Looked at booking with Eurocamp a few years ago, but in the end booked with Yelloh. We had about 10 days at Serigan Plage on the Med coast and then stopped off for 4 days in the Parc du Val de Loire in the Loire Valley on the way home. The accommodation at Serigan Plage was amazing (probably one of the best places I have ever stayed) We went at half term when the prices where fairly sensible, however we have now started taking holidays during the summer holidays and the prices for the nice accommodation really jumps in the summer.

Having walked around the two sites the Yelloh owned caravans where generally in better locations and looked nicer than the other companies who use their sites.

We have a Clubman Cooper S, the kids love the rear seats and have plenty of leg room. They prefer to sit in the back than the front. Surprising amount of room for grown ups too, the standard mini is a bit more cramped.

18″ wheels on our one, which does give a bit of a rough ride, but the car came with them and I am not sure I will ever get around to changing them…

Warm tap water for me too. Pour it over, put windscreen wipers on and leave on for a bit, all done. It also stops to inside of the screen misting up as it is pre-warmed. Only time I have been caught out is when staying in a hotel with work.

I have heard it can cause a small chip in a windscreen to become a huge crack, but I have never had any problems- maybe that is caused by using boiling water from a kettle, which would be stupid.

I find the drinks with some protein in are good for longer rides, High 5’s 4:1 is a good one for me, although I have been using Accelerade for the past year. For four hours in the cold I would probably have a bottle of 4:1 on my bike at the start and then a bottle of something with just carbohydrate in at the end. I doubt I would get through more than 2-3 bottles. Maybe leaving a spare bottle of water in the pits in case I fancy something plain. I wouldn’t bother with gels unless I was just drinking water, although will keep a caffeinated one on my back pocket in case I need a lift.

I have found in long rides (usually at about 10hrs) that I can get a sick feeling from just taking on board liquids and gels, a bit of energy bar (or banana) helps settle everything down.

Gaz, you will be fine in Seniors, just expect to get lapped once or twice. Lou and me both did our 1st CX race a few weeks ago and went straight in at the deep end, I was somewhere mid table and Lou was 2nd. Constantly people to chase/chasing. In comparison the novice race had about 6 people of fairly mixed ability, you would probably have won that fairly easily without too much of a race.

DT, I am the same weight as you and am just using the standard 29er wider rims. I have one set of old process rims, and one set of new process and no problems with any of them. The older set I have been using for over a year. I have been riding them on similar trails to your planned use – I live near a few of the Gorrick venues so most of my riding is around there. In comparison my lightweight wife managed to fold a Crest rim without too much effort a couple of weeks ago…

I have been riding a Rocky Mountain Vertex since August 2012. I bought it reduced from Evans. I had a slight issue with it when an internal cable guide failed, but Evans and RM were great and replaced the frame with a 2013 Vertex 999 version. I really like the bike, a really well thought out design that is comfy to ride long distances, yet still feels very stiff when riding it hard. Their current range of bikes look great and it would be good to see more of them on the trails.

The two pairs of rims I have bought have both been hit with charges on the way in. i think it was about £20, and that was mainly Parcelforce’s excessive admin charge.

Sorry to hear your current job is no more 🙁 , glad to hear you are sorted out so quickly 😀

Hopefully you can install some sense in the staff in there, as in my experience their advice seems very random at best. Probably see you in there at some stage as I do pop in to get stuff from them when they have deals on.

I just had the rear windows in my wife’s mini clubman tinted, by Fleet Auto Shades, (as you would guess they are in Fleet) very pleased with the results. We had Dark Smoke tints, which I think are 85%, they look darker than factory. It is only a one man company, but a very professional set up.

It could have been me who mentioned the sun blinds in my Passat Estate. I have been, and still am pleased with them. On my Passat, they have metal clips that tuck into the window trip, the shade panels are then held in place by these, I have had no problems with mine at all.

I broke the tip of my little finger when I crashed my bike in August. Two breaks in the bone. I could curl the finger around a handle bar, but couldn’t straighten it due to the top tendon not being connected to most of the bone… I had it in a splint to keep it straight for about 5 weeks, because it was only a little finger I could still ride my bike, although my grip on that had wasn’t great. Pretty much back to normal now, although a slight reduction in total range of movement of the joint and a bit of pain if I grip too hard, although currently that is improving.

I have been using a set of their flat carbon bars for about a year now. Very happy with them, and they have stood up to the use very well.

It depends on the industry and company. I have been in construction based sales for ten years or so. Current role is very varied, one call sat with an architect getting our products specified for huge projects, the next call could be looking at our products on a small site. We don’t sell direct, so I also get involved in a lot of account management with our resellers. Not really an ‘Always Be Closing’ sort of sales role.

Lots of construction is booming at the minute, my biggest problem is a shortage of product, too many houses being built. If you are in an engineering based sales role, it is generally fairly easy to move to another engineering based sales role even if the product is different.

