“Er…” ? Lets’s keep it friendly, eh?
“…with some off road capability” with reference to blatting around the bridleways, rocks and sometimes, singletrack and roots of the Peak District as well as short right through to multi day races.
Thanks for the replies so far.
Anybody had a go at ‘cross tyres on an xc bike?

Cycling Weekly.
You’re welcome.

Left for dead by everybody, probably which kind of fits in with the charity.
They could use it as a tag line “Left for (the nearly) dead”*

*wife is director of clinical services at a huge hospice, oncology nurse specialist, PhD palliative care and loads more ~ she came up with that little cherub.

It would be like people turning up to a park run on a space hopper !

In that case. UGLY.

Lightweight, very well vented are the positives
Sits high on your head, lots of wind noise are the negatives.
I couldn’t tell much difference between the standard and the Maximo (apart from the price)
On my third. The wind noise is a definite issue for me on road. Not much off road.
I might try something new when this one goes in the bin

I’m embarrassed to say I completely balls’ed up the carbon expander thing on my carbon fork steerer. I’m still trying to move on but it’ll be a while before I’m allowed to live it down.
Who would have known that you have to screw in the smaller allen bolt inside the bigger allen bolt so that it ‘expands’ and grips the inside of the steerer before you tighten the bigger outer alien bolt which compresses the bearings?
Tricky, devious buggers – those carbon steerer expander bolts……..

I’m a UK size 9. My Giro, Sidi, Specialized and Shimano shoes are 44. Loius Garneue are 43 and Bont are 44.5 and they all fit nicely and are standard fitting rather than narrow or wide if that helps at all?

Thank you James. It’s very much appreciated.

The BW round. I was on the Pennine Bridleway. It was in my pocket at Brook Bottom and it was gone by Roman Lakes. It will have hit the ground somewhere in between and including: Birch Vale, bridleway below Lantern Pike, soggy bit, Picking Rods, Mellor Church, Zag and Zig, Mellor Church and then Roman Lakes.

I’ve done it (Manchester to Sheffield on road there, off road back for charity) but I don’t have GPX.
There is surprisingly very little road if you work it properly and from Stockport to very near Sheffield it’s really good mountain biking. If it helps at all, you could maybe stitch together:
Follow River Mersey and then River Goyt to Woodbank Park, Otterspool, Chadkirk Chapel, Marple, Roman Lakes, Mellor Cross, Birch Vale, Hayfield, South Head, Rushup Edge, Mam Tor, Edale, Jaggers Clough, Win Hill, Bamford, Stanage and Fox Houses. That is in reverese of our route and I don’t know the names of the Sheffield areas but I remember we rode through a large park near the city centre.
It’s a tough old mtb ride.

Potential. We’ve all got it and we’ve all got a maximum of it. Maybe you’ve reached yours and this is as good as it gets? Maybe you have more? Maybe you’re going to improve massively? Maybe you won’t improve at all? The best coach, diet plan, training schedule created won’t turn a mid to low pack’er into a podium placer if they haven’t got the potential to that level.
Does it really matter in the great scale of things? Are you going to lose sponsorship? Reduced or no income if you’re dropped by a race team?
Didn’t think so.
Focus on taking part. Be in the moment of the race rather than the expectation of winning or getting close. Do your best and you’ll be as good as you can be. Enjoy that!

I’m getting dragged out of the Peak District house to Anglesey to get the holiday house ready for the holidays.
The only redeeming factor is I’m road riding there. Weather looks good for it.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/dodged-a-bullet-today-snapped-carbon
In this case, a set of Easton bars. Whammed against a tree, apparently.
I whammed my £13 chinese copies with a hammer, lots. Nothing went went bang and broke in half. I suppose it’s pot luck then.
Offer still stands to the OP. I’ll give you what you paid for the bars and I’m looking forward to riding home on one of my bikes fitted with the £30 3T chinese copies.

“tend to fail catastrophically”

I keep reading this but I’ve yet to see an explanation of what it means or see evidence of it.

