I do it every so often and always do the motorway.
Came back from Pembrokeshire last Saturday and it was under 2hrs from Cardiff to Warwick going on m50, m5, m42 and m40. Very easy driving.

Does depend on what time you want to travel though

Why do some people have all these doubt about which bike is lighter?

Sat on a forum how on earth can anyone state that there is no way one bike can be lighter than another.

I’ve got a KCNC cockpit on my Tuareg and it’s fine.
Their bits are beautifully made, very light and I’ve not died in the 18months I’ve ridden it.

Either way the Anthem frame is a great start to build an unfairly light bike – anyone riding one clearly needs to carry bricks to even things up a bit.

We have an Aerobed that we use at home. It has a built in pump and is OK.

Last year I bought an outwell inflatable one and it’s rather good – much better than the Aerobed.
I bought a 12V pump as it’s got a large volume so it gets plugged into the car for 1 min then it’s up.

Quite tall, very comfy and the non slip top means you don’t slide all over the place.

Not the cheapest but Mrs R likes it and she is the first to complain when not being comfortable when camping.

The anthem really is that weight – I ride with him have seen/compared it myself.

Very impressive for a FS bike.

23lbs with pedals

I think the 12yr old bit is irrelevant – what bike for a 5ft girl.

Something light and not expensive is moon on a stick as money mainly buys you lighter components.
I’m about to have the same issue with my daughter and am probably going to wait until she can ride a small framed bike – whether it be women specific or not.

Then it’s going to be a matter of how much we decide to spend. I’m tempted to buy something second hand so it not a big deal if it gets dropped, you get more for your money etc.

So I’d get her leg/torso measurements and/or visit a bike shop so she can sit on a few, Then look at ebay etc.

I’m going to struggle to buy something cheap as kids tend to respect decent equipment and I’ll make her look after it and lumber her with the problem of never being able to ride a cheap bike again.

Let us know what you end up doing.

There was a thread on this not too long ago

here

I found that the live traps, while they may catch them, are a real hassle so I reverted to real traps.
If you do care about the little critters you need to check the traps very regularly and take them a heck of a way away – half a mile or more, to ensure they will bother other people rather than yourself.

edit: I caught about 12 in total in our garage. I’ve put sonic repelling devices in there and had nothing for quite a while now.

You buy a frame in the UK from an authorised dealer so you have local contact if anything goes wrong.

No doubt if you bought direct from the states and you had an issue you’d expect them to pay postage there and back to sort it for you.

Shock horror business wants to export and provide proper local support for end users.

Electronic maps are fine but you may want to consider taking a real paper map of the area and a compass with you (and know how to use them)

Sods law will dictate that batteries will run out if you rely on them.

If you caused a lot of grief last time you don’t want to be repeating it.

If you navigate to google and type in “Garmin 800 manual” you’ll find all you need to know

They vary but each event should explain.

I’ve done pool swims where there a swimmer goes every 30 secs and you swim 4 lengths, under the lane guide 4 in the next lane, under the lane guide 4 in the third lane then out.

Done some with 4 people at a time every 30 secs in their own lanes with a person counting who tells you when you’ve 2 left to do. Counting yourself can be very hard – I count in groups of 4 lengths (100m) otherwise I forget where I am after 6 lengths or so. I ended up buying a watch that counts for you so I didn’t need to worry about it.

Sprint tri’s tend to be 400m = 16 lengths so not very far.

Don’t go mad – far better to take a minute longer and get out feeling fine than try and do a PB and get out knackered.
The swim is a very small part of the overall time you’ll take and feeling fresh will mean the bike leg will be far faster than any time you’ll save by caning it in the pool.
If you get stuck behind someone don’t panic or go mad – you’ll only lose a few seconds and trying to sprint past isn’t worth it.

Getting there early and watch is a big help on your first one – you get a good feel for how it works.

The reality would be that if you started to do martial arts he will casully draw a gun and shoot you.

so E – lie there and bleed out

I’d get her to go in person to any places with CV in hand and ask to speak to the manger etc

Being polite, well dressed, smiley etc will have more impact than a CV that looks like most other 16yr olds.

Best bet is to give them a call and ask/explain.

I found, when I called to change something, that the chap I spoke to was very reasonable and it was all sorted there and then.

5 here

first MTB – now pub bike
retro hardtail – can’t get rid of it
Ti hardtail
Full Susser
Road bike

Am likely to get a Brompton this year and would love another road bike and a basic singlespeed – repeat until divorce.

