Whoever eats the most gets maximum points rushed to hospital with food poisoning and only a slim chance of survival.

FTFY

😉

I had imagined it would then splinter

It was fine (USE Sumo Carbon) – no splinters at all. The walls of the post were surprisingly thick actually. It did require a good heave on the screwdriver, which was a long one for a large Phillips screw, but it came out with repeated twisting.

For other solutions, try here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/stuck-seatposts.html

I removed a post recently by drilling a ~8mm hole through it an inch or so above the seat clamp, inserting a long screwdriver and twisting it – this does at least avoid marking the frame with the hacksaw blade.

My 2.2″ Race Kings were fine actually – I had one “moment” on Glyndwr’s Way south of Mach, but entirely my own error/ bad timing on a change of line.

29″ wheels do yield a lot of grip, and I made it up a few climbs where I expected to loose grip but didn’t.

had a sense of humour failure in the bog-hike from A8 over to B3

You were still smiling when we saw you, but I think north to south was probably the right way round to do that one, even if we did go slightly off route on the other side…

Anthony – we did 9 off the A list and 3 off the B list and made it back to Stu’s by 7.30pm Sunday.

Here’s a shot of our route – 143km, 5325m ascent – click to biggerise:

[/url]
WRT 2011 GPS Track[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

We did 51km on Saturday to finish just off the byway at the end of Tarren Ridge (nice little wood below the road). The remaining 92km took a surprising 11 hours to complete with stops and what not, though my legs were pretty much shot by the end of it all.

The ridge wasn’t technically difficult, just required more effort than I expected. It was pretty foul when we were up on top (6pm), so if faced with darkness I’d probably have been inclined to either back track down the push up or get off the north side out of the wind. Still, you learn more in those conditions eh?

Cheers Aidan – conditions look grim in that shot – more tolerable in good company though. The Tarrenhendre Ridge was a lot harder down than I expected.

@DNF – what possessed you to try and camp up there 😕

Here’s the pics from Saturday and Sunday. Had the pleasure of Aidan’s company almost throughout. 140km ridden, many metres climbed and explored loads of good singletrack and bridleway. Lots of fun.

[/url]
Can you tell what it is yet?[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

Full set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15512491@N08/sets/72157626840394998/

frame bag fits leaving room to fit a bottle cage which is great

Ah, that’s interesting – it was made for a medium Pegasus, so worth knowing that it is compatible with a large Swift…

I’m off out on the bike for a warm up

D’ya fancy nipping up to B1 and letting us know what it’s like?

Turned my attention to map holders this morning. Previously, I’ve made several out of perspex which attach to the stem or bars and you slip maps under a folded bit at the front. My latest one rotated too so you could always orientate it in the direction you are going, which was quite handy for Polaris events etc. Weight was about 150g

In my quest for a lighter version, I stumbled upon something online which I’ve refined to make a waterproof map holder that attaches to the bars and doesn’t weigh much at all. Should get it finished tonight, for use at the event tomorrow 🙂

edit: where’s flatfish? The top of page 44 has been left unattended for over an hour…

Pete, 26″ tubes will be fine – they stretch a bit and that’s what I’m carrying 🙂

Alfa, I’m going to go with 32:21. Quite a bit of climbing on this one I think and I’m thinking of my legs (which haven’t had much exercise lately) will be thankful come Monday.

my route goes from 20m to 633m in 4.7km

Which is why I’m going through the forest 😕

giving the game away a bit

Looks tough to me 😯
You sure you’ll make last orders at the Railway?

My route is via Penrhyn Dyfi, Maesywerngoch and then follow fireroad up to the NW corner of the wood and a small track to gain the ridge. A good few pages back Stu posted a link to another guy’s blog about that route, though they went into the forest by Gellygen.

It’s more than 0.076mm thick then?

Like how you’ve mixed your units up there Tiger 😆

I’ve got 161km, 5400m climbing, all the checkpoints.
Note sure on distances each day, but camping on Saturday somewhere between B1 and B2. Sunday somewhere between A3 and B4.
Back from B4 on Monday AM.

Weather seems to have picked up too – might even swap the tent out for the tarp again…

Maps sorted just in case I forget my route: 12 double-sided A6 sheets at 1:50k scale – 23g

alfachippy – looks really good. Appears much more minimalist than the weight suggests.

EBB – your solution I think it a good coating of the inside of the shell and EBB insert with copper grease, and really tighten up those bolts!

Out of interest – what gear ratio have you gone for?

