Go for it!

Go steady and keep moving. Keep rest stops to a minimum. You will have plenty of time.

If the worst comes to the worst and you run out of time on Sunday evening you can always cut the end off. There are numerous ways to shorten the end of the ride if you need to bail.

You will have an epic weekend.

@postierich – it is a loop. Can be started anywhere. My own thoughts are that Coniston is the ideal start for a sub 24 hour ride as it gets the hike-a-bike on the western side out of the way early on in the ride and should allow time to get off High Street before it gets dark. (based on mid-summer amounts of daylight)

Sounds like you are well planned. That seems like a good strategy.

Enjoy.

Weather not looking too bad for the weekend.

At this time of year the sun is up for 11 hours per day. If you ride all the daylight hours on Saturday and Sunday then that totals 22 hours (plus whatever you do on Friday).

Thus is you are going for 27 hours riding time and planning on taking stops during the day then you need to think about lights and how long they will last.

Another consequence of longer nights than days is that you might spend a lot of time in your tent.

Also, if you are planning on riding at night, try to plan your start time and riding so that you will not be pushing / carrying down Black Sail or Scarth Gap at night. They are tricky descents in full daylight.

Round the western side of the route there are not that many cafes / pubs so try to plan ahead for where you will get food / drinks / rests.

I’d been making shifts with mine up to the point it fell off and didn’t notice anything amiss!

I did suspect that it was there to catch the shifter but wondered if it was serving any other purpose that I wasn’t aware of.

Another vote for the Sony TX30.

Small, waterproof, good pictures, ready to shoot as soon as the cover has been slid down.
Also takes good movies.

I know that everyone is different but for me the joy of going on a tour is spending ages poring over maps and finding the smallest (quietest) roads and generating a route of my own.

If time for planning is limited then the ‘by cycle’ route planner on google maps (as already suggested) is not bad.

Does he have a Garmin 800/810? He could simply set that to autoroute between locations and use the routing settings to keep him off main roads.

I have big thighs of power, even the rubber band for my rear light annoys me on some bikes… As does my front mech

Your thighs hit the front mech 😯

I went on ebay and bought a load of fabric, webbing, clips, velcro etc and made my own.

Being tall I have lots of seatpost to play with so went for a vertical design that doesn’t put as much strain on the seatpost, sways less and makes it less of a problem to get over the back of the saddle.

Also, from Backbarrow, you can stay north of the river on Finsthwaite Lane, this will bring you out by the Swan at Newby Bridge and keep you off the main road.

When you get to Newby Bridge, go to Staveley in Cartmel, pick up the cycle path along the main road as far as High Newton and then head north. You can then drop down Tow Tops to Back of the Fell road.

Loveley lanes from there to Crossthwaite, Underbarrow and then a nice drag up and over the Scar into Kendal (or alternatively, go a bit further north to Staveley and then into Kendal via Bowston / Burneside)

Got six bikes and camping gear in the back of mine for a trip to the Alps a couple of years ago. Wheels off, bikes in up, down, forwards, backwards etc to get the best fit.

Thanks, I did wonder just how sensitive it could be to direction. I appreciate the advice.

RULES

Complete the entire route, under your own power – no drafting
Be completely self-supported throughout the ride – absolutely no support crews, absolutely no gear sharing
Only use commercial services that are available to all challengers – no private resupply, no private lodging
If you have to leave the route, you must rejoin it at the exactly same spot
No caches of any kind
No pre-arranged support, which means before you begin your ride – e.g. booking a B&B, arranging to meet a vehicle
No travel by any motorized means during your ride – by all means do so if necessary, but understand if you do your attempt is over
Gear – nothing required, nothing prohibited

😉

Boxelder – why were you not out riding??? You have quite a big ride coming up next month 🙂

Zefal Gizmo

You could use a Zefal Gizmo rather than zip ties, much more secure.

An interesting thing to consider is that losing 1lb off the bike is possible to be done in one go and thus there will be a sudden and noticeable difference in the ‘before’ and ‘after’. In contrast, losing 1lb of fat is going to happen over a period of time and it is likely to be less perceptible.

