Jeez. It’s Friday FFS, go buy yourself some cleats and go for a ride!

I really don’t give a crap either way but I would like to know 1 thing, why the change of username?

Did the 24hr last year as part of a team. Very good, fun course with a bit of everything. As others have said it’s not overly technical but there’s enough to catch you out in the wee small hours if you lose concentration, I had 2 “offs” in exactly the same spot on consecutive laps. Final descent into the arena to the start/finish is an absolute hoot. Best atmosphere around the event village of any event I’ve been to.

I’d been looking forward to it since riding it last year, if anything the course was a little better this year. Rapidly becoming one of my favourite events, much more chilled out than Bikefest.

Well done SPAM!

No matter how “elite” you think you are, you’re really not.

Hmmm, sending it back would make the most sense but I need the bike for the weekend. Grrrrr!

Sweet. I love rides like that when there’s nobody else about. Almost enough to make me miss working nights!

Erlestoke is one of my favourite events. Great vibe about the place and a very entertaining course. My advice would be to ride it like you’re out on a regular ride, that way you’ll be a lot more relaxed and you’re ride will flow a lot better. Riding like you’re racing will tense you up and you’ll have a nightmare, does for me anyway.

We’ve got plenty of MB Swindon riders taking part, we’ll have a gazebo and the BBQ fired up Sat night, feel free to come over and join us.

Right ho. Easy when you know how eh!

How do you import routes from endomondo to strava then?

Pete’s eats is a victim of it’s own success. Used to be great when hardly anyone went there, probably still is on a wet Tuesday in November. Go any weekend between April and September though and it’s far too busy to operate at anything like a decent standard.

Good work OP. Think I’d have given him an option,I either call the police or I kick the living c**p out of him!

2009 focus superbud, snapped clean through the seatstay

They say these things happen in 3’s. I’d be sitting up tonight with a set of bombers!

No matter what you think now you’ll miss the hardtail when you haven’t got one. Sell it by all means but definitely buy/build another hardtail.

had an enduromatic for a couple of months now, best lid I’ve ever used!

Been riding with an urge endur o matic for the last couple of months. Best lid I’ve ever had, hardly notice I’m wearing one and the peak is flexible enough to not be an issue in a crash. Ventilation while riding is superb but gets a tad warm if you stand still for too long on really hot days.

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/8902018.Cyclist_died_three_days_after_injury_between_Hackpen_and_Overton/

The “stockist” link at the bottom of the page says Red Planet Bikes is the only stockist in Swindon. That shop shut down over a year ago!

I was always told that your bar length should be equal to the distance between the outsides of your hands when you’re in the press up position.

It was a great day and the trail is what it is. If you live next door to FOD or deep in the welsh valleys you really wouldn’t want to make the journey to ride there. What it does offer however, is some pretty interesting riding in an area that is often described as a mountain biking blackspot,literally less than half an hours ride away for the majority of Swindon’s residents.

White tea with one sugar please. Chocolate hob nob anyone?

I had one for a couple of years and found it was mostly ignored or, more often, used as an excuse to spread out and block my way! It’s worth noting that pedestrians ALWAYS have right of way, even on dedicated cycle paths. I find it much better to slow down and exchange pleasantries but there’ll always be the odd cock who’ll tell you you’re wrong whatever you do.

Leisure lakes, Cheltenham

Make sure you stock up with break pads, the pastey mud eats them for breakfast. I’d “done” a set by the halfway point of W2 on a winter ride there last year. Brilliant fun though.

Holy thread resurection Batman!

Those of you who’ve got one of these lids, how do you find the fit? I seem to have a between sizes head, tried on a s-m and it was too small where as the l-xl was too big. to my knowledge they don’t do a m-l.

Hmm, seems to be a bit of a grey area this. There’s plenty of literature about to tell you it’s an offence but I can’t find anything in print to say what the punishment is or how it would be dealt with. I was always under the impression it was written down in black and white that you’d get a fixed penalty fine and a slap on the wrists (assuming you hadn’t harmed anyone/thing in the process obviously).

MB Swindon[/url] was born out of a need to raise funds for a local trail being built by a handful of volunteers. We have a comittee but as we were applying for grants we needed to be all above board. It’s grown into something none of us ever imagined it would and the trail is starting to look good as a result. We have club events, either rides or trail building most weekends and a lively social side

I wanted something low maintenance and low theft risk. Bought an old fully rigid 90’s mtb frame for £10, put a half decent set of wheels and a singlespeed kit on it and hey presto.

It’s a brilliant bike for around town but as it’s quite scruffy looking it doesn’t get a 2nd glance.

Having ridden in France i found the attitude of motorists towards cyclists to be, in general, better than in the UK. However, I found Paris to be comparable to our major cities and would hazard a guess thast most capital cities around Europe are similar.

Obviously I’m pro anything that makes cycling in major cities easier but I just don’t see this will help. Far better to implement a “head start” system at traffic lights (as I believe they have in Copenhagen) IMO

Not just giving motorists one more reason to hate cyclists then?

Self insurance, the onlt way to go!

Take the mtb and you can ride it on the road, doesn’t quite work the other way round!

As I understand it you can use the whole cassette in either chainring on a 2×10 set up and you have just as many unique ratios as a 3×9 set up.

Willing to be proved wrong on both counts though!

Definitely keep on at the police to do something. You have everything you need, van reg, witnesses etc. Her bike’s been damaged and at the vey least she wants reimbursing for the cost of putting it right. I’m no legal expert but the way I see it there’s 2 issues here 1) road rage, 2) leaving the scene of an incident.

chainge the record

also btw we do a night ride every Weds should you want to do a proper ride once your work is over

Might take you up on that one week, at least I’ll have an excuse for being tired and slow!

Thanks for all the suggestions folks. I only have them for 2-3 hrs on a Wednesday and have to ride from the school so it’s pretty much Norbury park/Ranmore/Box Hill.

Have a look at these guys. They’re new in the alps but Andy and Danni have been guiding rides in Greece for a few years and know their stuff.

@rewski – much as I’d love to do something a bit more local the school I work with is in Dorking. Plus I like the change of scenery.

@soulwood – Reckon you’ve hit the nail on the head there. I do think it’s more the fact I’ve got the nerve to be taking a group of kids out into the countryside when they really should be sat indoors infront of a tv/xbox than it is about me riding there!