apologies for jumping in on the offer of advice, but this is nearing the top of my to-do list on an old house with suspended wooden floor. I’m lifting the existing boards to put celotex between the joists to help the insulation and was going for engineered boards fitted under the skirting.

DPC only needed on concrete, yes?

Should I put boards back down and float the floor on top of that, dealing with the level change as it goes into the hall, or fix the engineered boards to the joints with nails rather than glue? Initial thoughts was boards and floating floor but really not sure and there’s a hearth so no idea what I’ll find when I get the boards up…

^negatory

OP -After dropping that sort of cash on xtr cranks wtf would you not apply helitape to prevent t the inevitable?

I built DT swiss 350 on flow ex rims as my first build and confused myself by using multiple spoke calculators. DT swiss turned out to be the best and I think I was 258 & 260 on both.

Good luck and nothing like building a set that is true and stays straight.

That is so far from the mark that I don’t know where to start. Kudos to them for overcoming disability, but don’t try and guilt me into feeling I have to watch it.

Sport is about the pinacle of physical ability (cricket/darts/snooker excepted) and it is in comparison to disabled poeple, but that doesnt mean it is as enthralling in comparison to able bodied sport and must be watched.

Find it amazing that the wheels the neutral mavic bike and cars offer actually fit all the bikes. Do roadies have standard cassettes, axle sizes etc?

If you snap your frame in two and say you were knocked off your bike you might get away with it. Maybe.

Govt is one thing but the amount of information you are happy to give for free via Google, your mobile, browsing history, likes on facebook is far scarier, IMHO. Commercial companies, rarely taking care of your data and using it for all sorts to affect the price you pay.

See how you googled for holiday deals? Don’t be surprised when the price goes up at the time of booking because they know you are interested and willing to pay more. Car insurance uses postcode, but have linked that with what devices you have, how often you use internet, what TV channels you watch and how often to give you a different price.

But this is fair game and business so nobody is going to regulate that – they just point to the fact they told you what they were going to do and you hit Accept when you logged in. Ten years ago I’d have locked myself up for being ridiculously paranoid, but seeing what information Acorn, Fizz, Mosaic have and how it is being deployed it’s here. I’d suggest the regulation is in the wrong place.

I had them done after a non-functioning arm due to a brachial plexus injury on a motorbike. I have no idea whether the set up of this NCS is the same as what is being proposed.

They were not pleasant and quite a bit of discomfort as I was asked to move, or try to move, the arm in certain directions with big needles stuck in me. Given it is the means to getting more certainty about things, that was the biggest help in tolerating it.

Unfortunately the doctor at the end was very matter of fact saying that I would get no movement back, which felt catastrophic at the time. Through steely determination and physio I got 95% movement back after a year.

Never have worked out whether that means that the tests themselves are not that reliable or sensitive to the placement of the needles. But if they come back OK then it hopefully rules out something as an underlying cause.

Can we please stop calling them ‘accidents’ or ‘RTA’?

Don’t you know that it is a ‘collision’ or ‘RTC’ and nothing in the world of the police ever happens by accident.

Bloody bollox…

Pain au chocolat with a coffee, else a steak and haggis pie. Oh my…

A clear M40 at 6am – were you sitting in the outside lane doing 50? 😉 😈

I’d swear you had the photos the wrong way round.

Admire the desire to personalise, but it’s a bit insipid. Think you could have done the pink/green stronger and it might have worked.

Like the seatpost, but that is small consolation. Sorry.

But you must have known that it would be marmite before you started and certainly before you posted!

Get to a LBS that will let you try a few. They’re that personal is hard to take anyone else’s recommendation. Went through several before finding selle smp didn’t create chafing or numb nuts. Not cheap but when I added up the amount spent on other saddles…

Something with poodle cross (labradoddle etc) would help with the asthma.
We went for weimaraner because of the short hair and supposedly didn’t shed much. That turned out to be bollox but hasn’t given any problem. Mine needs reasonable exercise which got me into mtb as I was getting more tired than he was on long walks.

Not a fan of staffies as come across too many aggressive ones whilst out walking. It will largely be the owner but the dogs were bred that way for a reason so some of it is inherent.

