It’s many years since I rode Hardknott, and that was by accident – I left a friend to plan our route, only checking it over the night before.
When I saw where she’d planned for us to ride I said “Do you not know what all those little chevrons mean?!”

We were on our crappy road bikes, but just took it very, very slowly. If you’re prepared to move like a tortoise and can put up with the pain then it’s doable. We even rode up the Wrynose* the same day.
I think the best cup of coffee I ever had was at the top of Hardknott.

* which for many years I believed was named “the Rhinos”. I did always wonder why.

Born to built to grind – the only version needed:

Beethoven’s 9th, final movement

Sad, but he could have hung on till May 4th.

two wheeled cult

There’s a spelling mistake in there.

Wow, you can tell you’re not from Brighton.Nobody has a parking space

…and if they did, they’d be renting it out for 10,000 quid a year.

This is an interesting thread, lots of good replies.

On a related note I use one of those chain cleaning baths – you know, they have little brushes that go round as you turn the pedals.
It seems to do the job pretty well, but I’m wondering what fluid others use to fill theirs. Muc-off works, but it only comes in small bottles. any suggestions?

Peanut butter crackers is also my solution

May I recommend Meridian instead of whole earth? It’s 100% peanut, so no added salt or palm oil. This means you need to stir it every now and then, but it’s healthier, tastier, and better for the environment.

Of course kids should be walking/cycling to school.

I don’t have much sympathy for all the “It’s so packed I cannot get my car through” complainers. Everyone thinks they ‘need’ to drive, and everyone thinks their ‘need’ is greater than everyone else’s.
If the road is jammed and you’re in a car then you are not suffering a traffic jam, you’re contributing to it.

You re simply not trying hard enough:

http://www.visiontimes.com/2015/03/14/see-why-riding-a-motorbike-in-thailand-is-like-nowhere-else.html

Yes really!

Oops yes, I knew it was Irish – the sound of the pipes got me all excited.

Surely there is nobody with blood running through their veins who is not stirred by this:

I’d like to add:

often mildly irritated that something somewhere on my bike is not working precisely as I would like it to, no matter how much I fiddle with it.

Happy

… and out of breath

Yes, but it sometimes it’s just a couple of km to the shops.

I’m a bit disturbed by your soundtrack.
I’d suggest Public Enemy (Fight The Power), Soul II Soul (Keep On Moving’), Lil Louis (French Kiss), Back Box (Ride On Time), Inner City (Aint Nobody Better), Tyree (Move Your Body), Donna Allen (Joy and Pain), KC Flight (Summer Madness), Ultramagnetic MCs (Travelling at the Speed of Thought) were all more appropriate titles.

It does seem a bit dodgy, but I’ve done exactly the same (back in the days when phones were a lot cheaper).
I found a phone and took it back home. When the owner called it I arranged to give it back to her – it seemed like the most obvious thing to do. I guess if nobody had called after a couple of days I’d have taken it to the police.

I cannot believe you need to replace a MBP after 4 years! I’m still using my 2012 MBA for pretty much everything – including video editing.
Could you supply more information about this ‘slowing down’? What is running slowly, precisely?

3: Nosferatu – creepy as ****
2: The Ring – the only film that has ever really scared me
1: Shaun of the Dead

Do you think you just scored some sort of point? Ok.

“Perhaps you could explain, with references to the highway code, why he would be in the wrong given”
He’s in the wrong because he’s not obeying the rule. We don’t get to choose when to obey them, or interpret them as we’d like, we have to obey them or we’re in the wrong.

… I’ll give you the ‘artistic licence’ thing though.

Back in the 90s I had a Diamondback Apex. I could ride that bike for hours day after day it was so comfy. Mountain bikes were still quite novel back then, and a lot of my friends decided to get one after trying the Apex.
God I loved that bike, and I only bought it second hand as an emergency purchase after my Orange Clockwork got nicked.

Whatever your humblebrag is, geex will be considerably better at it than you. I bet he can twist his chap 900 degrees, and has the Strava records to prove it.

Peewee Herman’s Big Adventure

The greatest movie ever about a bike, one of the best movies ever made, and possibly the only film by Tim Burton worth watching.

Seatbelts banned in cars, to be replaced by a spike pointing at the drivers chest. That should get the f*ckers to drive properly.

@returnoftheyak

“Should The Yak buy a JBL Boombox?”

No. The Yak should buy a Minirig:
https://minirigs.co.uk

@pennine
Happy birthday. I hope I’m still doing 20 mile rides when I’m your age.

“…but it really does seem to make me smile, and makes me want to go for a ride”

That’s the only important bit isn’t it? Forget bike snobs, forget categories, forget purists – if you enjoy riding it then you’ve got the right bike.

I’ve been riding an Arkose 3 recently. I think of it as a drop bar hybrid rather than a gravel bike.

When I lived in the Issan region of Thailand you’d hear this music played everywhere – restarounts, gatherings, streets, parties.
It’s never the same when it’s not live of course, but it still cheers me up to hear it

@howsyourdad1
Good choice. I was going to add it, but didn’t want to spam up the thread with dozens of songs. I’m glad you posted it.

By the way, this is a great idea for a thread, and I’m enjoying all the posts.

One of my ‘cheer me up tunes’:

If you like classical or opera I have 100 other suggestions

Sung by a child molester, but the best pop song ever:

If the music doesn’t cheer you up surely the clothes, hair and dance moves will:

I’ve been below 50m a couple of times, to view wrecks. I found the dives a bit underwhelming – you have to plan so carefully, the visibility wasn’t great, and I get bored during the deco stops. It is quite cool looking up and seeing how far below you are, but I’d happily never go deeper than 30m again.
I have a friend who used to do 100m+ dives, but no longer. It was so expensive and the deco stops were even longer of course. I imagine they’re even duller in a pool.

I got around to the indexing today.

I was so tempted by the collapsible wife idea, but my gf was reluctant. Women, eh?
In the end I went with inner tubes from a hook in the roof. This worked quite well once I anchored the front wheel. My gears are now shifting silkily smoothly.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I thought this was an interesting question, but no answers so far.

I had a similar rucksack many years ago, and was annoyed when it fell apart. A friend told me I had to get over myself and simply hook the u-lock through one of the arm straps. I’ve been doing that ever since.

It’s kind of uncomfortable at first, but you should be able to find a way to position it where it doesn’t get in your way.

I know this doesn’t answer your question, but it would mean you could choose from a much wider range of bags.

I can’t help, I just came here to congratulate you on the title of this thread.

the sun shines even on a dogs ass some days

:)
I tried.

Half the people who work at my place are from the continent. I’m off today, but I’m assuming they’ll all be gone when I go in tomorrow.
I’m going to have a lot of work to cover.