I’ve been ahem…away for a while… about 16 months out of the bubble. I’m currently sailing about 1/3 of the way through the Formorian Frontier, on my way back to civilization. Has a lot changed while I’ve been away? I’m playing on the PS4, are there Fleet carriers on this platform now? Can I dock with them and how are they distributed? I have a LOT of exploration data that I’m itching to cash in!

Jeepers, you guys are all a bit…shooty, aren’t you? Makes me kind of glad I’m still about 2000-2500 jumps away from getting back to the bubble! :-)

I was out for about two and a half hours on my roadie bike today in rural Stirlingshire. On the couple of short bits of A road that I was on, the traffic was noticeably busier than it has been the past weeks. On the quiet back roads, and that bugger of an unclassified road, I saw loads of cyclists which is brilliant, but I also saw quite a few guys riding in pairs or small groups which made me think ‘hmmm..’

Saw some brilliant looking retro road bikes that I assume have been dragged out of retirement. Think the best thing I saw was when I was nearly back into my local town and a couple in their mid-twenties came zooming towards me on their leccy scooters. I’d just crested a nasty wee climb and was properly blowing out my arse, as this couple sailed past me on the other side of the road. They didn’t even look like they’d broken a sweat. Proper athletes! Made me laugh, but at least they were getting some air and sunshine.

This is what I use….

https://www.manomano.co.uk/towbar-3936?model_id=13404993&g=1&referer_id=686945&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg_3Qq5iS6QIVSbDtCh0spgPxEAQYBSABEgK_7PD_BwE

Although mine was bought from the Edinburgh Bike Co-op for about double the price 15 years ago! This looks like exactly the same design, so I reckon you’d need a rear wheel with a 9mm QR as the trailer hooks onto a modified QR.

I’ve been using mine for regular trips to the gin shop, sorry I mean essential items. It’ll hold a good 3-4 shopping bags worth. It’s very well made, and an absolute hoot on the back of a hardtail when heading out for a bothy trip!

Spacer for a front mech in my opinion

Pffft!

I got the same message and deleted it. That’s nothing compared to the time our bike club’s website was spammed. It was a looonng time ago, 15-20yrs back, and I logged onto the club’s message board to see that someone new had posted in every open thread. Every single thread had an image of a very fit, very naked and VERY excited young Asian gentleman added to it.

I spent a long time deleting all those images, won’t say how long I spent checking them though….

Oooh, I might join your squadron if you don’t mind? A wee bit of company and chat might keep the thought of how far I have to travel at bay. I’m currently a few jumps away from Beagle Point, on my way home in a Diamondback Explorer.

Commander Beagy73 :-)

I used one of these in anger a couple of years back when I was out with a mate and his dropper failed. I keep one in my pack as a just in case when out in the hills for big days. Popped it on in seconds and it held his seat post in place for the entire ride. He went home with it and I assume rode around with it fitted for the couple of weeks till he eventually returned it to me after fixing the fault. As far as I can recall, there wasn’t a mark on his seat post from it.

@Molgrips

Sorry, you’re right of course, you can’t play across platforms, but the expedition was organised, and route planned so that everyone was going in roughly the same direction at roughly the same time. Players could chat and interact via the Discord app across platforms, or as part of a ‘squadron’ within platforms. It felt like a really big, really cool, community project. I think I’m right in saying that the game designers even added a partially constructed space station at Sag A*, to tie in with part of the expedition’s aim to mine and ferry construction materials out to the station.

At the very least, I’m glad that station is there, because every time I smack into a planet, I’ve ended up back there!

