I`ve just watched "Country kings at the BBC" on BBC4, The fiddle player in George Strait`s band on the track "All my exes live I Texas" looked so much like Stu it was slightly unnerving! Anyone else see it?
BTW he could play that thing!

So, something big that the the Cairngorms loop highlighted for me was that there are technical bits of riding for bikepacking that I could definitely improve. There were a lot of other things that I could do to get better at to be better at bikepacking: a general lack of packing & prep occurred...

Thanks all for the advice, I`m no speedster, just seem suited to one gear?!

HI, anyone had a crack at the Cairngorm loop on one gear? I tend to have a better ITT when singlespeeding than when geared, I put it down to having to get off and walk every now and then rather than constant pedalling. Would it be such a bad idea on a singlespeed? I miss the higher gears usually any...

IMHO I think some are missing the point about this bike (looking at it with TLS eyes is not what its about). The bike is not for the TLS "adventure" market of riding 2500km in a week caring 4.2kg of stuff, having spent upwards of £400 on a bit of nylon and down to sleep under - no its squ...

Do it!!
I sometimes plan what I think would be friggin awful route, actually try to make it worse if possible and when completed it feels great,, sort of?!
BB200 route planning I assume?

Always look on the bright side of Dylife.
Sorry couldn`t help it!

Backpatch club bikers , Hells Angels etc are known as 1%ers in the USA, does that mean we are the 1% ers of bikepacking? Do 4 panniered Dawes riders hide in bus shelters until it`s safe to come out in case a "Bearboneser lets their tyres down?? Thats so cool , I`ve always wanted to live on soci...

Thanks, Ian

:oops: :oops: Sustrans 8 runs straight through it ... ... they all look utterly bolloxed. That weariness isn't simply a by-product of a heavy physical load but a mental one too ... Never mind the nomenclature or style of luggage, that's just anyone following a Sustran's route through Wales! Excuse t...

With all this talk about noodles I wanted supernoodles for my tea tonight, anyway curry ones are a bit bland to a dolloped in 2 big glugs of hot sauce and took the top off the curry powder pot and shook some of that in and then some small whole scotch bonnet chillis and a few cherry tomatoes! It was...

I give my Dad a subscription to countryfile mag every year for Christmas, I`ll be sure to check it out.
It is a good mag, but I think countryfilng bikepacking maybe a little tame?!

The Cutthroat is possibly the most focused bike ever built for public sale as it was built and touted as a'Tour Divide' bike and made no pretence as to having any other role ... but obviously it does. In my mind, the Fargo is a drop barred mountainbike. It sounds to me, that something like a Surly ...

The web site now says "opening soon"
It looks very appealing , thanks for sharing.

I think I would snap those skinny tubes. not for me!

Mariner wrote:

metalheart wrote:650 B+ isn't dead....

it always rode like that.

To borrow from HD tee shirt
- If I have to explain you wouldn't understand.

If we`re borrowing from HD tee shirts, how about " if you can read this this B*tch has fallen off "

I just say I had a long bike ride with a bit of camping thrown in.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Generally, 32/16 was always considered 'normal' on 26" wheels. 32/18 will produce something similar with 29" wheels ... however, no matter what you pick, 95% of the time you'll be in the wrong gear

I think when singlespeeding that I am in the right gear 100% of the time!!

In Reverse wrote:Stoner's a beautiful book.

I've just finished a Barter - Obsessive Compulsive Cycling Disorder. It was great

Now 3/4 through Deep Blue by Alan Judd. Grapes of Wrath next.

The grapes of wrath is my favourite book ever!

On trackleaders it`s very poinient to see Mike Hall`s 2016 record pace as a marker flag, Mike`s still out in front, where he belongs!

When my late father was a postman in the 90's he was issued with a pepper spray to use in defence of dogs, but it was a small can so you'd have to choose which looked most likely to bite you and spray that one :smile: I don't remember any packs of dogs being an issue, there was a single barking dog...

Richpips wrote:Shout STOP, if that doesn't work violence.

IME farm dogs aren't big dogs.

Their 7 sets of teeth looked pretty big at the time!!

I've generally found that they'll almost always respond to very loud commands like SIT / STAY etc. It can be f*ck*ng terrifying though. Do you know roughly where that was BTW? I did it recently and that's not ringing a bell. I don` know the name of the farm but I think it was a mile or so before Ch...

Last weekend I completed the Braunton 150 route as an ITT (Yay), after about 3 hours I reached a farm via a section of hike a bike, the bridle path looked as though no horse had used it in a long while (the reason would soon become clear why!) as I neared the gate into the farm yard a pack of 7 or 8...

voodoo_simon wrote:Won't the GPS data be sufficient evidence?

I hope it would be enough, just wasn`t sure.