I’ve only managed one ride on it so far, as have been busy being ill, moving house, starting a new job, and mountain biking (and various combinations of the above). However, that one ride was my first century, with over 3000m of climbing including Holme Moss (both ways), Snake Pass and Winnats Pass – so I feel qualified to comment on the bike.

In short, I love it. I don’t have much experience of road bikes to compare it to (just my old cheapo Allez), but the ride was very comfortable, it handled very well and I had way more confidence on the descents than ever before – a large part of this was down to the brakes, which are great. Despite the stability, it feels very responsive. Basically, I found nothing not to like apart from I found the saddle a little uncomfortable (perhaps not surprising given I chose to do the longest ride I’ve ever done on the first ride!).

Can you read?

Bit harsh! I did look at the Canyons – nice bikes and definitely good value for money.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blind test, blah, no noticeable difference, blah……

Who cares? I’ve got a new bike :P

In all seriousness, it’s an interesting article. As a scientist, I’d be interested to know more details about the testing processes used in these blind-tests so that I can pick holes in their methodology, proclaim it all to be half-baked pseudo-scientific nonsense, and go back to justifying why my new bike choice was clearly the best option!

Decision made, bike bought!

I will soon be taking ownership of a 2015 Giant Defy Advanced Pro 2.

To say that I’m a bit excited would be an understatement. Hopefully get a few more dry days to put some long rides in on it before the old Allez takes over winter duties.

Quite liking the look of the Giant Defy Advanced range too.

Thanks for the pointers. I think I’ll just be using HR and cadence to train this year as a new road bike is required and I doubt the budget will stretch to a power meter.

Bump for the mid-afternoon crowd!

Leaning towards the Axis over the Joystick due to the ‘tap to change mode’ function – very handy for helmet mounting. The Diablo is a lot more lumens for not much more money, but would this be overkill for my intended purpose and/or too wide a beam?

The descent off Alphin is great (see Strava for location, don’t think it’s on OS maps), but it’s an absolute pig to get to from pretty much any direction. More of a push up, ride down type affair.

I am. I’ll be doing my best to avoid looking at the weather report between now and then and remaining positive that it will be a joyous ride on dry dusty trails!

A Maxxis tyre with SG carcass would be great. Having said that, I’ve not tried a Maxxis EXO tyre on the rear yet. The EXOs are plenty strong enough on the front for me.

The hard Pacestar compound may well be the culprit. Not sure I’d want a softer compound on the rear though as the Pacestar seems to be wearing pretty quickly. I actually find it okay on off-camber stuff, but it seems to lose traction very easily when climbing. Cornering is okay, but I prefer the High Rollers and feel that I can push them more before they slide, hence my reason for saying that I wouldn’t want one on the front. Entirely possible that this is purely due to familiarity – the HD is my first departure from Maxxis tyres in the last 15 years!

I’m running one on the rear at the moment (Pacestar, Super Gravity). It’s okay, but I definitely wouldn’t want to run one on the front. I run a High Roller 2 on the front, which I love. I got the HD after having endless issues with pinch flatting a tubeless High Roller LUST on the rear. The Super Gravity casing is great (no pinch flats since fitting despite putting a couple of dents in the rim), but the grip is distinctly average. I’ll be putting a High Roller 2 EXO on the rear next to see if that can also resist the pinch flats – if it does then I definitely won’t be getting another HD.

DHBs for my wide size 12s – dead comfy, and pretty cheap too.

Chamois Butt’r works for me. Not tried any others though.

I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be directed at me Hora. If so, and you wish to judge my life as empty based on a forum post, then knock yourself out.

I don’t like moaning and complaining for the sake of it, but this is something I feel fairly strongly about, that I thought should be brought to the attention of other members of the mountain biking community, and that I’m trying to do something about (by asking people to voice their concerns to the BHF, as I did).

Basically the date change has caused some concerns.

Not just the date change. It seems like a bad choice of route at any time of year, given how sensitive to the weather Cut Gate is and there’s no way of predicting when we’re going to have a dry spell. Also, the out and back nature of the route seems like a silly idea for that number of riders, but that’s only an issue in terms of how enjoyable it would be to partake.

you’d shit your pants about the ‘puffer

Hardly a like-for-like comparison of events and the riders they’re likely to attract.

Qtip – is your quibble not more to do with the people who gave them permission to do it?

Partly, but I thought that BHF should be made aware of the issues.

Thanks all. Sounds alright but I think I’ll look for an on-road alternative.

A couple of dings in my rear rim, but otherwise all good. As for me, a few decent bruises after an off on S1 practice, but race day was trouble free.

Ran a High Roller 2 EXO TR 3C on the front and Hans Dampf Trailstar Super Gravity on the rear. Not sure what pressures but a guy who was riding behind me on one of the early transfer stages commented that my rear tyre looked pretty flat even though it was as normal! No problems until S5 when I put a dent in my rear rim causing a fair bit of air loss before it resealed – managed to get to the bottom of the stage without stopping but the off camber corners were a bit sketchy!

