In the early evening of Saturday the 28th of July 2018. I gratefully rolled into the car park of the Carriage House at Standedge. As I did, I completed the first two week’s and 527 miles of planned attempt to ride 1,800 or so miles from Lands End to John O’Groats with a twist [1]. The twist being that the trip would be fairly indirect and aim to use large amounts of off-road trails.
All of this would be well outside my normal comfort zones. So, before the trip, in a small concession to sanity and the scale of the undertaking, I had done a bit of training. The highlight of which, being a two-day ride along the Ridgeway with my Uncle as a dry (haha) run back in early April. There is a write up on that that explains (amongst other things) the why behind everything over here (TL;DR; boozy holiday dinner conversation that got a “bit” out of hand ;-) ).
Whereas that “dry run” was two days of wet and mud with company. Even with (sensibly) not attempting to do the whole thing in one go this time it was going to be a different challenge.
This time it was going to be largely boil your brains out dry, I had more luggage because of plans to camp, and due to sh*tty circumstance, I was to be mostly on my own. I say “largely dry”, as the trip was bookended with mizzle on the first day and a thunderstorm on the moors on the last.
I’ll make similar posts on the luggage, what I took and the route shortly. But in the meantime, these are my notes on what worked (or didn’t) from the perspective of the bike that I used.
(The gear and luggage review is now over here — JH 2018/10/21)
Hopefully, others planning similar trips might find these ramblings useful.
Terrain
I’ve encountered everything from smooth tarmac, to loose gravel, to mud, to cobblestones, to grass, to moss moors and to gnarly bedrock based ascents and butt clenching descents.
More often than my legs and arms would like, this has been accompanied by overgrowths of stinging, sharp and spiny vegetation. The biggest pain of which has been Brambles, literally.
Weather
Misty rain on the morning of the first day, thunderstorm, downpour and strong winds in the middle of last day. Rest of the time dry and high twenties, low thirties hot when the sun came out during day.
The Bike
The bike I’ve been riding is an early 2018 Ibis Hakka MX which I purchased in March this year from Bikeactive of Hertfordshire. She’s been christened Jessica.
Jessica started out as a stock 650B with SRAM Rival 1x build. But with my constant fiddling, for this ride had the following changes and additions:
- Easton EC70 AX 31.8 cm carbon handlebars
- Cateye bar end mirror.
- Lizard Skins 2mm bar tape.
- 90mm RedShift ShockStop suspension stem
- SQlab 610 ERGOLUX seat
- Vittoria Mezcal TNT G+ 27.5" 2.1" tyres.
- Absolute Black 38T CX 1X OVAL chainring
- Ibis wheels XD driver freehub
- SRAM Force XG-1175 10–42 rear cassette.
- Deore XT SPD pedals
The original reason for buying the bike was because it had very large tyre clearances for a Gravel Bike [2] and would be ideal for this type of trip.
Bike fit
Before I started this time, I’d ridden comparable distances over similar terrain for up to three days consecutive days. With the bigger distances and times, I’d experienced some:
- Saddle soreness and numbness.
- Mild knee pain.
I’d managed to fix this with help of a bike fit from Will at Flamme Rouge Cycles, routine torture and pummeling (aka physio) from Sunil at Kinetic Sports Therapy and prodding and advice from my occasional Osteopath and long time friend, Wini.
However, it’s a big step up from three days to two weeks, so I was pretty apprehensive before the start.
During the ride thankfully the only thing that hasn’t worked for me is that I developed a case of Handlebar palsy.
This showed up after the first week or so of riding with both little fingers getting numb by the end of the day. When I finished after the second week, I couldn’t feel my little fingers 24/7, and my ring fingers were numbing out. Over a week with no riding hence, and sensation is finally starting to return to hands. Pretty unpleasant.
