Strictly speaking, you are right that there could be a case for the timed sections being in non bridleway area, however this has not been the case so far either due to organisers’ ignorance of the law or turning a blind eye to get a good event on. I also wouldn’t want to be the one that was bombing down an untimed bridleway with a racing number on and caused a solicitor’s horse to buck and injuring them sufficiently to promote a 6 figure personal injury claim on me or the organiser. Not sure if a judge would spot the subtle difference between a race and an enduro.

Bruce Wee, without wishing to send the discussion up a blind ally as I did yesterday apparently, the legal position is summed up here by IMBA. Paradoxically it is perfectly legal to race rally cars, enduro motorbikes, runners and horses along or across bridleways provided the necessary permits are granted. It is even possible to race bicycles on footpaths and byways if given permission. This is why events like the Trans Wales have linking sections and special stages but even then if the ss is along or across a bridleway eg a lap of Nant Yr Arian, it is illegal even with FC permission. The law is an ass.

Trifle unfair njee, after all what’s in a name? It could be worse, they could be called Trailquests then nobody would know what they involved. 😕

Sorry for having got the wrong end of the stick, I thought that the article was bemaning the slow progress of enduros due to lack of organisers wanting to put these events on.

Unfortunately many trail centres are criss crossed by bridleways and the law says that bicycle racing is illegal irrespective of having the landowners permission. It’s a mess which caused the demise of the man vs horse vs bike nearly 20 years ago. Thankfully the law hasn’t been tested whereby insurers would not pay out for injuries sustained on events that included bridleways and as such could be construed as illegal.
I’ve done several events such as off road Duathlons which are out and out races and use large sections of bridleway.

Interesting article but it seems to overlook a major impediment to the spreading of enduros which are of a competitive nature. The law prevents racing of bicycles on bridleways. There are very few decent areas in England and Wales in which a course of over 40k would not go along or cross a bridleway. To modify a course to avoid bridleways would more often than not make the course a fire-road slog that bores the pants off most people. So call it what you want but there is more to the reason why we struggle to mimic the French, Italian, Spanish events than just the name.

When I last moved house, I sent a final meter reading to N Power and promptly got a bill for £3,300. I spent the best part of 6 months arguing that this was outrageous and that the £100 per month we had been paying for an all electric house was more than enough. It finally transpired that they had changed the meter 2-3 years previously. I had to go back to the old house and find the closing readings from the old meter which were on a tatty paper tag stuffed down behind the meter, I sent these and they sent me a cheque for £2,300 with which I bought a motorbike. 😀

The bit about leaving his Swiss Army knife but having to use a Leatherman didn’t ring quite true, I’ve got both and the saw knife on my Leatherman nearly takes my arm off every time I open it. It would be easily capable of sawing through flesh, assuming it was still intact, maybe I missed the part where he broke it.

Very good 😀
Could add to the Northern version, this happened to a mate of mine who very slowly caught a group of old gimmers in the Dales.
“Hey up, are you going far?” Reply “What the f***’s it got to do with you?”

Leading groups of youngsters, got to be the Pied Piper of Bewdley 🙂

I wonder if Kankunnen has one of the Celicas that he won the WC with and then was stripped of the title when a magically size changing turbo was discovered by the FIA scruitineers. Those ingenious Japs had made an inlet assembly which reduced in diameter when it was taken apart for measuring. 😉

The pic of the Lancia he won the 1991 RAC in brings back memories. My Dad entered that year in a Fiesta XR2, the scruitineering was done in batches and we were next in line to Kankunnen. Such a nice guy, also got to chat to Max Moseley as he appeared when the top drivers went through, he wasn’t so nice. 😕 Our entire budget for the rally was about the same as 1 set of Kankunnen’s tyres. Finished about 10th from last but finished!!

I used to travel to Germany every 3-4 weeks and it was a 2hr transfer from the airport to the factory. The company used to send the same taxi which was driven by a guy who, I swear, worked 24hrs a day, he would frequently doze off whilst doing 100-110mph. The only way to keep him awake was to engage him in conversation, it certainly did wonders for my German.

There are 2-3 who will be doing this road alternative anyway, I managed it ok on the WRT with all my gear on. I’ve only seen 1 person ride up it without dabbing and that was Joe Hayward from Summit.
We are staying in Llangurig on the Sunday so I will ring you to see if you are playing out, might be a good PR exercise for you 😉

Osprey Raptor 10 is my current fave due to the very stable 3l bladder and having all the features you list. I’ve had Camelbacks and Hydrapacks and nothing is as comfy.

Thanks for the offer Stuart, it’s a bit off route in terms of altitude for us but you’re welcome to join us on the run into Mach on Mayday Bank Holiday Monday, can’t promise I’ll still be sane after getting them all down Foel Fadian 😯 .Seriously, is the shop at Staylittle worth dropping into, do they do refreshments? Don’t really want to loose too much height going to Dylife if I can help it.

I thought 100 miles was an easy 3 days as well so have added another 25 by starting at Church Stretton and following the Jack Mytton Way over the Long Mynd and through the hills around Clun to pick the route up at the border. May live to regret that as there are 15 of us doing it.

Doing the Trans Cambrian in May, my setup is a Scandal based bike with Alfine 11, luggage carried as 13l drybags on bars and rear rack and a Wildcat frame bag. This has performed well on the Welsh Ride Thing and Pennine Bridleway trips last year, not the lightest but handling is not compromised too badly.

Blackhound, ygm.Enjoy, we did. Strangely I did the Southern bit in October as well, I didn’t find it as testing as the North, more rolling hills than the short sharp climbs of the Dales.