It got a big upgrade on the PS4 about a year ago. Lots of new content and as far as I’m aware, an ongoing war with the Thargoids.
I say ‘as far as I’m aware’, because about this time last year I joined a mass expedition to Beagle Point at the other side of the galaxy. I fell behind the rest of the 1000 strong PS4 players (around 12,000 players in total across all platforms), in the expedition quite rapidly, because of a few rather spectacular red wine induced mishaps, then I left the PS4 over the summer, and only came back to it this winter.
Everyone else has finished the expedition (Distant Worlds 2), but I persevered, only to smack into a few more planets while attempting to land under the influence.
I’m still going, about 2/3rds of the way to Beagle point, with a promise to myself that I’m not lowering my landing gear again till I get back to civilisation.
I enjoy the game simply because it’s a way of relaxing for me. I just fly, have a drink of wine and explore, fly, drink wine and explore. Nothing shoots at me, nothing challenges me, but the graphics are pretty.
I’ll get back to ‘the bubble’ one day, and boy, I’ll be rich with all the exploration data I’ve gathered, but till then, I’ll just fly…

I was in Tesco yesterday and some of the shelves were looking decidedly bare. I panic bought a new telly while I was there. Getting fed up not being able to read the text on the wee 21 inch set I’ve got connected to my playstation, so got a 40 inch to replace it. Hopefully won’t be crashing into any more planets in the near future….if I have a future.

Hey Walowiz,

If, like me, you’re looking to dip your toes into Zwift on a budget, then have a look at the Elite Novo Smart Interactive turbo from Halfords for £180. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stick at the indoor training thing, so didn’t want to blow a wad of cash on it, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how much I’m enjoying Zwift on the Novo Smart.

I’m a big lad ( 1.83m and 114kg), but with my bike CX bike clamped into the turbo’s frame, the rear wheel is nice and solid on the roller and the whole setup is wobble free. It links up to Zwift on my laptop flawlessly, and reacts to climbs within a second or two, although I haven’t really tried out the ‘just go for a ride’ options on Zwift as I much prefer sticking to the structured training programs at the moment.

The only thing I’ve found a wee bit frustrating is the cadence measure. It seems to jump around a lot, although I think I’ve now found that it’s much more stable if I’m already spinning the pedals while the system boots up and links to the laptop.

C.

I panic bought a Skywatcher Skymax Maksutov telescope. It’s not due for delivery for another few weeks (hopefully in time for my birthday), but I’m hoping to survive long enough to get a look through it.

Oh, and I’m probably responsible for the awful weather now because of this purchase.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-skymax-127-az-gti.html

Sorry

C.

When I think way back into the mists of time, as a novice mountain biker in the late 80’s early 90’s, I always remember that the biggest frustration I had (on the bike), was getting beat by my lungs, long before my legs were ready to give out because I would spin through the gears to fast at too high a cadence. So I kind of trained myself to be a steady grinder on the pedals, using the gears to keep a rhythm maybe around 60 rpm. I’m rather set in my ways now, as Zwift is painfully showing me.

I know that spinning like a loon is probably really good for me, especially as it’ll burn those calories, but jeepers, it just doesn’t feel right!

I started on Zwift back in December. I’m not really interested in the racing side of it as I don’t have a competitive gene in my body, and I haven’t tried out the ‘Just Ride’ features yet, because if I want to do go for a ride, I kinda figure that I should really just get on my bike and get outside. What I do really like though is the structured training programs. I’ve completed the FTP program and I’m now on a 12 week long ‘Build me Up’ regime that I hope will set me up in good stead for the summer.

I’m finding the workouts really hard, although I suppose that’s the point. Riding at 85-95 rpm though, who does that? It can’t be natural?? I’m generally ‘blowin oot me arse’ by the end of the warmup!!

The benefits are there to see though. I’ve actually started to slowly lose some weight this winter, rather than my usual habit of gaining weight with interest, over and above what I lose in the summer. The feeling of actually doing something though, is what makes it all worthwhile for me. Rather than sitting on the sofa, feeling grumpy because I don’t want to go out on my bike, on my own, on yet another dark and miserable night, I can now just nip into the garage for an hour long blast. The feeling of satisfaction, of actually having fought back, is priceless.

Mind you, it can all still go tits up! Which is why I was smiling after reading the last couple of posts about power loss. I was midway through my workout last night, with the turbo simulating a grinding climb when my legs just completely failed me. Batteries flat, legs hollowed out, nothing more to give. Couldn’t really figure it out because it was well within my capabilities (around 180 watts at 60rpm), but I was completely burst. I gave up in defeat, thinking that maybe my FTP score was a wee bit over ambitions, switched everything off and went back into the house. That’s when I thought I’d better check my blood glucose…..whoopsy! I was down at 1.8 mM/l ….that would explain my power loss, stupid diabetes!

