Loving these
https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Specialized/Roubaix-Pro-2Bliss-Ready-Clincher-Tubeless-Tyre/GHMB?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&co=GBR&cu=GBP&glCountry=GB&id=769356&ds_eid=3823279037&ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=&ds_cid=20153863158&ds_ag=&ds_agid=&ds_k=&ds_kid=&ds_kids=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAxaCvBhBaEiwAvsLmWF3ZC-iPYiaCX7yHoT8IlYYIHoad72StvbgBELmGjhEJfepu1yCLJBoCpdgQAvD_BwE

Bravo 👏👏👏👏
Just tremendous…so many amazing places and photos are stunning

I maimed a local celebrity albino (grey) squirrel in Colinton Dell (Edinburgh) about 15 years ago…my pal put it out its misery with a large log. Just ran along the track and then darted in front of my front wheel at just the wrong time.

I visited the Water of Leith Conservation Trust visitor centre about three months later and there were pictures on the wall of it when I asked one of the staff about it she got upset and said that it had disappeared or died suddenly! 😕 🤦‍♂️

Primal Scream – Come Together, full ten minute version. Always makes me feel upbeat and euphoric.

Got tickets for Baxter Dury in Edinburgh in May – really looking forward to that.

Gig-related-ish…I saw Standing At The Sky’s Edge at the theatre in London last week, featuring Richard Hawley’s music. All about three families on the Park Hill estate at three different times. Can’t recommend it enough – poignant, moving, funny, and Hawley’s music is front and centre and just works brilliantly. Go see it while you can!

I’m two weeks into Italian Duolingo for a fortnight in Sicily in July. Just want to be able to say a few basics in bars and restaurants, get the bus to Mt Etna etc.
So far, fun but repetitive. I don’t mind the daily reminders…otherwise i don’t think I’d be diligent enough. I’m enjoying it enough to keep going.

My employer pays me an annual salary. One year equals one rotation of the Earth around the Sun. Today is an extra day in this year to compensate for the missed 1/4 of a day in the last four years.

Hence I’m happy that today is a normal day for which I am being paid.

This ☝️ Nice positive mindset rather than my employer is robbing me 🤣👍

Good thread!
And my fave this weekend – Strade Bianche. Both the white roads and the Siena finish are so iconic.
Would love to go and do the sportive. I’ve done Paris-Roubaix and SB is definitely next on the list.

All of our days are numbered. We cannot afford to be idle. To act on a bad idea is better than to not act at all. Because the worth of the idea never becomes apparent until you do it.

39 words, but worked for me! First two sentences are 12 words I guess.

RIP Navalny.
What a brave fella – he probably knew this was the end game for the last 10-15 years.
Agree with the comment above – we (and the US) need to double down on our support for Ukraine. Hopefully Trump’s many court cases prevents him from becoming a Putin stooge for the next 4-5 years.

I get the feelings / sensitivities involved, but she’s given you a three months heads up?
Or were you expecting her to ask your permission and give you the chance to veto him coming? Is that realistic?

Got a 65 plate VW Passat, 2ltr diesel (8.5 years old), done 107k miles, and servicing hasn’t been anything else other than consumables.
Comfy enough for 3 week road trip round Europe. Does >50mpg. Fast enough and has a helpful sport mode.
Big enough for road bike in the back without taking wheels off.
Recommend. Better than the A4 Avant that it replaced.

He’s just too far ahead of the others…made for dull viewing

I have Huel a couple of days per week, at work, as a lunch when busy.
Its probably the very definition of processed food, but I’m fine with that a couple of times a week.
400 calories for the higher protein version, so a bit less than a supermarket salad or meal deal.
Definitely seem to lose weight the days I have it, but more because it always seems to facilitate a second 💩 of the day!

I wonder if Crocs vs Birkenstocks is another indicator?

I have both. Crocs for feeding the rabbits outside, Birkenstock slippers!

I have the Secan in plum. Its awesome and in time could see my having a Holt and Faran too! Already got an Enigma Etape road bike so the Strael is less likely!
Stuck my road wheels on the Secan for Ride to the Sun this year and it bombed along just as fast as my previous Canyon Ultimate.
Buy one, you won’t be disappointed!

That’s my daily commute route knackered then, Cramond to the centre of town.
Cheers for the heads up, I’ll have a think about what provision cycling would get, what my commute would be, and respond to the consultation. In principle I’m very pro trams too.
I actually worked on the feasibility of that section in about 2003! 🤣

Had a pair of 3/4 length Endura bibs fixed…needed to send a reminder email…but the fix was free/negligible from memory (the sewing around the pad had come undone).