Given the size of the event I thought it was okay. With that number of riders you just can’t have 90% singletrack, although some singletrack would have been nice. Even though it did get tough when it rained the course dried out quickly. If that had been Eastnor bikes would have been clogging up for hours and hours after the rained stopped. Good job it did dry quickly as the bike washing was a bit of a joke, only allowed to use their cleaning station and not enough of them..

Personally I preferred it to Catton Park, which I find very dull, and better than a wet Eastnor. If I had the choice then a dry Eastnor would get my vote, but that never happens.

Recently bought a new TV from Richer Sounds. The price with their 5 year warranty was the same as John Lewis, but Richer Sounds was more convenient for me. Could park outside the front door and take the telly there and then.

The Halfords one looks very similar to my one, which came from Woolworths of all places.

Works well, I have used it on a variety of mainly small cars (MR2, Westfield, Octavia, Mk4 Golf) and it has worked fine. Drops down fairly low and has got under all the cars I have owned, and lifts easily. If I was doing proper garage work I would get something more substantial, but this is fine for occasional use.

@njee20 Think I saw your wife? Rides a Whippet with 650B wheels?

Nick, something I need to ask Lou about 🙂

Lou was slipping her way around the Gorrick race on Sunday on her 650b Whippet, not sure she found Racing Ralph tyres the best for that course.

The bit of advice given to me years ago that I still remember is that XC races are won on the up hills and lost on the downhills. Occasionally have to remind myself of that when I get over confident on descents.

That was a similar budget to what we had, lots of nice cars around that price. You will find most, if not all will have a full Mini service history if the original owner took out a TLC pack which covers servicing for 50k miles or 5 years, that is transferable to a new owner too.

Strangely insurance on a Cooper S was cheaper than the 10 year old diesel Mk4 Golf it replaced.

My Mrs R has just got one. A Clubman Cooper S so a bit more room than a normal mini. Having spent the last few weeks looking at them there are a huge variety of cars out there. We were after an excellent condition car with as many extras as possible, having looked at a few price was no real indicator on what the car would be like. Worth holding out for the right car, there are some pampered cars out there, as well as some that have had a hard life. Look at as many as you can.

Pleased with it so far, fun to drive, plenty of space for what we use it for, our kids love the side door and back seats (although the novelty may wear off) Agree about the ride on low profile tyres, I am not sure 18″ alloys are the best for a comfy ride… Given the performance I was surprised at how cheap insurance is.

Strangely when the BMW Mini was first launched I never imagined I would own one, but this seems to suit what we wanted.

I have just been up there and ridden some of the course. Currently very dry, even dusty in places, there are a couple of puddles, but you can ride around them all. I was on Small Block 8 tyres and they were fine.

The forecast for tomorrow looks to be a bit wet. I don’t think there has ever been a proper wet race a Frith Hill before, so not really sure how it will hold up to lots of rain and riders. Generally it is a fairly hard surface that drains well, and no clay, so I think it will be okay. I would imagine a few more roots will appear and a few sections will get cut up. Personally I would stick with the Rocket Rons, as there will be lots of sections where speed is more important than grip.

I have just replaced a front wing on my wife’s 10 year old Mk4 Golf. A bought a new wing pre painted from ebay. It was a really good match to the original colour, the car was metallic black which generally doesn’t fade too much. I did try to find a 2nd hand one, but couldn’t find one at short notice and had arranged to PXed the car today. Pretty easy to fit, just a few torx screws and some 10mm bolts, about 2 hours in total.

All mine are still going strong. I have four LB 29er wider rims in total, the oldest pair are now over a year old. A few very light cosmetic marks during that time. I don’t think they make rims for anyone else, but I would imagine they are one of the largest manufacturers of carbon rims, given the number of threads on here and MTBR.

Sorry to hear this 🙁 . Given the increase of bikes at Swinley I guess was only a matter of time before they started to be targeted.

If you haven’t done already then post something up on the Swinley Forest Mountain Bikers Facebook page as there are a lot of local riders on there. I will post it for you on the Tunnel Hill Trolls forum, which also has a lot of local riders.

I know it is too late now, but the locks on all the roof rack bike carriers really are rubbish. I went to race once and left the keys at home, worrying easy to force the lock without much effort.

I have just upgraded our TV to a 42″ smart LG TV (42LN575V), we used to have a 32″ Samsung that was about 5 years old. I am very pleased with the new LG, unsurprisingly much better than the 5 year old one. The picture is good and the smart stuff works well.

Worth buying from John Lewis for the 5 year warranty, although I bought from Richer Sounds as with their 5 year warranty it came to the same price anyway.

Giving it a miss this year. I have raced it solo for the past few years, but currently waiting for a broken finger to mend it’s self, and won’t be given the all clear to ride until the week before the race.

Hope the weather is good for you all, I still have nightmares over the two really wet years…

I have just changed with Virgin. I was on a phone and TV package with their old set top box, I get home broadband provided by work, but it is on a BT line and very slow in the evenings. So switched to phone, 30mb broadband, and M+ TV with a Tivo box. New price is £29 per month fixed for 2 years, I also had to pay a £15 install fee. It took a bit of time on the phone with them to get that out of them, which is frustrating as it is a package they offer to new customers.

