£1,500 !

You can buy the Calmag for just over £400 and it’s made in Keighley

Drinking water kit £40 from screwfix

This is our £50 tap from Amazon – very good quality better than taps we have had cost £300

https://amzn.eu/d/bNyumOX

I have considered getting some lessons because I spend a fair amount of time in the sea kitesurfing, which is all fine until you lose your kite.

Yep – proper scared me this summer. Was out in a bay sailing a Laser. Next minute I am in the water and the boat is already 30ft away from me and disappearing at speed. My best breast stroke wasnt getting me any closer.

Luckily there were safety boats to hand, and hopefully they could swim ;-)

I am an almost none swimmer but Mrs FD has been a swimmer to national standard.

We recently went on a swim holiday to Croatia (brilliant thing to do) and it was interesting to see all the techniques and shapes of people. However basically the faster people all had technique.

It was interesting watching their swim technique analysis (each swimmer was videoed under water) and you could see how important correct technique was. The coaches said drills are very important for improving technique. Mrs FD has floats and a central snorkel that she uses for doing certain drills.

Perhaps you need to look at swim coaching in your local area, the technique stuff is all better done in a pool.

Anyone moved to Dettol from Halo? The cost of Halo is becoming untenable

No I currently use both. Normal Persil wrecks lycra / plastic stuff , so use halo to prevent that. However always found the smell of halo unpleasant and it doesn’t get the stink out.

Dettol gets te stink out but I don’t think it’s sold as a wash thing, it’s there to kill the nasty stuff. I like the smell of it too

i had wondered about using just a wool wash type thing with the dettol.

halo is stupid expensive now , was £4 , now £8. B&M do big bottles of the dettol fairly cheap

As i’ve been looking at the sales ive noticed that full fat type bikes seem to be more discounted and lighter bikes such as the rise ST/LT are harder to find

Thats because they cant even get the bloody things into the country. I have been waiting since May for my Rise LT. There are very few that have actually come in to the UK. They appear to be a 6 month + lead time and only being manufactured once an order placed.

Orbea had massive over stock of 2023/24 bikes that have all had to be sold cheap.

There are some ‘bargains’ on Shuttle LTs if you call £7k a bargain. ie nearly half price

It my humble opinion its all marketing bollocks anyhow.

All the motors roughly weigh the same, battery weight is determined by how far you want to go. The build of the bike determines what the bike is capable of doing.

Amflow have brought a very powerful motor to the market and currently its been sold in a trail bike. Thats ok for some, not for others. Will be interesting to see how far you can actually go at full power on the 600wh battery. I cant see it being any further than any other bike (relative)

The only thing that will change weight is someone comes up with new battery technology that makes them weigh less.

Ok chain wear / management might be a thing I need to be careful with. Having Di2 it shifts so much more crisply, but I imagine the chances of mech failure are higher if the setup isnt perfect as a computer cant sense when things are not quite right

Are these XO1 chains compatible with Shimano?

Well if they’d tried to run it on the same day as Mens Finals it would arguably have never gone ahead as the wind caused delays etc… So the fact it was on a different day actually helped

It could have been on Sat/Sun therefore getting much more of an audience rather than mid week when people are working

Can’t answer all your points, but they can be installed by anyone who can do simple plumbing. They do need power supplies though

As to by pass taps. Ours has the by pass next to the unit under the kitchen sink so that we can by pass for all taps. I used to do this to was the car etc , but now don’t bother as washing the car is so much easier if it’s been through the softener .

The only time I now use the by pass is if jet washing all the outside. I then do finish off by switching the water softener on to flush out the jet washer . I think my last jet wash failed due to the limescale

we use a 3 way tap in the kitchen and this under the sink. The cartridge used to be about £12 every 3 months but post COVID they are now £25!

https://www.screwfix.com/p/bwt-high-capacity-water-filter-kit/16747

I think it’s really bad that the women’s event was mid week, and rather lucky that the men’s event was delayed enabling it to be shown in full before the men’s race

The rest has already been said on other threads

Thanks for the further input.

