For a big pedally loop from whinfell forset, no need to drive.

Go out of forest, cross A66 and head north to Kirkland, pick up bridleway that goes over cross fell (you don’t actually summit it), down to Alston, take the B6277 east, until you pick up footpath (bit cheeky) but it’s just a land-rover track jut after the county Durham border, to cowgreen reservoir, then bridleway over to high Cup nick (amazing views), follow the bridleway down to dufton. Road back to Kirkland and back to whinfell forest. Probably be a nice 40mile round trip.

Great views, big climbs and long descents. Can get a bit wild up cross fell, so save it for a nice day if you can.

Last year there was no showers, portaloo’s were the only facilities on site.

So I only have choice of Maxxis Aspen or Schwalbe Ray/Ralph. Neither sound ideal choice for this coming weekend 🤔

What is good in terms of xc race mud tyres?

Jonba, don’t do the mistake i did and look on the OS map and think there isn’t much climbing. Yes there isn’t a massive altitude gain and there are no long climbs like you will be use to up at kielder. But there are lots of very short ups and downs, some steep in places. It felt hard from the constant changes in elevation, couldn’t really settle into a nice rhythm.

I did it last year and I’ll be there again this year.

I’ve only ridden there once, and it was dry, so can’t say what it’s like in the wet.

What about insurance?

I Know on club road rides every member has to have some form of 3rd party insurance. Not sure if it is a requirement for off road rides.

But as the club is organising mtb rides there could be some form of liability if a dog and rider crash, either to the owner of an injured dog, or the injured cyclist. Or the club could be held liable for organising the club rides.

I have no experience of this, so could be talking a load of rubbish. But if you are becoming affiliated to BC or CUK, they may have some rules about dogs on rides.

26″ as they roll over things great and have amazing grip. But that is with a 4.8″ tyre fitted. My Fatbike is my favourite bike and just makes me smile riding it.

Otherwise 29″. Just because it was the first mtb I’d bought in around 20years and for the price it was a great deal, the bike suited my needs and I couldn’t afford anything else.

Have never tried a 27.5″, and certainly cannot afford to buy another mtb.

https://www.xcomtb.com/ is a good place for XC race info

Ridgeback Expedition?

Yep. V brake on touring bike. Work fine. Would prefer discs, but not an iusse.

Also have cantilever on cross bike. Which I toured on. But they don’t feel as good. But would still be happy to use them

The issue is many people who participate do not know the cost or all the logistics involved in putting events on, so they don’tknow why events go up.

What I’ve seen over the years is the problem with pricing any event, is that a couple of quid rise can have a big effect on participant numbers. As riders often assume organiser’s are just trying to make money.

Over the years I’ve seen regular racers stop racing as events have gone up 1 or 2 pound to cover overheads otherwisethe raceswould be cancelled. These riders then say they can no longer afford to race due to rising entry costs. Its usually riders who have the latest model bike every year and all the expensive kit, but they complain about a couple of pound extra.

Not really sure what you should charge as I’ve never done that type of event. but looking at your prices, that seems very good value for money to me for what you get.

Wouldn’t use an airbed again. Too much movement when the other person moves around, and I find them too uncomfortable.

Not the most practical solution due to the size, but we have a memory foam mattress. Use it for guests stopping over and for camping when taking the van. It rolls up but still very bulky, so not ideal if you don’t have the boot space. But a hell of a lot comfier and warmer than an airbed.

This thread can’t be good for all the independent bike shops currently with thousands of pounds worth of giant bikes in stock. Wonder if their sales will take a hit as a result?

To reduce car dependancy it needs significant investment to improve the cycling infrastructure and public transport provision.

This significant investment will require long-term commitment from the government. But the government are not bothered about long-term commitment as thats not what wins elections.

It really needs all political parties to have a commitment to long-term goals, so if there is a change in government, then the new party in charge will still continue with the commitment.

It shouldn’t only be for cycling infrastructure and public transport improvement. If there was political party agreement to inprove the NHS, police, fire brigade, civil service, environment, education etc, then it would continually improve the country and we wouldn’t be in the state we are in. But this thinking doesn’t win elections, so we end up with short-term poorly delivered projects that aren’t fit for purpose.

Possibly would for the 24hr race, but probably wouldn’t for something like a 6 or 8 hour race.

Yes, it’s only a short time running, but it’s painful and takes a while to recover from it.

