I feel your pain, my boy was similar and to some extent its a little better now at the ripe old age of 8 1/2. He would struggle to go to sleep and then wake really early regardless of when he went to bed. We used to try and wear him out, challenge him more mentally and physically and it had very little effect on his sleeping time (It would just make him more moody the next day) so we just explained constantly that mommy and daddy needed sleep and taught him to switch the telly on which he started doing by himself since he was about 6. He still wakes up real early but keeps himself busy now and instead of forcing him to go to sleep in the evenings we have loosened the rules (which he constantly tries to negotiate higher). It’s gone from 19:30 to 20:30 now and is up at 6:30-7am and doesn’t seem to be affected at all so we’ll leave it at that for now.

My daughter, now 5 sleeps like a log. She is almost asleep before her head hits the pillow and we need to drag her out of bed to get dressed for school in the mornings. Once up she is chirpy as anything. Just shows you the opposite sides of the coin is possible in the same household.

In the end there isn’t much else you can do, just make peace with it and if it comes down to be quite stern and tell him to bugger off and leave you and the wife alone because you need to sleep. He is better of for it if you are both rested so be cruel to be kind.

Get a Witter tow bar from eBay. They even have mobile fitters that come to your house to put it on for you. Job done.

Life Cycles 🙂

There are thousands of very responsible gun owners in the UK who would never ever use a gun to kill anything. The vast majority of them do it for nothing more than a bit of social on a Friday night and some good clean fun putting small holes in paper circles. Same with archers on Saturday mornings in fields. On the other hand, a PS3 could easily be used to inflict fatal wounds to a small child if a bad person so chooses.

Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Same with knives, screwdrivers, wires spanned between objects on a trail, cars on the road, etc.

Sadly humans are capable of the full spectrum between good and evil. Sometimes the same human being is capable of the full spectrum all at the same time as hard as that may be to fathom.

I am an ex soldier, seen (and by some standards done) some pretty nasty things, unfortunately these things are just part of life. You can’t go banning everything that has the potential to inflict harm because of a small minority and force us all to live in soft padded rooms because of it.

BTW – I am not suggesting we accept it, they need to be caught and dealt with. I am merely suggesting that removing anything potentially dangerous from society isn’t as straight forward a problem solver as it may seem.

I have a new T5 Kombi 180bhp in 7 speed auto DSG guise and it is absolutely fantastic. I do around 15000 miles a year, so far done 7000miles this year. It’s very comfortable to drive, much more so than my Grand Jeep Cherokee I had before this. Kids love it and we can fit 5 adults with bikes, gear and camping gear in comfortably. Very powerful too. Best vehicle I have ever owned. Expensive but worth it.

Me, 90kg and 70psi. Mate of mine is 110kg and uses 88psi.

Stop worrying about it and just put it aside for a while. If they haven’t figured it out after a month then spend it as long as if they ever do come knocking it won’t break your bank to pay them back. These things don’t often happen and when they do they don’t always come looking for the money. Similar thing has happened to me twice before, several years ago and they never came for the money.

Morals? What are those? 😀

Much obliged! Better get the campsite booked then! 🙂

Camber is an awesome bike. Just built one up from a frame I got on eBay and I am blown away by how good it rides. I do a regular 17 mile commute on it with slicks and had it in Wales for a 3 dayer last weekend where it flew up and down.

Was playing up earlier but fine now. 🙂

Great pedals! Been using them on my downhill and freeride bikes since they came out 3-4 years ago. Never ever had any problems apart from the paint that rubs off quite easily but really don’t care about that.

3 years ago in Verbier I hit a hidden rock behind a bit of grass full on with the right pedal at around 35mph. The impact was phenomenal. It bucked me up into the air about 10 feet, chucked me down a steep ravine and through some incredible luck I ended up on the only bit of soft sand for a mile radius so didn’t get hurt.

The pedal body completely exploded from the impact and there was nothing left but the shaft in the Saint crank arm and some small bits of magnesium. Just enough to put my foot on and get down the mountain. If the pedal didn’t explode I am sure the force would have been a lot worse.

I still run them on 2 of my bikes and love them. I use DMR Vaults on another bike but they are £90 and no better. You won’t find better pedals for the money.

1. 3-4 times a week
2. 17 miles one way
3. South London
4. 13mph average with mountain bike

Outwell Montana 6 (or the more expensive Outwell Montana Lake).

