@grahamh Yes the Tickled Trout is still pretty good, go there fairly regularly.
The Blacksmiths Arms in Willesborough did good food too.

The Black Horse at Monks Horton was always good and I’ve heard good things about The Timber Batts at Bodsham, which is slightly out of the way, but has a foundry attached and “interesting” decor.

This is a great thread and quite timely too. @Hardtailonly and @Deanfbm have it nearly spot-on for me as well. For most of my adult life, cycling in one form or another has been my “thing”, possibly to the point of it being a crutch. Recently I’ve tried to avoid defining myself as a cyclist and feeling I’m letting myself down if I don’t get out regularly or at least cycle to work.
I do think it’s largely positive though, just being out and pedalling helps empty my head and just being in the moment. This last year however, I’ve become increasingly conscious of the time commitment and feeling uncomfortable in taking a full day out for myself. My wife seems happy to let me do it when I want, I just feel a little guilty.
I don’t consider a cycling/alcohol argument as being a fair fight tbh. Cost up, say, two or three bottles of beer a week-£250 a year? At least? It’s not a new bike, but it only goes down the drain.
I think the media presentation of what MTB! is or should be can be quite harmful and we’re all susceptible to it, no matter how thick you may think your skin is.

I’ve had a few Surly’s over the years; had a Steamroller for about a year, which I regret selling, as that was a hugely capable frame. Had a Crosscheck for a while, but not so taken with that, very versatile, but unnecessarily heavy IMO and I couldn’t really get on with the geometry.
My favourite by far though is my KM. I’ve had that for 6 years now, it’s one of the transition year models that had the dropped toptube and gusset but still with canti bosses. I keep looking at newer bikes to replace it, until I go out on it again and fall in love all over again. 29+ on the front and with ECR forks just works so nicely.

The only MTB I regret selling was a 2008 GT Peace 29er. This was what I bought when I got back into cycling after a break of a few years after getting bored of BMX. Not a fantastic bike by any means, but I can still imagine me using it a lot now.

Also a 2009 SE Floval Flyer that I sold far too cheap. Just wish I kept it.

Also, a Reynolds Racing Fresh 40 BMX frameset I had when I was 18. It was far too long, spindly but no chance of finding one now.

I got 112.

Can you take it that the lad with the chips and trainers can be counted as a single unit i.e. bracketed?

Trainers=5

Lad= 5

Chips=4

5 + Lad wearing trainers and eating chips (23) all multiplied by 4

Uncle Marvo was widely known as a terrific raconteur, after-dinner speaker and possessor of a Swiftian rapier wit.

He was visiting little Johnny, his nephew to take him to the circus, as Grimaldi the clown was performing.

At the show, Grimaldi came on, had a bit of banter and settled on little Johnny;

“Are you the front end of an ass, young sir?”

“No!” Johnny replied.

“Are you the back end of an ass?”

“No!” Johnny protested, getting flushed.

“Why then, you must be NO END of an ass!” the clown announced to howls of laughter from the audience.

Now, Marvo, although being a fan of harlequins and the clowning profession in entirety, couldn’t stand to see bullying. So, he stood up and immediately the laughter died down being replaced by whispers of recognition, he bowed and addressed Grimaldi thus;

“Why don’t you f#@* off, you red-nosed *%$£”

its an artless place with no redeeming features which went rapidly downhill once the railway went and it was earmarked for rapid housing expansion yet no jobs or infrastructure to support it.

I left there around ten years ago, and other than visiting my mum in Kennington, I’ve never been back into the town. The expansion is absolutely mind-boggling though, one overloaded hospital, no jobs or industry as such and a dead town centre. Despite all that, I still think of it as being “home”.

I found the attitude of people in the north and west of Kent to be proper crap. Around Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Maidstone were the worst. No one would give you the time of day and there was a distinct impression of being looked down upon. Pretty much everyone I worked with who moved to Kent felt the same.

I worked around that area for some time and only really came across that in Tunbridge Wells. It’s something that annoys me, because I always think that a lot of people, north of Birmingham say, tend to view anywhere south as all being London and snobby, cold southerners. But I do think you’re right in saying the further south you get in Kent, the better it gets.

I spent 16 years in various parts of Kent and hate everything about the place.  Too busy, traffic is horrendous, the majority of people seem to fall into 2 categories; chavs or self entitled snobs, expensive, barely any bridleways to ride and not really much to do with the kids unless you what to drive an hour to get anywhere.

Whereabouts in Kent were you?

I grew up in Ashford, which was still alright up to around the mid 00’S but the sprawl has gotten out of control.

