We rode it in July from Whitby to Ravenscar. On loaded 26inch wheel touring bikes with a trailer carrying a 20month old. We had dry conditions and found it to be ok. It is a little rough in places and I suspect could get quite muddy in the wet but was very passable in the dry.

We did it as part of a loop around and through the moors using sections of the Moor to Sea routes. A lot of this is anything but flat!!

Robin Hoods bay is very nice. Ok campsite there (juts off the track) but very much worht ehading down to the bay itself. Nice pub/chippy and lovely beach.

The other reason Boxhill is popular is because it is arguably the best route back into “town” from the Surrey Hills/lanes for a lot of people. The other options are very busy. Even Pebble Hills isn’t great – narrow and very steep with a lot of traffic.

Some pretty mixed responses then!

Just be clear I’m not riding round gurning like the village idiot trying to hug roadies, just find there’s considerably more socially inept roadies than MTBers as kinda proved in some of the posts. The ‘they probably did’nt hear/see you’ thing does not add up either.

OP you are demonstrating both tribalism and confirmatory bias – as nicely illustrated in your post above. You have already decided that roadies are “socially inept” and you choose to “prove” this based on messages here. This is clearly false though as all the responders on this thread are mountain bikers – this is STW after all not Road Cycling UK or similar.

My first response was a little testy – and I have ridden mountain bikes for far more years than road riders. Cyclists of all types get enough abuse and prejudice from ramblers/horse riders/petrolheads without creating more divisive rubbish ourselves.

Also – in countries where there are lots of riders about very few nod and smile – if they did to everyone they met their heads would fall off! This obsession with greeting every cyclist you pass is a British thing. Probably because we are a minority sport still.

I admit my tone was a bit OTT – I apologise. I am under pressure and seriously sleep deprived due to a sick 18 month old.

that said this sort of thread really annoys me. I ride a mountain bike, a CX bike and a road bike depending on my mood and conditions. I really find this idea that roadies are less friendly both false and bizarre – it is just an attempt to create an “us and them” divide. Almost all my mates have road bikes and mtbs, this division is totoally arbritrary – they ARE THE SAME PEOPLE.

I have turned up at loads of car parks in the Surrey Hills and been blanked by “rad, cool gnarly dudes” with their bling machines. i have ridden the South Downs way on a beautiful sunny weekend and passed 500 + MTBer’s over 2 days and had about half return my nod and smile.

So to the OP – there are some sour faced roadies. IME the same proportion of sour faced mtb’ers. Don’t let it get to you.

It must just be you. I was out on my bike yesterday (also CX – Cotic X in disc version) and had loads of nods and freidnly hellos. Do you look like a dick?

I have obersved, first hand, both normal slaughter with stunning, and Jewish Kosher slaughter. It is not just the slitting of the throat that is of concern to me but the restraint required beforehand, which in the one I observed involved a “tilt table” in which the cow is essentially crushed and then swivelled upside down before the neck was cut. In contrast the cattel being stunned walkd into a crush and were dropped instantly with a single shot.

Based on personal experience I support a complete ban on religous slaughter techniques.

Currently reading “The Immortal Life of Henrietta lacks”. It is about the first successful cell cultures, taken from an impoverished black woman without consent. very well written and fascinating for the science and the ehtical questions it raises. Not as hard to read as it sounds!

So keen to grind an axe Graham?

Thanks provided what I needed.

Charging extortionate rates for big events is not unique to the UK. We paid well over the odds for a tiny spot in a farmer’s field for the TDF near Ventoux in 2009 – and anyone remember the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the prices in South Africa for the World Cup?

I went to my citizenship “swearing in” ceremony straight from work. So I was fairly smartly dressed – but I was probably the least well dressed in the room. As I stood there it was clear that those who were there to be sworn in as British citizens had taken this very seriously indeed – it was a matter of significance and pride to all of them. Most had come with their families and even the kids were dressed smartly, suit and tie smart.

At the end everyone tried to sing “God Save the Queen” though clearly not many knew the words before lining up to get their photo taken with the official in all his finery. We then filed out of the building feeling very proud and very British – into a running street battle between two local laddettes, just in time to see one smack her friend around the head with an arm heavy with fake gold bracelets.

She earns more than you – yet still wants you to pay towards her fuel? Seems odd.

I used to earn a little more than my wife (I now earn a lot more cause she now works part time as we have a kid) and we contributed equally to a joint account out of which came all our joint expenses. I paid separately for my fuel though cause I commute further.

All that said though – at the end of the day as the man in the relationship you will end up doing what she wants regardless……

As a former very keen scuba diver I have been to Egypt at least eight times, trips varying in length from 1 week to 1 month. I loved Egypt and highly recommend it overall although I have not been in a few years now and can’t vouch for the current safety. When we went we would use local transport and local hotels – not sure I would now though.

You WILL experience hassle from the locals, be polite, firm and friendly and they will get the message and leave you alone.

Pyramids are great but IMO Luxor is even better, Abu Simbel worth a trip too.

Lots of varied advice on this thread! You will find some of it works for you, some doesn’t. Babies vary a lot it seems.

We only have one so far, she is now just over a year. IMO the first 6 weeks are essentially all shite, unrelenting exhaustion, stress and misery in which you will very nearly lose your mind – if you’re lucky.

BUT it gets better, when they start to smile and respond. You won’t get a decent night’s sleep for a LOOOONNGGGGG time, some will manage at 6 weeks, ours took until 7 1/2 months until she slept through (up till that point 4 hours was the longest single sleep we had managed, and that was very very rare) and others are much worse than ours was!