Fantastic family tent with large shared family space and 2 sleeping pods.

The Southern Yeti

My top tip for the day…

Don’t practice manuals on tarmac whilst wearing SPDs.

😀 don’t practice manuals wearing SPDs period! 😀

Hugh, I think all you can really do is have a very critical look at the foods you are eating and when. You are obviously doing enough (or maybe even too much exercise). There must be a reason why it’s stagnating. Have you got the book (4 hour body)? There are some useful little nuggets in there (if you have an iPad then you can buy the book from the iBooks bookstore). He speaks of all sorts of techniques including cold water treatment which is meant to shift even more.

Best thing might be to get over to mr iDave’s site and subscribing to one of his 1 to 1 packages so he can give you more personal advice. Stick with it mate!

I have been writing down my meals and there is still quite a lot of variation. In the book Tim says to choose a set of meals and just repeat them so that is my plan. Also going to totally stop snacking on cashews, carrots and humous and reduce my general in take of fat.

I have not been taking my 30gr of simple carbs before or during exercise because I haven’t actually felt I needed to but I will do this weekend. What I don’t know is what counts as simple carbs, is it the purest form of white carbs you can find (ie. boiled potatoes/white rice) or is it ANYTHING that contains up to the amount of 30gr of carbs such as Snickers bar.

Nope, not on the WRT, wasn’t even aware of it 😳 I am leading a group of 1st timers around a few trail centre routes this weekend (Cwmcarn XC, then Coed Y Brenin).

I have come to the iDave diet in a round about way, my wife is a fitness instructor, she heard about the 4 hour body book at work, I bought that, started reading it. Then one day opened up this thread and realised it was the same thing so been following it.

Dropped from 98.6kg to 92.1kg in the first 2 weeks. I am cycling 17 miles every second day and doing 8000 meters on the rower the other days. Went back up to 92.5kg 3 days ago and now been stuck there for the last 3 days despite following it religiously. I am aiming for 85kg which is what I was at my thinnest during my military service some years ago.

Not sure why it’s come to a halt. I haven’t been hammering the calories on my ‘binge’ days but read on here last night I probably should make a bit more effort to eat more crap food on my day off 😀 Also going to eat fewer cashews!

It’s hard to properly binge when you have a goal in mind and you don’t want to mess up a good thing either. Binging is relative, I have a stick thin friend who is an elite marathon runner and he remembers the time and date 8 years ago when he last had a piece of cheese cake so to one person a large spoon of ice cream is binging and to another a 1 litre tub of ice cream is just getting started!

Doing 3 days of riding this weekend. What do people put in the backpack on long rides as energy food?

Just to balance the ‘mine is always broken’ brigade, myself and my wife have had a total of 7 dropper posts between us over a 5+ year period and had no problems so far apart from the very first one I bought many years ago that developed a bit of side to side play (replaced under warranty). It’s been one of the most reliable parts on our bikes. We have had far more problems with hydraulic brakes and suspension forks than with our seatposts.

It did transform my riding. 8 years ago I went over the bars because of going down a steep hill, started slow but gained speed due to the gradient and low grip, high seat post and just couldn’t ride it out as I couldn’t get my rear end over the seat. Broke my scapula, a few ribs and since then have used up and down posts. I haven’t owned a bike in 5+ years that didn’t have a drop seat post on and I won’t ever ride a bike without one again. Both my current bikes have them (Spesh Command posts). I could have avoided the crash by dropping my normal post before the descent but it was an unfamiliar trail and when you don’t have that luxury your sometimes simply to lazy to stop and drop the post.

I may not be a cross country god but I am a regular motocrosser/enduro rider and can jump some serious doubles/gaps on a good day so it’s not like I use my droppper post as a skill compensator either.

Now I just bomb down anything. Even if I don’t drop it at the start of the descent I still often drop it on the way down when I feel I want to. They are fantastic and make your riding flow much better because at the press of a button it’s down and you can maintain your speed down some very steep stuff where in the past you would either have had to stop to drop your post or taken it more slowly descending down a particular bit of the trail. Then, soon as the gradient increases you press the button again and climb. I use mine a hell of a lot on most rides, that’s what it’s there for.

We are also up there for the weekend and camping in Dolgellau but our van is already full. If you see a White Enduro with a Frogger sticker on come and say hello. 🙂

My mate has a Santa Cruz Superlight (100m travel) and it’s fast. Good bike but steep angles. I ride a Specialized Camber (120mm),just as fast but it’s a bit more relaxed.