Really liking Zwift though. Really like pushing myself hard, to the point where I think I’m done, then looking at the screen and seeing that I only need to go for a few seconds more to finish the interval, or ‘keep going to that corner / till you catch that guy’ then look again. No way would I be able to spend any time on a regular turbo without that interactivity. It’s rapidly becoming one of the best bits of riding kit I’ve ever invested in. I really think it’s going to make a big difference to my proper riding once the trails emerge out of the floods again!

Both times on the main road outside Stirling University, I saw a guy cycling along in the rain with an open golf umbrella and another guy with a full length, old school plastic kayak on his shoulder.

Respect!

I was out on the London flat circuit sporting my new ‘Team Type 1’ jersey last night. Absolutely buried myself in a tempo training hour of the FTP builder plan. I could grind along all day at 175w, but ask me to do that for 3 minutes at 100 rpm. Jeepers, I was a mess at the end of it.

I think I have a set of Shimano LX, 170mm square taper crank arms in the garage. They’ve never been used, still might even have the shrink wrap on the arms, as I was looking for chain rings at the time and got the full chain set for half the price.

Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll have a dig in the garage tonight.

C.

@Poopscoop

I think I’m just on Zwift as C.Lapsley. I’m currently sticking to a threshold power training plan, which can be a bit frustrating at times as everyone goes whizzing past, but I’m enjoying the structure of it. Quite happy to be the lantern rouge in your group. I’ll wave as you wheech past!

I’m a nearly 50 year old, type 1 diabetic with weight problems. I’ve never been into the idea of ‘training’ but I do love cycling. I lose a lot of weight in the summer, but every winter I pile it back on again, with interest.

Just before Christmas, I hit an all time low / high when I realised I’d hit 18 stone. I went into Halfords and bought a smart trainer and have been Zwifting these past few weeks. I don’t know if I’m seeing or feeling any physical benefits, but mentally, I feel so much better, just knowing that I’m fighting back!

Yep, Bansko’s a brilliant budget destination. I’d thoroughly recommend the Loghouse restaurant for it’s fabulous food and mind boggling value. Just try not to have an accident there, that’s when you get to see the not so great side of it.

I was initially brought off the mountain to the first aid centre at the Gondola station then immediately sent to the local A&E. I actually saw the nurse drop a cannula on the floor, wipe it on her apron before shoving it in my arm! I was then transferred to the regional hospital, where I was looked at, then sent on to the main spinal injury unit in the capital, in an ambulance with a broken gurney, where the driver folded down a chair on the other side of it and got me to brace my arm against it so I wouldn’t slide off. The litany of horrors and humiliations that followed, would need to be described over a pint or three. All in, I got a fairly extensive experience of their healthcare system. The doctors and nurses were awesome and did all they could for me, but the facilities and conditions they were working in was truly frightful. That’s why nowadays, whenever I hear someone droning on about their bad treatment from the NHS, I get a little…exasperated.

Brilliant place, but just be aware that budget prices mean budget facilities in quite a poor country.

Ringo, I snowboarded in Bansko for around 10 years and it was always a bit dicey whether they had snow or not Dec/Jan. They’ve got a lot more snow making kit nowadays though. We went either just before or just after the mid-term holidays in February and the conditions were always fabulous.

As a budget destination, I don’t think it can be beat. I’d be back there in a second if I was allowed, but the whole week of intensive care in a very dodgy Bulgarian hospital followed by repatriation in an air ambulance (funky wee 6 seater jet, very cool when minced on morphine), means that my wife, who doesn’t accompany me on winter holidays, has pretty much banned the ‘B’ word from our household.

I’m off to La Plange in a fortnight with my mate to ski. The ‘snowboard’ word has also been banned from our house.

Prices as I remember from four years ago….

We used to drive down to Manchester and fly return to Sofia for around £250 on Easyjet

The ski pass was around £170 for 6 days

We used to hire a 2 bedroom apartment via Alexander’s Letting Agency, I think it was in an apartment block called Damianitza, which was only a 10 minute walk from the gondola and was £250 in total for the week (i.e £60pp for the whole week).

