Aye, Charlie Brookers 2013 Wipe is on tomorrow (Saturday) BBC2 at 22:40. I shall be watching post pub…

Mind. Blown. Again.

Just watched it 4 times and will post this then probably watch it again then go out for a ride. So inspiring even if the best I can do is a wheelie… It’s great to see this given what Martyn is going through currently… Wishing him all the best going forward. Big up to Danny and Chris for helping him out too.

OK – one more time…

On a pootle / scenic / not too far ride – proper food FTW but on longer / harder rides you’ll be wanting the Torq Rhubard and custard ones: delicious!

Never got on with any other brands, especially SIS…

Generally not a fan – disjointed family so much prefer to spend it with Mrs NiDs lot – her parents split up and both remarried (other people!) and they are all great and get into it but thankfully no small children so just lots of posh food and alcohol. Plus we get to rotate so every year is different.I also spend every other Xmas offshore & really like it – totally takes the commercialisation away, just loads of decorations, no family squabbles, tons of immense food and usually down on weather (although no booze!)

One of the best I had was when I spent it on my own (missis away), big solo ride in the morning, massive homemade pizza, plenty of sticky sweet smoke and lots of cider. It was bliss….

Offshore again this year! Gets me out of buying too many unnecessary presents too – just the missis and my mum and dad. Tight – well, I am Northern!

Must be living hell if you have a massive family, tons of brats and that sinking feeling that everyone must be bought presents. Far too much commercialisation.

Bar humbug….

I recently went from an old Camelbak Mule (with 3l Antidote bladder) to an Osprey Raptor 14. They both great packs but overall the Osprey just takes it. It has some great features (the toolroll in the bottom of the pack – removable if needs be), the little magnet on the hose that attachs to the sternum strap, the ease of getting the bladder in and out. The bladder itself is pretty good too. 14l is big enough for all dayers and the storage pockets on the waist strap are useful to stash Haribo in! It’s wider and doesn’t sit as proud from your back as a fully packed MULE. Pretty impressed overall. YMMV!

Rogan Josh – seriously? Seems the worst of both worlds. What’s so bad about a bladder? You don’t have to stop to drink, you can hold more, like rob jackson says, it doesn’t dig in & you can use it as a pillow when bivvying.

Another vote for the KS Lev – available in 125mm drop for you. No issues with mine & no stooopid looping cable that needs special measures to stop it looping! Do it right!

Bought an Orange R8 frame at a bargin price and wanted it built up sharpish, went SS (with a suspension fork – I’m not a total masochist!!) and absolutely loved it, easier to honk it up hills than I anticipated, more fun, much quieter, lighter, less maintenance and, aye, it looks beautiful. Wouldn’t get rid of the geared full bouncer but the SS is the ying to its yang. Love it. N+1 means I’m now contemplating a rigid SS 29er…

Not had much chance to ride it in anger but KS Lev is tres awesomeness

Also ESI grips.

Next up will be Shadow+ rear mech.

Minor point – a genuine proper pub should in no way include a big screen TV, let alone one showing Sky Sports. That’d be my cue to jog on and find an alternative. YMMV…

Signed – lad was an inspiration to a 12/13 year old me riding my Dawes Zig Zag in the early 90’s round the pit tips of Donny….

+1 for immobilise. Still, s’pose it can’t hurt to have them registered on bikeregister.com too!

@bearnecessities:

Virgin Atlantic Challenger II? I knew nothing about this awesome vessel until it appeared recently in Plymouth looking a bit worn and tired. Turns out a local ferryman / boatyard owner had found it in a Spanish boatyard, bought it and is going to fully restore her. Have a look here[/url]

Must have been awesome to fire her up!

Despite all that, still prefer sail…

2 full sussers and a hardtail SS for the niche. Would like a geared HT now as well, along with a roadbike. Tis all bikes, tis all good but if I was only able to have a single bike – it would be full suss. Skills compensators my a**e! Bl**dy good fun. Isn’t that what it’s about? 8)

Can’t comment on the North Devon / Cornwall bits but down in South Devon / Cornwall (specifically Rame Head running east past Plymouth to Inner/Outer Hope / Bolt Head) the riding is brilliant. Ok, yes it is all cheeky and you don’t want to be doing it with bikepacking gear (guess how I know this 🙄 ) on account of some ‘too steep to ride’ ascents and stiles / kissing gates but for some amazing singletrack it’s hard to beat – extremely varied, very up and down, sinuous & plenty of beach / ice cream stops. Regards ramblers etc I have only ever had one moaner (ooh er!) and I killed ’em with kindness! (Legal note – didn’t actually kill them) – most folks are either impressed you are managing it or interested where you’re heading. Whilst it might not be ‘cool’ a bell is a godsend. Ding ding!

