Four4th lights were showing a green-tinted LED on their stand at yesterday’s Gorrick race. Think it may just be a prototype at the moment but might be worth giving them a shout.

Saw some police training on trail bikes (or whatever the correct term is) on Frith Hill (Deepcut) a couple of weeks ago. Not really close to the Mole Valley, so maybe its going to be Surrey-wide.

Very dry course considering its been fairly damp recently. Well done the Gorrick team for working hard to get it into shape :-)

Assuming its on their land, then bang to rights in this case I’m afraid – access is determined by designation rather than suitability.

But maybe if you asked nicely they’d give you permission (if you care)?

The Satmap Active 10 also lets you choose North Up or Track Up.

Track Up does drain the battery faster though, as it has to redraw the display more frequently as you twist and turn.

Why not just follow the directions on the Gorrick website and park onsite?

Which part of the Surrey Hills? If you’re heading to the western end then East Street in Farnham should have some.

You don’t need mud-specific tyres round here as its sand-based rather than clay. As njee says, sloppy rather than gloopy. Nobby Nics at most.

If its wet then brake pads will be your problem rather than tyres, particularly at Round 2!

The Inbred Alfine could be a fine choice if the weather’s grim. Would have been a very suitable bike for Round 2 last year.

Remember that 2 hours is the cutoff time for starting your last lap, not for finishing. So if you cross the finish line just before 2 hours is up, you can do another lap, although you don’t have to if you don’t mind losing places. As a result you might be riding for anything up to 2h40 or 50, depending on how fast you are and how it pans out.

Are Landmarc the people to contact if the gate can’t be closed? (i.e. in case the padlock has been removed)

Well I’m normally a medium, and I ignored the “go larger” advice, heeded the chest measurement chart instead and got a medium.

It fits fine, but I am quite slim. Definitely a fairly narrow cut, especially in the arms.

Wore it this morning, its pretty comfy but the promised downpour failed to materialise so I didn’t get to try out the water resistance…

Smeg – my problem was that I wasn’t using the hip flexors enough, so other things were compensating (and hurting).

So I was given a set of stretches to alleviate the symptoms, and a set of exercises to get the hip flexors working.

Its not really worth explaining the two sets in detail here. You’re far better off being assessed by someone who knows what they’re doing, and then doing the exercises that are tailored to fixing your problem.

Sefton – hope your session works for you. I’m a long way from Manchester so the physio who helped me isn’t remotely local for you!

Stretching sorted my hip flexor problems.

Obviously getting the right set of stretches to do is pretty key – luckily I met a physio on an AQR holiday who is an endurance rider and does dynamic core assessment. Can pass on her details if you like?

Yes Mike is the official UK Magura support.

As for weeping oil onto the stanchion, that’s what they are supposed to do, it shows that the seals are staying lubricated. I wondered about this at the start, but spoke to some Magura guys at Mountain Mayhem and they said it was fine. If they stop weeping a little oil, then its probably time to do the small lube service (video on the Magura website).

Give Mike a call anyway if you’re worried, he’ll tell you what the score is and advise you whether you need to send them in or not.

Here’s the address:

c/o Mike Jenner
Magura Tech Support
Eurobike
Unit B
Grampian Building
Sinfin Industrial Estate
Sinfin Lane
Derby
DE24 9GL

Mike’s a good bloke, although he’s just back from holiday and only does Magura stuff part-time, so you may have a bit of a wait. Email him (at the email zbonty gave above), and he’ll probably send you his phone number so you can book it in.

And make sure you give the fork a good clean before you send it in!

Which bit is leaking by the way? My Durin’s have been great, apart from the FCR travel adjust unit which keeps failing :-(

I don’t know, I’ve not done any touring really. I have the fitness, but I’m not sure I have the practical resourcefulness of most bikepackers – at least the ones who survive to write blogs :-p

Dr F is healing well, but she won’t be riding anything technical until she’s had 6 months for the bone to knit back together, doesn’t want to risk another crash. She’s just restarted base training though. Hope you’re pulling through after your recent crash too.

Morning c-g :)

Yes, the Georgia one was good. I’m digging out articles for a Polish friend who fancies doing a bit of touring. I don’t think he wants to ride for quite as long as would be needed to get to Georgia though!

