That xtremesportandleisure seller on Ebay seems far to cheap !!!! Ten * stainless steel for £18.50 delivered 😯

Core exercises

this covers the "basics" and "Lying leg lift stabilisation" – I started on these to get used to engaging the muscles. When engaging the core abs I tense the muscles in a triangle from the bony bits on the front / side of the pelvis down. I can breathe and then keep these tense.

Then there are either static (plank, side plank, bridge) or dynamic exercises – using gym or medicine balls or weight stacks. Mix and match as they will work differently. Focus on keeping the abs engaged and performing the exercise correctly.

I also exercise glutes including the side glutes as I find these stablise the leg at the top of the pedal stroke. Lie on your side with knees bent, tie an elastic band around your knees and then whilst engaging the core and not tilting your pelvis raise the upper knee against the resistance whilst keeping your ankles together – so your legs are like a clam.

Agree with above about core work – thoug I'd suggest getting someone to show you how to engage and train the correct core muscles (abs / glutes) as a lot of people don't know how to.

Long off road rides – as much to get your bottom and hands used to long rides as for fitness.

On road – you'll get fitter faster on road 'cos you can keep at the desired intensity

variety – agree with above that a schedule can make it dull for me so mix and match.

skills training – get some so you learn to be more economical when biking – has made a big difference to me.

Recovery time – as important as training

Oops, meant chain ring / sprocket wear not chain wear.

Are they really more muck-resistant than geared setups (getting tired of chainsuck & shifting problems riding in Pennine muck)?

Yes

How easy is getting the chainline sorted?

So long as you get different size spacers to go on the free hub it's easy.

What sort of ratio would be good (bearing in mind I don't want to kill my knees)?

personal choice – I run 32:18 rather than 32:16 as I prefer to have a higher cadence but now I'd run odd ratios to even chain wear out maybe 32:17.

Is facial hair also a requirement for riding a bike with one gear?

No but I'm sure it helps.

Some chap I know was insured with NFU (yes, the farmers' union) and his went down.

BTW It's NFU Mutual, not the farmers union – lots of people mix the two up!!!! They offer a discount that increases the longer you've been insured with them up to a set amount.

Having said that motor rates are rising across all companies at the moment due to various factors. Always pays to shop around as said above but make sure that the cover you get is what you want – eg some give a courtesy car while others don't.

Have run trailrakers for the last 5+ years – 1.95 come up small which is good as the frame doesn't clog up. Very good in mud but not too impressed with them on tarmac or roots (though the roots might be my riding style). Have run them with tubes and ghetto tubeless with no problems. Wear rate has been good as well. Might try Mud X as a better all round / faster rolling tyre next.

Thanks all – up hill I could do with lower gears and prefer highish cadence to really struggling to turn the cranks – I'm not bothered about being able to hit high speeds and still peddle. Can't remember exactly what the rear cassette is but I did change it in the past to give lower gearing – I'll check it tonight.

Saw DG's Island tour a few years back and Echoes live was superb. The DVD didn't do it justice though.

I've heard that the cage flexes compared to the metal cages – not tried it yet but you can cable tie the bottom of the cage together which makes it stronger at the bottom – there are two holes near the bottom you can use.

But you're assuming there's a need to do so Dave – what is it that they're going to use the taxes on exactly?

The need is to fund the UK tax system pot which then gets spent on anything the central or local Government decides (roads, public pensions, paying off debt, C2W scheme, refuse collection). A flat rate of tax be it car parking charge, yearly car tax, local community charge tax (or whatever it's called now) does not tax people on how much they do something. Hence I would prefer a tax where the amount you do something – drive your car or send rubbish to landfill is preferable. Though a land fill tax would be virtually unenforceable IMO.

EDIT – OK, so people driving 1.5 miles to work wouldn't be affected by a pay as you go tax.

This comes up every now and again. If a company has 1000 spaces are they going to pay the tax – why should they if they own the land? Or are the employees to pay? If it's the employees then is it a flat charge per year or a pay as you go? If the employee is to pay then who will administer it and where will that charge be added to ? What happens if it's a flat charge to have a space so you choose to go by bus except for the occasional days you need the car 'cos you've got, for example, a hospital appointment.

