Grew up in Newent, so sort of in-between your choices. Wouldn’t move back though plenty of people seem to like Ross, which is a nice market town. Walking, riding etc. Not far from South Wales.

Just been. By bike. Can confirm, all seems pretty secure. Bring your own lock.

Ridden Heaven and Hell, and the two trails either side of Power line (Trash Free trail and the other one) above the campsite. All running well and dry, enjoyed them as a quick outing before heading home. Couple of downed trees, but nothing major.

Cold and breezy above Macc Forest. Plenty of people out and about. Pleasingly dry in woods!

I used to live in Nottingham. After a break-in where I suspect either I’d been followed or seen loading bikes into the house, I stopped riding from the door to Hemlock Stone and spent time driving to North Nottingham or Ambergate and the Peaks for riding.

Moved to Macclesfield at the beginning of last year, and riding from the door was part of the appeal. Which was great when the weather was good, but over the past couple of months, finding the motiviation has been a bit more tricky, and I’ve found myself back to riding familiar terrain in Ambergate with the associated drive to get there. Partly for people to ride with, but also partly because it doesn’t seem worth driving up to the Forest for riding when it’s a 15-20 minute pedal away. As a blow-in to the area, I’ve found it pretty tricky to find people to ride with, mainly as most people are on ebikes, and those I’ve met generally are a lot more comfortable on slick nadgery natural riding than I am!

Macclesfield is great for riding from the door, but I think there’s a bit more that goes into riding than just how easy it is to access from the house.

I live in Macclesfield. Riding from the door for both MTB and road. Cheshire plains to one side, Peak to the other. Loads of tech riding in the Forest. Loads of pubs and eateries. Easy to get into Manchester by train in 20 minutes. Close to the M6 for everything else.

Absolutely would rate. We moved from Nottingham and absolutely can’t imagine going anywhere else now.

Try Toolcal, they may be able to help if you don’t have any success with DeWalt UK. 

I’ve had the Kenalog injection. Not cheap, but worth it. I’ve had a double dose (i.e 160mg) in Apr/May for the past few years and it’s killed my hayfever dead, or down to One-a-day tablet level for a good 3-4 months. However, this year it’s only lasted 6 weeks and I’m back to multiple pills, nasal sprays and eye drops to get through a day. Pollen forecasts this year have been much worse.

I’ve recently got an air purifier for the bedroom and that’s made a massive difference to the night’s sleep. Picked up a Blueair 3410 and it seems to be working. Again, not cheap but worth it for a night’s sleep.

I’m using a super deluxe from Bike Discount. Worked out cheaper to buy from Germany and pay the fees than any UK based shops.

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/rockshox-super-deluxe-coil-ultimate-rct-standard/trunnion-transition-sentinel-2018

With a couple of coils as well, I think it worked out at about £350 all in.

Stif Squatch?

So, now moved to Macc. Been out to the Forest a few times and found bits and pieces, but would be keen to get out with a more local guide, rather than relying on the top lads at United Utilities for finding the good stuff. Does anyone have any tips/know of any local riding groups?

Second the query around prescription glasses. I’m also shortsighted and keen to find a set of glasses that offer coverage without needing an insert!

I’ve got the helmet light, really impressed with it. Seems to have a lot more usable light than the lumens would suggest if that makes sense.

I’ve got a B9 van with the bulkhead in. Two L 29ers go in whole. 5 bikes in with the wheels off. With the bulkhead out, I’ve had two L 29er and a M 27.5 in.

Edited to add, I’ve got the model with the collapsible passenger seat in the front. Means I can sleep in it with a couple of bikes with the front wheels off as well. For scale, I’m 6’2.

Watching with interest, moving to Macclesfield in the next month or so!

I use a Dayblazer 1500 as my helmet light for night riding. Excellent bit of kit, bought as an upgrade for the 1000 which still gets occasional use. Highly recommend, particularly for that price!

Try holding down the filter and see if it still happens. There’s a loss of suction thing that we had on ours that cut it out. The other thing was the brush head not spinning and clogged with hair that also led to it cutting out and the blue fishing light.

Not sure if that helps! I’m still nursing our old one along!

If you’ve a hardtail, I used to live in a similar area and spin along the river out to Mary Peters for a few laps. There’s also a few bits and pieces along the river path, but you may be better off with a guide to find those.

Road-wise, either South towards Ballynahinch or out onto the Ards peninsula, down to the ferry and back up through Downpatrick were my usual routes. There’s a very very healthy scene in Belfast, so you should be able to find a road group/chain gang to ride with without too much issue. Generally, there were groups out most of the time at a variety of hours. There always used to be people out doing TT practice in the Titanic quarter round to the back of the airport as well.

