If you’re worried about 500g here and there a good shit before you head off for the weekend* will save you that.

* Facteious? No. Also as recommended by ”How To Shit In The Woods”

used to have a spare pair of wheels/slicks for my cx bike. much easier than changing tyres.

too much chromatic abberation on the photos recently

Red and blue fringes round objects at the edges of pictures. As I have to suffer it wearing glasses it’s really noticeable and annoying.

Watching the descent yesterday was more like watching Moto GP than a bicycle race.

You’d be surprised how a well ridden bicycle can corner compared to a motorbike too. But not too much if you’ve ever watched the 125s compared to the bigger bikes. Yates was one of the best descenders in the peloton and he was a keen biker too.

too much chromatic abberation on the photos recently

cx, 27mm tyres, 120psi. WIll get you to from Liverpool to Bingley IME.

i am often riding where i shouldnt be

that might be where you have no right to be, which isn’t quite the same.

TTFU wristband

but the easiest way to improve your riding is surely just to ride more

only if you can video yourself whilst doing it, review the video while still out there, recognise the faults in your riding, be honest enough to admit to them, know how to correct them and advise yourself on applying them.

It’s easier to just ride with a skills coach once in a while.

Without teaching you may just be reinforcing bad habits and positioning if you “just go out and ride”

No.

@Bigface0_0 – yes, an inflatable Sevylor. Carries two people, one dog, and all the sleeping kit and food for the above.

@santacoops – only took the dog on canoe bivvies, see above. Dog thought it was fantastic and would wake up at three in the morning all excited because LOOK AT US WE’RE ALL SLEEPING ON THE GROUND TOGETHER IN A PACK LIKE WOLVES!! and have to be calmed down. This is me scurvy crew abandoning me after dropping me off to pick up the car and take it round to the launch point. Nil points for guessing the lake, and no, we weren’t on the island.

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Abandoned[/url] by nick3216[/url], on Flickr

@didnothingfatal – shhh.
The Playboy connection will explain the noise last time I was there.

@grantway – IME can’t go wrong with a Vango. We just got a Vango Spectre 300 to replace our old two man. Sharing the load means there’s little extra burden in taking a three man tent as opposed to two man.

Best time was 47 seconds. A couple of riders managed that. Go pepper.

Best bits – seeing my helper sat with a pile of snacks and food at the end of each lap
Worst bits – riding the night laps with a head torch that makes everything look flat

thorns. no pinch punctures. I pick a line and ride light not blindly crash through everything.

[/url]
Kit Check[/url] by nick3216[/url], on Flickr

How much stuff do some people take? That’s me going over the top – normally there’s room in the KIMM for a good size book. and still plenty room to spare.

Tent if it’s going to be really bad, bivvy bag otherwise.

Bike optional.

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Shanty[/url] by nick3216[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
It just works[/url] by nick3216[/url], on Flickr

http://www.huntercycles.com

Increasingly the numpties taking up mountain biking make me feel like the sad hipster who just heard his favourite band on the radio.

forget the bike. book a lesson with King Surf

Get TIm at Sideways cycles to lace some mavic rims to some white industries hubs and freewheel.

Nice, light, comfy. Once they get damp they may start to smell of cat wee. White ones write cheques your legs won;t be able to cash.

yes. yes.

Ed Oxley +1

Woburn was hot, damp, steamy and sticky today. WHich is nice if you’re with a woman, not when you’re riding a bike.

HTH

simonfbarnes = speaking clock

repetitive, predictable, and after a day, it has nothing new to say

If you like the xc orientation of the epiphany you’re comparing it against the wrong Turner. That’s Flux territory. Light, strong, steeper angles, less all-mountain, more mile muncher than the 5 Spot

Count the seats then look more closely at the suspension…

[/url]
Delamere Jan 06[/url] by Steve J Makin[/url], on Flickr

I still hate the thought of it dying and having to be replaced.

Does not compute…

[/url]
FBOTY*[/url] by nick3216[/url], on Flickr

1996 Burner still going strong. She’d had new bushings mind, and is on her fourth pair of forks and third shock. I believe (having enjoyed Privateer) the term for an old frame with modern components is ‘hot-rod’

* First Bivvy Of The Year

[/url]
TNT v Horst[/url] by nick3216[/url], on Flickr

Oh, OK, one of them’s a Flux.

In fact one might posit an inverse relationship between number of books about a topic and its inherent interest

or an inverse relationship between the number of opinionated comments and the worth of that opinion.

in fact if there are some 'in' jokes please let us in on them

"I'm more singlespeedy than you", copyright the outcast circa 1930

Bloody hell, somebodies got her knickers in a twist!

I rather suspect my knickeres are considerably less twisted than yours right now. 🙂

> Might have to have a go at this myself next year as a 3 peaks warm up!

You might want to ask them to move the Three Peaks to earlier in the year so they can run it as a warm up for this 😉

Consider also that the overall welcome in Newcaslteton and Kielder is way better than that miserable pub in Helwith Bridge, the local food is at least edible, the commentators aren't "Deliberately Northern", and the organisation is less officious while still managing to be more efficient.

> Everyone was either 1st, 2nd, 3rd, joint-4th or DFL

Or, in my case, DNF

> I don't think it's quite a 5 minute job but for such a
> fantastically organised and executed event it's a bit
> poor not having the results out yet.

Top 3 are up on the website. If yours isn't up there, you lost 🙂

> Was I definitely last finisher (number 79)?

Yep – the trail riders were the tail end charlies.

> Pretty high attrition rate by all accounts.
> 200 riders started, 130 finished. Results up on the kielder 100 website.

130 people came through the finish line, but some of those were people who'd failed to make the cut-off being redirected back home down the singletrack. Nearer 100 actual finishers.

One of the best organised events I've ever done. Bailed at 40 miles when the math was predicting a 9.30pm finish so went to help out the marshalls. A lot of the marshalls are also racers 'giving something back', so they know just how much a cheer is appreciated.

> I thought it was really well organised. I particularly appreciated
> the motorcross bikes that followed my down the last singletrack
> with their headlights on as it was pitch black in there at 8:30!

You bastard Mike! We had to stand around at the finish for 6 and a half hours being eaten alive by the midges – which I would like to add are magically attracted to marshal vests! – just to make sure that whoever it was that finished last still got a welcome and a cheer. Well done that fella 🙂

> I won an Exposure Joystick for being DFL!

So next year you'll be able to see your way down the final singletrack 😉 Thoroughly deserved.

> Did anyone get an accurate measurement of the course length
> and elevation gain?

Various GPS readings coming in from 108 to 104 miles. Depends if you carved the turns or not 🙂