This is a much more enjoyable way of finding routes than just looking online. I’m excited about plotting some of these descriptions onto a map and seeing what the hell you’re talking about!

Thanks

Are the strave routes available for non premium folk?

Blimey, so many place names to digest! I’ll have to sit down with a very large cuppa and Google maps.
I’ve ridden parts of the Ridgeway on a Scott marathon. It was very beautiful.
Quantocks and Exmoor loop is in the pipeline but only when I have a buddy free to share the drive with. Too expensive and tiring on my own hence why I’m looking closer to home.

Used the hatch this Monday. They were as welcoming as usual and the coffee was good.

I’ve abandoned all hope of racing this year and made peace with it. Am slowly finding new challenges for myself.

Actually, doesn’t matter. We’re going to take a picnic and head to a less popular spot.

I rode down to Jevington then over to Firle last Sat. Tap at the church was working

And then if you factor in your time.
I watch neighbours spend the whole afternoon doing a job that would take 10mins with my kit. (Often I can’t bear it and quickly do it for them).
So £700 over £350? Twice as good? No, 100 times as good.
Fox fork or Suntour? (probably not fair as I expect Suntour are ok these days).
You get the idea.

On beer 3 now!

I appreciate I’m overanslysing this. Humour me, I’ve had a beer and this is far removed from covid argument/gloom. Plus it’s something I know a bit about through hard won experience.
By the way I use hand sheers as well. All box work, topiary and cloud pruning, I prefer to feel every cut and be closely involved in the job. Powered kit is too aggressive in this situation.

Yeah but petrol. Have you got fuel? How old is it? It loses volatility over time you know? Have you added 2 stroke mix? So there’s a bunch of questions/hassles.
Electric (I’m smiling to myself as I’ve been a vocal mtb ebike hater), is easier to store and have ready when you need it. If the battery is flat then 20mins sees you right. You ever had to battle with a recalcitrant 2 stroke?😄

My Genesis CDF with Jones loop bars (actually Planet X knock offs), looks plain wrong. We call it The Zimmerbike. However it’s such a pleasure to ride it just keeps coming out for adventures.

Yeah. It’s like telling a beginner cyclist they need a £7k ‘sled’.
I’m overly opinionated about my work kit. Understandable when you use it every day.

Actually the Stihl cam in the hedgdcutter is a bushing and runs ridiculously hot. The whole thing disintegrates after 2 years. The Ergo uses 2 bearings which are replaceable at £30. Nice one Ergo. It’s like bike stuff really. Got to work through the rubbish stuff until you know what actually works long term.

Howsyourdad.
I’ve bought stuff that’s not even cheap but not as expensive as the good equipment. It just doesn’t last. If it’s petrol then it starts playing up after a year or so, if electric then it can last longer but once you look inside hedgecutter internals then the difference between bushings and bearings becomes evident. The cheap stuff is ok for a bit then chuck. The good stuff if looked after will do about 2-5years at professional workloads so a lifetime domestically and is kick ass quick.

You get what you pay for. Professional gardener here. Anything under about £700 will be a short lived pos I’m afraid.
I used to swear by Sthil petrol gear but now use a battery powered combi system made by a company called Ergo. It’s pretty decent kit.

Brant, a helmet would have probably taken the brunt of her head hitting the ground rather than her forehead.
However, I only added that as a point of minor note, no need to instigate another discussion on that tired subject.

The day after VE day, we heard a shriek from the road and a bunch of us rushed out from our houses. Middle aged women had crashed her bike badly and was lying in the road. None of us were first aid trained but we all got involved in making her comfortable, blocking off the road and phoning an ambulance. Wasn’t until after that we noticed that we’d not been social distancing. In my view there are situations in life where some risk has to be taken in order to do the right thing.
Incidentally we cancelled the ambulance after waiting an hour and drove her to hospital. She’d broken and dislocated her arm and smashed her face up. No helmet, complete beginner. Husband, experienced cyclist wearing helmet.

Great advice fellas. Thanks.

Thanks guys. I’d forgotten about the water filter option. Do you think one 750ml bottle and a filter would be enough reserve for riding in Wales and Scotland? My other favourite place is the South Downs Way which can be done on one bottle due to the taps.

