Tempting fate, but: anything to do with fixing a puncture (CO2/tube/patches/levers). I’ve not had a flat while out on the trails (that I could be arsed to fix) in years and years, and even if I did, I very much doubt I’d be able to get the tyre off/back on anyway. I still carry it all, mind.

Jabra Elite 75T user here. Very happy with them…

Same here, got them cheap in Amazon Warehouse Deals (always worth checking!). I was sceptical of BT earbuds, but they’ve been fantastic. Very happy.

Why? – because the arts and theatre environment is decades more evolved in their inclusivity and acceptance.

…funny you mention this, I was just discussing with my wife, who used to compete internationally in Highland Dance, and she pointed out that there’s no gendered categories at all. Don’t know if anyone has ever tried highland, but it’s all big, powerful, precise movements to a strict set of predefined dances, which, one would think, would favour men….but no. Everyone in the same bag, sometimes women win, sometimes men do.

whY cant trans women do trans-women only events, that would seem a lot fairer.
then maybe they could allow ‘others’ to join in with them, and everyone would be happy.

I think that they see themselves as, and chemically are/are close to, their chosen gender. A separate category could be seen as “othering” them, and potentially outing them as trans, which could be really harmful for younger people who aren’t so comfortable. I suspect it’s about normalising it. Plus, the fun of competing is the competition, how big is the field going to be, if it exists at all?

Like I said earlier, I’m a real fence sitter on this one. That video is great @legometeorology

Every time I catch his show it’s always elastica playing. Every time

Accidentally tuned in yesterday afternoon while shopping and he was playing a live Elastica gig….like, did anyone actually like them the first time around? Other than that Wire rip off from Trigger Happy TV, they’re just unbelievably forgettable. Poor Lamacq, I don’t think even Radio 2 would have him. Maybe Radio X, they seem to exclusively play Oasis, he’d fit in well.

Give me a couple of weeks to finish exams/projects and I’ll have a go at making a CAD model and sticking it up on Thingiverse for your home-printing pleasure (if I remember). I don’t have a 3D printer, so can’t really test it, mind.

I had a go at making one ages ago, but was never really happy with it. The power supply was annoying and it was a big clumpy thing, so irritating to cart around. Ended up getting a cheapish Palmer one (think the Harley Benson ones are the same, the ones with a rocket on), which appealed to me as you can get a power supply bar which replaces the top slat, which is nice and neat. Having all the pedals run on batteries is a royal pita.

I guess it ultimately depends how much you’ll use it, and what for, though.

I had a not so loud squeak under similar scenario this week, turned out to be the clutch on my rear mech. Just bobbed some 3in1 through the allen key adjustment hole and it’s quiet again.

Not to stereotype, but north of that border…

Great, thanks! This is the kind of aggregate grav tyre info I need.

Is meat bleeding not a bit perverse?

No, that’s how animals work.

Would a bowl of plain, fried meat be appetizing? That seems odd.

Ha! I guess not, though a burger is kind of just that.

The Impossible burgers, and the like, freak me out a bit. It seems a bit perverse, making them “bleed”.

a simple mistake. i couldn’t find it when i lived i the USA. not available in canada. no idea about mexico.

Yep if we want it we have to pop over the boarder to the states, it’s not classed as a food here, in Canada. I don’t mind it, Mrs Andeh can’t eat beef, and lamb is hard come by here, so it fills the gap. Just don’t overcook it and put it in something which does actually taste of something. A bowl of plain, fried Quorn would not be appetizing.

Lab-grown meat makes sense to me, even if it is just a stop gap. Too many people, too many like the taste of meat, not enough farm land to feed us all. Obviously, just not eating meat would be ideal, but it’s hard and societal/systemic changes take time.

Out of interest, would any of our resident vegan/vegetarians eat lab-grown meat?

A mountain…

I don’t give 2 shits about ebikes, but this is damn cool. All the downsides associated with gearboxes on regular bikes disappear when you slap a motor in there. Properly smart move by Pinion, I reckon. Hopefully the added complexity won’t compound with the astronomical failure rate of existing ebike motors.

Go demo them.

Seriously.

Cotic demo from their base in Chesterfield (not too far) plus have demo days out and about. Bird have a demo centre at Hamsterly, again, not too far.

When I got my Rocket MAX I suspected I might like the Jeht or the regular Rocket more, but tried them all anyway. The Rocket MAX seemed like a lot of bike. When I actually got out on them, the big bike won me over immediately. It had everything the other bikes had, and a bit more, and somehow felt nippier than them too. Hard to pin down, but I just clicked with it. You can’t predict that, or go by what other folk on forums say, as we’re all individual snowflakes. So go try them for yourself.

Foam spacers? I had some old floor matt things that I cut up to use for this exact purpose…

Can you not plug that with some bacon?

You can make a tubeless inflator from a 2l pop bottle (wrapped in duct tape), two coreless valves in the lid, and a short length of plastic tube. Remove valve core, push on the tube, kink the tube, whack it up whatever pressure you dare (think I got 120psi once), then quickly unkink the tube. Boioioioioioing!

Never spotted the stone track which misses out the brutal climb

That’s a steep old climb from Seatoller, probably a push. Think I’d rather just ride up the road.

I think it’s Big Pant manipulating the markets to sell trousers at 3 times the price of shorts. Why else would someone cover their leggies on a hot day? Clearly in the payroll. They’ve not managed to infiltrate the enduroists yet, as they’re pure of heart and protected by the #spiritofenduro.

THINKABOUTITMAN, the lower legs are the easy bit, why are they so much more expensive?! Big Pant

If you’ve got a decent 3D printer there’s one on Thingiverse you could download?

