Cycling UK Forum

I want to know if William Hill owe me more money as I backed Denis Menchov who's moved up from third to second

No further info but it's on the BBC site... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-16902829

I'm being extremely presumptuous, but I assume this will on the stretch of National Route 5 which goes from traffic free to bad road conditions in Flint... I've heard this stretch flagged up so many times.

Just awful. My condolences.

More great info... cheers.
I'm glad I've re-sparked your ultralight bug... it is addictive and I'm not sure why. I've no desire to travel faster or further, I just love the idea or being as minimal as I possibly can just for the fun of it

I came across this last night. Whilst there's no "packed size" info, it's 1lb 6oz... how big can it be!

http://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/ ... elter.html

It has an airbeam tent so no poles. Looks just the job albeit a bit more pricey... and quite possibly unavailable
It comes with a pump to inflate the airbeam but obviously we all carry a pump so if an adaptor could be fashioned it's literally a skin and pegs. Seems ideal!

Anyone got experience of this or are there any other airbeam lightweight tents around... I've not found any others. I guess it's a similar idea to the Bikamper (http://www.topeak.com/products/Tent/Bikamper), just with the "tube" sewn in. I know Vango make airbeam stuff but they're much much bigger.

Mmmm... certainly another thought... especially at that price!! Again, a single skin was something at the back of my mind.

And what a fantastic blog link however! I will be pouring over that all night and am sure it will fill me with ideas. Brilliant

UPDATE: it's the guy from the Cycle magazine article isn't it. And so the thread comes full circle

p.s. I've since noticed there's now a sub-forum for camping stuff, so I'm sorry about that! Mr Moderator, you may wish to move this topic

horizon wrote:Thanks for that mike. From that, I take it that you mean "without a tent". I only ask because it prevents confusion when discussing the minimum weight/equipment required for camping when people actually mean bivvying (or even roughing it !)

Well yes and no. As Bealer suggests, bivvys can weigh as much as a tent so I'm not ruling any angle out. In short, if I can fit it on the bike without a rack, I'll consider it.

Cheers Bealer... some good info there... the tarptents look rather good
I've seen a couple of others that are, well half way between tarps and tents (hence the manufacturers name eh) that I'm pondering. As you suggest, bivvys tend to be almost has heavy and similar sized to a small tent anyway. I think in my mind I'm trying to keep everything in the spare bottle cage and saddle bag (or bungeed behind the seat). I can just about bungee a small sleeping bag onto my saddle bag actually, it just the plan falls apart when I try to add the tent/bivvy/trap as well.

I've thought about trying to Gelert as it's so cheap. Do you think it would squeeze in a bottle cage? I'm not sure I'd want it squashed in my drops. Guess it would balance the weight though

horizon wrote:mike: could you please very carefully define exactly what you mean by the word "camping"? Thank you.

I mean sleeping next to my bike under the stars for a couple of nights during Spring/Summer whether that be wild camping in Scotland or a small camp site with basic facilities. Something to climb into that's warm and dry enough to see me through the night. I'm not planning to take a stove or anything, so "camping" in this sense just means "sleeping outside".

Cheers.

Great article in this months Cycle about ultralight camping I thought. However this was really credit card touring and whilst the the bivvy bag squashed into a bottle cage is a great idea, it was according the to author, not up to the job. I've always fancied doing a short camping trip with just a decent saddle bag and 2 sets of bottle bosses with a "if it doesn't fit, it's not coming" attitude

So what's the smallest shelter I could take that will do the job, say for Spring/Summer camping in the UK? I've pondered silver emergency sleeping bags/blankets, tiny tents, bivvy bags, thermal bivvy bags (especially http://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/amk_sol_thermal_bivvy_sack.html this one), ex-army waterproof(ish) sleeping bags and bothys but having never used any of these things is there anyone who has or tell me what I should be looking at?

How small dare I go?

Cheers.

cjs wrote:Personally I love the place and brilliant to get people into a cycling mood…

Wonderful... just the inspiration I needed

Thank you very much for the response... I shall certainly check these places out.
I think, as suggested, somewhere not too far from a city or 2 is a great idea then we can hop on a train for a few city days and get the best of both worlds.
Cooo, I'm excited already.

Well yes that's certainly a consideration but I'd like to explore a bit of The Netherlands as it's not somewhere I've ever really been (outside of Amsterdam).

Whilst I'm happy to ride all day every day, my wife is not... my plan is to slowly get her riding more and more.
So I thought a compromise holiday would be to pop the bikes on the car, grab the ferry and spend a week or so in The Netherlands.
I'm looking for a good town/area to use as a base where we can stay in a nice hotel and go out riding or even pottering as much or as little as we see fit through the week... so somewhere with plenty of picturesque easy riding off in every direction would be ideal. It's not a place I know at all well so all suggestions are gratefully received Thanks in advance.

Thank you for all the advice.

I fully understand the point of going to fatter tyres in the first place but I don't want to take my road bike too far towards the "middle ground" and try to keep it set up for it's sleek road biking duties. I can just ride my Marathon/XC mountain bike is the terrain is a little more demanding.

It seems to me then, to summarise, if I'm sticking with 700x25s then tread makes minimal difference and the tougher tyres are down to choosing a personalised balance between extra weight vs puncture resistance, the latter perhaps been the most effective difference if I want to take in the odd towpath etc.
And therefore the term "winter tyres" at 700x25 is basically pretty redundant unless I fatten them up.

My road bike needs new tyres (plus winter is coming).
My currently tyres are reasonably slick racing tyres (700x25) and I thought about giving some touring tyres ago for the winter (again 700x25)... Pasela TG or similar.

Firstly, aside from the obvious grip advantages in winter conditions I assume this will allow me to stretch my terrain a little more onto rough tow paths etc?

Secondly, and the main point of post, how much impact does all this extra tread REALLY have when out on the smooth tarmac?
I assume it will slow me down a little on the descents but I'm very wimpy and almost consider that a plus
But what about climbing? Will I actually notice much difference at all (especially sticking to 700x25)?

Cheers.

Mick F wrote:When I'm not towing, I take the hitch off. It's an ankle biter rather than a rock hitter!

Yeah that's what I need to avoid.
I can't be putting it on and off every day hence I was looking at seatpost mounts.
I know it's probably a "2 minute job" but working days are hectic and it all adds up.