https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/28620921/farmer-shoots-poo-slurry-wild-camper-tent/

Not sure why he’s literally decided to nationally publicise his own details and the fact that he did it, but takes all sorts I guess.

I know this is petty and self-defeating but there are a couple of TV series and films’ that close friends have kept repeatedly recommending to me in such an over-enthusiastic manner that I have secretly decided to myself that I’m now never going to watch them at all.

My physio has said to me several times that on a scale of 1-10, pain that’s 3 or below is OK to proceed, but pain over 3 means stop.

However, I’m not sure if that really applies to multi-stage MTB races, he probably had people doing parkrun in mind when he said that maybe.

I think it’s unfortunately a fact that yes you could potentially do some serious damage.

I guess you need to ask yourself how much time off the bike/rehab you are prepared to “pay” afterwards for doing the event? If the answer is “none” then it seems like a big gamble.

Only you know if its a once in a lifetime event or something you do all the time and could just enter again next year?

Ribble do a steel Endurance 725 with Tiagra which I have been wondering about buying as a winter bike, mainly as it’s in a really nice British racing green colour tbh.

But then every time I almost buy it I wonder if winter bikes are even a thing anymore and where to just get a gravel bike, even though gravel bikes don’t really excite me really

Bonked when mountain biking in winter and then got stuck in a gully thing that was covered in sheet ice so had to drag myself and my bike up the side and into a farmers field…then got repeatedly shocked when I got stuck in the electric fence trying to climb over it into said field.

Couldn’t even wimp out and get the train home as they were all cancelled so had to ride for another 2hrs to get home. 2/10 would not reccommend

I would second running and especially trail running. Running is painful and boring at first but gets fun when you start to build some fitness.

Also, trail races (as distinguished from proper unmarked fell races) are fairly numerous, easy to find online and very welcoming with a real mixed bag of competitors. If you look for some with waymarked courses they are great fun and you can just jump straight in.

Personally I find running more fun when I’m following a training plan and then long runs seem quite relaxing and meditative compared to the hill sessions and so on etc rather than just plodding around every day.

Road riding is good, I used these guys to hire a bike but it was in Alvor, so not sure if Lagos is too far away but they deliver I think:

https://www.sunbiketoursalgarve.com/rentabike/

The website isn’t great but in the shop/person they were really friendly and helpful and the bike was decent.

As above, I always understood that if they’re too small they stretch and are easier to puncture.

Slightly different, but I punctured on the road bike the other day and realised when trying to fix it that the two spare tubes I’ve been carrying around in a tool bottle both have valves that are too short to reach through the rims. Fantastic.

Mine was updated and it is all still there but I now just scroll down to see it (in the Activity) rather than press a button

Please be a self-cleaning bike

There is a huge rolling thread on the Trainerroad forum about Varia(s) and I think this topic specifically is quite well covered there (it will be easy to find), so might be worth a look…I think its an open forum with no need to login but can’t remember 100%. FWIW loads of people seemed to be bike packing with them.

Cycling Weekly, though it’s getting harder to find the print version near me.

Sometimes Cyclist magazine if I’m going away on holiday or something.

All my books are print versions bought second hand from Amazon and then I just donate them to local charity shops when I’m finished.

I often think about reverting to print media for news rather than the apps on my phone- might give it a go, hoping it might make the news slightly less visceral/mentally daunting.

It sounds from reading that article that the reason for the successful appeal is largely a technicality. Unlawful Act Manslaughter (also known as “constructive” manslaughter) requires a base offence (i.e. a crime) that is an intentional act that reasonable people would realise puts the victim at the risk of harm.

The court at least seems agreed on the fact that the defendant was “gesticulating” and no more.

But, it looks like a moot point anyway because the appeal was successful on the basis that no “Base Offence” was ever identified and put to the jury in the first place. With no Base Offence, there can be no Unlawful Act Manslaughter. So, even if the Base Offence was Battery (unwanted touching) or Assault (putting someone in fear of battery/ABH or an unlawful force) it was never identified at the trial- seemingly an oversight.

Hard to tell from the brief article but seems like that’s the reason. From a fundamental justice point of view this seems a shame all round as if the above assumption is correct than neither the Defendant or the Victim (or the public) have really had the question of if someone is blameworthy actually settled as it should have been.

When I started cycling I never bothered and it seemed fine tbh. I could easily do 3-4hrs road cycling and don’t recall it being painful or uncomfortable. Now I have a bit more spare cash I buy decent padded shorts and bibs but only because its the done thing and people used to seem mildly shocked if I mentioned not using padded shorts.

