So… are there any alternatives to GCN+ that don’t involve bending over and being price-gouged by Warner Bros?Only really watch the races, but want On-Demand.  

Nope – it states that to see cycling you must have the ‘Standard’ package at £6.99/mo (= £83.88 per annum)

This is HUGELY disappointing – and the best example of corporate greed ever by Warner Bros.

So in the UK, instead of a £40 per annum subscription to watch ad-free cycling on-demand, Warner Bros expect us to pay MORE THAN DOUBLE the amount (£6.99/mo = £83.88 p/a) to watch cycling with advertisements? Are you F***ing kidding???? They are on crack.

I’m not subscribing, or succumbing to this sh*t.

Thanks. I’ve ordered the Lifeline one. It’s only for occasional use and it’s cheap enough to give it a go.

FWIW – (having been Natural Building Technologies staff before) these things are very, very well built generally. They have a few foibles that we in the UK are not used to, but many more houses are built that way across Europe than our ‘weird’ cavities and brick approach. You should find a few surveyors in the UK used to them and able to advise.

That’s the problem though – I cant find a Surveyor who has any experience with this type of (non-standard) construction.

Any leads?

It wasn’t difficult, there’s not a lot of them for sale. 😀

The misses was wondering if you’re happily married…

You can always post up a pic of your misses :-) but I am indeed happily married…

No idea myself but have you tried asking the manufacturers?

That was our first call… they’re so busy they cant do a survey before 2022 :-(

Build hub. Someone will know.

Thanks – Ive registered on the Forum and will post there.

Is it this one? https://www.knightfrank.co.uk/properties/Residential/Sales/chalk-road-loxwood-billingshurst-west-sussex-rh14/HSM012171513

Very nice.

Yes it is – good sleuthing. We’re very excited!!!

I would call someone like the Ecology Building Society or Natural Building Technologies and ask who they use.

Good tip thanks – I’ll call them.

I had high cholesterol: total of 6.2 with LDL (bad cholesterol) of 4.34. I’ve been eating a WFPB diet for the past 4 years in an effort to lower it. However…

Two heart attacks and a stent later I’ve been diagnosed with ‘Polygenic Hypercholesterolaemia’ i.e. genetics/dealt a sh*tty hand of cards at birth.

I’m on statins from here on out and it lowered my total cholesterol to 2.2 and LDL to 1.2, which is a miraculous drop!

I’m retiring either late this year or early next. Here’s what I’m planning to do:

– Go for walks with my wife & dog in the countryside

– Drink coffee with my wife/visit Cafe’s and just talk

– Continue to be a loving, supportive Dad to my 3 kids

– Ride my bike regularly – with friends

– Spend a season or two (probably in a CamperVan) following the Pro road cycling season: starting with Flanders/Paris Roubaix, then onto the Giro, le Tour, la Vuelta and culminating at the Giro di Lombardia (not slavishly following every stage of every tour, but coming and going as we please, to the stages/places that interest us)

– Spend 1-2 months each summer hiking around the Alps/Pyrenees with a knapsack on my back

– Ski more, until such time as we’re unable to

– Laugh more

– Contribute more to our local Community (my wife has run the Cubs/Scouts for the past 12 years, I’ve volunteered at camps, village fetes etc… but I want to have more of an impact. I want to make a bigger contribution).

– Do more Yoga. I love it and always feel better.

– Vitality/Health/Fitness/Mobility/Wellbeing: walk, run, yoga, cycle, maybe take up some calisthenics, reading.

Crikey, there’s so much overthinking to do when reading about dynamic spending rules, when really I want my retirement to consist of:

Coffee in the morning
A quality stiff drink in the evening
An annual Holiday
Food & Bills.
Cycling

It feels as though it should be so much easier….

It is easy… that article makes it sound complex, but it’s simple maths really. The article and the Yale and other formulas are more complex than most people need.

