I really frustrate myself in this respect.

Round the Peaslake way the trails change quite frequently and if I’m on a trail and a tabletop has been turned into a double, or if someone has dug out a drop, I can hit it and clear with no issues.

If I’m aware of a jump or a drop I psychologically talk myself out of it in the run up to it.

I can hit things of a similar size with no issue on one trail, and then baulk at another. All in my head.

I think next year I’m going to do a drops and jumps course as in the Surrey Hills it’s becoming a necessity!

I’m in a similar position where I’ve decided on some theoretical wheels depending on somehow getting some money from somewhere.

While reading up on whether I wanted light weight for climbing or aero, everything I found seemed to point towards aero, unless it was actually for a hillclimb bike.

So if I ever do get a nice set of wheels it’ll probably be the 58mm deep firecrests.

Friend of mine was a forward air controller in the army and got taken up in a fast jet so he could appreciate what it’s like up there.

Was incredible. But he was sick, not so much a throwning up as the contents of his stomach were 2 feet above his actual stomach.
Meant the ejector seat needed replacing as they couldn’t take chances with corrosion due to stomach acids.

I would say that the proposed 20 a day is quite an increase on what would normally be used. There isn’t a lot of logging done up there, though periodically there will be a cull.

https://www.molevalley.gov.uk/media/pdf/3/j/item_11_-_Support_for_LHAG.pdf
Has a few more details on lower down.
From Europa’s point of view it’s a much shorter drill = cheaper.
I’m sure that a couple of the sites were in Beare Green and Ockley.
Both of which are next to main roads and not an AONB, but longer horizontal drills.

I think over the 5 years of fighting this that alternative sites would have been suggested. 10 sites mentioned on that document.

Touche…

Though even with the site itself returned to its former glory (if that happens) there’s still the potential (and I admit it is only potential) damage to the road leading up there. In places it’s only a matter of inches wider than the trucks going up.
The sunken lanes are what give Leith Hill some of it’s character.

7.146 – Here you go guys, here’s thousands of tons of stone for you, it’s yours to collect from over there <points to drill site>…

If you knew the area which from your comment I assume you don’t you’d realise how inappropriate the location is.

That’s the problem. Unless you are a local or have ridden here and got knowledge of the area it just looks like a load of hippies standing in the way of progress.

It really is not.

It’s not a question of the 18 week timescale, but more the damage that will be done to the area in its construction and then decommissioning.

I’m guessing the thousands of tons of stone won’t be removed, and any damage to the ancient sunken lane leading to the site would be next to impossible to repair.

It will also be drilling through aquifers used for local water.

Plus there were several other drill sites possible instead of Coldharbour, but they were expensive for the company due to a longer horizontal drill.

I did the same in Ethiopia.

Didn’t use my phone much, but when I did it was pretty critical. Had various contacts there, and in the rest of the world on it.

Got to the airport at Bahir Dar and checked in my bag and it wasn’t where I usually put it.

I thought someone had been through my bag in the hotel. Was about to get in a taxi to go back to the hotel in a bit of a panic but the guys in the airport wouldn’t let me leave as it would mess up their plane schedule.

Phone lost I thought.

Until I landed in Addis and got to my mums house. Emptying the bag, and the phone was hidden in my medical bag. Where I’d put it in case anyone rummaged through my bag!!

Winterfold, only just caught this thread.

I’m around the same FTP (now, raced last year without the ability to measure FTP, but strava climbs now are similar times to last year if that makes sense)

I chose Open as I haven’t raced for 20 years and needed to relearn how to do it! Fitness was fine, but need to get much quicker on singletrack as that’s the main focus of the courses. Could catch people on the open sections, but lost momentum in the twisty stuff.

Found myself working my way up the top 10, 12th, 10th, 8th or something, so getting there – but course dependant.

Would have been mid pack in the Sport (and got home earlier too..!)

If you’re doing the Enduro (endurance) events then it’s just 2 or 4 hour Male. 4 hours guys are just crazy, 4 hours without dropping more than a minute a lap from start to finish!

I’ve breathed a new lease of life into my S5 by rooting it and then loading up a Cyanogenmod image onto it.
Much quicker to do everything again.