I have two sets, both are the 29er wider style in matt UD finish 32h. My older set are close to 12 months old, and the newer set are about 5-6 months old, these were made with LB’s new process which saves a little bit of weight but are visually identical. The Matt UD finish is very understated, although people still seem to spot they are carbon.

I have had zero problems with them. I built them myself onto Hope Pro2 rims and haven’t had to touch them since building. I run them with Bontrager rim strips and they work very well, I don’t think I have had any issue fitting tyres, I think I have used most makes of tyre over the past year, they have all inflated without any drama.

There are a few minor scratches on them now, but nothing really noticeable. I managed to rip a tyre sidewall a couple of weeks ago on a fairly fast rocky downhill and rode for a bit with no air in the front tyre, but the rim seemed unmarked afterwards.

I wouldn’t hesitate to buy them again. When you price them up remember to allow for import duty, I got billed for it both times, and I think it was about £20, mainly Parcel Forces handling charges…

I am I allowed to say I hated the race? I loved the event, but the race itself was very tough. I had crashed the weekend before and hurt my hand a bit, but thought I would be okay riding through the pain for 12hrs. Turns out I have a broken finger, so not surprising it was a bit sore during the race… Other than that it was great. Very friendly on course, probably one of the politest races I have ever been to. Good to see lots of ladies riding in the She Torqs ride, many of them new to mtb racing. My son loved the kids race, very proud of him for getting up Pheasant Plucker Hill.
Looking forward to next year.

I am taking a 29er hardtaill and 29er full suss. Planning to ride the hard tail. I have ridden it on a hardtail (26 and 29) for the past few years and as mentioned above it is fairly flat so no real benefit (apart from a bit of comfort!) to a full suss. There are a couple of bits that are bumpy with roots, but they are very short.

If you have got two bikes I wouldn’t bother with the technical support, if one bike breaks just get back to the pits and take out the other one. By the time you wait for someone to fix something you will have lost loads of time.

I think there is a diagram on the Shimano website that explains this, but from memory the only combination that won’t work is the A-spec shifters with B-spec brake levers. Everything else fits together, and the b-spec shifters come with bolts to fit a or b spec levers – Shimano seem to have made something simple very confusing!

I had an issue with my Rocky Mountain Vertex bike after about 4 months, basically one of the internal cable guides came unbonded inside the frame. I found Evans pretty good to deal with over it. I dropped the bike off to them, they sent photos to Rocky Mountain who agreed there was an issue and sent a new frame to Evans. These also upgraded the frame to the top of the range 2013 999RSL version. Evans rebuilt the bike up and it has been fine ever since. They also fitted new cables throughout which saved me a job 😀 It did take a few weeks to sort, that seemed to be mainly the shipping, which coincided with Christmas. I had another bike, so luckily wasn’t in a mad rush back for it.

I got the impression that their dealings with Rocky Mountain aren’t as straight forward as they used to be since they stopped being the importer.

My local Halfords stocks Catlike helmets, not sure if they all do?

Excellent stuff. Shimano M-540 pedals at £22.86 (less a few % via quidco). Two pairs ordered to pick up tomorrow 🙂

I had a very early mk1 vRS. I had it from new and covered about 110k miles in it. No real issues while I owned it, couple of very minor faults but overall I was very happy with it.

There is an owner’s forum which I am sure will have some pointers of what to look for.

I think I enjoyed it. I had been suffering from a bit of a bug running up to the event, but as I was pre-entered thought I may as well race anyway. It is always great to race on a dry dusty course, and the atmosphere was very friendly, with a lots of passing places on the course.

I was in the 8hr solo and did consider quitting after 2-3hrs as I just felt like I was going backwards on the fire roads. I can normally keep up a decent pace on them at Thetford, but yesterday my legs felt dead. However decided I was having too much fun riding in sun and just carried on riding, by the end I actually really started to enjoy it. Except Plum Buster that I hated every lap!

There is normally a maximum length allowed for a standard car, as long as you are less than this – you should be – then you are fine.

If it is the same as my 2012 carbon Epic then it is carbon sleeve, it looks like it is lined with a different sort of carbon fibre to the rest of the bike. I am not sure for 2013 frames, but last year Specialized recommended fitting the BB30 cups with a special two part adhesive, once it is fitted it shouldn’t move (or creak).

292mm worked for me. They were fine for both sets I have built up, one was the old process and one the new one.

DezB – Member
I recognise this entrant to the “Grim” gallery.. is it someone off here?!
http://singletrackworld.com/rider-gallery/mountain-mayhem-2013/?image=478
No-one?

I recognise him. I am not sure he wants naming and shaming as he hasn’t taking being put in that gallery too well. You may have spotted him on the podium at BBB before. He posted on the 1st page of this thread.

My wife’s write up from the race is here: http://www.xcracer.com/viewblogpost.php?blog_id=534

She rode all her laps on Racing Ralphs. She did switch to mud tyres after her first lap, but the course had dried enough before her second lap so had a quick switch back to Raplhs.