Fear Of A Black Hat.

I was starting to think I’d imagined that film. I haven’t seen it in about 20 years.

Another vote for the Guard

Happiness, though somewhat of an acquired taste as it’s so, so bleak for a comedy.

Another meanderthal trait is to somehow take up the entire width of a shared path all by themselves. This is a common beef on my commutes.

Trails are for everyone, not just Strava chasing folks. Only a dickhead would begrudge him having a crack at a more technical trail.

I thought that was the case with the bb. It’s not a major issue, just a bit more of a faff to fit is all. Takes nothing away from an awesome bike though.

I have one and, unsurprisingly, I love it. It’s the most fun bike I’ve ever ridden; not for the faint hearted as it’s very stiff, which makes it very responsive when stamping down on the pedals. It’s the first 29er I’ve owned and the only one I’ve felt truly confident and comfortable riding. It’s just begging to be ragged hard, chewing up any terrain I’ve thrown at it from the rocks and switchbacks of Sierra Nevada, attempting to get air at BPW or the fast, flowy single tracks of my local trails in Bristol. The short back end takes a while to get used to, meaning you have to rebalance your weight a bit to stop the front wheel from wandering at speed in the corners. Once you’re used to that though it grips like glue in the corners, has all the benefits of a big wheel when maintaining speed and smoothing out stutter type bumps but with the fun and nimbleness of a smaller wheeled bike.

My only real gripe is that it’s a press fit BB rather than a threaded one but that’s hardly a deal-breaker. It’s quite burly for a hardtail, certainly not the lightest but it more than makes up for that in the fun department, which is exactly what this bike is about.

I ride a small
X-Fusion Slide forks
Superstar Sentinel rims on Tesla Evo hubs (142x12mm rear)
XT, SLX mix groupset
Reverb
60mm stem
720mm bars

I went with AA and the small print re. bikes is pretty decent as far as I’m concerned. New for old and only listing any items over £1500 (I think). The cost for home contents and buildings insurance was half that of the renewal quote from Nationwide and with infinitely better cover.

Shut 26 May-19 June between Saltford and Bitton. The tunnel at Staple Hill has been closed for ages and will be shut for until June apparently.

It’s at points like this that ‘hilly’ here is merely ‘slightly lumpy’ elsewhere.

That said, 140km and 1200m of climbing on Sunday felt like I’d done an alpine stage of the Tour because of the wind.

When I was that age I was swimming a few nights a week, rugby training once a week with a match on Sundays and occasionally Saturdays to and riding bikes. I developed Osgood-Schlatter Disease, which still causes me trouble now I’m in my 30s. I should have rested up a bit and I might not have the problems I do with my knees now but at the time sports were my life and I didn’t want to stop. Just watch out for signs of injury and problems and treat them as advised by a decent physio.

Baking bread.

The satisfaction of having learned how to do something new.

A perfectly true wheel and knowing that you made it that way (though this hasn’t happened for a while)

Somebody shat on the floor and left it there, like a little ornament.

How do you miss the toilet when sitting down?

Odious
Vagaries
Sanguine
Rubenesque

=COUNTIFS(range,”>1″,range,”<1.59″)

I’ve tried a few variations out and it works for me.

It’s not too late: invest in a new Goretex jacket and we’re guaranteed a drought.

I can’t afford the replacement mudguards this month let alone a new Goretex jacket!

The rear mudguard on my winter roadie broke on Friday so I can predict with certainty a munter of a summer, starting now.

You could draw a cock on her bonnet using Dot brake fluid.

There are some notable exceptions, though the only item of Gore stuff I have tore on the first ride and has many a resown seam. I have a basic pair of Royal shorts that I’m pretty sure would be left with cockroaches for company in the event of nuclear Armageddon. They’re as sturdy and hole free as the day I bought them several years ago, despite being the only pair I owned until recently and plenty of hefty crashes. Kudos to Royal.

On the other hand, the Endura and Altura stuff I’ve had has been pretty awful. Poorly thought out designs, material as delicate as fairy wings and zips broken just because you’ve had the audacity to try and use them.

The One Sixty 900 is the same colour as my hardtail so it would be rude not to have one. Sadly the £3k+ asking price somewhat stumps me though.

Yes. Working a job you hate, even with the security, will make you miserable.

Continental Trail King Protection. Probably the best tyre I’ve ever used though fairly pricey.

Slight thread hijack but what’s the biggest single ring I can use on an MTB triple in the middle space? I’m running 34t 1×10 on my commuter at the moment but totally undergeared when the road points down.

170mm on all my bikes, road and mtb. I noticed a world of difference on my old MTB re. pedal strikes. It did have a stupidly low BB though.

