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Automated batch conversion of Garmin FIT files to GPX in Windows

Sun, 22 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Whilst working on a project to output the elevation chart of a GPX track I came across some code to produce your own heatmap from a bunch of gps tracks. I thought that'd be pretty cool to visualized my own as I've been using Strava's global heatmap since it was released in 2017 to plot mountain bike routes. I was pretty bummed that when they were released, personal heatmaps were a premium feature so it got me thinking I may have a tinker at that.

Anyway, side-tracked as ever I embarked on seeing if I could download all my routes from Garmin Connect (which you can here). It didn't take long for them to arrive, but on inspecting them realised they were all in .fit format (of course they were proprietary Garmin!).

I knew GPS Babel was probably going to be the answer for converting the files as I'd used it waay back in the day but wasn't sure if it could natively batch process files, a quick bit of research said no, but no matter should be easily be able to knock a simple command together.

I was on my Linux box at the time so I wasn't so wasn't looking for a windows solution but I did note that there wasn't really any tutorials out there for it only this method which seems way too manual for my liking, so I thought in the spirit of giving back (and a bit if site traffic!) if dig out my windows batch fu from the recesses of my brain and post one:

You'll need to have GPS Babel already installed then just simply open the command prompt in the folder where the .fit files are and fire out this line of script:

Windows command line code

for %i in (*.fit) do "C:\Program Files\GPSBabel\gpsbabel.exe" -rt -i garmin_fit -f %i -x track,course,speed -o gpx -F %~ni.gpx

should be good to go and it quickly chewed through the 37,652 files I downloaded from Garmin!

Windows batch code

For an easier method which doesn't use the command line at all, just right-click in the folder where the files are located, fire out a New \ Text Document, open it and paste the following code:

@echo off
Title Batch convert fit to gpx
for %%i in (*.fit) do "C:\Program Files\GPSBabel\gpsbabel.exe" -rt -i garmin_fit -f %%i -x track,course,speed -o gpx -F %%~ni.gpx && echo %%i converted to %%~ni.gpx
pause

then just save the file as convert.bat then double click on it :-). Note there's an extra % used in the batch command to escape the other %.

Extra credit

There's a bit of extra credit in there as it turns the prompt off and lists the converted files. If you want some double extra credit you can hop on over to my Github page and the code the will colour the output as well:

If you are feeling brave you can append && del %%i onto the end and it will delete the converted files as well.

How to easily & perfectly align your Stem

Sun, 17 Sep 2023 23:53:31 +0000

I don't know about your but I've always had trouble aligning my stem perfectly parallel to my front wheel. It's even more infuriating when out on the road or tail sensing even the tiniest misalignment which niggles you for weeks or even months.

The trouble is that it's really hard to quantify if it is actually out of kilter or just in your head! In the past I've tried many whacky solutions of either triangulating a measurement between the grips and a point on the tyre or using a straight edge between the saddle headset and tyre.

There are two issues at play here, the margin of error that you can detect is so small that it's virtually impossible to measure accurately. You also can't make tiny adjustments to the stem as you have to nip up the bolts a little to stop it moving whilst trying to align it and it's pretty grippy so it takes quite a nudge to move it meaning you pretty much have to fluke it with a bit of trial and error.

Well it turns out that it's actually very easy when you know how and it doesn't even need any tools other than your eyes!

Just drop out your front wheel and eyeball the angle of your axle dropouts with the stem faceplate.

Easy. Only issues you might have is if you've got a chunky front mudguard and you'll come up against not being how to focus on both your dropouts and faceplate at the same time but the effect is no worse than you can see from my photos but it is super quick to get dialled in. Should work with any bike and you can get the alignment perfect!

How to remove bicycle tyre marks from painted walls

Thu, 23 Nov 2017 20:00:00 +0000

This is probably the bain of a lot of cyclist's lives, well the ones that keep their bikes indoors anyhow, despite how careful you are it is just a matter of time before you inadvertantly catch a tyre on the wall as you wheel your bike around.