I did though do an automatic update on it last weekend and it utterly borked it meaning I had to reflash it (just stuck on reboot screen). No data loss, but needed to reinstall apps & set up again…

I see quite a bit online about using hemp plastic for bottles? Biodegrades pretty quickly.

What, other than the grey area on legality, would be the downsides to this?
Would it biodegrade too quickly and you’d end up with bottles of pop exploding on the shelves?

mtbbatteries

Have a couple of lights from there.

Had an issue with one of them where the switch stopped working. Posted them back (well outside of a years ownership) and they arrived back a week or so later with a re-soldered join.

Battery pack well outlasts cheaper chinese jobs on the night rides I’ve done with mates.
Save yourself a few £ and ride back down the hill in the dark?!

Have put the battery pack into one of those carrying bidons. Means no sliding around on the top tube, and there’s space in the bidon for spare tube etc.

Not sure if it’s connected but we had a few weird occurrences not long after my grans funeral. (20 years or so ago)
The only one I can remember now was when my mum woke up up very warm in her room.
She, like I, never have the radiator on in the bedroom but it was on full whack, and this was in late spring so the boiler shouldn’t even have been on.
Went downstairs to investigate why it was on, and found that an unconnected (to the boiler anyway) pipe had burst and the kitchen was starting to flood.
If it had been left till morning, then most of the downstairs would have been under water.

There were a few more things along those lines, strange warnings, but I can’t remember now. Would have to ask my mum as they had more resonance with her due to the timing.

Little really to add other than it does get easier. I have a 15 week old son and he’s getting really interesting to play with which really helps with the whole ‘is this really worth it’ question.

We use infacol before his bottle to reduce stomach pains, it seems to make things easier as before he’d wake with real screams of pain and he doesn’t now.

Also, in terms of help around the house. 2 things we couldn’t be without.
Ewan the dream sheep (plays womb sounds and has a soothing red light on)
Secondly is the Tommy Tippee perfect prep machine. It’s quite expensive but means that night feeds take a couple of minutes to prep with no boiling of kettles etc. It all helps when trying to not wake them up too much in the middle of the night.

Both of these can help them get to sleep, and subsequently give you a little more time to sleep as well.

We also put a book under his mattress at the head end which helped, but he did end up slipping down the bed by the morning!

Thanks for the input.

The unanimous support for keeping the tooth, plus sticking a bit of black tape to the tooth and not really liking the effect, have made the decision. Will keep the tooth.

If the crown fails, then at least I’ve tried…

Facebook post from a friend of mine who lives in Newquay said “the underagers went full scale, out of control, Football Factory style crazy tonight! Never seen this kind of chaos in Newquay”

Started with a fight outside Sailors and escalated. She had a lad bundled in the back of her taxi by some bouncers and sped off with bottles raining down on the cab…!!

So I won’t be going there…

On the radio this morning they said that troops were killed at the rate of 8 a second in that first battle.

Just incredible.

Depending on how newly born they are, one of my now favourite people brought round a large lasagne and a large mac & cheese.
Meant we had proper home cooked food for a few days without having to think about it.
Was really appreciated, certainly by me.

Ewan the dream sheep – yes. Seconded (thirded?) Plus 2 sets of rechargeable batteries, you don’t want it going flat – ever!

Clothes for a 6 month old for the season (winter) or 3 month for autumn. We got loads of new born things which he’s now outgrown at 9 weeks so there were things he only wore once as we had so much. Find out how heavy the birth weight is, and then work out average growth for the time until whatever season you’re buying for to get the size.

Growbags are good as well, but find out if they plan to swaddle first.

I’m in Dorking and did a stint of commuting up to Camden until I decided I couldn’t live with the 3 hours a day travel time.
The line that goes through Leatherhead and up is a slow line. It’s 58 mins from Dorking to Waterloo so a little less from Leatherhead, but still a sizeable chunk of your day.
Redhill is another option. Fast trains up into town (not sure about Waterloo though) and it’s currently in the middle of some quite major regeneration.
It’s a bit of a drive to the hills, 30 mins to Peaslake, probably slightly less to Coldharbour.

They’re filming now up on Winterfold for something.

Did some filming up there last year as well, I think for Beauty and the Beast. Lots of lighting rigs in the woods near Northern Monkey, along with a few carriages.

