I am pretty happy with my Arkose 4 (rival 1 x) as a winter bike with mudguards and 32mm 4 Seasons.

I am toying with changing it for a 2×11 bike though as I do less commuting and more winter group riding nowadays and the ratio gaps are a bit annoying.

Quite like the look of the Ribble CGR 725 which looks sensible money for a steel frame with a lot of nice modern bits (bolt through, flat mount discs, big tyre clearance etc)

Assos Spring/Fall gloves. Job done.

Right I’m back in. Had a bit of an easy August with holidays etc but been back on it in Sep.

Need to push through to Christmas so can have a guilt free festive period!

Cafe at Whistling Sands (Porthor) is worth a visit, they do a good breakfast and it’s a lovely beach.

Ty Coch for a beer on the beach obviously. For food, the best option nearby for a meal out is The Ship in Edern (next village South of Morfa) but you need to call up in advance as their capacity depends on the weather (they have outside bits in good weather). The Cliffs in Morfa is a bit hit and miss. Gwen’s chippy in Morfa is actually pretty good as it’s all cooked fresh.

The garage in Morfa is a bit of an Aladdin’s cave and has a really good butchers/bakery area at the back if you need to stock up for a BBQ.

Wander along to the Brewery in Nefyn https://cwrwllyn.cymru/en/ – great local beer.

They do surf and SUP lessons at Nefyn.

For biking, there is a crazy downhill track at Nant Gwrtheyrn but be careful… The cafe at the bottom is not bad. Walking in the Rivals is good, on a clear day you can see all the way down the peninsula and across Cardigan bay to Snowdonia.

You can cycle up the hill behind Nefyn which is mostly fire road with some small sections of singletrack at the top. Coed Y Brenin is about an hours drive.

Porth Ceiriad is good for a surf or just for a nice beach walk that’s a bit quieter.

If distance no object why not go up and do a decent tail centre like Inners, Laggan or Glentress?

Llandegla is overrated. It’s too much up and down, a ‘big’ climb then a load of of half arsed descent and lots of annoying little climbs to string the distance out. Welsh trail centres all seem to be like this. What’s wrong with just going all the way up the hill then back down (and repeat?)…

Apart from the cafe at Llandegla I don’t really see why people rate it so highly, especially given how busy it would be on a BH and you have to pay a load to park.

I’m in the DeWalt ecosystem so got the equivalent one which looks very similar. It’s an absolute weapon and makes drilling concrete, brick, stone etc a lot quicker. Bit of a luxury but a decent upgrade v a cordless hammer drill.

It’s getting on a bit for Garmin to remain quiet on this. Lot of personal data at risk if this is ransomware.

@sailor74 got it – you are talking about the compromise of using cable operated mechs. I thought you were talking about wireless v *electronic* cable operated mechs i.e. Di2.

Totally agree with you that electronic shifting (whether wired di2 or wireless etap) is far superior to mechanical cable shifting.

Genuinely struggling to see how cables are a compromise. @sailor74 what do you mean?

If you are talking about the app etc, Di2 has this too you just need the wireless adaptor.

I recently had to pick between the same bike with Di2 or Force eTap and in the end I went with the Di2.

It mainly came down to battery life in the end, Di2 just seems to last a lot longer and you don’t need to charge/change as many batteries. As I wasn’t building it I didn’t see any other benefit to the wireless SRAM.

One other thing to consider is cost of consumables in the future (i.e. cassettes) – the 12sp SRAM ones are nice, but expensive without options to downspec i.e. put a 105 cassette on instead of Ultegra.

I’m loving the electric shifting, it just works without faff every single time.

I took my 5 year old around the blue at Gisburn in February in the rain/sleet and he loved it!

pretty robust for us on iOs linked up with Garmin devices.

I enjoyed etape stage 2, got in with a good group after the first climb and hung onto them all the way round the second lap

There is an excellent app called Scenic which is designed to do exactly this. It also gets developed/updated pretty frequently with new features.

Tried a Power Pro Elaston in the 155 and couldn’t get on with it at all. The edges were sharp and dig into my groin.

As with all saddle experience, YMMV

I’d say if you are having a meeting, have a real long think about how important it is to actually have that meeting. They are highly disruptive to a working day having to sit and concentrate on a zoom/bluejeans etc.

Slack is far more productive ime.

I had a similar requirement set recently and ended up with a Domane. It’s outstanding. Comfy and fast.

In your boat I’d also be considering a Giant Defy, Scott Addict, Spesh Roubaix, Canyon Endurace etc.

32mm tubeless road tyres make the whole road thing much more fun on UK back roads, not as much worrying about potholes and bad surfaces etc and just as fast as skinny tyres.

The peak is not over for us here in North West Wales, there are hot spots in Anglesea one being centred around a large chicken proccesing plant.
Looking forward to hitting the trail centres and visiting friends and family more than 5 miles away.
I can understand why they are cautious.

