Nobby Nic 2.25" with the Ardent on that bike's setup.

NN F+R also a favourite in winter except if uber gloopy.

LOL at parkesie, like it.

I work from home – which is nice.

I run one as a rear tyre and it is surprisingly good in gloop, coped well with TransWales last year.

Seems to be very puncture resistant compared to the MK. I'd say the MK probably rolls quicker but that might be because I run a 2.2" MK rear and it comes up noticeably smaller than the 2.25" Ardent.

Can't comment on roots but both seem ok on rock to me.

Sealskinz socks.

The 2.4" seems to be on a par with the Ardent 2.25" (at least, on my rims).

Like cozmobozo, I run 2.4" F / 2.2" R, a very good combo on fairly rocky stuff (trail centres / Exmoor / Qs).

Woo-hoo, he's back in! Now on the Beeb too. Excellent. :D :D :D

Anyone got any news on Byrne's appeal result? Can't find owt about it on the Beeb or via Google yet.

Fingers crossed… :|

Ah – top tips on the caliper position relative to the master. Told you I was mechanically declined!

@MH, I didn't do the 403 which was a shame – Strand Hill and Farris Creek were superb (in different ways – seeing bear claw marks on the aspens made me get a shift on…), as was Upper (and Upper Upper!) Loop.

And Lower Loop was the perfect first acclimatising ride at a mere 9,000 feet – was wheezing a bit on day 1! Fine the next day though.

Those local brews sure hit you at altitude 8)

The bouldering at the trailside on Upper Loop looked fun but I'd not taken my stickies with me.

Trail 401, Crested Butte, Colorado at 11,200 feet – started the trail at Crested Butte at 9,000 feet in beautiful sunshine, got into snow and lightning at the top above Schofield Pass – character building! And then back down to sunshine.

Great week of trails out there… <sighs>

My wife who is a Lost addict tells me it's 9pm this Friday…

What with 24 and Lost back on, and Flashforward and Fringe returning shortly, that's a fair old chunk of time soaked up! 8O

Still, that's about it TV-wise for me.

The bleed kit makes it all pretty easy, definitely worth it rather than trying to bodge it. Mine seem to need a fair bit of TLC so I'm glad I made the investment rather than shelling out frequently to my (not very L) LBS.

Trickiest bit I find is getting the grub screw thingy back quickly into the caliper when taking the syringe out at the end of the process, without losing fluid. But I am mechanically declined… :oops:

Getting a load of Quantocks – first time I'll have been, really looking forward to it :-)

Sorry I couldn't make it Chas – was away at a wedding! :D

GI's a shout if there's another in the offing.

I'll give that a go zaskar, but the general response seems to be that they try to flog you a £95 key…

Worth a go though.

No, but it has given me a baaad case of the munchies! :roll:

<trundles off to the 'fridge>

Ooo, that's luurvely…. drool.

Still loving my Traveller's Check from CTBM – running it as a monstercross at the mo and a real hoot!

Ah, Dwr Cymru…. they're actually (on the whole) pretty good to their customers (effectively a not-for-profit structure, so they hand money back if they outperform against targets). But I'd wait and see!

Yup, been nicknamed Drain since I were a lad – and ended up working in the water industry… Nominative determinism in action? Seems to happen quite a lot – there's Tempest, Flood, Winterbourne, Salmon…!

WCA – which regulator, Ofwat or CCWater? CCWater is more about taking the part of domestic users in cases of dispute resolution, Ofwat doesn't deal with individual cases (well, VERY rarely) but does crack down on more systematic naughtiness :twisted:

Out of idle curiosity, which company? Some are more, er, frugal than others ;-)

The water company could, yes – I might be wrong, but it's probably not going to be for the whole 15 yrs as the charging structure changed more recently than that (2000) to distinguish surface water runoff / foul water discharging.

In theory they only need to rebate for the period from which they could have known that you weren't connecting surface water runoff (the current year) – but many of the companies apply some discretion and backdate more generously. I guess if you can show it's been like that for years then you're in good shape for a bigger rebate.

You might want to check out the regulator Ofwat's site which has some stuff on this: http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/consumerissues/surfacewaterdrainage/prs_web_swdrebates

Hope you can splash it on some shiney gear ;-)

A 2:1 in marine biology up in St Andrews, four year courses are great for really getting that debt built up.

Then went and did 3 years PhD research on river pollution down in Manchester, got a proper job while writing up the thesis and never finished the corrections from the viva. Ho hum.

