Thanks MSP, an interim trial period is probably a good idea. I think it’s most likely he’d look to be domiciled there, as you say it’ll be better to get into the healthcare system there ASAP.

He’s currently an employee fanatic – I guess another option might be for him to become a freelancer, albeit on a ‘permanent’ assignment.

IMO sooner or later North Korea is going to launch a strike against someone, either the South or Japan.

As Junkyard says, why on earth would they do that? They gain absolutely nothing and have a 99% chance of losing everything. The issue in the west is that we’ve been fed the “they’re irrational and mad dictators” propaganda for so long that some of us actually believe it. You don’t get to be in charge of a country without at least being a canny and shrewd operator who knows which way the wind blows. Which is exactly why Trump will huff and puff and do **** all. He’s an idiot, but not quite as big an idiot as we like to believe.

..if there is a war it will be Nukes from the start

Scenario 1 – NK nukes somewhere (s korea, Alaska, wherever). USA obliterates them with nukes as ‘they shot 1st’, which will legitimise the use of nukes in the American publics eyes.
Scenario 2 – US nukes NK in a preemptive strike. NK still manages to obliterate Seoul with conventional means. American public is horrified (unless the rhetoric against NK has got ridiculous) and would never vote whoever ordered it back into power.*

Both scenarios gain the aggressor nothing – NK matters very little to the US in real terms, they’re not threatening any oil wells or major US interests, they’re just a convenient target to rail against whenever it’s politically expedient to have an enemy.

*barring some sort of horrific terror incident which could be linked to NK preceding the nuking

Yeah, I might pop round and say we’re going to be having people out and advise them to get theirs checked too.

Main question is what’s your time worth and how likely are you to be setting anything up tubeless again in future? If you ride a lot then it’s probably worth just buying an Airshot or that pump Beagleboy posted a link to (which is a proper bargain), they’ll make your life so much easier.

When I first went tubeless I wondered why people struggled, managed to get everything up first time with just a track pump. Then I got a particularly recalcitrant tyre (same brand, same model) and wasted a particularly frustrating afternoon trying to get the damn thing seated – none of the tricks above worked. Bought an Airshot and it went up first time.

All-weather Kinder route available here, though not sure I’d fancy going up Jacob’s or Chapel gate with a pack-laden bike if fitness is an issue. Easy enough to extend up and over to Ladybower if you link in from Edale on this loop.[/url].

The riding will probably be slow, I’d allow 5-8 hours for 30 miles.

Edit – follow koftp on Twitter for condition updates, very handy!

Just stick an anchovy in? I’ve done that with a small hole that just wouldn’t seal in a sidewall before. Feels a bit wrong making the hole bigger to get it in and looks pretty rough though!

Next trend – pictures of the wierdos at trail centres taking pictures of cars

:wink:

I went through a phase of reading the classics and found I had a 50:50 chance of loving them or hating them. Some were clearly written in the days when there wasn’t much entertainment so it didn’t matter if you waffled on about pointless rubbish for 50-odd pages before getting to the next plot point as it wasn’t like your audience was going anywhere.

Got about a third of the way through W&P and gave up, partly as I couldn’t keep track of the characters and their millions of names. I seem to be different to others on this thread though as I hated crime & punishment and loved the count of Monte Cristo :D

Job these days involves a lot of reading so I really can’t be arsed with anything that doesn’t immediately hook me in when reading for pleasure. Started the Dark Tower series now and enjoying that, though I nearly didn’t push through after the first book (which is pish).

I’m about an hour away from Gisburn, hour and 15 from Llandegla, and 45 mins from the Peak. Most of the time I go to the Peak, with Llandegla as my backup if the weather/trails are minging and/or my legs aren’t feeling up to the climbs. I maybe do Gisburn once a year and always come away feeling a bit meh about it. It’s a decent trail centre, but there’s much better stuff around within easy reach – I certainly wouldn’t drive 2 hours each way to get there.