No probs you would think, bit of Cif and the mark'd come right off. No such luck here, for some reason the stain refuses to shift. Sure you can rub at it hard but all that acheives is the removal of the paint.

Magic sponges

After pondering the situation for a couple of years and in conjunction with another household cleaning problem that I decided to buy some magic sponges. Pretty cheap really when you buy them off ebay - a 10 pack was less than a couple of quid delivered first class

Dampen them up and a bit of rubbing later - hey presto, marks gone, and when it's dry it is like they were never there.

How to clean the lid and nozzle of your Camelbak Podium bottle

Tue, 07 Nov 2017 22:08:00 +0000

My first encounters with Camelbak Podium bidons were not great, I borrowed a bottle from Ali for use on quick ride but but I was soon struggling with it!

What I hadn't experienced before in my two decades of cycling was an increase in nozzle length, every time I wen't for a sip I ended up punching myself in the face - I'd have to relearn how to drink my go-juice on the go though as a couple of days later I received a gift from Ali of two brank spanking new GCN bidons.

I was a bit reluctant to margin:10px; use them initially as my experience had shown me that the aforemoentioned drinking outlet had the habit of skaning up quite readily so much so that I'd caught Ali a short while later stooping on her bike, uscrewing the lid and drinking out of the opening in preference to the water having to pass through the bacterial infestation.

I had a go at rmoving it but was getting no-where just with the use of my hands. We'd considered asking someone with a dishwasher to have a go in that for us but didn't get round to it.

It wasn't till I bought her an new one in advance of our Girona training camp that I could up the braveness without worrying if I busted it.

So brave pills taken and the first attempt I wanted was with something blunt. I was in the kitchen so I reached for a teaspoon and proceeded to jam it up the spout as far as it would go, it was then just a case of levering it a bit and the fella popped off.

The worringing thin here is that once you get it open you really see how grimed up it is - the translucent nozzle manages to hide the worst of it, eergh!

It actually comes apart into three pieces with a bit of tug.

You'll be glad to know that from this point it is a super easy to get spangly clean then just pops back together and you are ready to go.

Happy riding and enjoy your good-s-new bottle.

Rivington MTB ride

Wed, 18 May 2016 08:00:00 +0000

I'd been itching to ride Rivvy ever since I realised that it was here that they held the Manchester Commonwealth games.

I'd had a couple of attempts which ended up not being that great but it is when I happened across this route that the trails really hotted up.

This route takes in the (obligatory for me) broken road descent and a lap around the Pike followed by the climb to the top of Winter Hill and the San Marino descent (as ever, please check legal rights of way before cycling).

Next a bit of road work up to Belmont then over Rivington Road followed by a loop around the north of the Reservoir and a loop of Healey Nab.

Ride details

Distance 31km

Elevation gain 820m

Start: Road to Rivington Hall Barn | £Free

Toilet: Next to Lower Barn

Coffee stop: Rivington Lower Barn

TF2 Extreme Wet Lubricant

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

TF2 Extreme Wet Lubricant

Reviewed by Martin Childs

Weldite, 75ml £3.49/ 125ml £5.79 (£46 per litre)

Seriously sticky, but too much goop?

I thought I was on a winner here, an extreme wet lube with TF2 for extra slipperiness at an OK price.

Well I was just plain wrong! This stuff does live up to it's extreme moniker but it was just too extreme for my liking.

The problem with it is that it sticks to itself to easily and as you rotate teh chain to apply it a whole load of stringy cobweb like threads of lube appear as the chain rolls off the jockey wheels/cassette/chainrings.

That in itself isn't a killer but it has the tendency to then splatter all over you rims and tyres - not the best.

Not wanting to let my money go to waste I've taken to mixing it with my previously reviewed Wilko Performance Lube. Doing so knocks back the stringiness and thickens the Wilko lube up a bit and after about a year and a half now I've managed to use it all up!

