Could the hose have been kinked at some point during installation or use? Just after it coming out of the bar tape could be a risk point for getting folded. You say "no evidence of any external damage" but how can you be sure of that with the hose looking like it does in your photos? Seems...

Whatever you're used to will feel right. If you stick with a wider bar it may start to feel good. I got a new bike at the start of 2018 with 780mm wide bars. It felt a bit wide to begin with but then I went back to my fat bike when winter came round and the 680mm bars felt awful! I bought some new 8...

Alan has already sent out the gpx to those on the 2020 group start, so I'm sure he'll be happy to send it to anyone planning an ITT.

cycling from Turkey to Hungry

A Christmas lunch themed bike ride?

My mate did it the evening before Paris Brest Paris this summer. Cost him 17 quid for the fix as above. It did result in a bit of mild panic as we were thinking he didn't have a rear light for the ride. Then we realised we could put the red eye on my bike and plug it into my Strada and put my rear l...

Hope Rich is ok this morning. He's either having a long lie-in or he forgot to switch the tracker on this morning.

Looks like he's nearly at Ben Alder Cottage for the first night.

Fishing season is Feb to Sept there I think, so I don't think there would be any anglers. Hind stalking maybe?

Interesting. That probably means that resupply is not much worse than in May!

All the sporting hotels in the north used to close for the winter, but it seems that more and more stay open now. Kind of surprised that somewhere like the OBH gets enough trade to make it worthwhile.

Good luck Rich, you're an eejit! It won't necessarily be any colder or wetter than May, but it will certainly be a lot darker! I'm guessing the main resupply points that will not exist for a winter attempt will be Oykel Bridge Hotel and Kylesku. That will mean setting off with plenty of food from Co...

Have sent my email to Alan. Hope I get to ride!
Feels like a long time since I last rode the Highland Trail.

I always wear padded shorts for riding. Sometimes don't bother for commuting, and that is when I tend to get saddle sores.

If you're getting too sweaty then ditch the baggies over the top.

I see Exposure has started making StVZO lights now to be compliant with the German law on bike lights not dazzling other road users.
https://exposurelights.com/products/bike/stvzo-lights
They all seem to be out of stock at the moment though.

I think this is one of those things that works nicely in dry places, but not well at all in UK gloop. If the bottle is completely covered in sheep/cow poo as it would be riding a lot of UK trails you'd want to give it a pretty good wash before even trying to open the top to decant it into a clean bo...

For maps are you relying purely on electronic devices? I went full technophobe and carried the full set of ACA maps (partly due to having had 2 GPS fails in 2 HT550 rides). Didn't really need them, but did consult them a few times in situations where the GPS trace (1000 point version) wasn't very cl...

I just had 2 x 650ml bottles on my bike for most of the ride. Going through the basin and some bits of NM I added one or two 1.5 l plastic bottles that I stuffed into the front roll (worked fairly well although they did bounce out a couple of times). I used purification tablets once coming into Pine...

Alpinium - in the photo above it looks like your bead has separated from the tyre. Would any of these foam-in-tyre systems have helped prevent that?

These look like they would significantly reduce the grip that your tyres give. You want the tyres to be as supple as possible so they conform to the shape of the surface you are trying to stick to. If you have a thick layer of foam against the inside surface of the tyre that is not going to happen. ...

As long as there is no hosepipe ban in force you could fill a paddling pool with cold water and sponges and then squelch around it carrying your bike above your head.

I'm not sure if it's just me being weird, but I'm not even interested in seeing what the film crew have managed to produce. I find the Tour Divide fascinating but the idea of watching films about people racing it just bores me.

My take on it: Jay Petervary has self-appointed himself as a keeper of the ethics, spirit and rules of the Tour Divide. He doesn't have the best history of sticking within those ideals himself, so that is a bit weird, but I guess if he takes ownership of them he can then be the arbiter of what is ok...

Not sure exactly what Jay has said, but this is from Rue (Lael's girlfriend) write up on the radavist: At first it was easy to dismiss some of the comments in the Facebook group. But we found it more difficult once Jay Petervary got involved. We respect Jay and all that he has done for the community...

Revelate isn't owned by QBP.

My mistake, they seem to be a vendor partner.

Also just had a thought that Lael is sponsored by Revelate who I think are owned by the same company (QBP) as Salsa. So it doesn't make much sense for Salsa sponsored JP to be slagging her way of doing things off.

I'm not sure it's really true to say that bikepacking is transitioning to a professional sport. The number of people who get paid to race (so not counting people who are given free gear) can't be more than a dozen. Those individuals just make a lot of noise, because that's what they're being paid to...