The last time I raced I think it was a Sportage race in Dalby many years ago…
I’ve signed up for the Ardrock but gone for the Saturday because I wanted to see what it was like doing a full timed lap without hanging around waiting for to recover on the climbs (I like climbs, I have a high pain threshold!).
Anyone know if there are water stations on Ardrock? I want to keep my back free for use as a massive radiator!

Anything yet?

I’m currently scanning the weather reports. Just a day on the piste for me. Will it be Glenshee or Cairgorm? Saturday or Sunday?

The only politician to keep his integrity with Ali G.

I think the mods deleted a post. I saw it this morning at the top of my favourites with a user name and SPAM as last poster.

Well, it was either spam or something else in need of immediate deletion!

Whatever you do, don’t read the comments below the video!
It’s a rogue’s gallery of anti-cyclist stereotypes! (sign in is via Facebook so full name and job title appear!)

Check out these enlightened individual’s opinions:

Alan Norton · Surveyor at Cambridge City Council
Ann McColgan · Inverness Royal Academy

It’s like a bigot trawler!

“Courtesy Causes Confusion”

Certainly does! This morning at Kirkhill roundabout, I’m travelling North and turning right to go to airport, some numpty in the outside lane (outer lane of roundabout, long way around) just in front of me (who, it turns out is doing a 180 degree turn to head back to Aberdeen as I saw in my mirrors 3 seconds later!), decides to stop on the roundabout and let out some queuing traffic from the Southbound carriageway. I carry on with my manouvre, indicating left after I pass the Northbound exit and all the traffic that had just started to move off, slams on as I sail past them. My exit was unobstructed by stationary traffic.
There’s too much of that in Aberdeen, When it’s gridlock, yes. Not when everything is moving smoothly.

A similar thing happened to me while cycling from Rugby to Dunchurch about 2005. I was approaching the roundabout near the supermarket and a white van did the same. There is a shared path which I was not using as it was usually full of pushchairs and street furniture. I said very similar things as the white van tried to take an impression of my body with it’s steel side. I try not to cycle on the road these days!

They are optically as good as Oakleys. They have to be due to the fact that they are designed to be used with night vision goggles. I have an idea that they will become popular by word of mouth. Buy now before the price goes up!

I’d regard that as attempted murder!

I used to commute 8 miles each way. No showers so quick babywipe etc. I tended to get a lot of saddle sores…

Hi Hugh!
I think bumbags are going to make a comeback… I just bought a large ‘Alpine’ one and can fit everything I need in it and don’t have a sweaty back any more. Just sayin’.

I think Shoecare do taped seam refurbish.

EDIT: now called http://www.lancashiresportsrepairs.co.uk/

I’ve got an X9 long cage. I managed to get my hands on a PG1050 cassette and will be nicking a 16T off it. I have a 12-36 so I’ll be nicking the 11T as well.
I can’t wait to see if my 8 weeks off the bike will allow me to pedal up the familiar Aberdeenshire hills with a slightly higher bottom gear… Nurse!

Arrived this morning – ordered on Thursday, posted in East Sussex on Friday.
I’m very impressed by the quality and the design. It’s actually got a subtle ‘dish’ to it to allow a wider ‘bed’ on to the splines and to clear the spokes. Well worth the £65 – ish.

So I Married an Axe Murderer – one of my all time faves. Mike Myers in a ‘straight’ comedy role.

Full of excellent cameo performances. Alan Arkin is superb. The Scottish father character is awesome. Some great lines.

Try a pair of the latest goggles issued to HM Armed Forces for desert use:
Revision Bullet Ants.

I’m trying a set for general trail riding due to me having unnaturally watery eyes! Apart from some steaming up issues, seems to be like wearing Oakleys without the draught.
I got mine off Ebay for about £25

I went in there regularly but mostly got: “sorry, we don’t have them, we can order it from the importers for you”. (CRC got my order… oops!). 29er innertubes for example?
I did buy some cable cutters once though!
I get all my consumables and mundane stuff (cables, inner tubes, mudguards, commuter bits) from Pedal Power. The owner can get a bit feisty if you ask for something ‘stupid’ but altogether a more useful store. Way better than the dreadful Halfrauds in Inverurie.

