That’s the most blatant case of mechanical doping I’ve ever seen.

Having ridden the whole 360km of the Pirinexus in a non stop event in 2017, I think you might find it a bit tame. Its mainly old railway lines and flat gravel roads. Have a look at wikiloc, the first 2-3 days of the Transpyrenees trail starting near Roses to somewhere like Baga or Tremp and back via Olot, Besalu and Figueres would make a nice loop.
If you’re interested, we start the C2C trip from Tarragona on the 10th of May. Given the other participants are flying back to the UK from Bilbao, I can get you back to the start by car the following weekend.

Never was the offence of driving without due care and attention more appropriate.

Double post, this site is such a car crash.

I’m actually riding an event called the Burrally which starts on the 15th i.e a week today. It starts in a seaside village called Vinaros and finishes south of Valencia 5-6 days later. It’s a free event with about 30 riders, a fair few hills, up to 1,600m, it’s designed so you can easily get a train from the finish back to the start. It’s a bit further south than Girona so should be a bit warmer. We’re about 4 hours south of the French border and the event start is 1/2 an hour from here. If you’re interested, the website is here
Burrally
By the way, I run a coast to coast bikepacking trip in May, using the Burrally as a shakedown.
Spanish C2C

I’m on here too. Reason for me being suggested is that I live in Cataluña and have done several similar events here. This is a new event so the route will be released to those taking part in the official start on the 19th of April. I am happy to help with long distance routes but have no prior knowledge of this one apart from the general area it’s going through and a singlespeed would be a long way down my list of ideal bikes for such a hilly course. Have you booked anything yet? When exactly are you coming, I may be able to advise a better route and lend a hand with logistics.

It wasn’t quite as close a finish as the BBC would have us believe, if you looked closely at the times in the book, there was 3 1/2 hours between first and second, it came across as who got the money changed in time and was fastest up the lift. Good series, but why do we have to have this never ending stream of false jeopardy.

Sylvian Sakamoto Forbidden Colours
Theme to Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence which wasn’t a bad film but the theme has endured much more.

Sorry mt but unless it’s a very recent change, the fiscal HQ of Ineos is in Belgium as they have lower corporation tax rates than the UK. The company I worked for was both a customer (for polymer granules) and supplier (of the bags it was packed in) to Ineos and I distinctly remember having to send invoices to Belgium despite dealing with their Grangemouth operation.

The spacers aren’t adjustable as such but you can get different sized ones in 2.5mm increments but this would be too much for your issue as they’re designed to fit in pairs to get the optimum tyre clearance. If the dish on the wheel is correct then I’d look at filing down the spacer on the side where the tyre is close to the chainstay to centre the wheel, they can be swapped over if you cock it up.

I’d say no as the seat tube isn’t round at that point nor is there a braze on mount. Try the Holdsworth Mystique as they offer that with Ultegra 2x as a full bike as well as frame only, it has a braze on mount.

Pity op isn’t in Germany as we could ask what was the German for Schadenfreude?.

Somebody call??

I have the Absolute Black 46/30 setup on my gravel bike, they work with 105 or Ultegra 4 arm cranks and are oval. On the rear I have an 11/40 11 speed cassette with a wolftooth roadlink and long cage 105 mech. This was specifically for the 25% gravel uphills on the Turin Nice Rally as the bike was loaded for bikepacking. Made it up everything on the route though it was touch and go in places due to the length of the steep sections. I intended to take the cassette off post event but tbh it works where I live in Spain as well so it’s still on. I think it’s the perfect solution to riding big mountains loaded up, without a barbag you may struggle to keep the front wheel on the ground.

If you take a look at what people are actually paying for bike holidays…
https://www.skedaddle.com/uk/biking/holiday/Mountain_Biking/UK_-_Scotland_-_Hebridean_Explorer_-_Mountain_Bike_Holiday/470/view.rails
£1600/7Days
https://www.skedaddle.com/uk/biking/holiday/Mountain_Biking/Spain_-_Ruta_de_la_Plata_-_Guided_Mountain_Bike_Holiday/660/view.rails
£3000/16 Days
https://www.skedaddle.com/uk/biking/holiday/Mountain_Biking/Croatia_-_Terra_Magica_-_Guided_Mountain_Biking_Holiday/963/view.rails
£1200/7 Days

There is certainly a market for this sort of thing

I run a bikepacking trip in May in N Spain (as I live there) Coast 2 Coast from the Med to Atlantic, largely off road. We chose whether to camp or stay in cabins and albergues and eat in cafes, It’s 9 days plus flying into Tarragona/Barcelona and back from Bilbao, we transfer boxes from start to finish and I’d reckon on a cost inc flights of about £7-800, I don’t charge for guiding. Message me for more info.