I’d agree that ultimately, the best benefit will come from losing body weight, but I can see how it might seem like lightening the bike will be better just because it would be easier to spot the difference.

Has anyone got a spare entry for the 139km version?

If so, could you contact me via my address in my profile.

thanks

With my 29er I tend to use a pump for the first bit of inflation as it is easy and quick and allows me to ensure that the tyre is seated. I then use CO2 for the rest of the inflation to get it up to pressure quickly.

Also, I have found that generic canisters work in a Genuine Innovations inflater despite the warnings to the contrary.

Would it work to use something like a seatclamp with built in rack mounts:

gofasterstripes – Member
Where to these utterly unflappable women come from?!
Russia and Eastern Europe

beware

It’s not just Russian women you have to watch out for:

less chat – more gifs

just out of interest – how often do people get them calibrated? Is is something that needs done after a fixed time period or after a certain amount of use?

I think that it depends on the kind of lead you have. If you use one that only connects to the power then you will have no problems using an external battery. I think that you can run into problems as described above if the lead has connections for data.

I’ve run an extra powerpack on my 800 without problems, I tend to use it from the outset rather than adding it as the battery on the 800 fades. However, you will have to think about how you will waterproof the connection when riding with the battery plugged in.

Used to have one of those on a 28″ sit up and beg, old policemans bike. Very comfy. Something like this:

wet newspaper FTW

bikes done 253 miles since I got it in 2013.

This would suggest that it is the pivots and they have seized up a bit. Lots of spray on them and move the mech through its range of movement by hand.

You might want to check the cables are still running freely, if not either a bito of lube on them or replace them.

In addition to making sure that the pivots are all lubed, it can be worth checking that there is not a small stone / twig jammed in anywhere.

Does the mech move to the innermost position if you push it across by hand (when the cable has been released and is slack as described above)?

OP – Have you tried sourcing any VW forums for advice on this? I know the T4 forum has lots of useful information on it for example.

It might make more sense to ask about car repairs on a car forum than a bike one

The other mistake the guy in the video makes is to wear gloves. General advice for any tools that need swinging is not to wear gloves as you can’t grip as well.

When you make impact with the wood, your hands should be right next to one another. If they are apart, the you will get reverberations in your hands and arms

Can you select 650b in the spoon size

Bringing breakfast alive and all that…

I think the walkers are saying “Do you realise that isn’t a bridleway and you have no right of way to be there”

I sometimes find that it helps to think ‘chin up’ rather than ‘look ahead’.

Looking ahead can be done with the head downwards and all the ‘looking’ being done with the eyes. In contrast, lifting the chin moves the whole head up and keeps you looking forwards.

It’s all part of a mantra: chin up / heels down / steer with the hips / …

When you say

over to Wasdale head then round Wastwater and back via Mitredale.

do you mean that you will ride down to the south western end of Wastwater and go up and over into Mitredale? If so, be prepared for a hike a bike up to the top.

A good route is to start in Eskdale, ride down the valley, up Mitredale to Burnmoon and then enjoy the descent to Boot.

You might also ask her what her idea of a good ride would be. That way you would know whether it is weather, hills, technical stuff, cold temperatures etc. that she particularly doesn’t like the sound of. You could then plan rides to take account of these.

I’d say that all the advice about making her the focus of joint rides is very important. This will help to ensure she enjoys her riding and ultimately will want to do more.

Do you think that the switch into night mode and the powering down are connected? If so, it is possible to alter the display settings to that it stays in daytime mode. This wouldn’t be a solution to the problem but it would alleviate the symptoms.

Do you have any information on the level of battery life at the point it switches off? If you are have been riding for a long time then it might possibly be a coincidence that the battery runs out as it goes dark(?)

hope I’m not too late with this:

I remember hearing a report on the news when I was a kid about guerilla warfare and getting really scared: I was left thinking that there was no hope for humans if gorillas had taken up arms against us

Cable freshness can make all the difference in how shifting feels. In other words, less expensive parts with fresh cables will feel better than more expensive parts with old, gritty cables.

Bearing this in mind, change cables regularly and use good quality ones and that will go a long way to making your riding experience enjoyable.

just looked at it and cant it handle mud guards?

It can, they are just not conventional mountings.