I’ve also sat halfway up Tryfan and watched a minibus full of Scouts kit get cleared out. Seems to be a popular spot!

I’ve got a Smith Mainline. Bought it to replace a Fox Proframe which felt a bit flimsy. Much prefer it. It’s reassuringly sturdy, only slightly weightier than the Proframe and much better ventilated. Would recommend.

I’m running a 2016 Smuggler with a 140mm fork with a frequent hankering for a longer fork. I’ve also got a CCDBinline coil on the back which has made it substantially more capable than the stock Monarch which I found hard to find the sweet spot on. Would recommend a coil and because of the size, you tend to be able to pick them a little cheaper.

Not that that helps with your front end setup query!

Another one for the Alpkit Bloc trousers, although I gave them a spin in some navy fabric dye to take the edge off the colour!

I tried Jims Bricks, and am still using them 6 months later.

I grew up in Newent. As many quiet lanes as you can shake a stick at. Lots of great road riding over that way, both North up towards Tewkesbury, and South into the Forest. Shouldn’t be too bad to reach from Barnwood way I’d have thought?

Ah, perfect. Thanks for letting me know. Still a good chunk cheaper than a UK supplier then!

@joebristol, slightly off topic, but I’ve been looking at a new set of Lyriks and the Starbike option is pretty interesting. Did you get hit for VAT and duty in the end?

Blackburn Dayblazer? The 1500 was on Merlin for the £60ish mark.

It’s what I use and it’s more than good enough for nightriding at pace.

Stealth ad – I’ve just popped a Transition Sentinel up in the Classifieds if it’s of interest…

I’ve got a Smuggler as well, and I find they do the same thing, but in a bit more comfort on the Sentinel!

I have both.

A 2017 Smuggler with a coil shock, Stan’s Flows and a more ‘trail’ build. And a 2019 Sentinel, in alloy, with a full heavy build, 4 pots, inserts and heavy tyres. Got the Sentinel for racing, uplifts and bigger rocky days. Tend to use the Smuggler for day to day riding and the Sentinel if I’m away for a weekend. Live in Notts, so tend to ride Derbyshire/Peaks regularly and I’d use the Smuggler for that.

I’m in a similar issue, there’s fairly significant overlap in them both, but I find the Smuggler more engaging to ride on tamer terrain than the Sentinel, and more suited to longer days in the saddle.

With the second hand market as it is at the moment, o should probably sell them both and build up a new Sentinel to do it all!

Had two incidents, one from a shed at home, one from a locked bike cage, D locked to a cycle frame at work. Aviva paid out both times, no questions asked. Would recommend.

Ah, ok. I’d preferred the more natural trails in the middle, but my partner had just started riding and found the three at the start really good!

Shame they’ve gone, but it had got very busy.

Do you know if it was the three main lines that were removed?

Second Coffi Eryri, would recommend

In the South West, I believe the Army are providing drivers for ambulances as there are insufficient paramedics to go around (source: relative is a paramedic). They’re also using police and firefighters as drivers….

(waves back at Martin)

Yeah, I found the X2 on the bars was fine, but the extra battery pack was annoying. Had a Blackburn Dayblazer on my helmet and that was really good.

That said, I knew when I was being followed down a trail, the exposure lights seemed to kick out a bit more.

I’ve got a pair of Sweet Protection Hunter Light trousers. Very casual look, not obviously bikey. Really well thought out features though and support comfy. Plenty of space for pads and big ol’ vents that you can unzip if required.

On the subject of the Buff style face mask, I was turned away from a counter at the weekend on the basis that the law had changed on Wednesday to mean that a buff no longer satisfied the updated mask requirements around ‘securely fitting around the ears’. Something to bear in mind. I’ve got a few things from Victory Chimp and have promptly invested in some masks as well.

Might have been an isolated incident, but it was somewhere I’d consider to be fairly up on this sort of thing (bouldering wall, mask only required when not on the mats).

Watching with interest. Have merrily clattering my way around the rockiest bits of Yorkshire and North Wales with a missing spoke for the past 3 months. I figure an insert and dual ply rear tyre should stop the absolute worst case wheel explosion. That’s how it works, right?

Have a G2, absolutely recommend for commuting, gravel and mild MTB. Very capable bike.

In the recommend-what-you-have spirit, Kinesis G2? Pretty versatile, all the racks/commuter requirements. Got mine with a set of Hunt gravel wheels for your budget, would recommend.