No name, but she’s a she.

After a long journey, give her a little pat for being good to me.

without using roads

How very entitled of you 😂

Reckon they’d do?

If it’s been dry-ish, absolutely fine. It’s a perfect gravel bike route

I record ALL my gym and weight lifting sessions just to polute the feed 😂

The chalk is fantastic when it’s dry, very fast and smooth.  Gravel Kings fly over it!

I think (sorry, I know that’s not helpful) that they can close off whatever they need to at any time. So even routes and legal Byways that are not subject to red flags, can still be shut if they’re doing something special.

I’d still do it, and if part was closed, use a road secion to get back on further around.

I’ve done it. I think it’s not subject to red flags.

Could be exciting!

Influencer

Urgh! 😫

Weird that people put anything down to “the industry” leading us. Like we’re all morons that having given it any thought! If anything, we overthink this sh1t.

Anyway. I have used/use both.

Panniers are amazing for commuting through town. More so when it’s hot weather!

Frame bags are amazing for bike packing over rough ground.

I live a couple of miles from where the route passes through Salisbury (near Woodford Valley). There’s a bit that goes down a muddy, very overgrown (restricted in width and height), section, it isn’t rideable. Much better to go along a bit and then down.

Often point it out whilst I’m walking the dog, and bump into people doing the KAW laden with bags.

It’s fantastic stopping and chatting to the KAWers, you get all sorts doing it! Makes me envious I’ve not doing it with them.

I did it over 3 days, on a GB, and it was dry. Light overnight kit, staying in Premier Inns. Very enjoyable indeed.

If it was wet I would not have enjoy that many wet mucky miles in a day, on a gravel bike. I would have waited a week or so until it had dried out.

needing legislation to enforce this

Will actually be the route. Not arguing on a forum.

People won’t change anything, unless forced to do so. Gov won’t change anything, unless forced to d……oh ffs

Grovely Woods, near Salisbury

Anyone else’s mood lift massively once spring finally arrives?! The trails dry up, the long days, the air currently filled with the sweetish smell of oil seed rape.

I’d like to do it, but we have a dog. I keep the lawn cut so I can find and pick up the poops.

Stolen from Charlie Brooker’s screenwipe character (and director), the cultural commentator/taking head, freely giving his onions in an ever exasperated and irritated manner.

Seemed fitting for the forum at the time.

cyclists legs and arse tho – slimfit trousers that fit my legs and arse are baggy at the waist

Yep! all made for flat arse blokes

I love Marc Riley. So do his listerners. Really disaapointed BBC are at it again! Just leave it alone ffs.

I find TR dull/smug. Marc the polar opposite.

Another Nike Pegasus Trail 4 fan here. Fantastic shoe. I use it for most of my road runs too as it’s quite light and very comfortable.

Standard version, not bothered about having Gortex, as standard shoes will dry faster when wet. I did have to run through a couple of rivers that had burst their banks on my regualr road>trail. Wet feet, but wasn’t a problem as only 10K (apart from the weird farting sound they made once wet)

and talking rubbish with friends.

Out of my group of close mates (around 8-10 of us), 3 of us have given up booze.

We went on an all day sesh recently, with us 3 sticking to 0% beers in the pubs we visited. By the end of the day, the 3 of us that were sober were still having a laugh and banter flowing, whilst the drinkers were fading into mumbling and repeating nonsense. They were not funny, we were 😂. Was quite somethign to see with sober eyes!!

All alcohol is toxic.

I have one every now and then, usually swayed by a cocktail tbh 😂 But otherwise, 99.9% of the time I’m zero alcohol – and FAR better for it.

As others have said, there’s a growing number of great AF beers. 0% Guinness is particulary good.

Woodland! What is better than a bluebell wood? Brilliant.

Surely, as mountain bikers (even climate deniers types) we would want more woodlands!?

Nike Pegasus Trail 4 – It’s brilliant

@deadpool

Been there myself recently.

I sought help and doing better now.

This will pass. I promise.

Keep talking – when you say it or write it, your mind lets go and you can process it much better. Chat away

Sending big hugs.

Personally yeah that pretty much sums up my position. The planet is fine, humans will disappear because we will make it uninhabitable for ourselves. I can’t change that so I might aswell enjoy my time on it whilst I’m here

Jesus!! Thankfully plenty of people do give af. We can do things that will have a massive impact to improve OUR environment. All is not lost – that’s utterly ridiculous. An easy one, stopping private water companies pumping sh1t into our rivers. To do that, don’t vote for MPs who support that.

Brilliant program, our country really is so incredibly beautiful.

Sir David is a living legend. At 96 years old, and he’s still out there doing it. Incredible.

I’m lucky enough to have private medical insurance. I had MRI for my back and hip problems. They found several things wrong; hip impingment, TWO bulgining discs! Which were possibly pressing on the spinal nerves. etc etc. All quite terrifying.

Then I read the John Sarno book.

On the subject of half marathons, and having a target to work towards. I’m going to enter myself for a local half, which will be my first and only running event.

Currently I’m not following a plan. I run 4 miles tues/thurs lunchtimes, and something a bit more fun on weekend, like a 6-8 mile trail run. I just run – trying to stay at a comfortable pace, I’ve not done intervals/speed work. I’ve been running since last Autumn.

