Done. Went out at sunrise:

Got back at sunset (wasn’t planned):

Even though I put on road pedals and used my road shoes, I couldn’t help a few gravel segments. They were mostly fine, although one had 100m of ankle deep liquid mud, while another had been underwater and still had very deep puddles on it. I also took a look at one byway, then turned round and went another way, it looked unrideable on 40mm tyres.

Strava threw a shit fit after a couple of hours, but I didn’t notice, as my phone was in a bar bag. Finished with it saying I’d done 147km, but did the auto correct distance thingie and it’s now saying 231km. True distance is probably the mid point of those two, I’ll work it out tomorrow, if I have time.

Dark foggy start
Stop for cake
First hundred miler

I wasn’t planning on completing it, but I managed a 7 hour, 171km ride this morning. Damp and dank, but at least there wasn’t much wind. That puts me on 352km, so one more big effort and it’ll be done, wasn’t expecting that…

Out early, 06:41, it was dark and foggy:

While the light improved, it remained dank:

So I stopped for a coffee and cake at Phoenix Cycleworks:

171.47km distance; 7:16:02 moving time; 1,508m elevation, the furthest and longest I have every ridden, ever. My knees are quite tired, not quite sure how they’ll cope with another 150km+ on Monday…

Dark damp roads
Rack up miles
Very heavy rain

80km round the back roads of South Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. Spent the time trying to work out what kind of cycling I want to do and thus what clothing and equipment I need to replace / upgrade. Got drenched at about 60km, which made me change my mind about what I need to buy… 🙄

Managed 80km yesterday morning before going round the in-laws for the rest of the day. The rain wasn’t supposed to start until midday(ish), so obviously I got utterly drenched about 45 mins from home at half passed nine. Not riding today, but hoping to get out tomorrow and attempt to rack up 150km or so. Not sure I’m going to complete it, unless I do either two 160km, or four 80km rides, which I’m not sure I can fit in.

I’ve signed up for The Dirty Reiver 200 in April, my first mass participation cycling event. Also my first mass participation event since the Bedford standard distance Triathlon in 2007. Going to try and get an entry for this new Frontier 300 thingie and if I do, I plan to park at the finish and spend two days cycling to the start. Mostly I’m planning on just getting out on my bike, and trying some bivies while I’m at it.

Other than that, there are plans for some openwater swimming events. Possibly the Great East Swim, the 4x 1 mile at the Henley festival, the Dart 10km, and maybe some others.

100km this morning round South Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, the furthest I’ve ridden in about three odd years, in terms of distance. I went anti-clockwise, when I should’ve gone clockwise, so had a headwind for the last hour or so, which destroyed my resolve. Lots of others out and about though, on what was a generally decent day (apart from the wind).

slow out door
nice being out
**** block headwind

My bum likes Endura, doesn’t matter if it’s the single track liners, the FS260 Pro’s or whatever the thermal ones I’ve been wearing recently are.

On sale, with a £5,000 deposit, get yourself a frame, seatpost, fork and stem for a very reasonable £15,550 ex VAT.

Pinnacle Adventure Road Disc Wheelset – 700c, £140…?

Found this while looking for a graffiti photo:

My old Spesh Hard Rock:

Under the A14 as it goes over The Cam:

Turns out it’s a favourite stopping point for a photo:

Kicking myself that I didn’t stop there, when I was out on the gravel bike, at the weekend…

Money no object:

Might actually be affordable, as all I would need is the frameset:

Pie in the sky? Something like the Beargrease, but with that new Shimano gearbox doodah and a Lauf fork:

@thisisnotaspoon ah, yes, obviously it’s time to go home as I canny read…

@luv2ride is that the Carbomania frames…? Thought long and hard about one of those, then bought a NS Bikes RAG+, most likely for the same reasons…

Define cheap…? I recently bought a DT Swiss GR 1600 SPLINE® 25 wheelset off one of the German websites for just under £400. Apart of popping the rim tape, they’ve been great, I would happily buy the 650B ones if I had any money.

Two Calibre Dunes. Two sets of wheels, one for 5″ and one for 4″ tyres, plus a spare frame for when the first one breaks…

Like the name, dislike the bike, mostly because of the ridiculously sloping top tube.

I’m running 700c x 40mm Conti Terra Trail on my NS RAG+. They’re useless in the current off road slop, zero traction on the rear while climbing and the front wanders all over the place faced with muddy bridleway. Get them on dry gravel(ish) roads/trails, on the other hand, and they fly; they’re not too bad on-road either. Probably not what you want though…

😱

@Rusty-Spanner-2 I loved mine, right up to the point I snapped the frame. Just be aware if you need a longer seat post, you may have issues, you may not. Change the tyres, the Kenda’s are made of cheese, convert it to 1x by removing the front derailleur, shifter and the inside chain ring. Just replace all the other stuff as and when it wears out, then you’re good to go on some awesome adventures.

