Just beware the short 650m squashy section at the highest point between Stronachie (Path of Condie) and the Dunning Glen road.

A necessary evil to connect the two good gravel tracks. I had good legs and almost rode all of it but there’s a few hidden logs under wet grass which can halt progress rather abruptly!

Our 7 year old loves them (disappointingly he seems to have grown out of Kyuss extremely quickly).

He was the most excited in our house when he heard they were playing a concert, I suspect because he imagines something on the scale of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour which him and his mum watched on Netflix.

Not sure how to break the news to him that he’s not going!

Thanks for the response Daz!

It does seem like quite an inexact science still, which is why I initially wondered about chain coatings, as I’ve had very different experiences even with the same wax, i.e. Putoline has let me down more than once (i.e. completely gone within 50-75km) but can also last heroic periods like my winter road bike where I genuinely forget when I waxed it last.

Wonder if the rogue factor could be something as simple as wheel spray, the winter road bike has full length mudguards but the gravel bike has a wee seatpost clip on. Perhaps the washing effect of constant gritty spray off a wheel just defeats any wax. Maybe even gravel tyres generate more spray off the tyre than slick road tyres?

Plus yesterday we were probably literally jockey-wheels deep in one section, my buddy left an oil slick behind!

Yea, I’ve usually got a small (squirt sample) bottle of wet lube in my spares / tools for those occasions.

Think I’ll go Synergetic to be honest, even Fenwick’s needs a setting time so no good on longer trips or mid-ride…

Good shout Fasgadh! We didn’t cop any grief but I wasn’t sure if I heard shouting behind us or not… Looks like you could skirt the farmyard to the left (on satellite view anyway…)

In truth I would suggest not worth it, you can follow the ‘standard’ route up from Dalqueich then left past Warroch and if you really wanted to check out the bridge just detour off route by 500m

Lots of ‘poor Judy after everything she has done’ and ‘tallest poppy in the field’ comments on Facebook unsurprisingly. The power of celebrity!

Who needs maps when you have Strava heatmap : )

https://strava.app.link/nGLcvar0oMb

Half joking, still love an OS map but they can never hope to stay as up-to-date as heatmap, although I think Strava have culled a lot of historical activities from the heatmap recently, for better or for worse

It still sounds like a squeaky dry chain when it’s gone. There’s a school of thought though that this isn’t “dry” in waxing terms though and is actually still good for hundreds of miles

I was moaning about this on my hot wax/gravel thread. Yesterday my chain went ‘dry’ as in horribly squeaky. Even if there was any wax left the noise was awful and I could feel it through the pedals as more vibration or something. Basically horrible to pedal. Lashed on sone 3-in-1 at a mate’s house and the last 20km felt like tailwind the whole way in comparison.

My conclusion is that if it sounds like a dry chain it is a dry chain!

I think the 9-hole course became a 7-hole course as they wanted to build some more expensive houses – which surely was enough evidence that the sports parts was just a front and the idea really wasn’t valid from the start

I saw a suggestion (haven’t fact checked though, apols) that the contractual sticking point that led (or contributed to) the abandoning of the development was that all the houses had to remain unoccupied until such time as the tennis centre was built.

If our local developers (Muir, Milne and one other, Robertsons perhaps) are anything to go buy, there was never actually any intention to build the tennis centre, just build the houses, take the money and run.

Yes, definite improvement and no gunk build up on cogs/jockey wheels etc.

I liked Squirt though, served me well on the summer road bike for several years. Also ran slightly quieter than a waxed chain.

Brilliant. The media reporting on this just boiled my piss so much and all the hand wringing about needing (another) tennis centre as Andy’s legacy.

“frustrated at local indifference and opposition” – well what does that tell you?? Talk about lack of self awareness…

Ah well, today was the death knell for waxing my gravel chains I think. Did a 40km gravel ride in the wet last week, and today did another 70km largely in the rain or splashing through puddles and streams. The chain was dying by the 70km point and it was only an application of 3-in-1 that rescued the remaining 40km.

I want to believe but I think I’ll be keeping it for Sunday best road bike use only! I have a bottle of Fenwick’s Stealth to use up on the gravel bike then will try the Silca Synergetic. I think for really long mixed gravel rides it has to be something that can be re-applied mid-ride.

Hmm… definitely need to pace the next couple of rides at least then!

Recent rides have been short road spins but I’ve caught a few strong tailwinds which has encouraged some silliness.

How have people’s experiences been recovering from Lyme?

I’m still feeling a fair bit of fatigue, which I don’t mind but am worried I’m overdoing the exercise, maybe pushing a wee bit too far if I’ve been feeling good etc. etc.