DNF – yes, 255g is for a dual compartment production bag. That weight may change though, as I have another bag being made at the moment.

Anthony – hot drinks included in the evening meal/breakfast pack:
Porridge, cuppa soup, 2 tea bags, 2 mini pepperami’s, 50g chocolate, 100g cous cous.

OK, yes I haven’t added in maps. I wasn’t entirely joking as there are parts of the route that are imprinted on the inside of my head having looked at the map for so long, but I best take them in case I go off route. I do have a bit of a photographic memory which reminds me, I haven’t included my camera, which is something like 350g in its little case.

Also feel like i’ve over done it a bit on the food. When it’s all laid out in the kitchen it looks a lot…

Right gear sorted.

Clothes – optional daytime
Assos Leg Warmers 117
Endura Arm Warmers 64
Gil eVent Jacket 294
dhb eVent Shorts 174

Clothes – Night time
Lowe Alpine trunks 66
Extremities Powderlite Beanie 21
PHD Ultra Down Vest 152
Socks – long 103
Marmot fleece 3/4 leggings 138
Long sleeve zip neck Merino top – Ice Breaker 203

Cooking
Tibetan 550, Lifeventure 450 mug, Vargo Triad, Livestrong band, Caldera Clone 212
Fruit Shoot bottle – 250ml Meths 233
Tibetan Lhoon 16
Matches, water purification 55

Food
Expedition Meals 2x main, 2x dessert 640
Evening Meal/ Breakfast Pack x2 600
Trail Food Pack x2 1,360

Packs
Wildcat Handlebar Harness 123
Wildcat Frame bag 255
2 litre bladder & hose 167
Inov-8 Race 12 (no internal pad) 424

Personal
Loo Roll 22
Black Diamond Ion headtorch 26
iPhone 4 & case 155
First Aid Kit 27
Insect Repellant 65

Shelter/ sleeping
Terra Nova Laser Photon 860
Thermarest NeoAir Short 261
PHD Minim Ultra 900 372

Tools
Box of spare bolts, disc pads, chain tool 160
Set of allen keys 90
Pump & puncture kit 121
Spare tube 146
Awesome Strap 44
Leatherman 238

Total 8004

Pete, did that frame bag fit your frame in the end?

It’s not as much fun now Ian’s flounced off from the lack of page turns

I did see it was up for grabs earlier, but I thought it was someone else’s turn to make fool of themselves 😉

Well no smart comments on my kit so can’t be too bad

How about:

Small whisky

You lightweight!

To be fair, it all looks good.

edit – beaten to the whisky joke by Nick… must type faster…

Sunscreen

Being a bit optimistic aren’t you?

Other than the kitchen sink, I can’t see anything you’ve missed off that list 😉

I’ll have a bash at sorting out my revised kit this evening. Only need to add in a few extra bits of clothes and swap the tarp/ bivi bag for the tent so won’t make a huge difference to the total weight of my gear.

Also got a neat idea for a map holder, if I can find time to implement it before the weekend…

I’ll look at all that properly in the morning, but I’m prepared to wager that the above weighs more than 4kg 😉

Back by Sunday night, ideally. It’s a hundred miles, so should be do-able in two days, though three would have been more leisurely. I could be mis-judging it though – wouldn’t be the first time…

Head down and do it in two days is my plan…

Well done Pete, got there in the end.

I have a couple you can borrow if you don’t want to buy any, or try before you buy type thing.

Thanks, that’d be very handy. Bring them along next Saturday and I’ll have a go fitting them before I go 🙂

Saw an otter today at Bristol Zoo. It looked quite wet.

Quick question – if I wanted to attach a bottle cage to my fork legs that don’t have specific bosses, what would I need and where can would I buy it from?

Yes, 0.15mm foil is too thin. Interesting that the genuine Caldera one is 0.25mm. If I could get hold of some, then I can make one with the fissures in it so it can be split into two pieces for easier storage, which is something that the Caldera ones don’t do…

It’s the post script (.ps) file I used for creating my Caldera Clone, as detailed on the other thread

And the genuine cone is 0.25mm thick, may have found a supplier of sheet

Details please, if you would be so kind 🙂

Top Secret* PS Clone file sent.

* not really…

Can someone explain the last four posts please?

lets be positive now

Yes, to be fair, it’s better than it was earlier today where they’d got 6mm of rain forecast for Saturday.

Is it too early to start looking at/ worrying about the weather?

http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Wales/Machynlleth~2643251/long.html

If they forecast rain on Sunday too, I’m taking my tent…

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