Sirromj.

Always makes me think of Ron Jeremy.

Good bye Pork Pie, Damnation Alley, Hysterical.

Beech has typically been used for Treen, (chopping boards, spoons etc) for yonks. Yes, it has anti-microbial properties. And it won’t dull your knives unduly, like those nasty glass boards. Just don’t dishwasher it (spoons yes, chopping boards not so much). Bonus, it’s not plastic, and since the decline of furniture making in the UK, there are lots of Beech trees available.

Went on a (mainly road) ride on the Ripmo to get a feel for the lighter wheelset/Barzo’s. Managed 46 miles (furthest I’ve been for ages) in a loop that took me up to the Blackdown Hills & back. Cracking weather on Saturday, (Sunday was stormy).

Have been running Cushcore XC in Assegai/DHR2 for last 1200 miles, no issues. Bit of a pig to fit initially (c. 20 mins of swearing). Just (last night) fitted Vittoria Airliner XC into a spare wheelset  (XR391 rims, 2.35 Barzo tyres with a few miles on them already). Absolute joy to fit. Took c.12 mins per end, and didn’t involve covering the kitchen in tyre spaff either. Looking forward to trying them.

I always thought the early part of the new year was ‘Dry Gin-uary’, in order to wade through the inevitable festive stockpile?

On a lighter note, currently on day 4 of sobriety. Not sure how long it’ll last, but I think my body needed the break. Good luck to anyone giving it a go.

Always have bacon strips, spare tube, pump & C02, (EXO+ tyres & Cushcore XC inserts) and after 1200 or 1300 odd miles, I finally had to use the spare tube last Thursday night, as an impromptu sling for one of the crew who’d (subsequently spent 8hrs in A&E to be told he’d) broken his collar bone. We had a wee walk to get to a point where he could be picked by a vehicle. So it finally came in useful!

I enjoy watching DH, though from a participation point of view it’s well above my pay grade. I enjoy Cathro’s track walks, and the different line choices he explores when ghosting different riders’ practice runs. Was a bit fed up to find that the coverage I thought I’d recorded off Eurosport the other night turned out to be a stage of the Vuelta instead?! Ffs!

Yes, apologies, probably should’ve just said Kingussie!

At the OP; I built up the very type of bike you mentioned, with the hope that my skill level would grow and develop into it’s capabilities! (Spoilers, it hasn’t yet..). But that said, it’s my daily driver and I love it. So I still want to cross feeling confident on drops and jumps off my mtb list.

And then a trip to the Alps or Whistler.

Growing up it was Heinz all the way. But it’s been Branston for (what feels like) the last decade. Or whatever Lidl or Aldi have by way of equivalents if away from home.

Good job! Hopefully you went down from Ax golf club (not up!). Would it be possible to get a copy of your gpx file please?

Not quite the weekend, but the cairn atop Carn Na Criche, en-route to the wells of Dee & Braeriach. Windy old day!

View from Braeriach.

Further to last week’s attempt (cut short by IT band trouble), I finally made it up to the summit of Braeriach, via Carn na Criche from Insh. 

Made it from Insh over to Glen Feshie, then up the land-rover track to Carn Ban Mor, but had to cut the day short due to knee trouble. Returned via the walkers path down to Achlean.

Wot Kramer said vis – don’t forget to take some (painfully) deep breaths regularly to avoid a chest infection – I had a similar body/conveyance separation 7 weeks ago and have just finished a course of antibiotics to clear one. Also bust my coccyx, which oddly hurt much more than the ribs when I sneezed. All good now, apart from the dented confidence, obvs. Hope you heal quickly.

I managed to do almost 32 miles (mainly road) staying mostly in Z2 despite 1000m of hills. Pretty chilled ride yesterday.

I’ve been running these for a month or so, (soft rear, super soft front, both trail carcass), mainly to try and find some grip / less tread clogging in the local slop. They roll well, but I did feel initially that I was pinging off stuff (green lanes, usually resembling a stream, loose babies heads type of surfaces). Taking the kids to Haldon tomorrow, so it’ll be interesting to see how they fare on a loose over hard packed surface.

Last time I was there I had Assegai/DHR2 on, by way of comparison.

Interesting article Mrauer, I think I’ll give it a whirl.

Molgrips, you’re about right – that was a 17 mile night ride – drive train sounded terrible from about half way round.

I’m also ‘hot wax curious’. Lot’s of folks suggesting 500 miles between applications (great!) – but is that just on commuters/Road scenarios? Pic below for illustration (that was the last time I used R&R Extreme, which seems not what it used to be). Currently using Squirt; how well does hot wax cope with muddy conditions?

‘Normal’ (every day) is a 2 mile commute which may involve about 750 yards of woodland climb, but is usually just a road affair.

