When we did/attempted the French Divide we were each given a cycling cap with our name on the underside of the peak. Might be an idea. The BB jerseys (in whatever colour) are quite distinctive so even without names they are something of an ice breaker: "So who are you on the forums then?" ...

We need BB username badges! I hope I spoke to all of you doing the JennRide—Whitestone, we spoke on Walna Scar Road today—but I wish I'd been able to put names to faces at the time. But where to put them? On the back of the bike/seat pack so that riders know who they are passing/being overtaken by,...

Just back from the winter JennRide - 150km of winter wonderfulness :???: Come to the Lakes they said. It'll be picturesque they said... There'll be wonderful views they said... It'll be lovely they said... They lied! Got to the ODG at about 1830 and decided to have tea there. About 2030 we headed ou...

Ultimately we all (try to) justify our own actions. Of course that means airlines also try to portray themselves as "green" by saying "flying is only X kg of CO2 per mile" and is thus comparable to, for example, train journeys. This somewhat sidesteps the fact that a typical flig...

Cheery Thursday

Surely the answer is to get one's butler to do it

Unfortunately the cafe we were heading to in Slaidburn had shut down, but a coffee and sandwich from the nearby post office was a reasonable substitute. Sad to hear about the café, there's a lot that's shut down in the last couple of years so things are getting a bit thin. Dunno what your route was...

Happy birthday youngster.

Someone else's birthday tomorrow

More Veloviewer tile grabbing... This time at the top of Waddington/Easington Fell I'd three squares in a row to visit. On the way up the long road climb I passed three cyclists. I was just getting ready to set off and one of them pulled up - John Allen of this parish! So a bit of a chat before I he...

26/46 on the fatty here as well though TBH fatties are a bit different and their traction/stiction create their own effects. At the top end the angular momentum of the tyres lets you keep a higher speed than you'd otherwise imagine.

I'd say 2kg would be around the maximum for a bar mounted bag but everyone's different, some might baulk at 1kg up front. If you are happy with it and it doesn't affect *your* handling/enjoyment then I wouldn't worry about it.

godivatrailrider wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 10:43 am
And 30/11 is acceptable for the flatter/slightly downhill sections still?

Yes. By the time I'm spinning out I'm going fast enough that it's not a problem. It doesn't happen that often anyway, makes more sense to have something usable at the lower end.

My lowest gear is 30/50 so 1.66 ratio.

I could go lower but I find I need a bit of resistance especially if the ground is rough and sometimes will actually be in a higher gear to give me momentum through rougher sections.

Everyone is different though and a lot depends on what you are used to.

A couple of red kites whilst walling over at my brother's. Not seen them in the Lakes before.

Apparently the curlews are back from the coast already. Not heard any yet but if they are here then it won't be too long.

It was last a working farm forty or fifty years ago. By 2000, possibly earlier, it was derelict and was renovated in 2006. The walls of the in-bye fields are in a very poor state indicating a long time since they were worked. These would be the most likely to be kept in good condition. I Need to do ...

Phil, you could glue reinforcing patches onto it. Just need to determine if it's silnylon or silpoly. It's what I've done when I've made tarps but the tension is more across the material than at right angles to it though I have done ridgeline tie-outs that have held. Glue the patch (I used Sil-net o...

Back to the etymology :grin: I use "bivy" as a noun (contraction of bivouac) and "bivvy" as a verb. The doubling of a final single consonant when going from noun to verb is pretty common in English: trap -> trapping; etc. Anyway... I use a lightweight Borah Gear bivy, 170g, along...

Also, what do you wear to sleep in? That's a very valid point: I'm guilty of going au naturel too often, and really ought to remember to make use of my old-school Helly Henson LIFA long johns and top. Remember that bag ratings are for the user wearing a lightweight base layer so you'll feel colder ...

Thanks both for that We could handle a short push ok We may even do kershopehead bothy and visit the downed Halifax which is nearby on glenghu hill but again is meant to be hard to access There is a visible path from the forestry road to the bothy, it's just easier to push than to ride so we're not...

As Phil says, easy apart from the last couple of hundred metres which is a bit of a push. We visited it in 2018, trip report here - https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=169555#p169555 . I'd imagine the saplings around the place have grown a little in the intervening six years. T...

I headed up into the Dales to fill in some VeloViewer squares - any human powered activity can contribute and some of my missing squares are all but impossible to get to by bike. I'd a big block of seven contiguous squares at the head of Littondale. I parked at Halton Gill at the top end of Littonda...

Some Winter Event goodies because we weren't able to get down to Llanbrynmair that weekend.

It's probably the perceived "faff factor" and tarps don't really fit in with the hipster/gravel scene as promoted by the bike industry, plus of course being able to sell a £400 tent rather than a £50 tarp might be a factor. Pretty much our first bikepacking trip was on a really wet and win...

Might be worth questioning the IP rating? Really not my forte in that side of things Although I am a user of exposure, it does put me off a brand that has ‘excellent customer service’ and is well known for it too. If the product is good, then how do people know this? Generally companies with a repu...

Nice one Sean. I did consider heading out for a hammock bivy the last couple of nights (well Tuesday and Wednesday) but the temps round here were well below what I've got hammocking kit for, I've only one UQ which is rated to -4C, I've been OK at -1C but haven't been lower than that. The stacking fo...