edit: beaten to it!

I’m Not Right. Any Tea Still?

LOMBARD

Can’t Voraciously, Vivaciously Hoover DebZ’s Flat.

BOBFOC

Rocket to f’n moon

SUSFU

Odin’s Minotaur Goal

SWALK

The kit that lives in my camelbak just for biking is minimal. Plasters, tape, couple of dressings, ampoule of saline for eye wash, a handful of other bits, just a small pack on the basis that i’m rarely more than a couple of hours from help. Multi-day trips and travelling I have a bigger kit.

I think the same as a few people (and TJ’s right, there was a LOT of debate on this), my normal kit is to patch me up ’til i get home or keep me comfortable until help arrives.

Inov8, Raidlight and (i think) Salomon all do little accessory pouches that go on the straps.

Best (atmosphere) – the Levellers at Solfest a few years back
Best (seeing an idol) – Steve Earle at Leeds Grand

Worst, by a mile – Noah and the Whale, Leeds Cockpit. They’re a s##t band, I got dragged by my missus and her housemates. The support band couldn’t sing in tune never mind in harmony like they were trying to, the main set was dire, and they had to keep the one song anyone knew for the encore, or everyone would have left early…

Guns n Roses, Use Your Illusion tour, Milton Keynes 1991.

Bit of a mad trip for an 11 year old from Cumbria, but so worth it.

Depends on the Ultra! If there’s no feed stations, I run mainly on gels interspersed with jelly babies, dried mango and some savoury stuff like mini babybel and pepperami. If there are decent feed stations, carry the same stuff but in smaller quantities and eat whatever they’ve got at the stops.

I work on the basis of eating something every 45mins, doesn’t matter what. Which, when you’re talking about 23hrs round the Pyrenees, can be both a) quite a lot of food, and b) a darn sight less than you’d think.

I was there. I wasn’t last :)

PS – I fit into the “big-boned athlete” category. I’d be skinny if I didn’t love beer and pies so much… :)

BMI was never designed as an individual measure, it’s a broad-brush, simple, rough guide calculation to allow a generalised comparison between population groups, not individuals. It’s a fairly meaningless measure, whether you’re a skinny wee ****, a “big-boned athlete” or a straight out-and-out fatass. People obsess over this far too much…

I’ll be there, on the 12, not taking it very seriously.

I cope by flat-out refusing to take it seriously.

Not riding, but prepping for and recovering from 12hrs of Exposure.

Was editing pics on my PC. They were pictures of cycling, though, so the activity in the pictures didn’t use any electricity…

One of my mates smashed his helmet (as in the on-your-bonce kind, not the other one). Turns out landing on your forehead is not the recommended way to stick a 3 foot drop off. Fortunately he rolled out of it quite well, so other than a sore neck, he’s fine.

It was very dry today, wors. My one near-prang was a slightly balding (okay, borderline semi-slick) front tyre washing out in the dust!

I have a signed print of that (as in, signed by the bloke who draws XKCD) on my wall at home. My missus bought it for me. I’m not sure what she thinks I’m like online…

One my own, just ’cause I quite like it. Unknown paddler, BUCS Whitewater Race at the Washburn, November ’11

Could just be two different years’ model of the same pack, I found that confusing when looking at the Raidlight Endurance pack.

That OMM 15 looks good, I like how they’re pushing how many bottles you can carry, though I will point out 2 shoulder-mounted bottles, if full, don’t half bruise your collarbones after a while. Bladders are a pain to refill at feed stations, though, so finding a pack with decent bottle holders that don’t move and don’t interfere with your arm movement is a must!

Same boat as TooTallPaul, if anyone’s wanting to dispose of a decent, working, not-too-slow laptop or netbook… ;)

Will the 15L have enough room for gear ie first aid kit, base layors,lunch ect for my little 100k event?

Depends which event!

I’d separate the two bits of your original post out and, personally, get one bag for carting stuff about and training and one for the event itself. I’ve got two Inov8 packs that I use, a Race Pro 22 and a Race Elite 15, which essentially do what you’re talking about. I love them both, very comfy and easy to use. A teammate swears by his OMM 25l, though.

I did the 80km Grand Raid des Pyrenees last year (blog about it here) and I’m going back again this year. Last time round I took the Elite 15 paired with an OMM Trio 4l front pack and two bottle holders. Honestly, it was too much.

If it’s a supported event with regular feed points, you need very little. I dumped a load of excess food that I was carrying at 30km, it was just holding me back. The smaller the pack, the less tempted you are to carry stuff you don’t really need. Put together your mandatory kit, a small amount of food and one or two luxuries – I took my dinky 2gb mp3 player, a compact digital camera and Ted, my mascot – and go to a shop to see what the smallest pack you can get them in is. I’m looking at not more than 12l total this time round, probably a 5-10l backpack with one of the Inov8 2l front packs for the convenience gear, route book, camera etc.

There used to be a few half decent trails, ostensibly walking trails but basically funky singletrack, up in the Troodos, around the Prodromos/Platres area, and the drop down to Caledonia Falls is a good laugh in places. Not sure what they’re like these days, but they were lovely when I was helping build and maintain ’em back in ’02…

McMoonter – done those ones (i think) as part of a Rat Race. They’re “interesting” on a cross bike…

Started but dropped out half way. I’ve run it every year, but have had a chest infection for two weeks and was struggling to breathe between the coughing fits. Made myself useful, though, ended up subbing in as an extra photographer for the R&R guys, if you came in after 7:30, I was the snapper on the finish line!

34s here, simply because jeans designed for 32″ waists don’t go over my god-knows-what inch biker/rugby player’s backside.

But the X factor bloke didn’t cover the Stripes version, he covered Nostalgia ’77s version…

Occasionally have my D80 with a 50mm f1.8 in my Camelbak (Mayhem), usually just packed in buffs our a deore thermal and in a small drybag, just in case. The body is wrapped in silicon Camera Armor anyway, so saves a few knocks.

More often than not, though, I just have my little Coolpix in a Crumpler case on the shoulder strap of my pack.

Hmmm. Might try the Inners XC instead, then…

A shedload of wet kayaking kit.

A meths stove out of a Sigg bottle.

That’s not a Freudian Slip.

A Freudian Slip is saying one thing and meaning your mother…

£4.97 on Amazon

32:18 here (Leeds). Works for just about everything I do, and it’s a magic ratio for my frame, so no tensioner needed.

Snowpaul – I assume you mean the Deerstalker?
Yup, it’s expensive. There’s a £15 tee in there, a few other goodies, and the biggest part of that event cost is the insurance, as far as I know. Doesn’t account for all of it, but it’s a chunk. Stil, with camping and a party on as well, plus the chance to go ride GT or Inners on the Sunday, it’s not that big a heartache to pay it. Same as Northwind, I can’t think of anything else that gives me the same kick – i’m not into the illegal things that probably would, thanks. So, it’s fine.

In moody black & white:

Brad, I’ve a set of rigid forks that came off an io that I’m selling cheap, drop me an email (address is in my profile) if you want info or pictures. They don’t have specific mounts but if I remember rightly, Blackburn do adapter kits to fit lowrider mounts to any fork.

yeah but look at that blonde behind DrWho…

She was quite a lot more interesting than he was. And looked to the camera more…

I wouldn’t say it was ‘massive’ exactly

Only in the sense of it having mass, perhaps.

And I’m not sure about the double-decker buses. I think you can use football pitches or swimming pools as well. I know I’m not happy enough to full a swimming pool*

*Well, not without the aid of significant quantities of little blue pills and Gentlemen’s Literature…