Or should I have said ‘it’s all terrible, difficult, too many ramblers, you’ll die’ just so that lush singletrack stays empty……?

Some employers have a funny view of ‘shifts’ – some of the shifts outlined above are somewhat complicated!!

Hydrographic surveyor offshore:

5 weeks on – 12 hour shifts (06:00 – 18:00 or 18:00 – 06:00) 7 days a week. Although we are currently alongside doing, er, not much at the mo! 😀

5 weeks off.

Repeat.

We get our vessel rota a year in advance so makes planning a bit more straightforward.

Sweet. Plenty of time for riding.

It’d be interesting to hear what those of you with crazy / evil shift patterns do for a living. Especially Houns – that sounds mental!

Lazy breakfast, rewaxing longboard, riding cheeky coast path & its divine singletrack later then surfing this evening. Devon, bloomin’ lurverly!

Ay, last years Lattitude – took a Camelback that was on its last legs and used it for red wine – 3 litres at a time…. Predictably didn’t end in a sensible fashion 😆 but the Camelback was due to be replaced anyhow. The ‘real’ one has nowt but the finest council pop in it. Bicarb would be my first port of call but can’t imagine that it’ll sort it entirely. Maybe just drink rum when you ride from now on??

Yet another aeropress user here. Quick, easy and virtually sweet FA cleaning up. Bang tidy!

Cheers julioflo. I bedded down under Hookney Tor – the pub you can see as a white splodge in the distance is the Warren House Inn. I live in a small village just outside Plymouth so started and, er, ended there. The singletrack is the trail over Headland Warren ridden East to West. Gert lush!!

Managed to get out for a cheeky one nighter up on Dartmoor recently. Cycled up out of the village and up on t’moor, found a cheeky spot with a nice sunset view, a nice view from the bed and a pub not too far away for a few ciders before turning in…

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Bike all packed up and ready to leave – I could probably have packed lighter but I like a certain level of luxury, especially when it’s just for a night.

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Mid afternoon cider fuelling.

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Early evening cider refuelling

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Spreading out under the Tor that was to be home from home for the night

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Sunset

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More sunset

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Not a bad morning view – I chose to sleep away from the rising sun to get a bit of a lie in and it worked a treat.

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Looking back to last night cider refuelling pub stop, whilst making breakfast.

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Sunny morning, beautiful singletrack, a longs days riding ahead – what could be better??

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And after 80 miles in 2 days, nothing to clean expect the dust off the bike…

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Me on the bike, showing off my highly (un)fashionable old skool fingerless glove action.

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And off the bike, crouching under a rather menacing looking Gromit somewhere in Brizzle…

Nicely done Gary, just watched it whilst ‘aving my tea. Inspired me to go for a ride now. I’m offski. Well done!

Just back from 20 miles around the coast path here in Glorious Devon, mid week so no (ok, very few!) ramblers, plentiful swims in the sea when it all gets a bit sweaty, a picnic and riding in just shorts and sandals (and frequently reapplied Factor 30!) – This is what we have waited 4 years for! No hours of cleaning muddy bikes, kit and clothes just delicious dust. GET IN!!!!!!

3 from 3 here…. But that doesn’t stop me wanting to increase the stable. N+1 and all that!!

Horses for courses me thinks – I’m rarely without music in my life but very rarely when riding, like many others I like to hear the countryside around me, I like to be able to hear the imagined ‘crazy lunatic’ chasing me through the wood on night rides, I like to hear the bike beneath me, I like to be able to hear cars coming up behind me on country lanes. Having said that there is a time for me and that’s any ride that gets past 80 miles or so, music takes my mind off the feeling that my legs just want to give up and in a weird way gives me something other than food to look forward to. Each to their own.