Anyone investing in the stock market needs to be comfortable with its ups and downs, if you’re not, then its not for you. If you’re ok with it then when times are good you can spend more, when times aren’t so good you adjust your spending to accommodate.. so if times are bad instead of a new bike or expensive holiday you defer the spend until the following year (or buy a cheaper one).

Over time, it all works out anyway… spend a bit more (or save) when times are good, find economies when they’re not.

It is very simple really:

1. Calculate what income you will need in retirement.

2. Calculate what income you’d get from your pension(s), ISA’s and other investments were you to retire right now.

3. If there’s a shortfall (and there likely will be) then you have identified the ‘gap’.

4. Formulate your plan to close the gap:
– max out your ISA allowances each year (if you can)
– contribute more to you pensions and choose carefully where it’s invested (the ‘underlying’)
– cut back on spending
– sell off any stuff you don’t need
– stop buying sh*t you don’t really need (or want) because you think it’ll make you happier (it won’t)
– reassess and adjust your lifestyle/level of outgoings
– investigate cheaper ways to get the exact same stuff you already get (mobile phone plans, monthly broadband subscriptions, car insurance, house insurance, electricity/gas, etc…). We’ve saved hundreds £££ p/a with zero impact on quality of services.

It’s as simple as that really.

The hardest thing is actually implementing the changes necessary to get you there. But once you’ve started the ball rolling it’s surprisingly easy to keep it going :-)

This is a simple summary. For a more detailed explanation, see a more detailed version in the Retirement – what’s it really like? thread.

That is BRILLIANT! Just goes to show… you don’t need 6-7-8 inches of travel to have fun, or be wickedly fast.

He’s a nob.

Which works well, but how do you capture and accurately categorise spending on credit cards, Paypal, and other sources of spending that are not directly from your current account?

Some people have asked how much they need to retire.. and someone asked if £700k is enough.

There’s no one answer to that as everyone is different. It all depends on how much your annual outgoings will be in retirement. For some, £20k will be enough, for others £80k, others £100k+.

I posted some detailed financial info on the ‘Retirement – what’s it really like’ thread but will repost a couple of simple steps that will get you started if you’re wondering “How much is enough?”….

1. Start by tracking what your outgoings are today with your current lifestyle.

– Download some expense tracking software that automatically sucks in and categorises the transactions from your bank accounts, credit cards etc. Make sure you go though it regularly to ensure the categorisations are correct.
– This may sound like drudgery, but it’s actually fun, and there’s tremendous value in knowing what you’re actually spending rather than guessing.
– So far as apps go, I’ve used BankTivity and Quicken in the past, but MoneyHub is my favourite these days – simple, easy, brilliant, UK(not USA) centric, and inexpensive at £10/year.

2. Do the above for at least 6 months then extrapolate it on a spreadsheet to a full year.

– Obviously, a year or more gives you much more reliable data and takes account of seasonal fluctuations such as Christmas, summer holidays, birthdays, etc.
– Doing this will give you an insight into what your actual spending is.
– Now, using a spreadsheet, project out how you think your spending in each category will change in retirement. For example, in our case we reduced the amounts each year for groceries (as we won’t be feeding a family of 5), child & dependent expenses, clothing, cars (as we won’t need the 3 we currently have), car insurance, telephones & mobiles, and so on – and increased the amounts we’ll likely spend on travel/holidays, hobbies, entertainment, eating out, medical expenses, gifts, etc.

Cat N means non-structural damage. That can include damaged steering, braking, suspension and other safety-critical components.

If a car is a Cat N due to very minor things like being keyed, bumpers, lights etc then fine, but caveat emptor – you should always ask for photos of the damage, photos of the repair and copies of the receipts/work done as well as who repaired it.

Just be very, very cautious.

Personally, having owned a couple of Cat N cars I now avoid them completely. Although both were repaired properly by professionals they each had lots of minor continual, niggling issues that just got on my t**s after a while and in I got rid of them in less than 2 yrs (I’m someone who typically keeps cars for 5-8 years).