Other solutions could be a longer opening section to spread field out before first singletrack if course allows it.

It’s of zero impact if you can run ok.

Not sure of the actual distances to run, I’d
guess about 300 to 600 metres for the one i did (could have been much more or less, was a long time ago), but as a someone who gets a lot of pain from running, it does have an effect on the actual bike race. To the extent that I never went back to do the Enduro 6 race again.

TJ your posts have been a throughly enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing 👍👍👍👍👍

Good luck with your next adventure and hope you post about it.

Safe travels home.

TJ, thanks for sharing, been enjoying the updates, it has been very entertaining reading about your travels, and all the wonderful places you have been and the amazing hospitality you have received.

Unfortunately I’ve not been able to get out for any touring myself for the last couple of years, so this has been brilliant to read. As it’s given me my touring fix from the seat of my sofa, without having to turn a pedal 🙂

Hope you enjoy whatever you have planned next. Enjoy a nice relax if you head back home, you deserve it. But whilst you are there I think it would be rude not to continue on to Portugal. You are not that far away really!

Stay safe and enjoy 👍👍

The Reb bull commentary has been great and realy enjoy watching it. However the commentary on GCN+ for the World championships XCC race was terrible. Nearly as bad as the BBC when they do commonwealth and Olympic MTB coverage.

Really hope that they get some good commentators for next year otherwise I’ll stop watching, can’t listen to that for long periods.

Something from Surly.

I have Surly Long Haul Trucker (no longer available, but they make the Disc Trucker, essentially the same bike but with disc brakes). Had it years, will probably never sell it. It’s great for touring. I do mainly road touring on it, but a few times ive had it off road even with full panniers, it copes no problem.

Only thing is, if I was to buy it now, think I would go for something like the Surly Ogre or Bridge Club instead.

For me it sometimes works the other way round. Despite a teams success and how nice the bikes are I don’t want to be associated with that and seen as a crazy fan boy.
For example, Trek Road bikes, during the Armstrong era the increase in sales was massive for that company and everyone seemed to have one and for that reason there was no appeal for me despite them making some nice bikes. But clearly it worked on many others as their sales increased.

TJ, really been enjoying your updates on your travels. This is a great thread.

You say you are hundreds of miles from where you wanted to be now. But do you need to be there now? If you don’t have any time constraints, don’t worry about where you think you need to be, just enjoy everything you are doing. The last thing you want to do, is at the end of the trip is think that you wished you hadn’t rushed and taken longer if you could have.

Anyway, enjoy whatever comes next.

Looking at that planter, is the rail you lock it to hardend steel? If not I’d be more worried about somebody cutting the rail than taking the planter away.

How long you planning on leaving bike outside? If its only for short time, then It’s a good idea to stop an opportunist theif walking past and pinching your bike. But for leaving bike out for long periods I would want something much more substantial to lock the bike to.

If it was just the cycling I understand, but an extra 800g is just a large water bottle. Do you notice much difference when you have a full bottle compared to an empty one? If not just take the walking boots. If it turns out you don’t use them, you could always post them back.

I say that as an over packer, I’ve never been able to do lightweight, apart from the very steepest climbs I don’t generally notice a few kgs of extra comforts.

Even using something like a GPS computer instead of a phone, you will run into issues with charging.

TJ great thread, enjoying the updates.

Few things I would say:
Shoes, you only mention camp shoes and SPDs. You are going to see loads of great places, are your camp shoes comfy and durable enough if you decide to do some walking and sightseeing without the bike? If not What about some walking boots/shoes? You will spend a lot of time on the bike, but also a lot off it. You may want a few days rest without cycling, and comfortable shoes for those days would be welcome.

Strava or similar, looks like you don’t use it as above you said you mapped out your distance afterwards. But it’s something I wish I’d had for a lot of my earlier touring. In years to come, you can see your routes where you had been and what distance etc you had done each day. You can add pictures to each days activity. And if you don’t want to you don’t ave to share it with anyone, as you can keep all activities private, but you have that history you can see for years to come.

Bar bag or small frame bag, consider a small bag, just to keep items that you want to get access to quickly, somewhere to put phone, camera, snacks, wallet, etc. without going into your main bag.

Thats just my suggestions, but you seem vastly more experienced in this than me, so I’m sure you already know what works best for you.