As to the cause, I’m not 100% on this at the moment (and will update as I discover more). But on-bike observation and bar tape wear patterns, suggest that the problem may have been caused by the presence of an unoccupied rear cable channel on the handlebars (see section on handlebar later). Even under the bar tape near the hoods it formed a distinct ridge. In turn I think this ridge stopped the pressure being distributed evenly across my palms and (eventually) that is what triggered the palsy.
Whatever the cause, it’s a severe problem with serious, possibly permanent or surgical, consequences if it’s ignored in the long term. Hence, it’s something that I must fix before I can complete the rest of the trip.
(The Handle Palsy eventually went after a month with little or no riding. I’ve since switched the handlebars to Salsa Cowchippers and these seem better, but I need to do a few back to back day rides to be 100% — JH 2018/10/21)
Ibis Hakka MX frame-set — 4 out of 5
About the only minor negative things I can say about the frameset is that it might benefit (perhaps not unsurprisingly for a bike designed in California) from better weather sealing. In that it:
- Has a tendency to collect water inside the frame when it rains (which then needs to be drained via the rear mudguard mount holes or DI2 battery cover).
- If you run it in sloppy mud in the winter, as I have, then the Bottom Bracket needs monthly (at least) cleaning and re-greasing to maintain longevity. NB: when they die, it’s it’s not possible to just buy the bearings so it ends up being an expensive habit.
On the plus side, the tyre clearances work fabulously. It’s enabled the bike with a 2.0" (or smaller) tyre and the extra clearance to be veritable swamp buggy when it’s been wet.
Meanwhile, when drier and on bigger 2.1" MTB tyres, it:
- Soaks up the bumps.
- Copes well with ruts.
- Has more than enough off-road capability to ensure that with the gnarlier sections of this trip my “bottle” runs out long before its capabilities do.
I haven’t seen any other bikes that I think would have been a better match to the ride. Very happy with it.
Ibis Wheels — 4 out of 5
For this trip these wheels have been carrying over 110kg of MAMIL and luggage over some bloody rough terrain i.e. they’ve taken a pounding. They’ve remained true and still roll well.
In common with the frame though; the rear wheel’s freehub is not that well sealed. Therefore, if you run it in muddy slop, regular maintenance would be advised to avoid excessive drag, or worse, disintegration.
I’m pretty happy with these wheels. However, I do have a set of lovely lightweight Hunt Carbon 650B wheels that I’m considering trying for the rest of the journey if they come through some fully loaded test rides in one piece.
Easton EC70 AX 31.8 cm carbon handlebars — 2 out of 5
Having ridden and loved the handlebar on my GT Grade, I wanted a handlebar with flared drops. I eventually went with the carbon version of these for the small weight saving, good reviews, hoped for extra comfort and the neatness of the built-in cable routing.
From a mechanical and control point of view, they work just fine. When I ran briefly without the ShockStop the difference in road buzz between them and stock handlebars was small but noticeable. While, as I already knew the flare provides extra useful control on the rough stuff.
I also got the width of them about right. Both, for my build and from a practical standpoint for this type of trip. In particular, any wider, or possibly more flared, and I think the bars would have struggled to get through a good many of the narrower anti-motorcycle A-type gates I came across.
The problems I have had with the bar are all related to the built-in cable routing when used with SRAM levers set up UK/motorcycle/sane style.
The absence of a cable occupying the rear recess creates a prominent ridge adjacent the brake levers. Which in turn focused pressure on the palms when riding on the hoods for me.
Unfortunately, while I had no problems with previous training trips, over the course of this adventure I ended up developing a case of Handlebar Palsy, and while I can’t be 100% (yet), I believe the design of these bars with the pressure points, is what triggered it.
Lizard Skins thick 2mm bar tape — 3 out of 5
I’ve used this on my bikes for several years now. However, on this ride, perhaps because of the heat and/or the bars, I found that the tape:
- Wore away and got scruffy at an alarming rate.
- Moved on the handlebar and had to be re-wrapped.
Overall, not massively impressed by longevity.