I’ve lived in Dover for nearly ten years now and although it isn’t perfect by a long way, it’s actually quite nice. The amount of bridleways, paths and woods that are dictated by the valleys mean it’s a good place to ride. Road cycling is pretty good too, as the lanes are quite dense.

On the other hand, I work in manufacturing as a maintenance engineer and Dover is quite a low-wage corner in an already under represented county, in terms of industry. We’ll have to see what brexit brings.

Old definitions and boundaries are blurring so much these days, you could pick a wide variety of frames and with component choice, achieve a good “average” bike.

What is a “pure” XC bike?

Just semantics I suppose, but what I would consider a Cross Country racing bike. Something I would imagine to be more bum-up, head-down and lighter than my current Karate Monkey, with a narrower focus of intended use.

I had been looking at replacing it with something like a Genesis Longitude/Kona Unit X/Marin Pinewood but have stated looking into Merida Big 9/Orbea Alma type bikes. Does that make sense?

I have a feeling that GravityDropper used to do a 26.8mm post, but not sure. From your picture, it looks like you might squeeze a 3″ drop GravityDropper in there with a lower stack saddle. I think the TMars is basically a cheaper knockoff of the GravityDropper, so functionality would probably be pretty much the same. I think the worst thing about the GravityDropper is the flimsy lever, not sure if TMars improved on that at all.

I’ve no idea if it’s similar to the Gravity lever, but it’s not too bad, considering the general quality. Now I’m pretty familiar with it’s guts and operation, I’ll hopefully figure out what works best and make some improvements as I go.

It’s a lot of arsing about for basically an obsolete bike, that I use for work, but it was lying about, so thought it could be fun to play with. Plus the spares availability is good. I’m definitely thinking about getting a decent one for my good bike now, but this whole thread has got me looking at pure XC bikes in a way which I wouldn’t have before.

I fitted a TMars one to a 96 Trek 850 recently and I have to say I’m sold. It just works so well, even for old XC geometry bikes.

I had to do a ton of work to it to get it function though; machine it down from 27.2 to 26.7mm. It’s a snug fit now, but about 95% of the post is inside the frame, so I cant see it being too much of an issue. I also had to turn the post round, re-drill the pin positions, make internal spacers and stops and also pressed in a plastic rod inside the sliding post. This has the effect of creating vacuum inside the post, using the bottom cap as a throttle, slowing down the somewhat aggressive return speed.

It now has 50mm of drop, but on an old, high standover frame, that’s about as much as you’re practically going to get. Enough to make a difference though.

I saw it on the live broadcast a couple of weeks back; very moving without being mawkish or pitying.

I’m hoping for some DVD release before christmas too.

Can I just say, a demanding technical section could also be flat

I think the idea with that was that someone with trials experience would be able to clear the section easier, but still keeping it at a level where others could have a go. Even someone on a CX bike might get part-way or even all the way, but may find running it a lot easier, however forfeiting the points. That would then mean it would have to be marshalled though……..

You appear to have invented the singletrack weekender…

That’s embarrassing! In all the years I’ve been reading it, I never took much notice of this, as I just assumed it wouldn’t be for me.

Also, a couple of other ideas;

1. Individuals or pairs?

2. No support. You have to be able to fix your bike, but also with the caveat that if you see someone in trouble, you HAVE to help them…… maybe to the point of becoming a pair to get both of you finished (thereby the fastest rider and the slowest rider become an average rider or something?)

3. Camping at the end? If so, you have to carry all your gear with you…….maybe not

Like the title said, it is all rather vague and incoherent. I think I may need to sit down with a pencil and paper and write it all down formally, maybe with a couple of drawings for good measure.

It’s all academic anyway, as I’ve no idea how I would even go about starting one, with insurance and all that other stuff.

Some fantastic stuff here! Got a lot saved to listen to on the dark nights ahead.

Here’s an oldie, but very-goodie; One of my absolute favorite tracks from the Ghostbox label

And I’ve recently discovered these;

Dreamy.

Ahh! I made something similar to that about ten years ago. It was a Carsten Holler commission for the Sudeley Castle Deconstruction art-guff-fest.

This one had a hang-glider trapeze with a throttle grip that controlled an electric motor. Never got a go on it…….

FWIW I can see the OP’s wife’s point of view; my little one is nearly 7 and can say that those early years really are tough going, for both of you. But having some grown-up conversation and reaching compromise is the only way you’re going to get through it.

