My Octavia in fully loaded for a fortnights camping mode.

On the rack there are 2 full size bikes, 1 balance bike, 1 kids bike and a double trailer (with wheels, towbar, the lot). I achieved just over 50mpg on 400+ mile trip up the autoroute at 80-85 all the way, which considering the roofbox and all the tent, stove, cuddly toys and everything else needed for a 5 and a 2 year old to go away for 2 weeks, I think is pretty good! Car still has a bit of go about it and doesn’t feel too unbalanced, though it is easier to spin the wheels. (Was dreading getting a puncture as it would have taken about an hour to unearth the spare wheel)!

Try Aveno. My wife has suffered with this for a long time, getting cracked weeping skin etc and this is the only one which has actually worked for her. She has tried probably hundreds of different ‘dry skin’ products, oils, etc.

My own experience exactly (apart from not being married to Mr Retro)!
Aveeno really is very, very good. (My GP prescribed it to me). It works far better than Dermol, Zerobase, E45, Oilatum and everything else I’ve tried over the years.

been well impressed with the Mason …..

Me too. (I have neither raced it or put a rack on).

Ben: That’s Guy Verhofstadt, former Dutch PM.

‘scuse me. An early morning and too many conversations with various Europeans and I’m getting in a muddle! (Doesn’t even look like him does he)!
Anyway, having assured various suppliers that we still want to buy their equipment, and we’re not cancelling orders (yet), and we’ll leave it until later to try and re-negotiate the prices we agreed upon, I’m off for lunch.

The Belgian who spoke after Farage (sorry, forgotten his name already, but I think it was the guy who Farage had a real dig at a while ago) said that finally, the EU would be doing away with the biggest waste of money for 17 years – Farages’ salary. Made me chuckle.

I would go with Hunt.
Got a pair of 4 seasons disc,fantastic

Love those that came on my Mason.

It’s a bit further up the road, and town centre, not right next to the autoroute, but the ibis budget in St Quentin has an enclosed car park. There were loads of British cars in it with bikes on when we stayed. Happily left our bikes on the car there.
Streetview of entrance
From memory, only the hotel staff can open it.
Think the rooms only fit 3 though….

I think I might be the only one not wearing a Gillet! Mine is bulkier than my waterproof, so if I think I might end up removing it, I tend not to bother. As others have said, cap under helmet, SS base layer, SS club jersey, Nanoflex arm warmers, knee warmers and bib shorts, maybe overshoes.

I don’t like arm warmers because they fall down my thin weedy arms.
I doubt you’ll be any skinnier than me, and I’ve had no issues with Castelli Nanoflexs

Nanoflex arm warmers do not move, and are plenty long enough. Even on my long-limbed self.

Nanoflex shorts are also pretty long and are slightly insulated as well as water proof so do me for most of the year. In fact, this year, I haven’t needed proper winter tights, the Nanoflex shorts and either knee or leg warmers have been enough, and I feel the cold.

Just come back from a few days in Puerto Pollensa, it’s ideal as a base. Stayed in Hotel/Apartments Daina which I think all the group were happy with.

I can only think of Istanbul that I’ve flown through where suitcases for the hold are x-rayed while still in the possession of the owner.

I’ve had my bag x-rayed before check in at Frankfurt – whilst stood in a very big, very busy area. Also, Belfast City, if you’re taking something that can’t go through standard bag drop (tools in my case), then they make you open it for them, examine it closely and then x-ray it before you can go on to security yourself.

but i’d describe Castelli sizing as ‘****ing hilarious’

i’m (a skinny) 6’2″, not a freak, their XXL bib shorts barely reach my knees.

I’m pretty sure that my bottom half is Castelli large, and my top half a medium. 6′ and 11 1/2 stone and long limbed, short torso. I have 2 pairs of Castelli shorts in the same size, Velocissimo shorts are a little short in the leg, about the same or longer than every other brand I’ve ever tried, Nanoflex shorts come all the way to my knees (and stay put), they’re the best fitting shorts I’ve ever owned!

I’ve always found Castelli sizing to be spot on when using their sizing chart. Very much cut to fit whilst on the bike.

I have spoons on all my bikes now, perfect shape for me :-) Using the Titanium railed version on my Soul, and it’s definitely more comfortable than the steel one.

will it explode in a shower of molten parts all over the road?

Mine didn’t.

On IOID (Horizontal dropout)

On R8 (Vertical dropout)

Sorry about blurred picture!
Small child sat in trailer with balance bike dangling off the back of it for the trip home. Trailer also had tent/stove/sleeping bags/cuddly toys and anything else needed to take a 3 year old camping for a night, so it was pretty well loaded, uphill all the way home and the only things in danger of expolding all over the road were my knees and lungs.