One point in its favour is that the spout unscrews so I'm planning to reuse the empty bottle if I can source some cheap lube in bulk.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Custom sprocket ratios for 9 speed Campagnolo 12-26

Thu, 08 Oct 2015 08:00:00 +0000

One of the great thing Campagnolo pays particular attention to that other manufacturers often overlook is gear ratios.

A regular rider might only notice jumps between sprockets when they are excessive such as on super wide blocks, the reason for this is that we automatically compensate for a non optimal cadence by slowing down or speeding up. The racers among us will note that in a

The compromise Campy makes in retaining minimal jumps between ratios is that they sometimes sacrifice top and bottom end gears. It's an acceptable trade off, keeping the most used middle gears in preference to the rarely used extremities.

You particularly notice this phenomenon the fewer numbers of gears you have. In a modern 11 speed setup Shimano now offers an 11-28 block which is now the default choice for even pro riders. If you convert this spread into a 9 speed cassette you'd lop off the top and bottom gears leaving you with a 12-28 spread. Unfortunately for Campagnolo users this is deemed to have too many jumps still and the widest they will supply you with is a 13-28.

Luckily for us old skool Campy users we can easily knock our own ratios up using Veloce level components. If you consult the Campy spare parts catalogues and tech specs you will note that the ramp patterns mean you can mix and match most of the ratios and preseve the finely tuned shifting characteristics.

If you take a look at the chart (full pdf here) we can see in order to get a 12-26 block all we is to lose the 13 and 16 sprockets from a 13-26 and slot on a 12 and 13 from a 12-23.

The genius of it is that if you study the sprockets model numbers you will see that the ramps betweens the ratios stay perfectly synced as Campy intended them to be.

As an additional bonus it needn't be an overly expensive procedure - nearly new 12-23 cassettes can be pocked up uber-cheaply from ebay as nobody really uses them today.

Head over to the support section of the Campagnolo website and indulge youself in all the spare parts catalogues and technical manuals you could ever dream of!

The secrets of Alex Dowsett's hour record bike

Sat, 02 May 2015 17:19:00 +0000

Had an awesome time watching Alex Dowsett's excellent showing at todays world hour record attempt.

First off some stats about the bike:

Canyon Speedmax WHR custom built with track drop outs;
114inch gearing (55x11)
Continental Tempo 22mm tubulars (13-15bar pressure)
Campagnolo Pista disc wheels
Weight 7.71kg

He had a total of four frames made and had them all built ready so he had threee spares on the day.

During his post effort interview he was answering a question about how far he could go he gave aways a couple of interesting snippets. He was saying that he wasn't sure of how he would do as as the developement of the bike was evolving he was getting faster.

One of the developements to his custom he didn't name but eluded to:

Some of the modifications will only last a hour

This interesting comment got me thinking, what kind of tweak would only be temporary? I immediately was thinking that it may be some kind of spray on / liquid based enhancement? I'll have to look into this one further...

How to make a Shimano disc brake bleed spacer block

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 08:00:00 +0000

The official bleed spacer is both really expensive to buy for what it is and hard to come by.

Have a look at Shimano tech docs site, here you can see the official tech sheet detailing bleeding spacer you need. You may get lucky at your local bike shop, if you ask nicely they may have one to spare. If you want to save a few pounds and make one yourself I'll take you through what you need.

The Park Tool site details the thickness of the spacer required - 10mm should do it, now all we need to do is to find something we can use which is the appropriate width. I racked my brain for a while trying to come up with something.

Having spent many an hour inspecting and measuring bits and bobs I came up with using one pence coins - they are the correct diameter and stacking them comes to the required thickness.

It is best to have a selection of ages of 1 pences available as they tend to loose thickness as they wear out. According to the Royal Mint, brand new pennies come in two different sizes, either 1.52mm or 1.65mm thick dependant on the material used.