Still feeling randomly feverish at times (v.mild). I don’t understand the physiology but had assumed the body would be done ‘fighting off’ the infection after antibiotics…

Having said that NHS online suggests it’s normal so I guess nothing to worry about.

I plan to! Their range is brilliant and I believe they should be a bit more robust than Kinlin equivalents (as well as being welded rather than pinned).

They’ve been super helpful by email helping me choose but I’ve had to indulge in some new saddle shopping recently so haven’t yet got round to ordering my new rims (not urgent until after another winter of mud and rim brake CX anyway ?).

Wasn’t a fan of the Stolen Goat shorts, too light/loose for my tastes.

For most of the reasons listed above I just don’t really like overshorts full stop but I think on the back of a recommendation from Tracy on another thread I picked up some cheap Altura All Roads shorts which are relatively tapered, heavyweight enough fabric not to be flappy or rusty and useable pockets.

Uh-oh, weather actually starting to look a bit better! Depending on how much my Lyme disease related malaise abates, I’ve been fancying a gravel loop around St Andrews and Tentsmuir (flooded singletrack notwithstanding). Maybe Monday could finally be the day!

https://strava.app.link/LhARvkX9hMb

Shhhh. It’s not a Holiday in Scotland.

Why, why, do we get the day in wet cold January instead?

I get the English bank holidays now, wife and son both working/at school so long day out on the bike beckoning.

<checks forecast> Bugger

All the best OP, I went through something similar albeit maybe not quite as severe.

I really wasn’t sure what to do and trying to have constructive conversation with management wasn’t helping (although in fairness they were at least listening but ultimately put it all back on to me).

I didn’t honestly believe there was anything better out there but did the maths and figured out how much of a pay cut I could afford. Not too long after a recruiter approached me on LinkedIn with a role that represented a bit of a sideways step from what I was doing and seemed a bit daunting, but she talked me in to a first interview and now I’m two months in to a new job and still adjusting to the fact that reasonably paid roles don’t HAVE to be miserable and stressful.

Long story short, the good jobs ARE still out there, don’t feel that you have to suffer out of principle (which was the headspace I had ended up in).

Shame, the kit didn’t seem anything super special but I liked some of the styling, would have bought more.

In fairness, until through axles made them almost obsolete, both Shimano and Campag/Fulcrum had nailed cup and cone bearings in their higher end wheels by removing the need for multiple cone spanners and separating the lock nut from the preload cone.

I would argue cleaning and adjusting the bearings in both setups is now quicker and requires fewer tools than a cartridge bearing hub. Shimano edge it as all you require is two 5mm allen keys and you set the preload with your fingers using a wee indexed adjuster

Loved seeing him win today but hate that bloody celebration, someone needs to tell him how stupid it looks :D

Ah cool, then I think the accepted wisdom is no need to degrease for Putoline, I certainly never have and got great results

All he’s really saying though is that he’s not very good at repairing modern bicycles

There’s a valid point sort of buried away in there, I *used* to be a relatively competent mechanic, servicing my own forks, bleeding my own brakes, building my own wheels etc.

But in the intervening period life has got in the way and tech seems to have accelerated, the old workshop where I used to work now looks like something from the matrix with wires and laptops everywhere!

As you run out of time to work on bikes you also run out of time and/or inclination to start learning new tech and buying new tools. Anything that requires an app to set it up can get in the sea as far as I’m concerned!

Increasing numbers of sprockets, 1x, 29″ wheels is all fine, just requires adapting existing knowledge. I wouldn’t even mind disc brakes if it weren’t for the black voodoo magic required to keep them quiet on road bikes, I think it’s a different use case for an existing technology and much more difficult to keep them bedded in properly when you’re not hard braking all the time like you would on an MTB.

TLDR: for a time crunched home mechanic of a certain vintage, new tech is the work of the devil! <insert shaking fist at sky emojji>

Dumb question, how vital is it to degrease first with meths/ white spirit etc? And how thoroughly are we talking?

Just because you mentioned heating a tin, is it Putoline or something like GLF, MSW or Silca?

The beauty of Putoline in my experience is that no cleaning is required, but the true wax blends definitely need it I think. I guess over time the old oil/grease would mix with the new stuff so it would probably come good in the end but I bet it starts off a bit of a sticky mess.

That’s interesting, I do think that a flat (across the wings i.e. side-to-side) increases the functional width (SQlabs call it useable width) as your sitbones aren’t halfway down the side of the saddle wing, increasing pressure in the centre.

