Mark Forrest

At last, a bit of a break in the weather! The past two weeks, I've managed to get out three times a week without getting soaked. This week, we (that's Mrs F and me) are on holiday so we're expecting the rain to start again, but so far so good. Today we drove down to Talybont-on-Usk for a ride in the Bannau Brycheiniog national park, which included the Brinore Tramway and The Gap descent. Excellent facilities at the Bike Hub in Talybont village too.

While I'm frustrated by SLW's lack of updates explaining why delivery of my order has been delayed, at this stage I'm not considered cancelling my order (1 x sound fitted 25324); yet. If I need any more though, future orders will, most likely, be for the Bachmann product. As good as the SLW one may be, its appeal is limited if you can't get what you want when you want it.

Firstly, great news that you're on the mend, secondly kudos for sharing your experience. From the video, it looks like you hit the take off in the saddle; getting out of the saddle is likely to make a huge difference and go some way to preventing an exit through the front door scenario like this as it will move the centre of gravity towards the rear of the bike. Have a look at PFP's body position in the useful slo-mo here: https://www.facebook.com/share/aHGa1i2A67mg8wGA/ Note how she is standing up and behind the saddle at take off (pushing the bike away from her so effectively it is travelling slightly faster than she is when it leaves the ground). Slightly bent knees and elbows on landing to absorb some of the impact. She makes it look effortless; it's all about getting the timing right, which takes practice. Take it easy and stay safe.

Wishing you a speedy recovery, take it easy. I've given myself concussion a couple of times; once on a section of blue graded trail centre and once on a red graded trail that I must have ridden 100s of times before. Sometimes it just goes wrong, often when you least expect it - for that reason I don't ride without a helmet (and always replace a damaged helmet).

Managed to dodge the rain for three outdoor rides this week. First up, last Monday the CliMachX MTB trail in the Dyfi forest (2 laps, attempting to keep up with Mrs F on her e-bike on the climbs). If you look closely you can just about see the narrow gauge line at Corris in this photo. Wednesday night was 20 mile loop around local lanes on the gravel bike, then Friday night a quick blast around some of the trails on Cannock Chase. Great to get out without getting soaked, but this did mean today ended up being a bike maintenance day. On Friday's ride, I noticed that the freehub on my hardtail was quieter than usual, I telltale sign that the pawls and springs were in need of some preventative maintenance. Degreased, cleaned up and new springs fitted. Quite a satisfying little job and that should keep it going a while longer. Other than the bike that lives on our turbo, this is the last bike on our household running 11 speed - might upgrade to 12 speed in the summer.

There was a brief gap in the terrible weather yesterday, so I took advantage and gave the building a quick spray of red primer. In position on the layout; footings in baseboard surface need digging a little deeper so it can sit at the correct height. Details around the door openings and canopy next; then the roof 🤔

Could be a bearing in that wobbly suspension pivot. If you can get to it it may well have a part number on the rubber seal and be available from someone like Wych Bearings.

Inspired by a weekend watch Paris Roubaix on TV, we had a big day out on the bikes yesterday doing the Velotastic "Hell of Notts 3" virtual event. We had two options 100km or 100 miles; we chose the 100km and opted for hardtails rather than gravel bikes - grip and comfort over speed. A nice steady start along some disused railway from Cotgrave then alongside the Trent through Nottingham city centre. The route then followed a loop with short sections of road linking up a mixture of bridleways and byways. The muddy conditions made it hard going and slowed us down significantly. I'm tempted to give up on this sort of natural XC riding until things dry out and stick to trail centres or road rides - that's how bad it is! A great route that packed in a couple of challenging climbs despite the relative flatness of the area - the toughest climb came at 45 miles into the ride when we were both starting to tire. 64 miles (103km) and 2900' of elevation, but I think the resistance from the sticky gloopy mud was like the equivalent of another 1000' of climbing, definitely a type 2 fun sort of day. It didn't rain (much) and we even had a bit of sunshine right at the end of the ride.

Perhaps it's possible that amongst SLW's current and perspective customer base there are a range of different expectations around delivery times and level of communication? Some are happy to wait as long as it takes; others accept the need to wait but would appreciate more communication around when they might receive delivery and others feel they have waited long enough and are being to lose faith. None of these points of view are wrong; they are just different.

I agree about the communication niggle. IMHO worse than not knowing when a future release will arrive is being given a date and having that date pass (twice) without further explanation of why. I'm looking forward to getting my loco (and have no doubt it will be excellent), but will think very carefully about ordering another from SLW, especially if other manufacturers raise their game and offer a reasonable alternative.

A Saturday ride for a change - making the most of a break in the weather and unexpected (but very welcome) dog sitter availability. This was a ride I've wanted to do for a while, a route called Over The Top from the Lost Lanes - Wales book. The name comes from an article written by Walter McGregor Robinson (aka Wayfarer) - a pioneer of off road cycling. It was published in 1919 and (coincidentally) describes a ride that he did in late March of that year. Much of the route follows Wayfarer's route and includes the passing the Wayfarer memorial up on the Berwyns. Starting out from Chirk, past the castle then following the course of the Glyn Valley Tramway alongside Afon Ceiriog before heading off road after Llanarmon DC for the climb "over the top". A brief pause and refuel at the Wayfarer Memorial before the descent down to Corwen. On the descent a rock hit my rear brake rotor and left me with an annoying dragging brake for the rest of the ride; not ideal. We stopped at the Llangollen Railway's station in Corwen to attempt to straighten out the bent rotor, with limited success. The next section was all on road, running parallel with the railway (saw a Pannier Tank on its way to Corwen) then climbing up to the Panorama, past the castle ruins and below the amusingly named Trevor Rocks. We then dropped down into Garth and along the Llangollen canal (over the aqueduct and through a tunnel) back to Chirk. At 44 miles, that was a big day out on MTBs. Arguably gravel bikes would have suited much of it better and given a higher average speed. The section over the Berwyns wouldn't have been anywhere near as much fun though. 4280' of elevation gain. A good ride and a nice tribute to one of the pioneers of off road cycling - not sure what he'd think of our modern hardtails. Link to Walter's much more eloquently written description of the ride below. The quality of road surfaces hasn't improved much, but at least we had bright sunlight rather than acetylene lamps! https://www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/pages/wayfarer.htm

Very useful, thanks. I thought something wasn't quite right with my mock up now realise I'd made the short side of the triangle vertical.

Another evening of cutting plastic and sploshing MEK got the main building to this stage. The three sections are now all joined together and quite sturdy.

Thought I'd have a go at a mock up, the right sort of thing, but too small. I think it needs to be almost twice the size.

Cheers Stu. Dimensionally they fit the bill. I think probably something older looking.