If you’re in Staffordshire I’d head to the dark Peak and do something round Ladybower, there’s plenty of routes[/url] online. Trails should be ok just now but worth checking koftp on twitter to see.

Injured. Or fat. I’d definitely be doing some other form of regular exercise so probably running (which I don’t really enjoy) or football. Given that I used to pick up minor injuries regularly playing footie when I was <30 I’m guessing they’d be a lot more frequent now I’m closer to 40!

Absolutely loved it, perfect blend of cinematography, score, and acting. Even the missus, who has the attention span of a hamster, was enthralled. Neither of us had seen the original either, suspect we’ll need to change that :D

Thanks all, shall check out the suggestions!

I did similar to you last year and did a trip to the Lakes a week afterwards – it was fine after I warmed up a little. Only one way to know though, get out for a test ride!

I don’t get why the HB160 is nominated for best bike over £2500? Sure, it looks nice, but isn’t the idea that we’re voting (at least in part) based on our experience? Can’t imagine more than 1 or 2 readers has actually tried one (or can afford one!).

Though this changes on a regular basis, there’s so many good descents and conditions/mood can make a massive difference.

+1

Jacob’s – if it isn’t swarming with walkers
WLT to Ladybower Inn – if it’s nice and dry
Cut Gate – if it’s dry and not blowing a gale in your face

I like the beast and lockerbrook but I probably ride them too much so they don’t make the list. Spud alley would make it if it wasn’t for the couple of bits with loose rocks the size of babies’ heads where you’re just pinging around and hoping you don’t flat. Or smash a mech like I did last week.

Sharkattack, this route[/url] takes in Jacob’s, the Beast, Lockerbrook, and Cut gate (in 1 direction anyway). All should be named in the directions. Where it goes down to the Beast from Hope Cross, if you turn left at Hope Cross (NW) instead you’ll go down spud alley.

Find a route which minimises the time/distance you spend in the proximity of motor vehicles.

This[/url] will help with the above.

I’d second the dumb tv, smart box suggestions. We’ve got a smart Samsung but hardly ever use the features as it’s much easier and more reliable through the PS4. If you get a PS4 you can also get Doom and run around like a maniac shooting imps in the face and giggling like an idiot…

Ah, so that’s what all the route markers were for :D . Curious to see the route, anyone got a link? Can’t see one on their website.

Did a fairly big ride around Hope and managed to smash my mech off. Again :evil: . Haven’t broken a mech for 3 years and now managed to do it twice in a week! Thankfully a quick emergency run to 18 bikes sorted me out with a new one – having just replaced one on Wednesday it was fairly quick to get set up…

Nicely done redthunder, nicely done. :D

Oh and +1 for the M6, though if I still lived in Oxfordshire the A34 might get my vote. The road through Glossop is shit, but it accesses Peaky goodness on the bike so can’t be that bad – set off early and it’s fine, then just accept the crawl back when you’re knackered.

I’d guess the OPs case is similar to the “all cyclists are knobs cos they jump red lights” argument – it’s not true, it’s just that there is a certain proportion of knobs in the world, and some of them happen to ride bikes/be young people.

FWIW I was definitely more knobbish when I was young – I suspect most people were!

Loving this, thanks for the tip!

Did you go to the hospital after the initial crash? Just wondering if it’s something that could have been picked up at the time (if you didn’t go) or if nothing significant was seen at the time. Glad you’re ok!

Also started the weekend early with a ride in the dark peak yesterday, wee walk up Rivington with the missus this morning, dinner with friends tonight in Manchester, probably lying about with a hangover tomorrow, then I’ve got a pass to ride again on Monday. Pretty good weekend hopefully!

Also, why didn’t they just wait for the first redshirt to be killed by the zombie bear to reanimate and then drag his dead ass back to Eastwatch?

+1 – I thought they were just conveniently ignoring the fact that dying turns you into a wight beyond the wall, but then they went “we gotta burn Thoros”!