Be aware though this is not an exact science as I tested six older looking coins against 6 newer ones - the result was 9.20mm vs 10.20mm so there must be another element in there also a bit of dirt and a bit of wearing thin.

This is great, we can use it to tune the tickness of bleed block you want. People rave about Shimano brakes as they aren't draggy. Whilst I admit all of my Avid brakes have a little bit if disc rub most of the time they have an excellent automatic bite point adjustment.

Shimano on the other hand do not have such a feature and as the pad wears you have to keep winding the reach of the lever outwards so the lever doesn't bottom out on the bars so you can actually stop (some higher end Shimano levers do have a manual bite point tweak but this still doesn't give enough adjustment). This isn't a problem initially but it soon makes the levers so far out that I have ungrip the bars to fetch them back in preperation to use them! I'm glad I only have them on XC bike.

I've read somewhere on the internet (I'll supply a linky when I find it again) that as the pad wears down you can use a thinner bleed block to keep on top of the reach issues.

What you'll need:

a selection of pennies
some glue
vernier caliper

Glue it together

Then all you need to do is to select the combination of coins you require to make up your disired thickness (I went with 9.80mm) as measured by your vernier guage, glue them together (I used some E6000 I had lying about after I was gluing my shoe back togetther). Once the glue has set you are away.

In use

I found in use that the spacer did fall out a couple of times, not during critical points of the bleed process though. Other than this it performed admirably and despite it's slight drawback it is great to be able to slightly tweak the exact bleed you are getting out of your calipers - I found that 9.80mm was spot on for my current amount of pad wear.

Disclaimer: This blog post is just an explanation of what I did, do not follow my instructions. I will not be liable in any way, or in any circumstances for any damage, injury or loss to any individual that may occur during, in connection with, or as a result of reading this article. You should always keep your equipment maintained in full working order by a qualified mechanic.

Decathlon / B'Twin tyre lever review

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:00:00 +0000

Decathlon / B'Twin tyre lever

Reviewed by Martin Childs

Decathlon, £2.50 for three

Thin enough to get under the tightest bead but strong and cheap.

This is definately one product that bucks the old saying of:

Light, strong and cheap: choose two

These little strokes of genius from Decathlon are where tyre levers are at. My previous favourite tyre lever was these Pedros jobbies. They come in funky colours, are super chunky strong and have a nice large but slim bead hook great for getting deep into rims and tight tyres.

However times are a changing, today low bead hooks are commonplace and rims with no bead hook at all are here. Following the trend of more recent designs this design from Decathlon has a short stubby flat 'hook' with a slim body that takes up minimal space. Extra design features include a nifty schraeder valve nubbin for deflating mtb tyres. Given Decathlon's renowned price/quality ratio you'd be thinking that for £2.50 these would fall into the budget category, but after several years of testing I can safely say that these fellas are tough enough for even the tightest beaded road tyres.

As a further bonus in the VFM stakes you get three levers - buy two packs for a fiver and you are set for life with three sets to use.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Lake Vyrnwy Kingfisher Spotting!

Sun, 03 Aug 2014 22:08:00 +0000

Spent a second fantastic weekend camping in Shropshire in mid June, having previously visited in 2011.

Marty opted for a day mountain biking around the Long Mynd area which I did enjoy thanks to the spectacular views of the Shropshire Hills. But the highlight of my weekend was a trip to RSPB Lake Vyrnwy on the Sunday. We packed up the tent and headed off into Wales with plans to cycle around the lake. On arrival we headed to the main Coed Y Capel hide by the car park. I was disappointed to see that there were no bird feeders out, previously these have given great views of small birds, however we got chatting to the RSPB volunteers who informed us that the absence of feeders was an attempt to protect the bird population from a devastating infection, trichomoniasis.