It’s 12 weeks until the half. Would it be best to follow a structured plan? or just do what I’m doing and bump the milage up incrementally? I have a Garmin watch, but their plans are minimum 16 weeks.

I’m not fast, just want to complete it. My avg pace is around 9:30/mi ish.

She’s a beautiful dog @euain.

No photos of my boy, it’s actually impossible to get a photograph of a spaniel standing still

I have a Sprocker Spaniel. Very high enegry, lots of stamina. Absolutley lovely dog. I considered taking him on an MTB ride, but it just didn’t seem fair to me, it’s probably faster than they would naturally want to do. Not judging those that do. That’s just me.

I decided to level the playing field, and last Autumn took up trail running instead. That way if I’m getting anywhere near tired, he’s nowhere near his limits. He runs rings around me – runs ahead for some mandatory sniffing, runs back to tell me to hurry up!

Running with your dog is one of the best things ever, and feels like it builds a strong bond.

I waited until he was 18 months before running any distance with him.

Given that most people ride them with 40-45mm tyres at low(ish) pressures, I’d say ride quality would be difficult to differentiate between the Alu and Ti.

Love my Alu Camino. Wished I bought the Ti – for looks alone.

Ford mondeo kerb weight : 1615 kg

Ford Kuga Kerb Weight : 1,564kg.

So the estate car would cost more to tax than the SUV

My diesel Mondeo estate costs £30 per year tax

Estate. Drives better, and the space is huge, and probably more usable too.

I’ve never thought I need a better view of the road – it’s never a problem.

Never a problem getting out either! If I’m stuggling with getting in/out my car there’s bigger things to worry about/work on.

Each to their own.

I kitted out the garage as a home gym, spent around £350 so far – power rack, barbell/dumbells and a bench.

Loving it, and having the setup at home makes it many times more likely to get used.

I put my trade in down as poor condition as it was bumped up in value to the better condition value when they inspected it, so all good.

Purchase a Pixel 7 a few weeks ago, and this happened to me on trade-in. I put my iPhone 12 mini down as poor condition, but without cracks. (it was two years old, so plenty of wear and tear). I recieved pay out for what would have been phone in good condition.

I was a bit dubious, some poor reviews for PCS online. But I had a great experience.

Love the Pixel! apart from the fingerprint unlock, which is a bit hit and miss

Once I came around to the idea my chronic back pain may be not structural (as above). I did King Alfred’s Way on my gravel bike with some mates. Point proved! (to myself)

I suffer from anxiety and depression. My back started with a twinge, and my head most certainly took that and ran with it! I’ve learned a lot about myself, and my head along the journey!

I saw someone describing similar to what I had, and trying similar things to rid it. They mentioned John E Sarno. Having exhausted most things, I picked up his healing backp pain book. It instantly made sense to me. Following on from that, a bit more research I found Alan Gordon’s podcasts which are a better and more up to date respresentation of the topic (https://www.curablehealth.com/podcast/your-pain) if you can get past the American cheese, they’re really fantastic.

(The excellent) Andrew Huberman has several bits on it too – described as neuroplasticity. Similar to @footflaps diagram, essentially a proprioceptive misunderstanding.

Dr John E Sarno would agree with you.

Yep. Changed my life, after suffering with chronic back pain. Seriously. See also Alan Gordon

Un-seriously/funny enough, I tweaked my back last night. But that was just being a dick in the gym and doing too much. Hobbling today.

Thank you @lunge that’s great.

I’m in Salisbury, and as far as my Googling has got me I think there is only one club! So I’d better not upset them.

My preference is trail/cross country over road. But I will do tarmac over lunch just to get a run in.

Are many of you actively running with a club vs solo?

It’s been abour 6 months since I started running again, and I’m ticking along quite comfortably now. But my main thing has been to not push it, and avoid begineers injuries – which now I’ve typed this I will of course get!! 😂 I don’t have any targets as such, other than to just enjoy the running. I’m past bothering with competetive side of things now, been there done that..

Wondering what others experiences of running with a club has been, did you benefit from it, progress? I’ve done years of cycling clubs, but apart from a couple of parkruns, always been running on my tod.

Forgive my ignorance, but why not just run a bath with cold water??

I’ve done it a few times, and get the effect. It’s cold enough…that…you… can’t..quite …talk…in…full…sentaccesssss

I’m 42. I decided to give it a try for first time over Christmas. I had a real down period, mental health. I just couldn’t be arsed to ride. Also fed up with having the typical cyclist’s body, all legs and skinny upper body. My phycial appearance, and also knowing as I get older just cycling/running alone isn’t enough.

Started in local gym for a month or so, and to my suprise I really enjoyed it. I’m working on hypertrophy more, but will gain strengh also. I decided to sell my unused/gathering dust Wahoo kickr and buy a few bits for home. Now have a Power rack, barbell/dumbells and bench. I’ll still use the gym, but having a setup in the garage is a game changer. Days when I’m tired, exhausted from driving home when I’d slump on the sofa and snooze. I tell myself, just go to the garage and do one thing, of course once your out there and got the music on it’s great. But there’s no way I would want to get off the sofa, get kitted up, drive all the way over to the gym etc – I’d just write it off.

Really enjoying it! And I feel so much better overall. I was staunchly against it previously, all I needed was cycling, and more cycling. But jsut cycling you end up being a very fit, but also quite a frail human.