Phew, I thought it was going to be another picture of my bike.

Udder cream works for me when I need some lube. I don’t bother with it on rides shorter than two days and the really long races (like TD)I get the unscented stuff as bears like the smell of peppermint!

Hey, that was a piccie of my bike! It was taken during my SDWx4 ride a couple of years back.
There is loads of good advice here about the difficulty/toughness of the ride, so I would simply say “the will to prepare outweighs the will to win” so modify this quote and just do the saddle time on the bike you are going to use.
There was a fair amount of comparing road bike saddle time/miles to mtb saddle time/miles. If its an off road event with a need for a pace and effort changes, where is the advantage of doing steady road time?

Start off slow, expect to get slower and use tyres and bike setup that will last – I have messed about with lighter, better rolling tyres and gone back to SB8’s for the SDW.
Go and learn the route if possible or get a gps loaded so there is no navigating needed – I run a line on the screen with no background maps so it is immediately obvious if you are off route.

Finally, eat early, eat often.

Finally finally, remember to look around – it is some of the best country in the country.

Rode in minus 20 for n hour today with the 45N Cobrafists and just a thin pair of gloves underneath. They work. They cost. They let me go riding.

I looked at heated soles for ski boots and ended up with heated socks as I just wanted to give my toes a little help and the pad that does the heating is just at the front of the sock and takes up almost no room. Maybe worth investigating for biking boots or just get a pair of 45 Nrth Wolvhammers that will fry your feet?

Orange seal in fatties that head out in negative 10 and below. Stans Race for anything else for me. I know S.Race is more expensive but it really does plug some massive holes and lets you keep rolling (even if the snot ball inside the tyre may be as big as a golf ball).

Is it bad enough that you can hear it creaking yet? If it is, dremel your cleat slots further back, lower your saddle 25mm and ductape your achilles and carry on.

well, that didn’t work….. can’t remember how to post a picture of my bike.

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Sweepy, you are right – I’d not noticed that (but I got mine straight from the company so didn’t study the website).
Kermode may be a funny name over here, but in Canada it is a semi-mythical white bear, found in the coastal rainforest zone of British Columbia.

OK, so its at a different point on the pricing spectrum, but this Canadian bike is awesome – if I was forced into having ONE bike and one bike only, it would be this. I would have to sacrifice two Tallboys (one LT and one xc) etc just for the amount of fun this gives!
http://www.kermodebikes.com/

Cut a piece of inner tube about 3″ long, cut two ‘v’s in the top and feed the light through the outside edges and the centre through a vent in your helmet.
Sorry, got no piccie but it worked well enough for a Tour Divide.

http://45nrth.com/products/apparel/cobrafist

these will keep me riding for about 4 hours in minus 20 before the combination of sweating on the way up and chilling on the way down make me stop. They attach to the end of the handlebars and are easy to get in and out of. There is even a pouch so you can store some snacks.

Udder cream, but not the peppermint scented stuff whilst riding in bear country. Cheap stuff straight from the vets.

The trip to Heathrow for us involves a train and a National Express bus journey so there is more chance of delay (especially with the bus doing from Woking, along the M25 car park and into the central bus depot…. buses only go once an hour).
Transat is generally the best priced, but it does not go every day, so when we have a time constraint, Air Canada gets the business.

I fly London – Calgary / Vancouver three or four times a year and recently the factor that seals the choice is ‘can I get to the airport…. will the trains be running?’ We come up to the airport on Southern (Gatwick and Transat is first choice) but if its a scheduled strike day or daft early in the morning, we go Heathrow and Air Canada. I just came back from Fernie and Air Canada only charged £30.00 extra for a bike in a cardboard box; it got inspected by security and the gaffer tape was cut but no hassle, I just carry a spare roll of tape.
Done West Jet a couple of times and they are our third choice.

Pretty sure Santa Cruz do what they say – the boys at Jungle really know customer care. My bike is nearly 8 years old and still going strong thanks to the quality that goes into SC products. You may pay a little more, but you get a whole lot more.
I killed a rear triangle on the evil braking bumps in Morzine and SC just replaced it. I broke on the American Trail Race – the bike did not.

Lezyne make good stuff – I had their digital pressure drive for my last big race – it is tiny, efficient and more importantly, still in perfect working order!
http://www.lezyne.com/product-hpumps-hp-digipressdrive.php#.WcksUMiGM2w

I had a different makers version of this for other events – this digital display is so much better than the ‘in line’ method.

Not sure if this link works…..

I ran them front and back – only got 2500 miles out of them. On Race Kings atm but progressing to Vittoria Mezcal as I want better puncture resistance.

I spent 30 years wielding spanners (and grinders, welding torches etc) for a job – now I’d rather have a bike that does not need tlc after every ride, so its outside cables for me, an externally routed dropper, threaded BB, 2×10 XT all over and two stroke oil on the chain in the winter.

I have a 2010 Tallboy and pretty much change the bearings every season (I do use it quite a lot). The team at Jungle have been spot-on with their advise to me over the years, but I do agree that the official tool is not perfect and once a bearing fell apart in its housing and I had to make my own tool for a bit of fancy extraction. The bike is on its second set of links/pivots now and is good for a few more years. I do tend to grease it more than I used to – if the assembly is FULL of grease, there is no room for water, so everything lasts longer. Just my thoughts.

