Ever thought of changing your username to Dave Bartarrrgh, shiver me timbers!!

Learn how to eat like pistonbroke .. you can save hours in a day How dare you😉 I'm starting a 500km event tomorrow morning so have put in quite a lot of training despite the unseasonably wet weather this spring. Last Sunday I arrived at the halfway point of an 80km recce and popped into a bar for a...

Going on an "Expert" level mountain bike holiday in July based around Mount Olympus in Greece with a group I didn't know, 2 of whom had never ridden off road before. Guide lost 1 client on the first day, he was alone 🙄 so left us while he searched for 3 hours in 40° sun. By day 3 the group...

Serial Ti frame breaking in inopportune moments is a biggie for me, I'm up to 4. Looking at you Van Nicholas. Otherwise the good times and generosity of strangers far outweighs the hassle.

Just to clarify, the trail follows the old railway line and gradients for 60km until the village of Vega de Pas but that's where the easy going stops. The 8 km tunnel I mentioned is not usable and requires major investment to clear a roof collapse so the route climbs up and over with a gradient of 7...

This has been in progress for several years and it looks as though there is finally a continuous route based on the ill fated Santander-Mediterranean rail line which never actually saw any rail traffic due to the delays boring a tunnel through the Cordillera Cantabria and priority changes post Franc...

They're not German, their HQ is in Celra near Girona. For balance I've recently bought a Triathlon wetsuit which arrived in 4 days with 35% off.

Wild camping is no problem in Spain as long as you're sensible, it's strictly speaking not allowed but no-one will bat an eyelid if you follow the leave no trace rules. I can sort out a nice route from Bilbao to Burgos, allow 2-3 days as you're starting from sea level and Burgos is about 1,000 m up....

I did the first edition in 2023, it's a decent event which follows a similar route to an annual trip I ran until last year albeit in the opposite direction. It's not as easy as the marketing makes it look especially if you're going for a 3 day completion as I was. There's some pretty technical ridin...

Feliz Navidad from Cabo de Gata in deepest Andalusia, 7 hours drive due south from cold and windy Cataluña got us calm conditions and a 5° increase in temperature. Amazing gravel trails that I dimly remember from the Badlands event, home on Saturday for New Year's Eve paella with friends. https://i....

This year I've finally come to the realisation at 65 that my cycling at the level I've become used to since moving to Spain 9 years ago has a finite limit. I found my 9 day 1,200km trip across to Bilbao quite tough and have reduced my racing considerably. However I'm still on track to ride 10,000km,...

You definitely had a lucky spell of weather, after the storms of the DANA decimated Valencia and before the current cold snap. The only riding I've done in this area was from Cordoba to Valencia along a route that used Via Verdes and bits of the GR48, this was last October and quite warm c30° I woul...

If I've read your post correctly, you're flying to Portugal then riding from Portugal into Spain then booking a ferry across to Morocco, riding around a bit then flying back to the UK. You'll have zero issues with any of that. There's no border checks between Portugal and Spain, and you'd be incredi...

Maybe a name option? Wanderlust.

I've been toying with upgrading to push button shifting due to pain in my thumb joint (probably arthritis) with my ancient conventional setup (2x10) Can't justify north of £500 for SRAM and saw a 30% off deal for August orders on wheeltop EDS medium cage mech and shifters which brings them in at £28...

I agree, we've had to retreat to the Pyrenees to avoid the continuous unbroken sunshine at home, it's worked a treat, we had a massive thunderstorm on Saturday night which caused landslides and cancellation of the road segment of the triathlon that Mrs PB took part in on Sunday morning. Oh how we la...

I made an extension using a piece of carbon fibre tube, aluminium will do just as well and a slightly longer 6mm countersunk head bolt inside. The bolt fits flush on the exposure wedge shaped bit and screws into the lamp. Cost, about £3

Cap de Creus has lots of nice riding between Roses and Cadaques. There's a 360km circular gravel route that goes from Girona to Camprodon and into France via the Col de Ares then back to Jonquera and along the coast. It's called the Pirinexus. Still an area suffering acute drought so don't rely on v...

Weirdo

I’ve raided a roadside honesty stall for jam once (went back and left money).

You've finally reached peak Devon. Only counts if you put the clotted cream on last.

One thing I loved about Spain was the cowboy film landscapes The Spanish Divide route takes in a few places used in films, the most famous being the set of the final gunfight in the Good ,the Bad and the Ugly which has been renovated and is an open air museum near Burgos. Others are a railway line ...

You'll have to narrow it down a bit

Maybe this one?

Mike, if you email me with your perfect trip, daily distance, climbing, on/off road preference etc and once I've put it through the spell checker, I'll try to come up with a 7 day circular trip that will get you into some beautiful areas without killing you both. I'll even factor in food stops every...

Just returned from Bilbao having completed the Spanish Divide with Dave Barter and Richard Garcia. I'm only going off reports I've read but the Camino del Norte which is the variant of the Camino de Santiago that goes through Bilbao is pretty hard going. The coastline around Bilbao is quite jagged, ...

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6eg8LMMBZr ... tiZ2p3bWE0
One of Europe's biggest events was cancelled yesterday due to heavy rain in north east Cataluña, 700 odd disappointed riders. I think the pic above about sums it up.