Hah, yeah, I can totally see the rship acceleration factor! We used to do acrobalance together which sounds pretty similar in that poor communication can lead to broken noses, accidentally, usually 😜

Very kind of you to offer a trial – I’ll DM my number

I’m guessing we’d get something cheaper to see how we get on, and hopefully it’ll be a shared passion and we get to go full fancy MTB-ready goodness for TNR and other extreme adventures ❤️

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Thanks for all the kind advice all!</p>

@nbt sweet – would one be included with the Orbit? If not have you tried the alternatives? I saw one for £30 new, and surely it can’t be as good as something that costs £200… But how much better is the TB?

🥰 thanks guys, this is proper exciting 😁

<p style=”text-align: center;”>I met my missus of 8 years through OLD, brilliant system – best way to screen for traits you know you need or wouldn’t work for you in a long term relationship. We’re engaged now and everything 🥰</p>

As per your specific concern, you’re not exclusive until you’ve had a chat to establish exclusivity – my now partner was very clear that she was chatting to other folk still and intended to go on more dates… She never did, but that’s irrelevant, I appreciated the honesty! And that’s gonna be foundational to anything after a first date – they’ll deffo find out so show yourself to be trustworthy from the start, tell them both that you think they know each other and you don’t want to cause any strangeness and just ask them how they want to play it. Just be light and jovial about it, no one has done anything bad and it’s quite funny innit – if neither of them find it faintly amusing they’re possibly not gonna be easy partners!

Good luck with whoever you date!

Hahah, likewise @dickydutch !

@docrobster I’d have thought the split ring is necessary as otherwise the steerer is not in contact with the bearing?

@singlespeedstu, ta muchly. Northwest MTB sorted me out with a Cane Creek model that fits great. Hopefully CRC will accept the fitted but unused Hope fella without the express packaging – foolishly threw that out.

@stwmembers – thanks for your awesome advice. Love this wee community

Pocpoc, I’m confident you earn more than the average wage. When I was working a Band 3 NHS job full time my take home was exactly what I paid my childminders for having two kids for two hours after school. Was I being a cheapskate by not finding a more expensive minder to send them to?

Money has to be invested in certain areas to allow others to prosper. We need future generations, so subsidising childcare provision or stay at home parenting might be helpful. Or encouraging more school hour roles, which is what I ended up doing as it made me £1100 richer each month, and even more importantly allowed me to spend more quality time with them both, providing a nurturing environment and bringing them to loads of different clubs which has enriched their lives and given them a taste of what great things there are to do in the world. I’m pretty confident that kind of childhood will increase the chances they’ll be fitter, happier, more productive…

Can’t remember the stats but adults with a formal diagnosis of ADHD find it improves their self-esteem and general mental health, over those who are aware they probably are but haven’t been assessed. If it is impacting your self-esteem you should consider assessment, it’ll help your loved ones as much as you.

My lad got diagnosed with ASC (conditions, not disorders – I actually quite like this linguistic shift and think it’s a positive thing moving forward) and ADHD a wee while ago. Cue a completely autistic focus on researching the crap outa neurodiversity, drove my missus bat guano with the bloody obsession. The more I read about ASC the more I came to realise it’s a very different spectrum to what most people understand it to be, and the things I struggled with in childhood and earlier adulthood are typical for autists. MrsDo666 went from asserting I am entirely neurotypical to being fully behind the reality I am not.

