the day AFTER you start. You get about 10 mins tops to plan your route for the day, and then have to ride to the clock. This will be much more chilled, I'm sure.

For packing your bike, try and keep the heavy things as low down on your bike as possible. Strapping stuff under the handlebars is good, or under the saddle if it's not too heavy. Put exposed or critical stuff like spare clothes into a Exped dry bag or something similar.

Beards are optional…

http://www.podsacs.com/products_airstreamlitecompsac.html

Strapped on with some normal straps and buckles, but in a slightly cunning way so it doesn't flap about so as not to affect the handling. The set up pictured, with my big sleeping bag, weighs 750g or so.

@ flatfish – mail received, thanks. Nice 🙂

I'm going anticlockwise but there's a bit in the middle I do in both directions, but it's kind of a figure of eight, if you zoom out and squint 😉

There is no bog, though I have to admit that with the development of google earth, geograph and bikehike etc the sheer adventure is reduced somewhat – it won't be a surprise in some parts as I've already seen it before I get there.

@ flatfish, supersessions9-2: Yeah, two days isn't ideal, but my little lad is only 2 once…

Also a bit of an opportunity to experiment with some light kit options and set myself a good challenge. Plus the further south I go on the course, the more familiar I am with the terrain, so I figure I can go into the night for some of it if it puts me in the right place to bed down.

Pubs. I must admit I'd not thought about those. I'd planned a couple of food stops on route. Perhaps a beer will be required at the end of the ride instead.

flatfish – have you got larger sizes of those images? Interested to see your set up in more detail – cheers.

Route now finalised. Total distance is 194km, 5700m ascent, 29% tarmac. Two days*. Camping in Doethie Valley, unless I think I can get to Moel Prysgau before quite late 😯

*My nipper's 2nd birthday party is on the Monday…

@pistonbroke: so there is, thanks for that. I think I'll trade dry feet for nice singletrack in this instance and save myself for Doethie Valley later on.

I once rode Monks Trod on a singlespeed and didn't get wet feet or sink up to my waist in bog. The secret?
Do it in February when the ground is frozen solid 😀

Yes, 160mm

I fully intend to enjoy myself, even if I decide to do it on the singlespeed 🙂

What's the consensus on the bridleway that goes through checkpoint 12?
I've not ridden it, but I recall a mate telling me he had, and it wasn't pretty…

Two general questions:
1) how much % road have you all got in your routes, roughly?
2) anyone doing it singlespeed?

Snowpaul – yes, familiar enough with the Gap. I ride a hardtail round here (Soda), with 130mm forks and 2.4" tyres. Don't think there's much locally I won't ride, though I seem to have a little less nerve than I used to 12 years ago 😕

Don't have any pads and I'll be on my own. I'll better pack some sticking plasters…

mk1fan – I'll check out the Telegraph route too – think I've only ever ridden up it.

Ian

Wow, bikehike is really neat. I was hanging on to an old windows PC with tracklogs on it since moving over to Mac, but I can see myself using this website a lot more instead 🙂

Thanks again for the advice guys

That's quite neat.
Also found this: http://software.bareknucklebrigade.com/rabbit.applet.html from which, I was able to calculate an approximate RPM of 150-160 (!) achieved during the sprint at the end of last nights ride

Thanks Gee. Is it safe to assume then that for a rigid set up, the 2.2 would be a better choice, despite the odd profile?

Anyone?…

So, with all these bothies en route, who'll be leaving their tent at home?

I went from a Nicolai Helius CC (5.25" of travel at most) to a Cotic Soda about two years ago. Don't regret it one bit, in fact there's no other bike (except my 29er) that I'd consider riding instead. I've got 130mm fork on the front with a lock down (DT Swiss), and 2.4" tyres.

For the people I ride with and the trails I ride on (Brecon Beacons and S. Wales, mainly) it performs brilliantly. It's comfortable enough that I can ride it all day and I'm not any slower on the descents than I would otherwise have been in the Nicolai (i.e. I can still keep pace with the people I ride with on full suspension bikes). It climbs like a dream too. Big benefit to me at the time was reduced maintenance for pivots/ shocks. The transition from 5" of travel to hardtail wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I thought it might be either.

In all, I can't fault the Soda. Also, it still looks as good as new two years later. Get one 🙂

chakaping – Member
The Alien doesn't have a 2.5m allen key, IIRC.

Pretty sure mine does, but it is quite short and was difficult to access the two 2.5mm bolts I needed it for.

Personally, I don't like the fiddly nature of tightening bolts up with a multitool (some bolts are much easier than others, obviously). I'm inclined towards individual allenkeys, and these look like a quite compact arrangement:

I could ditch the 10mm out of that, and everything is covered.

