I’m pretty sure you can take the entire head apart if you need to. I’ve certainly done it on an old one. Unscrew the end bits, get a big scewdriver on the side opposite the lever … (something like that anyway, can’t really remember).

That said, I’ve had two that have knackered in under a year. I won’t buy another.

Just keep riding. If a bearing’s gone, you’ll be able to tell in a few more rides. Then either keep riding till you can be bothered to change it or get a socket set and a hammer and put some new ones in.

I asked for local advice the other day, Got nothing…..

Maybe no-one saw your post?

Here’s a decent all-weather route.

PS think that is what tom was saying in a more eloquent manner!!

😆

Pook – yeah, we mean the same thing. I’m just getting my villages mixed up, as usual.

I’d have said that the section east of Ladybower and the climb from Aston were worth leaving alone for now as they’re really muddy and trashed (just because Hora reckons it was ‘knackered a long time ago’ doesn’t mean it can’t get worse).

Something better might be to go from Ladybower, up and over Hagg Farm and then either around to the climb from Edale (edit: the bit that Pook’s refering to), or push up the Beast and go over Jaggers. You can come back via Blakeley Hey and Lockerbrook.

Or do the Jacob’s loop.

Edit edit: I mean Hope, not Edale…

This ‘bog of doom’ which from my understanding is here:

That’s the start of the bog …

I love the little bit of singletrack through the quarry afterwards. Makes the bog worthwhile.

Ahem. Vertebrate Graphics do design work as well as mountain bike guides … http://www.v-graphics.co.uk[/url%5D (Hope that doesn’t count as spam!)

To reduce costs, and increase the likelihood of great anecdotes for when you get home, use public transport

Hell yeah! We counted 27 people squeezed into one HiAce minibus at one point. It was an experience if nothing else…

Tanzania is ace too – one of the friendliest countries in the world, IMO.

Definitely. While Uganda and Kenya were also incredibly friendly, we found the more developed areas we visited there to have a very different feel to what we found in Tanzania.

wl – It was awesome! I’d definitely go back. We flew into Dar es Salaam, stayed there for a couple of days and then got on the boat to Zanzibar. That was brilliant – bit of snorkling, boat trips, beaches, Stone Town, visit to a spice farm. Probably the most laid back bit of the trip.

We then got a bus up towards the Serengeti and went on a camping safari. I think this cost around £600 (there were quite a few of us). After that, most of my friends went back to Dar es Salaam and home and a mate and I jumped on a coach to Kenya.

Tanzania was definitely my favourite part of the trip.

Thinking about it, it might have been more like £1,800… Worth it though.

Not directly helpful, but we had a three-week trip around Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya and Uganda for about £1,500.

We figured out exactly what we wanted to do and when before we left. The only thing we book in advance was a 5-day safari. I’d definitely recommend booking ‘big’ stuff in advance, as it saves you a day of wandering around an unfamiliar city, failing to find places and then being a bit overwhelmed by choice and wasting a day. It also means you can find a company you’re happy with.

Other than that, we booked everything when we were there. We met loads of people who were happy to help book coach tickets and so forth. We stayed in hostels and cheap hotels, again, by just rocking up and booking. We did google a few places beforehand so we knew roughly where to head.

Dunno if any of that helps or not!

Belper area was similar last night. A bizarre mix of stuff that was as dry as summer and sticky stuff that stopped you dead. Even came back with dry feet.

Yup! Got a map and directions here.

That’s got some good rocky stuff if that’s what you like! (I can tell you from experience that it’s fairly tough on a SS though!)

Another Ladybower option would be to go up Hagg side and down Hagg Farm. Then either up the road and up Blakley Hey or cross the road and push up the Beast. From Hope Cross, either carry on to Edale/Hope or turn around and retrace steps to Ladybower via Gores/Lockerbrook descent. It’s a short ride but, from your first post about rock gardens, you’d probably like it!

It’s an ace route, and I bet it was a load of fun. Glad you had a good ride!

The problem is that the trails are getting a proper battering at the moment, so it’s probably best to head for the rockier routes until it dries a little.

Clockwise, but you really want to wait for it to dry out a bit at the moment! Heading up Hagg Side to the Hope Cross area (and back via Lockerbrook) is a better bet right now.

WET!

It snowed last night, but was vanishing fast by this morning.

Rocky stuff is fine. Everything else is a bit of a mess.