I’m not especially bothered about a diagnosis of ASC as I feel I’ve learned how to compensate well enough. I’m pretty keen to get seen re ADHD though, as although I’m very highly functioning it still impacts on me – tried to explain to my mum that for a given outcome I have to put in a lot more effort and focus than neurotypics and the stress is pretty intense at times. Several of my friends have recently been diagnosed with ADHD and report the meds they give adults just allow them to do what they normally do, but with a fraction of the stress – sounds nice. I went for a chat with my GP, who gave me a form to fill out at my own leisure, so I explained I would be stressed out if I took it home because I would almost certainly keep forgetting to fill it out or hand it in, so I completed it in the reception, took a photo to share with my missus, and handed it in. Got home and realised I’d filled it in wrong because I hadn’t taken the time to read the instructions! A year later my missus texts me as I’m leaving work to ask what’s happening with the referral so I bobbed into the mental health centre to check they’d received the referral – that building is literally attached to the building I work in every day, and I’d been meaning to bob in for the entire year :-D

You should definitely consider a referral. In the meantime you will probably benefit from a serious amount of reading around modern understanding of neurodiversity, it’s what gives people intellectual superpowers so really isn’t all bad at all, and I’ve learned a heap that helps me parent better. Neurotribes is a great potted history of ASC, though it’s heartbreaking at times. There are loads of podcasts by high achieving ADHD folk, these can be great for helping the positive perspective on it.

At the risk of evangelising, I cannot recommend meditation enough – got into it to help deal with a messy divorce, which it did with aplomb, but it had a transformative effect on my ability to roll with life and also understand people better, largely though a practice called Metta Bhavana – it’s for developing lovingkindness (hippy alert) but I found helped me get my head around people’s behaviour and how to communicate more effectively. More or less stripped me of social anxieties. The mindfulness/single-pointed focus techniques are amazing. These two practices have seemingly cured me of a depression that plagued me for twenty odd years. Still have well intense emotions, but the ability to separate thoughts, feelings and physical sensations, and the experience of observing the impermanence of all things have meant that at no point in the last six year have I felt ‘depressed’ or hopeless.

I found reading a shittonne of books by Alan Watts, Stephen Bachelor, and the likes really augmented the meditation; I’m not at peace with the concepts of reincarnation and such, and those guys help one see the secular value in Buddhist/Taoist/Zen traditions.

Good luck with your journey!

Speedballs are crap. I’ll give you £300 for it to help you out.

@wwaswas dragon tattoos are ace. Han Mosley almost specialises in them :-D I had no interest in a dragon tattoo until I saw her work, and one of her clients is covering his entire body with them.

check her out on Instagram @mosleytattoos – she’s based in Wilmslow so a 25 minute train out of Manchester if that’s handy for you.

lezyne macro duo 700 has a nice beam pattern. Have cat eye volt 400s too which are great for commutes but bright concentric rings are very noticeable in unlit areas which I find quite distracting and unpleasant.

Got a Dirty Disco for exploring. Exploring = oops this trail really isn’t appropriate. Rare that I get off mind, normally just laughing my erse off. Never flatted and always run 50PSI and seems reet, tho have broken spokes and replaced hubs more frequently than on MTB

“we need to boost the economy and research shows the best way to do this is by cutting corporation tax.” Can’t remember which Tory MP I heard claim this on a Radio 4 interview on increasing revenue through taxes. I guess the extra taxes will come from the plebs, since we have so much money already.

Also, “we [the Tories] believe everyone should be subscribing to a mandatory healthcare insurance scheme”. Different minister, different interview. The day after votes were counted.

People vote for all sorts of complex reasons. In USA one of the most powerful factors in voting habit is whether abortion should be legal. Democracy rulez OK.

Even with marvellous advances in medicine, your pension/retirement is far from guaranteed – live for now

Some corkers here lads n lasses!

My worst ride ever isn’t on a list of great anecdotes, beset on all sides by adversities, mechanicals, and injuries. It was Dirty Reiver this year and I simply could not enjoy any of it after the first fifteen miles – it actually put me off riding. Got a teepee the night before and after, woke up with frost on the duvet, had a shit bacon butty and coffee, set off full of excitement and just run out of puff after an hour or so. Spent the remaining seven hours with the mantra ‘suffering is all mental, there’s nothing objectively bad about this’ (didn’t work for me this time). Drove straight home afterwards and haven’t done a road or gravel ride since. Gutted because the house I moved to in January has amazing extra-long-off-road commute option with a brilliant pub halfway, and I just can’t muster the enthusiasm to ride it.

