You’ve scoured the internet, read a couple of magazine articles, asked numerous questions and seen Ray Mears ont’ telly. The reality is staring you in the face, you’ve put it off far too many times … I’m too busy, it’s too cold, bit windy or a bit too wet, it’s too muddy and too dark. […]
Sturmey Archer is likely to be a name many of you are familiar with from childhood … time spent riding, breaking and trying to fix bicycles that in reality should have been left in the skips you retrieved them from. Those of you that know what I’m talking about will be well aware of Sturmey […]
There’s a lot of interest at the moment regarding ‘plus’ … you know, a wide rim coupled to an oversize tyre. It all started with Surly and their Krampus and its 50mm Rabbit Hole rims and 3″ Knard tyres, which resulted in something Surly termed ’29+’. I have to say that I was somewhat sceptical […]
I’ve long been a fan of the humble flat tarp. What they lack in whistles and bells, they more than make up for in simplicity, versatility, pack size and low weight … and shelters don’t come much lighter than the Trekkertent cuben flat tarp. Ample room as a half pyramid. The tarp’s made from 25g/m […]
The AlpKit Mytimug has been a favourite of cost conscious outdoor types for a good number of years. Since its introduction it’s undergone a couple of makeovers, the first was 2008 and the second was last week … the Mytimug is dead, long live the Mytimug. Numerous adventures – adventures to come. The first and […]
Having the ‘right’ tyres can make life a great deal easier and conversely rolling on the ‘wrong’ tyres can make life so much harder than it need be. Recent forays along the seemingly endless network of Welsh farm tracks and forest roads, would suggest that selecting the ‘wrong’ tyre for your crosser / gravel racer […]
We’ve all experienced the affects of ‘wind chill’ and it doesn’t need to be particularly windy before we feel them … just think how much colder you are at the bottom of a long descent than you were at the top. A windproof top can make the ideal ‘extra layer’ to stuff in your pocket […]
A while ago I posted something about cooking without a cooker but if you’re really wanting to push things, could you go further? Maybe there’s a way you could dispense with the pot / mug altogether and replace it with something much lighter, infinitely cheaper and available pretty much everywhere … the humble plastic bottle, […]
Close your eyes for a second and imagine yourself in Banff, sometime around the second week of June or maybe even mid-Wales in May or October. You’ll notice that although there’s a multitude of makes and models and every type of bike present, at least 90% of them will have something in common, aside from […]
Despite my best efforts over the last few years not everyone ‘gets’ tarps. For some people tarps seem to present the great outdoors with the ideal opportunity to make the hours of darkness wet, cold, windy and completely miserable … sound familiar? Trying to sleep under a tarp that’s flapping like a duck taking off […]