Just made me want to ride about down steps in the dark 🙂 Who cares if some people think it’s ‘self indulgent’ Ed’s a good character.

Mallory’s body is now covered with a cairn, hopefully not all of these bodies are exposed as in these photos now, there’s over 120 up there.

As a side note, between Dingboche to Lobuche there are memorials to those that have died, many are for Sherpas.

Grim indeed, most of the issues surrounding this are in Joe Simpson’s book ‘Dark Shadows Falling’. From the look of the photo, the last body isn’t far from basecamp at the foot of the Khumbu icefall, sad stuff.

Cheers everyone – very helpful and lots to look up on maps. Certainly I’d rather use trains than the motorways.

Ha, used to Interlopers, had a couple as neighbours when near Leeds.

Had a Geography teacher called Mrs Russian at the same time as a driving instructor called Mr Driver, bizarre.

Highly doubt you’ll notice the difference.. Money could be spent much more effectively to improve a bike elsewhere.

Does that mean they are even more clicky? 🙂

Can’t be bothered to check all the above so sorry if it’s been said but on a non-ful frame camera a 50mm works as 80mm – ideal portrait lens but good for other too obvs. If you’re into landscapes get something wider as well as maybe a 100mm with a macro which would allow for more creativity.

Ha, the 3 Chord Wonders! Get on Spotify and have a hack through the songs, famous Quo tracks are: Whatever you want, In the army now, Caroline, Rocking all over the world.

Ha ha, it’s a total mess, go to most other countries and they laugh at our system, for them there is little use in using miles.

No worries mate, I’m sure it’ll be fun. I used Giordana lycra roady shorts, no baggies but yeah make sure you get a comfy set up esp if you are wild camping and can’t shower everyday, I met a couple of people on route really moaning about issues down there, could end up wrecking the ride. Ahem, nice!

I think you’ll need another whole bike specifically for Bike Park Wales, the riding there is so incredibly different to anywhere else on the planet, having a head angle that is out by 1 degree is just unthinkable.

I’d have done that any day to avoid a certain manger in my last job!

Anyone else wonder why everyone is raving over it? It’s a warm scarf in the summer and won’t save you from direct unexpected impacts. IMO it’s toot as Sir Sugar would say.

+1 on their tyre listings, often they just list the name, no description as to whether it’s wire/folding etc.

If you order a bolt it’ll turn up in a bike box!

SS would be slow. Dartmoor day was over 7000ft of climbing, someone said that was the same as Alpe d’Huez twice.

Merlin are doing SLX cassettes with a deore chain for 30 something quid at mo.

Anyone into trying to pack light has this guy as serious competition! http://ultralightcycling.blogspot.co.uk/

Out of interest, are you specifically wanting to do it on a mountain bike?

I did it with 3 mates last June/July. We also did our own route (about 12 percent off road, avoided A-roads as much as poss, 55,000+ ft of total ascent and 1070 miles.

I used a Genesis Croix de fer with Ortlieb Panniers.

Rack – get a disc specific one, I got a – MPart Ridge Pannier Rack – For Disc Brakes, alarmingly bolts rattled loose after about 600 miles, perhaps get better bolts or frequently check them/take spares. I’d suggest getting a Topeak MTX disc rack simply cos Vin Cox used one of these riding around the world, it is a tad heavier than the other options mind. Check there’s nothing remotely sharp in contact with your panniers, my rack rubbed holes in the panniers.
Don’t get a TorTec Ultralite Rear Rack, despite what people say these don’t work well with discs.

Tyres Tubes – All 4 of us didn’t get punctures, we used slick 32mm Continental Gatorskins, even off road these were fine, you can give them a right beating.
I only took one spare tube.

Gears – With set up you have with 10 speed I’d get a 12-36 cassette, a wide range really helps the knees epsecially with loads on the hills.

By a long chain that’ll take powerlinks such as a KMC or Sram one. Once chain is fitted, keep the spare bit you don’t need (hence why buying a long one is good) Buy an additional powerlink and bring that with the spare bit with you. Don’t bother taking another whole chain, if it breaks you only need a few links and the powerlink.