Haha, I love the 159 but it’s not even sold yet – not for me, too sporty/not quite practical enough.

I feel so old having just written that :-P

Will create a thread on classifieds but if anyone is interested I’ll take £1000 for it (from here, need to put on Gumtree for £1500) – 07 reg, 86k on clock, service history since 2012, recently had it’s big service (80k) where quite a lot was done to it. Some scuffing on bumpers and a wee scrape on the rear passenger wheel arch but otherwise good condition inside and out. As above, luxurious AF comfort and the best car stereo I’ve ever heard.

wzzzz – NO! I could perhaps afford an armrest :-D

I’m guessing increased rebound damping does the same job as LSC – stops the shock from bouncing around as much, which is the real killer, so anything that stiffens it while climbing is a good thing.

Studiously avoiding a second trial of either Flare (pretty sure it is the bike I should’ve gotten), but I was Hella surprised to find on the Rocket I’m generally a fair bit quicker uphill and about the same downhill as on my HT. Getting faster down as I gain confidence in it tho B-)

My lass intoes. Numerous NHS apps, little improvement. Private physio basically gave her yoga conditioning and made her aware of her posture and gait and tips to improve it. Glad I paid for it as she now believes what I’ve been saying all along :-D Hypermobile as F (good for the contortion classes at Circus School!) so good to know which bit to focus on strengthening

https://www.brightbikelights.com/starrylight-rx02-dual-beam-angle for a bar light. Really impressed with it, as are the folk who bought it on my suggestion.

I pair it with a https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Lezyne-Macro-Drive-DUO-700-Light_112054.htm which has a lovely beam, though due to positioning options (lack thereof) on the Bluegrass lid has a slightly distracting shadow that covers a foot or two ahead of the front wheel. Not a problem when using a bar light or on lit streets.

Did have https://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-volt-400-duplex-front-rear-helmet-light/?sku=100346679 which is quick charging and doesn’t have the weird helmet-peak-shadow, but there are bright rings in the beam that do my head in a bit. TBF not really an issue on lit streets, but deffo a commute light not for MTBing.

Hijack! Also going to N.Dublin two weeks before Easter and bringing the gravel bike – is there anything around Malahide/Skerries to be recommended? Anything from road to pennine bridleways level smooth/tech welcome :)

I’m guessing the new generations have a similar (relative) pedalling feel to the older gen and the Flare was notably more spritely on the hills than the Rocket, that’s certainly not down to a fairly negligible weight difference.

Don’t know that I’ll ever be certain I made the right choice on the Rocket – a Flare would be even more perfect for most of my riding, but I don’t think I’ll ever run out of travel with what I have and I bloody love it to shreds!

…just need to persevere with getting Mrs DD into MTBin so /she/ needs a Flare ;-P

Surely one day with a coach (surprised not to see A-Line or Dirt School suggested) followed by a week to put it all into practice – perhaps with another half day toward the end to critique how well you’re adopting the advice if you can afford that too.

Even more than a bike: try before you buy! Not least because each instrument of a given model will be subtly different in feel and sound. Second hand is great for guitars as it takes a decade or so for the grain to open

And pay a luthier or guitar tech to set it up properly for you. If you’re near Manchester you could do worse than using Chris Spencer, if he’s not currently on tour with Johnny Marr, Niall Rogers or the like…

bump on this – struggling to find any straight steerer/QR/disc carbon forks from a reputable brand – any horror stories from these guys?

Aye, sweep is deffo a thing! I like the position, it’s the angle of the wrists that’s the problem – I didn’t realise Stooge were doing those bars so will save up some pennies to try them out!! presumably one ends up running a longer stem to keep the hands in the same place-ish tho???

Also ended up with Marys on the Croissant of Iron, using the same stem that came with it, so 100-110. Really bloody like it!

