I started playing it with my son a few years ago, he’s 14 now and we still go out together to play a few times a week, it’s still on a screen but at least you have to go outside and walk around rather than him just gaming on his PC in his bedroom. I tried to get him interested in cycling but it was never his thing so nice to have something else we do together.

I’m level 49 now so a bit further along the journey, we’ve been to Go Fest in London and Madrid together over the last couple of years so had some nice experiences off the back of playing the game.

For something that seems like a fairly basic concept it has some really clever game design in that there’s always something else to do even after year of playing whether it’s trying to find the shinies, the perfect IV’s, the regional locked Pokemons or trying to get all your Platinum medals.

On the magikarp, I wouldn’t use your rare candies on that, save them for when you want them for the legendary and mythical Pokemon. Adventure sync makes the earning candies by walking much quicker.

Been out to Lanzorote for some winter sun MTB for the last couple of years staying on the outskirts of Costa Teguise. Riding is ok from there for some long days in the sun and it has always seemed quiet at that time of year.

I recently swapped from Ultegra to GRX on my gravel bike, the shape is just better especially when riding on the hoods on anything off road, none of the road levers compare in my opinion.

There’s the recently opened Castelli Cafe inside Pronto Bikes, probably can’t get more cyclist friendly than that!

Castelli Cafe

Changing from downhill specific tyres will make a massive difference!

Apple site says only Octavias from 2016 onwards supported car play
https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/available-models/

Similar budget and I’ve just brought a 3 year old Skoda Karoq. It’s a petrol model and the fuel economy seems as good if not better than my last diesel car.

Front wheel off and the bike will go in the boot so I can still use the back seats or back seats down and it will go in without taking the wheel off.

I’ve ridden it several times from Goring to Avebury on both my 29er hardtail and my gravel bike, it’s rideable on either, all my fastest times have been on the XC bike.

How long are your longer rides? Battery life on my roam is easily good enough for 12 plus hours of recording and navigating.

Anything longer I’ve topped up charge using a battery pack when I stop for food.

I think the weight difference between a Fact 9r frame and Fact 10r frame is around 180g so unlikely you’ll notice the difference in frame weight.

Personally I would spend the money on upgrades to the SL6 disc. If it’s still standard spec I bet you could save a lot of weight with a few upgrades. I did similar with my SL7 and surprising how quick the weight savings add up.

Going back to rim brakes from discs would be a definite downgrade for me even if it was a bit lighter.

The boost spacing is in the chainring, it worked out cheaper for me to buy a non boost chainset plus a boost chainring than a boost chainset

Nukeproof DUB bb has lasted much longer than the standard Sram one for me.

If your search for Garmin Action Cam mount you’ll find a few options, once you have the mount then lezyne, exposure and others do adaptors that allow to to connect their light to a go pro style action cam mount. I have a similar set up to your picture but with an exposure light underneath my wahoo mount.

Isn’t it just that you’ve been charged VAT on the ebay fees not on the actual sale of the sofa?

I’m a medium in Castelli and have the Albion insulated jacket in medium too, sizing seems similar.

My experience is the Albion insulated jacket is a bit of a odd fit, fairly slim fitting on the body but sleeves are too baggy especially from the elbows down so flap around a bit too much for my liking.

The heart rate on the instinct solar seems pretty reliable when I’ve compared it to the Wahoo Tickr heart rate strap I use with Zwift, both seem to track each other fairly closely.

When using the Instinct for running or MTB the heart rate reading seems more reliable if I tighten the strap one or two more notches than I usually have it on for everyday wear.

I have the instinct solar, does everything I need and very similar styling/ruggedness as a G-Shock.

I was involved in planning the route, we did use a short section on the A road from a feed stop in Netheravon to turning off towards Larkhill. It wasn’t our first choice but an unexpected change to the red flag restrictions on the Plains meant we had to avoid a section of byway that we had planned to use. In the planning and completing the risk assessments I’d ridden that stretch several times and at different times of day and felt it was an ok compromise especially versus getting shot or run over by a tank.

I wouldn’t set out to plan routes using A roads and try to avoid them where possible but if you’re planning a 100km+ ride especially in the south of England you’ll inevitably have to cross or use a section of A road at some point especially if for an event where you need to go via towns/villages for suitable feed stop locations.

Fisher Space Pen?

I’ve got 50mm Rovals on my Tarmac, strong gusts can catch them a bit, I mostly notice it if the road is sheltered and I go past a gate or gap where it’s suddenly not sheltered. I wouldn’t say it’s to the extent that they feel sketchy though or I worry about being blown off the bike.

The design of the rim shape does make a difference, my older 40mm rims with a narrower profile were more affected in cross winds than the current wider more rounded rim profile on my 50mm wheels.