If you get mugged, sleep in a phonebox, wake up upside down in a hedge covered in kebab sauce then it’s your own fault and you shouldn’t expect the NHS/ Gov’t to nanny you. It’s the kind of thing you probably learn from and don’t do again.

You’re just a quick step away from “If you ride your bike down steep, rocky hills and injure yourself you should learn from it and not do it again.”

I’ve just made the swap to try flats for the first time. I’m really enjoying it, though only had two rides, one at the BMX track and some tame XC stuff. Off to BPW on Sunday though so that should be interesting. My 5Ten Freerider XVi came up small. I usually fit an 8 (42) but needed a 7.5 (41.5).

I used to do weekly 50km night road rides in the winter but tend to just extend my commutes home now I’ve changed jobs. I have the same lighting setup as TiRed though I don’t use the Joystick on road as I don’t like the weight on my head when riding road, I find it hurts my neck after a while. Just a decent bar mounted light is sufficient though as even in windy country lanes, you still have much better line of sight than you do in the woods. A decent rear light (I have a Moon Comet, which I’d highly recommend) will give you piece of mind, especially if it is bright enough on the low setting to light up your entire rear wheel. I find solo night road riding pretty dull though you can get great views over the city (in Bristol at least) when you top out some of the climbs. Riding with a mate makes battering in the winter winds in the dark a bit more bearable as you’ve got someone to talk to and to use as a wind-break when you’re knackered.

Zealous Division. Very playful and fun 29er hardtail. I love mine.

I know the feeling and it’s not pleasant at all. The end of last year / start of this year were a write off. I smacked my coccyx in a stupid commuting accident and couldn’t even sit comfortably for a month, then flu, then a cold that lasted a month! Finally back to decent health but my fitness is shocking now. Thankfully got a new job with plenty of commuting miles and some easily accessible extended routes, which is nice.

8km road, though some of it is on Sustrans paths. No off road option, which sucks. Always ride it as I don’t have a car, though it means I can have a post ride beer so that’s a bonus.

After 20 odd years of riding clipless, my first pair of flat pedal shoes, Five Ten Freerider XVi.

Cherry Duck every time. Good food, not silly prices.

26″ tyres, frames, knackered wheels, old cassettes, odd length bits of cable outer, inner tubes that I’ll get round to fixing one day but never do.

Anyone used one on a road bike? I’m tempted as my Arione is like sandpaper to my undercarriage.

A quick bit of maths suggests I could pay myself £30k a year, with 2% rise each year to account for inflation, save the rest at 4% interest rate and have over £10m in the bank after 60yrs. I could quit my job and live off an income significantly higher than I currently earn for the rest of my life. I could afford to learn to drive and buy a car though I’m not sure I’d bother moving as I like my house already. £1m will go a long way if you’re not an ostentatious idiot.

In no particular order:

Oceansize
Nails
Tears for Fears
Run the Jewels
Glassjaw
Ben Klock
Joe Mull
Alpha Male Tea Party

I’d kill for some downloadable Marco Bailey or Adam Beyer DJ mixes circa 2004/05 if anyone has any. It would make perfect gym music.

Woodford Reserve or Knob Creek for me. Four Roses is pretty good for the price.

On the issue of test rides, the LBS I bought my road bike from got a bike in my size to test, agreed with the supplier that they could cut the seat post down a bit and then loaned it to me for a week. Once purchased, they made a few spec changes for me and set it up including a free bike fit. That kind of service makes purchasing decisions a whole lot easier. BW Cycling was the shop in question if anyone is interested.

Mole grips; got many a stuck bolt and other seized things off. Also, a bit of wood and a hammer for inserting press fit BBs and headsets. There’s great satisfaction to be gained from having trued a wheel perfectly so my Spokey is a bit of a favourite.

Somewhere in the region of 22psi for me. Much harder and I get no grip, much softer and the tyre deforms under hard cornering. I weigh about 9 3/4 stone but still managed to put several dings in my rear wheel. I’d imagine you can get away with running lower psi on a full suspension bike than a harsh hardtail.

Punitive taxes on landlords with more than two properties.

Scrap ‘Help to buy’ and other dangerous and pointless inflation of the property market.

Renationalise public transport and utilities.

Decriminalise all drugs and treat drug addiction as a health problem.

Scrap the nuclear deterrent/trident.

Taking a scientific and evidence based approach to forming policies.

Strong emphasis on education.

Pay HMRC staff better so they can close tax loop-holes rather than flocking to the private sector to advise them on how to exploit them.

Investment in renewable energy technologies to make them more cost efficient, with a view to be coming world leaders in the field and exporting the good work.