“AI”  just keeps on disappointing…This is going to take over the world?

I have two kids, but still manage to get out and do plenty!

I ride 3 x a week; 1 x MTB ride, 1 x fast club road ride, 1 x longer cafe road ride.

A also like to do some weights, I try to do 2 – 3 strength sessoions a week . But don’t want to be away from the house on those nights too, or my wife will never see me! So I’ve got a little setup in my garage. That’s excellent for me. I can help and do dinner whilst working out, between the sets.

We have a dog, and nobody else in the house likes to walk him, especially when the weather is grim. So a 60 min dog walk daily too. I enjoy walking whatever the weather.

Just last week my 2014 Mondeo Estate 2.0 tdci went to the auction, part exchanged it for an Octavia 1.4tsi. The Mondeo was on 160K miles, and had a long expensive list of work needing doing, shame as I loved that car. It’s been brilliant to me.

I couldn’t find a decent, well priced Octavia estate (they are popular), and time was running out, so I have a Octavia Hatchback. So far really enjoying it, and getting 55mpg on my commute, which is great for a petrol. It’ll take bikes in the back, it’s pretty big. But I’m going to get a towbar on it, and will carry the bikes on a towbar rack.

I would have had another Mondeo Estate, but the MK5 isn’t as good apparently. And MK4s were not in plentiful supply.

I stopped drinking for quite some time (I was drinking too much). I do have a couple pints a week now. But I enjoy the beer for its flavors, not several beers for its effects.

The one thing I really noticed was, people aggressively defend their drinking! People really do not like anyone questioning if drinking is a good idea, and get instantly defensive.

In my case, mates/colleagues would not let it go that I wasn’t drinking. Always questioning why, what’s wrong with me etc. At no point did I ask anyone else to not drink, or even verbally suggest it. But I think me not drinking caused them to internally question their habits, which externally came out negatively. After a couple of years it’s ok now, people don’t say much.

There’s some weird thing in society, if you’re not doing what everyone is doing, they get upset. For other example see cycling, not eating meat..

What about using a trap bar?

This. I also have a history of back injury, herniated disc etc. I bought myself a trapbar, one with a stand, so I can get into a position easier. It’s brilliant.

https://mirafit.co.uk/mirafit-olympic-trap-bar-with-stand.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwxY-3BhAuEiwAu7Y6s8QY5lj-jLjU7TJMUzcp6O5wkBpnyIREr7EdG9FOXyh8KBrJWJyOTBoCjpUQAvD_BwE

Thanks guys, I did suspect it might not work.

@VanHalen there’s not tons of choice for 27.5 now, still a few, but most stock of wheels and tyres seem to be 29. Hunt have only one set of alloy 27.5 (which I’ll probably get), but loads of 29.

You can get cheaper then G-Shocks… And guess what… They still tell the time

Casio A700! Love mine

I actually really enjoy throwing the gravel bike with drop bars on, down some trails, get in the drops and relax the arms, it’s great fun. You do have to concentrate more than when on an MTB, picking a line rather than riding over anything.

I do like the look of some of those, but it’s the drop bars that puts me off. Doesn’t seem like there are many flat bar options amongst those.

Sonder Camino (great bike) flat bar.

Camino Al Apex1 Flat Bar

I have a 3 year old Camino, love it. Drop bars aren’t for everyone

Try and enjoy life now

This is THE best advice one could give.

All these comments about AI to drive trains ??? clearly from people who have never worked or have any idea about the industry.

I did start with “Absolutey no idea”!

Still, it does seem like a job that would benefit from technological assistance…

 I am clueless on whether AI would fix that problem or not.

Same. Absolutely no idea.  But if you step back from it, it’s the perfect use case for an AI.

The trains all operate on a fixed network. So minimal external variables that self driving cars have to cope with. So the AI knows where the trains are, and where they need to be, and by when. And with sensors everywhere, and clever AI stuff, it would know about anything else that might impact the timings, and adjust accordinlgy.

Surely one of the first things to be fully AI automated, is the trains??

Who knew food poverty was just a lifestyle choice.

Aldi sell a sourdough. £1.69 and not full of sugar and “stuff”.

https://groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/p-specially-selected-white-sourdough-loaf-500g/4088600065991

Ingredients Wheat flour (wheat flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Rye Flour , Salt, Fermented Wheat Flour.

That looks to be heathier than the normal white sliced.

can you freeze ‘proper’ bread and still separate the slices when frozen?

That’s what I do. The rest of my household will only eat the awful Hovis white sliced shite. So Dad’d bread goes in the freezer.

One simple thing that shows how much sugar they put in it. See how fast that white sliced crap toasts in the toaster vs a slice of sourdough..

Sun’s out!

No @johndoh not at all.

The general public, that I sometimes feel don’t appreciate how beautful GB is – if you have a decent rain jacket!

It’s nice to see everything looking green and lush.

This!

Yes it rains a lot, but ours is a beautiful country!

Give me rolling green hills, thick colourful hedgerows sprinkled with wildflowers and butterflies, and where I am, beaitiful rivers. I’ll take this over dusty, parched and dry.

I feel for those who only see Britain as a wet and dreary place, and who’s only escape is a week in Turkey

This is a British summer! Those hot dry ones are the exception.

Down south it hasn’t been too bad. Some days wet, some days very pleasant – cool and sunny.

I love a sunny a day, but cannot stand those stupidly hot days we had a couple of years ago!

On the list now for a year or so. Pretty certain I have it. It would explain a lot.

