Mark Forrest

We switched our regular Monday ride to Sunday this week, to avoid the hottest weather. It's funny how the weather dictates where we're going to ride; usually we're watching the forecast to decide which direction to head for the best weather. This time we were looking for where it was coolest and ended heading for the North Wales coast with the gravel bikes. The ride was an early start from a car park opposite the Cathedral in St Asaph. I'd never even heard of the place before, it's not an area I know very well. From there, to Rhyl we used a cycleway next to the River Clwyd. At Rhyl we headed west and followed the coast to Llandudno. The plan had been to get an ice cream on the pier then head straight back, but we'd made good time so carried on to loop around Great Orme (and see some of the goats). Once we got back to Llandudno we set off back retracing our tracks (with an ice cream stop along the way). Turning inland at Rhyl the temperature immediately started to increase, something like 8 degrees in 5 miles! In all, 50 miles done - glad we went yesterday rather than today!

I took the gravel bike to the seaside today, had an ice cream and watched a little train departing, very nice way to spend a sunny day. We started out from Machynlleth and headed west on NCN route 82 to Tywyn. Getting there too early to see the 11:45 departure from the Wharf station we headed to the seafront for an ice cream. Then headed back to the station. I don't really like out and back routes, i prefer to try to make them into a loop, if possible. For the return leg of our journey I'd spotted a tempting looking byway on the map that climbs up from Rhydyronen then joins back onto route 82 just to the west of Cwrt. Some stunning views from up there, but a bit too chunky in places to be rideable on a gravel bike; I'd be tempted to do it again on a MTB though would make a great descent. (It got a lot rougher and steeper than that!)

If I've done the maths correctly (no guarantees, it's been a long day!), a 44 on the front and a 11-42 (10-42 if your freehub will take it) would give you both a faster top gear and a climbing bail out gear without the faff of a front mech.

Unless you are particularly bothered about the gaps between gear ratios, I'd stick with the simplicity of a 1x drivetrain and go for a cassette with a wider range. FWIW, I run a 38T chainring with 11-42 cassette on the gravel bike (32T with 11-50 on the MTBs). As you can tell, I'm more of a sit and spin type of climber!

Managed to get a decent ride done yesterday. 50 miles of lanes and bridleways on the gravel bike. 5 weeks after Covid and I finally feel like I'm back to something like my pre-Covid fitness. Sadly though, despite now feeling like i have the fitness for it, we've withdrawn our entries to the Long Mynd Batch Burner on Saturday due to an ongoing poorly dog situation. Still, there will be other rides and some things are more important than riding bikes.

The LMS livery on the Lima coaches is most likely fictitious - although it's possible that some preserved coaches may have carried something like that at some point.

As you have several to do, I'd consider making some form of jig and using this to solder the lower horizontal handrail to the vertical one before fitting. https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/br21thopperrivet/h2f5a7ac6 The lower stands off the hopper support stanchions on brackets. I'd thread the handrail through holes drilled in some microstrip and use MEK to attach those to the stanchions. Can also use MEK to form a bond between metal and plastic, although not always that strong it's a useful method for holding parts in place while fitting.

The results of today's little experiment. 22 mile ride, 3500' elevation gain (three and a half ascents of the Mynd). Moving time was 7 minutes slower than this time last year; we lost 5 of those minutes on the final climb of the day - which I'd (somehow) set an usually fast PR on last time we did it. Lost a bit of time on the descents too as it turned out to be a bit slippery in places. Regarding the point above about Covid impacts on heart rate, this time last year: Today: Difference isn't huge, but does match up with how it's feeling. Overall though I'm very pleased (and somewhat relieved) with that set of numbers. Great ride too, weather overcast but dry, not much wind.

Yes, that sounds exactly like what I'm seeing. I do hope so, fingers crossed. Tomorrow's ride should be interesting, the plan is to repeat a ride from this time last year; same bike, similar weather conditions, so I'll be able to compare data between the two rides.

For me it seems to be the short but steep punchy climbs that are the biggest problem post-Covid; heart rate and breathing just seem to increase too quickly. I feel OK riding at a steady pace on road on the gravel bike, but trails are much more challenging. Last MTB ride got the distance up to just under 20 miles with 2500' elevation. The Batch Burner is around 26 miles, which doesn't sound too bad, but last time we did it (in 2019) it was over 4000' elevation, so expecting the climbs to be tough going in my current condition. Hopefully I'm off over to Long Mynd tomorrow to see how I cope with a few proper climbs!