I would add that I have solo use of this brick outhouse, it has a locking door and safety glass in the window. It’s also next to a Police station!
I’d like to keep the bike in a ‘under the counter’ style box so that eyes cannot see it if I had the door open while pottering about. Also, it would protect the bike from getting buried by clutter etc. I could use the lid as a workbench and have a large door in the front to get the bike out. I may end up custom making something out of wood. Just wondered if there was a metal version that would be easy to assemble.

I’ve got the non-hooded version of the Haglofs Boa and I don’t rate it as well as my Paramo. The Haglofs material seems to trap too much moisture. I use the Haglofs for hillwalking and the like but not biking.
The Paramo can be used up to about 8 degrees and is very good in high windchill.

Paramo +1 Got one of those over the head ones with loads of vent zips. I team it with a merino polo neck (and skullcap) and a buff with Sealskin windproof/waterproof gloves (waterproof shorts over long tracky bottoms on the lower half). In order for it to do it’s stuff and breathe and be waterproof, don’t use a rucsac. I use a large Scott bumbag.
I can go out in almost all weathers (off road) down to about -5 (so far) and not get cold when I stop.

Hi mrbotticelli, I now have a Veho mount. It’s not bad but it’s very tight slotting into the GoPro ‘blades’. It’s also a bit ‘slippery’. I will insert a locating pin similar to the Sony mount to prevent the camera from rotating on the tripod screw.

just too many seams to work properly

The waterproof liner is usually a one-piece welded ‘shell’ which is sewn in (using tabs) between the inner and outer layers. Seams are irrelevant.

I’ve had the Sealskins windproof waterproof cycling gloves for 4 years and still going strong. The only time I’ve known a pair to fail is because of over-washing them. DON’T put them in the washing machine! I wash mine as if I’m washing my hands. I wash my hands while wearing them under the tap with a bit of liquid handsoap. Then put them in a warm place to dry off. I know they’re still totally waterproof because I don’t get any leakage while performing my washing method!

It’s colder on the road also because average speeds are higher so more windchill.

My next mod will be to the chest harness. I want to attach a larger plate behind the central mounting base to give a more stable platform and replace some of the straps with non-stretchy ones to reduce the amount of bounce.

You can always inspect the Argos item before leaving the store. Get it brought from the ‘temple of dreams’ to view at the customer services till, make em open it and show you. I have a hunch it’s the stock clearance of the older-cased version. I’ve never seen it ship caseless. How would you mount or even hold it?

mrbotticelli: That Veho mount looks good, I may get one. I bought this: ebay item
I’ll see if it’s any good. I need to use the GoPro swan neck mount (as in my pic above) to get my Sony facing forwards.

Rusty Mac: It’s going for as little as £160.00 on ebay for a brand new one with the older case.
Try here:

link

I think that’s where I got mine from but I can’t quite remember. It was very cheap though and was a grey import.

EDIT: just checked my emails, it was ebay: photodirect where I bought mine and they don’t seem to do them any more.

The new case seems to be a lot better designed. It will mount to my chest harness better because it has the tripod screw at the rear of the case, allowing a lot more upward tilt. I have ordered a male tripod screw-to-GoPro adapter this time (I couldn’t find one when I modded originally back in May 2013) so I’ll see how secure it is when it arrives. I may have to bodge to prevent the camera unscrewing itself.
The new external buttons are very useful – I now don’t have loads of 1 sec movies where I had to press the record button to start up the camera when it was case-bound!

mrbotticelli: I was selling because I was skint! I have been rescued so now don’t have to sell off all my gadgets!

Ok chaps here’s my case mods:

This is for the old case. I used a standard GoPro tripod mount, cut a length of 1/4″ tripod thread from an old camera case retainer and inserted it into the GoPro mount adapter to turn it from a female into a male. I then screwed it tightly into the removed baseplate of the Sony case and centred it. I then screwed the baseplate and GoPro mount unit back onto the Sony case. All held together by a generous amount of Gorilla Glue between GoPro mount adapter and baseplate and a load around the edge of the GoPro mount where it was close to the plastic case body.