Thanks for your replies and hope the OP got some useful information too.
All winter I used the Ortlieb large trunk bag on top of my rack. It was a brilliant way to carry spare clothes, food and a thermos. Makes the bike shimmy though due to it’s position whereas the low mounted side panniers usually eliminate this.
I’m enjoying the process of learning about it all. Was a dedicated racer for years but am at a point in my life now where I needed something new (I still love xc and cx racing but I don’t care much about results anymore and thus struggle to force myself to train like I used to).
I’m loving how the distance I can ride from my house has increased with the right setup and mindset. Saves driving to ride too. I hate getting stuck in a traffic jam on the way home from a morning ride. Spoils the day somewhat.

After posting I then looked at the names of who had already replied and realised the ‘seasoned members’ were already in attendance :)
Whilst you’re here can I ask you where you’d carry water on a full suss bike with only one bottle mount? So far I’ve come up with cages on the fork legs or bottles/bladder in a backpack.

I’m literally just back in from a short test run of my croix de fer with Ortlieb panniers which I use for road missions but this time I fitted 38mm gravel tyres and hit some off road. I’d cable tied a tiny bit of foam to a point where the panniers rattled on the rack and was pleasantly surprised by how quiet the setup was. Having the weight low down felt pretty nice too.
I do love the space panniers supply as I like taking a kettle and a drip filter so I can make proper coffee plus I like a few clothing options. I also have a cheap, rather bulky sleeping bag.
I’m very new to this branch of the hobby though so would love to hear from the more seasoned members on here. Obviously I would use bike bags on a proper mtb if I was heading to rougher areas but for mixed road, gravel and a bit of singletrack then I do like how my CDF with Jones bars just has everything to hand and is super comfortable. I can just throw a bunch of stuff in the panniers and go. No need to carefully pack micro kit

My wife is assistant head at a secondary school and is heavily involved in year 6 transition.
A lot of their current planning is about how to manage this transition depending on what the government decides to allow. The step from primary to secondary school is given a lot of attention as it can be really important for some kids. Many kids will happily just waltz into a new environment but some will not. Being able to liaise with the children on a one to one basis and also speak to their teachers and parents, helps identify who’s going to need extra help and how best to give it. It’s one of the ways in which schools have improved since our generation.

Waist packs are great but they tend to give me a stomach ache on the really long rides.
Currently I use:
Tube taped to seatpost.
A runners waistband for my phone and keys. Its really secure.
Food, tool and pump go in Jersey pockets.

Even better this morning. After overnight rain there were even fewer people out at 7am and the woods full of bluebells smelt divine.

I landed a small jump and massively buckled a specialized slaughter grid. It was over an inch out of true. Confused the hell out of me at the time.

I know this must sound a bit mad but when things get dark I always sing ‘just keep swimming’, the song Dory sings in Finding Nemo.
It encapsulates what you have to do. You have to completely reset your parameters for life and focus on the tiny things: get up and get dressed – win, have breakfast- win, put one foot in front of the other and get the essentials of the day done.
One day in the not too distant future you’ll experience something like feeling the sun on your face and it’ll be the best you’ve felt all week, and it’ll be enough.
Just keep swimming. It’ll take a full calendar year before life starts to feel normal again (a quote from another favourite film/book; The Shipping News), but it will feel normal again.
You’ve done the right thing reaching out for help. Find forums/groups of people in similar situations and talk, talk, talk. Personally I say don’t take pills, there’s nothing wrong with you. Of course you feel bereft, life has thrown you one of the hardest trials to bear.
Just keep swimming.

Just back from a dawn spin on the cx. Didn’t see a soul. Lovely.
Training tonight will be done on the turbo.
Doesn’t seem that hard to avoid contact and enjoy our hobby if you’re willing to be a bit flexible.

I just popped out for an hour on my usually deserted bridleways and tracks. I was having to zig zag through the walkers. 😆
Going back to my pre dawn excursions from now on. Only way to find solitude.
Doing my serious training on the turbo though. Keeping outside riding to a simple hour of peace. Away from the news, enjoying nature.

Get in touch with Bedgebury Boars. I expect you can find plenty of people to ride with.

Second day in a row of single speeding for me this morning. The wind is definitely the worst bit. Made sure it was in my face on the way out so the return journey was a hoot. Sun even came out for about 1 minute which was a treat.
Properly tired now after grinding through thick mud for 8hrs in two days.
Bluebell leaves are up now. It needs to dry up soon. Night rides on tacky trails through the bluebell woods are one of my favourite things ever.