Family my side is pretty Neurospicy! Austistic daughter and nephews, ADHD sister. And my dad is highly likley!

I always thought I was just a bit weird/lazy. But a few years after daughter’s diagnosis, and nephew’s diagnosis. And then my sister’s diagnosis…I was like – oooohh 😂

Been there, and will prob be again.

It’s hard/impossible to see now. But like the saying goes “this too shall pass”. It is true. As shit as you feel right now, you will get through, and you will be fine.

Everything, good and bad, EVERYTHING is temporary.

Sending man hugs

Gritfest!

Stuck in Tory land!

But, these forecasts don’t account for Reform, which if them being only 2 pts behind Con overall, would make this would look very different.

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What worries me most is people assuming it’s a done deal – and seeing no point in voting, as Labour are all set to win. (several people in my office have said this already this morning)

During Brexit, I assumed it won’t actually happen, surely not. You can never assume!!

“Is it not just obvious that different people like different things?”

Not a dig at anyone..

But I’ve found a suprising number of people don’t get this.

Well I’m sure their customer base is about grow significantly

If MyWhoosh is a rival to Zwift, and having read a couple of reviews it does look quite good, how is it free?!

“still cheaper than Trainer Road”

It’s $20 – around £16pm.

I really like TrainerRoad, espcially their new red light/green light thing. But even at £16pm I’m thinking of binning that and doing it myself in Garmin or Golden Cheetah. I only ever did my own workouts in Zwift, I couldn’t gaf what all the cartoon bikes are doing.

I used GC years ago, and once you get your head around it, it is a pretty powerful platform.

…Or maybe take up running again through winter…

It’s annoying, I really like the Google Podcast app, simple and clean

” , but also I wonder what prison would do to any of them.”

Well, not much apparently…

“BBC Eye identified her as a participant in a group run by a US man called Mike Macartney, a former motorcycle gang member who served time in prison”

I wish I hadn’t read that!

I try to remember – as above, the majority of humans are decent, caring people. These people are very much a minority.

“interval training”

I agree on that. A hard ride, be that a fast club ride or some intervals really does wonders!

Some brilliant advice on this thread! This place is awesome.

As a fellow worrier, I have suffered with/do suffer with anxiety (and depression). But, as I’ve aged, I have got better at controlling it.

It took me a while to realise I’m quite normal, it is perfectly normal to worry about things. BUT, do not let them comsume me. Imagine not worrying about anything!! Odd

As above, insulin and exercise are opposing. During exercise insulin is suppressed! Insulin does come into play post exercise, and fit individuals who exercise reguarly benefit from increased insulin sensitivity (at rest).

Also completely agree with molgrips “but having the right food to eat on rides will make you ride further for longer and feel better doing it”. Even if you’re stuffing loads of carbs in, you’re still highly likely to be in a calorie deficit.

But being carbed up will make the ride more enjoyable (well that’s what I’ve found). Even longer rides, 75miles+ if I really try and think about eating well, I still feel fine and strong at the tail end.

Pies and pints are a wonderful thing, but your body will struggle to turn that into useful energy mid ride. Stick to easily digestable carbs, not too much fat or fibre. And have a lovely pie afterwards.

Jelly Babies have sugar and glucose syrup on the ingrediants list there. I wonder what ratios… Sugar is 1:1 glucose:fructose, then adding more glucose as per the ingredients list, you MIGHT end up being a similar ratio as the sports drink mixes 2:1 glucose:fructose!

Available everywhere for cheap – Jelly Babies FTW 😂

“the ex pro rider said that he probably under fuelled during his racing career”

Keeping in mind, if you have big watts, you consume a lot more calories per hour. Professional cyclists zone 2 equates to our zone 4!

Bigger guys, Ganna for instance, are at a disadvantage. He’s a bigger guy at 82kg, benfitting from a bigger FTP (450w maybe?). But he then needs to be able to consume more to fuel that engine.

I never use gels. I think they’re gross. It’s only 22g too, way easier to drink that, or eat something real – like foam shrimps and bananas 😂

Honestly, you need to train it, as in get used to eating more. Steadily increase the amounts with more riding. If you go all in without being used to it, you’re likely to get stomach issues.

You want a mix of anything carby, but ideally slightly more glucose than fructose, but really you don’t need to think about it if you’re eating a variety of snacks, drinks (ie High 5), snack bars, cake at a cafe.

Kendle Mint Cake is actually really excellent too. 80g in a bar, you can nibble your way through.

If I do a fastish club ride, I prefer to drink the carbs. If it’s a gentler cafe ride, I still drink some carbs, then get very excited dreaming about a massive slice of victoria sponge. Overall probably hitting 50g per hr.

I can eat A LOT of cake!

“One thing I would say about the air tents, is that you need to make sure that you have a power source that can pump It up.”

Eh! As above, it comes with a hand pump. Extremely quick and easy.

We have a 6 man Kampa air tent, for our family of 4. It’s brilliant. I can do all of the tent unpacking and erecting whislt the wife and kids go off to explore, leaving me alone. It takes no time at all. And no arguments.

“I’ve had conversations with some weirdo’s that think we had a great summer”

I experience this too; I find it fascinating how other people perceive it totally differently – it has most definitely been very wet for a very long time.

It may be because I am outside a lot in my free time. Cycling increases this, especially if not being able to ride gravel, as it’s mud! And a lot of dog walking in the countryside = a lot of mud. For those that don’t remember the weather being so dire, I suspect they spend a lot more time languishing on the sofa.