Food and drink worked out about £15-20 for a three course meal and all the drinks you could manage.

The mountain is a bit wee, but has plenty of off-piste through the trees and the powder days can be magical on a snowboard. I’d honestly go back in a shot, I really liked the place. You just have to remember it is a budget destination and is therefore a bit ‘rustic’ at times.

C.

So, I’m a Zwift newbie. I’ve been using it since mid-December and I’m currently into my fourth week of the FTP building course and absolutely loving it.
I’ve seen other riders going past giving me ‘ride on!’ thingys, and quite liked that little extra bit of interaction, so downloaded the Zwift companion app for my phone, as the laptop is out of reach when pedaling. I’ve also just bought a terrifying looking thong, but thankfully I quickly realised that it’s the bike that wears it to catch all the sweat coming off me.
Here’s the problem. I’m a very large chap, and if sweating was an Olympic sport, I’d be a contender. The sweat catching thong thingy had a pocket on the top to slide my phone into, so I can see and use the extra stuff on the companion app, but last night I managed to pause the workout umpteen times, skip a whole segment, plus, I think I managed to follow around a dozen or so random riders just by sweating on them. I’ve tried to lower the sensitivity of my phone’s screen, (Nokia 6), but that doesn’t seem to do anything. Bjorn Borg sweatband? Anyone else found a workaround, or is this just a problem confined to fat sweaty Scotsmen from Bonnybridge?

Amateur astronomer here. I know the Moon names and I don’t read tabloid newspapers, sorry.

My wife was in a very nasty car crash just before Christmas. An oncoming lorry turned right because the driver thought he had enough time to nip into the side street. He was wrong and the missus smacked into the side of him at 40mph. Thankfully, she suffered relatively minor injuries, however she was taken to A&E for a check-up and x-rays to her ankle that turned out to be just badly sprained.

Anyway, my point being that we were a good 5 hours waiting in the treatment area at our local, Forth Valley Royal Hospital. While waiting we watched a seemingly endless train of drunks and druggies being brought in by police officers and no matter how belligerent, or out of their face the folk were, the police officers were treating them politely and incredibly professionally.

One guy was absolutely out of his face on something and was getting louder and angrier by the minute until the officer beside him put her hand on his arm and started explaining to him where he was and how unreasonable he was being. It was a remarkable thing to see the way these young officers managed the situation.

Hats off to them I say, it’s not a job I could do, or would want to do, but in my experience the people who do that job are heroes.

What Cougar said. If you go to apps on your Virgin TV, you’ll be able to add Netflix. It’s not the greatest version of the App, I use the Playstation App, but it does work.

At the start of November, a bunch of us were staying up at the Rothiemurchus lodge in the Cairngorms for a mountain biking weekend. Around 20 metres from the front door of the lodge a trail starts that’s a bit of a boggy slog, but it takes you over to a point midway down the Lairig Ghru. My mate and I had arrived at the lodge earlier than everyone else on the Friday evening and went for a cheeky night ride down there in the snow. Everything clicked into place. My bike just lapped up the sketchy conditions thrown at it. The freezing fog and snow seemed to soak up my lights, so every turn felt like a last minute, life or death decision and for a short trail, it just seemed to go on forever in the dark and silence.

In more than 25 yrs of winter night riding, that felt like the finest one I’ve ever done. It’s a magnificent trail at the best of times, but riding it on a dark snowy night just stuck a big gold star on the experience for me.

Bloody hell! It made me go through some sort of sadistic torture test! “Zwift is just trying to understand your fitness levels. Now rack the effort up to a 10 fatboy” …or words to that effect. I actually didn’t mind that wee workout. Only 20 minutes for my first try at it, but it was 20 minutes more on a bike than I would have done tonight!

Hello!

I just got my arse handed to me by a couple of 70 year olds on e-mountain bikes at the weekend and it’s spurred me on to do something about my fitness.

I’m 49 and 3/4’s, type 1 diabetic and weigh in at around 116kg against my 183cm height. Essentially, I’m a chubby lad. I tend to lose a fair bit of weight in the summers, but lack ride motivation in the winter, so pile it all back on again with interest.