IMO too difficult to set up and administer. Go the polluter pays route – add tax to petrol so that the more miles you do in an uneconomical vehicle the more you pay.

If the freehub body itself is OK you can rebuild it using bearings / pawls and springs – though it'll only save you @ £10 on the complete unit. That's what I'm doing as a quick search gave rushcycles as having one in stock but never ordered off them and feel the urge to rebuild.

Plenty of fish – free so gets a wide range of, erm how can I say it, "interesting people".

Dating direct – more women than men (as per most sites). Female friend at work got 200 emails in a couple of days. I got circa 10 in 3 months. No one replied to my emails – think the picture of the single speed put them off.

Fitness Singles – wow, people contacted me and everyone replied to my emails – some even commented on the single speed 😆 Everyone seemed normal. Not many people on there so you might have to travel.

If the difference is poplock (then no) and blackbox damping (maybe). I bought a SID race earlier this year as I don't think I'd be good enough to notice the difference in damping but others have said the blackbox is a big improvement.

So far I've not got it set up well enough IMO – run a low pressure to get the sag/travel but it tends to go through the first half quickly and the second is quite a lot slower. No idea if the blackbox would be an improvement in this area.

My Souls @ three years old – got chainsuck using Middleburn rings and since switching to XT it's been better though can't remember if it was cured 100% as not ridden it for a while.

I was scammed a few years ago involving a cheque. I was with the Nationwide and they were no help at all. They treated me like the criminal. I reported it to the Police who tried but couldnt't trace the person. As I had reported it to the Police they were able to get a copy of the cheque, acccount details it was paid into etc. From this I could prove that the name of the account didn't match exactly what was on the cheque (cheque was crossed so had to match) and therefore the Nationwide had to reverse the payment. Though I had to get copies of the relevant legislation to prove all this to them. Bottom line, report it to the Police so they can get involved. Nationwide were useless.

pulls up comfy chair …..

Try MSE – went through the various sites and the Royal Mail came up cheapest but only just. BTW make sure you get an accurate weight for it before you start getting prices.

Moneysavingexpert

The problem with the solo area was that the marquee was far too big

I think there were five people in there – at previous events I've seen more people use it.

I'd like to see the solo area set up similar to Enduro 6 so that it doesn't matter where you set up it's the same distance to go for all soloists and no bottles/food handed over outside this area.

Turned up to watch this year and with the bone dry course wish I'd done some laps.

1. Agree @ 12 start/finish

2. Prefer to have to cross the line after the 24 hours. Though this year at MM it didn't matter and you got a placing even if you didn't do the 24 hours.

3. Agree about course map and routes to get to the different spots

4. Re categories / podiums – they introduced a solo vets category at MM one week after the event had finished !!! I think to get a podium place you should be within a certain percentage of the winner (say 75% but shold be easy to work out from previous years what it should be if you take a 10th place finisher as the marker).

5. Mixed teams / women – I've told the g/f that she's racing with me next year as a mixed pair – she's doing two laps and I'm soloing the rest as it's my best chance of a podium even though she's only been on an mtb once. At 2412 the Torchbearer mixed pairs had one entry I think. Suggest team members have to do laps within a certain percentage of each other though very difficult to monitor and what happens when a team member is ill?

Others
solo area – have one way in and another out – try to set it up so that people at the track side don't have an advantage in not having to cycle off to their tents – might not sound a lot but if you stop 9 times and lose 3 minutes to/from your tent that's close on half an hour.

Recycling – easy to put different bins out.

Get the results right – see point 2 above. No changing of categories after race starts – wrong category then no category !!! If people knew they were racing you then they might have ridden differently.

I know it's a fun event but some of us do race. At 2412 someone cut a section of the course out and they weren't going to penalise them unless they were near the front. Why? Same rules for everyone.

Courses – MM and SITS getting better though it seems that 2412 have dry / wet options.

BTW I liked the dog commentary – took me quite a while to work out it's wasn't for Sleepless !!!

I've provided water bottles at a previous event and they went down well. Provided the art work as a jpeg I think and a run of 50.

Your total excess will be compulsory + voluntary. This will then be deducted by the insurance company from any claim you make. If there is a third party involved you may be able to claim the total excess back off them if the accident's their fault (usually using the legal expenses cover you have).

