We went to the Intrepids Camp in the Mara (next to the Governors landing strip) in 2009. It was absolutely brilliant. ‘Tents’ had tiled showers and his and her sinks with four poster beds. We saw a crazy amount of wildlife in the four days we were there – 50+ birds and 30+ species of animals. I could haved happily stayed there for weeks.

Wheels were bought new and fully built up by JRA, so nothing to do with me guv’nor.

Stem might be a bit long, but its only 100mm, and the bike is for long XC jey rides, so I’ll have to see.

Road bike.

You’ll be amazed at how much fitter/faster a spot of road biking will make you.

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Not specific to any camera, but it will get you off Auto mode.

Otherwise the books by Scott Kelby are reckoned to be pretty useful.

How far do you want to ride each day? Look up the route of the Phil and Friends ride for o good 150km ride round some hills.

More trucks up there today dumping more crap down.

Have they any idea how horrible that stuff is to ride on?

Holy shit. That’s horrendous.

That’s now better surfaced than most of the roads in Sheffield.

Blimey, does nobody do it on a normal bike?

Clearly my question should have been ‘what niche for the Kielder 100?’

Thanks for all the replies – I know that it is fitness not the bike that counts, but its always fun pontificating – and its easier than training!

Good effort both of you – I have to admit to being rather worried at the prospect of 100 miles off road!

A lightly built 120mm bike makes more sense I think, and is going to be much more useful round the Peak too I suspect. I can imagine what you mean about the fireroads; they should be a chance to rest and relax not hang on for grim death.

Don’t get a 2k bike for winter use!

Get something cheap secondhand, plenty of decent bikes for £400. This will let you see if you like it, and more importantly help you work out size etc. Trying to buy a 2k road bike based on MTB experience could lead to costly mistakes. You can then either buy a good road bike with much better knowledge and keep the cheap bike for winter, or flog the cheap bike and lose hardly any money.

Oh, and the answer is always carbon!

Cool, that should keep me quiet for a few days.

You can’t get more classic than the route of the Fred Whitton in the Lakes.

Perhaps not ideal as your first foray into road riding though….

Its a good route as a 2 dayer if you aren’t up for doing it in one.

Cheers.

The more I think about it (staring out the window into the damp murk) the more I like the idea. Even if its just 3 days of road biking.

Any particular recomendations for bike shops?

I’m liking that Parlee.

Sounds a familiar story – used to mtb a lot, but finding myself road riding more than off road these days. Less hassle an better for the fitness for sure.

As an aside, are all the Anthem frames the same ( apart from the carbon obviously), just with different kit?

Sorry for hijack.

Try the Raptor range, its their bike specific range.

I do also use a Talon 5.5 which is good.

Thanks for that Mr W, I might just get a hardtail to put all the bits off the old SL on, but I think I need some bounce for my old bones.

Thanks, but I think that the Chumba sounds a bit too burly, like I say I already have a trail bike.

Yeti might be interesting – have you a link to the exact model of frame/specs and pictures of yours, and what size is it?

I’ll look into the Morewood, sounds good.

Otherwise nice cheap light Santa Cruz it is I guess.

50/34 compact and 12-27 at the back will get you up most hills in the UK unless you are carrying panniers or something.

Changing to a triple will cost a fair bit.

I asked Merlin this, and they said that the levers could be used on either side.

Now Peter is sorted, and we are on a bit of a lens love-in, has any body got (or know of) a Canon 100-400 thats for sale?

I've been looking for a while and haven't found one.

Cheers

Apologies, but having re-read your original post, I don't think that the 17-85 will be any better than your 17-70, and of course its not 2.8.

My final suggestion would be to save your money, buy a few books (eg. Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson) and learn some more. I think that you are only likely to get noticeably sharper images by spending a fair bit of money on lenses, and you'd prabably see more of an improvement by learning a few basic rules and tips.

For a budget biking lens the 17-85 would be worth a look, when I'm taking biking pictures I generally wish for wider than my 24-105, not longer.

Or the 18-55IS as I suggested, but it must be the IS version, the original non IS are very cheap (£50) and can be a bit soft.

Stopped down means less light, not more, so 2.8 is open f16 is stopped down.

The 70-200 f2.8 is expensive and heavy for biking.