That’s what I did, not cheap for something I hopefully never use but the turbolito is a much better size and weight for a spare tube.

There’s a few I remember lusting after as a teenager first getting into MTB back in the late 80’s/early 90’s and never got to own or ride any of them

Kestrel MXZ seeing it flicking through pages of the Freewheel catalogue pre internet shopping days

Pace RC100, the winner of one of my first races was on a Pace and at the time I thought it was the coolest bike ever. I think the the team riders had purple anodised ones rather than the more common grey/silver?

And the Klein Attitude in the classic pink, white and green

Recently moved to Nationwide for my main account, all seems pretty slick compared to my previous Virgin One/RBS Account.

We had the virgin one account, I know it’s not the cheapest rate but seeing the negative balance worked for motivating us to pay it off as quickly as possible, in the end we paid the mortgage off 7 years early and I don’t think that would have happened with a standard repayment mortgage.

I had AZ last Friday which resulted in a bit of a disrupted sleep Friday night and I could see from my watch my resting heart rate over the 24 hours after the vaccine was bit higher than usual.

I still felt ok for a few hours on the bike Saturday but then tired Saturday afternoon which I mainly put down to not sleeping well the night before. Went to bed earlier than usual Saturday night, slept for over 10 hours then back to normal by Sunday.

My wife had the vaccine at the same time and almost identical experience to me except for complaining of a sore arm. I could feel where I had the jab if I pressed on that spot whereas she was complaining the whole top of her arm was sore.

We’re not quite in the Mendips but it’s my local riding area having moved west about 7 years ago, we’re pretty happy with the decision to move compared to living in various places around Slough/Reading. The slower pace of life and general lack of traffic is really noticeable now when we go back to visit friends or family. If you’re retiring and don’t have to commute regularly into Bristol or Bath then somewhere like Wells or the villages around there on the south side of the Mendips might be worth considering (probably avoid the levels with the flood risk though)

The easy access to the countryside is great and if you need your urban fix for shopping or entertainment it’s close enough to both Bristol and Bath for occasional days/nights out. Glastonbury town can be quite interesting for a stroll around people watching or if you need to pick up any magical healing crystals or a new book of witch spells 🙂

Road cycling is good, the first year I couldn’t get enough of riding up Cheddar Gorge especially mid week out of the tourist season as you can feel like you almost have the place to yourself. If you’re based on the Wells side it’s a nice contrast for road rides between the Mendip Hills in one direction and the Somerset Levels in the other direction. For longer rides there’s plenty outside of the Mendips too.

MTB is a bit more mixed, when the conditions are good it’s good but winter on the Mendips can be a bit of a mud fest and I usually avoid most of the Mendips once it gets proper muddy. In the winter I tend to do more on my gravel bike riding things like bits of the Strawberry Line or the droves on the levels and avoiding the top of the Mendips.

Walking is good, following the Mendip ridge to Crook Peak is a favourite for a day out but we do quite a few family walks around places like Stockhill Woods, Shapwick Heath, Brean Down, etc.

For day trips you’re also pretty well placed for places you can get to in around an hour, either heading south to somewhere like Lyme Regis or further west to Exmoor. It feels like South Wales should be closer but from south of the Mendips it seems to take forever to get past Bristol.

It’s not perfect, we’re not retired and have school age kids so worry a bit about lack of opportunity for them as they get older and work opportunities are more limited but on balance can’t see us moving back to the south east.

I get similar, peak power from my crank based Stages is usually higher than my Kickr, it just seems easier to create a power spike on a crank based system when you stomp on the pedals for a sprint.

I always assumed it’s as the crank based one is measuring your input into the drivetrain whereas the Kickr is measuring the output. There’s a bit of inefficiency in the drivetrain but it also maybe smooths out the spike of stomping on the pedals.

For really cold days I’ve got a Endura Pro SL Primaloft jacket (you can get them in black or orange).

If it’s dry it’s fine on it’s own with just a base later but it’s slim cut so also works well as a really warm insulating layer under a shell jacket if the weather is proper cold and wet.

My favourite is conspiracy theories are just a conspiracy to control the conspiracists

Isn’t this the same as them supplying to Switzerland which is also out the EU VAT Scheme and has a similar requirement for foreign companies to register for Swiss VAT?

It’s obviously going to cause some short term disruption whilst companies adapt and some smaller businesses might decide it’s not worth the hassle but larger suppliers will likely already have processes and systems in place for this.

No idea what it will mean for prices but I assume you won’t pay both the EU country Vat and UK Vat so it’s not like UK Vat being adding on top of the price you were already paying? I think the bigger risk for price rises is from currency fluctuations if the value of the pound falls.