Sweet spot base for FTP improvement would be my recommendation. Go for the low, medium or high volume option depending on how much time you have available each week.

Bought an older Volvo V70 for similar duties. Loads of space and the comfiest of seats.

Good luck this time Poops. I remember reading this thread with interest ( and a few smiles) last year with all the shenanigans.

Just take it easy and pace yourself, follow the signs and top up at tap stops and you’ll be fine.

Keep us updated with regular progress reports.

Fingers crossed the weather stays favourable for you.

What a ride by JA. Amazing.

If you go into edit the activity, are the privacy controls set to “Everyone?”

I think if it’s set to just followers your latest segment time won’t appear on the leaderboards.

Are your other segments from tonight’s ride showing correctly?

How about some teak oil on that table?

The frames are just different types of carbon from memory.

Discs over electronic shifting everyday for me.

I would go Discs and mechanical shifting, but if you can afford and justify Di2 go for it.

Lots of Cube short travel trail and XC bikes are still 2x. They may fit the bill.

As stated above 2x, still popular with German brands.

You buy what you want.

Stay mid way at Ambereley right on the SDW. ( Or 5 minutes away in car at Arundel )

Saves having to drive 50 miles to Winchester and then 50 miles back again.

Day 1.Leave car at Amberley station, get train to Ford and then on Winchester to start. Bang out 50 miles. Finish at mid point with your car, all your kit and ready for next day. If you or your mates dont fancy day 2, you can bail here.

Day 2. Start right on the SDW at midpoint, no trains to worry about. Ride to Eastbourne. Train back to Brighton and then onto Littlehampton and up to Amberley. Up the A24, M23 and M25 home. Bosh.

There are places to stay at Amberely, a couple of pubs and you’ve got Arundel and Storrington, both about 4 miles away. Arundel has loads of nice pubs, restaurants and places to stay and it’s 1 stop / 5 mins up the train to Amberely to get on the SDW. South Down bikes in Storrington can sort any mechanicals.

∆ Didn’t work out for me at the time I was planning to do it, due to family logistics, but is still on my list to do in 2019.

Did this instead that I assume is broadly comparable though, which was a tough ride in the cold and wet.

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/UWn5i2jwIT

Just as an FYI, there is 20% discount on Wolftooth dropper remotes at mtbriders.co.uk.

Cheers Avdave2.

Cheers Bez.

Been riding quite a bit from South Harting through Graffham and back to Arundel recently that got me thinking about this ride.

I will try and plot a route on something like ride with GPS if there are no readily available routes.

Bent your bars rather than the stem?

I would think it would be pretty difficult to bend a stem.

Cube Reaction are great bikes and you can upgrade as appropriate..

Plenty on offer currently.

Great write up, thanks. Website looks good and I like that the pictures have a description when you click on them.

I’m a SDW local as well so could picture all the places you described and recognised a lot of the photos.

Sleeping outside in December is still bonkers though!

I’ve got the Elemnt Bolt. It’s a great cycle computer, easy to use, doesn’t have glitches and very easy to upload GPX routes to.

IMO the navigation is OK on the roads to follow a route , but I don’t find it particularly useful to navigate off road, due I think to the GPS not being that accurate, the screen being small, little detail off road and it’s all in black and white. I think Garmin’s generally get better reviews for pure navigation. Depends on what’s most important to you.

You’ll be alright on the SDW, it’s well signposted and you don’t really need a map. If you’re in a group the first rider can check the finger posts and point the rest of you in the right direction. Good luck with it.

Another thought on staying at Amberley.

Day 2 / second half is tougher as others have said so you could do this section first while you’re fresh and do Winchester to Amberley on day 2 which is (marginally) “easier.”

The Amberley mount climb is a great way to warm up!

Radical suggestion. You stay at Amberley and use that as your base as it’s roughly half way, right on the SDW and got a train station there. You can either start from Amberley both mornings and ride East to Eastbourne or West to Winchester or get train to both locations each morning and ride back to Amberley or mix the two up, i.e train to Winchester and ride to Amberley day 1 and then start at Amberley day 2 and ride to Eastbourne and train back.That way you should have the prevailing westerly winds to help. Must be easier to book one place for three nights than three places for one night, saves you having to carry extra overnight kit, you can get an early start on day 2 if you feel good as you’re right on the route but also if you don’t feel up to it or whatever you’re not stuck without your kit and car.

Downside is that Amberley is just a pub, a station and a museum so not as exciting as Winchester but you could always visit Winchester or Brighton for the day on the way home and Storrington or Arundel are both 10 minute drives from Amberley and have more restaurant choices. There’s also a decent bike shop at Storrington if you need it. The Bridge Inn at Amberley does great food.

April or May time would be my suggestion.

