We’re feeling all fuzzy and loved here at Singletrack World this week. Following Mark’s appeal, Charlie has been busily skipping to and from the post office with your merch orders, Zoe has been welcoming new subscribers, and the rest of the team have been riding the positivity wave and coming up with exciting new ideas for the future. Thank you to everyone that has responded, it really does mean a lot to this small team of misfits to know we’re well supported.
Cheesy stuff isn’t over yet. This week, Mark hid some rather potent brie in the office for the tech team to play a fun game of ‘where’s the cheese?’ with. How should they get their own back?
In other news, I came across something interesting on a Beech tree. I’ve spoken to my botanist and found out what they are – but take a guess in the comments. Clue: They are not caterpillar eggs.
It’s a while since I’ve been in charge of the FGF intro, so here’s my favourite music discovery since you last heard from me. Happy Friday, folks! Lots of love, Amanda.
Five Ten Kestrel Pro BOA
- Price: £170.00
- From: Adidas
Weather resistant uppers, Stealth® C4 rubber soles, SPD with a non-slip heel cup by way of a carbon-infused nylon shank, and made using some recycled materials… though, I can’t work out the overall percentage of recycled material:
20% of pieces used to make the upper are made with minimum 50% recycled content.
Adidas
Specialized Gambit Full Face
- Price: £295.00
- From: Specialized
Weighing only 640g in this size medium, the Specialized Gambit is a DH certified, well ventilated helmet available in four colours. Featuring a carbon fibre shell, MIPS, adjustable Integrated Fit System and adjustable cheek pads. This one will be at Tweedlove, racing in the hardtail category, to counterbalance the weight of a steel bike.
Hope Tech Union RC Pedals
- Price: £150.00
- From: Hope Tech
I (Amanda) have been quite attached to my Shimano XT pedals, but having spoken to James Vincent about the Union Trail pedals he currently has on test, I’ve decided to give the RC ones a go for 10@Kirroughtree. I like the sound of how they clip in – front to back, back to front, not on an angle. Also, it’s hard to not love a nice solid machined item from Hope Tech.
Bell Sidetrack Youth Helmet
- Price: £39.99
- From: Bell
A youths helmet with a fastening mechanism that works great for cold, wet and/or arthritic hands it seems! The closure is a ratchet buckle with an easy button release. The peak snaps on/off, the size is adjustable by the Ergo Fit dial, and it is available in 8 different colours and one size, 50-57cm.
ARMA HEX Knee Protectors
- Price: £79.00
- From: Armaurto
These knee pads are a seamless, single-piece, super thin sleeve. In theory, there should be no irritating parts to them, as they’re simply an elasticated sleeve. It’s worth heading to the site right now as there’s a huge rebranding sale on!
Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer- AF300UK
- Price: £179.99
- From: Many electrical stores
Charlie, our resident chef, has a new air fryer and he wants to tell you about it.
Just about the only problem with air fryers is the people who own one can get rather evangelical about them (Hi Mark, hey Zoe). They will list all the things it can cook, and how its saves electricity and time. And they are 100% right. So, allow me to bang on about air fryers for you now.
An air fryer is really just a wee oven (no not that sort, is that sort even a thing?) which quickly and efficiently cooks food you might normally fry or roast/bake. This one has two drawers, so you can cook two different things. At the bottom of each drawer is a raised non stick shelf so all fatty juices and liquids can drain away.
The Ninja here has various setting so at one end of the scale you can slowly dehydrate fruit or make meat jerky at low temperatures for several hours. The other end is “Max Crisp” (I think I saw him play Glastonbury with his backing band “the Crispettes”) which is great for finishing things off with a nice crispy outer, such as roast chicken.
Each drawer is 1200 watts, I assume that is for the higher Max Crisp setting. It cooks veg in 10-12 minutes, and a small roast chicken took 40 something minutes. Compare that to an electric oven which takes 3000-5000 watts per hour and takes way over an hour to roast a chicken.
The sweetcorn here took 10 minutes, and was simply glazed with a little olive oil and some seaweed flakes. Haloumi is awesome and I have never had better bacon. Super fast Yorkshire puds are now a reality. You know what, it all feels very futuristic and StarTrek’y with effortless food appearing out of a machine in no time. I think I have a food robot.
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