I've been toying with upgrading to push button shifting due to pain in my thumb joint (probably arthritis) with my ancient conventional setup (2x10) Can't justify north of £500 for SRAM and saw a 30% off deal for August orders on wheeltop EDS medium cage mech and shifters which brings them in at £28...

I agree, we've had to retreat to the Pyrenees to avoid the continuous unbroken sunshine at home, it's worked a treat, we had a massive thunderstorm on Saturday night which caused landslides and cancellation of the road segment of the triathlon that Mrs PB took part in on Sunday morning. Oh how we la...

I made an extension using a piece of carbon fibre tube, aluminium will do just as well and a slightly longer 6mm countersunk head bolt inside. The bolt fits flush on the exposure wedge shaped bit and screws into the lamp. Cost, about £3

Cap de Creus has lots of nice riding between Roses and Cadaques. There's a 360km circular gravel route that goes from Girona to Camprodon and into France via the Col de Ares then back to Jonquera and along the coast. It's called the Pirinexus. Still an area suffering acute drought so don't rely on v...

Weirdo

I’ve raided a roadside honesty stall for jam once (went back and left money).

You've finally reached peak Devon. Only counts if you put the clotted cream on last.

One thing I loved about Spain was the cowboy film landscapes The Spanish Divide route takes in a few places used in films, the most famous being the set of the final gunfight in the Good ,the Bad and the Ugly which has been renovated and is an open air museum near Burgos. Others are a railway line ...

You'll have to narrow it down a bit

Maybe this one?

Mike, if you email me with your perfect trip, daily distance, climbing, on/off road preference etc and once I've put it through the spell checker, I'll try to come up with a 7 day circular trip that will get you into some beautiful areas without killing you both. I'll even factor in food stops every...

Just returned from Bilbao having completed the Spanish Divide with Dave Barter and Richard Garcia. I'm only going off reports I've read but the Camino del Norte which is the variant of the Camino de Santiago that goes through Bilbao is pretty hard going. The coastline around Bilbao is quite jagged, ...

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6eg8LMMBZr ... tiZ2p3bWE0
One of Europe's biggest events was cancelled yesterday due to heavy rain in north east Cataluña, 700 odd disappointed riders. I think the pic above about sums it up.

As in most things, Rule 1 applies. If you absolutely must, the only places where cooking would be allowed are designated Areas Recreativa although many of those are taped off at the moment due to the risk. These areas have brick built barbecue buildings with grills. Clearly the Spanish countryside i...

Looking a bit grim next week

Don't take any type of stove that isn't immediately extinguishable by turning off. In fact if you get caught with any naked flame away from designated areas recreativa, you will be heavily fined. The countryside is like a tinder box, especially in the south but also here in Cataluña. If you must, sc...

I saw the 1999 one as well, 3000m up on Monte Pedido in the Pyrenees. We're in prime position for 2026 as we live 50km north of the blue line on John's map. Bookings being taken now

Just left the Notary clutching a large cheque for the sale of the Catalan finca we moved to nearly 9 years ago. Sold to a young Dutch couple who hopefully will have as much fun as we had there. We were getting tired of maintaining the 200 almond and 50 olive trees as well as enduring the winter weat...

Hmm, maybe 2 vests needed.
https://drakis.net/webcam-on-line/bronc ... a-barbara/

Where to start, 12 Tours de France as a rider, yellow jersey wearer and stage winner as well as multiple stage wins in the Vuelta, 8 TdF as Directeur Sportive including 2012 where he headed up team Sky, engineering Bradley Wiggins as first UK winner. Multiple British Champion on the road, track and ...

Tomorrow there's a gravel race starting about 10mins down the road from us which runs through the hills of the lower Ebro valley. It's grown considerably in the 4 years it's been going. I saw a famous name on the start list this year and bugger me if it was the same. https://i.imgur.com/HLGXC3Y.jpeg

Looks like the ideal tool for the Spanish Divide trip, I've got an Instinct Solar watch and on the last 2 trips the graph showing the solar dose was at maximum for the entire trip and instead of showing the number of days of battery left, it read infinity. I thought it was going to explode! I've got...

Just over a month to go, might be worth packing a warm vest
https://www.javalambre-valdelinares.com ... nares.html
This webcam is good for keeping tabs on the weather, you pass through both ski areas.

Spent the weekend in Valencia being deafened by the Fallas festival, there are 3 Decathons in the city but the best bet for gas near the airport is Campanar which is on a retail park about 3km from the airport on the main road through to the city centre. They have 3 types of screw in containers 100g...

Pretty well all Spanish Decathlons sell the screw in 230g canisters however as they recieve bikes pre built from a central hub, bike boxes are not available. Plenty of bike shops in Valencia however.

Decathlon city is about 15 minutes ride west from your hostel, open till 10pm Saturday but closed Sunday

Just had a quick look at the bombsite that passes for the RENFE (train) website and on Sunday 21st, the 9.35 train from Valencia Estacio de Nord gets into Teruel at 12.15. It's a middle distance train so bikes can be carried unpacked but officially there's a limit of 3 bikes per train so worth pre b...