Jags were part of Leyland group back then!

Threads like this really put me off buying a used car!

Much better to fix properly IMO. £350 bill on a £5K car is definitely in the “economical to repair” category for me. For a car that was/is marketed as premium/luxury, I would have thought that garage bills in the £hundreds should probably be expected from time to time.

@ready ask to do “easy” enduro when you book and be honest with the guides at the beginning of each day. That worked fine for me (UK trail centre red comfortable at the time, progressed a bit since thankfully), and they recommended I sat out about three descents over five days. TBH my thighs were glad of the rest, as I’d never spent so much time standing on pedals before then. Some of the guides are great coaches and will help with skills progression where they can.

TAKE A HEAD-TORCH! You might not need one every day, but you’ll thank me on the day you do.

As far as I can tell the only way to get one at the moment is to buy a bike that has one fitted. (Not much help I know, but close to the truth)

Sounds like you’re looking for a crew van rather than an MPV, so have you looked at the Nissan NV300?

Can’t make it, sorry. (Thought I’d post on here in case anyone else is interested)

Hi @monkeyboyjc

I could be interested if they’re still available. Is it the 7pm show?

Flat occurred on her approach to the pit lane. She let the crew know on the way with a hand gesture.

Looking indomitable again today.

Do both: Lenzerheide in summer and Madeira in winter. I wouldn’t look beyond Freeride Madeira, they’re a great outfit, who’ll take you to the best trails all over the island. Their hire bikes are good quality (Scott Ransoms last year), so no need to take your own.

A Garmin GPS watch will do all that for you. Doesn’t have to be one of the top of the range ones. I’ve been using a Vivoactive HR for a few years now. I’ve only recently bought a bike computer (Garmin 530) to add navigation as well, but still quite often go out with just the watch.

I know someone who did cough up a quid for the car watching service and still had their stereo nicked. She saw the lad who’d been “watching” it and got her money back!

PSA for anyone else nostalgic for Maine Road: “The Keeper” (film about Bert Trautmann) is on iPlayer at the moment.

@welshfarmer I thought you had to book your 2 day test via CTM in Wales (or is that what’s changing?)

Edit: ignore that, I’ve just seen on BBC news that private test companies will be allowed.

Lots of big loops available starting from the Elan Valley.

Yes, I’ve done it by this method:

routing a dropper down the seat tube, over the bb and up the down tube to the empty cable guide on the drive side at the top of the down tube

Complete PITA to do with the BB installed, but managed it eventually with a lot of cursing and a bit of “ingenuity”. You can buy headtube port plugs with different numbers of holes. I think I got mine from Westbrook.

Also choose your dropper carefully, the insertion length is restricted by the bottle bosses on the seat-tube. You probably want to be looking at One-Up or Crankbrothers Highline posts.

.

Take a headtorch, or similar (you’ll most likely thank me for this advice on one of the days!).

Either bike will be fine. When I went I hired a Scott Ransom, which was ideal, but could have managed with a bit less travel. There’s not an awful lot of pedalling required (the clue’s in the name).

Maxxis equivalents are probably Ardent Race/Rekon Race, but the Rekon Race only available as 2.25.

Assuming you want 29″, then Mantel have the Mezcal 2.35 in stock.

The pain should go eventually. The uric acid crystals may have dispersed, but they will leave damaged tissue behind. This will take time to heal. Be on the alert for another flare up for the next week or so. The sooner you start taking the anti-inflammatories, the less severe and shorter lived the attacks will be.

That just served to demonstrate that the most exciting bits of F1 are the start + first 3 corners and the pit-stops.

Certainly do, find it easier to keep up or overtake on climbs than on descents.

Bits of Skyline were closed when I was up there a couple of weeks ago. Easy to divert around on the gravel road though.

It’s like the great bog-roll shortage of 2020 all over again!

There’s going to be a shortage, so everyone buys an extra chain to keep as a spare, and low and behold there is a shortage, and it develops twice as quickly as it needed to. The only difference being is that the bike industry doesn’t seem to be agile enough to increase production to replace the stock that’s been stockpiled before everyone’s had to resort to (metaphorically) wiping their arses on the daily mail.

(And yes, for full hypocritical disclosure: I did order an extra chain this week, even though I’ve already got a spare)

Dehydration can be a trigger (even if just for a short time). Drink water throughout the day to stay topped up.

Worth getting the doc to check your blood pressure to see if that’s a contributing factor.

Worth considering if any meds you’re on might be partly to blame as well.

Doc may want to put you on allopurinol due to the frequency of attacks.

Alternative route back would be to pick up Dave Buchanan’s WC2C route between Machynlleth and Llanwrtyd (goes through Nant yr Arian and Tywi forest. Then maybe NCR43 and NCR 825 back to Knighton, or plot something more imaginative for the last leg.

