Mountain climbing is addictive though – nothing better on a nice sunny day.

Sorry to disappoint, but that’s only 800m 😛

Electronic gears run software
Software always contains bugs
Cable shifting is the future 💡

2.8’s at ~12psi soak up a LOT of trail chatter.
I’d definitely start with going tubeless and bringing pressure down.

Manifesto here:
https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/manifesto2017/Manifesto2017.pdf
BBC summary here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39960311

Seems a lot of spending promises, with unclear methods of paying for them.
Excellent news the tax free allowance will be increased further.
Not so excellent news for rich pensioners.

And for those that missed it, the precious metals for the batteries are acquired like this:
http://news.sky.com/story/meet-dorsen-8-who-mines-cobalt-to-make-your-smartphone-work-10784120

Some of the roads are a bit rough like trail centre blue routes

But fantastic fun none the less.

Can’t comment on the off road riding, but the road riding is fabulous – as covered above, spectacular views at every turn.
The descent off the Bavella towards the east coast is epic 😀

He’s getting pinch flats bumping up the kerbs been with 50 psi.

He’s either mega heavy, mega clumsy, or faulty pressure gauge.

He has rapid robs on it.

Not for long – they wear REALLY fast on road – my rear was nearly bald after 500mi and I weigh next to nothing.

You didn’t mention how much clearance is available, so i’ll go for my stock commuting answer of a Schwalbe Marathon:
http://nextdaytyres.co.uk/details.aspx/SCHWALBE-MARATHON-MTB-650B/401
With a wildcard of the WTB horizon:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/wtb-horizon-tcs-road-tyre/rp-prod151650

unemployment is at a record low

I’m pretty sure there a good number of minimum wage supporters in this thread that are the first people to say that unemployment is only at a record low because of abhorrent zero hour contracts.

then Dave can get a more worthwhile job that also pays him £10 an hour.

Where from? We’ve just forced employers arms to streamline/automate – there’s less jobs available, we can’t just magic one up specially for Dave. And as for Andy who spent the last 15years shoving boxes into a compactor – well that’s not exactly a CV thats going to open many doors is it?

best get a robot to do it then.

Exactly

Who handles goods in then if Dave is fired?

His mate Jimmy has to work a little harder for his £10/hr.
There’s plenty of looking the other way as far as slacking is concerned as long as supervisors aren’t pushed too hard to look for inefficiencies.

Why exactly do you not want Dave to be paid a slightly better wage, are you happy that people are paid so little?

I’m more or less a believer that a job is worth what someone is willing to do it for and don’t believe in imposing artificial limits. I’ve done my stint shoving cardboard boxes into a compactor for £3.33/hr, and frankly it would be absurd to get paid £10/hr for such a trivial task.

I see you completely missed the part about balancing the other wages within the company then….

Try reading my whole post.
That whole concept is a rabid leftie wet dream and the chances of it happening in reality are about 10000000000:1
Given the choice between giving themselves a paycut and punting Dave in the goods in department what do you think a MD is going to choose?

Radical.

Fanciful.
In the real world the employer do some combination of:
Streamline role
Automate role
Increase prices

Lose for the employee when instead of £8/hr they have no job, lose for the economy as they are paying benefit for said employee not receiving taxes and lose for everyone else as end product gets more expensive.

£10 minimum wage – that’s huge. It might cause trouble with employers, and it might spark inflation, but it’s better than doing nothing.

I remain to be convinced that higher unemployment and inflation are ‘better’.

I was refer yo HR Z2, which is no where near upper threshold power

HRZ2 and PZ2 should be roughly the same unless you are super fresh and coffee loaded or super tired

Z2 is not recovery it’s 70-80% of FTP

80% is very high for Z2, even friels zones don’t go that high, and some people would say the top of his Z2 should possibly be Z3.

As of this year I prefer upper Z1, 90% of the benefits, 50% of the fatigue so you can add volume (assuming you have the time of course).

Last time I looked most if the strongest cycling time trialling countries werent in the commonwealth.

@blobby apologies, no more derailment from here on from me

Well lets just say if it was beefcake bertie?

Apples with oranges.
One is a 60kg climber that worked hard on his TT position (and had special steaks), the other is a pursuiter thats previously targetted events like Paris-Roubaix and has slimmed down to hang in on the climbs.

If it was anyone else but G we’d be deeply suspicious wouldnt we?

Of what?
Olympic Team pursuit gold medalist performs well on flat TT – hardly a shocker

Philip Hammond says that the manifesto spending plan is unbalanced and doesn’t add up, and therefore is no good.