I was gobsmacked to discover that ‘Indoor cycling-specific shoes’ is a thing.

I mean…. WTF????

Feedback Sports definitely better than Park for work stands… I’ve owned both and ended up selling the Park.

In fact, I’ve just treated myself to a new Feedback Sprint, which I think I prefer to my Pro Elite. May be selling the Pro Elite if anyone’s interested.. it’s the same as this one: Feedback Sports Pro Elite

I have a similar sized plot and have had two Countax’s with sweeper decks and just recently bought a Husqvarna 214TC.

The Countax’s had the widest possible mowing platforms and were therefore very fast in mowing, but – emptying the grass cuttings slows things down considerably. They also were nothing like as manoeuvrable as the Husqvarna.

They Husqvarna is a delight by comparison – it is incredibly more manoeuvrable, you can cut very close in/right up to trees for example, the front-mounted mowing deck makes everything so much more visible, the ‘service mode’ (swing up) for the cutting deck means it is SO much easier to clean too.

However, being a composting type mower (blows the grass cuttings back into the grass) it needs to be mown more often… as if you leave it a while then cut it you will leave lots of dead grass lying on the top of the lawn. Not necessarily a problem, but something to be aware of.

Our 2wd version is ok on sloping land (like you, our garden is sloping and on clay) but I try not to cut it when wet (whatever the mower). As you’re towing trailers around you may wish to go for the 4wd version.

Shame you’re not bringing bikes as there is some epic cycling to be done in West Sussex – although more road & gravel than MTB.

I live in the South Downs Nat’l Park (near Petworth) and the road and gravel riding around here is epic. You are within 20mins of the beach if you want, have excellent towns like Midhurst, Chichester, Arundel, Brighton, Worthing, Shoreham etc within easy riding distance.

You also have lots of interesting things/places and stuff to see… such as Arundel Castle, Petworth Park, the Weald & Downland Museum, QECP, the Centurion Way, Goodwood, the Roman Villa at Bignor, Iron Age hill forts up on the South Downs Way, the Downs Link from Guildford to Shoreham, Knepp Castle/wilding, numerous excellent vineyards (Nutbourne, Nyetimber, etc), beachfront cycleways all along the South Coast, excellent cafe’s/cake stops and of course all very enjoyable in our tropical, balmy weather down here… (ok, I’m beginning to sound like a travel guide!)

Bring a bike.

Happy to show you around a bit if you decide to come.

They’re compatible – I use KMC chains on all 3 of my SRAM 1/ groupsets.

It’s likely there’s some other problem, or your chain is worn more than you think.

5 Spot rider right here.. we own two of them, my wife’s and mine. Both 2010 DW link versions.

**** Shock NEWSFLASH!…**** I’m riding a 26er and I haven’t died!

I bought my wife a 2004 T5 camper conversion (home conversion – not professional) for her 50th Birthday 6 years ago. She absolutely LOVES it, and it’s a daily driver for her. She loves doing ‘Camper Van Coffee’ with her dog-walking friends and wouldn’t trade it out for anything.

Despite a few big bills (dual-mass flywheel, driveshafts, etc… all of which you’d expect on a 16-year old / 170,000 mile vehicle), looking at values, if we were to sell it we’d likely get about what we paid for it 6 years ago.

So aside from running costs & repairs it’s been a ‘free’ vehicle :-)

I love my rollers, but then again, I’ve been using them since before the dawn of Smart trainers/Zwift/app-based everything.

Rollers condition your body in ways that turbos don’t: you will develop a much smoother pedalling style (souplesse), better balance, and will gain much more core stability.

As you progress, you can learn all manner of stupid cool roller tricks, like one handed riding, no handed, one-leg roller drills, etc.

