I’ve had 2 bikes and 2 lots of weekend riding/camping kit in the back of a Micra, I therefore assume that it’ll fit in a Golf with room to spare.
Of course these days I can’t be arsed with all that malarky of taking muddy bikes to bits in a cold car park, estate cars all the way. :-)

I upgraded my computer RAM recently but, ocs it’s a failry old unit, I had to look online (I used that crucial.com site too) and see what the motherboard was capable of supporting. On a lot of computers, if you put a 2Gb RAM chip in it will still only be able to use 512Mb (for example).

But yes, my computer is SO much faster now it’s got lots more RAM in there. :-)

Tights as soon as it gets cold for me, I just can’t wear shorts or 3/4’s in really cold weather. I really suffer in the cold, especially with cold hands and if any part of me actually gets cold it just won’t warm up again.

In fact even at the Tod CX race I was wearing 3/4’s, a long sleeve base layer and SealSkinz socks, a lot of the racers were in shorts and short sleeves, some weren’t even wearing gloves!

The Alex rims that came on my first generation TriCross Sport lasted ages including a Three Peaks CX!
I’m currently running Hope road hubs on Mavic Open Pro ceramics on my S-Works TriCross. The standard CX wheelset is your choice of hub on Mavic Open Pro but Mavic Aksiums are an excellent choice: cheap, light and strong. TBH, most roadie wheelsets are fine, I’ve seen riders running carbon clinchers with no problems, it just depends how deep your pockets are!

ST Issue 44 route guide, The Three Passes.
Start at Staveley, go over Garburn (heading E) then over to Sadgill, up Gatescarth, down to Haweswater. From there it’s straight up Nan Bield and down to Kentmere. One last pull over the fells back to Staveley. VERY hard and at this time of year you will need to start by 9 or you will run out of light.

Absolutely sod all! I *was* an industrial chemist until a few days before Christmas.
Filling in my benefits/redundancy pay with a bit of freelance photography and journalism until someone sees fit to employ me properly ;-)

Midnight release then the file download stops working once it’s been downloaded x number of times. Its not a perfect system by any means cos a lot of people who’ve downloaded it won’t send off their form.

34/48 with a 12-27 (9sp) on mine, mostly for commuting and off-road jaunts, it works well round most of the stuff in the Peaks and Lakes that I’ve used it on. With knobbly tyres, you won’t need a 50, 48 will be just fine.
I swapped the cassette for a 12-34 for the Three Peaks though, a cunning move that allowed me to ride up stuff that others could only walk up.

Agreed, I was only over there cos in the background you can see Stuart Wearmouth about to lap me. ;-)

I was out riding today, rode down a country lane to a house at the far end and someone had clearly had a very difficult time driving their car home! Tracks weaving all over the lane and then deeper skidmark tracks into the hedge half way down! The centre ridge of snow was really grippy, I didn’t have a problem. ;-)

It took me 2 laps to get warmed up! Did NO-ONE get a shot of me riding the cobbled climb, I cleared it on 4 of my laps and all the pics seem to be of the 2 laps where I walked it. :-(

I prefer stormy sky stuff in B&W too unless it’s already REALLY dark. Proper thunderhead clouds with sun on it from behind look great in colour. Otherwise B&W. But each to their own – there’s no right or wrong way for pics really.

I’ve always taken my own bike out there on the grounds that I know how it handles, I don’t really want to be getting used to a new bike on much steeper more hardcore terrain than I’m used to all at the same time!

Having said that I used a Hemlock for a day when I was out with AQR back in September 08 and it was nice to ride something different.

Hiring a bike out there does mean that you avoid the £18 each way fee that Ryanair/EasyJet charge for bikes now and it’s a lot less hassle at the airport. But having your own bike out there means one less thing to worry about, you know it’s set up just right for you and you know how it rides/handles.

A Quick Release in Luchon, Pyrenees (fly to Toulouse).
Freeride Spain in Sierra Nevada, Southern Spain (fly to Malaga or Granada).
Bike Verbier, Verbier, Switzerland (fly to Geneva)

All excellent, good food, great riding and more or less tailor made to what you want. AQR have a hire fleet of Cotic Hemlocks too if you fancy something different or don’t want to take your own bike.