We stuck a free map and directions to the Jacob’s loop up here last week in an effort to let the muddy stuff recover! It’s pretty robust if you skip Rushup Edge.

Mam Tor area is pretty trashed along Rushup Edge and up and down the sides towards Edale. Jacob’s or Ladybower area is a better bet.

This allegedly lets you draw routes and export them as GPX files, although I’ve never made it work. You might have more luck.

Pretty sure there are other similar sites out there.

The north one. There’s some good stuff up there. 😀

Drop in to the Dales Bike Centre at say hi to Stu whilst you’re there.

Thanks everyone, few things to look at there. Hadn’t thought of static caravans.

It’s definitely a dryer way up.

Bear in mind that if you’re using it to get to the Castleton or Cavedale etc, you’re still going to have to squelch along Rushup Edge towards Mam Nick. It’s a lot easier and quicker on the road, but I didn’t say that.

If you’re heading for Roych Clough/Hayfield, you’re all good.

Given the time of year, you want some stuff that rides well in the wet!

1) I’d head to the Quantocks for the brilliant singletrack.
2) You can’t be the Lakes, and Grizedale has some awesome stuff (not the trail centre!).
3) How about a proper mountain. Snowdon or Helvellyn are both ace, depending on the weather!
4) The Peak District is always worth while. Something like the Jacob’s loop is good at this time of year.
5) Trail centres are pretty uniquely British. Coed y Brenin was the first and has a load of good stuff to go at.

Have fun!

EDIT – Just noticed you’re moving to Australia and will probably never see mud again. Go to the Cotswolds instead.

I’m 6 foot with a 32″ inside leg and have ridden a medium Soul for years – 24 hour solos, gravity enduros, multi-day rides. It’s great. (Still using it as a singlespeed.)

Then I got a Stanton with a top tube the same length as a large soul – and the extra room feels better for pretty much everything.

Expanding on what chunkymonkey found, the new bike is much stiffer and better in corners. On the other hand, I’m getting kicked around a lot more and I think I preferred the flexier feel of the Soul for everything outside a downhill track. I guess it’s just what you’re used to!

If I was buying a 26″ hardtail for predominantly XC use, it would be a large soul.

TFO – According to the big red sign they have up, the garage has changed hands.

It’s now Scotia Services Banner Cross Garage, 0114 2662600, 07733296605

Hope that helps!

I work round the corner. If that’s not the right one I’ll wander down at lunchtime and check for you.

Update on Roych Clough:

We’ve just been out there with Cy to see the work being carried out here and have a chat with them. They’re doing a good job, were very friendly and were happy to chat.

All those stones in the pictures are being knocked in by hand and don’t look visually out of place at all. The drops won’t be as high, but will still be there. It’s just this section being worked on and there definitely isn’t any tarmac chipping going anywhere. It’s being done in the same way, by the same people, that it was done ten years ago – and I’ve been riding over their work for years without realising some of it wasn’t natural.

The difference is that the people carrying out the work aren’t the Derbyshire Highways dept. It’s overseen by the National Trails people (as it’s on the Pennine Bridleway) and is being carried out by the same guys who worked on Cut Gate years ago (and did a good job there). They are definitely thinking about bikes, visual impact, long-term durability etc etc as they go. Wiggly Lane this ain’t.

Now we just have to get the DCC highways people to think the same way…

If you’ve got 5-6 hours, go for High Street (as described above, but come back via the Ullswater trail!) or ride a short way up the road and go up Helvellyn. Choose the latter if you want a techy ride.

If the weather’s horrific, the stuff between Kentmere and Ambleside (a short drive south) is a little lower down and less exposed, so might be a better bet. A ride out of Ambleside and over Loughrigg and Iron Keld would be a similar height. If it’s really horrific, Whinlatter’s not too far to drive if you want a trail centre, or Grizedale’s a bit further if you want to be in the trees but on (awesome) natural stuff.

You’re kidding, right?

You’re right underneath High Street (good for a Big Day Out, lots of views etc), over the road is Helvellyn, (massive climb, choice of awesome descents), and just up the road is the Ullswater singletrack techfest, which you can make into a nice little loop by going over Boredale/Martindale. All rideable from your door.

Failing that, drive south for ten minutes and you’ve got Garburn/Nan Bield/Green Quarter and Jenkin Crag to play with!

How long do you want to ride for?

Good area for uni – nice one! Where are you off to?

