Having trouble breathing and sitting down and you’re asking on a cycling forum instead of going to see some kind of qualified medical practitioner? Stop being a bloke and get down to the Doc if it’s that bad!

How about getting some Faukleys and (relatively) cheap lenses from http://www.ciliaryblue.com add a trial run to get an idea of likely results?

Looking at the bikes you’re linking to and the ‘relaxed upright’ vibe you’re after I would definitely say look at a Triumph Bonneville.

And where do you drink, buck53?

At home, on my own mostly. Strange, that…

Do I dance?

No, I don’t dance. I create poetry with my body.

I philosophise with my limbs. I’ll change your outlook on life with my feet, I’ll open your eyes to the beauty in this world with the electric slide, when I dance you’ll feel pangs of nostalgia for a time you never lived in.

My moves will change the world, if only it would stop to see.

What I’m saying is, occasionally, if I’ve had a drink.

Can’t speak from experience but I would be looking at a frame only, given the situation.

At 400 quid I would have thought any compete ‘proper’ bike is not going to be light, also not sure how widely xs size would be available in the entry level ranges.

Buying frame only, especially waiting for something second hand, should mean a nicer, lighter frame to hang stuff from. I’d highly recommend putting something in the ‘wanted’ section here, I’ve had really good results, even when asking for something pretty specific.

Thought Urban naked
Freudian slip?

Whoops!

Bump for the lunch time crowd.

Yep, very decent and made good use of the (small) budget. Thought Urban naked it. Unfortunately it didn’t do well at the cinema and although it’s done well on home media it’s probably not enough to get a sufficient budget to do the larger scale sequel I’d like to see.

Another quick question, please.
Would people recommend taking road bike or mtb for getting around when the races are on? Not precious about taking my road bike on bridleways, railway tracks etc. and my girlfriend will be on her cx, so I’m a bit worried about keeping up with her on 26″ wheels.

This is going to be a bit vague and fuzzy, sorry.

If I remember there is an off road option around Whinlatter. What this actually involves and if it’s any good, I can’t remember as I did it completely on road.

If nothing else then the first two or three sections of the blue trail at Whinlatter pop you back out on the pass, it would only be a quick blast and possibly not in keeping with the spirit of the thing, but there you go.

IIRC the Old Coach Road is the last ‘official’ off road option.

What about a friendly Manchester resident?

maybe some kind soul on here may offer to store your bike for you.

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet:

buck53 – Member
I can probably find some space amongst the clutter in my garage for you.

Just putting it out there. :-)

Outside of self storage units and the options you mentioned I don’t of anywhere specific.

Might be worth ringing Harry Halls or the other local shops to see if they have any leads. I know the velodrome store track bikes for people, whether they’d do it for a mtb and what access is like, I don’t know.

The Triumph Dealer have a storage facility they will store your motorbike in over the winter etc. Can’t imagine they’d have a problem storing an mtb but again, not sure what access is like.

If you get completely stuck I can probably find some space amongst the clutter in my garage for you.

Hhhmm, we hadn’t planned on taking bikes with us, but might have to now. Might mean a re-pack/evaluation of the gear for the week!

Bus news is a blow, particularly as there is no mention of this (that I can see) on the visit Isle of Man and Manx public transport web sites I’ve been looking at.

Good stuff Nedrapier, thanks. Bike hire might well be on the cards for race days.

Thanks Mrs Poddy, very useful.

Freddyg- We’re actually going across as for passengers on the Steam Packet, had planned on using public transport as can buy a ticket that covers the whole week. Camping in St John’s, close to Peel I believe.

Mind you, I have a pregnant wife right no, so that might be a problem.

Love how that’s the last thing you mention! :wink:

Only on bike forum could “being a Cyclist” be thought of as a Zombie Apocalypse survival skill

I think it’s legit, petrol is going to be in short supply pretty quickly, long distance endurance fitness will definitely help at that point.

Cyclist, and cycle repair, rank quite highly as desirable skills.

With you on this, I even know the exact cargo cycle I’m going to half inch when it goes down.

Thanks all, plenty to go at there.

Managed to dodge the rain on Saturday and tried out the new NCC trails down the road at Clayton Vale.Lots of fun blue nadgery-ness to be had, seems I didn’t find quite a bit as well, so will be back one evening this week.