Grey hound could be a shout. Cocker spaniel would be good but bit more risk with the hair.

Having gone out to move on some youths waking my kids up I was set upon by around ten on the twenty or so. Not nice being on the ground having your head kicked even by fifteen year old and realising of I do then have any ability to do anything I’ll end up on the excrement end of the stick. Along with them knowing where I live.

I leave well alone. Too unpredictable.

I’ll put my hand up before I start – I don’t sell it, but I do work for an insurer.

Life insurance is more important, critical illness is a nice addition but really bumps the cost up once you hit late 30s or want a long term. There are useful add ons with some companies that give support when you need it even if you’re not claiming and it is totally independent from the insurer.

What is staggering is the average age of a Critical illness claim is 42. Cancer makes up most of the claims, followed by heart attack, stroke and MS in that order. The number of conditions is a bit of a ruse as many are rarely claimed on, it’s cover for the main conditions you should look for.

Many more claims are paid than people think – up about 90-95% depending on company whilst customer focus groups with experience of car and house claims believe it is under 50%.

I hope that you never have to claim, but it is quite nice to see the help it can bring during serious illness and it has stopped a lot of people losing their house when income levels are threatened. Conversely I’ve also seen someone not sort something out when they moved employers and their benefit in kind stopped and they died 2 months later- at an already hard time their spouse was distraught at losing the house because she couldn’t afford the mortgage payments on her own.

Life cover is life cover – buy that online, but if you want Critical illness it is worth speaking to a Independent Financial Adviser to guide you through the options. They will be paid commission – although some will charge a fee as an alternative – and work out if they are advising on the whole market or a narrow set of insurers.

Nobody like to think about it and because you have nothing to show for it, it makes it hard to get over that hurdle to sort it out.

I will look out BIN or auctions with a decent start price as indicates the seller has started at their bottom price. Maybe an initial low bid and then wait til the last 2 mins to see if it goes stupid. Sounds like you might have 20 people holding fire until late on, so wouldn’t get too worried.

Ebay fees are ridiculous and more sellers seem to be willing to sell outwith the sale as long as you don’t extract the urine. Having lost a set of wheels with a decent bid early doors, wait 5 days only to have the auction pulled ‘no longer available for sale, then repeat for a further week of frustration, I changed approach.

What is quite fun is when you twig there is someone that has put in a really high price to bag something and just nudge it up. Have come a cropper once this way though!

Thanks for the replies. It was intended as a light hearted question rather than a concern, and I would always have the best interests of my floppy-faced pal at heart.

Being deep chested he’s not allowed to eat 2 hours before exercise or an hour after to reduce potential stomach twist, so have not taken any treats with me previously. He’s definitely temperature sensitive which I avoid, and I don’t do consecutive days either.

His gait doesn’t really change other than he moves to a plod rather than a run, but from the sounds of it it might be that the pace is a little too high in bits as it is more XC type of trails but given the breed was hunting deer and boar I thought they would go for days as those little critters tend to run, and not slowly either. OK, not witnessed a boar in rural Scotland yet…

There’s a good downhill blast towards the end of the run and he knows I wait at the bottom but isn’t that far behind yet other uphill bits he’s quite far behind. Maybe he loves the down or he’s just saving his effort for the last bit.

I was more surprised that there didn’t seem to be a training effect and an improvement over time. Sounds like I might need to get some steeper stuff to drop my pace but that involves a drive rather than being on the doorstep.

Thanks for the compare and contrast.

His game was smashing the ball so hard the opponent couldn’t return it. His ability to do that had diminished so opponents can get more balls back
He’s not able to adapt his game to the subtle shots Brown was playing but hats off to Brown he played some ridiculous shots. Great game.

‘Boo!,’ said the French fry

‘Oh, what a frite,’ said the salad.

[/dad joke]

You can spin an oval but you don’t get the peaks in the stroke when you get all stampy when the going gets tough. Much smoother with the oval in my experience. But I bought two so of course I’ll say that…

Whatever size round you think you need go up 2 teeth on an oval. Oval helped a lot with climbing for me but a lot depends on what you’ve got on the back like previous post asked.