Totally depends on how fit you are! And I expect conditions on the day/s will make a big difference. (My opinions are of course subjective)

The middle section took me just over 6 hours back in May, conditions were good.

One way in 3 days is a relatively leisurely pace. (But don’t underestimate how many gates you’ll have to open and close!)

One way in 2 days is good going for a reasonably fit rider. (probably what I’d be aiming for, personally)

One way in 1 day is impressive.

So, both ways in 3 days is certainly doable, but not to be taken lightly. Or if you’re well prepared, it may be a piece of cake for you.

Bikepacking.com classes it as a 3-dayer in one direction. So might be worth looking at how they score other routes that you have done for comparison.

In a similar vein, I have done one trail descent each at CYB, Climachx, and NyrA in one day all linked up with country lanes, fire roads, bridleway etc. I remember on the last descent at Nant feeling like I was in self preservation mode.

I quite fancy doing something similar in the South, maybe linking Wentwood, Cwmcarn and Afan. Will probably wait until the Skyline is fully open.

Whatever you do, make sure that @welshfarmer doesn’t find out about this thread…

The Black Cottage route on there is probably closest to your original brief @SOAP. Goes through the Nantgwyllt trails area.

Assuming clockwise:

The Roman road is a fun descent at the end. Lot of deep standing water in places, but may have dried up since I was there. The climb up from Craig Goch is a bit of a slog on the grass. The run from Rhayader to Elan is a bit dull.

Start at Visitor centre. Up puke hill, down to the river then along sunken road to Claerwen Dam. Head back along road just under 1km and head up bridleway behind Ciloerwynt farm on the left, over the top and drop onto the fireroad at the top of the new bermy trails. Don’t have a gpx sorry. Cycle trail back to visitor centre when you’ve done a few runs.

Edit: The first bit from visitor centre to the dam is all part of the Trans Cambrian Way route, so should be easy to find a gpx for that.

Think I’d just put a stealth ad on here instead 🤔

TBF it will probably work really well (or possibly too well!). To get it to work though you’ll need a decent seal on the bowl, which means you might as well get one of these instead:

Looks ideal for bikepacking not having the shock cluttering up the front triangle.

I think if I was doing something like that again that’s the route I’d take in the southern half. The part from Caernarfon to Porthmadog was a bit dull, but I didn’t divert to Criccieth, so that will be an improvement.

There’s some fantastic scenery in the middle section   and probably just enough opportunities to pick up refreshments on route, e.g. Coed y Brenin visitor centre, Blue bell inn at Llangurig, plus shops/pubs in Dolgellau, Mach, Rhayader, Builth etc.

Time it right leaving Hay and you can stop for an ice cream on your way up the Gospel pass.

EV2 in Wales is basically ncr8 / ncr42. I’ve ridden most of it except the bit in Anglesey and the section from Rhayader to Hay.

I’m not sure I’d like to ride the Tywi splashes with a fully loaded 29er

Easily avoidable if you stay on the gravel road on the west side through the forest.

If you divert into the woods south of Mach at Forge and head for Nant-yr-Arian, then off the A44 take the bridleway south of Ponterwyd (you might need to push up). Then head through Strata Florida to the Twyi forest, then through the forest southeast of Lynn brianne to Llanwrtyd; this will give plenty of gravel miles!

Also another option is to start at Conwy and go over Snowdonia to Trawsfynydd. More “all terrain” but significantly harder than the NCR section.

You’re probably better off deciding where you want to finish (start if going south 2 north), before choosing your route through the Brecon Beacons.

(Assuming North 2 South)

Probably following NCR8 fits your bill best in terms of limiting hike a bike. I did the Dave Buchanan route which deviated from that in places to pick up Climachx and Nant-yr-arian trails. I wouldn’t want to do the Climachx descent on a fully loaded bike!, Fortunately that bit is easy to miss out just by staying on NCR8 into Machynlleth. Choice of whether to stick to NCR8 and head to towards Rhayader, or head more directly south through Strata Florida, Llanwrtyd, Tirabad to Brecon. Again sticking to NCR8 will be the easier route

Then for the last leg, the choice is to stick to NCR8 down the Taff trail into Cardiff Bay (if you do this then don’t arrive at 5pm on a weekday, it was heaving all the way through Cardiff, and made it into a bit of an anti-climax to an otherwise great ride). Alternatively switch to NCR42 heading over the Gospel pass and finish in Chepstow, or stay on NCR8 past Talybont and Pontsticill reservoirs, then at Merthyr pick up NCR46 down past Afan to the Port Talbot / Swansea area.