Mine is hard wired in, not too fiddly to wire it back to the fusebox with a piggy back fuse. It automatically switches on and records when the ignition is live. It also keeps the wiring hidden away.

I leave mine in place all the time, and often park in dodgy parts of London. The mobius is tiny, and it is tucked up at the top of the screen, plus I have a boy racer top tint so it isn’t really visible from the outside.

I have been using a Mobius dashcam for about 6 months now. Pretty cheap and the recorded footage is good. A simple unit, so no display or GPS. I have fitted it behind the interior mirror and it works well as a fit and forget unit.

I use 1×9 on my turbo. It is an old 26″ mtb, with a 46t ring on the front with a road cassette on the back (11-28 I think). The ratios work fine for everything I have used it for. Lots of Sufferfest and lots and lots of TrainerRoad. I hardly ever use the 11t sprocket so could have probably have gone for a slightly smaller front ring. This is on a Cylops Fluid 2 trainer.

I think you will need a bigger front ring.

I think I enjoyed it. Now feeling slightly battered after 12hrs of that course. I enjoyed almost all the course although really started to hate the ‘Nutcraker’ section after a few laps… Glad I dressed for cold weather, over night my Garmin was showing temperatures of about minus 3 in some parts of the forest.

I thought I had managed to make a good start, only to end up near the back of the field after the mix up after the start loop. All part of the fun of racing.

The marshals where great. It wasn’t an easy night to be stationary in the forest and all the encouragement was welcome.

One of the highlights for me was on one lap the heavy mist had penetrated into some singletrack, I don’t think I have ever ridden through that before. It was only there for one lap and had gone the next. Also agree about the frost on the Christmas trees.

A shame the numbers were down. I think the event peaked in size a few years ago and then had a couple of back to back years with terrible weather which must have had some impact on numbers.

Yes I will be there. Also solo. I missed it last year due to a broken finger, so just getting to the start line will be a better result than that. Hopefully the rain will just dampen the dust down a bit.

Sorry I don’t know any discount codes, but last time I shopped with them they were on Quidco. I bought a frame from them so got a decent amount of cash back.

I bought a Fuji XP200 before going to Eygpt this summer. I only used it snorkelling, but probably took it to 10m or so. Overall I was very happy with it, picture quality underwater was good, and I did get some great pictures. I took a DSLR on holiday too, but in the end mainly used the Fuji above water too as the picture quality was really good and it easier to carry about. They seemed to be a popular choice as I saw a few people with them.

I have been using a Mobius for the past few months. Cheap and fairly easy to set up – I think some of the more expensive options have better interfaces, but really once it is setup you shouldn’t have to change the settings. Once fitted in the car it isn’t too obvious, and turns on when I start the engine so I forget it is there. Picture quality is good. For the money it is great.

I have mounted mine to the windscreen with the Mobius helmet mount. This is pretty low profile, and sort of hides behind the mirror.

The same confusion seems to exist in motocross as well. A couple of years ago I accidently ended up in Le Touquet when the annual Le Touquet Enduro was on, it actually turned into a great weekend – despite 1,000’s of bikers camped on every grass verge. The event is 3 hours of riding around a 10mile lap, so just like ‘XC’ Enduro in the UK. That has been going since 1975, so using Enduro for a lap based event isn’t really a new idea.

Two consumer units in my house and I couldn’t get powerline adapters to work. Well they would work for a bit and then loose the signal and need resetting, pretty much to the point they were useless.

In the end I went with a plugin wireless wifi extender that does the job well, although may not work for you if you have a 10m garden to bridge.

If you are buying a brand new car, and choosing the spec, then adding a tow bar at the time is often reasonably cost effective.

I recently fitted a detachable tow bar and electrics onto my Audi A5. Towbar and electrics was about £300 – fitting was fairly simple, and the wiring loom supplied with the tow bar pretty much plugged into the Audi wiring loom. The car ECU also needed updating. I went for a fully removable tow bar, so when it isn’t fitted you can’t tell the car has a tow bar.

I bought mine from http://www.pfjones.co.uk who seem to be competitive on price.

Squirt gets my vote too. I did use the Muc Off yellow for a while ( Halfords had it cheap) but have found Squirt easier to apply and more durable. An application of Squirt lasted me for 12hrs of very dusty riding at Bontrager 24:12 this year.

I use a 16″ pedestal fan that I bought from B&Q a few years ago. I generally only use it on it’s lowest setting (out of 3), and that is fine even on very tough sessions. It has a remote control, which is handy as it saves hopping off the bike to turn it on once I have warmed up.

I can’t remember how much it cost, but it was reduced after a wet summer.

Really enjoyed it. I did the 6 hour race for a change, it was nice to finish and not to be totally broken like I normally am after 12 hours.

Also suffered with the dust, I have been coughing all day.

The amount of loose loamy stuff on the ground in some places was crazy, the ground at Minley does seem to be a bit strange and new trails always take a few races/years to properly bed in. – next year those bits will probably really quick.

Totally agree about how friendly the race was.

Looking forward to next year’s race already.