I hear people say ‘But you can’t add resistance, so they’re not as good as a turbo’. Really? Try putting it in the 50/11 and pedalling at 80-100rpm for 10mins and see how you get on :-)

Very similar thread here with some different ideas and perhaps more emphasis on how to spend your retirement rather than how much is needed.

Pasted my reply/info from that thread:

Some great info on this thread, and some very inspirational thoughts and ideas too.

Fantastic reading the things that people actually DO with their retirement time – and I’d like to find out more, as many people think that once they stop working, that’s it: Boredom. Personally, I don’t get that, as @blokeuptheroad said, there’s an endless universe of opportunity if you think about it.

I’d like to hear more people’s thoughts and ideas about how they actually spend their time in retirement… my ideas below.

But first, for those who don’t know what their financial situation is, or how they’ll fund retirement, I recommend doing the following:

1. Start by tracking what your outgoings are today with your current lifestyle.
– Download some expense tracking software that automatically sucks in and categorises the transactions from your bank accounts, credit cards etc. Make sure you go though it regularly to ensure the categorisations are correct.
– This may sound like drudgery, but it’s actually fun, and there’s tremendous value in knowing what you’re actually spending rather than guessing.
– So far as apps go, I’ve used BankTivity and Quicken in the past, but MoneyHub is my favourite these days – simple, easy, brilliant, UK-not-US centric, and inexpensive at £10/year.

2. Do the above for at least 6 months then extrapolate it on a spreadsheet to a full year.
– Obviously, a year or more gives you much more reliable data and takes account of seasonal fluctuations such as Christmas, summer holidays, birthdays, etc.
– Doing this will give you an insight into what your actual spending is.
– Now, project out how you think your spending in each category will change in retirement. For example, in our case we reduced the amounts each year for groceries (as we won’t be feeding a family of 5), child & dependent expenses, clothing, cars (as we won’t need the 3 we currently have), car insurance, telephones & mobiles, and so on – and increased the amounts we’ll likely spend on travel/holidays, hobbies, entertainment, eating out, medical expenses, gifts, etc.

3. Get control of your Pensions
– If, like me, you don’t know what your pensions amount to (I had 9 pensions from 6 employers over 29 years), contact all your providers and get statements for retirement income and/or transfer out values.
– Consider carefully whether what your money is actually invested in (the ‘underlying’) and whether it is in the right place(s).
– In my case, once I saw it all laid out I was shocked at how poorly some of my pension pots were performing – then embarrassed/ashamed at how how many years I’d ignored doing anything about it (!).
– As to what your money should be invested in, well, there’s no one right answer for everyone. But if, like me, you’ve ignored it for some time, or if you’re not sure – then clue yourself up! Get sure. Do a bit of reading up on how to invest, what Funds are, what Index Trackers are, what Bonds are, what other investments are. If that all sounds too boring, go and see an IFA – but beware of high fees for some funds.
– Just clue yourself up and start to make better choices. *see point 5 below.

4. Project out (again, using a spreadsheet) what all your future sources of income will be p/a (State Pension, personal Pension, investment income, savings income, other sources of income if you have them), and compare it to your projected annual outgoings from Step 2. You’ll immediately see if you’re ‘good to go’ or not.
– If not, consider how you can reduce your current spending in order to save/invest more.
– The financial insight you have gained from step 2. above will be invaluable as you do this.

5. Clue Yourself Up.
– I won’t get into the debate here about the 4% rule, where to invest/what to invest in, pensions, savings, etc… there’s a bazillion books and articles out there already. But for anyone who’s interested in retiring early there are some valuable sources of info out there.
– Start by reading JL Collins’ “The Simple Path To Wealth’ (and/or read his blog), listen to the ‘MadFientist’ podcast (and other ‘FIRE’ podcasts), read ‘Mr Money Mustache’s’ blog, etc.. Just Google ‘FIRE’ and start browsing.