Those flat bar tiagra shifters aren’t cheap tho :-/ I’d probably change the mech instead

How overdue? One of my clients routinely owes several invoices at a time and up to 90 days overdue – but then I know they’ll always pay up eventually so I’m not overly worried.

I think you can track companies financial records to give an indication of how financially healthy they are in general…

You can also try sending a letter explaining that after x date you will be applying interest at a rate of y%pd – keep it fairly reasonable tho. That might expedite a payment.

@mos a friend recently had five minutes on mt Rocket and then shouted at me for letting him. He spent the rest of the ride debating how to sell his Swoop to fund a Rocket ;-P

Absolutely. I just choose pubs that are further away!

Cheap bike, nippy bike, burly bike. I guess they’re all bikes but i don’t see much else as a theme!

Is this the same as not being good at eating breakfast?

Sunn O))) in Islington Mill??? My my, heaven and hell crushed into a singularity! :-D

LCD Soundsystem, Ritz, 2005/6. Sounded like every driver in every box was about to explode, but in an amazing way. Always had loud tinnitus but for a week I thought it was going to be ten times worse – kinda felt it would be worth it! (It got better)

As a sound engineer and an audiologist, ear plugs are a good idea. Custom moulded ones should be so comfy you don’t notice them and reduce level to safety. Reason to have loud room and plugs is the neurotransmitter release from high levels of bass, literally makes you feel good (unless you have a psychological aversion to loud sounds, then you won’t enjoy it!). Plugs mean you can achieve that without the overall sound being dogsh*t.

Tinnitus /probably/ means permanent damage, but in a cumulative and often incremental way. Best not to worry if you’ve already experienced some as the “cure for tinnitus” (it’s not possible from what we know of what it is) is essentially to recondition one’s response when noticing it to not give a toss. Mine is always there, it’s only really gig levels that can mask it, but having it from childhood means I don’t mind it. Wouldn’t like it to get much worse, but am prepared to Zen through that as it comes

Sell both and get a gravel – after trying a few first, of course ;-P

Was dropping chains with it on. Removed a link. Now doesn’t drop with it off.

Kudos for the Alan Watts quote!

Got two jobs, love them both. One ticks the feel-good/karma box but pays less than my bills, the other ticks the fun box and, these days, pays pretty well. My only complaint would be not enough time off (I work all my first job holidays and a lot of evenings/weekends to do the second job so the kids and us get enough bread and the odd treat), but then I’m about to reduce my days in job 1 to address this.

Neither provide a huge amount of challenge, which you seem to be realising is the source of your woes, so I started an MSc a few years ago – would highly recommend that! Hope to get back to that when I’m working less – which would of course ruin the new-found relaxation time, but I’m not very good at sitting around not doing much anyway so that won’t be a huge problem for me! (Think I’m going to set up my studyspare around a turbo trainer so still getting the physical output I need)

Is a gravel/CX bike actually the tool of choice for the Marathon so??

https://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php

a most reassuring read! Easily the best value money I’ve spent on bike stuff.

ooft. £60 suddenly feels like it’s been wasted ;-;

I found it very hard to recondition myself from that metric of success. Four years of a much better life-balance, seeing how much more time, energy, fun and love I was able to give my children was the biggest factor – they’ve had a pretty awesome childhood as a result of my career change (and have no idea how hard I struggled financially, so more or less money clearly has no effect on them. Helps they like dhaal and rice tho) – coupled with having so much more fun and social times/hobbies than any of my more career-focussed peers and friends.

‘Career success’ always strikes me as perpetually elusive anyway, it seems folk are only happy when they’re moving up, meaning they’re never happy with where they are.

You define your metrics, but don’t expect that to come without effort – make perception change a measure of your success!

What about this marathon then – that’s more of a social vibe innit? And tech-wise, how does it fare? Are we talking Hebden Bridge or Hope Valley levels?