Why would anyone want to ride for six hours when there are so many easier ways to have fun on a mountain bike? You could spend a couple of hours on a way-marked singletrack, or go jumping down at your local bombholes. What is the point of slogging it out for several hours miles from civilisation?

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The success of an epic ride relies on the ability to organise things both in advance and on the move, as plans often need to be changed as problems arise during the ride. Transport is a vital factor, if you are doing an end to end route then you need to arrange some form of transport to get you back to the start, unless you plan to ride back again!

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Expensive transparent protection stickers catch dirt around the edges, and unless you fit them direct to a new frame, you can still see the paint damage through them! Stones can chip right through insulation tape and it falls off at the merest hint of WD40. The best anti-stone chip protection is black "cloth" tape.

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This challenging route offers ridge top riding over the highest bridleway in England (3116 feet), taking you over several peaks to the summit of Helvellyn. Ideally you need to be met at the end of your ride although it can be made into a circuit or an out and back.

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Your legs feel heavy and unresponsive. Your heart rate climbs rapidly and rises higher than it should, relative to the effort, or it won"t climb at all. You push yourself to keep up and begin to feel like an old VW Microbus, sputtering up a mountain pass. So what went wrong?

   -  The Routine

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Imagine getting to ride all the coolest new mountain bikes for 2003 in one day, on one big technical trail network. Walk up to the company"s booth, hand them a claim check and off you go. It"s a bit of heaven for a product tester, and at Interbike it"s known as the "On Dirt Demo."

   -  Giant VT1
   -  Specialized Enduro Pro
   -  Maverick ML7
   -  Santa Cruz Heckler
   -  Haro Extreme X3

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As the popularity of mountain biking has soared, so, too, has the risk of injury. But don"t let that intimidate you.

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It"s uncomfortable. It"s hot. It"s annoying. These are some of the most common reasons given when people explain why they don"t wear a bicycle helmet. Other popular excuses include: "I don"t need one" or "I don"t own one." Wearing a helmet can save your life. Unfortunately, most people don"t seem to care.

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