We then set off around the lake towards the centenary and lakeside hides. I wasn't hoping to see much when we arrived at the centenary hide, on our previous visit all the action had been at Coed Y Capel. We had just made our way into the hide when out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of blue streak past! I instantly knew I had seen a kingfisher, and was so excited as this was my first ever sighting! My luck continued when the bird flew back into sight and perched on top of a post amid the reeds, giving us perfect views, but sadly did not stay long enough for a photo opportunity!

After all the excitement we decided to have a pit stop and opted for the Lake View tea room, a short climb up from the main road around the lake. The tea room is well located, with excellent views over the lake from the front terrace. We had a pot of tea and Marty had a scone, but sadly for me there were no gluten free cakes! However the fantastic bird spotting continued from our table with sightings of siskins, housemartins, chaffinches, jays, a mistle thrush, pheasant and a great spotted woodpecker!

Fully fuelled we set off out our "flying lap" - an attempt to get the all important Strava segment! Considering we were on our mountain bikes we flew around, clearly boosted by a fantastic few days!

Continental GP4000S - correct install orientation/rotation direction

Sun, 06 Jul 2014 08:00:00 +0000

Want to know in which direction to install yor new Continental GP4000S tyres? read on....

Not that the sipings have any effect on performace (I did read an article somewhere in which the representative from Continental said that customers expect them so thats why they are on there), but it is nice to know you've installed them in the correct orientation.

I was in a rush installing my first tyre as I had a split in the carcass of my Giant P-R3 tyre and in artificial light I couldn't find any markings or rotation travel at all so I made a judgement call and, as it turns out, put them on the wrong way.

When it came to installing the other tyre the sun was shining brightly and I could just make it out (and I mean very just) so I thought I'd share it with the world and post a picture up. It may seem unclear in the picture - it is worse than this in real life! I've put some post-processing on the image to bring the markings up better. You can't actually make out the point of the arrow but the end of the shaft is just about visible. If you look very hard you can just determine the shoulders of the arrows as well.

Good riding.

How to shift the time in your GPX file

Mon, 30 Jun 2014 08:00:00 +0000

Here are the intructions to shift the time of you GPX file, especially useful if you have just bought an Aldi GPS watch:

Step one

Download and install GPS Babel.

Step two

In the folder where you store your gpx files create a new text document and rename it

GPX minus 1hr.bat

making sure you change the whole file name including the file extension

Step three

Edit the file by opening it in notepad

Step four

Paste this code in and save:

SET file=%1.old
IF NOT EXIST %file% copy %1 %1.old
"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\GPSBabel\\gpsbabel.exe" -t -r -w -i gpx -f %file% -x track,move=-1h -o gpx -F %1
pause

This is for Windows Vista/7 installations

Step five

Drag and drop the file you want to change the time on. It will create a backup of your file and shift the time for you.

Alternatively you can download the file here.

Aldi GPS watch review

Sun, 29 Jun 2014 21:50:37 +0000

Aldi GPS Watch

Reviewed by Martin Childs

Aldi, £64.99

Awesomly bargainous.

What can I say, picked one of these fellas up today, its really great for only £65.

I'll get a more thorough reveiw once I had it a while but heres some initial notes.

Features which set it apart from anything in its up to more than double its price:

Four different sport profiles, each one has a customisable screens.
You have three screens each with three lines of info, all are totally configurable by profile!
Battery life of 16hours in GPS recording mode & 1 year as a watch!
Records altitude in data file;
Has an included heart rate belt and records data in log;
Charges really quickly (should have put a timer on it, about an hour).

If you want to read the manuals and check out the software, youcan download them from here.

What it can't do:

It is only rain proof - can't be used for swimming.

Slight irritation:

Data file contains your local time - not UTC, this confuses Strava and in British summer time will show you ride 1 hour later. Don't panic though, I have a fix here.