Nominative determinism alive and well (for the time being) with the diver.

What about this Gran Fondo La Mussara
8,000 riders, 188km of beautiful closed mountain roads, starts literally across the road from Reus airport which is served by cheap flights from several UK airports, cheap accommodation in Salou or Cambrils or Tarragona, good weather, what’s not to like?

There is a school of thought that some tyres have silicone mold release agent on the inner and the wheel milk cannot adhere to the tyre wall when its not being held there by the wheel rotating. If you spray the inner with isopropyl alcohol and wipe it well, the milk gets into the side walls and bungs up capilliary leaks. Alternatively just ride your bike non stop.

I’ve responded to your similar thread on Bearbones. Based in S Cataluña and run a bikepacking trip every May. Never had any issues with wild camping as long as Rule 1 is followed.

Where in Spain? I have all the correct tools and know how so can help if you want. I won’t charge much either 😁

There’s a 1,000m climb near us that I ride from time to time, it was a stage finish on last year’s Vuelta a Cataluna. A couple of weeks before the event, I was riding up and was passed by a young guy in full Movistar kit. At the top, he was still hanging around and we started chatting about this and that. I told him about the upcoming race and he replied “I  know, I’m in it” turns out it was Marc Soler, winner of this years Paris Nice and 3rd on the race in question behind his boss Valverde and Alberto Contador.

Sorry that should be Clinica Roca.

Its worth trying the bus, we stayed in San Augustin in Jan and the bus is really easy as it’s only 2 stops from the airport and a fraction of the price of a taxi. They have big holds under the sides like proper coaches as they are used to carrying the massive trunks that the package tour brigade bring to fill with fags on the way home. The stop is at the Clinica Blau and a short walk to the seafront. There is a really friendly restaurant by the bus stop as well and a little supermarket. Free Motion have a shop in the massive hotel up on the hill behind the clinic. Youll get co2 there as I’d bet you’ll get cartridges taken off you at the airport.

+1 for scotroutes comments about the Van Nicholas warranty. I have a Redwood Ti 29er which is a specific model year when they had track type horizontal drop outs, 2013 spec I think. I use it for Bikepacking with a Rohloff hub so the drop outs are perfect for chain tension adjustment. Last year the downtube cracked just under the head tube so I contacted them, they asked for photos of the crack and whole bike then found an exact replica and sent it to me without wanting the old one back, just a proof of purchase. It had been built up for publicity photos so included a headset foc. No hassle, cost or fuss. Good customer service. I was a bit concerned that they may be a bit arsey as I’d bought the original from Planet X at a fraction of RRP.

No worries, PM me if you want to book anything next year, we’re just getting going but have had a lot of interest so far.

Are you talking about going somewhere next week? We have a b&b in southern Cataluña but have visitors next week. If it’s the week after next I can help. We hire good quality mountainbikes, carbon hardtails, or gravel bikes as we have miles of lovely trails here. I can do 1-1 guiding or gps loaded routes if you prefer.  We moved here from Yorkshire 3 years ago, the riding’s fantastic, mainly XC, rocky trails and gravel tracks and the weather beats the UK hands down. Let me know and we can advise on flights.

I spent most of my career working for German companies so visited many times and had some good German friends and colleagues. When the Euro was launched, the banks had an amnesty to allow mattresses to be emptied of grey Deutschmarks and turned into Euros. The amount of money that appeared was phenomenal. Apparently the sales of luxury items such as boats and sportscars, paid for in cash, went through the roof prior to the change as well.