I think it probably depends on the frequency of your riding- I’m sure if you go out pretty regular you will easily get used to it but if you’re “only” riding once a week or less than its probably gonna ache each time.

I’ve had what I’m fairly sure is whooping cough for the last 6 weeks or so. Been off all exercise other than a week where I thought I was ok again somewhere in the middle (I wasn’t).

About to try a gentle 60min turbo session again this morning but my wife’s got some bug or other as well now so very much crossing my fingers on that.

Whooping Cough- anyone currently got it?

A spiky metal cassette rattling around in the same box as a helmet is clearly an issue isn’t it- helmets can be compromised without any visible damage or marks.

Yeah I’d be annoyed about that too tbf

Expo Lounge in Didsbury Village do a decent brunch

If you want Turkish food there’s literally a Turkish breakfast/brunch place in Didsbury Village also, called Turkish Sweet Centre- it looks like a sweet shop but there’s a restaurant at the back. I’ve never been but heard its quite good.

Chorlton has some nice places but is hardly worth a 20min Metrolink journey when you’ve got either Didsbury Village or Burton Road in West Didsbury on your doorstep.

(I live in Didsbury Village but as a general rule West Didsbury and Burton Road are much nicer for eating and drinking).

Edit to say I second whoever said Thyme Out- very nice breakfasts there.

I had a giant frame replaced on warranty last summer, no questions asked and arrived in about 5 days.

I think the perception of Giant on here is all based on one incident that was heavily reported here and seems they handled it badly but I really don’t think it’s a blanket policy across the whole company. They’re a pretty huge organisation, there’s always going to be discrepancies and some genuine disgruntled customers at that size.

The phones thing is a good point- I think its more than just remembering stuff for us too.

I basically outsource all of my cognitive reasoning to it- if I’m faced with any kind of problem or issue I find myself googling the answer to it on my phone before I’ve even tried to think it through myself even slightly.

I’m 42 and very similar- there are things that I absolutely know, like the name of a really famous actor or a musician but when I try to spontaneously reach for it in a conversation it evaporates and the more I try and recall it the further away it gets.

Unlike the OP I did a lot of drugs when I was younger and it does make me wonder.

On the other hand, I do fine in my job and am currently studying law part time (at a reasonably advanced level) and no problems there either despite it being a subject renowned for being quite memory/revision heavy.

My wife has commented on my poor memory before but then again she comments on a lot of things so not sure how much of a barometer that really is.

I’m not really the sort of person who does puzzles or crosswords or whatever, I’m sure if I started that could help a lot tbf.

Interesting, I’ve been looking at these lately too but not got as far as sizing up yet.

They had a few display in a posh bike shop called “Lap” in Manchester City Centre where I work, but I’m pretty sure they just closed the shop down.

Tell everyone in your team that as a cyclist its obvious to you that the bowls aren’t aero enough

Another option would be to park at the Park and Ride at East Didsbury Metrolink station in Parrswood if you’re coming from the South. The car-park is massive and of the two lines there, you can get either tram on whichever line.

For the Science museum you could get off at Deansgate-Castlefield stop, its probably about 25mins walk. Journey from East Didsbury to Deansgate-Castlefield about 25mins and tbf its actually quite a decent view going over Castlefield and then past the new hi-rise towers in Deansgate Square.

If I’m driving I park at Dale Street near Piccadilly which would be close enough to the football museum but a decent walk to the science museum (though easily done).

Whatever you do, don’t park at the Arndale Centre multi story. If there’s another big event on like football, markets, gigs, whatever, it is possible to get trapped in there for hours while the traffic logjams outside.

Are there genuinely people on here that read the Highway Code on a regular basis or have memorised a lot of the content?

I think its just STW world where people seem to keep a copy of the Highway Code next to their bedside for some light reading.

Unless the OP’s a traffic cop its really not that worrying

Might be worth checking to see if there are any Facebook groups etc dedicated to the trainer- I have a TACX Neo and the FB group dedicated to it is really quite helpful- there’s loads of advice on servicing and common creak fixes etc. If nothing else you might be able to see if it is common fault or not.

Was out road cycling this morning and went past a contractor cutting the hedges in the country lanes who said “morning roadkill” to me and my mate as we went past.

Then when I got back home my neighbour, an elderly retired guy, who tbf is a nice guy, said I shouldn’t cycle on the roads as its too dangerous…said, I think, genuinely out of concern and not passive aggression.