Verdict: snap one up now before they've gone!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Giant P-R3 Tyre Review

Sun, 22 Jun 2014 08:00:00 +0000

Giant P-R3 Tyre

Reviewed by Martin Childs

Front weight 285g, £20

Rear weight 287g, £20

A solid performer, decent enough quality for a stock tyre.

These tyres originally came from Ali's 2012 Giant Defy 1. The bike arrived with a slow puncture which eventually gave way a couple of rides into ownership.

I had bought some retro clincher wheels (Campagnolo Mexico '68 rims on Veloce hubs) to replace my very fashionable at the time but not very practical in the real world tubular wheels (Mavic CXP 30 rims on Veloce hubs) wheels for my trusty 853 steed along with some heavily discounted blue coloured Vittoria Rubino Pro rubber. It turned out that the blue shade was slightly different in real life compared to pictures on the internet and I was not particularly pleased with the match to my frame. It was at this point Alison jumped in to relieve me of them as they looked great on her bike and in the process of fixing the aforementioned puncture that she decided the bead was far too tight for her liking on the basis that if she got a puncture during a triathlon it'd take way too much time to repair.

In use the tyres were good, not overly slow (obviously opinion only as I've no way of testing this!), never lacking of grip and not one puncture during my ownership. There was one occasion when I was really pushing their limits - it was on a descent from the Cat & Fiddle, the roads were damp and there was a 25mph crosswind. It was a couple of the sharp hairpin type corners, as I was turning towards the apex at speed where the crosswinds struck - so strong that I quickly ran out of grip and was literally being blown across the road. The tyres performed admirably and I was able to hold and control the two wheel drift. So much fun in fact that I repeated the stunt a couple of times along the way!

In terms of mileage they were doing well until one day travelling along cycle route 60 I was dismayed to find out they'd freshly chip'n'sealed the whole damned thing. This made progress very slow and on my return I'd noticed that they'd suddenly almost reached their wear indicators on the rear. So less than 2,500km to reach max wear then switched front/back and I got another 700km before a side-wall tear (the inner tube was poking through but not punctured 4mm rip) ended the front. I must admit though the mountain biker in me means I do like to take them off road through some rough stuff. I didn't really notice any difference between the rubber compound on the front and rears despite what the specs say. Other than the tear there was only a couple minor nicks in rubber.

You'd hope to get more distance out of them really

Rating: 3 out of 5

Wilko Performance Lubricant cycle oil review

Mon, 16 Jun 2014 08:00:00 +0000

Wilko Performance Lubricant

Reviewed by Martin Childs

Wilko, £2.49 (£25 per litre)

All the lubing you need at a lower price.

One thing that really winds me up is the commercialisation of cycling. This includes when companies take some generic product stick a label on it with the picture of a bike and charge many times the price. Bicycle oil is a prime example; all we need is a bit of something to splash on our chains which will keep it lubed.

I'm sure that I could actually use pretty much anything so long as it doesn't wash off or attract insect life but it needs to be in a convenient dropper bottle so you can get a good application. The oil makes have though of this one - they all come in un-reusable bottles!

So on to my review, it certainly ticks all the right boxes, dropper bottle (which is re-useable by the way), all weather and has a dose of Telfon to boot. In application it is quite thin compared to the likes of Finish Line wet lube (which comes in at a whopping £60 per litre) - so much so that on my first attempt is squirted it straight through the chain and onto the carpet, but a more deft touch it goes on like another other product.

My other main concern with lubes is how long they last, the type of MTB'ing I seem to be doing lately strips my chain completely clean - both dirt and lube so anything which will last more than a really wet ride has my blessing. There's nothing more annoying that a premature squeak from the chain when you are not even half way round the ride - something so far Wilko's offering can beat.

It actually looks suspiciously like a rebadged Weldite TF2 performance lubricant (ignore the green-ness they've photoshopped it) except they've made it cheaper (Weldite's runs at £40 per litre) and it's just handy that you can pop into a Wilko to pick some up when needed. Wilko also seem to sell a rebadged version of their regular cycle oil as well, its just a shame they don't do Weldite's Extreme Wet as well.

