# anyone on here do the mary townley loop yesterday



## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (18 Jun 2009)

hi all,

did anybody do the mtl organized thing yesterday? i was sposed to be on it but i have tennis elbow at moment, which is slowly improving, so i didn't want to risk it. it was awful weather around rossendale yesterday.


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## RedBike (18 Jun 2009)

No, but I fancy it again.


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## ColinJ (18 Jun 2009)

RedBike said:


> No, but I fancy it again.


I fancy having a go at it some time, but I don't reckon I could get close to you and Trios' 6 hours. It's ages since I did a long MTB ride, so I think the MTL might take me nearer 9 hours.

Bottling out on technical descents doesn't help boost average speed!


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (18 Jun 2009)

well i'm going to do it another 3 times before year end. twice this summer and one deep winter one for the challenge. i reckon my elbow will be sufficiently recovered by then, going off improvement so far. colin i did it anti clockwise in 10 hrs, but i was on for 7 hrs before i blew. i blew because i seriously under estimated how much food to take. how about july 18th?


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## RedBike (18 Jun 2009)

> Bottling out on technical descents doesn't help boost average speed!


I bet you're quicker than me. You have no idea how bad I am!


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## ColinJ (19 Jun 2009)

shauncollier said:


> well i'm going to do it another 3 times before year end. twice this summer and one deep winter one for the challenge. i reckon my elbow will be sufficiently recovered by then, going off improvement so far. colin i did it anti clockwise in 10 hrs, but i was on for 7 hrs before i blew. i blew because i seriously under estimated how much food to take. how about july 18th?


Blimey, you're keen - I wouldn't fancy it in winter one little bit! You'd only have about 8 hours of daylight at best and you'd probably be slowed down by snow/ice/mud so some riding in the dark might be required. You could get yourself into difficulties on some of those hills if you had a fall when the weather was bad... 

I wouldn't fancy another 3 hours of riding on the MTL after 'bonking'. I very nearly suffered that on Sunday doing the Red Rose Ride on the road and that was bad enough.

Perhaps we ought to try and organise an official CycleChat MTL ride? I think I'm free the weekend of the 18th/19th July.



RedBike said:


> I bet you're quicker than me. You have no idea how bad I am!


Well, if we all get together and do a CycleChat MTL ride, we'd find out wouldn't we!


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (19 Jun 2009)

yeah i'm defo up for that weekend but i am pretty flexible. i'm single speed now as well. i do want to do it the cw way. did it ccw last time and there is an awful lot of pushing that way round. i'm pretty sure rooley moor is easier that way as well. the winter one will be a gruel no doubt but what an adventure, i will be a heck of a lot fitter by then. i know the hills really well as i ride them a lot, in sections, i do more night riding than day riding, quieter then you see. i've done lee quarry loads of times in the dark, so a winter mtl isn't doesn't seem as daft as you think. plenty of 'outs' most of the way round so wife can come and get me.


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## RedBike (19 Jun 2009)

Put my name down for the this cyclechat ride around there.


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (2 Jul 2009)

been off the bike for a while because of a sore elbow, about 4 weeks i think. my god my fitness has dropped an unbelievable amount. i really don't think i will be fit enough in time for the agreed weekend for this ride. i'm going to leave it until august. so count me out this time. 

has anybody else had a short time off the bike then returned and been astounded by the fitness drop? if so, how long was it before you got back to your previous fitness (not that i was mega fit to start with)?


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## goodspeed (11 Jul 2009)

Been going to do the MTL for years and never got around to it so definately up for that Colin. I think I'm free that weekend, Sunday would be better for me!


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## ColinJ (14 Jul 2009)

goodspeed said:


> Been going to do the MTL for years and never got around to it so definately up for that Colin. I think I'm free that weekend, Sunday would be better for me!


I'm free on Saturday and Sunday, but currrently the forecast is that it will be dry on Saturday and wet on Sunday! I'm not sure that I'd want to do the MTL in the rain! 

By the way - do you fancy my Malham ride the following week?

Oh, and... we need to make our minds up about the Pendle Pedal too!


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## goodspeed (15 Jul 2009)

Unfortunately I have to work this weekend  and I'm not sure if next weekend's free either , Ill let you know if i can make it, sounds like a good ride!