If you want to try it I’d recommend an intensive course – don’t just to the CBT. The more days the better

What you want is proper training and the best part of my training (16 years ago now) was the day and a half we had just riding with the instructor.
The basic stuff and passing the CBT teaches you basic bike control – you learn to ride on the road and are best doing it with someone who is very experienced.

I bought a 600 Bandit for my first bike. The power scared me and made me respect it and I kept (and still do) well within my limits. Dropped it twice, both times when I forgot to take the disc lock off. Never dropped it on the road.

One of the best things I’ve ever done.
Do a course and decide after that if you want to spend the money.
As others have said it’s not just the cost of the bike – the equipment is likely to cost you more.

That’s both an impossible, or easy question to answer.

Pretty much all full sus bikes will be fine for what you want, choosing one however is bery much a personal decision that we can’t help with.

With no budget or idea of what you like in a bike it’s not possibel for anyone to recommend anything other than bikes they’ve owned/ridden.

The thing to do is to ride loads of different bikes and decide which ones you like the best.

It’ll be interesting to see how the general public view the story

The general public are, on the whole, present company excluded, stupid and will believe everything in it’s entirety. Therefore they will think that anyone who has a Strava account will be a speed maniac, who races everywhere with no regard for their own or others safey and are a ticking timebomb of death and destruction.

… so they will have a pretty good idea of what using Strava means then

:-)

It’s down to new bike syndrome.

If you get a new bike that you like you ride it faster.

Weight, terrain etc don’t matter and you’re not a machine so you can’t ride them both with the same effort.

The key is to accept that one bike is faster, cos then it always will be, and when you want to destroy your mates you just tell them that you’re riding it. You will believe you are faster therefore you will be and equallythey will know you’re faster so you’ll appear even faster.

The above is all proven – I only have to mention I’m riding my Van Nic Tuareg and riding mates sigh and let me through so as to not hold me up.

Don’t for goodness sakes question it, otherwise you’ll ride the same on both.

I currently have 5

Full Suss (for all day rides)
Ti Hardtail (for riding fast)
Road bike (for the road)
Old retro hardtail (because I love it)
Pub bike (for the pub)

I will add at some point
Better road bike (so I have winter and summer options)
Single speed (for when the mud comes)
Brompton (for the upcoming commute on the train)

That gives me all the options I’m likely to need but I can see me adding a Rohloff bike.

Is there a good climb to descend ratio

It’s 1:1 as you start and finish at the same place so you will climb the exact same amount as you descend.

I like it but prefer Penmachno as it’s more natural. If you’re fit you can ride both in the same day.

The only way to know whether it’s what you will like is to go and ride it and then you can add to the conversation when the next person asks.

It’s always better to try and leave on as good terms as you can.
Just not turning up or going sick is not a good approach.

Best bet is to try and have a civil conversation with them an agree to bring it down. They get a month out of you where you are more motivated, you get less than 2 months which you agreed to by signing your contract.

What you can or can’t do legally is one thing, doing what’s best for you and them is another.

If you really can’t stand it and don’t care about reputation etc then I’d write a letter to say that the position is untenable and you resign with immediate effect – hand back any company stuff and move on.
This for me would really be a last resort, you don’t want to be known for just walking out and not being reasonable.

I have a PhD and just include it in the qualifications part of my CV.

I very rarely use it in my job as a) it’s nor directly relevant and b)it doesn’t affect my ability to do my job, c) there are a lot of crap pepole who use it to try and impress d) it’s more impressive if/when people find out later.

To me it comes across as trying too hard and I have enough real experience to include so as to not need it – IMO but people may say different behind my back :-)

I used to use a WiFi printer hub but it was flakey – went for powerline about a month ago and all is well – it’s faster and has been reliable so it gets my vote.

I bought passthrough ones so I don’t lose a plug socket.

How do you make your living?
IT consultant for large consultancy

Are you happy doing it?
Nope. Hoping an upcoming switch to small consultancy will help (but it won’t)

Would you considering a change of career?
If I had no mortgage certainly – but I get paid too much to do what is an easy job.

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably?
Yep – it’s one of the few things I spend money on and every penny I spend i enjoyed.

I would name and shame as a warning to others not to use their workshop.

I’d then forget about it and get on with my life.

I’m an atheist therefore I don’t have to give up anything.

It might protect Shimano but if the hub does fail can’t you then sue the bike supplier for using a part that isn’t designed for off road use?