This Is exactly the time you should take the motivation and support from here and the Web but everyone’s circumstances differ so you need medical experts to help work out the problems and the right treatment. What works or doesn’t work for one person may not translate to your situation.

I’d disagree that we all know what causes our behaviour, sometimes you need an external perspective so even more reason to speak to your doc. Write it down as suggested to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Find the times that you drink and ride your bike instead. You’ll still need to do as previously advised but it might help take the cravings away and your bike can be incredibly therapeutic for both problems.

Best wishes – you’ve taken the hardest step in admitting there is a problem.

Aw c’mon, we’re waiting the outcome with baited breath. Have you poked yet?

Cashews/Raisens or Skittles/Jelly Babies at a push, but don’t gels give a massive high followed by a crash?

Option 4 – aerosol and a lighter (with fire brigade on speed dial) Very effective in outbuildings given how flammable they are, but I’d not use it in a roofspace!

Wasps will return to the site typically. I’ve heard of fake nests that apparently they are not keen to colonise close to, but suspect that your nest is too big for this.

Gauntlets/coveralls and a mask and a big blanket is another option before bashing the crap out of it so they are contained…

Are you going to video the job? 😀

Edit – damn a lot of video requests while I was typing!

Oh, and will you report back on your thoughts and whether you became a riding god?

Yeah, starting to think it’s the way to get better and cut down offs!

Where’s he based? What is the going rate and for how long? 1:1 or in a group?

Any recommendations in the Borders or is Dirt School the way to go?

TIA.

I used Lints Partnership years ago selling my flat and the guy was very efficient and reasonably priced then. But that was 10 years ago and things can change!

I’m genuinely intrigued (rather than being a nob about it). When do you wear waterproof trousers and do they not end up feeling like a sauna? Even in winter I’ll wear tights but never waterproofs, but that is just riding rather than commuting.

But even if this is commute, are they not sopping wet when you put them on to go home?

Problem is that they are classics because of your nostalgia. The newer ones that you probably berate hit all the right notes for those of the right generation.

My kids found it at age 5 & 8 and were smitten all by themselves and interestingly Ja Ja Binks, who I think spoiled it, they loved. But then when I saw the originals I thought the Ewoks were rubbish but my younger sister loved them.

Horses for courses, but don’t force it, you’ll end up being disappointed most.

Thanks guys, big thumbs up. Had completely missed that there was an album out so now bought. Still get tingles every time Rhythm and Stealth comes on.

The Pylon Pigs album is a superb new find – thanks.

There’s so many moving parts between the knee itself, muscle bulk, riding style and your crashing style. Because of all of this it’s a highly personal thing and take any advice at your peril.

I read lots of these threads and people are always advocates of what they have invested in, but it took me three purchases of ‘recommended’/’best ever’ pads (at various price points) before getting a set I was happy with.

Not going to tell you what they are though!

If you’re not crashing, you’re not trying hard enough.

Or maybe it is a lack of ability.

I’ve got really good at crashing, but I fall into the second camp.

Get some ibuprofen down you, if they haven’t given you anything stronger, and although I salute the sentiment, there’s not much point in getting back on a bike til you are in less pain.

If you cannot bear weight on the arm in another day or two you might need to get it checked again just in case there’s a hairline fracture that didn’t show up on x-ray.

Ditto on my third month on a carbon frame bought second hand from an online bike shop. Plenty of pics and a decent rep helped. But carbon is harder to hide problems than a filled or repainted frame so if you’re happy second hand go for it.

Had a problem at work yesterday with the site and it was the Silverlight component needing an update, which is not possible except by our IT dept.

But after logging in (with the sidebars disabled) I stopped getting the message so presumed it was the ads. Maybe you just need to subscribe.

The points are good, but getting scary the amount of data they have and combining that with the Clubcard info is getting extremely powerful. It is incomprehensible how much this information on profiling us is being used behind the scenes and sold to other companies to do likewise.

Next time you do a car/house insurance quote or credit car on CompareTheMoneyConfused.com you’ve been assessed, pigeon-holed and charged accordingly.

Thank you, Jenn – I’ll dig out that issue from the Archive while I wait for my Alpkit gear to arrive!

The archive is handy with the subscription access, but it further underlines that the paper version is streets ahead of the digital copy.