Uh oh! I’ve had a beer (whilst watching the penultimate cx race of the season. Rectavit final round on GCN YouTube channel – cracking race, really cracking)

We/I hate emtbs’s because they suck the sheer simple joy out of a basic machine composed of levers and bearings powered by the body. They’ve added complexity and unnecessary waste/environmental damage to a perfectly functional machine. Bike racing works just fine; Man/woman trains, gets really fit, races bike, its awesome! Adding a motor is simply daft/stupid/flippin ridiculous (pick your favourite).

Posted by a fairly slim, fit 45 yr old (16th place at 2018 XC Nat Champs btw, yeah baby! Still dining off that one although I had a serious home advantage and the field was pretty small), who went out on his singlespeed this morning for 4 hrs. Man it was slow going and I only traveled a handful of miles but that was ok as that is what the conditions dictated. Don’t need a motor to add extra miles, it was just fine as it was.

Just broken my drinking and posting rule. Steve, hope you’ve enjoyed my rant, its been a while.

Have been doing a lot of road riding recently to get the miles in but utterly fed up with that now so embraced the wildness of it all and did four hours on my singlespeed this morning in the wind and mud. Really enjoyed it. Variety is the spice of life.

Cam Masons vid makes things look more promising! Those banks will cause bobbles which will split up groups. Sven’s opinion that the bridges will be tough because there’s no fast run in looks spot on.
It’s going to be brutal for the riders, 9min lap from Cam on his reccy. Not a fun course for riding but will probably produce some good racing.
I’m especially going to be cheering on Hattie Harnden because she’s awesome, Ben Tullet because he’s a local lad and also awesome and of course Tom Pidcock because he’s a joy to watch.
Love world champs weekend!

Hopefully the racing will be good. Last years course looked pretty flat but the bank features were really decisive. Not sure the couple of banks shown in the vid will be big or bad enough to make a difference. Apart from that it’s a course that tests one ability; how much seated power a rider can put out. TT’s do that! A cx course should test a full range of power and handling skills. My opinion is that this was a really poor choice for a world champs and probably chosen for its ability to handle parking and spectators. Probably quite easy to televise too.

I wouldn’t bother at the moment. In winter everything is covered in leaves, slippery as hell and the little woodwork bridges etc are like ice. All the low lying areas are bog too.
In summer it’s ok for a quick nosey but it’s on a pretty small scale. There was some bigger stuff being built but it got flattened.
The woods in this area contain nature reserves so it’s pretty sensitive area.
Personally I think it’s best left for the local kids who I know enjoy it.

Hey mate.
I bought a chain checker a couple of years ago. Bloody thing will have you replacing chains every few months. Friends in the bike shop joke how much they love them.
So back to the traditional method. You just know when it’s time to refresh your drivetrain. Ghost shifting, shifting under load, and the real tell; when you index one end of the cassette perfectly yet it’s imperfect at the other end. If indexing takes more than five mins then it’s time to change.
I change everything at once and am usually good for at least a year.

I raced the Nat Champs there a couple of years ago and was really glad that I’d been on a 2 hr tuition course beforehand. Pretty well all the features of the Olympic course were used and there’s a few that are quite intimidating. Leap of Faith and Tripple Trouble spring to mind. There’s no way I’d have ridden off the top of tripple trouble without a coach talking us through it first. Was a real thrill doing it in a race situation on the big day. (Before anyone chimes in with “that’s easy”, remember we’re talking about doing it on a 100mm bike with 70 degree head angle here, dressed only in Lycra).
There were also features like the rock garden which repaid practicing different lines. There were fast lines but also better lines when you were exhausted or someone was in your way.
All in all it’s a good day out. 3 hours sees it all worked through but there’s a nice cafe and the trails are rock hard.
I need a refresher so could be up for meeting up. I’m mid forties now and getting more fearful of breaking myself by the day. Am wavering about doing the National this year for that reason which is a shame as it’s a fantastic course to race on.

Have formulated a simple training plan for this season. Lots of climbing!
Ramping from around 3000m/wk at the moment to 7000m/wk in May in order to be as good as possible for the Alps Epic mtb stage race in June.
No idea how well this training will go but looks like an interesting challenge.
Rest week every 4th week and every week also includes 2 Pilates classes and 1-2 short but brutal spin classes.
Targeting the southern xc series along the way to give me some short term goals but not letting up on the training for them. Managed to win the singlespeed class of the last brass monkeys on the final day of a two week block of flat endurance riding (32hrs in 2 weeks!), so ‘training through’ works well enough for me.