Clash Of The Titans 2 was partly filmed up on Redlands near Coldharbour, a scene involving a cyclops? Haven’t actually watched it, but chatted to the guards about it.

I did this last summer…

:)

I got a very cheap ring as a token gift to actually propose with, and then said we could go and look round jewelers and find one she actually liked.
She’s got to wear it (hopefully) for the rest of her life so it helps if she likes it!

Bear in mind though that this route means she knows how much you’re spending!

Also bear in mind that you will be subject to weeks of indecision about ‘this one’ or ‘that one’!

“Where are all the cavrmen ghosts?”

I once slept on a robbed out Neolithic burial mound.

I was a bit spooked at pissing off the original occupant.

During the night my phone lost signal once or twice. On my way home I fell off my bike…

Makes you think.

I once, err, ‘did the deed’ with my now wife in a burial mound…

On the walk back to the car (a mile or so, not a long walk) the day turned from a lovely summers day to a huge thunderstorm and we got utterly and completely soaked to the pants…

I moved my road bike stem up a couple of spacers (less than 1cm) for a longer, less speed orientated, ride and def felt the difference, especially out of the saddle.

Mine’s 30km pretty much on the dot each way.
But that is a very roundabout route taking in a couple of good climbs (Ranmore, and up to and down Staples which is a fantastic view on a sunny morning)
Home journey can be anywhere in the Surrey Hills… :)
Direct is a lot shorter but a lot busier with other traffic.

I have the A118 cheap ebay thing on both mine and the wife’s car.

Couple of things to watch out for.

Some cams are happier with certain cards and not so happy with others.
Mine is ok with a Sandisk, but had chewed up a Samsung and left it unusable. Wife’s seems ok with a Samsung. 32gb last for hours of recording.

As a result I try to check the card in a laptop to make sure it’s working periodically. I also format the card in the camera whenever I remember.

Second thing is the adapter creates interference on the radio. If you’re going to hard wire it in then every time you turn on the ignition you’ll get extra hiss. It’s ok if the signal is very strong, but noticeable if the signal is just medium strength. This is even with moving all the cables to the opposite side of the car as the radio aerial.

One further point on apps like Zwift:
Specifically with the v270 I had problems with running out of gears.
The power profile they have for that turbo is from the L (low) resistance, which is barely there. So with legs flying round 120rpm+ I’m only pushing 400w, which isn’t a lot for a sprint.

(it was very close to the Minoura apps power estimate too though)

Something to bear in mind, though I’m not sure how you’d check this.

I really like my Minoura V270.
It’s reasonably quiet, with different levels of resistance from a bar mounted lever (I set it on 3 and use the gears).

There’s also a (hugely expensive for what it is) Minoura ipad/iphone app that links up to a speed/cadence sensor and from that, and the level, it can work out your estimated power. You’ll need an ANT adapter for the ipad/phone as well, so it’s a fairly expensive route. I got all of it from ebay though to keep costs down.

+1 for the videos, I ‘enjoy’ the Sufferfest ones, def help an hour or two go by.

Another one, though it wasn’t me. A group of mates were out walking in the woods late one night, having consumed some funghi of some sort, and one of them got the urge to walk over to a tree and put his hand in a hole in it.

Turns out it was a geocaching spot and there was a tupperware pot in it with some random stuff in. Not sure what they put in it for the next person!

First date with my now wife. I met her in her town for a coffee.
Time runs away a bit with the chatting and I realise I’m late for my nephews pantomime (of all things).
She walks with me back to the car, which I have parked within 30m of her house!

I’ve done the last 6 months of the Gorricks after last racing in the youth category nearly a quarter of a century ago.
Solid mid pack in the enduro ones, with a fair few lessons learned on prep and nutrition etc.

Now into the spring Gorricks my aim to is come higher than I came last time, which I just managed this weekend. Which shows to me the training and changes to nutrition are working.

I’ve analysed my lap times and compared them to the last one where I cramped up to see the difference it made, I worked out where I would have come if I hadn’t missed a turn and wasted 3 minutes.

I looked at the people who beat me, and those I just beat and it’s the same names as last time so I have focus on getting faster to get past them again. It’s definitely motivation for the hours on a turbo.