In summary this stuff is cheap and lasts well.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Update 24-Jul-2014: I've been using this for a couple of months now and apart from the thin-ness all I can report is the smell - its a bit like engine oil, but you can't really complain at that.

Chilterns Red Kite road ride

Tue, 27 May 2014 08:00:00 +0000

Following a visit to Windsor castle we stopped off for a road ride in the Chilterns. We had read that you can see red kites in the area so I was particularly excited to combine a bicycle ride with wildlife watching!

I had hoped to see at least one red kite and I was not disappointed! We spied many red kites on the drive to Watlington and upon arrival at the car park 4 were circling overhead! A great opportunity to get the binoculars out and get a closer look at these beautiful birds.

I eventually managed to tear myself away and we begun the ride, straight away we were onto the first of five climbs of the day. The first hill of the day is always a struggle and today was no exception but once we reached Christmas Common we began the main loop and the countryside opened up and we could really appreciate the views.

We saw red kites all around the route, it was amazing to see such a healthy population of a bird whose numbers had been reduced to a handful of pairs at the start of the 20th century. A real conservation success story!

Around the halfway point we came across a nice pub, The Prince Albert, and had a pit stop. Mugs of tea whilst we enjoyed watching more red kites circling over nearby fields.

This was a wonderful ride and I hope that we will be able to further explore the Chilterns soon!

Ride details

Distance: 67km

Elevation gain: 950m

Start: Car park in Watlington | £free

Toilets: Watlington

Coffee stop: The Prince Albert

It's probably best to leave your super fast race tyres at home for this - some of the roads are a bit agricultural so you are best off using a more robust piece item.

There are plenty of different routes to choose from, if you want to plan your own route here is a compilation of a load of sportive routes I found:

See all routes

Gower Peninsula Circular road ride

Mon, 19 May 2014 08:00:00 +0000

This was a landmark ride in a way for me as usually when we go camping I leap upon the opportunity to take the MTB somewhere new, but somehow I persuaded myself into taking the road bikes instead.

Maybe it was the lack of some really decent trails or the fact as we'd be in my sister's tent there'd be enough room to bring my retro roadie indoors to protect it from rust should the heavens open.

Well it turns out I shouldn't have worried, the weather was great and we headed out for the first ride of the long weekend on Saturday morning. Unfortunately for me as we approached Llanmadoc to soak up the views of Broughton Bay the missing-link from my chain decided to go missing!

As a matter of strict protocol I always have a pretty comprehensive tool kit upon my person at all times when MTBing, however this does not extend when on my road bike as I'm never really going to be very far from civilisation should the worst happen. So after some time of futile search for it I headed to a shop I'd passed and scrounged a plastic bag to put my chain in to continue back.

It wasn't too much of a bind I was in as it was only 15km into the ride from our start point at Horton and I'd sent Alison on ahead to go and fetch the car to meet me on the way back. I'm so grateful that I use my MTB shoes and SPDs on the road bike as the scoot home was quite fun.

As I said we had scheduled two rides for the weekend so we dicided to give it another crack on the Monday. So glad we did, the route is a cracker - it covers all the bases of terrain - from the beach front from Swansea to the mumbles, cliffs & coasts, country lanes and tops of moors. For good measure you even take in some traffic free tree lined disused railways and the Marshes of Llanrhidian Sands,

Ride details

Distance 71km

Elevation gain 850m

Start: somewhere along beach front?

Toilets: plenty along seafront, Pen Clawdd

Coffee stop:

Hayfield figure of eight route - MTB ride

Fri, 25 Apr 2014 08:00:00 +0000

This route is a goto classic of mine, the north loop ridden clockwise, the climbing is pretty easy but there are some cracking descents.