Now onto the more interesting stuff: ‘What to do with your time once retired’…

I’m 55 and am in the fortunate position of being financially independent. No, I didn’t inherit a fortune. No, I didn’t make millions in the City. And no, I am not a drug dealer :-). I’ve never been given a thing and have had to work hard – very hard – for everything I’ve got. Often it was too hard, missing my kids birthdays, suffering incredible stress/burnout, nearly losing a marriage.

I’ve always avoided debt as much as possible and lived within my means. That is a core principle. Ok, we had a big mortgage (and miraculously managed to pay it off early), but aside from a mortgage we’ve avoided debt completely. We’re fortunate, in that yes, we could afford nice cars and stuff if we wanted them, but I always looked at my mates driving the latest BMW or whatever and thought “They’re nuts.. that £40k car will depreciate £20k in 2 years. I’d rather buy a £5k or £10k car and drive it for 5 years then sell it for £2k”.

That kind of philosophy goes a long way – and applies to most things in life. Life is not about material possessions: the nicest house, blingest car, the latest iPhone, gadget or doo-dad, a new Sky+ box, or whatever. Life is not about ‘Stuff’. We have more material possessions today than our grandparents or ancestors ever had – yet there is no evidence that they were any less happy. Life is about friendships, love, contribution, happiness, health, etc.

So.. what are those things for you? I’d love to hear what makes people happy.

What are the things you’d do if you retire today?

And for those who are already retired/have achieved FI, what do you do with your time?

For me, these are the things that are important to me:
– Go for walks with my wife & dog in the countryside
– Drink coffee with my wife/visit Cafe’s and just talk
– Continue to be a loving, supportive Dad to my 3 kids
– Ride my bike – with friends
– Spend a season or two (probably in a CamperVan) following the Pro road cycling season: starting with Flanders/Paris Roubaix, then onto the Giro, le Tour, la Vuelta and culminating at the Giro di Lombardia (not slavishly following every stage of every tour, but coming and going as we please, to the stages/places that interest us)
– Spend a month or so in summers hiking around the Alps/Pyrenees with a knapsack on my back
– Ski more, until such time as we’re unable to
– Laugh more
– Contribute more to our local Community (my wife has run the Cubs/Scouts for the past 12 years, I’ve volunteered at camps, village fetes etc… but I want to have more of an impact. I want to make a bigger contribution).
– Do more Yoga. I love it and always feel better.
– Vitality/Health/Fitness/Mobility/Wellbeing: walk, run, yoga, cycle, maybe take up some calisthenics, reading.

Ok, thanks all. I’ve found the bolts online for about £20 so will just buy a new set. As you say, its good insurance.

…and I won’t EVER throw away transit bolts again! :-|

We’re using a proper removals company….

I made a simple paper list and filed it in our filing cabinet in a folder titled “In case of my Death”. My wife and kids all know about it, and where to find it.

The list has all our banking, savings, investment and other financial details (account numbers, etc) but NOT passwords. A death certificate should be sufficient for a spouse to gain control of assets.

In our case we’ve always invested 50/50, so my wife holds half our wealth in her own name anyway (you want to maximise your tax advantages).

And we made Wills 25 years ago, and review/update them every 5-10 years.

Great scenery – AWFUL people.

We (me, wife 2 kids) lived in Switzerland for 2.5yrs a while back. We were in Basel (German-speaking part of CH), but we travelled around a lot – to every part of the country.

As Beanum said, GVA is VERY much more cosmopolitan than the rest of CH.

We found living there really hard. As others have already said, the Swiss are insular, very regimented/hierarchical, not that open or friendly to foreigners, and often quite racist.

We’ve lived in 5 different countries and had no problems fitting in in 4 of them, but our overriding impression of the Swiss is that they are culturally, politically, geographically and philosophically hemmed in.

These days we have 3 kids who were born in 3 different countries, we speak 4 languages and have lived in 5 countries. We’d definitely move overseas again. But Switzerland? NO WAY!!!

The Swiss are all, without question, insufferable trolls!