Paddy, we will have a space next to the track, and near the arena, with plenty of space for the XCracer team. Nothing is marked out yet, but it will be sorted on Saturday when the event opens.

Sorry maybe that was a bit confusing. Laps do count more than time. What I meant was if towards the end you only have enough energy to do one more lap, you are best just to go and do it, rather than sit in the woods and wait for the clock to tick past midnight.

It doesn’t look like Gorrick really want people riding there tomorrow, they have posted on their FB page:

A BIG THANK YOU to all the riders who stayed away from Minley tonight, a big success to keep the Army who are Training on here until 0800 Friday morning.

All who we catch riding the course tomorrow before the event on Saturday will be asked kindly to leave or continue riding after a donation of £5 per rider to the Army Benevolent Fund (ABF) this years chosen Charity!

Happy Riding!

I just checked my time from last year’s race. 12:29 moving, 12:37 actual. I was unsupported, so had loads of waterbottles pre-made so I just had to pick up a new one every lap or so. Wasn’t a great race for me as I broke some bones in my hand in a crash the weekend before, so gripping the bar hurt a bit, very glad when it was over.

It is worth mentioning that you can finish before the 12 hours is up. If you get to 11:30 and have had enough you can stop and your result still counts. There is no point lurking, in fact it might even loose you a place or two…

If you want to be competitive in the solo field then you can’t stop. However lots of people do take breaks during to race for a bit of rest and the chance to eat some normal food. If you look at the results on Timelaps from previous year’s races you will see plenty of slower lap times where people have stopped.

I will be there.

I did a pre-ride of the course yesterday. Quite a few changes to last year, but all the good sections are there, a few of the new sections used in the Brass Monkey race are in it too. Currently dry and dusty – I think there were one or two small puddles. A small amount of rain will be soaked up by the venue, especially the spongy bits.. Hopefully the forecast on yr.no is wrong!

I have never found the venue too bad on a hardtail, I have also raced it solo fully rigid and I don’t recall it being too brutal, just lots of roots.

You couldn’t find a link to the second company you used could you Jason??

Just checked and I bought them from Dealextreme, unfortunately they don’t list them anymore. Cost a bargain $18.50 with 3 sets of lenses and a case, which I had bought some more now.

but have never had a set of Oakley polarized lenses last more than about 18 months before they start “delaminating”

I had the same problem on a really nice set of Crosshair frames, the mirrored coating started coming away from the polarised lense, at first I thought I had scratched them (despite being very careful with them), then left them in the case for a month or so, next time I checked them a large area of the coating had come away. Oakley were pretty unhelpful about it, although did give me a discount on a new set of glasses. Oakley seem great in sorting out issues with frames (I have had replacement frames FOC from them before) but for some reason aren’t great in backing their lenses.

I do have a pair of Flakjackets (bought as seconds) with polarised lenses and they have been fine for a few years.

I have an Altera rear rack and 29ers fit fine. There is enough room to move them left and right a bit to fit several bikes on the rack without bars and saddles hitting each other.

I have had two pairs of fake Jawbones. The first pair where a bit rubbish and the ‘O’s fell out after a month or two, and then one of the nose piece clips broke. I did buy a 2nd set from a different company which have been much better, I only bought them as a set of glasses to take on holiday and not worry about leaving them on a sunbed. I also have a genuine set of Jawbones, and they are slightly better than the fake set although the colouring on the frames has rubbed of where it rubs on helmet straps, seems to be a common problem with all plastic Oakley frames. Lense quality on the fake ones has been okay, and the reflective coating on the lense has been at least as good as Oakley.

and RESULTS! No good them being online if no-one can see them.

To be fair Timelaps, who did the timing, they are the best in the business, and this is the first time I can remeber them having a problem with their website – their results are normally online a few hours after the event finishes. Hopefully they will get it fixed soon.

I enjoyed it, but found it really tough due to the heat. I didn’t drink enough on my first couple of laps and paid the price. I then spent the next 6 hours trying to get as much fluid down as possible, and was still feeling de-hydrated. At times I did consider having a lay down in the stream. I was very glad when it started cooling down, I got a second wind then and actually felt much better. I leap frogged my wife a couple times, who was also riding solo – luckily I managed to stay in front at the end, although was only ahead by 10mins or so. Pleased to manage 15 laps.

I thought the atmospshere was the whole event was great. Everyone was very friendly on the course, all overtaking was polite. Good music in the arena for most of the 24hrs. All the kids around the campsite did a great job of throwing water at the riders and cooling us down a bit.

Looking forward to next year’s event 🙂

Car is almost loaded and ready to go in the morning. Still having dilemmas over whether to pack the wellies or not? Hopefully on site about lunchtime tomorrow. Looking forward to a dry and hot race.

Yes normally lots of trackside camping for solo riders. In previous years the course has looped back through the campsite, so plenty of opportunity to get a trackside pitch. I can’t recall an actual solo pit area.

I am also on a Rocky Mountain 29er.

I have been watching season 1 & 2 while on the turbo trainer for the past few months. I thought it was okay, not the best series I have ever watched, but decent entertainment, Much prefered the 2nd season. I thought the first started well, but by the end it look the surprise elements that it had at the start of the season.