Tonto, sorry for the relayed reply, I was out. The Northern section has more climbing as it doesn’t have the long railway line section down to Middleton Top. I have a GPX log of the Northern section as far as the Mary Towneley loop just South of Wycoller, it was sent to me by Bill Brady aka Rangerbill who is the Lancs Ranger for the Pennine Bridleway,so it is exactly right. I’ll e mail it to you.

It would be a very long day, I did it last Spring and there is a lot of climbing around Settle and again between Earby and the Mary Towneley Way. It was an easy 3 days to Mankinholes but we were a big group of very mixed ability. If you plan to do the Settle Loop it would be 100 miles and around 18,000ft of climbing.
Tod to Middleton isn’t easy as well, the bit round Hayfield is particularly hilly.

njee, couldn’t quite place it, is it a Trek?

Sancho – Member

I think the Yorkshire summer Cross is open to MTB’s, but I think the winter series is under BC Regs so Cross bikes only.

I did the Yorks Winter Series on a mountainbike, not very successfully though. The no mtb rule is only for Cat A races such as the National Champs, National Trophy Series and 3 Peaks. Some courses such as Tod and one of the early ones are quite mtb freindly but most are too fast and non technical. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

My Alfine 11 is just a year old but hasn’t done the mileage of Bristolbikers, my mileage has been mainly off road, fully laden with camping gear and included the Welsh Ride Thing and Pennine Bridleway. Gearing has been 32-20 until recently when I changed it to 34-18. I had initial problems with gears crunching and jumping out but changing the cable run to smooth out the bends and endless fiddling about with the yellow dot position has largely cured it. Sorry I can’t offer any remedies or tricks but, touch wood, mine seems to be behaving itself at the moment. Finding someone to do an oil change 4 months ago was difficult but 18 bikes now have the kit if you’re Peak District based.

thebikechain – Member
I used to work for a guy. Amazing negotiator – he sold Mercs in a previous job.

He used to say when asked for a discount ‘why is it my job to make it more affordable for you out of my pocket – it’s not my fault you can’t afford it, buy a cheaper one’.

Always stuck with me that.

Thats not negotiation, that’s being a condescending twonk. He probably felt that he was in a strong position as Merc follow the strategy of keeping supply tight and aspiration levels high. I used to work for BMW and they had exactly the same approach, make the customer feel they are doing you a favour by allowing you to supply a car to them. Also the options list was almost endless and the waiting list was about 3 months so you could give the sales pitch about the car being personally built for the customer.I always tried to make the customer feel as though they had made the right decision but then again I was dealing with BMW owners who know they are right.

It’s all about understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of your position. If you want something totally bespoke that the shop will have to get in and build to your spec then the chances of a substantial discount are rare. If it is “off the peg” and even better in stock, then chances are that the shop will be happy to sell it for a lower profit to move the cash without too much work. Timing and knowledge are key, if you know there is a model change imminent, however cosmetic, you can haggle. If the bikes are like hens teeth and in great demand, your options are limited. If you want after sales service which isn’t given grudgingly and everything charged for, then be prepared to pay more in the first place. If the salesman has the attitude of the Merc guy, tell him to shove it whatever the deal!

Amusing and inventive as all these strategies are, they are absolutely useless if all that happens when I pick up the phone is a 2 second silence and “goodbye” My issue is that this has happened every 20 minutes throughout the day. Who do I complain to or get to stop it???

I wonder if the call just saying “Goodbye” is a way of circumventing these rules as technically it’s not silent. I thought the main purpose of anti-silent call legislation is to stop the callers scaring the bejesus out of old ladies who think an axe murderer is stalking them.

Good idea Iain but there is probably a law against causing ear damage down the phone and don’t forget they seem to know where you live. 8)

My point re “overseas” calls is that the TPS doesn’t have any jurisdiction on such calls so wouldn’t make any difference, I wasn’t being Clarkson.
I also tried using the TPS on another line and it made no difference.

Got to be a contender 😆

like the bit about someone pasting the face of Dominique Strauss-Kahn onto the man 😀

Getting one has cost Mohammed Al Fayed a small large fortune and he still hasn’t succeeded. Unfortunately the cost doesn’t keep the riff raff from going abroad. 🙂

What now? Are you turning the leaning tree into a siege engine

Boxelder try this SI EntriesThey are now showing 50 entries and the opining date was definitely yesterday at 4.00am.

Lovely on toast. 😉

The point I was making wasn’t about vfm or how worthy the charity is, rather that entries have been so slow relative to other years. I did it in 2009 and the organisers must have been kicking themselves that it sold out so quickly at £25 a go. Maybe they could have charged more and raised more for the Dave Rayner fund which has helped lots of up and coming cyclists to realise their ambitions. If this year, they only get 4-500 riders at £40 it will not raise as much as 1,000 at £25. Maybe using “overpriced” was wrong, perhaps they have reached the point of diminishing returns. Or it could be that the website is still full of 2011 links and info and people haven’t realised they can enter yet.

What about removing the “member” icon for the female contributors?

Maybe we should have as well as the “member” and “premier” icons against your user name “flouncer” to prevent anyone disagreeing with you or insulting your obvious intelligence.
Another thought, “terminator” would indicate those whose contributions usually sound the death knell of a hitherto lively debate. 😆

Had mine done a couple of months ago, not sure about tools, if it’s just an oil change, it’s a matter of unscrewing the screw in the middle of the hub and letting it drain but as for flushing and replacing, the guys at 18 Bikes have the kit and oil now I believe.