Well I was made redundant just before Xmas but I’ve kind of got over that now and TBH I’m really not that bothered anymore! I’m desperate to get a job soon cos I’m seriously strapped for cash but on the plus side it’s gorgeous weather, snow on the ground and I can ride my bike – if I was in work now I’d just be looking out the window wanting to ride!
Just getting into retraining now, got signed onto a couple of courses at the local college and cos I’m now dole scum, it’s costing me (very nearly) sod all :-)

That was good fun, big turnout including a few fast boys and girls to show us mortals how it should be done.

As for babies, well, apparently, there have been more people born in the last 200 years or so, than have ever been alive prior to that.

That’s an urban myth that’s been around for a while, Snopes puts explains why it’s not true:
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/dead.asp

Yes, 1.30.
See you there. :-)

I shared a house through most of uni with a guy who somehow (don’t ask me how!) managed to go through 3 years without ever pulling anyone. He was really quite shy around girls so to help him he used to drink but he also didn’t know his limits so would often be hammered before even going out and once out he’d be too pissed to talk to anyone never mind actually pull them/get them back to his room.
Now, 8 years later, he’s the only one out of the 4 of us to be married (in fact, he was married within a couple of years of leaving uni), he’s still with her.

Moral of the story – leave him be, he’ll find himself a partner soon enough.

I’ve seen 2 bikes in the back of a Mini (the original one, not the new big one) so you MUST be able to get 1 bike into a C1 surely?!
I’m racing tomorrow – got a nasty feeling it’s going to hurt…

Specialized Radiant gloves. I used to really suffer with cold hands in winter and I’ve never found a warm glove that isn’t the size and weight of a boxing glove – until now.
Endura eVent jacket, a truly waterproof waterproof that didn’t break the bank, fits well, looks good and has all the features I want with none of the pointless fripperies.

Weekend closest to the summer solstice which would make it 20-21 June as Surfr says.

There you go then, Mike Edwards.
MTB correlation right there :-)

Damn I’m good! Cracking light. I had the same frostyness on my Peaks ride today but the light was nowhere near as nice as that.

Lovely. :-)
Let me guess, somewhere round Cockpit Stone Circle?
Ullswater in the background…

I’ve just finished reading Moods of Future Joys by Alastair Humphreys, its the first part of his round-the-world-cycle trip. Good read but I now need to buy his second instalment!
I went to his talk a couple of years ago at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival, it was very good and ever since then I’ve been meaning to get the book.

Unless you’re going to be properly serious about it I wouldn’t consider buying a TT bike over a normal road bike. With a few alterations a regular road bike can be almost as fast as a TT bike but much more versatile for the all round riding that most people do. See how you get on, if you start getting into it seriously and are posting decent times then maybe look to get a TT-specific machine, until then just use time trials as a good training/fitness tool.

There’s any number of reasons why bikes don’t sell, it could even be something like “wrong” colour or it may have been up against other bikes in the same shop which were better VFM or pushed more by the sales staff or bigged up more by the mags.
The kit still works, you still get a full warranty on it, whats to lose?

The best ride is always the one after the ride you’ve just done. :-)

My first bike ride since cracking a couple of ribs on the 23rd. Took it very easy, rode through the freezing fog and climbed up Chinley Churn where it was crystal clear but still sub zero. Ground was rock solid, and the climb up New Allotments was sheet ice on the lower sections although all rideable. Down into Hayfield and back along the Sett Valley trail, it really was cold down there in the fog. Only a short ride but it was great to be out. My ribs ache a bit now.

Definitely be out again on the MTB again tomorrow, just another short easy spin to work my way back into it. :-)

The forests of the Peak District were alledgedly cut down by Henry VIII to build his Navy.
Well, not by Henry VIII himself obviously but you get my point…

This morning: sort out my CX bike
This afternoon: gentle spin on the MTB
This evening: quiet(ish) one down the local

Just had a phone call from a mate who’s been at Afan, he said the same – VERY cold but amazingly dry, he’s had a great couple of days biking. Nice pics.

Yes but at least it wouldn’t be the stock nightmare for shops that it is now. There’s literally dozens of different types on the market often changing within bike ranges and even year-to-year on otherwise nearly identical bikes, it’s a total pain for bike shops.

Hmmm, that diagonal track in the background of the first pic looks interesting!!!

Cat Bells descent isn’t it, seen from the Keswick side?

I’ve always bled mine from the top down, never bothered with the Shimano bleed kit. It’s a lot easier if you actually take the whole brake assembly off the bike, clamp the lever firmly and that way you can turn the caliper/hose to remove trapped air or even just mount it somewhere above the lever to give the from-the-bottom-up bleed that Shimano say is necessary.

Bring it on! :-)