The issue then is that your pelvis isn’t as supported against sliding back and forth on the saddle, which I think is why SQlabs have the funny wee shelf sticking up at the back.

Only spraying with *a bit* (very sparingly) of gt85 after wet rides.. otherwise get surface rust.

I spray it on a rag first and run chain through the rag, keeps the chain looking lovely and clean and keeps rust at bay. Can’t see how it would remove any of the important wax inside the links

Have you tried measuring your seatbones and putting the numbers in one of the many online calculators?

Yeah, I think the measurement has changed or I’m measuring differently, either way I’ve always been on the cusp but previous experience going wider resulted in chafing. I think modern saddles (Fizik Antares and Specialized Power Arc) are narrower though and I haven’t experienced chafing this time around.

Re: pedal stroke I tried a 150mm SQLabs which genuinely seemed to improve my pedal stroke felt properly piston-like with the glutes really engaging, but the design seemed to offer so little support forward of the sit-bones that I felt real strain in my arms, was bracing against the bars constantly which got really uncomfortable after 100km. I sort of imagined it as a TT saddle without the TT arm rests!

I also have a full head of my own hair :)

Haha, took me a minute to understand that one, thought you had been stalking me as I’m getting increasingly paranoid about my hairline!

for me it was more about pain deep in the glutes as they seemed to seize up

I had something similar with a Romin Evo saddle, I had it set up with the nose level or even a tiny bit nose down. Obviously the low back loved it and it took pressure off the perineum but the kicked up tail must have encouraged the hips to rotate further than they were used to which I think put more of a stretch on the piriformis, I could feel a sort if diagonal band of pain increasing across the glute. I’ve gone back to flatter saddles.

Not as durable? Ive had around 8000km this year with no issues, admittedly killed a couple with some ham fisted tyre swaps but even the 36g road ones are sturdy enough.

That’s impressive! I fitted a 36g road one and pinch flatted within 10km without even noticing what I’d hit.

Could just have been bad luck, so fixed it but then came back the next day to find it flat again.

I keep meaning to give it one more go but not sure the 45g saving per wheel over latex is worth the uncertainty…

See above, I’ve got some GLF to move on for postage costs…

Saw an email from Silca advertising some new additives including ‘Endurancechip’ which you can add to existing wax to increase lifespan.

Wax Additives

Very tempting to be honest, granted it’s another £30 but I would expect to get quite a few waxings over two bikes out of that. Just wondering how bad an idea it might be to chuck it in with my MSW…

I find this website to be a very interesting resource (not ever having actually ridden in Belgium, yet…).

GRIT! De Waalse Pijl achterna

@cheers_drive nice one, thanks!

I’ve already convinced myself it will transform the handling of the bike by lowering the centre of gravity AND the aerodynamic gains, I’ll be unstoppable haha

I’m just waiting for these to come back into stock

PIGGY ON BIKE STORAGE

Didn’t love the tool bottle, mine was akward to get in and out of (top access) so maybe try and get one with side access.

My Wee Cog top tube bag is relatively sleek, shame they’ve closed down…

No top tube bolts unfortunately so am reliant on sticky straps or similar.

Maybe need to try applying some sort of silicone bead along the bottom to improve adhesion..

I think I ran up to 2.4″ on 17mm internal in the dark and distant past…

I got camelchops to make me one. It’s very good for the money. You can customise the colours to match your scheme.

Hmm, wish I hadn’t looked at that page, I’d love a matching set of Hump and Rump in the Prairie material!

Is there anything to stop the Hump from rotating on the top tube (a la the Tailfin sticky rubber mounts?)

That Tailfin bag looks excellent, I’m another knee scraper on my current Wee Cog bag which sadly also shifts about a bit so tends to hang a bit lopsided.

I love the use of a shoe insole for cushioning the bottom of the bag, two or three times I’ve thought my frame was broken when it was actually just my multitool dunting off the top-tube from within the top-tube bag.

Shame the tailfin looks so tall though, prefer the looks of a smaller bag ‘hidden’ behind the stem (probably unconsciously thinking about aero watts for my 15km/h gravel rides lol!).

 I assume this is because had I had telepathic knowledge of what each train was going to do and when, I could have changed trains and got myself home quicker

They don’t like that either, I spotted my 15:53 was running late and would result in a missed connection, but there was a 15:44 going the same way. As my ticket was an advanced single they would rather I waited for the delayed service then miss my connecting service, than jump on a half empty earlier service.

Praise the lord for friendly conductors in the end who also saw sense and declined to charge me for a new ticket.