Bike gear I took – chain tool, allen keys, spoke key for adjusting, v. small cloth for cleaning between brake pads, small bottle of chain lube, little philips screw driver, couple of patches and tube glue, small amount of electrical tape.

ALso took a cheap lock and one of the the Kryptonite flex cables.

Don’t forget to factor in weight and space for food and drink, there were days in Scotland and Northumberland where we had to take 3 litres of drink and a lot of snacks.

Also, don’t forget the saddle cream, Chapeau is good and savlon etc!

midlifecrashes – I have one of those Pentax MXs, apparently it was the lightest SLR you could buy back in 1976. Mine has a winder/grip too. Bit battered but I think it’d survive a nuclear blast!!

60 – 80 is usually considered ‘normal’. How quickly your HR drops after exertion is a good indication of a heart in good nick.

They look crap

Halfrods sell Hope now? Jeeze.

45 bpm is very low although you have some way to go until you reach previous Tour de France winner Indurain’s level of 28!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Indurain

The ave of 2500 is very much a suggested ave of a male based on old research, if you are riding everyday and on your feet a lot then you’ll be burning more and it does depend a fair bit on body size.

If it’s that bad either see a GP who will get you at least one physio appointment if you make it sound bad enough! Or look at a muscle/biology chart to figure out which ligaments/muscles are hurting, google stretches you can do for them and do them a few times during the day. Ibrupofen gel helps too.

I thought it was the Baordman Team that was cracking around the top of the seat stay? http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/2014-boardman-cxs/page/2

Genesis Croix de fer? Although if you are bothered about weight look elsewhere. It’s versatile though.

Boardman, Canyon, Rose for the money although waiting time could be long with the Canyon.

Not impressed by Orange’s CX bike, parts are low end for the money.

Personally I like the Kinesis Pro 6 but again there is a few weeks waiting time on them.

Honour, pride, nation, glory – words frequently used in propaganda. Today we have ‘terrorism’. The blurred meaning of these words by our leaders is quite scary when you think about it. The very idea of an ongoing ‘war on terror’ would be daft, funny even if it weren’t for the horrible reality.

Claudia Winkleman – well it’s all in the goofiness I suppose, I saw the dancing thing the other day, you can see someone told her to cut her fringe so she can see what is going on.

Some interesting views. I thought this 91 year old veteran’s views were valid and well worth a read:

In summary:

“I will no longer allow my obligation as a veteran to remember those who died in the great wars to be co-opted by current or former politicians to justify our folly in Iraq, our morally dubious war on terror and our elimination of one’s right to privacy”.

Full article:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/08/poppy-last-time-remembrance-harry-leslie-smith

Certainly WWI and WWII were fought for very different reasons to the current wars we are in now.

Jump on the train to Saltaire – All Terrain are great and right by the station. Stiff is waaay out in the middle of nowhere now but there’s good riding out there.

Salts Mill is worth a visit to if you are interested in art/books/food/xmas gifts, or just get a pie over the road at that bakery!

neilsonwheels – what’s the seat angle on ‘the winter one’ frame? Looks laaaaid back.

Look at some footage of the dutch corner at the Alpe d’Huez, that’s what I’m talking about!

He’ll make a killing. Theme it, make it all yellow. Dye the grass yellow, paint the whole road yellow, it’ll get on TV and people will talk about it.

Does he like smoothies? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgqYeqiUbqo

Hardest part is snapping up a place before someone on the phone to a housing agent, who hasn’t even seen the property gets in before you.

West gets you out to Surrey easily at weekends.

Touching The Void

Scratch – early days of hip hop, I’m not big on Hip hop but it’s great – whole film – https://vimeo.com/25272459

Lucas Brunelle – Line Of Sight – compulsory viewing for any roadie/commuter!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0npCFw9TEnA

Heart of Darkness

+1 Westway to the World