I’ve found older Endura stuff to be very variable in quality, but more recent stuff (largely MTR and more recently GV500) has been good quality and decent value for money.

Enigma Etape road bike in early 2022.
Fairlight Secan gravel bike in late 2023.
I think a Cotic Solaris or Fairlight Holt will be 2025…so no, not this year…😭

There was a good GCN video on YouTube a few years ago of a four day bikepacking trip – got me thinking about a trip. Worth seeing if you can find it – looked great.

Come and say hello at the start or finish @ton – be lovely to meet you 👍

Comrie Croft?

I was coming down off the top of Skiddaw (walking) in the Lakes in 1987 or 88, and as we got to Latrigg two guys in full Orange kit (with the oranges on the jerseys 😍) were coming round from what is the Back-o-Skiddaw route. They must have been on the Formula O or original Clockworks. That was my introduction to mountain biking, and I was immediately hooked at the idea of being in the proper hills on a bike. That Christmas I got my first mountain bike. In the summer of 93 I saved up all summer hols and bought a Clockwork, all orange in colour, Deore LX groupset, XT thumbies, X-Lite bar ends etc. I was utterly in love and did most of my mountain biking on it – the offroad coast to coast route, Back-o-Skiddaw, the Borrowdale Bash, bothying in Scotland to tick off Munros (about 20 years before bikepacking), first time at Glentress. When I moved to Edinburgh I commuted to work on it until about 2012 until the stays developed a split. My favourite ever bike. The frame and forks are hung on the wall in my garage. An emotional attachment that I’ve never had with any other bike.

So really sad at this news, a shame for the brand and all involved and linked to them, and again highlighting the state of the industry and economy in general.

I can see why their later bikes were a bit Marmite and that they weren’t great value, but I’m surprised at some of the negativity in the comments. An Orange 5 was ‘the’ bike for a period of time, a UK classic. I hope they can survive.

Its the Best Pizza and Kebab House that we use, top end of the high street on the right. Though the other chippy does try and poach folk in as they pass!

And just to give it a bump – sign up as a New Year resolution folks 👍
And a Simon Willis of Always Another Adventure has just released a podcast that he recorded with us at this year’s ride – https://open.spotify.com/episode/0TlTQi9wjTlFn2V8bkcS9L?si=-5UtR6NWTMqDebAglnCAQA

@13thfloormonk – as people start as early as 5pm and as late as 11pm (bit of a peak of folk around 7pm) its really spread out and so there’s no real big peaks of numbers. Aside from a slight queue at the Moffat chip shop!

The year after we were on The Adventure Show we had crazy high numbers, but things are more normal now.

Have kefir every morning as part of a smoothie – tremendous stuff 👌

Quad entry. 3rd time. Cannae wait…biking, chat, pizza, beer and coffee are all great!

Never even considered it before now! 🤯

But a quick rinse in the shower occasionally now makes sense 👍

I do love it when the OP doesn’t return to update their thread 🤷‍♂️

It happens when everyone else on the thread disagrees! 🤣

Lots of people looking through a UK lens…but globally we’re undoubtedly heading in the wrong direction…population is too high, resource depletion, climate and biodiversity crisis etc.
Humanity will be like Mad Max then quickly like The Road in the next 150 years!
Biking plus beers is a healthy way to not stress about it, and generally i don’t. But for the first time ever i did have a sleepless night this summer of basically thinking ‘we’re fecked’.
Drink anyone?

Those gopping (to my eyes) Specialized riser road bars?

I’d use it as a pub / local shops bike 👍

Charles Thyritt for me too 👍

Sandstone Way, Hexham in the Tyne Valley to Berwick through Northumberland? Hoping to bike it at some point.

Anything but a man bun! 🤦‍♂️

Got both long and short sleeved. Long gets used most rides between now and March. Add a shell if its heavy rain though, though fine in drizzle or showers. Use on the gravel bike too. Short sleeve is perhaps more niche when you have arm warmers and gilet combos too.
6’5″ and 14st and XXL is perfect in both 👍

Well this thread has made me more likely to buy a Cotic, not less. My next hardtail will be a Solaris or a Holt.
Great reply @cy and good luck, I’ve always loved your brand, and so sorry that you’ve had a tough time recently.

I’ve tried my best with http://www.ridetothesun.co.uk
100m overnighter, summer solstice
Chip shop stop
Bagpiper
Rave at a derelict pub
Free beer at sunrise
Free to enter!