Some of the most effective people I work with didn't bother with uni, so I guess it's each to their own way of making/taking opportunities.

Another vote for Etihad – they get voted best Business Class year in year out (glad I don't pay though!), and their standard class is amazing too. Very attentive staff, food and drink (inc. alcohol) is great. See if you can get their loyalty card if you're planning on doing more flying with them, as it is a generous one.

Never had problems with the PC991s myself (2 breaks in 6 years on different chains), but a mate bust 4 in quick succession. Possibly a quality control problem?

Have got KMC X9 SL on a couple of bikes: so far (6-9 months) so good, survived TransWales no worries, and they are stoopid light.

Oh no! :(

"In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve" (de Tocqueville).

Guess we should inform ourselves better, so that we make better choices in voting, and be demanding more of our 'leaders' who all seem to want to appeal to the lowest common denominator (with notable exceptions such as Vince Cable) so that get to keep their own jobs.

Halse Farm, Winsford, Exmoor. Lots of natural loops start / go through Winsford (e.g. see various mag routes).

Loads of places for the family to visit both on Exmoor and the coast (about 20 minutes drive away). Not a big site, but has really good facilities such as showers, laundry and recycling.

Often has fellow mountain bikers around who can help out if some unforeseen glitch happens.

It's a bit dire for the big engineering consultancies in the water sector (which attracts / employs many environmental engineers) at the moment, not so much because of The Recession but simply because of the time in the 5 year planning and investment cycle.

It always goes quiet in Year 5 (now, ending in March) while companies wait and see what their regulator will/won't allow them in terms of price limits ("funding") for the following 5 years: and then Year 1 is slow in terms of pouring concrete (but busy for design and feasibility). And then it all goes bonkers when deadlines have to be met in the remaining 3 years, and pretty much anyone who can stand up and breathe at the same time can get employed ;-)

Practical upshot is that it's currently famine but the feast will (probably) come back round by 2012 – by which time that course should have ended? Good timing! Some regional stuff like the Olympics and Tideway Tunnel will also drive a big demand.

[apologies for the gross oversimplification of regulation and investment in the water sector!]

Cool, you can do my night laps for me then. What's that, they all are? Excellent! ;-)

"If they knuckle down"… hmmm, I see a fatal flaw in there somewhere…

Hey Rob, will give you a call tomorrow but hang in there, as others on here have said sprogs are all different and what's worked for us may not be solutions for you. It may be you need to mix things up a bit if she's settling into a (bad) routine, and see what works.

And don't let any of the twunts at your lovely place of employment give you a hard time either ;-)

@lankygit – the man's biking time is suffering, I never get him out any more and we're pairing at Set2Rise – this is very bike-related! :-)

Chas is the man to show you round the trails. When's next?

Oh yes, the bombhole… next time!

Pete, cheers for the beer, well someone's got to keep up traditions ;-)

I had a great time, really good to meet friendly folk on interesting trails. Beautiful day too.

Had to LOL at Pete – today's slogan!

What a hoot, great fun in whatever the weather. Still looking for more "punishment", bring it on! 8O

Respect to the Merman for leaving me in his wake on the climbs while on a SS, just shows how I need to get those miles in :?

That photo almost makes me look like I know what I'm doing…

Not an ideal precedent to set though.

Fast Freds sometimes come up on eBay at around £30 for a pair. Not seen them for £12 each though!

The Furious Freds are around the £30 each though.

Yeah, frustrating, stuff ordered from dotbike late on Sunday arrived Tuesday – brilliant service! – but an order from activesport on eBay allegedly posted on 29th Dec is still not here (postie's just been).

Hard to know how much is due to local conditions, I guess Buxton will have had it hard.

Went for the King greaseport BB as I was getting totally fed up with HT2 ones dying every 4 months or so. And it's running great after 8 months.

That said, I think I saw that Hope are now doing a BB which you can purge the grease from. I got a good deal on the King so it was about the same price as the Hope is, but normally there's about £20 difference, I think.

Mine's a 50cm Surly Traveller's Check, this was it in SS mode, currently geared with bar end shifters, Vs and 29er tyres :-)

Hey Buzz, it was -12 in Bruton at 8.30 this morning (-11 here in Lamyatt). Not as cold as Wiltshire last February but still reet parky!

Interesting – neither 100mm Asgards or 120mm Durin Marathons appear to do this but the longer travel Menjas and Thors do, maybe it's to do with leverage?