I've not posted here for a while. Currently trying to get some fitness back after catching Covid about a month ago. Have done a couple local lanes/bridleway rides on the gravel bike, now managing 40 miles without too much trouble. On the MTB though, my fitness still seems to be lacking so we're gradually increasing distance and elevation as have the Long Mynd Batch Burner ride on 25th June and I don't feel remotely ready for it! A couple of weeks ago, we headed over to Penmachno - hadn't ridden there before, quite impressed with the place, very natural feeling trails (although several of them were more like streams). Since then, another training setback; one of our dogs needed surgery for a ruptured cruciate ligament, so trips to the vet and looking after him have been priority. Did manage to get the tools out and install a few upgrades on Wifey's bike though. 12 speed SRAM AXS wireless mech and a Garbaruk 10-52 cassette. Despite being a self-confessed Shimano fan, I have to say I'm impressed with the setup; it's got me thinking maybe I need a 52 tooth cassette to make up for my lack of fitness!

That's me back home after my first visit to a show in over 2 years. Big thanks to Chris for allowing me to play trains and to Rob and the rest of the SWAG crew for putting on such a relaxed, friendly and enjoyable day. A few photos of Polly the Parrot:

The small matter of a couple of plates to empty then we'll be on our way. Chris is hoping to follow his Great Western Breakfast starter with a bacon butty when we get there.

Opened the curtains to find a giant multicoloured toad looking at me. I hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have had that last pint.

We just swapped it for two pints of Butcombe. I think we got a good deal.

He muttered something about taking reference photos to help a friend, but I think what we're actually witnessing here is Spams' secret admiration of the Manor class

Important pre-Member's Day traditions to be upheld.

Did nobody warn you? BCB is much more than a layout, it's a way of life. You'll soon be living on a diet of pork scratchings, gray pays and Holden's Mild. Good luck 😉

After a couple of weeks of local rides, an opportunity presented itself to get away today; based on the weather forecast and time we had available we chose the Malvern Hills. I've not ridden there before, but a quick Google confirmed there are three waymarked MTB loops, the longest of which is about 12 miles long, plus loads of bridleways (and some crazy steep off piste trails). The plan had been to start out from North Quarry car park, do the long loop, then repeat part of that to do one of the shorter loops. In the end though, a wrong turn and a bit of exploring meant there wasn't enough left in the legs for much more! Some great views and the weather was kind to us. My legs have some recovering to do after 2500' of climbing in a 12.5 mile ride, not a bad way to start the week though.

I'm not familiar with Tekro brakes, but had what sounds like the same issue with some Shimano XT (M8000). I think in the end I determined that the problem was at the lever end, possibly the shaft into the master cylinder sticking. I tried a bleed which didn't help, so when it looked like it was going to cost money to fix them, I replaced them with some Hope brakes instead, so didn't really work out what the cause was. Ironically, it's the Hopes that have developed a sticking piston and put a mild dampener on yesterday's otherwise enjoyable ride, but a least with them all the component parts are readily available and an hour tinkering should resolve it.

I can, at times, be fairly disparaging about our local riding, it's largely a case of (over) familiarity breeding contempt. As a result I rarely stop to admire the view or take a photo, today though I made a point of doing just that. This was near the top of the first climb, just before dropping into a trail that will take us back down into the valley we'd just climbed out of, ready to climb back up again! After a bit of revisiting a few old favourite trails we crossed to the hill on the otherside to locate a couple of trails I'd spotted on Strava but never ridden. At this point, we're no more than a mile (as the crow flies) from home, in fact we could see our house in the middle distance through the trees. The trails here drop reasonably steeply back down into the valley on the left; the OS map labels this area Hell Hole. Trail conditions still a little too sloppy under tree cover, but drying up nicely out in the open. I reckon a couple more dry days we'll have near perfect conditions and a nice bit of fresh loam to play in. Had such a good ride, I'd almost forgotten about the sticking front brake caliper that left me reluctant to brake too hard for fear to would lock in - still, at least it wouldn't have been far to walk home if it had!

A couple of useful routes on their website too, thanks for that link. Work takes me to WGC every couple of weeks and I'd been thinking about going for an after work ride on the gravel bike when the nights get a bit lighter - thanks

Coles crane or similar, possibly with jib removed for transport?

Local to me, Lichfield Re:cycle (a volunteer run charity) aim to do exactly that (amongst other things). https://lichfieldrecycle.org.uk/ Can only speak from a MTB perspective, but we've had no trouble at all selling on unwanted components, frames and (on one occasion) a complete bike advertising either on Pinkbike or Singletrack classifieds, eBay or by posting in owner's groups on Facebook. I also know that from time to time a my LBS has a customer's used bike for sale and another have a fleet of hire bikes that they generally sell off at the end of the summer. In my experience I'd say the secondhand marketing is doing very well without dealers, although the idea of setting up such a dealership and spending all day tinkering with bikes does sound appealing!