Definitely echo the comments above, a 24hr Time Trial is not remotely similar to a sportive or even audax, you need a support team with all the sustinance you will or might need for the duration. If it’s anything like the 12 hour I  did, it’s also important to know that the course is not cast in stone. The organisers will put you on different sized loops depending on your pace relative to the other riders which keeps the field bunched and easier to marshal. This makes the support crew’s life tricky as you may come through a point out of sequence with riders you were previously close to. If say the first section is a 100 mile loop and you average 17mph whereas the guy a minute in front of you averages 25mph. After 6 hours you’ve done 1lap but the quicker guy won’t be at the other end of the lap 50 miles away, he may even be behind you on the road having been directed onto 2×25 mile side loops to bring him back to the group. A bit of a clunky example but it’s how long distance TT’s run. I found taking gels and sugary drinks gave me a bad stomach after 5 hours and went on to savoury stuff like pork pies and sausage rolls. It’s important that your crew carry a wide range of different food and keep up with your pace and strange demands at 3 o’clock in the morning.

Is there a prize for guessing the word on Brants jacket that ends in ADY, Pointless style. From the expression on his face, my guess is Shady.

Thanks mods for the warning and thread removal for swear filter avoidance, it was actually a typo 😁 First time warning in nearly 15 years on the forum, guess it’s par for the course on a post critical of the Messiah’s new, old,new,old new employers.

The closing of the showroom at Magna hasn’t stopped them still having a photo of it on the about us page.

Strange why Reverb seatposts are available on the PX site but not on the OnOne site. Interesting to think that the future prosperity of PX is based on stoves and sledges, try finding an 11 speed chainring or cassette and heaven help you if you break a mech hanger on any bike over a year old.

On the other side of the coin.

Visited San Augustin in Jan this year and the weather was crap. 5 days of rain, biblical at times. We’d  hired road bikes from Freemotion so tried to make use of them by riding along the coast roads as there was snow in the mountains! Found the road to Mogan very busy and drivers not bike tolerant. The road was closed by a landslide just before Mogan and the only alternative was through motorway tunnels where bikes were prohibited. I believe this is still the case. Did a ride up to San Bartolome but got caught in torrential rain, there was a foot deep river coming down the main street.  Found food average at best and Playa del Ingles is a shit hole.The dunes at Maspalomas are where the 60’s cult tv show Robinson Crusoe was filmed and are quite nice.  I guess living in Cataluña has spoiled us as the roads are very quiet and well surfaced but I won’t be returning to the Canaries anytime soon.

We live in Southern Cataluña and run a small B&B with great cycling right from the door. We do guiding and can hire a selection of road bikes if you don’t want to bring your own. Early November is good weather wise, we’ve been enjoying mid to late 20°c in the last few weeks and it should continue. As an example, you can fly to Barcelona from Liverpool with Easyjet for just over £100 return from 4th to 12th of Nov, it’s 90 mins from the airport to here and has a decent train connection. Road climbs locally are used on the Vuelta a España and Cataluña and go from sea level to 1,500m. E mail is in my profile if you want more info, we’re free those dates as our last visitors leave on the 4th.

Where are you thinking of? I live in Cataluna and do a trip from Tarragona to Bilbao in the Spring every year, Med to Atlantic, it’s routed through some fantastic scenery and historic places. It runs over 9 days and just about 1,000km, we offer a service whereby my wife takes boxes or bags to Bilbao ready for return flights on the Sunday. The chain type bike shops such as Decathlon don’t generally have surplus boxes, their bikes arrive in store built up and smaller shops don’t open Sunday, or even Saturday afternoon in some areas.

Maybe gallows humour but anyone spot in the text “the pianist died of organ failure”

Deffo Duffbags, we bought when they were on bogof Mrs pb uses hers for open water swimming kit, the other one is still in the bag unopened. Pm me if you want pics. Duncan

How did Joanna Lumley get on?

Komoot or Wikiloc both have Apps that do what you want.

https://www.cicerone.co.uk/walking-on-the-costa-blanca

Cicerone do a walking guide to the Costa Blanca, in English with decent maps.

SEJOURS EN ECOLODGES ET GÎTES DE CHARME

Spent a fortnight here a few years ago, fantastic location, not sure about value these days but there were 14 of us and they coped no problem.

I had a pint of red stripe this evening. I bet it’s made in a massive factory in the Midlands.

You’re not far off,Red stripe is brewed in Bedford,  actually brewed not just canned or bottled.Charles Wells to be exact, I used to supply them.