I use a standard handwritten list for my bivvy kit and just follow it so I can generally pack ten mins before leaving for an overnighter. I have one for cold weather and one for warmer nights and the gear mostly all lives in one box for ease. For longer trips, or those including children, I generall...

We used to stay in Rosedale every year when I was a kid and my dad and I rode that track from the top of Chimney Bank to Lastingham every morning before breakfast. I remember it being absolute perfection, even on a rigid bike with centre-pull brakes and skinny tyres! We often used to ride up to the ...

Just returned from two weeks bike touring with my wife and two kids (actually there were four kids as we were two families all in) along the coast of Brittany, which was beautiful, great fun and quite hilly. Worked out my full bicycle weight, including passenger (aged 4) and rider (aged a bit more) ...

Slept under a hedge in a farmer's field last weekend, in the rain (using average tarp skills). No pics as everything had run out of battery - even my watch which meant I didn't Strava the ride there or back, which I guess means technically it didn't happen. Enjoyed the trip, though, possibly because...

You're welcome to park in the street outside my house - there's always plenty of room. I'm up the hill a bit from the station but can keep an eye on your car if I'm around. PM me if you want to.

Slept in a ditch* full of sheep poo**. 10/10 would sleep there again. Foreboding moon rising as I settled in after some lovely, dusty double-track: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52148274943_d83658e8dd_w.jpg But survived the night unscathed so might not listen to the moon's negative vibes next ...

Managed to find time for a two-day ride with a bivvy in between at the weekend - we were planning to ride the Elan Valley but my riding buddies were concerned about the limited access to mid-ride cream teas so we settled for Exmoor instead. Starting in Withypool (after a bacon, egg and sausage bap a...

Asposium wrote: ↑Sun May 08, 2022 10:15 am I have one of these if any use.

https://pelagobicycles.com/commuter-front-rack/

Thanks, bought the rack and panniers in the above posts in the end!

Some amazing looking spots on here lately! Think I need to get myself to Scotland... I was near the Dales for work at the end of April so took the chance on 26th to head from Coniston Cold up through Kirby Malham and on up Malhamdale after a decent burger and pint of ale: https://live.staticflickr.c...

Sorry, been flat out at work. Will PM you both, thanks.

Looking for a front pannier rack that would fit on a Genesis CdF with mudguard mounts but not triple fork bosses. Specialized Pizza Rack or similar would be ideal as no space on bars for bar bag (wife runs cross-top levers) so would be great to have plenty of space on top of rack for a bag. Also int...

I'm still in as managed a trip at the end of April in the Dales but haven't managed to sit down and write it up yet.

Hopefully will do so very soon.

Was chatting to my wife about this article and she is of the opinion that if you put toilets somewhere but don't open them you're far more likely to have problems than if you advertise that there are no toilets. Whether or not you think it's right that there are toilets or other facilities on a moun...

I use a Lezyne Macro Drive, which has a 'race mode' feature. When you put the light on this setting, pressing the button cycles between full power and a medium output. It's not perfect but it's a pretty easy way to dip the beam, and useful off road too - full power for descents, dipped for everywhe...

I use a Lezyne Macro Drive, which has a 'race mode' feature. When you put the light on this setting, pressing the button cycles between full power and a medium output. It's not perfect but it's a pretty easy way to dip the beam, and useful off road too - full power for descents, dipped for everywher...

I can be a nerdy person, but I don't know a lot about bike standards so I've had to look into this. So, boost relates to the wheel hub width, my rear hub is 148mm which makes it boost. Therefore I would need the chainring with the 3mm offset? If I'm wrong someone shout out please! It's a bit of a m...

Verena wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 1:36 pmSorry just read back in time a bit, and found out that you're actually called Dave, are Black Mountains/ Monmouthshire based, and went bikepacking with mini dudes - cool! So we're practically neighbours

Excellent detective work!

March done and tried a few new things as this is my third bivvy of this year... and ever! Headed out early from work for some singletrack before sunset: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51955854733_dcf8bf691e_w.jpg IMG_20220322_172223 https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51954802032_865fea3c91_w.j...

Genuinely don't recommend them. I sold some to my mate because I hated them I made sure he knew I didn't like them. They don't do anything. I think they're a bit Marmite. I ride with the importer and borrowed his bike with them on but found they gave me arm pump on rough descents. He said I needed ...

If it's happening on both sets it sounds like it's worth having a go at changing your bleed process. I've had some success with changing to purely lever bleeds on Shimano brakes, including, as someone mentioned above, leaving the bleed screw out of the lever with an elastic band on overnight. With t...

I like the OS app so much I use it as a preference over a paper map (although I take that too, of course, in case of technical failure). It's quite lazy but the fact it geo-locates you on the map makes changing routes easier or checking you're on track. I do use a paper map sometimes as well on occa...

As with many things in life, it's no bad thing to continue thinking that getting into wet clothing is going to be horrific, because if that's your expectation you will often be pleasantly surprised. I've only been bivvying a very short time but it appears that some (most?) of the appeal is in embrac...

And you think they used an ethnic minority model because he was the only model free on the day when they did the shoot? Nothing is an accident in the world of advertising, they know their target demographic for any particular campaign, and aim at it with a snipers eye. I don't really get why the mo...

I like to keep one peg in a stemcell (*). On arrival at a potential spot, very first thing I do is whip it out and do a bunch of high speed test probes. Depending on results, accept or reject the spot on offer. (*) yes obviously there's other gear in there as well not just one peg. Mildly inefficie...

In my experience (not vast, admittedly), although cycling is certainly more embedded in the Danish culture and that does make it a great place to ride your bike, the variety of scenery, choice of forest and mountain tracks and ability to wild camp make Sweden a far more appealing choice. There are s...