Grahame Madge, a Met Office spokesperson, said: “On Wednesday night there may potentially be some frosts and much colder than average conditions, which might be a shock for northern parts of Britain because we’ve had this relatively warm air across most of the UK.

“There will be an increasing tendency towards cooler conditions, however in the southern parts of England and Wales we’ve got the prospect of heavy rain coming in. We’re saying there is a significant rain warning from 9pm on Thursday through to midnight on Friday, and we can expect 20 to 30mm in some places in a couple of hours. Even up to 50, 60 or possibly up to 70mm across the high ground of Wales.”

The rain will be followed by “much cooler conditions, six degrees below average”, Madge said. “Given the fact a few days ago we were talking about conditions six or so degrees above average, [this] will feel like a marked contrast.”

Richard G wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 2:48 pm

macinblack wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 11:02 am When I got back to the school, Rich G was there, so it was nice to have a conversation with someone about the event rather than just buggering off home, it meant I could mentally draw a line under not finishing.

It also goes without saying that it's always great to have those chats on the way round with so many different people from different walks of life. It's good to share a few FFS's with another human being.

Sorry I wasn't more talkative, was feeling pretty rough at the time.

As for chatting with others going around, after the first couple of hours I really only said a handful of words to FatBikePhil in the tussocky nightmare, and a few sentences to a rider whose name I didn't get outside the supermarket in *** redacted ***. Was an oddly lonely experience.

I packed reasonably light with just bivvy bag, down jacket, leggings and thick socks for emergency sleep

Leerowe76 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 11:35 am … I forget the guys name on the who was with us from Kendal …

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 2:02 pm

I packed reasonably light with just bivvy bag, down jacket, leggings and thick socks for emergency sleep

You seem to have missed sleeping bag off that list Lee.

With it being as warm as it was what I'd taken would of done the trick,

Leerowe76 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 3:11 pm

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 2:02 pm

I packed reasonably light with just bivvy bag, down jacket, leggings and thick socks for emergency sleep

You seem to have missed sleeping bag off that list Lee.

With it being as warm as it was what I'd taken would of done the trick, thankfully it kept me pedalling. Great to meet and ride with you Hyppy

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 3:32 pm

Leerowe76 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 3:11 pm

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 2:02 pm

I packed reasonably light with just bivvy bag, down jacket, leggings and thick socks for emergency sleep

You seem to have missed sleeping bag off that list Lee.

With it being as warm as it was what I'd taken would of done the trick, thankfully it kept me pedalling. Great to meet and ride with you Hyppy

I think what Stu is saying that it was part of the minimal compulsory kit list. Which means you definitely had it in your kit but must've forgotten it was there

would a bothy bag/storm shelter be considered ok instead of a bivi?

Southbysouthwest wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 9:56 pm In terms of the route I found the log flume section grimly enjoyable, including the challenge of going up the hill that way rather than on the fire road.

Southbysouthwest wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 9:56 pm [...]
A few other things I learnt:
- I could have gone lighter with sleep kit. Wanting to be reasonably comfortable if I had to stop meant carrying about 2.5kg on my bars in a bag that didn’t get opened, which was a definite encumbrance of the tougher sections.
- The jury’s out on my ortleib seatpack. I lost count of the number of times I either heard it bouncing down the trail behind me or saw it bounce past me, depending on how fast I was going at the time and how steep the hill was. Might just be because I reused the saddle attachment though so I’m going to give it another chance with a new one of those.
[...]
- It doesn’t take long to start to forget. Having finished thinking adamantly that was going to be my one and only bb200 it took about 48 hours before I was thinking about how I could do it better / faster next time.

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 11:11 am Does anyone know where would be decent to park the car around the route?

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 12:31 pm Thanks v much Hyppy. I will try and look at/into that. Is it owned by Wynnstay and would it be wise to call/ask em beforehand.

Southbysouthwest wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 9:56 pm Just wanted to say thanks to those people who were picking up after me last weekend so that my driving licence and bank card weren’t swallowed up by the earth

I posted a licence off first class on Tuesday I think hope it found its way home to whoever's it was William Leo ??

Jurassic pusher wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 6:46 pm After reading these great posts about this year’s BB200 it makes me want to come out of BB200 “retirement “, next year Mac??