Best upgrade I did this year was increasing my hours in the saddle.
Hoping to make a similar upgrade next year too 🙂

You mean like this?
https://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/events/galloway-gallop-adventure-cross/

Best I can come up with from a quick google is the Fenix LD41.
960lm, 4xAA, quoted runtime of 1hr with high quality rechargables, so probably ~40mins for off the shelf alkalines.

are there any 800 Lumen or so lights that will take disposable batteries?

You’d be changing batteries every 15mins trying to run an 800lm light off AA’s

When I go riding I’m always amazed how slow people are at riding up.

Me too

I always pass others on the UPS and for ages I thought it was because everyone else was super unfit. It’s not though.

Oh, it really is – that and running tyres that have similar weight and rolling resistance to a tractor.

It’s because everyone is on 1x these days and it makes people slower on the ups.

Dont be daft, 1x makes people quicker up as A) it forces people to put in more effort to keep the larger gear turning, and B) its (a little) lighter.

Apologies if this has already been covered and it may not be relevant, but this popped into my inbox a while back: http://www.whatcar.com/estate/

Sadly whatcar reviews really are at best random words and star ratings, and at worst based on how much the manufacturer paid them for the review.

@mudpup, now you come to mention it, i agree, the headlights on the i40 are terrible.

Yeah, thats going to sting a bit!

Hyundai don’t use the adblue additive.

😯

I would never have considered a Hyundai a few years aggo, but their build quality appears fantastic now.

I have a ’62’ I40 Estate, and can confirm that it is very nice inside and well put together – they have massively upped their game from where they were when they first came to the UK.

First, its huge, like properly massive. You’ll make full use of the rear camera, as you’ll be hanging out of parking spaces all the time. As above, the interior is a nice comfortable place to be and nothing is falling apart yet.

I have the the more powerful of the CRDi engines, and the blue drive stuff (stop/start, skinny tyres, dynamic front grill). Plenty of power to overtake when needed (even when loaded), but firmly on the side of practical rather than fun. I’ve a bit of a heavy right foot and get ~45mpg around town and low 50’s on a motorway run.

Handling/Cornering i’d describe as adequate – nothing wrong with it, but it feels a bit ponderous (I had a Leon FR before, so could be i’d find most things lacking in the twisty stuff now).

As far as reliability – the parking sensors WILL break – seems a very common issue – they will be replaced under warranty though. I’ve also had fuel filter and brake caliper replaced under warranty – no idea how common those faults are.

Would I buy another – definitely

3 days of very heavy rain would do more damage than a summer’s worth of mtbers. Just nonsense!

Obviously depends on the location, the surface and the traffic.
During 10UtB 2015 I watched the blue descent at Fort William erode from a nice mellow blue to something quite definitely red graded – rutted with rocks jutting through all over – and this is trail centre hardpack.

Fortunately they seem really on their game repairing trails there and by Relentless at the end of the year they had fixed it up again.

Anyone denying an ebike causes more erosion than a regular MTB clearly hasn’t thought too much about it – more weight and more power is always going to equal more erosion – whether its a significant amount more – well i doubt anyone has measured any data on that.
And if we are really concerned, then maybe we should ban chubby MTBers too?

Anyway, short version: Erosion argument is a storm in a teacup, but to try to pretend it doesn’t exist is a bit daft.

Cycling Plus is a classic example of what i posted a way back up the thread. Terrible magazine much like MBR and MBUK, but can be picked up as people stroll past them in Tesco/Airport/Hospital shop etc.

Not everyone wants a sub, maybe they cant afford it, maybe they only read mags on holiday, or maybe they just pick up issues when there is an interesting article on the cover.

@nobeer, totally agree that if you are only using 1 light it should be helmet mounted – almost mandatory for twisty singletrack imo.
Disagree about the big exposure lights only being for straight stuff though, they do flood an incredible area which makes them much more practical than logic would dictate.

@cheers_drive no-one knows exactly why HR tends not to come as high indoor.
Two common theories are:
A) you’re not using your core/support muscles to balance indoor.
B) you don’t get distracted in the same way by steering/potholes etc, and with the lack of distraction the only thing to focus on is the pain and whilst it feels terrible, you aren’t going as hard as you think.

@flanagaj.
If you know what you are doing, why, and what direct benefit it has to your cycling then by all means continue with the gym sessions.
Folks will have different opinions on this, but if it were me at 9 weeks out i’d be looking to drop to 1 day per week in the gym and focus on compound exercises and core strength. This would give you an extra day on the bike.

As to whether you can drop a rest day, only you can tell that. Elite athletes can do 6 days a week, but its also their day job. Some amateurs can do it too, but i suspect they are a small % that are blessed with good genes. You need to monitor your fatigue levels and make the call yourself.
My opinion would be to err on the side of caution. You’ve more to potentially lose from burnout than you can gain from a 6th day working out.