I carry a 40d with a 24-105 on for biking, with a 10-20 in my bag. Not sure that you'd really need up to 200mm for biking shots on a crop sensor.

Might be better to have a shorter, sharper lens and crop the image as required. Probably produce better results than a cheap, soft 200mm lens.

The 18-200 is a pretty compromised lens.

Sharp 'cheaper' lenses ar considered to be the 18-55IS, the 70-200 F4, the 50mm F1.8 that it sounds like you have.

Unfortunately sharp lenses aren't cheap.

V70R here. Not quite the RS6 I'd like, but still pretty useful. 3 bikes in the boot (wheels and frames all stood up vertically) so all the seats still useable. 300bhp and occasionally 30+mpg (might be a bit less sometimes too….). Comfy seats, decent stereo and pretty stealth so nobody notices you.

Downsides are stiff suspension and hilariously bad turning circle. Not exactly involving to drive, it ain't no Elise.

Thanks for the thoughts, a joyous trip to Meadowhall looms tonight.

Cheers Martin

Sounds like it won’t fit, you are more manly than me :D Looks a bit small for you though? Does look rather bankery…

Balsa bones it is though, ‘cos its raining and I’m bored I’ved just measured myself. I make it a 40.5 chest and 69.5kgs, so less than 11 stone.

Thanks Mikkel, but I can’t really go in my birthday suit as its hardly fair to distract the bride on her big day…

I might be interested in your suit Tall Martin, so long as it doesn’t make me look like too much of a banker! Email me some pictures and dimensions please – no idea of my chest size, but I’m 6’1″ and 11 stone.

Thanks Tomzo, I’ll try Next and Zara, £200 seems reasonable for a suit I’ll probably only wear a handful of times.

MTT, you jest, but the invite says ‘no spurs, but swords allowed’ (its a military weddind). Another good reason for no birthday suit!

Trek Fuel WSD 9.5 for my shorty.

You chaps need to show some dedication to the cause. This thread

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,10790.0/topicseen.html

is in its third iteration, has been runnng for years and soley features female climbers (and yes, there is a male only equivelant also running).

Try http://www.cottages-and-castles.co.uk/property/view/accomodation-large-houses-castle-douglas-bellrigg-a656

Big place with tennis courts, snooker table, table tennis, darts.

And a black one for balance….

I personally don’t think that you should in all good conscience sell any climbing gear that is that old, and certainly not the software. Most manufacturers suggest that 4 to 6 years is the safe age for software even if never used and stored in a dry, cool, dark place.

The hardware will probably be OK, but I’d guess that most climbers would steer clear of it at that age anyway so only beginners would buy it, and they probably aren’t best placed to make an informed opinion of its safeness.

Ask on http://www.ukclimbing.co.uk for more opinions, but I think that 15 years old is too old to be safe. Plas y Brenin did some tests on ropes a lot newer than 15 years with some scary results (broke after 1 fall rather than the specified 7 or 8).

Probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry.

Just for an alternative idea I bought my Hemlock a few months ago with a 150mm rocker (secondhand) and I was going to get the shorter rocker, but to be honest I’m not sure its necessary. With the propedal it goes uphill and along the flat fantastically, and then just flick the switch to descend with the full 150mm. Perfect for my riding round the Peak.

I have Talas 140mm on the front which are fine, but I think that Talas 36 would be a better choice. I wasn’t trying to build it up at all lightly as I have a light bike but the Hemlock is still less than 29lbs, so even with 36s on it would be perfectly respectable.

Couldn’t agree more, and at the second hand prices they are now very tempting.

15k for an 50,000 mile RS6…mmmm, its almost rude not to.

We need a budget before we can spend your money!

I’ve got a V70 at the moment very rapid V70R)and spacious, but not the last word in driver involvment. 3 bikes in the boot, whilst seat 5 people is pretty good.

My old A6 would only take two bikes in the boot and the 5 series is smaller again I think. A6 had more room for the passengers though. A6 had a big volume boot, just not a great shape for bikes.

Chapel Gate is part of the Mam Tor Figure of Eight route in the Barton Guide. Did it this morning. I’d say its pretty impossible really now to ride all the way down in the gully.

Even the motor bikes that ripped it to pieces in the first place stay on the track to the side now, and are rapidly destroying it as well.

I multiply by 0.8696 now for amount without VAT.