52 and did 6 hours 2 mins for Brecon Beast – not too bad for an old guy. Think its the lardy younger guys that need to get a grip.

I'm with scruff

so long as you dont coat the whole damn chain in oil most any wet lubes are very good. Clean chain one small drop of wet lube on each link. Whizz chain backwards wipe clean. Your chain will now not turn black on rides and attract all the crap. I used wax during summer, works a treat but now need wet for long rides in Wales.

I put in millions in to the mtb bike industry and related holiday, race event companies, charities each year 😀 I also think that when I go to Wales or elsewhere and spend money on food coffee more food, tolls, fuel, B&B etc I am putting something very worthwhile directly in to the countryside economy. Digging repairing trails isn’t quite the same and has a sort of a negative self indulgent image for me. One persons manufactured trail is another's trail vandalism.

Went in for a new XT cassette came out with a complete XTR drive train. However it proved its worth on the Brecon Beast. This year so far spent about £6K+ includes 4k on new Zesty – essential purchase.

Try these

http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/srchkey/c2c/country/253/is/Offroad

I use Dakota 450 for road and MTB. OS 1:50k is perfect for all areas and for road and mtb riding. I do plenty of riding in Wales using gps. In my experience the OSM stuff is pretty patchy in the mountains for trails paths etc. I find the combination of satellite and OS from these sites to be perfect for what I want.

http://www.bikely.com/
http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php

6 hours 2 mins here for 100 odd km route
That may explain why some 100km riders were in within 4 hours, average 25kph seems pretty amazing.

FS Zesty carbon = 25lbs mmmm comfort and light you can have both 😉

Did the Brecon beast – it was not dry. Weather great but tracks as nearly always are streams 🙂 not complaining I took FS with tyres to cope. Saw a couple of CX'ers hats off to them it didnt look like fun on the rocky downhills though. Each to there own I guess.

Ha ha well Bristols dry 🙂 yeah think the trails will be fine even with the down pours. No point in tractor tyres yet for Welsh mountains. One drop of rain and people dive for the tractor tyre prop. See you on the beast. Black mountains is my favorite trail.

oh err muddy splatters – all black here

Bloody boiling in Bristol – suns out. Wales is dry ready for the Brecon beast. I run the same tyres all year. Think its more about how you ride than your tyres. Might go down to 20psi for grip on UST.

Brecon beast 109km 8)

I'm in for 109km weather looks really good. Wrong way around the gap would be pants. But whatever – bring it on.

gyms dont make killers, its the people we need to deal with.

Sorry dont agree with your comparison about Satmap and Garmin Oregon touch screen

Oregon = GUI touch screen, everything can be done with one gloved digit.
Sat map = 8 way joy stick, 4 keys and multifunction key, How is this easier?

Screens – Satmap has 1cm square more screen area but the Oregon resolution is better. I would say on balance they are equal?

Satmap Display size
8.7cm
Display resolution
320 x 240

Oregon
Display size 7.6cm
Display resolution
240 x 400 pixels

Clearly you pays your money etc but I have had GPS for ages and just up graded to Oregon 6 months ago. Its extremely simple to use GUI. Works with one finger which is all I can afford to use on the move with gloves its a very very robust unit. I looked at satmap and I didnt think it was robust enough to sit on the front of my bike. Have a look at he Oregon – its bullet proof – well nearly!

1/2 New cassette, rings and chains – came in from ride and cleaned bike and chain as always – hmm time to check the chain (OMG) 😡 chain is well worn. Still 8 months and 2 chains worth of riding. Going for XTR and will check chain more regularly. Its expensive but I am worth it 😀 and the 100km Brecon Beast this weekend will be so much easier without slipping chain LOL

ABF

yes would be ideal but currently the inaccuracies in mapping and general trail realignment would make it pretty ineffective. Whats on the map aint necessarily whats actually on the ground even for bridleway tracks. It works for cycle – road because the under lying map data has been provided for the gps to follow. You would need to extend the same for bridlepaths etc.

Garmin Dakota 450 here. Nice, robust, touch screen simplicity with OS maps.

Yup your right Colin not going to argue with you 😉

you can download it from bikely site as a gpx – works in my Dakota 450 🙂 You may have to register? Its 100% proven route and I rode it last Friday afternoon. Finished at 1800 weather was perfect. Sarn Helen route is a long one 😉

Try looking here

Accueil

I ride the gap route and enjoy it but its pretty tame in comparison to say Black Mountains or Sarn Helen epics. They provide more bang for your driving buck. I live in Bristol so do Afan, FOD etc etc each month. They all have their place in my riding as does the ones across the open Moors.

Chippy try these to reignite your love of natural riding

http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/by/starbuck310

+1 for frugal government and Spain's @20% unemployment rate should keep MTB holidays pretty cheap 😀

Every cloud has a silver lining etc.

Strange I found that less was some how more. use a very light application and its fine over the Brecons, Black Mountains etc. What I did notice was if I put too much on it got really dirty quickly with loads of crap poor shifting. So I put only one spot per link – hey presto it works fine. Converted.

Yup and more importantly Basque Country terrorist have jacked it in.

HR 2.35 front LUST

Hope this helps

http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/srchkey/cannock+chase/is/Offroad

PB

None – otherwise they rub when wet.

spent years MTB over Salisbury Plan and never had any access problems. We all of course keep out of the danger areas but thats just common sense. unless you want to be deleted from the gene pool that is 😈

molegrips dancing on a pin head – lifes too short

Oh and here

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/routes/

Loads here, great gps track site.

http://www.bikely.com/

Good planning site here

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/

+1 MOD

Dakota 450, great at navigation duites with OS maps and has enough training aids as well (cadence, power meter etc).

http://www.evocsports.com/index.php/en/EVOC-Bike/Bike-Travelbag.html

Use pipe lagging to protect frame etc from B&Q its a lot stronger than bubble wrap and already in handy pipe covering shape. Also reusable and very cheap. If your doing a trip a year consider this one its the DB

http://www.evocsports.com/index.php/en/EVOC-Bike/Bike-Travelbag.html

You get 30kg sports bag weight allowance on Easyjet so you can fill the space with gear and save £36 on bag every trip. Looked at hire, Polaris pod = £70 so will pay for itself after about 3 trips.

+1 Enduro Singletrack MT500

its what fits you best and its a contact point so price not a factor, fit and function are priority for me when your clocking up the KM. They are fantastic shorts and last forever.

Druid tank from WoW 🙄 – long story of 4 years of WoW crack addiction and top level raiding. I am now a rehabilitated X WoW crack addict. Bee going straight since last April 😯

normal synthetic wash 50 degrees for technical stuff. Throw in your trail shoes as well the clothes stop the banging noise 😀

New brakes pads = do loads stoppies on tarmac before use which faces them and increases their life. Seems to help stop squealing to some degree but all pads do that sometimes mainly when wet.