Michelin Wildn’Gripr is an excellent soft conditions tyre, but a bit more flexible than a full on mud-spike. You could use autumn and spring as well as winter.

Haven’t tried on rock, so can’t comment, but rolls and clears well in the mud.

When the student comes back, who will have to help them catch-up = the teacher.

When the student falls behind, who will be blamed = the teacher.

Who has accountability = the teacher.

More than the practicalities and specific impact of lost time is the message that the Dad is sending the kid:

1.”Education is somewhat important, but less important than our holiday.”
2.”Getting what you want now is the important thing.”
3.”Dad and the school are at odds, if I get in to trouble, I can rely on Dad to take my side.”

I remember my parents making me quit my Saturday job before my A levels. It meant I didn’t have much spending money – we weren’t rich – for 4 months. Got 3 A grades and into a top university. I hated it at the time.

Now I am a teacher I routinely have kids who work 3 days a week. These are middle class, Surrey kids, whose parents drive Mercs and Beemers. But they want the cash to live an 20 something lifestyle when they are teenagers. I can tell you the names of scores of students who do not reach their potential because of it.

I have no sympathy for the Dad who was taken to court, he should be ashamed of himself and start acting like a responsible adult. They should have fined him the cost of the holiday.

Thanks for the advice

Looks like this is me:

Yeah, that was how it worked. She agreed to something she was never going to actually wear…

Ambush shorts are excellent. Go large and belt up.

Have a look at these bad boys;

El Thirko’s

El Thirko’s speciale reserve

El Thirko’s tres

I’ve been growing chillis in Surrey for about 3 years now.

Some observations;

1. Take them in in the winter. They are alpine plants and don’t like the rain.
2. Consequently over watering is a real issue.
3. Get a good specialist liquid fertilizer.
4. Put them in larger pots and in a breeze free sun spot; they are a bit fragile.
5. They are semi perennial. You will get 2 years out of them, but not 3.
6. Chili oil is easy to make and a great gift.

Thanks for all the great advice, support and comments. Really appreciated.

Update: came home Tuesday, on a mix of pumped breast milk and formula. Breast fed for the first time successfully this morning.

Has gained 7 ounces since Sunday morning.

Happy.

Alex

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2812877/

This was my principle source of worry last night.

Still. Heading to around 30/70 with breast pump.

Thanks for all the stuff guys. Really helpful advice and good to know not on own.

In the end I did the following;

1. Got her Mum to come back down – 2 days and then a week off work next week. Emotional support had been really helpful for her and therefore me.

2. Rented a hospital size breastpump machine. Only 30 quid a month. Basically going to bypass the technical bits. Oscar isn’t sucking enough for it to work apparently. Had the north Surrey breastfeeding consultant in, really good, identified the boy as the issue.

3. Have got formula and bottles to give him his bulk ‘white carbs’ feeds.

Bit disturbing the research on this stuff. Basically suggests that formula is actively bad, not just not best.

Am hoping that if she can feed him at least some breast milk for as long as possible that might have enough hormones and antibodies and magic stuff to make a difference. Like a multivitamin after eating pizza all day.

Time will tell. Mrs is much happier and he isn’t screaming the place down. We were able to come home after 3 nights at hospital, which is something.

Now onto the sleep stage. Wife is asleep, I’ve given the boy a dummy and am rocking the crib. More bad Dad I suppose. Now I’m feeling like the cheating failure. Can’t tell if he is happy, or I’ve just shut him up.

Guilty. But atleast the Mrs is now getting some sleep.

Thanks guys, appreciated.

Decided to let her sleep, instead of waking her hub to the 11.30 expression.

This stuff is pretty hardcore.

+ Dales mountain bike centre really worth a stay – top place and Stuart is a top bloke.

I did the pedal north c2c this summer – to be honest I found it pretty un-rewarding; nasty climbs up loose slate, followed by straight down a gully, or fire-road descents.

I stayed at Dales mountain-bike centre and the owner Stuart said that a lot of people who stayed and were doing the pedal north c2c said they regretted it, which I thought was pretty telling.

P.s. HD great in summer and on grit.

Packs up a lot in the mud. I run them April till September bcos in Surrey hills they become slicks.

I really like HD front with the old NN rear – as the NN clears mud really well and has nice central blocks for hoofing you up steep climbs.

New NN looks like watered down HD to me
May as well run the HD.

Very big tyres can be a bit of a liability in soft wet conditions, I think that they make a bit more sense in lose and dusty.

If you are really hooning it around a corner like you do in DH you’d have to make the tyres mega reinforced – better to cut in than roll over.