HT550? CTR? I’d leave the Lauf in the shed and go back to a set of Reba’s for that one if I ever get the time to race them.
Thats far outside the Lauf remit.

This is my fattie – I’ve been riding it in Canada for a couple of winters; now its over here with me and I can safely say its the most fun bike I’ve ever owned. It only weighs 24 lbs with its Jumbo Jim tyres, it climbs better than my Tallboy and lots of folk stop to chat to you when you are out. Its really put the fun back into riding.

Whitestone – the Lauf’s do what they said on the tin. They are spot on for that kind of racing; light, reliable, comfortable.

I know some folk think they are ugly, but I sleep in ditches and wear my bibs outside my shirt when I’m racing, so why would I care what a fork looks like?

I’ll be on them again when I hit the race again……

Ok, so you all know I have a quirky bike and dress sense, but all this needs is ‘More Cowbell’ and I’m sure it will be a hit.

Its done. Final chapter about all the fine people I rode into during this race has just been added to the blog.

I’m off for a massive Chinese take out with a good pal tonight and maybe the diet and training for the next event can start tomorrow????

Thanks for following.

I think I’m generally quite fit, but its taken me 8 weeks to get over the last big ride and I only now feel like I have any pop in my legs… I have tried filling them with beer, pies, curry and chocolate (not ready to try a pizza yet)

I like mine so far back I Dremel the slots as the standard range on my Sidi shoes is not quite enough – just make sure your saddle is far enough forward to allow you to adapt. I did mine originally to avoid achilles tendon problems that are associated with long rides. The less leverage at the ankle joint, the less you do long term damage.

They are worth it. I ask the question, who has ever worn one out?
Mine is on a Tallboy that has done rather more work than most bikes and its been greased every couple of years whether it needed it or not. I would not ask for any other make on a new bike. I’m not sponsored by CK.

Well done beady eyes.
A small typo. It was only 3000 miles.
North Carolina to Colorado. Mainly offroad.
Wish I could do 30,000.

I got a Santa Cruz Tallboy from a bike shop called Straight Line in Fernie, Canada in 2010. I have ridden it quite a lot and in quite a lot of countries ever since then. I just rode it 30000 miles in June.
The original bike shop still look after it (though it does spend the majority of its life in the UK)
Jungle (the Santa Cruz UK boys) still look after it – I have had parts replaced foc a few times, and they still hand out bearings and pivots for me to fit, foc.
It does pay to get a lifetime warranty even if the bike costs a little more in the first place.

Good ride!
Can’t wait to be up there again soon. I’ve missed the downs over the past two months.
Need to go and scratch that itch again…

Or, save a load of cash and come and ride the trail’s in Fernie. Loads of good hotels, motel, campgrounds. Hell, we even have a great sushi restaurant.
There are 300 km of trails, 4 superb bike shop with brilliant service and you can raft,hike,fish,drink beer after riding too. Check out the trail’s on ‘trailforks’. Best trails I’ve ever ridden, and no crowds.

American Trail 5000
I’ve promised Kerry that this will be it – no more crazy events…..

Sundays ride was 12,200′ of up (Eastbourne to Winch) and just over 100 miles – it includes a bit of backtracking to assist with punctures of other riders from the club.
The trails were in great shape, even after a downpour the chalk was fine to ride on and the only plae we felt it was best to walk was up from the wishing well towards the Harting hill carpark.

One of the lads was on his first SDW and he started to flag around Warnford but he stayed focused, ate loads and got it done. He set his aim on this about 8 weeks back, so it proves anybody with a spot of application will be fine out there!

I found camping out in Friston forest the night before the ride was much more fun than getting a hotel room in Eastbourne.

I’m doing it from Eastbourne this Sunday… I’ll report back on how hard it is and how much climbing there is (I hope its closer to 10,000′ than 14,000′)

If you are after wild riding rather than groomed runs, take a peek at Fernie. Its the most chilled place ever and the riding is awesome. Fernie does not suck your wallet dry and has some of the best singletrack I’ve ridden and so much double track you can ride to Montana and back without crossing your tracks.
If its bike parks and perfect take off and landing ramps you crave, Fernie is not in the picture.

I’ve never owned a mobile phone before and this is one I’ve borrowed…. it needed to be mini or micro usb (not sure which is which) to match the charging cable for the Link+ head torch. It needed to be unlocked and have a good camera memory. I’m sure there are other things that folk use phones for, but this one will only be used to learn if there are route changes during the event and to take pics.
No Facebook, twitter, instergram etc. Rob Colliver is planning to ride Rob Collivers bike and thats all. Distractions not needed.
If anybody has a small, new, waterproof phone that they want to send on a free holiday for 38 days, please make contact!

Thanks again. Rob Colliver bows to your superior wit and knowledge and has made note on his blog.

If you are thinking of following this race, check out The Adventures of Rob Colliver, there will be a link to the Trackleaders site where my satelite tracker is hosted.

There is still no website for this race – it proves Google does not know everything!