Have'nt entered yet but certainly penned in for the Pendle Pedal, need to get some training in.


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## trio25 (16 Jul 2009)

Can't make this weekend as missed this thread and have planned a trip to gisburn forest. But the MTL is great, I am also sure me and redbikes took a fair bit longer than 6 hours!


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## ColinJ (16 Jul 2009)

trio25 said:


> Can't make this weekend as missed this thread and have planned a trip to gisburn forest. But the MTL is great, I am also sure me and redbikes took a fair bit longer than 6 hours!


Fair enough. 

Hey RedBike - shall we put this off to a later weekend and try and organise it properly? There should be at least 5 or 6 of us if we give enough notice.

I'm thinking of:
 ColinJ
 RedBike
 trio25
 goodspeed
 shauncollier
And judging from a previous thread maybe these CC members too:
 Rigid Raider
 PaulB
 Cubist
 (Anyone else who is interested...)

I'm free the last two weekends in September. There would still be plenty of daylight then if we set off at 08:00.

Oh, speaking of Gisburn Forest - my Malham ride is passing through there on the 26th - did you manage to get that Sunday off?


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## RedBike (16 Jul 2009)

Sorry, I didn't even realise my name was down!

I am planning to ride it (and the rest of the Pennine Bridleway) next wed/thursday though.


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## ColinJ (16 Jul 2009)

RedBike said:


> Sorry, I didn't even realise my name was down!
> 
> I am planning to ride it (and the rest of the Pennine Bridleway) next wed/thursday though.


That sounds like an awful lot of off-road for two days! What kind of distances will you be doing?

You've expressed reservations about doing 100 miles of hilly road riding elsewhere but I'd say that 50+ miles of hilly off-road is way harder!


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## RedBike (16 Jul 2009)

ColinJ said:


> That sounds like an awful lot of off-road for two days! What kind of distances will you be doing?
> 
> You've expressed reservations about doing 100 miles of hilly road riding elsewhere but I'd say that 50+ miles of hilly off-road is way harder!



It sounds like a HUGE amount of off-roading to me. Espehially as I will have a full load of camping gear with me. I haven't dared look at the mileage yet; and i'm not going to until i'm 3/4 of the way around.


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## RedBike (16 Jul 2009)

Pulling that trailer over Catlow Fell to Gisburn forest caused me to come down with a dose of tourettes syndrome. Every time I thought I was at the top I came over the brow of the hill / tunred the bend to see the road went on for another mile or two up hill. 

I'm not too sure that sort of ride can be classed as hilly. Perhaps mountainous is the polite way of putting it, although I can think of plenty of other 'terms'.


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## ColinJ (16 Jul 2009)

RedBike said:


> Pulling that trailer over Catlow Fell to Gisburn forest caused me to come down with a dose of tourettes syndrome. Every time I thought I was at the top I came over the brow of the hill / tunred the bend to see the road went on for another mile or two up hill.
> 
> I'm not too sure that sort of ride can be classed as hilly. Perhaps mountainous is the polite way of putting it, although I can think of plenty of other 'terms'.


I've only ridden that road once before, with a much fitter mate. He got way ahead of me on the ascent and waited a while at the top before setting off down the other side when I was still about 100 yards from the summit. When I got up there the views were fantastic, especially east towards the limestone pavement above Settle. Apparently, my mate had thought so too...

When I looked down the hill, I saw that he was having a rest at the side of the road. Well, actually he was sat on the edge of his road, with his head between his knees. His bike was resting against a dry stone wall. What was he playing at? I shot down the hill towards him and saw him stagger to his feet, then start wandering about in circles. There was a big strange-looking red mark on his bald head. No, he wasn't wearing a helmet!

I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and raced down to him. As I got closer, I saw that he was bleeding from a head wound and the front wheel of his bike was severely buckled!

It turned out that when he'd looked over towards Settle, he was so transfixed by the stunning views of the Dales that he'd forgotten to look where he was going. He'd ridden off the road into a ditch and had catapulted himself over the handlebars and head-butted a wall!

He was really lucky not to have seriously injured himself. He'd actually got a very large bump swelling up on top of his head, but the blood was coming from the bridge of his nose where his sunglasses had been smashed into his face by the impact.

