The freedom to ride is a bit of a double edged sword really. On the one hand, you can ride pretty much anywhere in the Hurtwood Estate (Holmbury & Pitch, mainly), but on the other hand, the vast majority of the decent trails aren’t bridleways, so you can’t plan your riding on an OS map.

If you start in Peaslake and you’re not too shy, you’ll probably be able to get plenty of pointers from folk milling around between the pub and the village store, although maybe not as much as I the middle of summer!

There’s also a little bike shop there who could doubtless give you some pointers.

Personally, I’d stay on Holmbury Hill, as I find it easier to navigate than Pitch hill. If you go segment exploring I Strava, look for Barry knows best, Telegraph Road, Yoghurt Pots, Reservoir Dogs… You’ll have plenty of fun just following other people’s tyre tracks!

Scaedypants, yes. 23.5″ is 4″ above the knee, which is where most of the sizing charts say to measure.

3.5″ more and I’ll catch Chris Hoy in his prime, although I suspect there may be some minor physiological differences! :D

Aha! Moose rather seals the deal then. All I need to do is get away from work a bit early, and I cycle straight past them on my commute! :)

Ooh. MTB specialist Cycle Surgery! Might that mean they have a wider choice in store than they do on the website?

If so, I’ll just stick some baggies in my pannier and scoot over there at lunch time. It’ll be faster than figuring out how to unlock a Boris!

Home to work is only 15 miles each way, so no need for a Brompton! :)

Argh! This gets even more puzzling! I’ve got a pair of XL Bliss ARG pads waiting to go back because they’re just a little bit too small!

As for London, I work in Waterloo, so I’ve got Evans Waterloo and CycleSurgery Waterloo bridge within a 10 minute walk, but neither stock any pads at all. :(

And yes, I’ve double and triple checked my thigh measurement! It’s definitely 23.5″

That’s part of the problem, Flashheart! Suburban Surrey isn’t exactly overflowing with shops selling even one type of pad, never mind several! :)

I’m having to rely on internet shopping returns policies, but don’t want to have to do more than I really have to.

Votchy, thanks for that suggestion. The Kyle Straits are apparently now 661 Rage, since Loic Bruni did lots of work with them to remodel them or some such, but I found an old sizing chart on the Evans website which claimed even the XL only has an 18″ top opening, which seems thoroughly odd! Just makes it so much trickier when you get oddities like that in the sizing chart. :?

I changed my first set of tubeless tyres last week after they’d been on the bike for about 11 months, during which I’d not topped them up at all.

No loss of pressure ever, but absolutely no liquid left inside either…

I don’t have much of an issue with front lights, as even if they are bright, they’re soon gone. What does my head in is people with insanely bright rear lights, especially when they’re in front of me and riding at exactly the same speed as I want to ride!

The last time I bought a front light (an Exposure Diablo Mk7), it was actually cheaper to buy it from Evans in a kit with a tiny rear Exposure light than it was to buy on its own anywhere. It has various settings, but the most powerful ones are just nuts! I wouldn’t dream of ever using it on full power.

Hmm.. I suppose from that it looks as though I’d have to set it up for each individual waypoint, which could be a little tedious on a longer ride! I wonder if there’s an option to automate it?

Also, I’m not clear on whether it will happily beep when I get near on whatever route I’m taking, or whether it actually wants to choose its own route to navigate me to the waypoint?

Thanks for all your help, btw! :D

Thanks for that. I shall take a further look when I get home. I find it to be a really powerful app, but it’s certainly not simple to use! :)

Ooh! I didn’t know Backcountry Navigator could do that! I’ve got that already, with the whole of the UK OS maps at 1:25,000 downloaded for free, so if it can, I’ll be sorted with that! :)

I’ll email their usually very responsive support to ask.

Deadkenny, I suppose what I’m really after is fair warning that a change is coming up. I’m not expecting the phone to be able to tell me to within a metre or even 10 exactly where a turn is, but I do want to try and minimise the risk of going careering down a hill only to realise I’ve then got to turn round and retrace my route for half a mile of steep climbing!

Thanks P-Jay! In that one video, you’ve perfectly encapsulated the sort of holiday I’m thinking of! 8) Except maybe the broken plank on the plank bridge part way down!

Morzine is definitely nailed on. Now the question is just whether to have two weeks there, or do a week on the Med then a week in Morzine. Life can be so hard sometimes! :lol:

Hmm… The Vosges certainly look closer and cheaper from an accommodation perspective. Any downsides?

I’m detecting a trend here… Morzine looks like the place to go!

I shall leave Alpe d’Huez to the roadies! :lol:

Cheers guys. I’ll get looking at the Vosges…

That’s my thinking. Forestry Commission places seem quite consistent in their grading, but also grade for XC hardtails and/or families.

Many thanks chaps, that’s pretty much exactly what I was hoping to hear, especially the part about there being no obstacles that can’t be rolled or bypassed! :-)

As for the short, sharp climbs, despite looking like being the one of my three kids who as my genetic disposition for being adequately insulated for a British winter, he’s already turning out to be a pretty decent climber!

Ooh. This is an interesting thread! :-)

I’ve been to Haldon a couple of times, as it’s the nearest place I’ve found to my parents in ilminster to take my kids (9yr old happily sailed round the red route on Saturday), but the notion of anything a bit more fun for when my wife lets me off the leash would be very welcome!

My full suss usually stays at home on family outings, but if anyone can provide any pointers to stuff that can be handled by a middling trails rider on a 115mm travel steel hardtail, I’d love to hear it! :D

Hmm… Do the magazine bods tend to wander into the forum, or is an email to the editorial team a better bet, do we think?

That was what I thought, but in the description it says “5x Hex-Plus bits 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 8.0”, whereas the mag claimed (and it looks like it in the photos in the mag) that they start at 1.5mm.

I don’t think I actually have need of a 1.5mm hex key, but I’ve certainly got 2mm and/or 2.5mm on my HT.