Well he’s right – the magic fully costed manifesto turned out to have a rather large gaping hole in it that would require some hefty borrowing.

However, he was also unable to answer when his manifesto will even be published

That’s because they don’t have one, the strategy is stay quiet, let JC shoot himself in the foot, gain increased majority, but without significant manifesto pledges to tie you down you can do whatever you like for 5 years.

I can see me not voting for the first time ever as all the options seem rubbish.

Been said already, but most good Tri clubs will have coached swim sessions.
No brainer really.

Advice not specific to kids, but – take midge nets!

@scotroutes – i actually find it more prevalent when its cold. When its warm it probably evaporates off before you notice.

that’s where you started to or worked up to?

Worked up to – i’m not even sure I could have stood up without knees buckling with 115% when I started 😳

Sounds like you tried to lift too much and at the wrong time in the season.

Been a while, but iirc, 5×8 @ 60/90/100/110/115% BW
Felt ok lifting every 3rd day, and making strength gains, but struggled to even manage decent z2 rides on non lifting days.

This is interesting:

https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/why-serious-cyclists-should-consider-strength-training

Good link.
Not sure it applies the same to everyone, as i’d expect most are limited far more by CV fitness than leg strength. For really skinny folk like me, i’m convinced there’s huge gains to be made from strength work.

However, I couldn’t get squatting to work for me, I found it left me with too much muscle soreness, and really badly compromised the quality of on the bike work.
I’ve found on the bike strength work to be a compromise that has worked well.

Seems labour have gone with a similar design to Lib Dems – wall of squares with more info underneath.
http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php/manifesto2017

Its a whole lot to read, so also a link to BBC summary
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39933116

or if you want a decent everyday compromise, get a 4×4 estate

Careful, we’ll end up back at an RS4 with that line of thinking!

I’d contest there is no such thing as a decent SUV.
If you want to go off-road, get a 4×4, if you want room get an estate.

they just can’t turn them into decent tyres that don’t leak or deform

I may have been lucky, but that’s not my experience at all.
They take a bit of effort to get sealed, but once sealed every one has been bulletproof.
I did have one deform, but as i’d done 2000 miles on it, I find it hard to criticise.

None of those is a dh tyre.

Maybe not, but they are all sooo slow for trail centre stuff.
My fastest time through Spooky Wood at GT for example is on a hardtail with 2.2 XKings. On this type of terrain, what they lose in grip, they more than make up for in rolling speed between the corners.

FWIW, I went with a RockRazor/HD(pacestar) combo, given a similar set of requirements to OP. In hindsight, its still a pairing that’s more suited to Comrie Croft than the usual trail centre superhighway.

mainly want them to roll

mainly trail centres and hardpack

That said, in the interest of open-midndness, what would you suggest?

For what you describe XC tyres (in their tougher variants) are ideal. They are what people use for 24hr races etc (which are often held at trail centres) and they don’t wreck them.

For hardpack you want quite a closed shallow tread that prioritises surface area, not big toothy enduro tyres which need to dig in to work at their best.

Parents have had a few combi units over the years.
They like them, i’ve never been impressed.

However if you don’t actually have an oven, then yes, go for a combi.

Never done business/first, and in the real world i never would.

If i had an 8 figure bank balance on the other hand, there’d be no hesitation.

Just getting back on after lapping the field right CH? 😆

Don’t think anyone would go as far as saying its GP’s ‘fault’, but i was pretty shocked when i went in for regular blood test last week and overheard the next available doctors appointment was 25th.

I can understand how people end up at A&E if they simply can’t get an appointment.

Serious question as I am not involved with the NHS and thankfully not at the sharp end – is it any better now?

The first two seem slightly better from a patients perspective, clinics running more or less on time, and consultant seems much more relaxed about justifying expensive drugs. Fortunately not been an inpatient recently, but would be a miracle if the latter 2 points had changed for the better.

I remember in once instance I effectively ‘blocked’ a bed myself waiting 4-5 days for a scan, which disturbingly gave results bad enough they landed me in surgery the next morning….

actually no, it worked “pretty” well about 10 years ago

That’s very debatable.
My memories of that time were oversubscribed outpatient clinics, poor access to expensive new drugs, lots of elderly folks blocking beds, and long queues for diagnostic equipment (MRI scanner etc)

TJ – what are the midges like this time of year?

Freshly hatched and starving

So what is everyone expecting from the Tory manifesto then? I’m predicting it running to 2 whole sentences.

As it stands they aren’t giving any indication they actually have any policies at all that they can print in the manifesto. The whole election is an exercise in letting JC destroy himself and pull his party down with him, which doesn’t require being proactive, just keeping fairly quiet and observing.