Anyway, enjoy your trip and hope you have a good time

@reluctantjumper what a great thread. Just read the whole lot, thanks for posting with all the updates. Not sure how I’d previously missed this thread. Anyway keep up the good work 👍👍

This thread makes me wish I’d never sold my mini. I also had a G reg, it was a limited edition Racing Green. Think I sold it for about £150 about 20 years ago, it needed a little work to get it back on road. I had it was parked up and not in use and I kept getting people knock on door and ask if I’d sell it and kept saying no, but stupidly one day just said yes. And regretted ever since. No way I could afford one now looking at the prices.

@TheFlyingOx you should balance the phases. But if you were already on a single phase supply, then it should be balanced further down the system. E.g. your row of houses is on one phase, the next row on another etc. The DNO should be looking to see if the load is balanced.

If it was a complete new 3 phase installation without any existing single phase then it should be balanced equally across the 3 phases like you say.

Additionally if 3 phase is available, I wouldn’t change the existing wiring. Keep that as single phase, as you can just use one of the phases for your existing single phase DB and just put a new 3 phase DB in for any of the 3phase stuff.

Firstly you’ll need to see if there is a 3 phase supply available near to your property, there isn’t always.

We wanted it for workshop equipment but there was only single phase available, it would have cost a fortune to do, and I don’t think the electricity supplier would have done it as it would have been new overhead lines being installed and been a massive undertaking.

So we just used a single phase to 3 phase converter for when we needed to use the 3 phase equipment

I’d prefer not to ride in the rain. But it doesn’t bother me. Usually it wouldn’t put me off going for a ride.

One thing I don’t like about it is wearing a waterproof jacket while cycling. Hate the things, find I get wet anyway, never really found a proper breathable cycling waterproof, so generally go without and just accept that I am going to get wet.

I had a 20 year old £400 banger Peugeot partner van and apart from a new fuel pump, ran it for about 2 years with no issues, apart from tyres.

But if you are considering that size of vehicle. I’d just get the car version, will likely to be less beat up than a van. Plus you don’t have issues taking it to the tip if getting rid of rubbish, unlike a van which you generally need a permit for.

Well that is interesting. From my experience I struggle to stop myself so certainly wouldn’t like to stop a tandem with my set. But if they are good enough for you and your tandem then I must be doing something wrong. Will need to go back and see what I can do to improve them.

@nbt yes I am. Its the only set of disc brakes I have used on a road bike and from my experience I feel much safer with rim brakes even in the wet. I assume road hydraulic brakes are much better, but these are truly terrible in my experience

I’ve never had much luck with those brakes, ever since I got them. I have them on winter bike, I get them set up and they seem OK, about 3 rides later they just to struggle to stop. They don’t give any confidence if I had to do an emergency stop.

Tried different pads, cleaning the rotors, compression-less cables. Still can’t get them to work well for any length of time.

Cheers for replies. Think I’ll give it a miss for the time being. Just going for a shimano one.

Sharkattack, very similar to my thoughts 🤣

I would happily buy a shimano one, but its for my fatbike and as far as I can see shimano don’t make one for 100mm bottom bracket shell.

The raceface one fitted to the bike had lasted less than a year, about 700 miles according to strava. So want something that will last a bit longer. Plus it’s not like I have ridden it much through much of winter. I was hoping it would have lasted a bit longer.

Seen a few on the North Yorkshire Moors and in Hamsterley forest. Mostly they are just sunning themselves and not moving, but recently nearly squashed one, it was moving across the track and I didn’t see it until last minute. I swerved and It coiled back looking like it was getting into the attack position, but think it was just avoiding being flattened. Only missed it by a few inches. It soon moved off and it was too quick for me to stop and get a photo of it.

Turbo training. Instead of going out for a ride which uses no electricity, I’ll go on the turbo, and as such requires a load of other powered devices just to do so. In total there is the turbo, a fan, display screen and music device on, just so I can ride a bike inside not going anywhere 🤦‍♂️

Depends on how much riding you plan on doing. The actual mtb trials could be done on a gravel bike, just slower, but they are more enjoyable on a mtb. It’s not the most technical riding for a trial centre, don’t go thinking you are getting tweed Valley level of trials. But they are good for a quick blast around.

Other than that there are many miles of forest roads which are more suited to a gravel bike.
I suppose it all depends on what type of riding you want to do and how much riding you will do when you are there.

In my opinion it’s not a destination to go solely for the mtbing. For the size of the place there isn’t that much trials, There are certainly better places to go. But the mtb riding is ok if you are already going there for a holiday.