One thing that was said to me years ago that stayed with me though, i used to ride with a large MTB club, and when i started out was nearly always at the back, and they'd have to wait for me at the top of the climbs etc, but i was always there and gradually got so i could be mid-pack, but after anot...

I can get behind this.... after 18 years as a rugby prop forward including professionally, i am still a very square shape, what bugs me is that i have to train really quite hard to be decidedly average. I ride 20 hours a week and friends 4-5, just so i have the base fitness to keep up with them.

Dusk to Dawn in Thetford used to play mind tricks in the night, seen glow in the dark ducks added to puddles and a bloke sat on a toilet in the woods. Gorrick 12:12 at Minley would have a full on disco under the bridge as you passed through, almost crashed trying to dance on bike with both arms in t...

I wish i could ride Tour Divide and get away with it as childcare Rich.. I have always stressed to my daughter the need for exercise, especially being diabetic, and on the rare occasion i can get her on a bike or even a walk, she enjoys it, but it is always a fight.

I struggle, i have a T1 diabetic daughter and my wife works in NHS so currently works 70-75 hour weeks (and is paid for 35..) I am lucky though, that both are very understanding, and i have formed a group of 4-5 mates that we ride together, our wives and kids are friends too, so it means we ride eve...

I do love watching people riding bicycles without a helmet, in normal clothes acting like riding a bike everyday through a city centre with their kids or shopping is just normal.....instead of having an angry Range Rover Evoque driver right up their chuff in an "urgent" drive to Waitrose....

Congratulations on the ride and fab pics! Ref your rear bag setup....I assume it might be a carradice bag of some sort. Saddle support looks similar to that for my smaller carradice saddle bag. Is the rack type support specially for that bag? Thanks Hi, the rack was all a bit last minute, did a tes...

There is a decent gap between fly and inner, and a lot of air can certainly circulate. They inside space is really big for 1 man tent, i am 5'10" but really broad (48" chest from career as a rugby prop forward first!) So i don't fit too well in some superlight tents and most bivvy bags. I ...

Probably preaching to the converted, but remember that any sleeping bag, down jacket etc is insultation, so it seeks to trap heat. So if you get into the bag cold, you're giving off little heat for the bag to trap. So: - Exercise just before you climb into bag, some star jumps or the like. - Eat not...

I went for this because despite being heavier at 1200g than some, it is a proper double skin tent, i had no problems with condensation over the 4 nights i have used it so far.

The Apidura collar that allows use of bag with dropper is actually made by a company called 76 Projects, they have lots of ideas from 3D printing and Rob's a nice guy, may be worth contacting them:

https://www.76projects.com/

https://www.76projects.com/shop/dropper-post-adapter

I thought i'd put up some pics from riding Badger Divide last week, mostly to show that there was sunshine, as i watch those battling HT550, we really lucked out as the first cafe we stopped at on route at Abriachan campsite, said they'd had a foot of snow about 9-10 days before and it had rained si...

I am pretty sure it was 3l, possibly it was 5l, but very small pack size, will check the size. It was the 1 person version, and i took a Mountain Morph pump which took about 40-50 strokes to inflate. Weight of tent alone was 1.2kg, with dry bag and a ground sheet of Tyvek it was 1.4kg, so not super ...

Just come back from using mine for 4 nights on Badger Divide - i really like it, maybe because i come from bivi bag and tarp for may years and went with a tent for the proposed midges. There is a lot of internal space for the overall pack size, plenty of space within the actual inner of the tent for...

I have raised with wife a few times how much i'd love to ride this for my 50th, still got 4 years til then, but by then my daughter, who is T1 diabetic will be 15 and hopefully capable of looking after herself full time, and with my wife working in the NHS, hopefully she may have actually caught up ...

Mine took only about 13-14 strokes of track pump first time i inflated it, or about 18-20 with Mountain Morph pump, so nowhere near as much as a tyre would to inflate really, not sure what actual psi was, but it was low..

Loki, wasn't bad in the wind as you can travel with outer and inner attached to each other, so loosely pegged out at 4 points from the off, then inflate, adjust pegs on outer so it is tight, then peg out guys..

Only issue with breathing into it to inflate is that you're putting in moist air from your breathe, so over time may have issues with bacterial growth etc. I used a Mountain Morph pump and it was only about 20-25 strokes to inflate, so was impressed there, only issue i found in garden test, was gett...

i do wonder if a few event organising companies are trying to recoup losses from the last few years and think there is this pent up group of people who have not been able to travel for last year, and have not paid lots of money in events, so lets give them something top end and try and grab that cas...

Thanks for that Alex, i have ordered the supports, but did that before the rack itself turned up not realising just how strong the rack itself seems to be built, so will have a play around and see if it seems to benefit, if not i'll leave them off.

I had 6 Garmin on the trot, and between the issues with software glitches and battery life fading, i purchased a Wahoo Element before Torino-Nice and have since upgraded to the new Roam model. You don't get fancy colour screen, or every training metric under the sun, nor do you get full OS mapping e...

Well the Bagman rack turned up today, definitely a solid bit of kit.

Thanks all for comments. Will see how i get on.

Did you find the bagman support stood OK to off road Tony?

I know that the answer will probably be, it was good enough for the Rough Stuff guys and gals, but having had a bit of a let down with Restrap gear (replaced worn out Apidura with Restrap front harness and dry bag, plus rear saddle bag, only for dry bag to have rim rip off and the buckle fall apart ...