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I'm looking for some ideas for routes around Arundel.
I've ridden there from London via the North Stoke/South Stoke valley connection crossing the river at the Gurkha Bridge, so i know it's a fantastic area to explore.

I would be riding a tourer with 700x28c tryes, but I'm not very precious about it and regularly take it off road, so provided the terrain is not too steep or too rough, I'll usually give it a go.

Any ideas for good bridleways or gravel routes to explore in that area?

Continental Sport Contact II are pretty good. Reliable with regards to puncture protection, plus grippy and handle nicely.
Planet-X were knocking them out for less than £10 last time I looked.

Can you get away with a 700x28c wheel on a route like that, if you have a "relaxed" attitude to what constitutes a sensible bike?

I'd be interested in getting out there at some point.

I wonder if they were unable to earn a living from it, or just not able to keep up with the orders?
If the latter, what kept them from expanding by taking on other people to help with the work?

There seems to be an appetite in the USA to pay extra for hand-made goods, but we are very price-sensitive in the UK, to the point where people complain about the cost of high-quality hand-made goods as though the customisation aspect is somehow a bad thing!

Do you know much more about it?
It looks a lot like a Raleigh frame (the forks and general shape are about right and they used that style of lugs in the 1980s. 501 would be right as well.
The higher spec models in the 1980 (Record Ace, Road Ace) used 531c Frames tubes and forks, windowed Prugnat head tube lugs, the same style fork crown, a slightly nicer cast rear dropout and were handbuilt in the TI factory in Nottingham. They came with a card showing the builder and with his signature on them.
The lower range models were 501 and down specced slightly. This looks very similar, except for the rear triangle seat cluster. Look at this 1984 Corsa for example: https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/vintage-raleigh-corsa-1984-reynolds-501-road-racing-bike.-excellent-and-original-spec./1347056610

Cycle.travel is good for routing if you have a connection. It optimises for bike routes. Can be a bit "timid", but you can drag and revise the route. Then save it as a GPX file.
Have done this once, by swapping the MicroSD card from the Garmin (Etrex20) into the phone and copying the GPX from cycle.travel into the Garmin when I forgot to save a route onto the Garmin.

I did think about that, but having ridden the canal both ways, it gets crowded in the evening/later afternoon, so I thought it would be better to be leaving London early morning.
It's all of 500m climbing in 100km, so not exactly alpine climbing.

Well, I did the canals and a bit of railway line up to Luton on Sunday and it was a really great ride.
The urban bit following Regent's Park Canal to the River Lea Navigation is a bit slow, but really interesting as you get a very different perspective of the city from the canal.
The River Lea navigation is much more picturesque than you'd imagine and it quickly empties you out into open countryside at Lea Valley Park.
I mostly followed NCN2 and then diverted onto NCN61, so the trail was quite well marked and easy to find even without GPS.
There are a few minor roads around Broxbourne and then you're quickly into Ware - which is again, very pretty. Hertford was entirely forgettable, then we joined the Cole Green way to Welwyn.
To be honest, the route beyond Welwyn was lovely, but I could quite happily have hopped on the train there and called it a day.
That said, the road riding from Welwyn to Luton was great, really lovely open countryside, easy navigation and no hassle from cars. It was almost a relief to have some climbing and descending after the relatively flat canals and railway line. Getting back to town from Luton is super easy and fast too - about half an hour and only £15 for a super off peak single.

Double-post

Any chance of a copy as well? Looks like a route worth exploring.

Not at all a Railway line, but I'm going to ride the canals up to Luton this weekend.
I'll let you know how it goes, but it could be another nice ride out, with a bit of token old railway at the far end for another day...

Is it a standard type of strap?
I cut the straps out of my old crash helmets, so I have bunch of different clips etc. They won't be Giro, but they might fit.

There was a podcast on the Race to the Rock bikepacking race - I've been looking for the link, but can't find it, where one of the racers describes doing just this- in his view, it's literally the only way to pack in enough calories and fat in easily edible form over a realistic time-frame!

It'd be pretty tricky dropping a rested rider up the course amongst the front runners, no matter what the reason for them pulling back.

My bar bag on my commuter bends my brake hoses all over the shop. It's been like that for about four years with no ill effects.

Did anyone try Conti Sport Contact, I'd be interested to see how they compare to these? I've tried the Sport Contact in 32mm and really liked them, but they rubbed slightly under my mudguards, so I changed them out. If I got larger guards, the Urbans might be an interesting choice.

Enjoy everyone!

The weather here has been pretty foul overnight. Anyone riding through this is pretty hardcore.

Based on his receipt, Hippy is about 200km South of where I'm on holiday right now!

Bouncing dot. Amazing ride.

She's almost at the bridge!

And Fiona's on the move again!

Based on her position, near a hotel, I think she's resting up before the final push.

It's been fascinating to watch this event this year. Sorry you had to scratch Frank. Who was the person you mentioned that did your bike fit?