Good luck – and try to be supportive of each other.

bivvy bag experience

This is much what I was looking for – except it was written better.

Cougar 2 here – had our daughter in it from 6 months in the sling – which offers additional cushioning as a bonus – on blue trails, bridleways and done some touring on it.

We have been very pleased with it. I DO have mudguards – yet in dry dusty conditions she did get covered in dust – to the point that I would avoid this mostly due to the amount she must have been inhaling.

I run the tyres quite soft – 0.8 bar or so.

Thanks for the helpful replies. I have v little access to internet at work – and can’t very well do these searches at home! Knowing that there are loads of camera buffs on STW – and what a helpful bunch you all are – I figured this would be the best way to get the info I needed.

Ok so body is 780grams, need to find out what the lens weighs…

She has a very big very nice tripod but looking for something a lot more protable.

I see the bell debate as a red herring. Carrying a bell and then ringing it like crazy whilst expecting all before you to doff their cap and scurry out of your way with your speed unabated is far worse than what most folk do which is slow down and use a cheery hello, allowing the pedestrians good time to find a spot to get out of your way that is convenient to them. It’s the slowing down and giving them time to react which is the important bit not the method of signalling your presence.

Agreed. That said though people do associate bells with bikes so subconsciously they are already responding to the noise as a bike rather than turning to see what is coming. I DON’T use a bell (I adopt the approach above) but I will freely admit it is because I am a snob and hate the look of a bell on my bike. I do think a bell is superior to a voice – but still not going to fit one!

Also worth pointing out that my schooling and university education were done elsewhere – so the part of that that was subsidised by the government has NOT been paid by the UK. Almost all of my working life has been in this country – so people like me are actually way up in the balance sheet relative to those born here.

(Note that I don’t believe one’s financial contributions are the only aspect to citizenship – but that is what is being discussed on this thread).

I am an immigrant, as is my wife – neither of us from Eastern Europe and we work pretty hard IMO – we are both higher rate tax payers anyway. So yes – we contribute and have been for 16 years in my wife’s case, 14 in mine. By the time we become a “drain on society” we will have earned that right by virtue of the taxes we have paid.

We have Shimano UN somethings on our heavy tourers and on my wife’s commuter (in fact that bb is on its second frame now) with zero issues. In contrast I seem to be forever changing the external BB on the other bikes. Might be lighter, might be stiffer (though I can’t feel a difference) but for longevity the internal ones are infinitely better IME.

Cybicle +1

@ soobalias – homeopathy in fact DOES do harm – because it means that people use it in stead of actual, effective treatments. Often the person who ends up being harmed is someone vulnerable – a child or a very gullible partner.

Not to be too pedantic but – big difference between “holistic” and “homeopathic”.

There are people who use the term “holistic medicine” to mean alternative medicines (incl but not limited to homeopathy) but it is not actually correct.

+1 for straightening it

I ride on the hoods but steep descents I’m on the drops for more control and better braking. it is an awkward position initially (compared to being on the mtb) but you get used to it.

Gearing wise I use a compact coupled with an mtb rear mech and a 34 tooth chain – but I don’t have the strongest legs! I don’t race cross, more just general local trail riding and with that gearing I get up most things.

Bladerunner

Old but still brilliant.

Signed

I think the fact that the characters are multidimensional makes it more interesting. Far more like real life.
Two of my favourite series’ are Breaking Bad and The Wire. In both the good guys are not all they’re cracked up to be – and the “bad” guys have human, likeable qualities too.

Service in LBS’ varies enormously but IMO, on average, the level of service you get from most bike shops is surprisingly poor. Most businesses would not get away with the average level of service offered in the bike industry as a whole.

Like others above this has turned out to be a good thing for me as I have been forced to learn to service my own bikes and will take on everything except suspension servicing now.

I am a small animal veterinarian. I give literally dozens of vaccines every day. In 13 years I have seen fewer than 10 serious adverse reactions.

Being a vet and a keen traveller I have also received far more vaccines than the average person – my wife, also a vet, has too. We are both quite fit and well despite these dreadfully toxic things.

My daughter who is now 11 months has had all her vaccines to date and I’m sure in time will have her HPV vaccine too.

I think in the Western World it is very easy to forget just how serious the diseases are which have now largely disappeared. I have dealt with rabies and distemper cases (both of these fairly well eradicated in the UK) and still see parvovirus – which is preventable IF animals are vaccinated.

Vaccines are not without risks. No medical intervention is. By and large though these risks through are tiny compared to the diseases they prevent.

A lot of the recent sci-fi films in general have been disappointing.

Double post doh!

Ride the Quantocks[/url]

Not done the Quantocks with them as yet (though I’d like to!) but rode with them in Spain and also just met up for a freindly ride in Swinley. nice people and i think they know their stuff.

Come to think of it – there are only ten bikes in the brick shed, the rest are in the other shed – and are the old commuters so not worried about those really.

Thanks for replies – going to keep the shed locked I think!

Not sure how to stop the behaviour but worth mentioning that frogs (and especially snails!) can transmit lungworm to dogs. So use something to prevent this – Advocate spot on or Milbemax worming (monthly)

Rollindoughnut – was this the SERRL race at Horsemonden then?

I was one of the marshals. Heard via the club website there’d been an incident but details were few – very sorry to hear about this!

Crazy! Signed.