So there is ahot spot linked to one place of work, with known at risk people. Should we..

a) track, trace, quarantine, shut the plant down, put a cordon up like a localised lockdown suggested above, or…

b) continue to keep everyone in lockdown (including everyone under 40 who has such a small risk of death it barely registers) and continue to harm the economy?

It’s not that complicated really is it…

The strict three week review period with lots of varying commentary and hints from the Welsh gov in between is pretty annoying. They need to communicate more frequently.

We spend a lot of time and money in N Wales, and I’m really struggling to see how a lot of the seasonal businesses will survive if they don’t get some meaningful levels of trade in July/August. Caravan parks, chalets, holiday lets, watersports etc. Most will simply run out of money over the winter, after furlough has ended. We won’t see the true impact of the long slow lockdown Wales have implemented for many months but for every life they are saving now (debatable) they are certainly ruining some in the future.

They seem to be pursuing a NZ type strategy based on them being a small, mountainous relatively sparsely populated nation, but they don’t seem to have factored in the relatively huge volumes transit to England!

Thought I’d update this after a bit of progress.

I’m fine, been back on my (other) bike. Definitely a bit more wary of junctions and car behaviour than I was before but that’s probably a good thing.

I’ve went tech mad and bought a Garmin Varia which is really good for awareness behind, particularly on windy days. Wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference to me when I got hit from the front/side but it’s a nice extra help on the road. Apparently it varies the flashing speed/intensity bell depending on the speed and proximity of cars behind so hopefully encourage wider passes.

Also bought Cycliq Fly 12 and 6. Mixed reviews everywhere, mostly down to the mounts but they seem fine for me so far, I’m using the GoPro style mount for the front. Fingers crossed I won’t need them too much in future!

Wheelies were extremely slow and didn’t call me back on multiple occasions but they eventually verified that the bike was a write off and offered me a nasty looking Giant or a not unreasonable sum to spend in their shop but as they can’t get Trek I declined and negotiated for a cash settlement with AXA who were also very slow but after 45 mins on hold today and some polite but firm conversation they have made a fair offer and have already sent me the money to be fair to them.

So now I’m bike shopping, looking at a Domane of some nature, weighing up Di2 and carbon wheel upgrades. Not sure I need either, but you only live once.

Thanks for all the support and concern from folk on here!

Rather than change chainring on my last bike I just fitted a roadlink and a 36t cassette so I had 34F/36R which was a nice bailout gear but the gaps were a bit wide on 10sp.

That bike just got written off via a dickhead driver so on the replacement I’ll have 11sp 11-34 as standard at the back and will got oval 32/48 from absolute black. Should be best of both worlds.

Another decent week for me to now 0.2lbs below my chub club target for the quarter so pleased with that.

@FB-ATB I can’t work out it out either, although I’m working on the theory that it seems to take my body about 5 days to react to a significant calorie defect i.e. did loads over the weekend, >4500 cal deficit combined over the two days, weight only dropped a bit a week or so later. Other days this week I’ve run less of a deficit, probably -700cals/day on average.

I’m in a frustrating plateau / drop a good bit / plateau phase, last week was one of the good ones so back on track with the -2lb/week track.

Now down 4.5 stone since Jan 6th and I’m now at the same weight I was 10 years ago when I started tracking my weight, which I was quite chuffed about, but had to remind myself that the reason I started tracking was because I’d got fat, so need to lose another 2.5 stone to get to an acceptable level.

My legs aren’t really changing size, just changing from chub to muscle with all the riding!

Similar here. 5 years of children/work/stress induced weight gain.

Dropped 27kg since Jan but still 120kg LOL

Here is how I’ve done it so far.

– Figure out your BMR https://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/bmr this is what you burn in cals if you just lay around all day. Remember this reduces as you get lighter so re-assess it every month or so.

– Get myfitnesspal app and track all your food and drinks. Try not to drink calories.

– Make sure whatever you eat for a day is less than (BMR + any activity)

– Be aware that strava etc and any heart rate based activity calculated calories tend to overstate calories (and.or include the ones you’d burn lying around). If in doubt get a power meter which is a much more accurate view of kj / cals.

– Accepted wisdom seems to be that 3,500 cals = 1lb or in metric 7700 cals = 1KG

– Try to aim for steady weight loss at a sustainable rate -2lb or a KG a week. Should be achievable at your weight with some discipline.

– Be aware if you up the exercise you will get hungry so eat if you do long rides to prevent munching loads afterwards and negating the benefit of the exercise.

– Hills are exponentially harder when you are chubby, I tended to stick to fairly flat routes when starting back up on the bike.

– Remember that you are aiming for -7000 cals over a week to lose that weight, doesn’t have to be equal, some days you will be hungrier than others.

– Eat lots of protein. tuna, lean beef, salmon, chicken etc. Try to cut down on carbs but use myfitnesspal app to maintain a sensible macro balance. Protein fills you up longer and also helps to repair muscle if you are exercising more.

– Join the chub club (search the forum) or share your goals with friends and check in regularly – it’s a motivator to stick to the plan.

– Have a day off once every few weeks. Don’t go daft but have a curry and beers or something.