Regarding the showers – can they cope with the whole group coming back from a ride with typically British weather, and all heading for the showers en masse?

Or will those at the back of the queue find there’s no hot water left?

Hmmm – found two about Ukraine (issues 33 and 47). Did I hallucinate Poland?

Can you dig a sump off to one side, to allow it to drain into that?

Spare mech hanger?

Yep cheers Pants, was an awesome day!

So awesome that my hamstrings are still re-living the cramp two days later :D

Why not ride to the Chinese and back?

I’m always courteous to horse riders and slow down or stop and give way to them unless they wave me through.

But it does slightly irritate me when the more antagonistic riders say “Your bike is making my horse nervous”. Judging by the placid, disinterested behaviour of horses I pass in fields, it seems to be having a rider sat on its back that makes most horses nervous.

But having to make (or buy) a map board does put me off a bit.

Doesn’t take long or cost much.

50p for a cheapo plastic chopping board. A couple of quid for some bulldog clips. Punch a few holes through the board so you can zip tie it to the bars. Attach the map using the bulldog clips. Job done. Looks crap, but who cares?

Rightplacerighttime – I did the recent Trailtrax too – glad you enjoyed it! A well thought-out set of checkpoints that rewarded good planning.

I enjoy them because its not just one set of skills needed, its three – route planning, navigation on the fly, riding fast. Not everyone’s cup of tea but then what event is?

Psychle, I can send you a GPX track of my SDW ride from April, email in profile.

Anyone know the location of any water taps on the Downs Link?

I don’t think there are any, its not a route with a lot of facilities. There are some pubs at a few points on the route who may be willing to let you top up.

Plenty of information about the Downs Link from the links in the “More Information” section of this page.

Yep speak to Mike, he knows his stuff and is the man who’ll be doing the work if its a warranty job.

2 year warranty on Magura forks I think, mine were about 15 months old when I had to send them back.

BBC Surrey news item here.

Could still go to appeal.

TVT should have also have offered a 60km route (2 loops of the 30km route).

No-one was stopping you doing exactly that – all the waymarking was still there until all the 80km riders had finshed, everyone was given a map…

…just required a little initiative!

Yes, East Street are still very helpful :-)

1st Gear Cycles in Alton and Owens Cycles in Four Marks are also good.

Nickjb – yes, that’s the point I was trying to make. Get the maps in before you start, don’t rely on picking them up on the move.

GPS can be really useful for allowing map-checking on the move rather than constant paper map faff. Did 3 days of riding in the Brecon Beacons recently and didn’t look at the paper maps once. But they were there in the backpack in case of GPS failure.

Get something that has the maps stored in memory before you start. Smartphones that download the maps as you move around are fine, until you lose phone reception, and then you’ve got no more maps.

I use a Satmap with 1:25000 and 1:50000 OS mapping, but there are plenty of other good units out there from the likes of Garmin, MemoryMap etc.

Pull over and stop at the first opportunity rather than risk holding up an impatient driver for a few seconds.

French IGN 1:25000 maps are of a pretty similar standard to OS Explorer.

Of course the English PROW laws do not apply, so you’ll have to do a bit of research to work out where you’re allowed to ride.

Did a pretty similar route (actually the black route from the MtbBreconBeacons map pack) on Wednesday.

Stunning day out – although not being local we probably missed some nearby singletrack gems compared to your loop.

Can’t wait to go back – maybe we’ll clear the bridleway up Y Das from Rhos Fach next time :-p

Ah yes – I’m using Satmap’s route planning app on their website, and when I zoom into a certain level it labels Fan Fawr, Fan Llia, Fan Nedd etc as “Cambrian Mountains”. Then I zoom in further and it changes its mind, how odd :-o

Anyway, not many bridleways in that section, but as nostoc says, plenty of opportunity for a big ride from Glyntawe – cheers.

Should be on its way to you now.

Yep – I can send you a gpx if you tell me your email address.

Yes, it should be. Unless it stuck to the bottom of the freehub as you pulled it off.

techy? my 9 year old found it all good.

The average 9 year old runs out of leg power well before they run out of balance and agility. The average 39 year old does the opposite :D

Glad we both enjoyed trying though!