Cateye bar end mirror — 5 out of 5
Unfortunately, in the UK most drivers do not know how to overtake bicycles safely. I find this mirror a great little safety aid that allows me to encourage safe passing by varying my road position i.e. I vary it to try to avoid giving any temptation to drivers to try and “squeeze” past if I believe it would be dangerous for them to do so.
Rival 1x Levers — 3 out of 5
Mechanically these function well, and after some mental adjustment, I’ve come to really like the SRAM double tap system.
While on the downsides, we have:
- If they are set up with the front brake on the UK/motorcycle style, then the cables exit from the hoods in such a way that might prevent usage of available handlebar cable routing channels.
- I find the hood covers are also a bit on the small side for my admittedly spade-like hands.
- They seem to be a bit less well-cushioning than their Shimano equivalents
Rival 1x gears — 4 out of 5
Relative to my previous Shimano Ultegra 2x setup on the GT Grade, then I think the upsides are it:
- Is quieter.
- Has better chain retention.
- I’m finding myself less often in the wrong gear.
- Has easier maintenance thanks to cage lockout mechanism.
- Requires less maintenance time (no more time spent messing around with front derailleurs trying to stop them rubbing — hurrah).
I’ve not found any problems with the size of the jumps between gears or spinning out (now I’m on the 10). In fact, the only mechanical downsides I can think of are that the lightweight cassettes are expensive and jockey wheel cage is a bit more prone to getting clogged in long grass.
During the trip I ended removing the jockey wheels a couple of times to clean out long grass and lube. Other than that it all worked really well, shifting in particular required almost no adjustment to stay in true.
One thing I have noticed since getting the bike home is that the rear derailleur was starting to work itself loose from its hanger. Simple enough to fix, but possibly calamitous if it had come fully loose. Suffice it to say checking has now been added to the daily pre-ride check list.
Rival hydraulic brakes — 3 out of 5
They work okay. But, compared to the Grade’s Shimano equivalents they both seem to be not quite as strong and to go through brake pads at an alarming rate.
During the trip, I ended up changing the ones I had installed. Unusually, not because the pads were worn out, but because they were squealing loudly enough that I was worried I could end up startling (the fairly frequent) horse traffic on the trails I was riding.
Once the pads were replaced and the caliper’s re-centered the problem went away almost entirely.
SRAM Force XG-1175 10–42 cassette — 5 out of 5
It’s a full pin cassette and much lighter than the original PG-1130 11–42t brick (325g vs 538g). Also, having a 10 as the highest gear ratio stops spinning out too early.
Absolute Black 38T CX 1X oval chain ring — 5 out of 5
I was having a few knee problems in training before this ride and the physics of this design made sense (to me anyway). So I thought it would be worth trying these oval rings as an experiment.
It’s not given super climbing powers, but since fitting these rings it’s felt like:
- I’ve been able to push a given gear with a bit less effort.
- Getting going from standstill on loose surfaces on steep gradients is a bit easier.
On top of which I have not had any knee problems in this trip.
In terms of gearing it’s worked pretty well. I never wanted higher gearing but there have been a few too many instances where the gearing was too tall and I couldn’t spin up an otherwise rideable hill. So in preparation for the Lakes and Scotland, I have obtained another one of these chain rings, this time though, with the lower gearing of 36 teeth.
RedShift ShockStop suspension stem — 5 out of 5
I got this a few years ago when I first started to regularly encounter tracks where my vision was being blurred and I could barely control the bike because of their bumpiness. Installing the stem massively helped with both.
I find the the system does a fantastic job of improving the riding experience on bumpy, non-technical trails without the complexity, cost, weight or energy suck of a front suspension fork setup.
Highly recommended.
SQlab 610 ERGOLUX seat — 5 out of 5
As someone who is both on the heavier side of rider weight distributions and also has a prosthetic testicle thanks to a little run-in with cancer. I am, as might be imagined, exceedingly careful/picky about saddle selection. I tested many allegedly comfy, definitely costly, weird and wonderful saddles before I found the Ergolux saddle range.