Unfortunately for my racing career I have a child on the way so the next Gorrick will be my last race for a while as the fitness ebbs away. Back to riding for fun again… :)

Top tip from MTB tips YouTube channel, is to tape your gels to your top tube by their tabs. That way, you can tear them open with one hand, not risk dropping the tab and not have to fish through old sticky wrappers in your jersey pocket as it can be for empties only.

Be careful with the finish on your bike with this.
I did it on my road bike and it took off the top decal layer when the tape came back off again. Not happy. Was only electrical tape, so nothing strong.
Is fine when done on my hard tail, but that’s 13 years old and is bashed right up!

It does have the benefit of being able to plan which gel you want when as well. normal, caffeine, carnitine. Save’s the randomisation you get with a jersey pocket. Also, on the mtb tape the bottom one to the frame top and bottom (less securely) and then each layer on top of that onto the one below in the same way to stop them flapping about all over the place.

In terms of nutrition I tend to just use gels and electrolyte in liquid. I use a camelbak, but that’s so I can drink a lot as I sweat heavily and cramp a lot. Though I wonder if I’d sweat less through not having it on my back and need less. Chicken/Egg.

When I put an offer in on my place it was 6 weeks before the stamp duty holiday ended.
Place was empty.
I said I was a ftb with everything in place (solicitors, mortgage, deposit) and I needed to be in within 6 weeks.

Apparently there were 2 other buyers in at the same price as me, but the fact I was chain free and working to a deadline so no messing about swayed it in my favour.

Have you raised a dispute with either seller?

If you haven’t gone through this process then you’ll still be charged a final valuation fee, plus any insertion fees.

Lens makes it seem faster than it is. Go pro effect.

White car on the right shouldn’t have tried squeezing past on the roundabout. Cyclist could have been in a better position to stop them.

What about the rider from the left who swings out just a few yards in front of the lorry? Lorry had to brake quite hard to not hit him. Could have been quite nasty. No idea why he went for it then…

If we’re talking poor timing, then my mate at my old place handed in his resignation after 12 years working there on the Friday morning. The notice was passed to head office that afternoon.
On the Monday morning we were all called together and told the entire business was being wound up and we were all to be made redundant.
He spoke with HR, but because it had already been passed on there was nothing they could do. He would have been let go pretty much immediately as well.
If he’d waited a day he would have got 3/4 of a years salary as a lump sum, mostly tax free, to walk straight into another job…

Just do a search for Hope on here. I’m sure there was a thread only a few days ago about someone returning an out of warranty light and getting it fixed FOC.

That’s what I’m after, memory joggers! Thanks!

mtbbatteries.com Light was about 2 years old, but stopped working. Contacted them and they said send it in.
Was a dry solder joint, so they fixed it and sent it back. Just cost me the postage there, which for just the lamp was about £3.
I was very impressed, but subsequently forgot!

I’m with First Utility.

Do you submit readings each month to them?

Their tariff is pretty good, so if your readings are regular and correct then you’re losing a lot of energy somewhere.

What about getting an energy meter for electricity? You can then wander around switching things off and back on again working out if there’s anything using a lot.

If it’s solid wall you could well be losing a lot of heat through the walls, especially if it’s end of terrace.

I’ve got the Endura’s.

Only really come out when it’s really cold, but they stop the freezing water splash every time you hit a puddle. They allow a bit of heat to build up.

Definitely from me – I did the brass monkeys race in snow yesterday in them, cleaned them off then commuted in them this morning – toasty feet both days, even though yesterday was muddy and wet. A cheap way to warm feet in my opinion!

Ditto, apart from the commute…

I got a pair of Innov-8’s from ebay. £20 or £30 or so. No big deal if they got ruined, but tbh the mess they got in was no worse than a pair of mtb shoes in January!

They weren’t the extreme ones, had a square block pattern on.

Did a Spartan in horrific conditions a couple of years back and I flew past people with gym trainers on who were slipping around all over the place.

They also drained quickly as well so you weren’t lugging around a kilo of saturated padding on each foot after every puddle/river/ditch/ice bath.

Used riding gloves which were nice for the cold, but didn’t help grip on things once they were wet, muddy and slimy.

Shoes with gore-tex are lovely, until the water goes in over the top (first 100m usually), then they don’t drain at all.