We were about 20 miles from his car but fortunately he was able to straighten his wheel enough to make it just about rideable. I washed the blood out of his eyes and we managed to limp back to the car park at Whalley just before it got dark.

The trauma kind of obliterated the details of that ride from my memory. I remember that it was very scenic, but that's all. I'm looking forward to riding there again on the 26th. Hopefully you can make it too! I'm going to do most of my sight-seeing when I'm stationary though.


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## RedBike (16 Jul 2009)

You'll get plenty of chance for sight seeing while you're waiting for me!

I think the ride on the 26th is going clockwise?
If so it's the oppostie direction to what I went. I think that roads probably steeper (but shorter) heading North. 
Waddington fell was another good-un. Thankfully, I had fresh legs for that one!


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## ColinJ (16 Jul 2009)

RedBike said:


> You'll get plenty of chance for sight seeing while you're waiting for me!
> 
> I think the ride on the 26th is going clockwise?
> If so it's the oppostie direction to what I went. I think that roads probably steeper (but shorter) heading North.
> Waddington fell was another good-un. Thankfully, I had fresh legs for that one!


No, I was planning to do it anti-clockwise so it would be Gargrave, Malham, Settle, Catlow Fell (Bowland Knotts), Waddington and so on. We won't be doing Waddington Fell on the 26th but I do like it and usually go over it a couple of times a year.


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## trio25 (17 Jul 2009)

Free dates for me are
29th August, 12th September, 19th September. Can it please be one of these???

Where do we want to start?

Redbike noone will be waiting for you you are way too fast - ignore him ColinJ he can easily ride 100 hilly rides, he did 254miles over two days this week on a mixture of roads/off-road!


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (17 Jul 2009)

hey trio, everyone,

i'm up for 12th sept. i will be back to my previous fitness by then. can we do it cw as i will be ss and it was hard with gears ccw. i think your idea of a pub stop halfway a good idea too. 

cheers

shaun


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## trio25 (17 Jul 2009)

ColinJ 12th ok for you? If so I'll start a new thread! I will most probably be singlespeeding as well, clockwise makes sense! Probably start near Colin due to his lack of transport??? 

Yes me and red enjoyed the pub stop, although climbing was hard after it!


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (17 Jul 2009)

not as hard as climbing when 'blown'. i won't make the lack of calories mistake again, that's for sure.lol


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## trio25 (17 Jul 2009)

No but I always eat so much food the whole way round to avoid that!


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (17 Jul 2009)

exactly, that's why i will be stopping every time i do it in the future, whether others do or not. no way am i going to blow again!!!


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (17 Jul 2009)

ps, trio did you feel that your 32:16 equivalent ratio was ok. i'm thinking i might go 32:20 this time, not many places to spin out on mtl.


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## ColinJ (17 Jul 2009)

Sorry guys - I can't make the 12th. I'm visiting my family in the midlands that weekend (and doing the Shakespeare 100 while I'm at it).

I can make it on 29th August or 19th September though (or later in September).

If I'm not getting a lift, then starting at Callis Bridge on the A646 would best for me since it is the closest point to Hebden Bridge (only about 1.5 miles). 

It's possible that _goodspeed_ will be doing the ride in which case he might offer me a lift and then we could start anywhere.

If we do start at Callis, we could stop at the Ram Inn at Holme Chapel which is at about the 2/3 point (clockwise). Only trouble with that is that we go straight up the hillside across the road afterwards.

Alternatively, you probably know somewhere at Waterfoot (or nearby) which would be halfway round.

*PS* I'd been wondering what s/s ratios you were riding. I have a 39/15 on my midlands road bike but there is no way I could do the MTL on that ratio. I might try doing a MTB ride and stay on one gear which would be 32/16, 32/18 or 32/21. I think I'd struggle.

When I was skinny about 7 or 8 years ago I stopped using the granny ring and very rarely used the 28 and 32 sprockets so the lowest MTB gear then would generally have been 32/24 - that's still quite a bit lower than 32/16!


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (17 Jul 2009)

tbh, now my arm is better any weekend is good for me, just need a few more weeks to get back to fitness (ish lol)


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## ColinJ (17 Jul 2009)

shauncollier said:


> tbh, now my arm is better any weekend is good for me, just need a few more weeks to get back to fitness (ish lol)


Shall we say Sunday 19th September then?


