Can definitely see it in Suffolk, even without getting out into the sticks.

I’ve got plenty of Wera and Wiha tools at home (and some facom at work) and they are usually very nice. But, the Halfords advance stuff really isn’t far off their quality and is quite a bit more affordable. Got this set for the father in laws Christmas present a year or two ago which might be a little much for what you’re after but should cover everything you might ever want.

https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/screwdrivers-and-hex-keys/halfords-advanced-50pc-screwdriver-set-628806.html

They do smaller sets as well but none that I’ve seen in case.

Whenever I come out of the compound where I have a storage locker I have to pull to the right of the lane to get to the keypad for opening the gate. Once you pull out of the lane you’re in a two lane b-road with no central markings. I’ve cought myself, at least twice, several hundred meters down the b-road before I’ve realised I’m still over on the right hand side.

We (very) briefly used one of those seats to get our youngest out round the forest with the rest of the family. I couldn’t get it to work on the wife’s medium Sentier (29er) but it did just fit on my previous generation XL chameleon. Despite being a nice design for road/town bikes it just didn’t seem to play nice with the short seat tubes, big wheels and chunky frames of modern mountain bikes.

To be honest even though it did go on it was a lot off faff to set up and wasn’t a brilliant fit (kid ended up inches from my behind) so it wasn’t long (two rides I think)  before I gave in and tried out the shotgun seat. Kid was instantly at home up front (despite only being about 20 months old at that point) and it meant I didn’t have a set of tiny hands prodding my arse as we went round. So win win.

I still very much have a soft spot for the Raceface Turbine R stems; something about their aesthetic just feels right.

The ones I’ve had since Raceface were still Easton still look just the same as they ever have.

for a smart guy

Who said he was a smart guy?

https://www.youtube.com/@InheritanceMachining

https://www.bolle-safety.com/gb/silium–SILIUM%2B_INDUSTRIAL.html

Just had to replace the wife’s forerunner as that had stopped syncing for some reason. Looked at what was about and decided to get the fenix 7 from curries rather than another forerunner.

Even the 265 was more than the fenix 7 when I looked a couple of days ago. She is very happy with it so far.

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/garmin-fenix-7-silver-and-graphite-47-mm-10234336.html

Thanks for those ones, look a lot more interesting than a lot of the things I’ve seen so far.

in general quite happy with a shot hop to get to the hotel from the central areas, just nothing too far out that it wastes a decent chunk of our time there. Budget wise I sort of had £250-300 in mind initially but could go a bit higher if it would make a big difference in what we get  or if I’ve just badly judged how much it is to stay in Paris

Unlucky

I’ve also got a few pairs of carharrt trousers and I wouldn’t want to wear any of them for anything more than popping to the shop on the bike.

if you want something to keep you warm over winter these have worked fairly well for me. Though I do wish they had some pockets on them somewhere.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/mtb-winter-biking-bottoms-expl-500-black/_/R-p-305555

How about an old cotic roadrat?

We only recently tried putting our biggest two in the own “room” in the tent (as we only just got a tent big enough to have multiple rooms) and it didn’t work out too well at the start. Found having a red light lantern on helped them if they woke up in the night but at the toddler stage I really wouldn’t bother trying them away from mum and dad.

wouldn’t be too worried about bath time either. You’re breaking with the normal routine anyway and it will save a lot of faffing if you can just skip it. Wet wipes or take them in the shower with you.

We just recently got back from a three night trip with our not quite two year old. Second time we’ve been out with her this year. She mostly loved it but we didn’t do much in the way of sleeping, partly because she’s like that when we’re home and partly because she decided to pick the day we set off to break out the chickenpox.

As others have said, adjust your expectations of bed time and assume that you’ll be going to bed at the same time as them. You might find them sleeping next to you helps with their rest even if it isn’t brilliant for you.

Take more blankets than you think you’ll need to keep them warm (ours doesn’t like sleeping bags or blankets which can be fun) and make sure you have a way to get a coffee in the morning. Close ish to home is good just in case it all goes wrong.

If you have stuff you think would help but can’t maintain the self discipline to stick with your chosen route/tool/recording option it can be really helpful to give yourself some external accountability to make sure you “have” to do it.

If you’re keeping notes to help you organise put them in a publicly accessible place and set up a regular meeting to review them with your manager, should encourage you to keep them up to date and in order. If you’re running multiple different projects for different people then that’s just more instances of the notes and more meetings with the managers/stakeholders.

They are a proper company with at least a couple of stores. They run the bike shop/workshop at Phoenix bike park not too far from me.

The freehub I just bought for my 350 hub wasn’t an exp type one, so I would guess that one isn’t right. My hub is a good few years old now though, so things may have moved on since then.

Charlie who…

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/itsalwayssunny/images/8/8d/Charlie_Kelly_S16_Profile.jpg

edit: image linking is not going well.

Turns out there are a lot more tempting options than I might have expected. All the choice is making me wish I had a decent local shop, or two, so I could go and try some on before choosing.

Think I might risk just heading out on holiday with the Keen Nxis evo shoes I already have. Then I can try and find an hour or two for a lap of the shops in Kendal where it looks like I should have a few options to try.