I’ll not claim it is like sitting on an armchair, because it’s not and no saddle ever is. But empirically it didn’t make things numb, I didn’t get saddle sores and I wasn’t dreading sitting on the thing each day. Big win, will carry on using it.
Vittoria Mezcal TNT G+ 27.5" 2.1" and Stans Race sealant — 5 out of 5 … so far
I needed to change my summer tyres after discovering during a puncture’tastic The Distance training ride, that my touring setup (~120 kg of rider, luggage and bike) was going to be too heavy for the original Thunderburts (upper limit, from memory, of about 100 kg).
I ended up selecting the Mezcals after surveying the tyre choices riders were using for the 2017 Tour Divide and then filtering on those that would fit [4].
I’ve got them set up tubeless with 100 ml of Stan’s Race sealant in each end. The Stan’s itself is a pain to use because it cannot be added (or topped up) via the valve.
However, during this adventure I have ridden on bedrock, sharp, flinty gravel, baby head rocks and through countless thorny briar patches (witness my legs). So far I’ve had one puncture where I had to stop because of air loss. It took a bit of nursing, but I managed to get it to seal without plugs and added more air and was rolling again in ten minutes. So from my point of view, I think the tyres and sealant system are pretty damn amazing.
In terms of handling, I’ve been lucky enough not to have had to test them on mud yet. But on dry surfaces, they seem to both offer good grip levels and low rolling resistance, particularly on grass.
Overall, I’m impressed with these so far.
Shimano Deore XT SPD pedals and SH56 multi-release cleats — great
Two years ago I broke my wrist riding SPD’s in a minor slow speed crash on grass. In that tumble, if I’d been able to get my foot down, I would have been fine. From then until knee problems in the lead up to this ride, I used flats off-road. However, one of the contributory factors to the knee pain turned out to be the way my foot would move around on the pedal in flats (even with 5 Tens). So I ended up needing to look at SPDs again.
This time around though, I discovered the multi-release variant of the SPD cleats. Which, with the clip in tension on the pedals backed off, enables a setup where the foot only stays clipped to the pedal for forces in the vertical plane. Any other direction and the cleat disengages instantly. With this arrangement, I get 99.9% of the intuitive ease of getting my feet down that I would have with flats. But I can wear lighter shoes, put power in by pulling up and, most importantly, my foot stays in the correct position, and I get no more knee pain.
Mechanically, the pedals are also very lightweight and robust against rock strikes and clogging with mud. I really like this setup, the only tweak I’m going to make is swapping the pedals over to the slightly lighter weight XTR versions.
Next up
That’s about all I can think to say in terms of the bike and how well it performed.
Next up I’m going to go over the clothing, luggage I ended up using and the kit that I ended up carrying in it.
What worked, what needs tweaking and what was I thinking taking that :-)
[1] Details on what I’ve ridden so far can be found over on Strava here:
- Penzance to Sennen Campsite
- Sennen to Shortlanesend nr Truro via Lands End
- Shortlanesend to Holsworthy via the Camel Trail and Bodmin Moor
- Holsworthy to Exford via the Tarka Trail and Exmoor
- Exford to Glastonbury via the Dunkery Beacon, the Quantocks and Somerset Levels (thankfully)
- Glastonbury to Horton nr Bristol via the Mendips and the Bristol & Bath Railway path
- Horton to Cheltenham via the Cotswolds
- Cheltenham to Bewdley via the Malverns
- Bewdley to Ashbourne via the wonders of the canal network and Cannock Chase
- Ashbourne to Standedge along to the Tissington Trail and some fantastic packhorse tracks in the Peak District
[2] I’ve not tried it yet, but the Hakka MX will allegedly take up to a 2.2" tyre.
[4] For the 2017 Tour Divide, Maxxis Ikon’s were the most popular choice with 18 riders, followed by the Mezcals on 9 and Continental RaceKings with 5 riders (including the eventual winner)