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## RedBike (17 Jul 2009)

I will be running 32:16. Yep, shock horror!! Redbike single speeds!
Just ordered a chain tensioner off ebay for a whole £2.99. I will be cutting my chainring bolts down later tonight. 

My gears have failed. The quick release mount for a trailer I used last weekend has put so much stress on my dropouts it's has managed to twist the mech hanger out of alignment, the final nail in the coffin for my gears!. 

My gears wern't exactly healthy before. The springs failing in my rear mech, my cables are that full of muck they wont move and my granny ring is so badly worn it's now un-useable due to chain suck. 

All this means I've either got to spend a fortune (not an option) putting things right or go single speed path. - I can't believe i've given in. Can I just point out that I still don't really want to go single speed. I woud still MUCH prefer to have gears but i just don't have the cash needed to repair them at the moment.


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## ColinJ (17 Jul 2009)

RedBike said:


> All this means I've either got to spend a fortune (not an option) putting things right or go single speed path. - I can't believe i've given in. Can I just point out that I still don't really want to go single speed. I woud still MUCH prefer to have gears but i just don't have the cash needed to repair them at the moment.


I feel your pain! My Rock Lobster was out of action for over a year while I agonised over spending the required large sum of cash on it. Eventually I remembered that I had £200 stashed in premium bonds so I cashed them in to pay for the parts.

Now I've realised that I need to fit new tyres... I have a spare front one but I'm going to have to get a new rear soon because there is virtually no tread left on the old one - no grip whatsoever in the slippery stuff.

I'm amazed that someone hasn't come up with a lighweight extended mudguard for bike transmissions. A bit like those chainguards they used to have on old sit-up-and-beg bikes. If the chainrings, sprockets, chain and mechs were covered to keep the crud off them, they'd probably last 10 times as long. I know that parts on road bikes only ridden in the dry last a heck of a long time.


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## trio25 (17 Jul 2009)

So shall we say saturday the 19th then? I'll start a thread, exciting not sure I've done that before.

I find my ratio fine, but I'm happy to walk up hills!


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## RedBike (17 Jul 2009)

trio25 said:


> So shall we say saturday the 19th then? I'll start a thread, exciting not sure I've done that before.
> 
> I find my ratio fine, but I'm happy to walk up hills!



Not that she walked up any last time!


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (17 Jul 2009)

oh good some company on the walking up hill bit. 19th sounds good. hopefully it will be a nice crisp autumn day. what time are you thinking? 

red,
we all knew you'd crumple. but cost is the main reason i'm ss. like trio says, just don't get embarrassed walking. i don't think i could manage 32:16 round mtl 

one things for sure, i don't think i will giving up full sus anytime soon. i'm not that hardcore


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## trio25 (17 Jul 2009)

Did I mention I now have rigid forks?

I did walk two or maybe three hills last time!


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## ColinJ (17 Jul 2009)

shauncollier said:


> one things for sure, i don't think i will giving up full sus anytime soon. i'm not that hardcore


I've only tried full sus once and I didn't really like it. I met a stranger up on the tops and he was riding a very expensive-looking full suspension Whyte bike. We got chatting and he offered me a go on it which I thought was pretty generous considering that we were at the top of a long technical descent and his bike was worth about 4 times what mine was! I rode away from him and had to wait for him at the foot of the descent so it wouldn't have been difficult for me to scarper with his bike.

I didn't like the various clunky noises and rattles from the suspension. I also felt a bit disconnected from the surface I was riding over. I prefer the simplicity of a hardtail (though I do have a USE Shokpost to take the sting out of the back-end). Mind you - I end up walking down a lot of the really technical stuff...



trio25 said:


> Did I mention I now have rigid forks?
> 
> I did walk two or maybe three hills last time!


Hmm, cost- and weight-wise that would be good but I remember the battering I used to get on my zero sus Orange. I was very happy to start riding my Rock Lobster with its heavy, but plush Marzocchi suspension forks.


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## trio25 (17 Jul 2009)

It is a different riding technique! I much prefer my hardtail though!


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## RedBike (17 Jul 2009)

I have had two full sus bike and I greatly prefered them over the hardtail. 