Thursday night’s group ride by contrast involved a 30 min drive into East Devon, and was a mix of easy bridleways, road transitions, and unexpected degrees of lairy steeps / loose rocky & rooty singletrack that I’d never ridden at all before – 17.5 miles / 1725 feet of climbing.

Weekends tend to be more XC type from the door blend of bridleways/green lanes/ country lanes, or occasional trips to Haldon, with the family. But any time on the bike’s good.

Off topic, but there’s an Open Day at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis tomorrow (Saturday 27th April) from 11 til 4. Various displays of boats & furniture,  plus Charlie’s wooden bike!

https://youtu.be/JrpnJo2fRt4?si=I3vfh1TyQYM7P5yv

I finally got round to using a turning blank of Indian Rosewood someone gave me as a secret santa c.8 years ago?

I made a couple of traditional sail making tools – a stitch heaver (had a short length of bronze rod in my toolbox)  and an 8″ fid.

It means that having ridden Laggan on my old Cube 26″ wheeled XC hardtail, and subsequently having built up an Ibis Ripmo AF, which I now ride exclusively (commuting, local blue & reds at Haldon, bridleways etc, plus summer hols in the Cairngorms or Inners, (often pushing up, then riding down), I am over-biked. Am I riding it to its limit? No – I’m a 55 year old with a healthy dose of The Fear after almost breaking my neck in an xc race 10 years ago. Do I care? No. I enjoy riding my bike thanks, if you’re offended/concerned, that’s your business. Over-biked? No, probably just over-thinking it.

Just bent the nail right back on my index finger trying to “remove film” after sliding the cardboard sleeve off a fish pie, prior to throwing it in the oven. FFS.

Having not read the previous 42 pages of posts, I can well imagine that I’m pretty near the back of a very long queue here…

Current daily driver’s a promotional Pelikan – father in law’s old German parent company – I think it’s basically a 400? I bought a fine nib for it, but wish I’d gone extra-fine (the pelikan nibs seem to yield ‘fatter’ results than I’d expect). Had made a pen from a kit using my lathe a good while back, which still gets a look in now & then.

Wot Yak said.

I’ve just bought a Patagonia Torrent shell 3(Countryside Ski & Climb, £123). Mainly as I wanted something that would pack down. The torrent shell packs up into it’s lefthand pocket (and would compress down some more to be fair). Only two pockets (both big enough to take an OS map), hood kinda rolls up and secures to the hanging loop with a wee hook. It hoofed it down this morning, and it didn’t leak a drop. HTH.

Cykel (or Whispbar, or whatever they call themselves now) 3+1 towbar mounted carrier on a Mazda 3. It’s tight, and I did scrape the bottom of the tow hitch going up Hard knot, but it works. Car-wise, the Mazda’s hopeless compared to a decent estate (miss my old Mondeo..).

Ripmo AF too.

My trip across the seafront in Lyme was less than pleasant this morning, but I suspect it’ll be a lot more grim oop narth.

Only minus four for me, but that’s still way too chilly for winning this willy-waving competition! 😉

How does the rest of the (carbon) Ripleys’ geometry compare with the AF version? The ‘wheel flop’ you’re noticing is something you will potentially get used to/compensate for after a while – how many miles have you got on the new set up?

I’m running an angleset in my Ripmo AF (purely out of curiosity/wanted to see what all the fuss was about with 63.5 degrees of head angle). I haven’t found it detrimental when climbing now I’ve got used to it. But I am planning to go back to the stock set up shortly, to really get a feel for which I prefer or perceive as ‘better’. The slacker set up feels more stable at speed and better when descending steep stuff (I think), so it’ll be interesting to return to stock, having got used to the slack, and really know if that’s the case, or whether the ‘sharper handling’ of the stock set up is in fact preferable.

Vis stack height – I run a lot of spacers and a riser bar (back injuries – not keen on a hunched position).

Erdinger is my a/f beer replacement of choice. Gotta be in the mood for the a/f Guiness to be fair. YMMV.

Monsters – Dark Continent. Apparently it was a sequel? Complete bobbins.

I know you said “rather than those frame strap-ons”; Do you carry a tube? I just tuck the co2 head into the folds of the tube.

To be fair it’s a legacy item, as I do carry a one up pump now too.

Don’t get out to eat with the missus very often, but this was a treat on hols summer before last – pork three ways, L’Esprit des Mets, Ales, in the Cevenne. Fabulous flavours.

Almost ran this over getting the bike out of the garage!

Take your bike. If your fitness is anything like mine there’ll still be plenty of opportunity for walking on the way up. 😉

Found the other one. Bramble was probably a dog in a former life, as she loves chewing everything, cardboards a favourite (she’ll probably have ‘unwrapped’ everyone’s presents before we make it downstairs on Christmas morning), and she’s burrowed into the settee.