The south section is ridden anti-clockwise - it is not so imperveous to being wet and sloppy in the winter months, but give it a bit of frost and it'll be good to go.

The highlight of the ride is the decent from Lantern Pike, its a cracker.

It finishes off with the 'legendary' campsite descent but to be honest its pretty rubbish as descents in the Peaks go. The ride uses the very pleasant Sett Valley Trail to link the sections which enables you to ride either loop first.

Ride details

Distance 21km

Elevation gain 600m

Start: Sett Valley Trail car park in Birch Vale | £4

Toilet: behind visitor centre

Coffee stop: The Special Touch Cafe

There's a little detour you can make to extend the south loop - carry on past Shedyard Fm towards Cloughhead then take the 'next left' back up towards New Allotments.

Moel Famau Double - MTB route

Fri, 11 Apr 2014 08:00:00 +0000

The Clwydian Mountain range is and Area of Outstanding natural beauty. Once you gain a bit of height anywhere the views are stunning and on a clear day you can see over to Merseyside and Snowdon.

I seem to ride here a lot in winter as most of the going is on well engineered paths and fireroad so is enjoyable even through the roughest of winters.

This route climbs to the top of Moel Famau on the first loop, the climb is do-able, although a little steep in places but the path I take is the longest possible lessen the slope. The folly which caps the hill makes for a great 360 degree view point and theres often a smattering snow in winter which makes it all the more picturesque.

The second lap takes follows the Coed Moel Famau Loop - on its own a great blue route for the beginner, I originally saw it on Ride the Clywds website which is no longer in existance, but you can see the route on mbwales.com.

Ride details

Distance 22.3km

Elevation gain 730m

Start: Coed Moel Famau car park | £2

Toilet: at bus stop by entrance

Coffee stop: there's usually a van in the car park serving brews and food

As another bonus, the car park barrier seems to be always broken saving you the £1 fee!

Edit 8-Feb-2015: The barrier has been fixed for a while now and they've put the charge up to £2.

You can view a webcam here to check for snow!

Peaks road quicky (aka the Sarah Storey ride)

Mon, 24 Mar 2014 11:13:15 +0000

For some reason given that I ride offroad way more than I do my road bike, my first ride post is fully on-road...

This route developed from the want of a ride encompassing some great climbs of the peaks without the boredom of the 30km journey there and 30km back! So the hunt was on for a place to park up - as usual for me it needed to be preferably free and have a toilet for the inevitable pit-stop after the large brew downed in the on the way there!

The search was concluded with the discovery that the lovely village of Prestbury I'd cycled through many times has both free parking and a toilet so capacious that you can take your bike in with you! Its also only 20-30mins drive from my house.

Using Prestbury as a base meant the first leg of the ride was a no-brainer, up the classics Brickworks climb. Next I'd always fancied riding through Errwood reservoirs and up the singletrack valley climb to the Cat & Fiddle ever since I'd had a day out walking around there. What finally sealed the deal was that Alison forwarded me a tweet from Dame Sarah Storey of her favourite ride which included most of my prospective roads.

From there is a another easy choice to make - the descent down the Cat & Fiddle to Macclesfield. All in, a great ride especially when the sun is shining, the views and the countryside are excellent. I've included another variant, it swaps Long Hill for Windgather Rocks and descends down the A54.

Ride details

Distance 40 - 60km

Elevation gain 850 - 1100m

Start: Shirely's Drive, Prestbury

Coffee stop: Cat & Fiddle Inn

There's many other options too which can be considered - past Lamaload Reservoir, through Macc Forest past Trentabank Reservoir or around Macc Forest on cycle route 70 going through Wildboarclough. As for cafe stops, the Cat & Fiddle in does a reasonably priced mug of tea with a nice selection of snacks; another bonus is that you can usually pick up a free motorcycle newspaper to stuff inside your jersey to take the edge off the wind chill on the way down,

Route 1 » Route 2 » Route 3 »