MrsB is going to have a baby in maybe less than a week…

You should go tubeless Steve. Recently changed a pair of tyres that had worn out – on close inspection of the inside of the casing I pulled out 8 large thorns. First time I’d been aware of them as no loss of pressure.

I’d put myself down as a birder too.

Not in the habit of driving off anywhere at the drop of hat to see stuff and just rely on keeping eyes open when out and about. Often come across species I’m not expecting. Found a bunch of Crossbills feeding on spruce trees recently which was nice to watch. Couple of years ago I was absolutely captivated by a sighting of a Great Grey Shrike.

My degree honours project was the study of nightjars’ use of felled forest sites as an alternative to heathland habitat.

yes page 20 and IanB didn’t get it

I’m waiting for the 1000’th post 😉

The road version of the BB7 here on midge bars with cane creek levers for drop bars

Me too.

As an aside, I also use a conventional bar from time to time and use these which maintain the correct cable pull: http://paulcomp.com/cantilever.html

@ didnothingfatal:

I picked up a Peak Elite AC this afternoon, pack size and weight are fantastic, 396g for full length mat Seems as comfortable as my Exped Down Mat, but much lighter

Do you notice the extra insulating capacity of the Exped to the extent you could use a lighter weight bag, compared to a mat without insulation?

We seem to compare the raw weight of mats when there is actually more to it than that in terms of performance, particularly with regard to insulation and how that would affect choice of other equipment. (discuss).

IanB fancy another go in August?

Yes, sounds good 🙂

weight: 623g

You’re not kidding 😯

😉

Mind over money, Turin Brakes.

Can you recommend me one of their albums? I see they have a few…

Macc Lads

I just googled them and went to their website – whilst very funny, very little of it is suitable to broadcast on here…

Nice little compilation of pics there orangefive. Brings back some good memories of the weekend. I see also that Mr Fish was in there too, early on.

Who is the artist/ track used for the music?

Oh, and 100 posts 😉

Greatest by what measure? Success, ability?

Success – Eddy Merckx gets my vote – he won nearly 25% of all his races over a 14 year period (1965 to 1978). His best year was 1971 where he won 45% of races entered.

Ability – Merchx is the only rider ever to have held all three coloured jersey’s in the TdF in 1969.

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx#Records /edit

Not knocking Tomac, mind you, but a difficult question to answer IMO.

Rode it on a Soda with 130mm fork on, solo last year – no pads, Giro Zen helmet. Rode the significant majority, but recognised the occasions where the trail difficulty was greater than my skill/nerve. No shame in that I don’t think. Perhaps something to aspire to if (when) I go back and do it again. Bit of a write up on my blog here[/url]

Our Rothan is good – no punctures yet and the seat allows for good scooting. Lots of seat adjustment too. Doesn’t weigh much, which is handy when they don’t want to ride it any more and you have to carry it home 😕

I don’t agree that brakes are just for big kids. H likes the brake actually- he took to it really easily and can properly control his speed on gradients.

The Eppynt Way and Eppynt area in general is a bog.

And where were you on Friday with this information? 😕 🙁

On numerous occasions the waymarking posts said “Keep to the Path”.
There was no path to speak of.

I came across a guy in the Peak cursing his bike for a similar problem. On closer inspection, I pointed out the inner cage plate was on upside down.

Off to do the Epynt Way from Brecon, with a bivi thrown in for extra fun 🙂

Ditto, got one last year from Aspire. Works just fine.

Ambrose – it’s in Wales, though technically not a right of way. Great descent though 😉

Bringewood, and Mortimer forests. Despite its history theres hardly any mountain bikers around here, so have some excellent trails all to my self mostly

There used to be – lots of riders from college and other locals in the mid 1990’s. Fond memories of riding there. Haven’t been back for sometime but last time I was there, it wasn’t as good as I remember somehow 😕

Now ride almost exclusively from Brecon – taking in the Beacons and the Black Mountains.

Lots of variation here too, and if you stay off the tourist route, hardly a soul to be seen on the trail.

Not done it before, so don’t know. I looked along one section of track yesterday and thought it looked nice – hence the impromptu arrangement. Not that technical I don’t think, though a few bridleway sections will be across proper open hill which could be interesting. Difficult to judge off the map though, as some of the route is along tracks not otherwise marked on an OS Landranger.

