What does rule 2 mean? "NO THIRD PARTY SUPPORT, RESUPPLY OR LODGINGS" Do riders have to start with all their supplies, and not stay in accommodation? Surely the issue is second party support (riders buddies vice independent providers)? Not clear, but also irrelevant, as I am not paying £235 for a ca...

Had very similar problems with my Diablo Mk6 over the last couple of years, and it's now completely unreliable, despite not many charge cycles. Hopefully Exposure will fix it (still waiting for them to reply to my email), otherwise it goes in the bin.

Is it the really old 1st gen Zeros with no float limit? If so I have a pair of cleats as my original pedals got trashed on a bad crash a while back. My new Speedplay cleats failed yesterday; crack in the ring-spring part. Cheapest replacements I could find where £50. Nice pedals for the road and loa...

I've booked into the Star for Sunday night. No way in hell I'll be able to drive home without a proper rest. I think this is vital. Getting into a nice warm car, for a long drive, in the dark, after such a long exertion would be f****** stupid. People’s susceptibility to fatigue is not uniform, but...

Dave, I have an ULW Cuben Hexamid tarp thing from Z Packs, and it can be a bit daffy, but for the one night that I needed it on the CT, it was worth carrying, because the only alternative was plodding into the night for several hours, in a bustard of a storm, waiting for the torrent to stop before I...

2018 Had two great trips.

As the signpost says...
IMG_2572 by Joe Blow, on Flickr

Assietta Gravel on the TNR
IMG_2663 by Joe Blow, on Flickr

3M reflective tape on shoes, wheels, helmet, bike, etc! Doesn’t stick well on fabric and degraded quite quickly, so needs replacing every 6-12 months. Conspicuity is important, but riding defensively is probably the best strategy. I have also pretty much given up on commuting on anything but trails ...

My wardrobe looks like the result of a crash between Cotswold Outdoor and Wiggle delivery vans...!

The only ‘fashion’ clothing I have bought in the last few years is some stuff I found cheap at the local Expensive hipster brand outlet.

techno mail wrote:The cateye ilinked will angle down well enough for most seatstay angles I should think

Excellent - does it come with that mounting bracket?

I do understand the focus on apportioning blame within many of the comments here, but that isn't going to bring Mike back, and unlikely to prevent a similar event from happening again, which should be the principal aim of any accident investigation. Human beings will make unintentional errors. Fact....

Thanks for the ideas. Being an awkward bstard, I'd prefer a seat stay light that was directed to the rear, rather than the sky, so a more complicated mount would be required. I've tried the Alpkit blips and found them to be pretty useless! Thinking a Topeak Lux might be a good helmet option - there ...

Most bike rear lights are designed to mount on the seat post; not much use if you have a bag there, and the worst place for gathering trail mud anyway. Does anybody have a suggestion for a seat stay mounted light? Oval section stays, so a round clamp not ideal. Same for helmet mounted-ideas?

A short film about Lael's attempt on the record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4g1gRIEFs8 Other than the ridiculous amount of climbing, one thing struck me - the amount of kit that the winner, and only person to beat Lael, Stepan Stransky was carrying - or total lack of it! Lael comments on this ...

Had to google ‘yahoo’ - didn’t think it was a real word...

Strange that they couldn’t even be arsed carrying their kit out - have they checked for a body in the bogs?!

My Diablo has been problematic for a long time now - completely unreliable, to the point where it needs to have a full charge within 24 hours of use if I am to get anything worthwhile from it. About 4 years old now, and has had very little use - probably 5-10 times a year on average, but not spread ...

It's only taken them 2 years to catch up with SRAM! That's a really high gear range you are using; 44 chainring - I assume you are riding on-road? I was using a 36/10-42 (11 speed) for TNR with no complaints, even on the long road descents, and used the bottom gear a lot. Replaced my 32 with a 30 on...

Is your Edge 800 still working? You may find the upgrade is at best a sideways move, depending what gadget gimmicks you prioritise. I 'downgraded' my Edge 800 for an 820 18 months ago, simply because I had been using the 800 for years and assumed the tech had moved on and the latest model would offe...

whitestone wrote:A couple of Absolute Black oval chainrings turned up yesterday - 30T for the Solaris and 26T for the fat bike.

Also bought two of these recently, for the Spearfish and UP; both smaller than the previous ring! Never get back from a trip wishing I had a higher gear...

The original looked so nice, who would pay top dollar for such a bland looking bike? There’s not many bikes that look better with a Lauf fork, but in this case it just makes sense.

I'll have a small please.

The only major congestion I heard about was when 30 or more turned up at the Gardetta on the third night, a Spanish friend watsapped me a photo of a long line of bikes parked outside. I got there early on afternoon 3 and as they had plenty of beds, decided to stay the night. Quite a few riders pass...

James, I don’t think the Hipster comments are meant as any sort of slight on the people identified by this tag; it’s pretty obvious who has self-selected themselves as part of this tribe, rather than pigeon-holing by observers! So what? It’s just a fashion and not something to get divisive about. I ...

The facebook group seems to be a constant stream of people posting to say they have dropped stuff, left kit places and similar. Makes me wonder if folk are all carrying things in Stuarts favourite dangling style. Different feel to the first year - much bigger and more boutique crowd, with less BP e...

Was amazed at the quantity of stuff that most TNR riders where carrying this year, especially given the amount of climbing. Probably shouldn’t be surprised then at the trail of kit left behind at various stop-overs; could fill a large shopping trolley with just the lost & found posted on FB!

Need to replace my 8 year old MacBook, but concerned by Apple’s decision to impose USB C onto us; clearly nobody is allowed to own legacy standard USB equipment any more! I know there are adapters to work round this, but pisses me right off that I need to resource a solution to a problem those Cuper...