But on a better day, the week before

Last time out, on Thursday, mine spent half the ride in a snowstorm and half the ride in a monsoon. Some ‘summer bike’

Yes! Cracked posting photos!

I give up trying to post the bleeding photo!

For a summer bike, it coped well with a ride in a snowstorm yesterday

B******s!!

Oh well, it was worth a try

What size are you? I’ve got a pair of Northwave Extreme shoes, size 46, worn only once, which are really too narrow for me

It’s put a fit 28 year old at work in hospital for four days

Had one last October when I bought a new road bike. Advice was saddle up a lot and bars down a bit. It felt very weird for a while, with lower back pain and stiffness in the back of the calves. Lots of bending and stretching helped with that and I persisted with the fit. Six months or so on, I feel much more efficient on the bike and am a bit faster

The drect route is 17 miles each way, straight down the A6 into central Manchester, and is all a bit yuk.

The scenic route is 34 miles/2900 feet, and is rather less yuk

I peobably don’t do it more than once a week though

Nuclear, particularly Sellafield, always struggle to find proper engineers and are very interested in refugees from oil & gas because they understand high hazard sites and can be quite quickly converted to nuclear.

You have bigger management problems than sweets disappearing. You clearly don’t have control of the chemicals you use because either you have a system in place but haven’t ensured it is followed, or you don’t have a system in place at all. In my world, either would be a serious management failing. If you don’t know how to set this up and operate it, then your boss is culpable too.

The advice to involve HR is good, and you need to ask for support and traning yourself.

Thanks All

Rims = Hope Tech XC so 19.5 mm internal width

Tyres which have failed = Trail King 2.25″ and Nobby Nic 2.25″

Schwalbe tubes at about 40 psi

Not using V-brakes! I’m pretty trad, but not that much

Actually, thinking about it, the wheels are about 6 months old and I moved the Trail Kings on to them when I got the wheels, so they survived about 3 months on the new rims, and the Nobby Nics I replaced them with managed the same. I think I need to look very hard at the rim, don’t I?

Don’t think so. I had a good look at the rim this afternoon and ran my fingers carefully round it to check for damage. It seemed OK but I’ll have another look

I didn’t see the point of obsessing about weight with the Evoke. The disc brakes mean it’ll never be the ultimate lightweight machine, but I put some nice wheels on it and it’s certainly much more bike than its rider really needs.

….and, since the tubes were bonded into the lugs, apparently with a bad habit of debonding at awkward moments. Maybe I’m not so sorry to have got rid????

I sold my old Dynatech back in 2001

Dynatech- God, I had one of those. It was pretty good for its time (2 x 7 I recall- state of the art for 1995-ish I imagine) but then sat in the shed unused during a very long non-biking phase until I gave it away in 2008. Having rediscovered bikes a couple of years ago, I found I still had a titanium itch which led me to the Evoke.

I have owned an Enigma Evoke for three weeks so far and I just love it. I bought frame and fork and had the LBS build it. I found Enigma great to deal with but now have a bad feeling that I ‘need’ an Ecroix or Etape for an all weather roadie as well. I have vaguely looked at the Genesis Ti Croix de Fer as an alternative but get the feeling it’s a little bit more of a cruising bike than the Etape or Ecroix

Grounded! Big off on the road yesterday miles from anywhere- shoes, bottoms, jacket and helmet all written off. Skinned knees, elbow and backside, fine black eye, and a stonking bruise on my left thigh.

Bike appears unharmed.

Still, at least it’s supposed to pee down tomorrow

Enigma very easy to deal with and I am delighted with my new Evoke. Now seriously considering either an Ecroix or Etape for winter.

I spent some time in one US facility where passes had to be on display all the time one was on the premises. We were meant to challenge anyone whose pass was not visible, even if it was just turned the wrong way round. Security used to wander around with their passes concealed just to see if you challenged them. If you didn’t, it cost you $ 100.

We had this. The endowment was performing really badly and they advised us to up the payments. We didn’t and, when we moved house a few years later, we had a big sort out, paid off the interest only mortgage on the original house and added the cost of doing so to a repayment one on the new house.

The endowment yielded, in cash terms, just about the same as the amount we’d put in over 17 years. Allowing for inflation, that’s a pretty poor investment.

I live in the Peak District and have just bought myself a horribly expensive, shiny new road bike. I’m no road racing beanpole (to put it mildly) and put a 34:32 bottom gear on it.

Can I get up any hill I encounter? Yes
Am I fast? No
Do I give a toss? No

Ride what works for you

If you’re not sure, try something- and what you’re getting looks sensible- and change things if you need to once you’ve ridden it for a bit

The target audience is the kind of aspirational person who, if they’re dumb enough to spunk 5 grand of disposable income on a pushbike, might also spend 100 grand on an impractical car?

No chance! N+20 in one move

Mansfield Hotel. Convenient walk to MOMA, Times Square, Central Park…..

Here[/url]

MOMA is fantastic but perhaps not teenager friendly? Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate, is a good day trip up the Hudson Valley.

Clare Teal is worth a listen, especially her earlier material

None- again! Bloody sinusitis

Two weeks grounded now, and 2 kg heavier. Nearly better but persistent sinusitis and last time I tried exercise too soon I flattened myself for a couple of weeks. So very frustrated and grumpy, but resisting the temptation.

I hate you lot! Man-flu continues in a large pool of snot and swollen glands

John Ellis- One Day in a Very Long War. Interesting approach, talking about the events of 25 October 1944

Richard Hough- The Longest Battle: The War at Sea 1939-1945 is very readable

….and I have a dose of man-flu! I hate the nice weather

Stolen Goat Climb & Conquer jacket is the biz. I’ve used mine loads this winter- wet/dry; 2 degrees/10 degrees- it’s coped fine with everything. I just wear a baselayer underneath- a thermal one for below 5 degrees; a lighter one above. When I am riding I don’t notice I am wearing it at all.

Abode is very good (link)

Yang Sing is a very good Chinese (link[/url])

Went to Australasia before Christmas and didn’t think too much of it. Food was a bit hit and miss, service was a bit slow, and it was pretty noisy

…..bollocks to it! I’m going out anyway (probably road biking)

Are your legs the same length? Getting my leg lengths equalised with orthotics some years ago had some quite gradual but very profound effects.

Yes. I have the Asgard 1 bike box, which can actually hold two bikes and I store a 29er and a road bike in it. It’s good and solid. One slight drawback of the version I have, which has a padlock, is that the hasp is slightly too small to take a Sold Secure Gold padlock. So if your insurers require Sold Secure Gold, I think you’d have to have them secured inside the box.

There is some ventilation but it does get damp in there at this time of year.

In an effort to spread a bit of cheer on this thread, I was out today on the bike and stopped by a small isolated road in driving snow to have something to eat. Two large scary men in high vis drove up, stopped, asked ‘Are you OK there mate?’ and, when reassured, went on their way. The National Park Ranger went past a minute or two later and completely ignored me. I saw no other vehicles all the way round.

6’2″ here with relatively long torso and short legs, riding a 58 cm Scott Solace and a 59 cm Enigma. I was measured up properly for the Enigma. 60 cm or above sounds scarily big to me.

Been ‘off’ since 18 December, but staying on top of email and chewing through three or four jobs which couldn’t wait. I’m actually looking forward to getting back to things properly tomorrow.

I have a Solace 15 and like it a lot, but it fails the OP’s requirement for a threaded BB.