They could have just taken some prisoner who needed killing beyond the wall, topped him, then nipped back as soon as he went wight. Wouldn’t have even needed to close the gate!

I assume pigeons have very limited memory skills
Pigeons have excellent memory skills. They are also extremely territorial and will always return to their homes.

They’re sort of famous for this.

Coffee-keyboard interface just happened :lol:

Just about to nip out for a couple of laps of Philips Park before the parents arrive this evening, then will hopefully get out to the Peak on Sunday (weather and girlfriend permitting :lol: ).

Opening this thread is like when you do a really big poo, you know it’s minging but you just have to look at it anyway…

You could download tripcase, it manages flights quite well and displays in local time.

Sticking with supermarkets – when they decide to reorganise the store and you then can’t find anything again*. Thanks very much, I’ve spent the last year carefully honing the most efficient path through the store and now you’ve made the very logical decision that cous cous should no longer live near rice and pasta causing me to wander round the store in bafflement until I’m forced to ask someone and find out it’s next to the tins of tomatoes :evil:

*I do know that they do this to jerk you out of your pre-set patterns and spend more, but it doesn’t stop it being annoying!

Used easycar.com last year, trawls the small companies for deals. I was pretty sceptical as it was half the price of any of the big companies – assumed they were gonna try and screw us on the insurance or something – but all went very smoothly.

I had a go with some expensive Bose ones and although they cut out some noise I could still hear loads of stuff, I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about

I’ve got the QC35s and, while you still hear some noise, they cancel enough that you can tune the rest out yourself. I work in an office with some very noisy project managers who yap a lot on the phone and used to get very distracted by their conversations when I was using non-noise cancelling headphones. Since I got the Bose I don’t notice them unless I’m trying to, would thoroughly recommend them.

They’re also great for flights/trains – you don’t really notice how much background drone there is until you turn the noise cancelling off!

They are spendy, but I could justify it as I use them pretty much every day and haven’t regretted it for a second. The wired QCs might be a good option if you can get them close to your budget.

Thanks all. I did have a look on google, but thought before investigating the plethora of options further that I’d see if anyone had first-hand experience :-)

Thanks – that looks perfect, pity it’s in Port Douglas. Suppose we could get a taxi up there if it’s the best option!

Ebennet: The post wash bleep is very easy to turn off permanently with just a few button presses. The manual will be available online.

Do you mind if I kiss you? :lol:

We’ve had a Bosch for 4 years with no problems (of course, now I’ve tempted fate and it’ll sh*t the bed spectacularly). However, it’s an attention-seeking little bugger – when it’s finished it’ll beep 3 times (loudly enough for me to hear in the living room) then wait 30 seconds and do it again. Which it repeats until I go and attend to it or after about 10 tries, whichever comes 1st – usually me going to switch it off.

It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s bloody annoying :lol:

I can only speak for the dark peak, but it’s limited in terms of starter routes – most things involve a slog up a hill that’s steeper than most parts of a trail centre.

I’d go pick up the VB guide books for areas you’re thinking of visiting (Wales, Scotland, Peak, Lakes) and seeing what looks good and where the start points are. I’d imagine you could pretty much base yourself anywhere within 10-15 miles of Ambleside and have good riding on your doorstep, and I’d suggest Hope as a base if you’re going to the dark Peak.

Great write-up, thanks for sharing! Looks like you had very similar weather to when I did the WHW with my Dad (by foot).

On the Bronson you could pop off every little natural feature in the trail, where the Nomad just absorbed it.

+1 – though it was back in 2015 that I demo’ed both. At the time I preferred the Nomad, but with the changes in the most recent versions I suspect I’d probably go Bronson now.

Where are you based? If you’re feeling like this now, I think you should try and demo a Nomad to put your mind at rest – otherwise you’ll end up thinking you should have gone Nomad if it’s not 100% love for the Bronson from the get-go! There’s a demo[/url] day in Hope in a few weeks that should allow you to try one.