So what’s the best STW-approved BB mounted chain tensioner?

I had this all the time with my SRAM Force Hydro brakes. No matter what I did I couldn’t stop it (changed pads, cleaned pistons, lubed everything, re-bled brakes… all multiple times).

Then I found this vid from PsiMet: PsiMet SRAM Master Cylinder Strip/Service

It guides you how to strip, clean, service and lubricate the master cylinder and its seals. And it cured my disc brake rub problems.

No idea if this is the same issue on Shimano brakes, but all road callipers do seem to run closer to the pads than their MTB brethren for some reason, no matter what brand.

It’s an annoying PITA that manufacturer’s really should have engineered out by now – after all, it’s not like disc brakes are some kind of new-fangled, early-stage innovation(!). Grrrr!

Where do you folks buy components from – at reasonable cost?

Do you just buy retail, or are there places where you can get rims, spokes, hubs etc for wheelbuilders?

Whats the deal with passing on my entry, or must I return it and suffer the admin fee?

I had a heart attack last week – followed by Angioplasty + stent, so I’m not going to be able to ride unfortunately. I just won’t be able to prepare well enough.

My entry is the full 200kms route…

Yup – and that’s not dissing GPs by the way, it’s just that they’re not cardiac specialists.

I had a heart attack on Monday, Angiogram and Angioplasty with stent on Tuesday and am now recuperating at home reading, web surfing, etc.

I was getting chest pains for approx 10 days prior to the attack, but not serious/painful enough to make me think “I’m having a heart attack”… more like “****, that doesn’t feel right, let’s see if it dissipates” and each time it did. But the chest pain started recurring more frequently, so I called NHS111 and went into hospital immediately.

To the OP, who has diagnosed angina? His GP, the hospital, a Cardiologist? If a GP I’d recommend your mate gets himself to a hospital immediately.

Had I not done so, I may not be here today. My left anterior descending artery was approx 90% blocked.

I have a Giant Contend SL Disc… almost the same bike but with narrower tyre clearances. Mine takes 28mm tyres with room to spare – think the AR version takes up to 32mm(?)

Anyway, it’s a great budget bike. The ride quality of the frame & fork is actually Very good – much better than I expected at this price point. It’s a comfortable ride, and does everything that one would expect. I’m actually very, very pleased with it.

A couple of downsides:
1. They come with Giant’s proprietary D-shaped seatpost which is a pain, since there are no aftermarket options, only Giant and the seatpost is one of those single-bolt clamp styles ones with fairly large/wide ridges on it, meaning fine-tuning seat angle is hit and miss.., I can’t quite get it exactly at the angle I want, but it’s close enough.

2. Despite being an alu frame it’s got a press fit BB. Why? Why? Why?

Aside from those 2 points, it’s great.

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-running-shoes/#post-11471095

Like I said, can of worms.

Just because they don’t work for you doesn’t mean they don’t work for everyone.

And what Kipchoge uses has as much relevance to us average Joe’s as what Froome or Roglic use.

Potentially opening a can of worms here… but anything ‘barefoot’ like.

Everything else just causes problems/injuries.

Take your time to adapt if you’re not used to them.

Some interesting and useful ideas and advice in this thread which is in a similar vein.. Retirement… what’s it really like?

Essentially, if you can make the finances/economics work for you, then the true question is what you intend to do with your time, and would you enjoy yourself (long term)?

It helps to start with the following question:

“If I could retire/give up work/do whatever the heck I wanted to TODAY, how would I spend my time?”

Write your answers down.

If you like your answers, if you are drawn to them, if they excite/motivate you (and the finances work) – then GO FOR IT!

However, if you either can’t list out how you’d spend your time, or maybe you can but aren’t excited by what you’ve written, you may need to do some more thinking before committing.

@tthew – no worries

@letmetalktomark – You wear them as over trousers, so need to account for whatever you’re wearing underneath.