Above you can see the holes in the GoPro mount adapter where I screwed through to reattach the baseplate.

It’s a little untidy but it points in the right direction and hasn’t come off despite several crashes and drops. I cut the third ‘leg’ off the GoPro mount adapter to change the gender so it now sits in the 3 legged half of the GoPro mounts.

I Gorilla glued a 30-37mm step-up ring into the front of the case after pushing the old glass domed lens out. Even with a low profile filter I was getting a bit of vignetting at extreme moments when the anti-shake cuts in. So I used a hot screwdriver to remove as much material from the rear of the front door of the case to bring the camera forwards. A bit of camping mat pads out the rear. Vignetting only at 170 now. If you’ve done the filter mod, press record and shake the camera violently. You may see dark corners appear on playback. This is caused by the software ‘moving’ the sensor area around to compensate for the shaking. This is why I hacked away at the door to move the camera forwards.

You will see tape covering holes on the case. I had planned to install some buttons from a cheapo 7dayshop camera case. But I drilled the holes first, then moved the camera forwards to combat the vignetting – doh! They didn’t line up anymore!

One tip for anyone doing the filter mod: Black out the sides of the hole behind the filter, you may get reflections in the back of the filter in bright sunlight.

I’m after something similar. I need an extended battery capability though for long weekend trips with full GPS. I currently have a Motorola Defy with a bulging back cover that defeats it’s water resistance somewhat. Anything same as OPs request but will take a battery pack? I upgrade in June, anything coming up soon?

Sorry for thread hijack but I think OP and I are after similar things…

Hi fivespot, that filter mod is very similar to mine, do you get any vignetting at 120 degrees? I had a bit so managed to move the camera quite far forwards in the case with a bit of hacking at the back of the front door and fitted a very slim filter (I’ll post pics tonight). Doesn’t vignette even at extreme anti-shake moments.

Do you seem to get less of the turquoise skies with it?

I’ve got a 2001 Alhambra 1.9 tdi that I’m looking to shift soon. I’m in Aberdeen. Give me an email if you’re interested.

Oh, thanks crikey, I’d never thought of that.

I need to be at the Airport terminal side so I’m thinking pub bike locked up somewhere in Dyce would be a good idea. I can walk from Insch end.
My other possibility is park and ride from Blackburn but I would get very mucky going through Kirkhill and no showers at work…

Looks like car will be the only decent option as the fuel cost is lower than train fare. I’m very jealous about my time spent travelling so lift-share not really an option. I used to do it but my commute time got so extended it wasn’t worth it.

It’ll be the 7.30 from Insch and 17.30 from Dyce – so, yes, rush hour.

What are the Train Managers like? Any observed refusals or is the worst one can expect just loud tutting from fellow passengers?

Anybody got a Strava or gpx route of last year’s? Just so I know what I’m up against! I was thinking of going out hard and fast at 10am and trying to get to the top of the first descent pretty early. After that as long as I keep a decent pace I should be reasonably clear of the enduro riders… That’s the plan anyway!

I had a 0% yogurt and honey for brekkie, approx. 100 cals. I had a ready meal from Asda for lunch, usually about 300 cals. I had another yogurt in the afternoon so running total about 500 cals. I then had another snack of about 150 cals mid evening followed by an early night. The lunches from Asda kept hunger at bay at least until 5pm.

I sometimes had a massive skimmed milk latte in the morning and clung on until 12 noon for lunch.

You are definitely hungry in the morning and last thing at night but it’s better than being hungry 7 days a week which is how I see normal ‘diets’!

I feel mentally more alert as well.

I have a man-flu thing going on at the mo so last fast day was last Thursday but there must be a delayed reaction sort of thing because the weight has continued to drop since then.

On the question of altitude. B17 service ceiling was 35,600 ft, Mossie was 37,000. Mossie B XVI had a pressurised cockpit.