Sunday involved no riding, watched my girlfriend’s jazz band play in a park in Littleborough, then raced home to defrost/dry out and watch Fergie’s farewell.

Tricky one without seeing but I’d guess a combo of the squid not being as fresh as it could be and the pan not being hot enough.

Less than completely fresh will account for the liquid and the golden rule with cooking squid is either very hot and very quick or super low and long cooking time.

its rubbish in comparison(all blue) an it’s full of dog walkers

Not rubbish, just different. Some of us like a bit of fun blue-ness. FWIW I was down this afternoon in the sun and only saw riders on the trails, dog walkers on the paths, but can’t see how that’s a problem.

If walkers are on the trails then they need establishing as ‘for bikes’ and putting people off riding there isn’t going to do that.

The map is useful, there’s quite a bit I managed to miss, glad to see a website has sprung up as well.

Finally got down there this afternoon. Really enjoyed it although not sure I covered everything, didn’t seem to get out of Clayton Vale into Philips Park (I live on the Vale side). Should be better once proper way markers are up.

Strikes me as being easy to ride but harder to ride really well. You have to work for the flow because it’s so tight, they’ve done a good job of encouraging you to attack everything though.

I’ll be back as it’s on my doorstep, but I think it’s worth a look even if you live further afield.

Did jobs this morning whilst the rain hammered down outside, had a blast round the new trails in Clayton Vale this afternoon as the Sun best down. Job’s a goodun. :D

Eurosport well most likely still cover it, just on a delay as at the moment.Eurosport is currently part of news package on Sky, so only costs the pound a month for that package.

I got a massive survey from Sky last year about all the possible options for watching BT Sport, ESPN etc so will doubtless be available on Sky platform in one way or another, only question is at what cost?

For me it’s more a case of, ‘If not Moyes, then who?’ No way was it going to be Mourinho, far combative for the board and owners. Pep is off the table, only other stand out candidate imho, of the rest of the field Moyes is as good a bet as any and he’s very akin to Fergie in a lot if ways; builds teams rather than relying on stars, has an eye for a developing player, his experience with a limited budget compared to others will have been noted by the Glazers, no doubt.

Done, shared and bumped.

Having run a Rockrider for several years I can confirm that their components are usually heavy but nigh on indestructible. They’ll normally have a mid range option from a ‘name’ manufacturer for a decent-ish price as well.

Wow, this got out of hand really quickly.

@hora Since you ask, I don’t have any riding buddies and wanted to ride with others, socialise with people with the same interest etc. Also after doing a skills course was told it would be good to ride with others to keep my eye in skills wise, pick up tips from others and so on. Pretty standard reasons for joining any club I would have thought. FWIW I will carry on with solo rides too, each have their place.

I realise now I should have thought to check for a contact link on Meetup and thought twice about posting this on here, apologies to Peachos and Fluff66 for the trouble caused.

Thanks and no worries Peacos, sent the form on to you.

Another shout for Saddleworth here, although I’d visit extensively to get the vibe of the place first. There’s quite a bit of obnoxiousness from some locals but if you can put that aside it’s decent. Pricey, mind.

South Manchester is more trouble for getting into town than it’s worth IME but getting out towards Stockport etc. puts you within striking distance of the Peak.

If you don’t mind nipping over the border then Holmfirth is pretty nice and Marsden too.

Pretty sure fun comes in shit-tons.

I saw a bloke on Grand Designs once with a Ducati 996 on the wall of his new house. On the road it’s one of the all time great looking bikes, there it looked ridiculous as it no longer had any context/relevance.

Ride the thing, let it do what it was meant to do.

Threw in a little horizontal rain up my way, just to mix things up a bit. On the plus side I’m now fully exfoliated and have been given a temporary face lift from it all hitting me head on.

Ha, clearly we find different things interesting.

I’m also surprised at the prices considering the reputation of this place.

Mine cost between £450 & £600 depending on whether you count upgrades made to my original bike that then went on my new (to me) frame.

Build is a mix of new/2nd hand/New old stock/classified buys, so the spec is a lot higher than I could otherwise afford.Plus, you get the fun and games of putting it all together!

I was wondering this too. Had to go on the one week I did something interesting with my bike as well.

I know, no way would I have done a 2 day course off my own bike but I guess that’s the upside to turning 30!

Horses for courses, really. I happily spent quite some time there with my Dad. I definitely think you can get a day out of that and The Lowry across the way.