I wouldn’t put it past him if it provided a chance to boost his ratings as the election looms.

For fun? You did all that ‘for fun’?

Jeeez, I feel so inadequate.

We don’t have that many PF. It would have been a majority of 2 & 3 PARA and probably elements of other airborne units from within 16AA Bde (engineers, Signals etc) as well as PF. Either way, big drops are impressive to see. Bollocks to jumping out of a fully functional plane!

Don’t discount X Fusion on the basis of service centres; other places can support them too for example Sprung at FOD.

Ive got a set of Slants that I’m using on a 650 frame and the HLR damper is great. If you can find a set of Sweep / Slants for a decent price with the HLR damper then definitely consider them.

He’s a friend of a friend so I’ve been following his social media since the start. He’s raising money and awareness for his daughter who has a rare genetic condition that currently has no cure. Each day is utterly brutal and the mental angst in each of his posts is plain to see. He’s immense.

http://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/BarefootAcrossBritain

Search for Hope for Hasti on Facebook / Twitter.

Another vote for Velosolo. I bought a conversion pack for my rear King ISO a few months ago. I’m running the smaller spacers either side of the axle currently so the hub remains central, then a single larger spacer behind the disc. No issues whatsoever and easy to fit. I will eventually get the rear wheel redished, run 2 spacers behind the disc and both smaller spacers on one side of the axle for a stronger wheel.

Just be mindful not to drop one of the axle spacers when you remove the rear wheel!

Camelbak Motherlode if you can find one. Clean lines but covered in molle to add pouches of needed. Not overly bulky but can carry a huge amount of heavy kit. Mine’s been absolutely thrashed but barely has a mark on it. 36L with a removable back plate, removable waist strap, 3 litre bladder if needed. Normally you can get them in black as well as tan.

I lost my Dad in February and we were inundated with In Sympathy / Condolence cards. All were greatly appreciated but the best were those that recounted memories and stories that obviously meant a lot to the sender. My Dad had all sorts of aspects to his life that he just never really talked about with me but to hear how he had an effect on others was heart warming. In the end, writing the eulogy was all the easier for the efforts of so many of his friends taking the time to write to us.

So send the card with a note to explain why you are sending it and any fond memories that you had. No doubt his wife and family will appreciate the effort.

@mehr: whilst I offer my utmost sympathy, the best support I can think of offering to you now is solidarity and to write to my local Conservative MP as you have. Eloquently written, made all the more powerful by you honourable restraint.

To those who have offered sympathy and kind words, thank you; I hope it didn’t come across as a hand-wringing woe is me kind of post but I just needed to vent.

Yes, my situation is crap but everyone has a story to tell and most are much worse than my predicament. At least I knew dad’s death was coming and we were able to be there for it. I have numerous friends who have been denied that privilege and it is heart breaking for them.

Tomorrow I’ll visit my mum and I will hug her. I’ll now do what the **** I like for the good of my family.

Ok, I’ve calmed down a bit now after my second cup of coffee. As frustrated as I am, it would be utterly wrong for me to rail against the Government for excusing a blatant contravention of the guidance, and then do the same myself. So I will visit my mum but from a distance; no hug; no introduction of her granddaughter. At least I will know I have done the right thing with nothing to apologise for. Sadly, I think many will react like I did initially and take the Cumming’s debacle as a green light to do what they want.

But Boris can still get ****ed.

No idea why I’m posting this on an Internet forum but just this second I have no other outlet for my rage. My dad died from cancer in February and his funeral was planned for March. We delayed it until we could get the crematorium he wanted and the ideal venue for the wake. But then Coronavirus reared its head. Following the guidelines meant we told the 120+ likely attendees to stay away from his funeral, including pretty much all family; in the end we had only a handful attend who insisted. I’d have liked to have stayed at home with my mum the night before the funeral to help her; but I didn’t because that wouldn’t have been within the spirit of the guidelines. I’d have liked to have driven to the crematorium with my mum; but I didn’t, again because of the guidelines. Throughout the service I sat 2 metres away from my grieving mum who was saying goodbye to her lifelong companion and in spite of my instincts I didn’t give her a hug because that’s what the guidelines said. I wasn’t even allowed to touch the coffin to say my own goodbye to my dad before cremation because the guidelines for crematoriums said so. The service was 45 minutes long and that was it. Done. Finished. I’ve not seen my mum since, despite the fact she lives 20 minutes away. She still hasn’t met her 6 week old grand daughter. And I did the above willingly as it was what the Government asked of us in the wider interests of not just me and my family but everyone else in this country. And many, many people will have endured far more and will continue to do so, no doubt. So, Boris, your defence of an advisor feels like a stab in the back to the nation. So **** off. And when you’ve *****ed off, **** off some more you utterly contemptible **** of a man. You disgust me. You just lost any modicum of moral authority to tell any of us what to do. You treat us like we are idiots. Tomorrow I’ll visit my mum and I will hug her. I’ll now do what the **** I like for the good of my family.