Edit: any recommendations on which outdoors shops in Kendal have a good boot selection?

How lightweight do you want to go? Any interest in going to a barefoot style shoe?

I’m fairly sure I’ve not got the strength or toughness to get away with barefoot shoes at the minute so looking to stick with something a touch more traditional. Just not the big leather lump level of traditional.

Sounds like it could be a supply rail has failed for some reason. Might be worth inspecting any big electrolytic (round metal can type things) for physical signed of failure as a first step. If you are careful you could try and check the supplies with your multimeter with it powered in to see if they are as expected.

Elon Musk

Got a couple from Engelbert Strauss about six months ago  colour and shape seem to be holding up better than anything else in the drawer at the minute

https://www.engelbert-strauss.co.uk/work-t-shirts/e-s-t-shirt-cotton-3100031-89604-13.html

There are plenty of banks offering zero fee cards now. I’ve got an HSBC global money one which works out much better value for currency conversion than any high street cash exchange and doesn’t have any fees for use.

I’ve got a wahoo tickr fit arm band HRM and get on pretty well with it. I did have an issue with the charging cable on the first one I got but wahoo quickly sent out a replacement which has been fine for a few years now.

https://uk.wahoofitness.com/devices/running/heart-rate-monitors/tickr-fit-optical-heart-rate-monitor

To clarify I always make sure MsGinge gets out for her runs (which has included time training for an ultra this year). This is purely about going out and leaving the kids alone.

If it makes any difference she’s done it once before, without me knowing about it, and had a fall. She was quite a way from home at the time and took longer than she thought to get back. No harm to anything other than her knees but didn’t leave me feeling particularly reassured.

Kids are 8 and 5.

Wife decided that she wouldn’t leave them alone at home so she could go out for a run after all. That’s a good outcome.

However, by saying I felt very uncomfortable with the idea of leaving them home alone I was actually implying that she’s the worst person in the world and that she wanted to cause intentional harm to the kids. So I’m a massive ****

Can’t win them all I guess

Gear indexing checked/tweaked and seemingly running fine. Shifting is generally sounding and feeling much nicer/smoother with the shimano cassette and chain on there.

Same chainring.

Chain length set up as per SRAM user manual instructions rather than just matching to old chain.

So fitted a new SLX cassette and XT chain to replace the GX parts that were in there. Even factoring in the cost of a new (steel) micro spine free-hub it worked out about £55 cheaper than going for the SRAM parts. I also took some of the grease off the face of the star ratchet parts as they had gone very quiet and I suspect there was a bit too much in there.

First ride out and something skipped once, making quite a racket down by the rear hub. So a lot better than things were previously where I’d loose count of how many times it had skipped despite taking it easy most of the time but not perfect. Can’t decide if it’s worth chasing things further or just leaving it there. Will see how it goes after a few more rides I guess

Decent enough sci-fi to keep me entertained through three books but not what I’d consider “Pratchett”. 

Do you really need it to be properly level or just flat? If the latter I wouldn’t be too bothered about setting up packers to mark depth I’d just get pouring. On such a small area you may not struggle that much anyway.

If possible do get an extra pair of hands round to help though. When I was doing the floor in our much larger kitchen it was very helpful having one person to pour and prod and a second mixing up the next batch to keep things flowing before the poured mix had a chance to go off.

If you need to move about on the floor while pouring a pair of garden aerating spikes to pop on your shoes can be quite handy.

Is a grippier tyre a viable option here?

Came to suggest an old roadrat but looks like that’s not entirely necessary. Still going to do it anyway.

Roadrat.

Also, there are still a few cartridge kits knocking around which look like they contain the keys (although may not be the right size).

None of the cartridges I’ve bought had the keys in them; just seen them in the service kits with the seals/bushings.

It’s also worth playing around a bit with your pads. I’m 120kg ish and have got 2 pots on the hardtail with sintered pads and 4 pot on the full sus with organic pads. 203 mm and 180mm rotors on both, though I have a 220mm/203mm set ready to go on the FS if I venture out to some trail centres later in the year.

On the short downhill runs where I live the 2 pot with the sintered pads seem to have more grab and possibly as much overall power as the 4 pots. So possibly not as much in it between the two options as you might think in less extreme use.

Would definitely up your rotor size though, that will feel different and won’t cost as much as a new set of brakes.

I’m mostly trying to shift myself up the cassette a bit to see if that helps reduce the wear. A lot/all my local trails are fairly flat so it’s not often I need/use the bigger end of the cassette with a 32t chainring. I’ve already got a 34t on the hard tail and can’t really tell the difference between that and the 32t so figure bigger is worth a go if it will fit.

looks like there are 0mm sram chainrings (super boost?) which might help with frame clearance but I can’t imagine they would be doing my chain line any favours. Probably sensible to get a 34t on there for now and see how much space is left for going bigger next time round. 

Not an ebike.

For 9 and 10-speed chains, replace chain at or just before the 0.75% readings. For 11 and 12-speed chain, replace at or just before the 0.5% reading

This is new news, I’ve had the numbers quoted for the 8/9 speed chains in mind and that anything less than 0.5 was fine.

Guess I’ll be off to buy some new bits then.