I’ve not found any viable DM options

I found the Mudhugger ziptie one buzzed a lot with Magic Mary and WTB Vigilante. Swapped to an RRP tiptie one and it’s been problem and buzz free ….though zipties are never really a satisfactory solution 😒

I wouldn’t buy a new set of wheels from Hunt, but, for balance…

My Enduro Wides are still rolling after 4 years, with standard Rimpacts. Been living in an unfriendly wheel environment for the last 18 months and they’re still solid. I was skeptical after I trashed my Trail Wides in a month, but these replacements are alright. Factory bearings are shite though.

I think they ask if you want to “navigate to the start”, so if you tap yes it’ll give you directions to the start point of the route.

Yeah, running 2 old bangers we used them a fair amount. They had some thing where if they can’t fix at the roadside they’ll tow to garage of your choice and pay the first £500 of the repair. Used that loooooooads. Probably didn’t quite cover the sub, but was certainly close most years! Alternators, batteries, glow plugs, wiring looms, power steering, destroyed alloy wheels, thermostats, timing belt complete engine ****….all sorts. They were always really helpful and friendly, though often had to wait an hour or so.

It’s a long way from Geneva, and quite slow going, if I recall. We’ve driven before and, on one instance, picked up a mate from Grenoble on the way, which is significantly closer.

No chance of cancelling the flights and driving? It’s a long drag but has the benefit of taking tools/spares, just incase.

Used Halfords LHM for years. As it’s cheaper, don’t feel so bad doing a full flush to really clean out the crap.

Now got a bottle of Shimano stuff, as it was cheap. Can’t say I can tell the difference.

Unlike Dot fluid, mineral oil isn’t hygroscopic, is it? So lasts ages even after being opened.

Are Pornhubs better than Hope hubs?

Something something ratchet something lube something something nipples 😳

Grown-up magazine innit, us grownups can say “F*** **** ** sideways ***** ** ****** with a traffic cone” whenever we feel fit.

I don’t have kids, so feel free to completely ignore me, but could you not explain about what the words words mean and when is appropriate to use them, rather than shelter them? They probably know them already, anyway.

Is Neom the big, silly linear city?

Ha, no worries, it went higher than I really should have been spending anyway.

If it’s anything like my assorted other Cotics, the decals are under the lacquer, so hard to swap. Can possibly just stick over the top, though?

Matching anodising is a dark (forbidden?) art at the best of times.

I was bidding on that! *shakes fist*

If it’s not to your liking, I could always relieve you of it? ;)

Depends if you mean trail, or whole ride.

All the best trails have slogs in or out, that’s what keeps them tragic free, and hence the best 😉

I’ve been fancying swapping out the pickups in my main (only) guitar for a while. It’s an Ibanez with some of their own brand active LoZ humbuckers. I don’t not like them, but just fancy a change. I always liked the idea of coil splitting, as I don’t have room for tons of different guitars and would like the flexibility, but split humbuckers almost always sound weak and crap. HOWEVER, I’ve been eyeing up some Fishman Fluence Classic pickups, which look very promising, which do have a true single coil voicing option.

Has anyone used/fitted the Fluence style pickups before? Any thoughts or insights?

I’ve noticed the Hope clamp on my Rocket only just gets thread contact, so this is pretty likely to happen to me one day soon.

The other day I got a flat because the little threaded bar on the inside of a presta valve stem snapped off without warning, mid ride. Not much I can do there.

I was looking at tickets for OSEES the other day at the local(ish) small(ish) venue. Only available either through Ticketmaster or on the door on the night. Ticketmaster want $15 on a $35 ticket! It’s liable to sell out, so don’t want to wait until the night. Really don’t know what the solution is, both punters and bands need to start boycotting Ticketmaster.

As always, Goth Bob knows the deal:

Robert Smith being Robert Smith

Yeah, my laptop is Asus. Had it ages (8 years?) and only swapped the old hard drive for an SSD, which gave it a new lease of life. It is from a period where laptops weren’t glued together, though.

Just had a thought, if you’re over in Switzerland/more than a valley away from home and you see a storm coming in, head for the lifts to get back. They (looking at you, Switzerland) shut the lifts with little notice and you could be in for a long push/ride back round if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yeah, definitely: little/no maintenance and rides like a hooligan.

He’s a mechanical engineer, which probably explains a lot 🙄

Dropped from just over 76kgs down to 73kgs this morning

…just think of the W/KG gain!

But really, that sounds shit. Hope you’re not laid up for too long. Don’t push it too soon or you’ll end up feeling worse. I don’t think a week will do your fitness too much harm.

Just finished one of the Zwift MTB plans (lots of low cadence stuff) and got a nice wee bump in FTP (ramp test though) from it, 270w and 3.75w/kg. I’m not entirely sure how accurate it is, given that the last 2 days I’ve done a couple of B races and had my ass handed to me 🙄

Biggest difference is, unsurprisingly, on the MTB. There’s a climb round here of about 300 vert m, straight up, probably mostly around 20%, with extended sections edging on 25%, on loose gravel. It’s bottom gear, <60rpm stuff. Rode it for the first time since Christmas and sailed (maybe overselling) straight up. I was genuinely shocked not to explode! Likewise, cruised up another climb I know well, nowhere near as steep, got a PB.

For me, that’s what it’s about, if I can get up the hill faster, with a smile still on my face, that’s more laps in the bag! Almost (almost) makes the up bit as enjoyable as the down bit.

Not sure where to go now with my “training”, if you could call it that.