Do it up and do L’Eroica[/url]. We did it last year, totally brilliant.

In.

Anyone who thinks Out is stupid beyond redemption. Why would you vote against your own interests (workers’ rights, safety legislation, free market etc) unless you’d been hoodwinked by media who want out so that they can reduce their costs ?

Whilst we’re at it, we’d have been much better off IN the euro. Our position would be similar to Germany’s. I just sent some time working there, my god it’s civilised. And the whole Euro project would be in better shape with us in it.

Many thanks, amedias.

Like everything else on this bike, Spesh have devised a new ‘standard’. I wish I had the nerve to drill through the fork leg to be able to fit individual racks (I have some old Thorn ones). I’m sure it would be OK…

After a bit of faffing I ordered the back issue of BQ with a few others taking advantage of their bundling. They look really interesting.

get in first, bully the bully

This I would love to do. But he’s a 9 year old child and I’m a lot older and bigger.

And he might come for me when he’s 18…

Apparently the only celeb John Peel invited to his wedding. Speaks volumes.

Not just celebs passing away. Nearly everyone in my road has lost a parent in the last couple of months, myself included. WTF is going on ?

Hoping for a giant-killing weekend. Wife is from Derby, we now live in MK.

I live about 2 miles from the bowl, I really must go to one of these.

Good local builder and BC.

That was the age my parents moved my sister and me. From the south east to the sticks. Neither of us fulfilled our potential as a result. You absolutely risk screwing them up.

Had a few minutes to myself so just listened to the tracks in this thread I didn’t know. Some really interesting choices. Thanks to all. Loop and the Chameleons particularly.

As for me, I’m with chip. Modern music began with ‘I feel love’. That video, that music, is raw sex. However, I must point out that a mark 1 Capri would have been 10 years old at that point. 🙂

But at nearly 10 years old it is time to replace it.

Why ?

Our Golf’s 14 years old and still going strong…

+1.

We’re down to 1 parent left. She just fell off the stair lift because she didn’t do the seat belt up. Wife’s at the hospital now. AT least she’s safe at the moment.

Get off and run every 10 minutes or so for a few paces. Get the blood flowing…

I bet a load of 16 year old native yoofs aren’t exactly well behaved. I wasn’t…

Correct decision. I have no idea why roadies use road shoes for all rides, they’re equivalent to using spikes for everyday jogging.

No idea. Wish I knew as I’m a proper ticking time bomb.

Healthy diet, strong, fit, keen on vigorous exercise.

I had rheumatic fever as a kid and did 6 straight years of antibiotics as a result. Could be an artifact of that (no gut bacteria = no vitamin K2 = calcification) but that’s a guess and could never be proved.

Work annually run these for the local schools. Advise on and help make the robots. Generally enjoyed by all concerned.

Anyone raced with a self imposed limit

These are incompatible criteria. If it has a limit it’s a training ride. However, considering the conditions tomorrow you could treat it as a skills training ride.

I’ve had several cholesterol tests over the past 15 years which always gave values around 4 (lowest 3.8, highest 4.3). RHR 45, BP 120/70.
Yet, after chest pain I had a contrast CT scan that revealed atherosclerosis. There’s (much) more to this than cholesterol levels…

I do 25 miles on the M1 in that area (MK to Luton) each way each day. Often takes close to an hour. Your 75 miles in an hour and a half is WILDLY optimistic. Take the train, at least you can use the time productively.

Big snow and ice. 16 years old, ride sports moped to shop 4 miles on untreated roads (feeling v pleased with myself). Come back to bike, set off up road to a sharp corner which happens to have local ner-do-wells hanging around. Close throttle to find it’s iced up. End up in big heap. At least the engine kept running so I just about escaped..

Is it different if you have a metal flue right to the top ?

@dirtyrider are you importing the road link or is there now a uk supplier ? I want one bad since I saw it in the CTC mag.

The newer laptop definitely chimed a few times, which was disturbing. The 2009 MBP went fine…

So right. You never know what you’re going to find. We did Luton to Rome 5 years ago on road bikes on a route I planned. You should have heard the abuse I took when we hit the white roads in Italy, or when we had to climb a massive load of steps just outside Besançon. Neither of which I’d exactly expected…

We’re doing wales c2c this year (on CX bikes), route planning starting with the sustrans then basically adapting as much as possible (100% with a bit of luck) to come up something unique. If we manage to do it and stay friends it’s LEJOG next year!

@montgomery

I made my own route up, and I’m not publishing it. Making up the route is part of the adventure

Bang on.

For absence of doubt, that’s what we’re doing. But if there was a generic published one that everyone was using, we’d be trying to avoid it !

London School of Economics public lectures.

Anyone doing it on a fatty ?

Same you’re not local, I want to sell one (new £600) for about that. It’s never used (in fact been used fewer than half a dozen times).

So, think about whether it would get any usage and is it worth having one…

As before, it ends up with a black screen with an outline mouse pointer which moves with the bluetooth mouse, but nothing from the keyboard (cmd L does nothing).

However, after a manual ordinary restart it’s back up, which was a lot better than last time !

Thanks, all.

All backed up, fingers crossed…

@montgomery

enabling trips such as an offroad LEJOG this summer

Is there a published route or are you making one up ? I bet there’s a load of folk on here (me included) who’d be keen on this…

When I lived in Watford I used to ride up there using the canal. It’s really not very far, and you can get the train back if you’ve over done it. But it’s ultramud at this time of year, I really would wait for the summer.

sadly has cracked around a number of the eyelet holes so had to be junked

exactly what happened to my rear, probably due to too much pressure to avoid the pinch punctures I was getting. The rim would deform under pressure causing snatch braking, but be perfectly true when deflated. The cracks were only visible once I took the rim tape off – invisible from the top – so took a bit of finding…

It’s the bike I use around Woburn so no long-duration braking. However, due to the sandy nature of the trails, normal pads can last less than a day whereas ceramic ones last at least a year.

The coating itself is now about 75% gone. The ceramic pads don’t work well on an aluminum surface. A previous rim worn to this level is now doing excellent service on a disc braked bike !

My experience of the coatings is that the Bonty was by far the best, Mavic’s OK, DT Swiss not so good (I trashed the rear Bonty in Chamonix and have been through a couple of Mavics and one DT on the rear since).

Many thanks for the link, amedias, I’ll be on to that (why am I so rubbish at finding this stuff ?) – despite what I said above, DT Swiss ceramic still way better than straight aluminum.

26″ XC. Current one is a Bontrager, and in 28 hole. Those Exals look great (I’d put up with an extra 200g) but I’d have to find some hubs…

Everything in the basement is boxed.

in lead cased trunks I hope…

We rode to a christmas market and came back with sausages. French ones that will last until the next ice age…

Chamonix.

In June or September (but not July or August) you can ride anywhere.

Petit Balcons are great. Route to Valorcine what I would call aggressive fire-road. On the Swiss side lots of of that, all signposted.

The climb from the town to Planpraz would satisfy anyone (1000m fireroad).

The blue and the red are great, if taken at speed.

Some of the guides on the tour de Mont Blanc rode hardtails. Big tyres and you’re sorted.

There are way more niches these days. This year I spent more time on the vintage bikes which I didn’t own last year. Did L’Eroica. Next year I expect to spend more time on the gravel bike which I just bought and planning WC2C next summer. 55 in 2 weeks BTW. So many niches, so little time.