Just changed the forks to some DT Swiss ones, and the saddle is now black, but you probably get the idea…

I was going to add:

But it's a bit late now

Wait for it…

519…

I don't think Middleburn slick-shift rings are especially light either. TA Chinooks are about 40g lighter, for instance.

Direct comparisons in bare crank weights are interesting, but the "problem" I have is that these types of cranks/ bb's is that they come out heavier than the square taper RS8's I currently use…

Still, these look nice to me – I'm not a huge fan of the appearance of the latest Shimano offerings.

DavidM – I took some pics of my set up today and posted them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15512491@N08/sets/72157623560918498/

Ignoring the cost of the kit, the storage hasn't really cost me a great deal. Most expensive bit was the Pod Sacs compression bag which was £15, but you could just use a normal Exped dry bag costing a fiver.

Well, the bag is strapped to the top, seat and down tubes with straps like the Epic bags would be. If the bag is packed well, stuff doesn't move inside it nor the bag move on the bike (bag made slightly smaller than the frame so that when the straps are tightened the bag is taut). I haven't got any pictures at the moment unfortunately.

There's some good info here though, which is where I got a lot of my inspiration from:
http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=605.0

I would really like one of those epic designs frame bag numbers, but they are a tad pricey for skint student types

My wife made a frame bag for me using the material from an old duffle bag (1000 denier cordura I think it was, but you could use a lighter fabric). They're not particularly difficult to make, if you have access to a sewing machine or you could even do it by hand. I don't find it gets in the way while riding, it's only 3" wide, but still carries quite a lot (tent, thermarest, stove, fuel, some clothes, food, headlamp etc).

I have a 7 litre compression dry bag which will take a sleeping bag and some clothes. I made some straps to lash it under the handlebars (you may need to lengthen you gear/ brakes cables to accommodate it, depending on the size). Standard rucksack strapping and buckles are pence from an outdoor shop, and it's surprising what you can do with the stuff.

All in all, it's pretty easy to do on the cheap I reckon.

+1 for BB7's. Pad wear not been a problem here – am still on the original set after about 15 months of off road use. Didn't find them difficult to set up as such, but the pads need to run closer to the disc than hydraulics to compensate for a little cable stretch.

Snap 🙂

Is yours a medium or a large? Mine was 1622g with seat clamp etc…

Ian

simonfbarnes – Member wrote:

“Their woods, their right.”
isn’t this simplistic?

Partly. They have a right to ensure it is managed for public benefit.

Who does the FC belong to?

The government. Funded by the tax payer and the income derived from managing the Estate.

How did they come into control of the land?

Compulsory purchase most likely, either bare land or existing woodland.

Was it previously common land?

Not necessarily.

etc etc

What’s your point exactly?

—

WCA – go for A&B. They won’t be back for another thinning for at least five years, so make the most of it 🙂

I’d like to see someone do 80 words/ minute on that wheel 🙄

I presume Apple’s move to an alu "unibody" solves the cracked case problems of the previous version? I read about the battery recall too, and experienced something similar with my Dell, so a problem not unique to Apple it seems.

I guess I’m swayed by aethetics, both of the machine itself (size, build quality/ detail) and the intuitive nature of the OS but have to weigh that up against the price. At the end of the day, for the hours of use it’ll get, maybe it’s worth the premium. I endured over four years of a rattley keyboard on my current one, two motherboard replacements and declining performance and sub 2 hour battery life.

On the OS front, I recall Windows 98 being replaced by Win 2000 only to find it wasn’t that good. Then XP came out to fix all the problems and that wasn’t right either. Vista seems not to be the cure for XP (not saying it’s rubbish, but it’s not without problems either), and now we’re waiting for version 7 to put it right 😕

In an idle few minutes, I checked out an up to date Dell XPS and you can easily get a better spec for the same money as a Mac, but then the customer reviews are riddled with fried motherboard/ graphics card problems or hardware/ driver bugs that Dell haven’t found a solution for yet. Given that four years on, they’re still having the same problems that plagued by Inspiron 9100, it isn’t confidence inspiring.

Still, you pays your money…

Thanks for the input tho’ It’s good to have opposing views 😉

Thanks again aP, jim & flaperon. Followed that link above, very informative – the black box appears to have a slight edge 😉

Thanks for the responses chaps. Is the general concensus that VMware Fusion is the better option to run windows apps as opposed to Parallels Desktop?

I have to say my Dell has served me well, though it’s been back to Dell a couple of times for repairs, but it’s over 4 years old now. My inclination is to go for a new one, so reports on better build quality is good, as is people telling me they’ve had older modesl for years and they’re still working fine 🙂

What mandog said^^
I signed up yesterday morning, no email since then, but following the recover password method just now obviously works.