I bought a set of those risers last year and when after 6 weeks they hadn’t arrived, I got in touch to chase them. Loads of apologies and I ended up with two sets. My wife didn’t want a set on her bike so I did some of my own testing on them. I whacked them very hard with a hammer. The hammer bounced off. I did it a good few times. The carbon scuffed a bit. The hammer bounced off. I put a stem on it and tightened it. A lot. One of the stem bolts snapped. The carbon crushed a little. It split a tiny bit at the clamp point. I went back to hammering it at the crushed/ split bit. The hammer bounced. After a while and a lot of “What ARE you doing?” questions, the crack began to spread a little. I got bored and binned them. I have 2 sets of 3T Aero copy bars on my road bikes. £30 each from Aliexpress. They’ve been on for over a year. Not one single issue.
If you don’t want the bars, I’ll give you what they cost you.
Typical “I read it on the Internet so I’ll say it’s true” nonsense being spouted.

Excellent tips Callum, thank you.

Thank you.

Brick Works, Blaze Hill, Pym Chair, Goyt Valley road ride tomorrow and Hayfield to Hope and back on the underused mountain bike on Sunday.

“He satisfies my needs in every way” is definitley going in there 🙂
Thank you very much.

“One person’s laugh can be another’s evidence at an employment tribunal. “

Thanks for the warning but it’s really not going to be an issue. It’s a team, comedy type of event. Honestly. It’s fine.

Thank you Cranberry. My creative juices are flowing now 🙂

That’s the kind of thing “So compliment him on every thing he’s bad at…” and please be assured, no HR trouble will occur. It’s a team laugh thing.

I need to lay it on thick about how good he is (even though he’s not).

Hiya Callum
It’s a comedy type thing. Nothing serious. No repercussions other than he’ll probably get me in a headlock in the bike shed on the way home or let my tyres down.

Perfect sense Wors. Thank you.

I’m doing it in May. Looks mint!

Thanks for the tip Lunge. I’ll give it a go tonight.

It’s a Giant TCX SLR 2015.
I’m not going near replacing outer cabling. I’ll let a bike shop have fun with that. I was hoping the inner would be straight forward if the original outer stays in place. It’s only a couple of months (200 miles) old.

I’ve been pointed in the direction of this today. Sorry I didn’t see it previously. i’m glad your wife likes the bike and let me know if you guys get up to the Peak anytime.
Anyway, it’s all lies, I’m horrible really.

Water? On it’s own? Yak! It’s an ingredient.
That’s like eating flour and not cake.

I’ll wave at you if I see you 🙂 I’m coming over from Hayfield, into Goyt Valley via Buxton and then Cat and Fiddle, Three Shires Head and then up by the Smithy pub and back again via Charity Lane. I aim to be outside the pub for 12 so I can get a butty and a coke. Tag along if you’d like?

I’m riding in and around Macc Forest on Thursday (04/02/2016)

Sorry Flange. My comment was aimed more at lamenting the ‘event’ becoming an ‘event’ than any individual if you know what I mean?
I’m not very good on Internet forums.

Inevitable but still a shame that as the race became more well known and less underground that opinions would start to blend in to rules of what counts and what doesn’t.
It’s a huge undertaking. Logistically, financially and in equal measure physically and mentally.
I think it was Aiden Harding who once said “If you’re riding it for the kudos or attention and not for yourself, you really need to have a good think about doing it at all”. Or something like that but I think that was the general sentiment.
I’m *doing it this year but almost certainly not as part of the race. I have about a week to decide.
Good luck to everybody intending to ride it. I hope you get from it what you’re looking for.
*family say do it. Inner me says something else.

Thank you very much.

James. Other side of the road from The Edge. Loads of fun.

The woods around Alderly Edge are very good for cyclocross riding. Quite tame for mountain biking and really only for night rides. The locals go bat shit mental if they catch you biking in there.
Call in to Royles (at the posh gym on the A34). One of the guys rides with Hayfield Hub.
Other than that, Macc. Forest as noted above is about the nearest to you. I can’t even think of a decent off road ride from Wilmslow to Macc.

Thank you Bazz. When I know the dates I’m down there. I’ll drop you a line if that’s OK? Thank you again.

Thank you. I’ll have a look at the map, have an explore round the local forest, call in on Tony at Evans and take the cross bike and ride over to Surrey Hills.