I can certainly see the point on a rigid, maybe even on a hard-tail, but on a full-suss you already have more grip.

Basically its like adding heavy, undamped suspension on to your wheels.

Hmmmn, am doing that more or less at the moment – have a 2.4 NN on the back and a 2.3 Hutchinson Squale on the front. Schwalbe is a ‘big’ 2.4, whereas the Hutchinson is pretty much standard size.

I haven’t been too happy with it to be honest and will be putting my Michelin Gripr on for the winter and then going back to Hans Dampf come next summer. The front has wash out a few times on me, I miss the extra grip of a big tyre.

Essentially the issue is that we don’t have an industrial policy which supports the development of a industries which provide high skill, high margin, high pay.

This article really struct a chord with me:

To grasp the dead-end jobs boom head to the carwash

I barely remember hand car-washes as a child growing up in the 1980s / early 1990s, now they are everywhere. Basically the bad employers, who don’t want to invest are allowed to under-cut good employers in a race to the bottom.

It spells low investment and therefore low productivity.

University a waste of time say bitter people

Red trail at Dalby forest:

Boring, ‘technical’ features amounted to regular slate intrusions which scrubbed off speed, but held little interest.

Found the surface a bit slow too, perhaps because on a hardtail found hard to maintain momentum – seemed to be peddling the whole way.

These are excellent.

Nics on the back good, in dry weather hard to beat hans dampf on the front in Surrey hills.

That being said I felt like a change and now run Michelin Grip’r during the rainy season (Excellent btw) and a Hutchinson Squale for summer, when I tend to go a bit further afield and do more rocky terrain.

I don’t think anyone really cares about mixing brands aesthetically. I think practically it is best to have a more directional front and paddle-like rear.

Cotic?

Race face ambush: Utterly brilliant fit, very durable, great pocket location, can use real belt with them, good zips and vents.

I pair mine up with some endura undershorts.

Would have said Rock ‘n’ roll blue – but that is getting discontinued.

I’m going to try ultimate bike solution this summer – but when it gets wet I might try prolink, possibly stealth.

Depends on your geology and riding.

For me I have moved away from really wet lubes like finish line green. If cycling in the muck I’m going to strip the drive-chain down after every ride anyway – if it can last a day on the hills that it good enough for me. It is the grit which really kills the drive chain, so I run the lightest lube I can get away with.

I put a quality lube on the chain after each ride and have some light oil in the back-pack in case the lot get’s washed off. To be honest I’ve never needed to.

Here are some of my saved routes;

Dorking shorter

Dorking epic

Leith and Holmbury fun route

That last one is quite tasty. I am going to edit the link section between the two hills to make it a bit clearer.

This is my method, works great.

What can I say, I get thirsty!

Dunno, maybe over thinking it. On the SDW 100 I probably had 6 or 7 litres, albeit a lot of the riding was early morning.

Thanks for the recommendation BillOddie

Some days I will be doing 40 milers, thinking 5 litres to carry with me.

My dakine take 3, so want to put 2 litres on the bike.

Aren’t these ones on the bar a bit fiddly?

Alex

Geax tyre are pretty tough.

Mavic crossmax roam xl

Depends on local conditions naturally, however, don’t get on with conti’s myself.

What is it on – DH bike you won’t be wanting a smaller tyre – minion dhrii?

On a trail/all-mountain bike my preference would be either for something a bit faster rolling like an ardent race, or x-king, or a tyre that allows you to really hoof it up the trail like the old nobby nic.

Endura are very breathable. Helps reduce overheating. Not tried others.

Interesting, I was looking at that very one yesterday.

Alternative for me would be a dakine drafter

Bladder looks like a hydrapak, correct?

Depends whether the hope really does last 3x as long.

If you have to change the bearings, albeit leave cups in place could well be as much faff.

Personally I hate maintenance- find it really stressful and worry about busting stuff because cack-handed.

Anything like the nightmare I’ve had with my BB the past 36 hours makes me think better to pony-up for fit and forget when truly fit and forget.

X-treme.

Simon and the good folks at Nirvana cycles managed to sort it in the end.

The solution was to really whack it with a rubber hammer whilst rotating the cranks.

And I didn’t get charged! #LBSLoyalty

Despondent. Don’t seem to be able to get it to go through.

Do you put the socket extension inside the bb shell and tap through?

Hmmmn, doesn’t look scored at all. Just won’t pull through.

Just checked – spindle not ovalized – could easily put the NDS cut back over the end.

Internal plastic space is detached – have now removed – not sure if this is a good, or bad sign.