300km, might take a day off tomorrow and then do 100,50,50 over the last three days. Feeling pretty tired and finding it hard trying to do it all outdoors with not enough / too many clothes on and battling through the thick wintery air. Managed my first single speed gravel century (metric) on Xmas eve so if I don’t make it to 500km that’s my consolation prize.

Didn’t know that was a thing 😂

Scrap that, series link comes to the rescue, yay!

Damn, saw this 6 minutes too late so will have to wait for catch up

My mate picked one up for £999 today. Seems a bit of a bargain.

This is a health, safety and welfare issue and an important one and should be treated accordingly. I’d take the following steps:

(a) raise a formal complaint with the accommodation provider (use the contact details provided in the licence to occupy / handbook, which should contain a complaints procedure). Then you need to wait for it to go through that procedure but if not satisfactorily deal with then escalate it (eg: find out which company is the ultimate owner of the company that owns the halls (is there any branding?) and approach the directors of that business on LinkedIn

(b) report in writing to the University via the student welfare officer / dept

(c) also report in writing to the students union and ask for their advice. That’s exactly what they are there for.

Include details of how the incident made her feel (scared, intimidated, privacy violated or whatever it is).

Whilst the threat of legal action might help get engagement, it’s not in itself going to lead to a worthwhile outcome.

This is the most successful tidal project to date:

MeyGen set for additional 28MW of tidal energy

This article doesn’t tell you the full story sadly. This project has been plagued by technical problems and investors have looked at its track record and wondered why they would take the additional risks over investing in offshore wind which is far better established and much cheaper.

The scale that’s required to make tidal economical means it’s incredibly risky.

Just to check though, you did finish the ride, right?

OP I can see why you’re irritated. The learning point here is probably to have the convo in advance. I’d have probably replied to his text with something like “ah to be honest mate much prefer the normal place but if you’re offering to share the love and can save us all a few quid I could be convinced”.

Feel your pain, had similar sorry with a focus izalco max. In the end found what I was looking for half the price on the second hand market, albeit the bike hadn’t been ridden so I got lucky. There are lots of addicts available second hand at the moment, some in very good nick, if you’re careful and selective.

2 months ago the garage doing the MOT on my T5 dropped it off the ramp and smashed it up. I’ve since been driving around in a courtesy car – a 70 plate Sharan. For the first week I marvelled and how comparatively smooth and efficient it is but after the novelty wore off I realised how much I miss my T5 :-(

So be careful what you wish for I guess

No idea if I’ll ever get my van back or even where it is, but that’s almost worth of a thread of its own.

Enjoyed the first two episodes of series 7. The podcasts they’ve done this time is a nice touch too.

There’s some good deals on Amazon at the moment on the master & dynamic MW07 Go. Under £100 which is an amazing price and fantastic value for money. They blow all the Soundbeats / Ankur rubbish out of
the water

This is a wind-up right?

This is all wrong. The military road with a tailwind is an amazing experience. Pick your direction of travel depending on wind direction and smash it. Outside of summer holidays it’s generally fine.

You just need to get some adrenaline flowing. Get a proper job with deadlines and pressure and stuff 😉

I was up there last week and have to say 100 miles would feel like a very long way to me on some of those roads. The road west from Dunoon to Portavadie doesn’t have any flat. Absolutely stunning though.

A general feeling of guilt can be a symptom of generalised anxiety disorder. Have you ever noticeably suffered from any symptoms of anxiety or depression? Definitely worth using your family and social network to talk about how you’re feeling but if that doesn’t work or you want to seek professional help the first port of call is usually your GP. I’d suggest you consider that if the feeling persists or becomes more intrusive. Unfortunately the state of mental health services in this country means any referral to a specialist will take forever but a chat with your GP alone might help you at least. You’re spot on not to just ignore it.

Here

https://abnb.me/8QZiiuCwiib

Absolutely the middle of nowhere. They have a good hosepipe which is the main thing.

There’s a direct back door route to Glentress via the wind farm, if you don’t mind a couple of hundred yards of hike a bike.

Salsa Stormchaser is the one

When I did it mate I hardly remember seeing a car but I guess times are different now. I’m not local so wouldn’t know I’m afraid, sorry. Obviously the Dam itself is closed to traffic so worst case scenario you can just Everest that :-)

Few years ago but this was a lovely route:
https://strava.app.link/zYW1Xwaf9hb

New Forest was weird today. All the car parks were completely rammed and the main roads were gridlocked, but I hardly saw another soul out on the tracks or the minor roads. Guess everyone was just stuck in their cars on the A35.

