My right knee has been giving me some jip this last week so didn't ride this weekend & away with work for a few days in the morn.
So thats me re riding prep, it's going to hurt

2 days until we get the route....

The beeb has weather in Llanbrynmair looking pretty good for riding, light rain, thick cloud cover. Hopefully not to chilly at night! Best finish in 24 hours, gonna chuck it down Sunday

The thing that's really twisting my melon atm is that i've 'misplaced' my diablo & don't fancy riding unfamiliar trails for 200km with just a bar light..
Grrrr...

A weekend spent in bed with the dreaded lurgy has dented my preparations somewhat.....

I am currently smearing goose fat over my body to try and waterproof/insulate myself from the grim weather that lies ahead for the coming weekends festive fun that and making lots of flapjack to keep me going. Can't wait now

Isn't your skin waterproof already? You must be leaking everywhere!

Borrowed adman's GPS today, so now I just need loads of battery's :D

Anyone got any good off the shelf battery recommendations for gps this weekend?

gsm7 wrote:Anyone got any good off the shelf battery recommendations for gps this weekend?

Energizer Lithium AAs. £7 for 4 from tesco, etc. A pair will last the whole thing so two spares will be fine.

johnnystorm wrote:

gsm7 wrote:Anyone got any good off the shelf battery recommendations for gps this weekend?

Energizer Lithium AAs. £7 for 4 from tesco, etc. A pair will last the whole thing so two spares will be fine.

I have a pair of those that have been in for about 50 hours in my etrex

Bit of a problem this weekend, I came out in purple spots on arm after Coedy Enduro. Quick google (oh dear) and then off to see Doc. Bit of a panic at Docs Purpura was mentioned and needed bloods checking for my platelets. Needed to go asap. Not allowed to drive, had to go in ambulance!!!
Couple of hours in A&E and all is fine, sort of !! Purpura is bleeding under the skin and they don't know why it happened, as I am all good otherwise. Need to monitor it this week as they would like it clear before I did anything silly !!!

Did my best time at Coedy this year as well at 4 hrs 20m and moved up a group into the over 50's !!
All not bad then.

^ sounds a bit bubonic!

Stu, what time can we expect the 'route reveal' to hit our inboxes tomorrow? I'm excited!

Stu, what time can we expect the 'route reveal' to hit our inboxes tomorrow? I'm excited!

Should be with everyone before 10.00am ... I'm expecting bikehike to crash by 10.15.

Date moonset moonrise high point illumination
11 oct - 11:09 AM ↑ (298°) 8:22 PM ↑ (61°) 3:21 AM (51.4°) 234,745 91.1%
12 oct - 12:13 PM ↑ (301°) 9:06 PM ↑ (59°) 4:15 AM (53.4°) 238,452 83.7%

Some fun moon facts for the weekend
Full moon on Wednesday so still a lot of illumination, so if there isn’t too much cloud (forever the optimist!!) it will be bright (but chuffing nippy I’m sure)

I imagine Bike Hike will have a spike of activity tomorrow morning, that's for sure...

:)

Some fun moon facts for the weekend
Full moon on Wednesday so still a lot of illumination, so if there isn’t too much cloud (forever the optimist!!) it will be bright (but chuffing nippy I’m sure)

Very bright last night until 12ish when the cloud arrived with its buddy the rain

Will the route be available to those of us not going to look at?

It's bloody hailing here.

Will the route be available to those of us not going to look at?

It will be after next weekend.

Looking forward to this. It'll be a first for me: I've got minimal off road riding at night experience (plenty on the road though).
Dusted off my MTB (almost 365 days of dust), bled the brakes and did a 60km test ride with a couple of hours on in the dark on Saturday.
All went well. I was please to see that the Exposure Revo that I use for my commute pumps out more than enough light for relatively technical riding.
I'm hoping the dynamo will be an added incentive to keep moving.

Not too sure how well the dynamo hub can cope with being fully submerged. Hopefully it won't come to that!

Given that the forecast is firming up, with a fair bit of rain inevitable, what's everybody thinking of wearing? I think I will now go for full leg & arm soft-shell with a gore-tex waterproof jacket for the heavier showers.

Sloth, don't worry about the hub. I waded a substantial river earlier in the year with mine and it was fine. Although I agree that the Revo is plenty for riding with, it won't give you much on the hike a bike sections. I'll be using a Diablo on my lid for those parts and the Revo for riding. It's vital IMO to have a head lamp as well when doing the sorts of hours you will be in the dark. It just makes life so much easier when trying to get stuff out of bags, open gates etc. etc. Over the course of potentially 10 hours in the dark you will need "stuff" far more than your average 2-4 hour evening night ride.

In terms of clothing I will more than likely start in 3/4 bibs with waterproof baggies and winter boots. Bearbones top, arm warmers, gillet. Will have waterproof jacket to use as required. I will also have a buff and a spare pair of gloves so I have some warm ones to put on at night depending on conditions. Last year wore fingerless in the day time, full fingered at night. Worked for me.

ZeroDarkBivi wrote:Given that the forecast is firming up, with a fair bit of rain inevitable, what's everybody thinking of wearing? I think I will now go for full leg & arm soft-shell with a gore-tex waterproof jacket for the heavier showers.

The norwegians are forecasting good weather. Only a light shower and good at other times. I'm going to believe their forecast.

I'm staring at my inbox, waiting for THE email.

s8tannorm wrote:

Stu, what time can we expect the 'route reveal' to hit our inboxes tomorrow? I'm excited!

Should be with everyone before 10.00am ... I'm expecting bikehike to crash by 10.15.

It's 10:00am

edit: I see forum time lags by 1 minute...