There may also be different compulsory excesses on a policy depending for example on the age of the driver or for windscreen claims.

Lol I've only got a 27sp fs fully ready to ride any trail center!

BURN HIM !!!!!!

😉

not only can you tax it online with them checking that there's current insurance and an MOT but you can see the MOT history of the car for the last few years.

if you take it anywhere then check that they don't put healthy cats down if a home can't be found.

I would suggest making sure your current system is working as efficiently as possible. What's the state of the water in the rads – does it need flushing and refilling? Are there air blocks in the radiators? Are the radiators balanced correctly? If you have a room thermostat does it turn the system off before the kitchen is heated up?

Also look at insulation. Can you fit good quality curtains / blinds to the windows? Reduce air gaps around doors/windows.

OK, two of them turned up. One sat in the van while the other did the work. Half an hour to – replace the wires / cones, realign the runners, add tension to the spring and oil up the runners, wires and spring. Watched some of what he was doing and it's not difficult – IMO there's nothing that a competent DIY'er or home bike mechanic shouldn't be able to manage so long as you follow a logical approach and the online instructions. In the future I would do it myself with parts bought off the web (see link above).

A girl at work met someone whilst speed dating and they're now happily married. Another friend got a bit addicted to them and went to quite a few. At one he'd already met or gone on a date with everyone there whilst on another he got null points (ie no matches). Other male friends at work have been and they say that sometimes there's a shortage of blokes !!!! All seem to have enjoyed themselves.

Looked into it but not done it myself due to cost and pay back period though I live on my own so heating water costs are minimal. A friend had a system installed a couple of years ago and they think it's great.

From a money POV using solar to heat water is not cost efficient if you pay for someone to install it. It may be better if you can DIY – there is a site where you can buy the kit yourself.

Using solar to generate electricity (PV cells) is more cost efficient with the new Feed in tarif (FIT) though figures vary as to when your initial capital outlay is paid off, maybe 10 – 12 years. BUT you have to use a credited installer which pushes the prices up along with a high demand and limited supply (Worldwide shrotage of inverters). Also better if people are in the house during the day which is when you generate most electric from the panels.

Threads on Moneysavingexpert.com are a good place to look though there are some people really anti solar on there.

I looked in yellow pages – Syro – they can do it tomorrow and I will see how good a job they do. With hindsight I'd have got someone in to replace the cables etc. and make sure the door was working OK a few years ago. That way I could have got it done at a time to suit me (and spent longer getting quotes) or even attempted it myself.

Tks for all the advice. Now got a price of £45 plus parts to fit wires, cones, spindles (if needed), tension spring (if needed), straighten the rollers and get it all working so am happy with that – they said it's 3/4's of an hour labour for one person so with travel time I reckon it's not too bad.

Tks. The prices quoted wasn't £80 for parts and labour both sides – that was £80 to refit one non broken cable on one side that a neighbour needed doing. Am phoning around as I would prefer to pay someone if I can get a decent price.

I'm waiting for the precious premiership footballers to come out with, we can't play in the rain next!!!

The England team can't play in the dry so they've no hope in the wet ….

When I was seven we were being made to run 5K followed by a 30 minute swim several times per week. That was on top of rugby/football/hockey/cricket/athletics training (depending on the season), general gym and whatever other sports we chose to partake in.

Right, when I was three I had to climb to the top of the hill, chop some wood for fire, cycle to school in three foot snow, score a century in cricket AND finish running a marathon before I'd even started it !!!

I don't think power is really much use off road, the terrain dictates your pace far more

Tks, that's what I thought – might be useful to see the spread of power used off road and for how long to assist in planning your training.

Is there any benefit in getting an off road version of the Power Tap so it can be used off and on road ? You seem to be able to rent the road versions for a reasonable price but not the off road ones.

If you use them do you use 1 or 2 poles ? And is there a technique you try and follow such as when left foot forward then the right hand pole is forward ?

Been out walking with the g/f twice this year in Snowdonia and both times I'm struggling and ache afterwards. I tell her that after 10 years mtb'ing I've evolved into a higher being more suited to biking that walking ….. she doesn't believe me.

I wish I hadn't clicked on that relationship link ….. it'll take hours reading through that lot 😀