Hoping to get out on Saturday PM running into Sunday – though somewhat impromptu. Was thinking of going to do the Epynt Way. Whilst do-able in a day from Brecon (92km), I thought more fun to go out and bivi halfway around.

Heating the crank up helps as aluminium will expand more than steel. Once heated, apply rubber mallet to back side of crank and it should come off no problem.

Not yet discussed on this thread, but still on topic: shoes

I’m in need of some new shoes for non-winter (summer?) riding. I’ve used some Shimano MW80 over the winter, and previously my other shoes have been high end Shimano race jobs M220 or something.

I’m swayed more to a multipurpose SPD shoe that allows for a bit of walking from time to time and for greater all day comfort, but preferably not ones that weigh a lot or are too much like a walking shoe (e.g. Shimano MT90). What are people using? Any recommendations?

Thanks again to all who have responded. My mate had gone with a firm called cyclaim who are taking up the case. He’s emailed the manufacturer of the frame and they’ve confirmed it will no longer be safe to ride following the impact and advised the cost of the current equivalent model. Injuries appear to be getting better, as I said could have been much worse.

Yes, it’s a real blast down back down to Llanberis. Worth the short push up from the Ranger Path to 467m.

I did the route Pook suggests last year, early one morning. Was really good.

I draw the line at taking the washing labels out of clothing!!

Burn him!!

😉

Anthony – I’ve done all those things, though some only once.

Ian did you receive that email I talked to you about last week

No, nothing yet…

Last time I rolled up my hunka, I thought how “good” it was as trapping air when I didn’t want it to 😕
Makes a lot of sense to use that feature to your advantage – well done

Along the right lines but no need for either the bin bag or the rubber band.

I figured that one approach to inflating a thermarest would be to have a comparatively large bag with which you capture a large volume of air, seal the top and have an outlet that feeds into the thermarest valve – squeeze the bag and inflate the mat. Works much like the method for inflating pack rafts:

infinite use technology

A large bin bag and a rubber band?

Would you have to take that pole with you on the bike to put up the Rig 7 as you have it pictured, or is there a configuration that uses the bike?

I must admit, I looked quite seriously at the Rig 7 earlier in the week – looks a really well sorted piece of kit.

As Stu said, just use some pebbles. Besides, a few loops around the edges is short work on the sewing machine.

Post #600 😀

I’ve got a nice new one

I just asked Beth to sew some more loops onto my tarp, though I did splash out on some Alpkit ti v-pegs to hold the thing down.

@ Tiger – We’re still waiting…

😉

I didn’t use a ground sheet on the bivi the other week, but tbh having one wouldn’t have made much difference. My current tarp fabric is some 2.2oz fabric that costs about a quarter of cuben fibre. I do have some 1.1oz silnylon waiting in the wings though 😉

As and when I perfect my tarp design, I’ll probably try one in cuben fibre. Cuben tape is reported very strong for joining seams as the fabric tends to tear along the line of stitches. As Stu says, it isn’t cheap: http://www.extremtextil.de/catalog/Fabrics/coated/Cuben-fiber-laminate-21g-qm::587.html

I went SS last year on my Pegasus and 32:20 was enough for me. A bit of extra weight on the bike makes more of a difference than you might think.

Thanks chaps – some really useful leads there. I suggested he contact CTC, which he said he had but they didn’t come across as very helpful – maybe didn’t ask the right questions or speak to the right people?

thomthumb – do you mind if I pass your details onto my mate? Your experience might be very helpful.

Not quite sure on the position with the Police tbh, but agree that careless driving and compensation are two separate things.

I use a 1/8″ chain and it doesn’t stretch all that much, to the extent that I can’t really remember when I fitted it or how many miles it’s done… Think my current one is a KMC. I keep an eye on it with a Park chain wear tool and replace when it has stretched more than 1%.

edit – I also run a 1/8″ Uno ring up front, so can’t comment on how a 1/8″ chain would work an a 3/32″ Uno…

Caldera Cones tend to be specific to certain pan/ stove configurations.

I’ll post up more details on my home made Caldera Clone when I’ve made one in aluminium.

Fuel bottles – for safety both at home and in use out on a bivi, I use one of the trangia fuel bottles in the 300ml size. The spring loaded valve does make it very easy to dribble meths into my stove without it going all over the place. http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product372.asp?PageID=110