The first was a stumpjumper 120. I had to sell it when i realised just how much it was going to cost to service. They wanted something daft like a £100 for the 'brain' (part of the rear shock), £80 for the rear shock, £50 for the forks and £50 for the bearings. That was before you started fitting new cables, chainrings etc. I brought GT avalanche for less than the service would of cost me and quickly flogged the stumpy. 

After the GT I went back to a full sus in the form of a Marin (wolf ridge). Lovely bike. The only trouble is it weighed a ton, literally! Part of me wishes I had kept it. But it was really hard work on the uphills. I even ended up fitting a 34 tooth cassette to help me out on the climbs. 

Then there was the Lobster. It's nowhere near as capable on anything technical as the Marin but as i'm useless on anything technical anyway we get along just fine.


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## trio25 (17 Jul 2009)

My friend has a wolfrigde as her alpine bike, nice bike!

My full-suss is only 4 inches of travel so not in that category!


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (17 Jul 2009)

6 inch at front, 5 on the rear. still only weighs about 23 to 24 lbs now. no way am i going rigid front or back. like to fly down technical bits too much.


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## striker (18 Aug 2009)

I happened upon this thread by chance and was wondering something.

How hard is the MTL? 

reason I ask is my son (14) has got into cycling in a big way. mainly road cycling with a local club (regular 40-60 mile club runs)but we both fancy a bit of off roading when we go on holiday during oct half-term.

We won't be too far from Hebden Bridge so could we make it?

What spec bike would you need? I have a specilized hardrock and my son has a giant boulder. Would these get us round?

any advice gratefully received.

Thanks


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## ColinJ (18 Aug 2009)

striker said:


> I happened upon this thread by chance and was wondering something.
> 
> How hard is the MTL?
> 
> ...


I haven't ridden it all in one go, but I have ridden most of it at one time or another and have done a 45 mile offroad event taking in much of it and some other local bridleways. It is pretty tough - about as tough as 100 hilly Lancs/Yorks road miles on the legs, but with upper-body battering as well! 

The thing is, the MTL criss-crosses several local valleys so there are multiple bailout points should you need them. If the offroad stuff becomes too much, you can always ride to the finish on the road.

Don't forget - there are only 10 hours of daylight at the end of October. I'd suggest starting at dawn if you are going to attempt the MTL at that time of year and you are not sure that you can even complete it, let alone ride quickly. 

We had snow and ice here at the end of October last year, so you will have to take weather conditions into account. There are a few places on the route where you wouldn't want to be falling off at dusk in bad weather! Mobile phone reception might well be poor in places.

What you might prefer to do is to split the MTL into two halves and do it over two days, staying at a B&B near Waterfoot which is about half-way round from Hebden Bridge.


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## RedBike (18 Aug 2009)

It's a hard two day ride. 

Unless you're some sort of climbing god you have to push up a lot of the climbs and depending upon the conditions / your ability you can expect to have to push down a few of the descents too. 

I found this report very helpfull. 
http://www.lancashiregroup.southlakesgroup.org.uk/2009photogallery/photos-1st-april.htm


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (18 Aug 2009)

i'm a reasonably unfit 40 year old fat bloke. it took me 10 hours. the last 3 were hell as i had blown. if your lad has exceptional grit and determination he should manage it in a long hard day. but he would be miserable and needs to be with a good rider who knows it (the route) well, for bail out options, accidents etc etc. however as others have said, split it, i would say into 3 days. there are many many good b&b's on the route. the best websites for accommodation are equestrian type sites as they tend to split it in to 3 days.


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (18 Aug 2009)

i've just noticed the time of year you wish to give it a go. it will be very very muddy at that time of year. the descents will be slippy, slow, more probably need walking thru the summit area and demand mental stamina, the ascents will be slippy (under wheel and foot) and energy sapping, especially with heavy bikes. 

the best website is www.idonohoe.com


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## Globalti (19 Aug 2009)

I've done it twice and I think I took about 7-8 hours. You need a fast hardtail and dry conditions.


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## striker (19 Aug 2009)

Thanks All.

sounds like we will give bits of it a go. I'll have to work out a route with a number of nice bailout options (aka pubs )

All dependant on the weather I guess.

I'll report back!


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