Another vote for the Castelli Nanoflex. Bonus is that the legs seem longer than all my other shorts (including Castelli Velocissimo) so sit nearer the knee for more warmth. Also, really surprisingly waterproof!

Amex here as well. Haven’t had to claim so don’t know how good they are, but call centre staff are up to the usual high standards of Amex.

Interesting, I am probably being quite naive but if someone started down this line:

We are looking to obtain an investment payment
I’d assume two things,

1 they were going bust, and I need to find a broader customer based.

2 that providing that “investment payment” would mean that I got a proportionate share in the business.

Do those who paid up not now constitute shareholders?

I’m afraid you’d be assuming the wrong things!

This practice is very common within the food industry, I’d actually go as far as saying that if you want to deal with the big boys, it’s the norm. Therefore nobody assumes that a company asking the supplier for some kind of payment is going bust. The supplier has only made a payment to the customer so that the customer can invest, not the supplier investing in the customer.
The other nice little trick that some of them pull is the “approved suppliers list”, now I suspect that these are common in all industries, but in the food industry, you often have to pay to get on the list. An example I know of involves a supplier of cooked meat to one of the European discounters (but for business only in the UK). The supplier became aware that orders had dried up from this customer, they were never a big customer, taking only one product and not much of it, but a lost order is a lost order. When the supplier spoke to the buyers at the discounter they were told the orders had stopped as they were not on the approved suppliers list, and that to get on it would cost £20,000, nothing wrong with the product being supplied, just not on the list. Supplier paid his money and waited for the orders to roll in. Nothing. After about 6 months the supplier took this up with the customer and was told that just having paid up and being on the list was no guarantee of actually getting any business. Supplier asked for his money back. The response was “No, you’ve paid a one time, non refundable charge to become an approved supplier, you can’t have it back, but we can de-list you if you want, and at the same time, the products that you sell to a third party for further processing that then comes to us will also be de-listed.” Basically shut up and go away, or we’ll make sure you get hurt. This particular supplier didn’t as most do, just accept this, they set off down the legal route to get the money back. It got very close to court, but the customer eventually caved and paid back the £20,000 because the big boys in the food industry really don’t want this kind of thing getting into the public domain and a court case would have made sure that that happened.
The other interesting practice is for the customer to demand that a promotion (bogof etc) is funded by the supplier. They’ll just announce that in 4 weeks time or whatever, they want double the usual amount of product, but that you will supply it for effectively half price. Or, in the case of one of the supermarkets a few years ago, the £1 per bottle donation to (I think) comic relief was funded by the supplier under threat of de-listing. The shelf front label didn’t tell you it was the supplier paying, it told you that the supermarket were donating. That one did make the press, but only in a small way and I think that each bottle sold actually ended up costing the supplier. The supermarket were embarrassed into doing some kind of a deal in the end but I don’t know the details as that’s not our industry.

So, all perfectly normal in our wonderful food industry! The supermarkets are way to powerful and arrogant and unfortunately their business practices have filtered down the chain to the larger suppliers like Premier, who are passing on the pain.
Bit of a rant, sorry. (But we all love our bogofs, our clubcard points, our nectar points and our milk supplied from the farm gate below the cost of production don’t we)!

The perfect Soul fork was the old 100-130mm air Revelation imo. Damping a bit dated- but pretty light, sensibly stiff, and covered all the lengths where the Soul works best.

– He’s right you know! Apart from the stiffness part – I twisted the lowers on mine. I’ve replaced them with some DT jobbies at 120mm and they seem pretty good, the Revs spent most of their life at 120 anyway.

Bought my son the bagset from the book people last year. Brought back memories it did.

Just done exactly that for our daughter for christmas, can’t wait!

Saturday morning at Lee and Crag with Mintimperial and riklegge from on here. Saturday afternoon with my daughter in the trailer, balance bike hanging on the back, tent on rack and panniers full of sleeping bags, stove and dinner, headed off camping. Only went about 4 miles as the crow flies but took the longer route to avoid busy roads and find an ice cream shop.
Sunday morning was home by the shortest, most traffic free route. Only about 5 miles, and 250m climbing, but that was hard with all that stuff. Next time we’re using old railway trails or something!
Had a slightly odd moment at some temporary traffic lights when I got surrounded by Team Cystic Fibrosis, who all looked somewhat faster and fresher than I did by then! I assume that were riding the 65 Roses thingie.

Brilliant weekend, and my little girl agreed!

It would appear that my phone’s camera lens is a little grubby!

I’ll be there.

Pinched from a friends facebook. (Going to assume you don’t mind, Mr Wood).

Chris at the top of Skiddaw.

I’m glad he made it home first. Must have been quite an effort.
One of life’s genuinely nice and decent folk as well as being braver than most when he needed to be. Met him through a ride he organised on here and then plenty of other rides with some locals. Had some great riding weekends away with Chris and the others.
Mine and Hazel’s thoughts are with you Sharon.