Hope some of this helps. Won’t work for everyone but sticking to these has helped me so far!

Rapha tops are good, but I find the cut to be a little short. I have one of their gilets and it’s a brilliant bit of kit.

Rapha bibs are lovely quality, but as others have said, they stitch a seam right down the middle which I found irritating to my soft bits. Seems insane really, I don’t get why they would do it.

Assos bibs are fantastic. Assos tops are good too. Pearl Izumi are also nice

Going to try Le Col next with the Strava vouchers.

Did the blue last week with the kids and there was a bit closed at the end, 25 turns or something.

Does anyone know when the new bit of blue after the climb will be open? The loss of height via fire road makes me cringe :D

Really enjoy a trip to Gisburn to be fair but it is a bit of a trek.

This is a good guide for tight tyres.

I used these guys for an electric roller door last year. Excellent service and reasonable price, went with an Aluroll SecureRoll in the end with Somfy electronics. They do Hormann and other brands too. https://arridgegaragedoors.co.uk/

It does feel like a total minefield of dodgy dealers when you start looking into garage doors, but I’ve been very happy with the product and service we received.

So police did follow it up. Still the “plod will do **** all” brigade will tell you they don’t care because your a cyclist.

To be fair I had a good chat with the police guy and turns out he’s a cyclist too. Apparently this is pretty common.

Got checked out, I have no serious injuries but I do hurt quite a lot today!

The police attended the scene.

To be fair, the officer has just called me back and has been to the car they thought might be it from my description/plate digits but it’s in perfect condition and the driver is a surgeon who was operating at the time so that line of enquiry is dead.

Just waiting for wheelies to ring me now…

Well, I’m waiting in A&E. shoulder hurts quite a bit to be fair.

Tried to call Lancs police, no chance of someone answering so have sent them an email/ contact form thing. Hopefully they are out hunting down black jags but somehow I doubt it.

Good luck with this. Presumably you have an excess to pay on your home insurance? This seems unfair.

Yes, but it’s only £150 so in the grand scheme of things not a disaster if I can get a replacement bike. Between the bike and wheels it was £3.5k 9 years ago.

AXA did ask me if I had details of the car/driver and passed on the description/partial reg/police case number etc so they did seem keen to recover if possible.

Will give the police a call this morning…

Also – and please don’t see this as victim blaming as I would have done exactly the same and I too am a big lad who apparently can be very intimidating when angry – I wonder if they would have driven off if you (and in my head visualising this, me) had been less aggressive/shouty? Returning to the accident, whilst the right thing to do morally and legally, is not a natural reaction if you think its odds on you’ll get lumped.

@convert – It’s a valid point, I’ve had the same thought, but it’s pretty hard to control your emotion when you have just got up off the ground LOL :D I think they waited to see that I did get up then scarpered.

@everyone else – Thanks for the feedback so far, particularly around values etc. Insurance is new for old so will wait to see what Wheelies come back with. I’m partial to Trek for their aftercare so don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for a Trek to be replaced with a Trek.

Sister in law who came to collect me is a Dr and checked me over (with PPE!), so think i’m OK, will go to A&E if anything gets weird. Think the bike took most of the impact judging by the noise it made and the state of it :/

Rapha have seams down the middle of the (otherwise lovely) chamois which started annoying my soft bits about an hour in. Not brilliant when they are £170 for a bib (Classics) – they have a 30 day guarantee on them though so sent them back, no quibble refund to be fair. Shame because they are lovely otherwise and I like their tops and gilets.

Now on Assos Mille GT which are fantastic.

Live my C17 carved on the commuter/winter bike.

Just dig the summer road bike out and the bontrager effort is pretty miserable in comparison. Might get a C15 for it.

So if you live in England can you drive to Scotland now? What does the actual legislation say?

In addition, people will be able to travel – preferably by walking or cycling – for recreation, although they will be asked to remain “where possible” within or close to their own local area.

Doesn’t sound particularly enforceable.

Game on.

I’ve been a subscriber for a while, only really for the beacon function so my wife gets a txt and then can see when I’ve left the office or follow my progress on a ride. Have same function technically with Garmin but find the livetrack buggy and can only notify via email. Beacon seems to be pretty robust.

The fitness/freshness thing is OK too but I wouldn’t pay for that alone.

Went our early yesterday for a road ride Buxton > Manc. Went for a walk at Grinlow early with kids. It was pretty quiet but getting busier when we left around 10:30. Lots of room and everyone social distancing happily.

Riding back was an experience, hundreds of motorbikers, lots stopped and not distancing. Close passing me on small roads etc. Bunch of total pricks the lot of them. Didn’t see them doing much exercise when they arrived at their layby of choice.

I had a 530 for about half an hour, when you are used to iphones/ipads etc the buttons just feel like a clumsy and inefficient way of operating. Took it straight back and got an 830 and have been very happy with it. The touch screen is fine in general use – no it’s not as good as a phone, but it’s perfectly usable on the bike. I haven’t used an 820 but heard they were pretty bad for the screen.