XCWeather says dry, I'll stick with that thanks. 8-)

Cycle track - it's an old railway line that drops down all the way from the toilets at Craig Goch to the bridge dam at the south end of Garreg Ddu. It's rather nice.

I'd be up for this. Only live a few miles from Mark, and would like to do some more riding in the Peak so count me in, dates depending.

It's a good idea to dilute it a bit anyway. Pure meths leaves soot on your pans - adding 5 to 10% water prevents this.

Prep? I've been trying to work out if the Wynnstay Arms in Llanbrynmair sells decent beer for some pre- and post-ride carbo-loading. 8-)

+1 for brass nipples, double butted stainless spokes (DT and Sapim are good, ACI ok) and even spoke tension. I like Shimano hubs - the last model of XT (M756?) is particularly good, I believe - as they're cheap, easy to service, have forged hub shells, good quality axles, seals and bearings and robu...

Nescafe sachets stolen from hotels. Light, cheap, easy. Gross. Lyons coffee bags. Expensive. Palatable, but a bit weak. Moka pot. My favourite, but heavy and bulky. Aeropress. Best coffee, but even bigger than a Moka pot. MSR Mugmate. Light-ish, makes good coffee though a bit sludgy. Probably the be...

I like my Leatherman Skeletool - one of the smallest full size tools, as far as I can tell. Pliers with wire cutter, locking knife, 2x flat and 2x Philips screwdrivers and a bottle opener. You can even get one with a carbon insert, if you want to save a gram or two. The knife's perfect for cheese. :D

My Endura Stealth soft shell is my main winter riding jacket. It's very warm and unless the temps are close to freezing I only need a base layer underneath - it's quite well vented though. It is pretty much waterproof, but if it looks like it'll rain all day I'll wear a waterproof instead. I don't t...

I'm pleased that the last time I was up there I took the track to the north of the smaller lake (Tarren Bwlch Gwyn) rather than follow the bridleway along the Hengwm. :D

Yep. They do wear out though, like any waterproof. And if you don't tuck the cuffs into your sleeves, they'll slowly fill up from the top. :(

I would prefer to use a pole wherever possible. For my preferred pitches (a sloping A-frame and a half-pyramid) a pole is much more useful than a bike as the bike just gets in the way. I've just bought a new tarp (5'x8' Siltarp 1) and will use it with two poles: a 115cm, 105g pole at the high side a...

Got to be worth a shot - fit some decent CX tyres and off you go. I used 35mm Small Block Eights on my Roadrat on this years WRT and they were fine. Griffdowg had 40mm Smart Sams on his Salsa Vaya.

You can ride pretty much anything on any bike if you're careful with speed and choice of line.

Well the postman brought me a rather 'natty' customised cycling top :) And me. Tomorrow's jersey, I think. Got loads of nice toys to play with last week too. New drivetrain for the Inbred: cranks, BB, chainring, chain and sprocket; Exposure Strada to use at Sleepless in a couple of weeks; a Siltarp...

No problem. The OSM basemap does show some bridleways and footpaths and most minor roads so it's not totally featureless. You do need to be as precise as possible about placing your track on the maps in the planning stage - 50 or 100m might not sound like much, but on the ground if there are lots of...

I plan the route on the 1:50k maps (either with Route Buddy or Bikehike.co.uk) then transfer a track to the Etrex (which only has the Open Street Map basemap on). I also have the 1:50k maps on my iphone for reference on the road.

Sounds like a great trip was had. Can i ask what bars are you using and which GPS unit do u use please. I use a memory map unit which is great but the battery has to be charged everyday which is a pain. Bars are Titec J bars - cheap(ish) versions of a Jones swept handlebar. GPS is a Garmin Etrex 30...

Looks like a great trip, nice to just vary to route depending on what u fancied at the time. I often find myself trying to stick to one original plan whereas in actual fact more fun can be had by just seeing where the mood takes you. Yep, it's nice to have the flexibility to reorganize the route wh...

Everything started well, heading out from Chepstow station at lunchtime on Monday. Surprisingly hilly until Usk where I followed the River valley and then the Sustrans route to Abergavenny. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8422/7561752332_9b31cd2536_z.jpg Clytha Park gates by cnarborough , on Flickr ht...

Bike and bags all packed, got my tickets to Chepstow for tomorrow morning. Forecast looks ok-ish so should be a good week out.

I never planned to race the EWE anyway - I'm definitely a tourist, not a racer. Thats a tough ride for sure. I hope it's not that hard! I'll be leaving Chepstow at lunchtime on day 1, then hopefully stopping somewhere in the Black Mountains for the first night. Night 2 will be between Llanwrtyd and ...

More like the W e . Got a week off in July, so will be riding part of Aidan's EWE route: start from Chepstow, up into the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons to Llanwrtyd then into Rhayader (the EWE goes past Claerwen to Hafod, Nant Syddion and Nant-yr-Arian but I'm heading further east to get cleane...

And me.

I don't plan to bail out, but the option should always be there if needed. Like (and with) Dyffers, I've ridden through all sorts of bad patches on audaxes and it normally gets better if you just keep going. However, blindly carrying on when injured, exhausted or in atrocious weather is neither fun ...

I'd been looking at possible routes for a trip I'm planning in July. Looks like I'll be riding the reverse of the Cannock - Chepstow section. :D 360 miles in 5 days sould be manageable, but I don't suppose I'll be able to get feedback on the route back to Aidan in time.