Any thoughts about the relative stupidity of riding 12 hour solo on a rigid bike?

I have done a few 12hr solos on a rigid bike. It is never too bad, 12 hours gives plenty of time to find fast smooth lines – although my hands and triceps always seem to take a battering! 29er hard tail for me this year.

The pictures on the Bonty Facebook page look like the course will be fast rolling and fairly smooth, I am sure there will be some lumpy bits too.

12 hour solo for my wife and me this year. I have been to 24:12 3 or 4 times in the past, but somehow have never actually raced. Looking forward to giving it a go this year – although not sure how quick I will be as I don’t seem to have done much riding this year.

Planning on taking a car and roof box full of bike stuff.

Strangely Amazon sell 24″ Rocket Rons. I bought mine from there, at the time I think they were reduced due to damaged packaging, seem to come direct from Amazon.

My son has Rocket Rons on his 24″ bike. Seem good for most conditions.

Another vote for the Nevada M here. We have had one for three years, it works great for us as 2 adults and 2 kids. I can put it up by myself in 20mins or so. We also have the front extension that adds a lot of space, and makes the whole tent seem bigger.

We have just upgraded to a bigger tent, so are about to sell our Nevada M. Like the post above, it would need to be collected as too heavy to post. I am near Swinley.

Works fine for me. Actually I think mine is XTR shifter and X7 double front mech. The rear needs to be the same brand as the shifter.

When bricks are made they are fired to around 1,000 degrees C so no problem using them in a BBQ, they may discolour a bit, but they should be fine.

I went through this a couple of years ago. Two cars stolen at the same time. I think both were settled in about 3-4 weeks. On my wife’s policy she had a hire car for a week or two, as soon as that went back we hassled the insurance for a payout – we had a few worrying days were we had to commit to buying a car for her, but if our car was found we would get that back as well. It all worked out in the end, and the insurance paid out before the car was found. The other car was my own car, although it was insured on my companies insurance policy, this was settled fairly quickly as well.

To be fair to both insurance companies they settled the car content part of the claim very quickly. Both cars had two child seats in, which we had to go and buy new for the hire cars. We got a cheque for these within a day or so from the insurance.

Hassle them daily, and when they agree to settle don’t accept their first offer.

Are You Tough Enough was replaced by the Merida Summer Monkey – although that didn’t have a single speed class. I am pretty sure Bristol Bikefest had a single speed class, but you have missed it for this year.

Most people are happy to just race singlespeeds in the normal race.

I have leased my last two cars, I have opted out of a company car scheme and work give me a car allowance, I then have to lease rather than own a car (not sure why?)

Bear in mind at the end of the contract you can px your current car against a new one. I am just about to end the lease on my current Passat, and rather than hand it back to the finance company, an Audi dealer is settling the outstanding finance and I am buying (again on PCP) a low mileage 6 month old A5 from them. So no issues with charges due to stone chips etc, most of us at work do this. This works if you are buying directly from a dealer, but I guess not as easy if you are buying from one of the online sites. I am getting finance elsewhere, but the Audi finance seems to offer a very low GFV so that you have equity in the car at the end of the contract to make it easier to switch to a new car, but then their monthly payments are a bit high.

Don’t forget GAP insurance in your calculations. Probably around £150-200. My first lease car was stolen just before the end of the contract so I didn’t need to claim on the GAP, but if it had happened a few months into the contract I would have been claiming £5k+

PCP suits some people and not others. Generally it is good if you want to drive a fairly new car, and look after it. The biggest downside is if you situation changes while you have the lease, as getting out of the contract will cost money.

We drove down in our own car, at the time that was a 1 year old diesel Passat Estate, so a pretty good motorway cruiser, with loads of space. We also had a small roof box and three bikes on top. MPG was a bit lower than normal, and the tolls did add up, but it didn’t seem too bad. Once we got to the south coast we didn’t see many other GB cars. If you have GB on your number plate there is no need for any other sticker. I think you need hi-viz vests in the car for all passengers. You probably need spare bulbs too.

One of the high lights of the journey for me was stopping at the Millau viaduct. Low light was not trusting the sat nav and taking a ‘short cut’ in Paris that involved driving through Parisian back streets at 2am on a Saturday morning…

We did it a couple of years ago. Channel tunnel crossing at about 10pm, then pretty much none stop driving south until the kids woke up. Once they were awake we stopped every hour or so. Got to the Med at around lunchtime. The French roads are clearer than the UK, so driving is a bit easier.

We booked direct with Yelloh, they own alot of the parks and then rent the pitches to companies like Eurocamp. From what we saw the Yelloh owned pitches are better than the ones they sell to other companies. On the south coast we stayed at Serigan Plage, in a really nice beach front chalet. We were there early June and the accomdation prices were pretty good, I think we payed £50 or so a night for a chalet, in the summer holidays it is really expensive, from memory £300 a night.

On the way back we broke up the journey by stopping in one of the Yelloh sites in the Loire Valley for a few nights.

A different sort of holiday to a package tour style holiday, it felt a bot more like a family adventure. One advantage was we could take bikes with us.