Saturday I cycled to work to pick up the car, after all the faffing with the rim tape failure. The fix to Thursdays ride ending puncture only lasted a few miles, then it was inner tube in a pray. It was nice to be out, but seriously clarty due to the rain that fell in the morning. Loads of puddles along The Cam meant I arrived at work looking like I’d been mud wrestling:
https://www.strava.com/activities/2932440397

This morning I decided to stick to the road, for the first time in over two years. I’d forgotten where all the little back roads went and took a wrong turn, ending up in a different village than expected, so I doubled down and kept going. 70km before work, on 40mm knobbly gravel tyres, without eating, is hard work. I need to find me some slick roadie tyres, pronto:
https://www.strava.com/activities/2936333384

@13thfloormonk well, if there’s more issues with the tubeless, then I might very well give it a shot… 👍

@13thfloormonk I’d rather not run tubes, as the bridleways and byways round here are puncture city. I’m sure it’ll settle down when I find the right sweet spot of tyre, sealant and pressure.

@trail_rat turns out I needed the tube for the rear tyre, as the patch I put on it on Friday, failed a couple of miles down the road. Four wraps of electrical tape appear to have held in the front, but it was squeaky bum time for the rest of the ride.

@alexnharvey a few weeks old. They tyres have been popped on and off the bead about five or six times since then.

@scotroutes Id quite like to know why it’s so worn after only a few rides too…

@BearBack I was using Continental RevoSealant, as they tyres are Continental Terra Trail. It doesn’t contain any ammonia or stuff like that, as the wheels came with all sorts of warning about using non-corrosive sealant.

@pdw I’ve found someone in Lithuania that sells the 27mm wide tape on eBay. Might just have to suffer the delay in it arriving.

Reading other threads about rim tape, it would look like Tessa Tape is the way to go. Not sure if I should be getting TESA 4287 (copper coloured) or TESA 4289 (yellow), as both appear to be similar to those sold by places like CRC. Mainly though, no idea what width of tape to get for my rims?

Had a look at the tyre when I got home, and it’s a pinch flat. A nice 5 – 6mm ragged cut that the sealant had no chance with. Just surprised that I couldn’t find it just after it had happened, I could totally have limped home with an anchovy in there. So now I just need to decide if I stick one in, or take the tyre off and patch the inside.

As for rim pro, the Panzer gravel insert looks nice, shame Whyte don’t seem to import it…

Holy thread resurrection Batman! As per others earlier in the thread, anyone tried this on their gravel bike…? Specifically 700c rims (24mm inner width, 28mm outer width), running 40mm tyres.

I suppose the question is: what width of backer rod should I get…?

@convert 72.4kg last time I checked.

@sillyoldman a very valid point, my bike handling skill are pretty lame, especially when presented with a new bike.

For the record, it was a mixed surface ride, road, bridleway and byway. Taking in all sorts of surfaces, tarmac, grass, mud, cinder, cement, etc. The flat happened on a broken cement farm road, just before heading down into what would probably have been a mad bath of a bridleway.

I’d already had to get off and push up this, due to pedal strike and horse hoof chewed verges:

@convert running tubeless already, somewhere around 40psi. I don’t have a gauge that goes that high, so that’s roughly what the pump said. I thought I could get away with less, reading some other threads would suggest otherwise…

@orena45 I don’t do Facebook owned social media, shame their website no longer exists. Might have to pinch my daughter’s account to contact them…

Currently reading the Homemade Huck Norris thread and looking up backing rod…

Thanks for posting that, will watch it later!

@zilog6128 nope, the 5v connector wont go on the 12v header due to a blocked off pin socket. The aRGB stuff is just running solo without any motherboard sync. I’m going to try and track down one of those converters linked to earlier, but he’s up and running with solid green at the moment.

@PJay I looked at that card, but it only provides for more 12v connections.

@baboonz It’s got a mahoosive Noctua CPU cooler, the brown fan is a bit meh…

It didn’t explode when we turned it on, which was nice. Shame you can only control the RGB by pointing the remote through the side panel. The boy is happy though, which is all that matters!

It’s not for me, the boy wants full on unicorns and rainbows. I just have to make it work…

@Cougar That requires a JRAINBOW header on the MSI motherboard, this one only has a JRGB header. Evidently I need one of these, which appear to be impossible to find.

Makes me wonder why I moved to East Angular… Top stuff. 👍

I rode Deltas and then Keos off road for years. I bought Look X-Track for the fat bike, and now have them on the gravel bike. I’d rather have Keos, if I’m being honest, but these are much easier to walk in. You need some different shoes though, ones with grips and stuff, so you’re not walking on the cleat.