Most people in my office are OK with cycling and tend to be easily impressed, like they genuinely think I have a shot at riding the Tour de France or something and were in utter disbelief when they found out that I actively go looking for hills to ride up. I hope they never witness me in an actual competition as they’ll surely be sorely disappointed.

I have heard a few tabloid opinions now and again and similar to the post up there^^ I tend to just say if you can’t cope with the rules of the road then perhaps you should just give your driving licence back.

Yeah I really like it. Its cool to see what other people and my mates are doing in terms of riding and can motivate me to get out.

Also it’s useful as a basic training tool to keep a check on volume and I find the personal heatmap feature is good for motivating me to take my bike with me when going away somewhere, as I like adding more bits to the map.

I find the segments useful in terms of trying to beat myself and checking my own performance but they stopped being useful/relevant in the context of other people ages ago as I’m just not fast enough to ever really be in the top 15% and probably never will be now.

Slightly different to most here but I moved to Manchester 25 years ago and still love it. I love the big city and everything that goes with it and still get a kick out of going out round town and getting amongst it.

On the other hand I can definitely see the attraction of living in the countryside but all our friends are here in Manchester so I’m not sure if there’ll ever be a day where we think yeah lets just totally up-sticks somewhere else- as much as road or mountain biking and trail running straight from the door sounds pretty amazing.

On the topic of SIS gels for some reason I felt mildly disappointed when I realised that they are all a transparent colour and the strawberry ones don’t contain red gloop, the apple ones green gloop…etc. They’re all transparent colourless gloop and it never felt quite the same after that.

Yeah I do this all the time and seems fine

this is complete bollocks! and an absolutely terrible idea to train you muscle memory into doing this, if you also MTB on flats

Hmmm..well you might want to tell that to Trainerroad who are a pretty large well respected AI coaching platform and they certainly advocate it as do various other coaching platforms I’ve used.

Also the various power meter manufacturers who specifically measure the upstroke in their metrics.

Maybe rather than “complete bollocks” its a technique that could be beneficial to some in certain circumstances to varying degrees? Just a thought.

I’ve always used SPD pedals but equally have always had a sneaking suspicion that they make little difference. I think to realise their benefit you are supposed to adjust your pedalling style to very lightly “pull” on the upstroke…which I am sure 90% of people don’t actually do.

Lots of Trainerroad sessions try and drill this technique into you when on the turbo but I’m not sure in my case if its ever really translated to my outdoor road rides….maybe some short easy ones.

That said, sometimes on really nasty short steep climbs it is quite useful to pull as well as push on the pedals when you’re just desperately trying to hustle the bike over the top of the climb.

Personally I find arm warmers really useful- if you’re out for more than an hour or two in Spring or Autumn (and especially if you go out early in the morning) the temperature changes can be pretty dramatic, even more so on hilly rides. So, anything that is a layer that can be removed or added as needed is beneficial imo.

I like them- really chill dog but fast as **** when they run…what’s not to like?

Our friend has one and he does have a very low-key demeanour but if she brings him to the pub he’ll be really nosey and keen to be with the group but literally just quietly hang with us all afternoon. Its almost like having a very small quiet horse accompany you in the beer garden.

I bought the first iteration of Shokz and thought they were garbage so put them on eBay- I couldn’t hear any bass at all through them so seemed pointless.

I often run-commute home though, so did persist and I tried the newer premium ones recently as I read the sound quality is loads better- and can confirm it is. Can hear the bass loads better now so I’d recommend getting the premium ones.

I haven’t tried it myself so don’t quote/blame me if it doesn’t work but there are sleep headbands on the market.

They are like a soft headband with some sort of earbud/headphone embedded in them meaning you can listen to music or white noise and then just fall asleep with a timer set for it to turn off.

The advantage being of course that you can fall asleep to music/radio/white noise without then immediately turning your head on the pillow and stabbing your ear on your earphones which immediately wakes you up again.

Yeah exactly, the “opportunity cost” describes it perfectly. I used to have no problem switching between dedicated long blocks of running and cycling but now I’m a bit older I try and keep my fitness of both up together and worry if I was to omit one for a period of time I’ll never quite back to where I was- or at all (this may be a complete fallacy, I don’t know).

I also catch up with a few friends via cycling so to ditch it completely for a dedicated 6 month block of running (or whatever) feels a bit anti-social apart from anything else.

Never say never though, I suppose 🤔

I actually do worry sometimes a little bit about squirrels (or similar) dashing across the road when doing fast road bike descents…though I don’t think there’s a lot you can really do.