Absolutely loved the whole thing, despite a largish crash on S1 in practice. My first Enduro and definitely not my last. Great job by the ‘Ard Rock guys.

S1 6.10
S2 3.29
S3 5.01
S4 4.18
S5 2.54
Total 21.53

Doesn’t look like there’s going to be much rain. Met and AccuWeather forecasts seem a little more optimistic. I’ll be running a High Roller 2 front and Hans Dampf rear, because that’s all I have!

Didn’t Shimano claim the XTR mech wouldn’t work with the 42T cassette? People have it working with SRAM cassettes though, so clearly it will work.

Cheers all. Doesn’t sound too tricky.

Finish Line Wet Ceramic works well for me. Copes well with Peak District grit.

Can’t see myself from changing from Troy Lee Skylines any time soon. Bought my first pair a few months ago and they were so good I immediately went out and bought a second pair.

Must have been about 10 threads on this recently, including this one, currently on page one of the bike forum.

See here:

3 Passes Route Thread

Navigation is pretty straightforward on this route, as long as visibility is good, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a first natural ride. It’s a world apart from trail centre routes and I suspect you might find yourself out of your depth.

The other part of the loop in the above thread (Garburn Pass) would be better, but even that is a big step up from trail centres.

Very happy with my Troy Lee KG5450s. Used them on rides up to 4 hours, including hike-a-bike sections, and they have been very comfortable and not slipped at all, despite the lack of straps. If you don’t quite fit the Troy Lee size guide (like I didn’t) then I’d say that getting the calf measurement right is more important than the upper leg measurement.

After having to bail on this ride on Saturday due to a tweaked calf muscle, I woke up this morning with my leg feeling fine and the sun shining. So, instead of leaving the Lakes and heading home as planned, I decided to bunk off work for the day and hit the hills.

I did the route I linked to in the OP, with a couple of changes. Following the recommendations of Junkyard (with whom I was supposed to do the ride on Saturday), I started from Kentmere rather than Staveley, thus doing the Nan Bield loop before the Garburn one. I also went across Harter Fell, missing out the supposedly dull Gatescarth descent followed by the Nan Bield north side hike-a-bike. As Junkyard pointed out, starting from Kentmere makes sense as you are fresher for the sections of the ride where things could potentially go badly wrong due to the exposure (i.e. Harter Fell and Nan Bield).

The whole ride took around 4 hours. Significantly less than I was expecting from various reports, and certainly not the ‘epic’ ride that some make it out to be. Having said that, I can see that the hike-a-bike up Nan Bield could add a lot of time and deplete energy reserves should you choose that option.

I ended up walking down a few of the more exposed sections of the Harter Fell descent as I didn’t want to take too many risks riding solo and the sharp rocks are a little intimidating. I’d say the majority of it is rideable though (maybe one or two little sections that would be beyond me, but I’m sure some people can clean it).

The Nan Bield descent was all rideable, although I had a few dabs at the top. I enjoyed it but wouldn’t rush back to do it again. The top techy hairpins bit was fun in its own way, and some bits lower down were great, but I felt that the descent as a whole lacked flow and there were too many inclines and boggy sections that sapped your speed.

The other half of the figure-of-eight was absolutely fantastic though, with the Garburn Pass descent being the highlight of the ride for me and a great way to finish.

If I were to go back, I’d skip the Nan Bield part of the loop. Not knowing the area, I don’t know what alternatives are better than Nan Bield for extending the Garburn loop. However, I’d happily just repeat the Garburn loop, it was that good IMO.

Had to postpone

Cheers guys. Any suggestions for a good route if the weather’s not looking great? Will be based in Grange-over-Sands but happy to drive up to 90 min.

Riding experience is not the issue, just not familiar with the Lakes so don’t know how the weather in the run up to the weekend will affect the trails. Also found conflicting reports on the web – some seem to suggest it’s a sunny weather route only, others seem to have no bother in strong winds and rain. All down to experience I guess. I’ve got plenty of experience of riding and navigating in the Peaks, so rocky trails, non-waymarked routes, and poor weather/ground conditions aren’t an issue.

My normal weekend ride is generally around the 40km mark with 1000-1500m climbing, so I don’t think the ride is beyond me, although it will be tough. I appreciate the distance and elevation don’t tell the whole story, and realise that the hike-a-bike nature of this ride will dramatically increase the amount of time and effort required.

@Junkyard – aiming for an earlyish start on Saturday, but not sure of exact timings as yet. Will be driving to start from Grange-over-Sands area.

Bump for the afternoon crowd

Thanks for the feedback Stoner. Has reassured me that the Large I ordered should be the right size.

They now have the green/grey ones on Sportspursuit in L and XL for £115. Just bought mine :)

I have RaceFace SixC bars. They replaced Atlas FRs of the same shape and width. I didn’t notice a light and day difference, but I’ve realised that I’m not suffering with arm pump anywhere near as much as previously. Also coincides with an increase in riding, fitness, and gym work though, so hard to say whether or not the bars made any real difference.