Never done a 24hr race but, from audaxing experience, this works for me. Make sure you get good nights sleep between now and then choose one of the following. 1) Blast through the night and get about 15-30 minutes nap somewhere around when dawn is breaking. There will be a couple of hours of grindin...

Going to have to start a bit of planning for this. Current plan is the lass will drive down with the bikes while I'm doing some silly racing and the I'll fly out on the Monday. 7-8 days riding, a day to get back to Torino and then a couple of days drive home. Possibly a bit of a tight schedule so pr...

I neither know nor care.

He's not a rock star but following on from his TV series he's not taken well to the frequent, albeit small intrusions into his life away from the screen. It may not show though his on screen persona but he's pretty shy. When I was racing against him last summer, he was gracious around all the people...

I suspect that Guy is going to be riding with a spot for the usual safety and tracking reasons. However, a pseudonym would be too easy to crack. My guess is that, if he has one, he'll be on a separate track.

The lass has a Kinesis 5T and I can confirm that it's a really lovely ride. Aimed at the winter league market but pretty versatile I reckon it would handle well away from the usual CX circuits. Not silly money. Similarly the Ridley bikes are great as well. If you go and take a look at the Hargroves ...

Am I mistaken or do those pictures show Lael riding around in one of those new fangled technical garments, a cotton T-shirt?

Pretty much.

It is getting quite exciting, especially with the women riding at the front. It's something that was kind of hinted at back in the days of the likes of Beryl Burton. When you move away from exhibitions of top end power to endurance pacing, women are able perform on a par with men. That seems to appl...

I guess it depends on what you're going to be carrying it in. I suspect water bottles are a poor choice because they're made of dense plastic with a sub-optimal thermal coefficient. If not then they're usually opaque/translucent which means they're less reflective on the refractive index. If you're ...

Can anyone be tempted out on Thursday (June 9th)?

It's a bit of a kludge but you could use the print function in streetmap.co.uk. In the print page you can use the Click here for a larger map function and on that page drag the map around to centre it how you want.

The first rule of new or upgrade is do you have access to the Bike to Work scheme?

Yes, that's with the bikes on the roof. Haven't been near a bridge we couldn't get under. Even with a Berlingo I should imagine your overall height isn't going to top 10 foot by much. I reckon you'd be hard pressed to find a low enough bridge. Never been on Eurotunnel, don't they take HGVs?

We've got the Thule rack with the front fork clamps. Pretty decent to use and pretty modular/adjustable. My wife has just changed company cars and we only have to change the attaching feet to continue to use the rest of it. You can also mount a roof box as well. I've never used any others but I don'...

Really?

Because this is the sort of level I'd like to see a bikepacking book pitched at.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Wipe-You ... 1484007840

If you have a Go Outdoors near you then you might be able to get them at reasonable price. I just got some replacement shock cord from them for cheap and I think they were doing poles and individual pole sections.

Decathlon might also be worth a check.

Severn Across is indeed in April but you can do it ITT style any time of year. However, I am pondering what sort of start time would warrant a kip at Severn View. On the usual 6am start I've never passed through there later than early evening. Anyone who does fancy a kip usually dosses in a corner o...

Long live the great british pursuit of buying all the gear, trying something once and the flogging the gear on ebay and never talking about it again.

True, there's nowt wrong with a good bus stop. I've spent plenty of napping in rural bus shelters. Although on one occasion I was hassled by some locals who thought I might want a proper bed for the night instead of dossing in a drafty hut at the side of an A road. When I explained that I was just g...

SPDs on the road bike. Coming from a touring and audax background, I've learnt that Looks can be dangerous on a nice polished wooden floor in a village hall, or the smooth wet brick path leading up to it. And if you ever get caught out on the col d' Kings YHA near Dollgellau you've no hope. SPDs - q...

Well that was a nice evening out. Lovely hazy views over the Hope Valley and Mam Tor, finally got to see the new pole at Stanage and tried out a new trail which was a mix of puddles and technical. Temperature's taken a nose dive though. Not quite enough extra layers taken out.

Fair do's.

I'm a bit busy with other nonsense next week. Might see how it looks the week after.

It's looking lovely so definitely out tonight. Probably via Moorwood Lane, Wyming Brook, Stanage Pole and back into town via the bridlepath running over the top of Totley Tunnel.

I've got clips on the tourer, the road bike, the recumbent, the polo bike and the fixed wheel/cx bike so I'm pretty much habituated to them. I've used them for about 15 years. When I picked up the 29er it had flats as standard so I used them to ride home. Kind of OK on the flat sections but as soon ...