From a Sheffield point of view, the Dark Peak isn’t actually particularly muddy or rainy. It’s very rocky, ‘splashy’ and sandy, (and can be snowy and exposed) – you’ll get wet, possibly cold and grind your drivertrain to pieces, but not really be slipping about in the mud. (Not sticking to bridleways, anyway… :wink:) I generally just wear Shimano DX shoes (or whatever they’re called now) and would only bring out my winter boots when it’s snowy and icy and I don’t want my toes to drop off.) Or when the DXs haven’t dried out. There are so many puddles around that winter boots just seem to fill up from the tops anyway.

The White Peak is a whole different ball game. It’s muddy and the rocks are slippery. The same rules probably apply, but you’ll want some shoes with teeth for grip.

There was an unofficial hardtail cat in the past, (last year was very kindly sponsored by Cy – £50 for the winner of each round and a Bfe frame for the overall winner. Unfortunately, Cy couldn’t make the rounds and none of the organisers were particularly interested in keeping tabs on the hardtails at the rounds I was at (with the exception of Eastridge last year, when Dan Stanton stepped up with a pen and paper and sorted out a podium), so it was always down to the riders to sort out. There’s not been one this year.

I did Inners, Dyfi and Eastridge last year, and Afan, Hamsterley (all on a Soul) and Dyfi (on a Slackline) this year. All brilliant fun and anywhere between 5-15 hardtails at each round, everything from 4x bikes to XC 29ers. Didn’t get an entry for this weeked – and I’m gutted about it!

No specific hardtail tips really… You’re always going to be slower over the rough bits, so I just try and be smooth there and then really get on the pedals on the gentler stuff and make up time. You seem to get battered a bit more through the day too.

Overtaking – I’ve generally had no problems overtaking, although I know others have. If you have an ok seeding run, you’ll have few problems and you’ll probably not be passed either (unless the guy behind you crashed on his seeding…). If you seed badly, you’ll have to pass people. The only time anyone’s not let me by, he crashed after about a minute or so anyway.

It’s basically just a shed load of fun no matter what bike you’re on.

You can sometimes get their floating rotor ones pretty cheaply from the ‘special offers’ section of the Formula Store.

EDIT: Just looked, and you can, but they’re all off on their summer holidays until September. Wish I lived in Italy…

Nope! Nothing like it! We definitely preferred the second year when we tried to follow the walker’s route more closely. It’s ace being properly high up in the mountains with hardly anyone about and a monster of a descent awaiting you!

Nice write up! We did a similar route to you about a month back. It’s an awesome trip, isn’t it?

We went via Bovine on day one – great descent via switchbacks off Col de Balme, but a long (easy) push to Bovine.

I reckon you probably did make the right decision to drive to Arolla. The climb was horrific. Awesome scenery, but at least two hour’s pushing in the blazing sun… The descent was amazing, but not that amazing, if you know what I mean!

Great descent from the Col du Torrent, eh? We carried on down to Grimentz (brilliant fun!) and then up to St Luc before rejoining your route over the Meidpass. Did wonder about going your way. We did that (with a lift) and the Augustbordpass in a oner – it’s not too bad. I know what you mean about the death-descent though – I’m glad my bar’s aren’t any wider!

Here’s my hasty blog about it!

It’s still called SMA.

One of my 2 1/2 year old twin nephews has it and it’s ******* sh*t. It would be awesome if you said hello to him here.[/url]

It’s properly rare: about 100 people a year are diagnosed with it, apparently, and most of the doctors I know (a lot!) had to look it up.

There are two charities the I know of in the UK. One is the Jennifer Trust[/url] and the other is the SMA Trust[/url].

WARNING: LONG BORING BIT:

Basically, you need motor neurons to carry signals from the brain to your muscles. These motor neurons need a particular protein to survive and if you have SMA, you don’t produce enough of this protein, so the neurons die away and the signal doesn’t get through. Obviously, muscles then don’t develop and, as a baby grows heavier, they effectively get weaker. Bizarrely, hands etc aren’t affected too much, just the bigger muscles – including those in the torso needed to sit up, to cough. Worst case scenario, a baby dies by the age of two. Best case, you’re just a bit weak. My nephew will need help with EVERYTHING and basically ends up in hospital every time he has a cough, as he can’t clear his chest. Luckily, he’s a happy little chappy and there are loads of people around to help him.