I wonder if you had a case for returning a bike to a bike supplier if they used these hubs as it’s not fit for purpose …

If something’s not designed for off road use and you fit it to bike sold for off road use then where do they stand. I’m surprised suppliers haven’t addressed this with Shimano before now.

how do you know it was the same one?

I was convinced it was the same one so we put nail polish in it’s leg.
So unless there are a lot of fashion conscious mice out there….

We had mice in the loft and more recently in the garage.

My daughter wasn’t happy about proper traps so I bought some humane ones.
They work but the mice get full of their own pee plus you have to take them a long way away – we had one that kept coming back.

My advice is just get the basic little nipper, traditional, spring traps.
I have caught 8 mice with a pair of those in the garage and none in 2 more modern designed ones.

Bait with chocolate and check twice a day.
I left a dead one (on purpose) in the garage for 2 weeks as I read the smell will deter others – it didn’t.

second hand Islabike ?

Sounds like you can’t do the second option.
She would need to sell you the house otherwise she still owns it and you’d have issues when she dies.

Best option IMO is the first.
As long as she remains alive for 7 years after gifting you the 40k then you’re fine – 40k is a 20% deposit on a 200k house and if you can afford to rent a flat I it’s likely you can afford a mortgage on a house of that price. Interest rates mean the repayments are likely to be about £800

Make sure you do the sums though as interest rates are very low at present and if they were to double (which is only a few %) you need to be able to afford it. This would increase the mortgage to about £1k ish

Lots of assumptions and you need to work out what sort of mortgage would work but make sure you do it in a way that you both legally own your own homes.

I’ve never really thought about this and it’s been interesting seeing the different views/practices.

I have had jobs where I’ve worked way more hours than I was contracted to do – but these have tended to be smaller companies where I enjoyed the work, liked the people I worked with, got respect from the senior people who appreciated that we were trying to make a difference to the company and were flexible.

Much larger companies tend to be less flexible but it’s often driven by your immediate managerment – which ends up being passed down. If you have a ladder climbing senior boss then they expect everyone to be the same.

I remember a university work placement I did where one boss stopped the students having flexi-time after one guy abused it. The result was we all worked just our contracted hours (supported by immediate bosses), deadlines got pushed back as there was not enough time to get everything done and the brown stuff hit the fan.

It lasted 2 weeks before it got changed back.

As many others have said…

I didn’t feel ready for the responsibility of being a parent and 13 years on I feel no different.

Your life changes for sure, but that’s not a bad thing – some things are harder to do and some new things come along.

I really didn’t want any kids at all – but my wife did and I couldn’t imagine not being with her.

The best thing we’ve ever done is have a daughter – and I know this is hard to believe – but it can be even better than an all day ride in the peaks when the sun is shining and you’re a riding god for the day (it’s a close call but I give it kids)

Reading this thread makes me smile – typical STW

Lots of wooded singletrack = complaints that racing will be bad
Lots of wide tracks = complaints of boring course
Always complaints that it won’t be hilly enough
It’s always in the wrong location
Course will be wrong
etc

I think we need to give Pat and the team the credit that they’ve done this a fair bit now, understand that there needs to be a balance and they are by far the best people to make sure the event ticks as many boxes as possible.

After last year it had to move otherwise too many people would have decided enough was enough and they seem to think Gatcombe has what it takes to make a decent venue.

That’s good enough for me.

The best way is to use small claims or the threat of it – don’t get why you want to be a dick rather than be professional.

If he’s acting the way he is the best approach is a letter saying you’ll use small claims if he doesn’t pay.
I imagine that will wind him up the most without any way of trying to get back at you – They may have a case if you spoof a website that looks like theirs.

The things that I love now and would have never had experienced/done are

Art – particularly modern art
Skiing
My daughter

I could be happy without the first two but her threatening to leave me if we didn’t try for kids is the single best thing she’s ever done.

We also run Minecraft on a Macbook Pro – no problems at all.

(a test that obviously worked for some of the pouty moody tubes above when they stuck their nose in their air and walked off),

Or you could see this as it not working as they missed out on employing talented individuals who are not prepared to go through a process which asks irrelevant questions as they prefer to be foccused on what they do.

I found a psych profile I did for a job ten years ago and it was in retrospect remarkably accurate!

A single profile that was accurate is not exactly proof that they work – where is the evidence of those that didn’t work, where they predict someone witll be appropriate and end up not being.