After the spanking I got on Saturday, I went into Halfords and bought an Elite Novo Smart turbo trainer. I set up the turbo in my garage last night and connected it to my CX/Roadie bike (which never gets used in the winter), and plan to have my first session when I go home tonight with my wee laptop sitting on a stool in front of the bike playing Zwift. My Wi-fi signals pretty poor in the garage, and I’m hoping that the Amazon guy will have delivered the ANT+ dongle before I get home, but I’m genuinely looking forward to having a go with this and really hope that if I can motivate myself, it’ll make a difference to my weight and fitness over the winter months!

As usual, any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated!

Craig

Hey dude,

I’ve ‘retired’ my old Mono Mini’s. They’re now hanging on the wall in the garage. So that’s two sets of partly used, sintered pads straight away. Also pretty sure I have at least one brand new set kicking about in my spare parts box. I’ll have a rake around tonight, and will drop you a message with what I find, then you can swing around on your crazy wee Brompton and pick them up.

Same here. My P7 is fitted with Velociraptors front and rear.

I’m wearing a pair of purple docs with rainbow laces. Cause I can. :-)

I used my Lumi halogens last winter, for the first time in years. I wanted to go out on my old P7 hardtail and couldn’t find the adapter to fit my lumi LED on it’s narrower diameter bars. I still love the warm light from halogens, but jeepers, it’s amazing how fast they burn through the battery and how little light they throw out compared to modern kit!

We had an awesome weekend. Legs are still knackered though!

My mate and I have booked an apartment in Plange 1800 for the week starting 1st Feb. Really excited! I’m a very nervous skier, I took a bad tumble a few years ago on a snowboard and haven’t really managed to regain my confidence. I can ski most blue runs and some easy reds. My plan is to take lessons in the mornings while my mate, a very accomplished skier, wears himself out doing crazy stuff, then we can head out together in the afternoons for a few gentle runs and a couple of beers.

Any hints tips and suggestions for the area (it’s new to both of us), would be greatly appreciated!

This is my goto beer glass at the moment. I love it, my wife…not so much 😁
Sorry I don’t know how to post images from my phone, but I think this link will work.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/C1QbrEbdxJ7cP8VU6

Many years ago, a bunch of us were on the mountain bikes climbing Silver Glen towards Ben Cleuch in the Ochil Hills. It was the first really warm day of late spring and I was near the back of the group, really struggling in the heat. I’m a rather…chunky lad, so always wear baggies over my lycra shorts, but this day the heat was getting to me so bad that I stopped, whipped my baggies off and stuffed them in my bag. The relief, oh….the blessed cool relief of cycling along in those lycra shorts.

That is until about 5 minutes later as one of the other guys caught up with me and let out a strangled cry of horror. Poor Canadian Scott (for it was he), had looked up to see that unbeknown to me, my lycra shorts had split down the back from the waistband to the pad, thus revealing my sweaty, hairy, wobbly arse cheeks to the cool refreshing air.

He made me put my baggies back on, the git

Just checked and mine are MW7’s, albeit an older model. Have a look at them before you pull the trigger. I like mine, but was still disappointed at the loss of waterproofing compared to my old MW80’s.

Absolutely glorious day yesterday, so I went out for a quick ride after watching the rugby. I’m quite lucky in having a fairly technical and fun trail starting about 10 meters from my front door, heading up the river Carron, and that’s the one I took yesterday. I’ve ridden that trail in all weather, night and day for a couple of decades and yesterday it decided to give me a wee wake-up call! I’d climbed up a short but steep section and had started to contour along the side of ivery sheer drop of about 25 meters down to the boulders on the river bank below me. I’d just popped my front wheel over a couple of roots beside a tree when the rear of my bike just disappeared from underneath me. Thankfully, there was a rooty ledge that caught the bike and saved me from dropping to the river below with only a badly scraped shin and skint knee to show for it. Certainly got my heart rate up though!

Can I link photos from google on my phone? Let’s find out!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/L6BtNLAKmrRfzH1o7

Hmmm… I may be talking pish. Would have sworn mine were MW7’s ( I bought them a year or two ago), but looking at the pictures online, mine look more like MW5’s. I shall check when I get home tonight.