RIP Chris.

Next issue of Private Eye will be interesting!

UK AMEX Platinum charge card is £450.00! You’d need to be hiring a lot of cars and spending a lot of time in non-airline lounges to justify that one!

Riding and Running together![/url]

Maybe not exactly what you are looking for, but one of the best (and friendliest) events I’ve done.

I went to the Holmfirth CC open event last week, and as I wasn’t able to get out with them the following day, decided that I would make the effort yesterday. So despite the snow that was falling in Hade Edge I set off to meet them. After standing around for 10 or 15 minutes with a couple of other new lads wondering where everyone was, a bloke turned up and asked if we had seen the tweet saying that all rides were cancelled! Decided just to ride home and try again soon!
Beefy, I’d be interested to know when you meet on a Thursday, and where etc It’d be nice to have another riding option close to home.
I used to ride with the Star Wheelers (MTB section), but like lots of others, got bored with the same rides over and over again.

Morning Chris, ’tis good to hear from you again. I haven’t been out with the Marsden lot for ages, so I’ve not had the chance to speak to those a little closer to you for a while now. I can’t add anything to what has been posted before, so keep fighting it mate. I’m sure you’ll get plenty of support and offers of help on here, please make use of them.
It’s just dawned on me that the you organised the first ever STW ride I went on! So I look forward to another!
Best wishes from me and Hazel.

I’m a member of the CTC, partly for the insurance, mainly for the fact that they seem to be the main advocacy group for cyclists. Like GrahamS says,

They may not be perfect but they are all we have!

BA Amex and Amex Gold both have decent sign up bonuses and (the not available to new customers) BMI Amex/Visa pair are what I’m using – but I’m chasing Avios exclusively (the BA and Iberia loyalty scheme). It depends on what you want back, cash, airline miles etc, how much you’ll be putting on the card, and whether you’re prepared to pay an annual fee. (The BA Amex gives you a rather useful 241 voucher on an annual spend of 10K and an annual fee of £150).
If you’re already a member of certain loyalty schemes, it’s possibly worth looking at cards tied into them as a means of boosting your balance, such as the Nectar Amex card, IHG rewards Visa, Hilton Hhonours Visa, Tesco as mentioned above etc.
For way too much info, mainly biased towards airline miles and hotel points, have a look at Headforpoints
EDIT – Headforpoints is nothing to do with me! (Though I’m happy to refer for BA Amex and Amex Gold – though Quidco is normally available for these).

I’ve got an XR4 Team TLR on the front and really like it. I don’t know what the difference is between the different models, this is the one the LBS had on the shelf. It is big, mind.

Thanks all for the info. I like the idea of Malham Cove on steroids! Looks like I shall be spending this evening with my map and some of these websites! From a very quick look, I reckon that that Sportive would be rideable pretty much from our campsite!

Thanks for the ideas folks. Bit of reading to do!

Brilliant!

(Keyboard covered in coffee)

What fork you going for, out of interest ?

Something cheap! I really liked the adjustable travel of the Revelations – 100/130mm, it suited the Soul really well. Whilst I’d like to replace them with something much the same, more modern forks that are adjustable are that little bit longer and Cotic tell me not to risk a longer fork. I’m sort of thinking about saving for a new Soul and spending on a decent fork at that point. My wheels are also only a 9mm QR, so I’d maybe have to factor in getting some new hub bits to take a newer style axle. (I’d be pretty keen to do this to be honest as it should stiffen up the front a little and having twisted the lowers on the Revs that seems like a good idea).
Still, in the meantime I’m having a hoot on my Alfined R8, I’d forgoten just how much I like that as well!

I am going to be selling my Velvets next week…

Iainc – have just had a little stalk through your posting history, and I’m assuming these are the forks you’ve had back under warranty, if so, no use to me as my Soul is old enough not to have a tapered head tube. Cheers.

Now with better tyres and about to have a fork transplant – Twisted the lowers on the Revs and can’t seem to find any more.

Yep, it’s the High Peak that has the 1 in 8, I forgot about it and had to tow my daughters trailer up!

A) Sending our cabin crew back down to london on earlier flights and having none available for our delayed flight = incompetence

Pretty sure that Cabin Crew have legal working hours that can’t be exceeded as well as the Pilots.
Don’t fly with BA much as most of the flights I want to take into Germany etc are better served direct from Manchester by Lufthansa, however, when I have flown BA they have always been fine. I’ve just jinxed my trip to Frankfurt via London next week though haven’t I!

That’s a lovely bike and a lovely story.

His biography (translated in to English) is supposed to be a good read, it’s on my list to read.

It is a very good book.