Aye, replaced the cables ‘wrongly’ on my V brakes way back when I was an inexperienced teenager and loved it (once I realised what I’d done) – I have done it ever since on all my bikes & wouldn’t go back now. Plus you get the hilarity of letting mates borrow your bike and watching them sail over the bars after you ‘forget’ to remind them 😉 (not that I’d condone such irresponsible behaviour…)

I make my own trail mix up in a big tupperware container (it seems to keep pretty well for ages in the cupboard). I like eating it and it seems to work, especially for longer rides (6 or 7 hours). A bit like a healthier pick and mix if you will; may contain the following: dried (but moist) apricots, figs, salted peanuts, honey roast cashew nuts, pine nuts, sesame seeds, dried cranberries, raisans and, most importantly, chocolate M&Ms to give it all some colour (and because I like chocolate). It looks a bit wrong on a warm day when the colour leeches from the M&Ms but it tastes divine, sweet and savory, big bits and little bits. Always tend to eat more than I probably need!!

The above receipe for cheesey oatcakey things looks good mind you, I’ll be trying that when I get home.

Green anodized on the full sus and red on the SS. For no reasons at all – they don’t even match anything else. My inner rad rebel coming out….

The Trainline cheekily charge a £1 to book on card. Virgin Trains don’t and can be used to book any journey. I know its only a pound but it pisses me off….

Little goatee, then beautiful Orange R8 SS. Unsure if they are linked! Don’t have the right sort of beardage to go for the full on mountain man face warmer though 🙁

bearnecessities – that, sir, is just really, really lovely. But for the love of (insert your preferred deiety here) lose the bottle cage, the minipump & the crud catcher – give it the clean lines it deserves. Also, what is flapjack on about?

An hour a day on the exercise bike at maximum resistance looking at the grey wall of the gym. 3 weeks offshore & another 2 to go doing 12 hours a day 7 days a week.

You’ve no idea how much I am looking forward to my 5 day / night camping / riding / solitude trip to Edale when I get back!!

Glad to read / see what everyones up to & that you’re all making the most of it. Keep it up & save me some good weather for when I get back; I have my heart set on a dry, dusty, sunny traverse of Cut Gate followed by a few pints in the sun at the Ladybower Inn…

😉

2012 Trek Fuel EX9.7 with 1995 clear Onza Ules grips and a ‘dosage information’ sticker that must have come free with a really old copy of MBUK or some such rag waaaay back ‘in the day’ and has lovingly been transferred from bike to bike ever since…

+1 for the Joystick! At that price I can’t afford not to!

Happy days…

Its sounding like a total goer to me! Some great advice, usually pitch late and leave early and no rubbish as a rule. Thanks everyone! Maybe I’ll have worked out how to post photos on here by then & I can show some photos of my exploits.

Tidy, cheers

I did it the ‘frame then build it up as I could afford to’ way – having said that it wasn’t planned; saw Orange R8 853 frame in blue and white going cheap and it was a ‘have to have it’ moment. Mines built up with 100mm Fox forks and some blingy bits and I fookin’ loves it… Get the best frame you can and upgrade as you go… Coming from a carbon FS 30 speed it was a revelation in simplicity! Love them both equally now…

@Stuey, good use of the word aglets!

OP – try replacing the pedal first to eliminate this as a cause then move on to BB (assuming pedal isn’t the issue…)

NiD

I work as a hydrographic surveyor on a large ROV Survey / Construction Support vessel, & I love it; 5 weeks on then 5 weeks off, not stuck in one location – we work all over, North Sea, Mediterranean, West Africa, Caribbean, India, although mostly North Sea. The ROV guys on board have a great time, there are a lot of ex-divers and ex-forces guys and it’s a great work environment. The vessel is pretty plush and we are well looked after. Before getting my place on her, I was doing rig moves and hated working on the rigs, weird, inhospitably bleak places compared to working on a vessel. I can claim my tax back too… Although its getting harder and harder.

For the OP, as people have previously mentioned, if you get your tickets then that shows a lot of willing on your behalf and you’ll find it easier, but it is a large outlay (some of the courses are good fun though!). Maybe worth looking at training as an ROV pilot / tech as good ones are always in demand.

The sun’s shining here in Devon, time for some cheeky coastal singletrack…

8)

Have a look here – a plethora of advice…

Bikepacking thread

Might take a bit of time to go through!! 😀

Done! Cheeky bump too..