Chris King

Good luck, we have just gone through all this, left Churchill because of a crazy renewal quote (despite never having claimed on the policy!).

We called many insurers only for their premiums to be insane or for them simply not covering our bikes.

Only one we found that was worthwhile was M&S but since you can’t use them not sure who to go with.

Only advice I can give is avoid these price comparison sites (Compare the market, etc.) like the plague. We have had about 10 phone calls since then despite not agreeing to our information being used or to be contacted by random insurance companies promising to beat their price.

I’ve had a pair of Schwalbe City Jets (slicks) on my commuter for 9 years and they still work and look good. Apart from being well used there doesn’t seem to be any degradation visible at all and never had a puncture on them yet.

Picked up a Coleman 1620 online for £24.99. Fantastic for the money, very comfy and the silk like material inside makes it easy to turn around in it if you move around a lot. Just google it.

Single speed!? No, I don’t like wearing rubber in the bedroom and being whipped either thanks very much.

Like I said, I do the route for nothing more than a bit of extra fitness, not trying to be superman or break any records. The last climb is about a 100 meter elevation increase in just less than a mile. Granny ring obviously not ‘needed’ but that is what I was using until today. Shows you that until you force yourself into a lower gear it’s easy to be lazy.

Gearing used to be 22/32 and 11/36 and it is now 32 and 11/36 so very similar apart from not having the 22 anymore and having less of a jump between gears.

I am 6 foot and weigh 92kg so I am not exactly an XC whippit.

This is the bike I am using:

The head teacher at our kid’s school is usually very cool about it. We have asked once and got the OK, then when we asked again got a ‘no’. I approached the head teacher and she quietly told me it’s no problem at all, kids usually get a lot out of traveling because it’s an education in itself and to enjoy ourselves. We asked for homework and was told not to worry but to do a little project with them if we want to which we did.

I think people sometimes get themselves unnecessarily worked up about it all.

BTW – school attendance certificate means NOTHING in relation to a career. I have a 12yr school attendance certificate that has never ever done me any good at all ever. I have always got my jobs based on qualifications and good interview skills. Teaching your child to connect with people will do them a hell of a lot more good than making sure they attend every single day.

And yes, agreed, our school was closed for nearly 2 weeks with the snow. We live 300 yards from the school and we can easily walk there which we did most days to get to the park for some snow ball fights.

I have a particular penchant for fair, blue-eyed Nordic beauties.

+1 😀

So how is saying black women are on average less attractive and black men on average more attractive racist?

Don’t know about the paint on the carbon frame but there is no way it will delaminate the carbon unless the carbon was very poorly made which I doubt very much on something like a mtb frame. I’ve used 3M heli tape on clear carbon a ton of time and never had a problem.

So much did it cost to open the coffee shop? 😀

Good luck!

I also tried the carbon Nomad, Orange 5 and Enduro.

Really didn’t like the Nomad pedal feedback and felt very long even in the correct size, the Orange 5 wasn’t enough of a bike for what I wanted (granted, not a direct comparison with the others but it was on hand) and so I ended up buying a new 2011 Enduro Expert.

Great spec and amazingly confident bike. Super quick on the downhills once you start pushing it and you can really push it.

Simple then, just go for it. With practice you will learn what you can and cannot get over.

Bunny hops and any sort of jumps are awkward at best with the saddle up. As everyone above says, you want it a bit lower than fully up if you want to do that so of antics on the trail.

That doesn’t mean you cannot do it with the seat up, you just run a risk of getting a seat bump under your bum and ending up over the bars.

Total stupidity on their part but no one deserves that sort of thing. If I ever lost a child to abduction I won’t ever stop looking either.

Yep, total crap.

I have my Specialized Command post lever butted up right to the lock-on grip collar on the left hand grip. I’ve had to run it about 5mm higher than what I wanted for it to clear my gear lever.

Just looked at my Enduro and I recon they could be DT Swiss 340 or 370’s. The 340’s are the same price (more or less) than a set of Hope Pro 2’s and around the same weight so might go for them instead.

I sold my CK hubs cuase they drove me insane!

I have Specialized Roval (think they are rebadged DT Swiss) on my Enduro which are nice and quiet but I don’t know if they are available separately.

Will look into XTR for sure.