Kit, we all love it, and we want it... here is some of the kit we use, and what we think of it.

They don't dissappoint, considering that you can spend another one or two hundred pounds on Lupins etc, these do the job as much as you would want them to, and in some cases just as well. the light is spread over the trail ahead in good proportion and seems to light up the whole trail without haveing a spot light effect. On one ride the weather was extremely wet, and after two hours in continuous rain, this didn't seem to dampen the performance.

Easiest the best functional light you can buy, all you do is attach the quick release bracket to your hanlebars, then when as required, clip your light in and out of what seems a very sturdy and secure method, as this light is small and light, and without any wires at all, you can also use it as an every day torch. Battery life seems good, after a 2 hour ride, mostly on the maximum setting, this doesn't seem to be an issue, simple button operation to change between light settings, and charging is no problem as the battery doesn't have to be discharged before charging.

If you don't want to spend a fortune on a light system, that's easy to use and does the job, lightweight, fantastically easy to mount, and can be used for every day torch duties, then this is the light for you.

Suunto T6 HRM (by Dave)
Not the cheapest HRM in the world, but a great gadget! This little baby
measures your heart rate to laboratory condition accuracy. You get an
easy to use piece of software that allows you to measure seven key body
perameters, heart rate, energy consumption, ventilation, oxygen
consumption, respiratory rate, training effect and EPOC.

The Training Effect is an indicator of how much the training session
improved your aerobic fitness. This is based on your measured EPOC,
(Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) value during the session.
Training effect is based on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being Minor and 5 being
Overreaching. It's interesting to note that on one of our 4 hour rides I
spend most of the time at level 4, Highly Improving Training Effect.

In addition the T6 is able to measure altitude and temperature. It can
also be hooked up to POD's, peripheral observation devices so you can
measure speed and distance either via a clamp on your forks, a POD on
your shoe for running or a GPS unit.

The T6 hooks up to your PC very easily by way of a clip onto the watch
and a USB2 connection to your PC.

Data can be seen in graphical or tabular format for analysis. Both
formats are easy to use and read. You can do a training route and see
how your performance improves.

All in all a really great product.

www.suunto.com

Marin Mount Vision - 2006
£1700 (rrp £2145)
So I've had this bike for six months now and can pretty much say that I've used it in about as different terrain as I'm ever going too.
The first thing I noticed was how light the bike is, coming in at under 27lb, this means that when your climbing, and this bike climbs really well, it's really easy to pull the front wheel up and over obstacles in the way. When cracking down a trial and jumping over rocks and drop offs, it takes nothing too lift off.
Once I got the suspension set up right, it seems really plush and it's no problem cracking through rooty rocky terain. Although I'm 5'10" I was advised to buy the small frame, and I've got to admit that I'm certain that this was the correct decision as when you are hitting the trails, with the seat down, it does seem you can whip the thing over and around anything.
I bought this bike with local trails in mind but with the capability of handling man-made trails (or 24 hour races if I wanted too), so far it's definately lived up to all of these.
I'd say the only thing that I will change in the future are the tyres, but there's no rush. If anything, I'd say that the only thing stopping this bike from going faster is me!

Tacx Imagic T1900 (by Dave)

Well I only picked this little baby up on Sunday and already I can see
what a great training tool it's going to be, if only I get the time to
go on it.

What is it? It's a virtual reality turbo trainer. You rest a bike in it,
plug it into your computer and pedal away.

Except it's not quite that simple. The magnetic roller is braked to
allow you to have to work at a higher wattage to turn the wheels. Speed,
heart rate and cadence are measured electronically and Watts generated
by you are calculated. 

So far what I've sussed out is you can:

*       Work to various training programs using the catalyst software
*       Cycle in a virtual world against pretend opponents or yourself
through various road circuits. The brake in the mag roller simulates the
affects of going up hills.
*       Via Netathlon you can race other users in virtual races
*       You can use the Analysis software to analyse your performance
*       There's an optional steering rack so you can steer your bike!
*       You can download additional routes for a small cost
*       You can save a route you ride on your GPS and upload it to the
software

The only problem I've encountered so far is that my laptop is a bit of a
dog, so some of the time the sky goes black.

As I get to use it I'll provide more updates!

www.tacx.com

Dakine Nomad Hydration Pack
£65
So after a year of stashing a bladder into a daysack, I thought it was about time I upgraded to a bike specific pack. For some reason, I've never been a fan of CamelBaks, probably because I thought they've always been a bit expensive for what you got. So after a good look around in magazine's, internet and the shops, I thought I'd go for the Dadine Nomad.
First Impressions are pretty good, the front compartment means that when you unzip, everything is viewable and directly accessable, in the main compartment you can get a jacket, spare gloves and more. There's a lined pocket for a camera or phone, 2 more pockets on the side, and a netted pocked for a helmet or whatever on the back. With a 3 litre bladder, you know it's going to last for those all day epics as well. I also like the way you can detach the drinking tube from the easily accessable bladder, although check the connection on the bladder as mine was from a faulty batch and had to be replaced (with a better model luckily).
It seems to sit on the back comfortably, and being stealth black, good looks come into thebargain as well.

GT Avelanche 1.0 Disk
£450
Great hard tail for someone who what's to get back onto a mountain bike but doesn't want to spend a fortune (at first). wish I'd kept it but had to pay for the Marin!

Specialized BG Ridge Classic Glove
£19.99
Comfortable enough, although I am finding that the material seems to gather around the palm, as for the long term durability of these, I'm not sure as there does seem to be a few threads that are coming loose already within six or seven rides, personally, I wont be buying them again. (Also thought I paid over the odds for them in Wildside).

Seal Skinz Mid Thermal Socks
£25
I've been impressed with these so far, I had a pair of the summer version socks (lost one of them so that's why I bought these), and these ones are a lot more comfortable and really do keep my feet dry, even if I hose my shoes down while wearing them.

Seal Skinz MTB Glove
£30
These gloves are a good fit, and although are winter gloves, they still give you good contralability and you still feel the sensitivity of the bike. Being Seal Skinz they obvioulsy keep your handswarm and dry, although my fingers have always been sensitive to the cold ever since a tour of Norway back in the 90's. They can be a bit of a git to get on your hands if you are changing when your hands are wet mid ride.

Maxxis High Roller XC 2.10 (folding)
£19.99 each
One of the problems with my Marin that I've never been happy with were the tyres. I never really felt that confident when I needed to push the bike that little bit harder, especially when cornering. However, after putting the above tyres on, that seems to have changed, not only do they seem quicker in a straight line, the difference on the corners was pretty impressive. They do blow up quite skinny as the rest of the internet reviews suggest, and perhaps look like a 1.9 tyre, but I'm hoping that these will also see me through the winter as they seem to cut through the mud ok.

Endura Pheonix jacket
£69.99
I was after a jacket, and this seemed to be in my price bracket, I couldn't affort a top of the range Berghaus so I thought this would be a good compromise. I would say it definately keeps me dry (as it did in Afan). I wouldn't say it compressed massivley but enough to get into a mid size daysack and is light enough. Some people would be put off by the red colour but I quite like it. My only problem so far is the zip, after only one season I wouldn't say it was lasting brilliantly and seems stick a bit.