I just wish I could take him riding with me. Or swimming. Or even out for a walk.

Hard to say… I preferred the Meidpass but I think my friend preferred the Pass de l’Illsee.

From memory, the l’Illsee climb involves less pushing, has a fantastic ‘plateau’ at the top (complete with second tough climb) before a fantastic singletrack descent to about 1,500m. I seem to remember it getting a bit bitty below that (we got lost!) but still being good fun. You’d have to fiddle around a bit to get up the valley to the Augustbordpass afterwards though.

The Meidpass climb involves a chairlift followed by a long push… make of that what you will! You’re not as high for as long and the descent is shorter, but more technical. I’m not sure the descent was *quite* as good but it does make a nice day out, is probably less taxing and drops you right at the bottom of the Augustbordpass.

I think that if you’re going over the ABP, I’d go via the Meidpass.

If you know the guy at RidetheAlps I’d probably get his opinion too though! You could probably go via Illsee, work around MooseAlp and then still get most of the good stuff above Schalb/Embd (I think this is what the guideed routes do).

I definitely preferred the Torrent/Meidpass/Augustbordpass route, but there’s a lot of carrying pushing (well, there is both ways…) and the tops bits of the descents aren’t always totally rideable (it was snowy for us though, so it’s hard to say for sure). Basically, expect a fair bit of hard work before some awesome downhills!

Nick, thanks – very kind of you to say.

Graham – nice blog! Your route sounds good! Living in Cham, you probably know the trails better than I do, but I’d definitely recommend the Col du Torrent over the Iona passes. It’s fantastic going your way, but we only found a fireroad descent to the Lac du Moiry, whereas going via Col du Torrent is a similar climb but much better singletrack descent, although you are up high for less time.

Enjoy the Augustbordpass down to Embd! It’s a pretty mind-blowing end to the trip!

Have fun!

(Sorry if you know all this already, by the way!)

More stuff:

Swiss maps are NOT cheap. We must have dropped 100 Euros on them first time around. If you’ve not already bought them, you can print maps from here[/url] Bit faffy, but probably worth it.

http://www.booking.com was pretty good for sorting accommodation, although there’s loads more en route that isn’t on the site. And don’t believe them when they say there’s ‘only one room left’ etc. I did and ended up in half empty hotels.

The train from Zermatt to Cham. is about 100 CHF – and the line is being repaired just before the border. There’s a replacement bus service, but it doesn’t take bikes. You’ll either need to ride the road up to Vallorcine and then get the lift up to the top of the DH to Le Tour, or just roadie it over the Col des Montets.

EDIT: Do you have your route sorted? The first year we made something up based on the Ride the Alps website[/url]. The second year we copied the route on this Pinkbike article (it’s linked to somewhere on there) fairly closely. I think the best route is some sort of combo of the two. Just ask if you want to know anything!

Should be able to help you out a bit here… I’m not Alpine guide, but I’ve done the Haute Route twice now. (Just finished the second one actually, written a blog about it here)

The first year we bivvied our way along the standard ‘MTB Haute Route’. A couple of weeks ago we stuck much more closely to the walker’s route (two-hour hike-a-bikes followed by descents were totally worth the effort!) and stayed in hotels in Verbier, Arolla, St Luc and St Niklaus.

Can’t help you with Evoline (lovely village!) as we stayed up the valley in Arolla.

St Luc: We stopped in ‘Gite du Prillet’ (just outside the top of town) which was a hostel (I think they do rooms too) right by a lovely little stream with a pretty decent resautrant attached. Definitely recommended, especially if you want to save a couple of quid.

In St Niklaus, we stayed at the bottom of town in this huge ‘B&B’ (basically a hotel). It was pretty cheap but very nice. Another alternative (and somewhere I DEFINITELY recommend for food) is the ‘Hotel La Reserve’. They do some of the finest pizzas I have ever eaten…

I did look at a few other hotels etc but I’d have to have a search around to find them. If you want to ask anything else, drop me an email: tom@v-publishing.co.uk

It’s an awesome trip!

Tom

From memory, Panaracer tyres have a pretty loose bead. You could pretty much use your little fingers to remove the last set I had (about ten years ago, admittedly). Get a tyre that’s a tighter fit and it should work a lot better.

Yes. I had an hour round Wharncliffe last night – shorts and t-shirt, soaked to the bone in seconds, massive grin the whole way… Made my day.