Hmmm…well this is all very tempting. I’m struggling between the Vivoactive 4 for £179 vs Forerunner 245 (not the music one) for £7 less. Both are good deals and whilst the V4 has music, I’m dubious about the longevity/useability of the touch screen; on the other hand the 245 buttons means less to go wrong but I’m unlikely to use all of the advanced running features.

What to do?! 🤷🏻‍♂️

For anyone in the military, you can get the 40% discount on those same models through to 31 May 2021 via Defence Discount Services. Having just checked, they have now added a dash cam and a few other things to the mix as well.

Guessing it is shorter than your Scott but also higher meaning the bars are closer.

Actually, effective top tube is a smidge longer I think but with a 90mm stem fitted instead of the 100mm on the Scott it’s virtually identical. Head tube is the same as well I think so position on the bike is very very similar.

Took delivery of a Merlin Malt G1X yesterday and went out for a short spin today. I’m 6’2 and was previously riding a 58 Scott CR1 SL but am on a 53 Merlin. It seems bonkers but I checked with Merlin first. I think they’re using mtb geometry instead of road bike geo. In any case, fit is bang on and feels comfortable. Weight is a little over 10kg but will be reduced when I swap out the wheels for some Hunts / Pacentis. Very happy with it, I think it will be with me for a long while yet.

In the spirit of recommending what you have, I have just bought a Merlin Malt G1X. For £1k it seems very good vfm and reviews have all been glowing. Thing is, it’s not been delivered yet so I can’t tell you if the reviews are justified!

That’s about 5 minutes from me so if I get a chance, I’ll dive in and take a look. Might try and couple it with a cheeky trip to the skate park across the road too! 😉

Following in from the jokey comment about the birds disappearing in time for this weekend, this has genuinely happened to me this time round: 2 weeks ago I had great tits, blue tits, coal tits, dunnocks, pigeons, goldcrest and even treecreeper in my garden. Now? Nothing. Absolutely bloody nothing. The only thing that has changed is that a peanut feeder is now squirrel proofed.

Where the hell have my birds gone?!

Thank you mate. I’m in Herefordshire

Ah ok, my mates in mind are based around Monmouth / FOD so could be an option though it’d be a lot less formal than if you went with WMTB. PM if you’re interested and I can put you in touch.

I’ve no direct experience of Wye MTB though several mates know them well and they have always been complimentary. I think STW did one of their uplift days a while back in an article and they were suitably impressed.

Whereabouts are you based? Depending on where you’re riding I may have some mates in your area who are qualified coaches and very good riders who could possibly help.

I think he’s now clocked up about 250 miles after a 78 mile bike ride on the weekend. Pretty sure that when I was 11 I would have struggled to do even 1/4 of that!

To anyone on Twitter, give him a follow and some encouragement!

Green skin – that might be where my Peli’s coming from too 🤣

Just today I have acquired a Peli 1500 and was wondering what I could use it for. This thread is fate!

@mooman, I can assure you *from my own personal experience*, Harry was competent enough to eclipse the majority of the course (myself included) with relative ease; I would be staggered if he only qualified as a FAC and then Apache crew because DS turned a blind eye. More to the point, I presume you understand the huge level of responsibility and complexity associated with both those positions on the battlefield? And that he successfully did those roles for real in genuine contacts where other people’s lives literally depended on it? That doesn’t strike me as the actions of some ‘none to bright’ parasite who was only allowed to scrape through because his gran’s the boss.

As for Harry and Meghan, I can’t blame them for wanting to get out of this country. Our gutter press are amongst the very worst components of our apparently ‘civilised’ society and they have systematically hounded and harassed the couple in the nastiest way possible whilst fawning over William and Kate; fair play to the pair of them for taking actions to make it stop instead of just taking it like they deserve it. Good luck to them.

A former work colleague’s son was at Sandhurst with him and clarified that Harry was none too bright.