Long story short but my physio has said no drop bar bike riding for the foreseeable. Which obviously I just took to mean I should buy something flat barred as soon as possible.

I only really ride one of my two gravel bikes these days (one SS and one geared)and I want something comparable that I can do all-day rides and bike-packing adventures on. I know nothing about mountain bikes so am wondering if this will fit the bill? From what I can tell from Google a “flat barred gravel bike” isn’t really a name of a thing.

Farnham to Winchester for sure. Awesome ride. Probably a bit over 100km (115 maybe but feels like more as it’s very hilly) but worth it.

@bez

Fair enough fella, each to their own. Maybe I’m biased because I grew up there but it’s still one of my favourite places in the world to be outside.

The Ipley example is a good one but i would argue that’s an example more of (failure of) responsibility than power. In 40 years of being in and around the Forest and having ridden my bike (responsibly), I’ve never met a Verderer or had any direct experience of their “power”. The point I was making is that just because someone today has reported the minutes of one of their incoherent, echo-chamber meetings, doesn’t mean tomorrow they will attain the magical powers to steal my Stormchaser. You know?

The New Forest is a wonderful place to ride a bike but paying any attention to anything the verderers say is like paying attention to Nigel Farage. It’s just irrelevant bigotry.

The Facebook group is good for this – there is always someone who’s just got back from doing it.

Summary seems to be Winchester to Salisbury overgrown with nettles, ridgeway a bit wet, SDW a bit muddy in the shade. A good day of sunshine today will help.

I’ve decided I’m never moving house again (see also Broadband Pain thread).

My van insurance renewal coincided with my house move and my premium went from £250 to £950 because only one insurer would insure me due to “lack of credit history” at the new house. Yesterday I was able to get a much better quote and cancel the rip-off one within the cooling off period, as insurer’s systems started to recognise me at the new address. Still, ball ache is exactly right.

Imber perimeter?

https://www.cyclinguk.org/route/imber-perimeter-path

If you decide on Bath / Bristol the canal path takes you through Bradford on Avon, which is a great little spot

Interesting – I’d assumed if I engaged a new isp they would cancel the service with the old one for me (which tbf is what BT say on their website they will do). I’ll try cancelling SSE myself. That will be great fun because phoning their call centre always fills me with joy. Ill then place an order with zen and see how I get on. Cheers all

Does anybody actually give edam?

The definition of murder in the UK is where you cause someone’s death and in doing so you intended to kill them or you intended to do them serious harm.
If you kill someone without that intent it’s likely to be manslaughter.
Unless you’re in a car of course.

Anyway, US system is different.

I just read the full sentencing report. I hadn’t appreciated that Chauvin had continued to kneel on Floyd’s neck for over two and a half minutes after a colleague told him he couldn’t find any sign of a pulse. Incomprehensible. His sentence was extended by about half as much again as the usual maximum for second degree murder for two reasons – 1) the abuse of a position of trust and 2) the exceptional cruelty to which be subjected his victim.

@hopster

Awesome endurance, especially on a SS. What gearing did you use?

The future of work is not having a rush hour anymore. Such a pointless postal-era anachronism anyway. Flexi STs are much more expensive than off peak fares so limited target market. At some point the industry will realise it is no longer viable to assume morning commuters will subsidise everybody else and there will be have to be some price equalisation.

Amazing Waffles and coffee at the Orangery just by the Cathedral green

The Cathedral itself is fascinating if you haven’t been – wander round for an hour and you realise just how many people from England’s history lived and/or died in Winchester.

Or for a beer and the footy the Mucky Duck on Hyde Street

No bike shops (Hargreaves is out of town now) although there is a place called Bespoke (opposite the Brooks shopping centre) which is a weird combination of cafe, bike repair shop, second hand bike shop and arts and crafts store.

Or you could wander along the river to the Handlebar Cafe, grab a coffee and walk up St Catherine’s hill for amazing views.

Not a very nice day here at the moment but it’s dry at least.

You need a van

Strava heatmaps has a noticeable if slightly faint line on that path so yes must be ridden from time to time

God knows there’s enough threads on this forum about whether gravel bikes are great or rubbish without this turning into another one.

Reading – Petersfield is more like 125km ish if you’re following the KAW