Bear Bones 200 Route Details.

[Taylor]

no stove here

[Ian]

I went without a stove for the Wales coast to coast trip and it worked well. Same again for the BB200

[valleydaddy]

If I was doing it I would make that call dependant on the weather, if it's dry then probably not but if it's cold and wet the ability for a hot drink far out weighs the minimal weight penalty to me.

I am coming along this weekend to help Stu and Dee out and weather dependant (if it's bad) I maybe out on the road to observe/offer support were needed, the car will have a kettle and cake so if you are struggling I maybe around the next corner to help you achieve your goal.

This is not a given I may just stay in the confines of Stu and Dee's place drinking tea and talking bikes and stuff

[Bearbonesnorm]

Pete you'll be like a trail fairy ... be careful though, they might mug you for your car

[valleydaddy]

Now that would be a thing, I don't mind if it is Ian and he leaves me his Singular

[Taylor]

I think you'll have to either dress as a bear or a fairy if your going to be out on the trail.

[valleydaddy]

Well you'd better carry your bear bell as I make a vaguely exciting Grizzly

[Blackhound]

Stove; I was thinking if wet and cold to take one and if dry not to as valleydaddy suggests.

I do have a question on the route which has just popped up. I downloaded the full-fat BB200 file and also the 3 separate files. Down in the SW corner into Tyrconnel they diverge! The full course which I have as a 'track' from the 343m height point heads NE along a line of trees and then SE alonga track by Doethie Fawr. The 'route' follows a bridleway over the carn at 456m pretty much East to arrive at the Tyrconnel hostel. Which is correct? The 'track' is tarmac iirc.

Don't want to be stopped my cake because of going the wrong way;-)

[MM-on-POINT]

@ blackhound.
How did you get your gxp files on to memory maps because I'm having trouble loading it on mm european edition , it works fine for my iPhone memory map software.
Is there any thing I need to know or do???

[Slowmo]

Bloody hell, couldn't even contemplate not taking a basic stove and a brew kit.

[Taylor]

@blackhound,
The correct version is the route that is on the northern most "tarmac'd track".
Although a small bonus might/might not be had if you use the "lower bridleway".

[Taylor]

Shame you aren't going to dress as a fairy Pete, I'm sure there's enough pink in your house to make a costume for you.
I will have my bear bell with me though!

[Blackhound]

@flatfishy - thanks for confirmation, will stick to tarmac and forego a potential bonus!

@mm - I am not so competent with garmin's and memory map so tried a few things and uncertain what worked!
When I opened the files Stuart emailed they opened automatically in Memory Map. When I attached my GPS I went GPS/export to GPS and exported tracks, routes and waypoints. All went OK once I sorted out the overlay bit and the maps eventually printed out nicely.
Sounds like your problem is earlier in the process but not sure what I have done. At some point I must have directed the computer to open gpx files in mm - but don't know when or how.
I tried this as I could not get the OS getamap or bike & hike to work.

[MM-on-POINT]

Hmmm mine is still not opening in mm i keep getting windows 64bit 32bit incompatabilty.
Any never mind iv down loaded quo for printing of so all should be fine I hope. Thanks any way

[Blackhound]

What is mobile phone coverage likely to be during the event?

On my ride this morning I had the great/dozy idea of perhaps doing a few updates through twitter. Anybody signed up could tweet when within signal and use the hash tag bb200 or similar.

Typical tweet being: 'At Elan Valley re-applying suntan lotion and enjoying ice cream #bb200'

If anyone wants to follow us they can do so by following the hash tag. No one needs to join twitter unless they want to, keep it optional. You don't need to be signed up to follow the tweets.

@blackhound59

[Ian]

Typical tweet being: 'At Elan Valley re-applying suntan lotion and enjoying ice cream #bb200'

Maybe last week, but I doubt I'd be so lucky again.

From local knowledge, you'll get signal within reasonable proximity to most main road crossing points, or close to villages. The extreme SW corner of the course is pretty bleak signal-wise. Top of the devil's staircase you can get vodafone with a good westerly wind, but once down into Abergwesyn its gone. Next opportunity after that would be on approach to Rhayader, then it's good up to Llangurig. Closer you get to the finish then the poorer it gets.

If I remember, I'll tweat from @ianbarrington

[Nick]

I'll join in too, until my phone battery dies (or I do) @nickgilling, include the #bikepacking tag too when tweeting

[Chew]

Anybody got a gpx file for the whole route in a manageble size?

Stu's has too many waypoints for my garmin to cope with, and it would be nice to have the one file instead of using the 3 smaller files.

[Taylor]

Stu's original has over a 1100 waypoints, hence why it was made into three smaller parts with a total of 553 waypoints, iirc.
Feel free to make your own up though.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Chew will your Garmin cope any better with the 'track' file that was attached to the second email rather than the first gpx?

*Disclaimer - I have no idea whether it will or won't, just a thought.

[Ian]

Chew will your Garmin cope any better with the 'track' file that was attached to the second email rather than the first gpx?

That worked for me, though if you open it up into Tracklogs directly the route is reversed, so I put it through bikehike and downloaded as a .trl file and it was the right way around :?

[Bearbonesnorm]

The self reversing route's a bit of an odd one ... no idea why it does it with some software but not with others, as long as everyone remembers we're going anti-clockwise we'll be alright

[Chew]

Got it to work by reducing the number of waypoints in Bikehike. Just need to check it hasnt reduced them too much.

[Ian]

The section east of Garreg-Ddu Res: Is it specifcally along the cyclepath below the tarmac road, and the road would be deemed "off route"?

[Ian]

Similarly, the climb after Strata Florida - are you intending for people to ride the byway or the fireroad? The mapped track appears undecided as to which it should follow, particularly on the lower section (viewing in bikehike)