@madedgar – I have. Where the route or trail is clearly defined or obvious e.g. SDW it’s OK to follow, but where you’re looking for a new trail that’s not immediately obvious, e.g. navigating to a new strava segment it’s not ideal due to GPS accuracy and scale IMO, but I haven’t got anything to compare it against.

+1 for Elemnt Bolt.Previously had a Garmin Edge. Wahoo is easy to use, simple to upload GPX files to, has decent battery life, can view data on phone and mapping works fine on roads.

Essentially the secure creditor (the bank PNC) wants to be repaid for the $2.75m it had lent Niner and I assume it won’t lend anymore to them, which has promoted them to enter Administration / Chapter 11 as they can’t continue trading.

The sale needs to raise an amount that will be used to repay PNC in the first instance. If the sale price is not enough, I’ll guess the bank will look to liquidate the Stock and assets as the source of repayment and Niner will effectively cease.

The creditors / manufacturers / suppliers will be the ones taking the hit as the money they are owed from Niner won’t be paid, either if the sale is successful or if the business folds.

Even if the sale is successful, they are entering new markets with lots of established competition already, so it will remain tough.

Could be :Bent mech hanger. Cable tension too tight or too loose. Cable routing not allowing cable to move freely. Limits not set up on RD correctly. Is chain direction specific and on the right way round? Clunky / sticky shifter?

To me, cable looks like it has been cut too short on the RD not allowing any further adjustment. I tend to only cut cables and cap it once the indexing has been done and leave a little bit of extra to allow as adjustment.

I would suggest that insert a new cable, leave it uncut and work through a video on You Tube for indexing gears and check the above points along the way.

Good luck with it.

Stoughton close to Rogate or Whiteways just north of Arundel. QECP just over the border in Hants.

^^^^ Yes please.

+1 for the Six pack. It’s the schizz!

In addition to what you have mentioned the Climachx Trail at Machynlleth has a great must do final descent and also Llandegla is a great centre.

From memory there wasn’t that much at Nant y Arain, so I would suggest a half day here and then drive to Machynlleth for a half day there, with a full day at Brechfa, Llandegla and CyB.

I suppose it depends on how much driving, what type of riding and how fit you all are as to what will work best

B?

Happy (belated?) birthday. Hope I am still out riding and having a laugh with my mates when I’m your age.

Hope District.

Super bright, rechargeable and bombproof.

Any good?

http://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/211258-cycling-rear-light-buyers-guide-%E2%80%94-make-sure-youre-seen-night

or

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/best-bike-lights-for-road-cycling-32289/

Rode at Winterberg last summer and it was awesome. As above its a bit slippy in the wet and it rained both days we were there. There’s enough to keep you interested for a weekend with a range of runs. The best bit though is the uplift. You can do a 2-3 minute run and be back up the top in about 3 minutes with minimal queing as it’s so quick and efficient. As a consequence you can do about 30 runs a day ( or more if you want ) and so you need to pace yourself as you’ll only do 8-10 a day at BPW or Cwm Carn. Restaurant / bar at the top is great for food and drinks and reasonable. Bike hire and workshop by the car park to sort any issues. Natives are all friendly and seem to speak perfect English to you before you have even opened your mouth. The town itself was also very nice and reasonable for eating out and beers. Do it, it’s a cracking place to ride.

Set mine up with superstars tape and used Spesh 2bliss tyres. Seated with an Airshot and haven’t had any problems.

Bought a second hand FF29 frame which I have not yet built up. Offered it up against my Cube Reaction 19inch / large frame and looks virtually identical. Test rode a medium and it felt roomy. I’m 6 foot with 32″ inside leg and would say it was a “big” medium.Glad I didn’t go large.

I purchased some parts from him and although he said he would post nothing received and no replies to any emails. Full refund from PayPal. Be aware.

Owned both, both great, you wont be disappointed with either. Giant is the more racy of the pair in my opinion. Only real Giant criticism was that the BB was a bit low and I had a fair few pedal strikes on it. Maestro suspension was great. Bought frame second hand and unfortunately cracked at top tube and seat tube weld after 2 years. Was using it more as a trail bike than a XC mile muncher, which it is probably better suited for. Got a Camber currently. Just rides really easily which may come across as a bit boring, but it just does everything well, is unfussy and flatters you. Only consideration with the Spesh is that the rear shock has a wishbone link so you’re limited on choice if you want to swap out.

Riding a bit of trail and experiencing the sensation of “flow”

No it shouldn’t be like that. Probably just took a knock.

Just straighten it gently with a pair of pliers.

Rode on the SDW near Amberley yesterday (Sunday) and was filthy and slippy on the exposed chalk climbs around Whiteways / A29 crossing. Rained heavily this morning as well. Doesn’t look like rain forecast so far for the rest of the week, but being a local, I think it will still be slippy and wet towards the end of the week making it a potential slog. Wouldn’t fancy it on a crosser with limited grip.

As above.