Regarding the split sessions, the answer is they both give best bang for buck, but for different things. A 5hr session can give you a fantastic endurance building ride, whereas two shorter sessions allow some recovery which can give you better returns on speed/power sessions.

@RAGGATIP gives some good advice with the audaxes At 9 weeks out you want some rides that replicate the event, going a little further a little harder. Maybe every 2nd week.

I assume the phone has to have a data connection for this to work?
So in the places in the UK where it would be most handy, its not going to work?

May be handy for parents spying on kids though

No fluro or 3K bikes in those shots, nosirreee.

There’s more fluro in your riders pyjama top than there is in all 5 of my pics!!
I might be guilty on the expensive bike criteria though 😳

I guess what I was trying to point out is that we can have great MTBing pics without a full face helmet, big air or half a page of roost

Which year and what was the issue?

Clutch starts slipping anywhere from about 10k miles – mine was a 2006 (56) and started going at about 22k. Very expensive repair as it can require a replacement dual mass flywheel.

However, in better news, I’ve done some more digging since my last post, and apparently Honda did acknowledge the problem by 2009 and cars produced late 2010 onward should no longer have the problem.

For me, too many of the mags and MTB press are full of people, of any gender in fluro clothing on £3k+ bikes shredding ze gnarr.

Me too, so i’m going to go against the trend and post some XC pics 😀
Thanks to pinkbike for actually acknowledging XC exists and providing some decent coverage.

Zippykona.. thanks for that. It’s so ugly it hurts though

I believe i called it an abomination in another thread 😆

The previous shape civic was the most reliable car I’ve ever had. In your position I would be after a new shape civic tourer.

There was a fairly large issue with the clutches on the 2.2cdti that Honda like to pretend doesn’t exist, but the internet seems to think is pretty widespread. The new 1.6 i-DTEC may not have the problem, but worth doing some researching on.

If I was a betting man I’d put money on Button, he’s sort of semi-available and I think that if he was offered a dominant car like Mercedes then he’d quite quickly forget all of his reservations regarding continuing in the sport

Except with totally new cars in play for next year there’s no guarantee the car will be dominant and he could be signing up for another season of frustration.

Felt kinda sorry for the less fit ones this week tbh.
A hilly 80mi sportive is a hell of a thing to be thrown into after 2 weeks of cycling.

I dont like politicians who fail to tell the truth and who dont do what they say – in all countries and parties

The list of politicians you like must be very short 😆

I’ve come to realise that I have a very fussy arse, which has caused me to waste a lot of money on saddles that get used only once.

In my experience it takes a about 500mi to determine if a saddle is right for you or not, pretty impressed you can do that in 1 ride.

1) If it’s exported to strava and you have a premium sub go to the ride and analysis tab. Highlight the 20 mins and take the number and times it by .95.

This, but you don’t need a premium sub, you can do it on a standard account

Its all folk who don’t live in Scotland as well.

Seems like an appropriate time for me to point out that considering education doesn’t fit in with the SNP’s one and only objective of independence.

A quick question for those who are questioning the lack of range. How much time do you spend in either your lowest or highest gears?

A whole lot of the time.
At least 10% in the granny gear probably more.
Biggest gear less often but still probably used every 2nd ride or so.
Like I said, i’d take more range if I could get it on that bike, not less.

Take the average of the 20mins and multiply by 0.95

Well the way I see it you’ve got 2 options.

A) Baby in buggy – buggy hitched to tow bar – may however not win parent of the year award
B) Get an estate car

Since when did RRP become ‘inflated prices’?

Since you can buy almost anything you desire online with a 25-50% discount?

R8+ is quite poor value compared to Six Pack due to having much smaller (and external) battery

Your problem with looking at chinese head 7+ LED head units is that until you buy them you don’t actually know how the electronics is set up.
They may have 7xXML LED’s giving a theoretical 7000lm, but if they are only set to pull 500mA they are only going to give half that at best.

Edit: As a budget alternative, you could look at getting two of the many derivatives of the 2xXML lights and using a Y cable to run them both off the same battery.

Well, I’ve entered, but find it highly unlikely i’ll actually complete it.
Having ruined myself in Corsica last week in September, ruined myself again at Relentless last week in October, and then taken November off, I doubt I’ll have the speed or endurance to be knocking out 500km in a week.
And that’s before getting round to the likelihood of half suitable weather.

+1 for evoc.

@kryton and blobby, you are not alone, that is also the way i see zwift.

Get a BB30 adaptor and try another type of BB?
Doesn’t sound a great option, but its probably better than drilling your frame.

More like shopping on the high st, walking the dog, walking the kids to school, going to the pub, going to work, going for a bimble with grandparents and kids.

If those are the intended use then why bother with down/synthetic jacket at all? Softshell is surely a much more robust option that fits a wider range of conditions.
Maybe my practical side is getting in the way of fashion.

Good quality coffee and hot chocolate
Cake
Toasties/Paninis
And the one thing no-one else mentioned: Decent loo roll!