Ok, I’ll bite: I worked alongside Harry for 2 months on a command and leadership training course and he was easily up there with the best of the 100+ of us on that course. I also know several others who have worked closely with him and they think the same; as an officer and operator, he’s regarded as far more competent than his brother.

I live about 15 minutes away from Wooten so was aiming to enter, but forgot about the tickets going up for sale at 1200 so missed out…ironically because I was riding up at Nibley! People try to offload tickets closer to the even if they can no longer attend so my plan is to try and grab one of those.

That’s called a single leg bridge. I’d start with using both legs first to get some strength & stability before going to a single leg. It’s a great exercise for your glutes and really helps my sciatica as it forces my arse to wake up and work properly; years of sciatica means my other muscles dominate when walking/running and I end up with compensation injuries.

What a ‘charming’ treat 😉

My wife knows my sense of humour well. And some Flutter Butter and a feeder for the garden, plus a bird book.

Also, yesterday morning’s dog walk was a treat: just out the front door and around the local park but there was no sounds of cars in the background for a change. Instead the blue sky was filled with the song of robins, blackbirds, redwings, blue tits, coal tits and I even spotted a greater spotted wood pecker which is not a common sight. Not bad for a 30 minute stroll.

My little boy has just recently turned 3 so this is the first Christmas where he gets it. He’s been asking about Santa for weeks and gets properly worried that Santa might not come if he’s been naughty; that’s not something we’ve pushed, rather it’s something he’s latched on to and he’s so eager to keep Father Christmas happy. We even put reindeer food on the front lawn to help guide them to our house, as well as the obligatory mince pie/carrot/whisky combo. My heart swells with love when I see the innocence in his eyes, yet it breaks a little when I remember that this will not last forever.

I’d recommend Pembrokeshire, either Tenby for a bigger town, or St David’s for a smaller, quainter feel. Both are coastal so there’s a ton of stuff to do. For me though, I’d go St David’s as it gives easier options to get away from people! Downside is that there’a not much MTB in the area. If there was, it would be my favourite place in the world 😋

Our paths have never crossed but its obvious you get a lot of much needed support from this site so keep posting no matter the time of the year if you need.

What a lovely bunch of grins from your kids; no doubt because deep down they know they’re fortunate enough to have an awesome dad who loves them beyond all imagination. Merry Christmas to you all, mate.

And you don’t care about the animals and plants that this planet supports either, I’m guessing, as long as you’re alright?

And it’s that sort of shitty mentality, ladies and gents, that means we’re ****.

I don’t think it’s a question of being a doomsday member; it’s more the recognition of the increasingly likelihood that we are utterly ****. For all the well meaning intentions of individuals (which is absolutely not deriding the importance of individual action) en masse, humans are self-serving and wilfully ignorant. And as long as the voters are self serving and willfully ignorant, then governments will follow suit.

Personally, the issue fills me with complete dread. I have 2 young children and my heart aches at the thought of the the state of the world we will hand over to them. But as someone else posted above, I cannot stand by and do nothing (even if I believe my actions are futile) yet look my kids in the face and plead ignorance.

Thanks chaps. Pension contributions won’t take me under as I don’t pay any. I’ll check with the accountants on Monday but the tax return they completed correctly states under the High Income Child Benefit Charge section the amount my wife has received so I can’t see how HMRC won’t be aware. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

So this has got me a bit worried. My wife (full time mum) has been claiming CB since the birth of our child in 2016. My salary just tripped over £50k in Aug 17. Due to peculiarities with my job, I’ve had an accountancy firm submit annual SA for me since about 2014, which obviously includes my total salary and the total of CB I received in that tax year.

I presume this means that HMRC *should* be aware that my salary has gone above the threshold and they *should* have started to claw back the CB in my monthly taxes. Or am I going to get hammered with a bill of hundreds of pounds?!

I should add that once submitted the SA invariably results in me getting a tax rebate. I presume HMRC aren’t so stupid as to pay me a tax rebate if I actually owe them??

**** each and every person who voted leave and each and every **** who votes Tory.

Hear, hear!

Bollocks! I thought I got a good deal by picking up a pair of SLX 4 pots from Bike-Discount for £150 delivered on the weekend!

I’ve had the smock version for the last 10 years and it’ll be perfect for what you want. Mega warm, windproof and resistant to rain. And even when the Pertex lets the water through, it won’t be much and the pile will stop you getting properly wet. It doesn’t pack down very small at all but who cares. Just don’t use it for anything too intense in anything other than the coldest of conditions.