I do wonder though, if there is a “MTB!” image that puts pressure onto people to think or accept that “MTB!” is all about chucking yourself off drops and over jumps and anything else is just boring and you may as well just get a road bike.

I think the advice that the only compromise could be a gravel bike is a bit black&white, but maybe there is a kernel of truth there; a compromise in getting a deliberately limiting bike, maybe an XC bike, rigid bike, SS bike and sticking to rides from your front door might keep OP sane, in one functioning piece and allow all of the family to get through this rough patch together.

If that sounds too boring, I’m sure that’s nothing compared to the boredom of divorce and custody proceedings.

I quite like it; though this being the Morgan x Pashley collabo (has it been curated??) obviously puts the price up.

I do think the Gov’ner/Guvna/Governovernener is available in other forms for a bit less? I did work with someone who had one of the first ones, but he really did fit the mustachioed Hackney-artist mold, so, make of that what you will.

Didn’t Chipps have one?

I’ve bought quite a few albums with one good track on;

V.V. Brown- Samson & Delilah, based on the strength of The Apple

Gotye- Somebody I Used To Know, which was a good song, but the album was utter guff.

Isn’t the sound of W dependent on your accent in Germany?

Now you mention it, I do remember a German girl I knew pronounced “video” as “wideo”, so who knows?!

I always said Tange as in Tangerine, but then heard Tan-Gay.

I always assumed that Schwalbe, being German, should be pronounced Shvalbuh, not Shwolby; Schwalbe being German for Swallow (the bird, not an instruction).

I had this for a couple of years as my commuter. But as these things usually go, it ends up being used a fair bit more.

It was a ’56 (I think) Raleigh GT250 with 46/19, which ended up being tinkered with way too much and got replaced by a Dawes Galaxy, that ended up being tinkered with way too much as well.

The Stearman’s nice; what scale is it?

Oh, yes, I see now!

Never used that rigging stuff, any good? It does look reasonably to scale.

I recently got back into proper modelling after a break of 20-odd years.

More into Sci-Fi, scratch-building, Maschinen Krieger stuff, but here’s a couple of things I finished in the summer.

I stuck around; Interesting, but I don’t think it was anything you wouldn’t have read anywhere else in the run up.

Mostly going into the processes of getting the frame-rate sorted and lip reading.

One thing I took from it is that dentistry has come on a lot in a hundred years.

I’ve recently let the Mattson 2 into my life, seems like they started a little retro-surf, but have recently released a version of A Love Supreme. Well worth a look.

Brant, I had a 135mm Pompino around 2008/9; they don’t seem to be mentioned on your list?

I’ve had the itch to mess about with one recently, mostly after someone posted that video of Pat Smage and then looking at some of his vids. I’ve always fancied one, but it seems so singularly purposed to be not a great value purchase. The skills would be handy though.

Nong Shim Shin Cup! In the red tub with the ECG trace on it. Don’t use all the powder the first time.

It’s made me want to kick the telly in and basically go back to the 90s. My teeth will nearly be powder from all the grinding. You don’t actually have to buy EVERY tub of slime in Poundland, then make a big deal about how much it f#@$ing cost!

I had one of the cheaper Suntour ones; that required a little more maintenance and weighed a fair bit. The action also made it feel like the bars were moving back and forth. Do the Thudbusters also feel like that?

Did you bump into Reginald Rake at all?

Because I was using 26 x 2.3 with a 36/18 ratio, which gave me 53.22 GI, I changed the tyres to 26 x 1.3 and bumped the rear down to 17 which then gave me 52.38 GI so pretty spinny.

Always tempted by SSCX, felt like I only ever used one or two gears a race anyway…

I think I could have overgeared, but also thought I could have gotten away with two or three gears, max.

I’ll stick with the SS for now, but I’ll try something similar to what 2Tyred is doing. I’ve got 4 weeks til the next round, so I’ll try to get some structured riding round work, home, family etc.

I’m sure there are those who STILL believe this was a UK plot to make Putin look bad.

So. It looks like hard road intervals, with ss rides approximating race conditions and a some running?

You’ll make far quicker gains practicing technique as a CX beginner than banging out intervals on the turbo, say [This x 10 if you’re a roadie].Technique, general riding around and one hard midweek session would see you right at this stage.

For SS cx I’d imagine you need to be a capable runner, at least once the proper mud comes in [already here at the weekend in the NW series]. Running in CX isn’t quite the same thing as just general running, as in you can do decently well with it in a race without being anything special as a pure runner, but it’s something you need to be psychologically comfortable with.

Interesting. Short uphill and offroad?