So for big rides out a tube and repair kit might be prudent. I already have a pump but was hoping to ditch it.

It doesnt look like Aldi do compressors at the minute, and all other brands appear to be £100 + so twice the price of an air shot! – unless I am missing something at aldi

?

Re those electric tyre inflators. It would be absolutely logical to have a lighter still version with no battery that just plugs in to the bikes battery, but I am guessing such things are not possible?

Ta

Hmm conflicting advice already as to whether to carry a tube or repair kit

Clothing isnt a being on trend thing, just more do people find that they are cooler riding an ebike than analogue bike?

Just watched Semenuk’s winning run.

It was like 2 different events on the same hill. One was down a bulldozed manicured slopestyle course, Brendan’s I guess what you would consider slightly more ‘freeride’

As to who interpreted the ask of the competition best, well you would have to say the winner.

Maybe though the organisers need to come out and define more what the competition is and set some vague rules of expectation and scoring around it,

So its ok when you are a fat middle aged man to sit in the back of a truck that causes loads of environmental damage that takes you to the top of a trail so you can just ride down with ease, rather than riding up?

But a kid who is prepared to cycle up is somehow wrong ???

Yes I would be a little concerned if a 12/14 yr old road nothing but an ebike but this isnt that. This is a purpose built playground built for lazy people

I wonder what the environmental consequences are?

There was a massive cloud of crap hanging around in the air after it took off which it then added to on the way back down, plus it was venting something after it landed

There didn’t appear to be any clear agreed scoring criteria that all riders knew they would be scored against.

Many of the riders didn’t understand the scores as they were awarded.

It appeared the judges had already decided a ranking of placement and then just jigged around a little

It felt really unprofessional

Ooh that was a nasty fall…

yep lost consciousness at minimum

I’m getting more concerned that they are purposely scoring people down to force them to take even bigger risks on 2nd runs for the click and likes of Red Bull

Doesnt appear the scoring is at all linked to agreed set of rules etc

His control was amazing, the landing on to the rock was absolutely perfect

Then the judges shaft him

However I guess his background doesn’t relate to tricks which is clearly how the event is focused

If I were him I wouldn’t ride the 2nd run

What a load  of bollocks

Just wish we could find my wife’s decent Panasonic Lumix camera. My son has two SLR’s though.

I could be wrong, but I think phone night photography is more developed than proper cameras as they enhance the picture.

I should have got my DSLR out to see how it compared, however that would have been a lot more faff. To be fair on my pics what you saw with the naked eye was only just more muted than the camera pic.

What I did find was that when you were wondering if it was Aurora ie the naked eye wasnt that clear then the camera definitely did enhance.

Houns – that’s a brilliant pic! If you play around with it and make it even more vivid it looks nuts

First time I have ever seen them. Massive glows of deep red and lighter patches of green. Just outside Oswestry

Looking at flight radar the worst must be past now in Mexico, but then a big chunk f the Gulf of Mexico and Florida is completely empty apart from 1 aircraft !

https://www.omao.noaa.gov/aircraft-operations/noaa-hurricane-hunters

After seeing that clip from earlier, you wouldn’t get me flying that bugger through the centre of that thing

Also this is nuts. The out edge of the storm is causing tornados. This was only a steady 55mph ? why do police people need to sit there in cars being put  at risk?

No doubt we’ll have the number who refuse to leave their homes despite the danger.

watched the news earlier where a mother and daughter refusing to leave because God will protect them. Can’t argue with that one I guess

Every so often I take a look at this live cam thing. Its already a bit breezy and wet. The ground is still water logged from the last Hurricane

It would appear that alot of folk are not running away just yet though and keen to get in on the live cam feed (top right cam)

With Clemens Kaudela having had a nasty crash in an awkward location, the medivac had to wait while a second helicopter, equipped with a winch, came to hoist him out of a high spot up in a canyon

Thats one of the things I find worrying about this event (and others) is that an organisation is making profit out of people putting their physical health on the line, but they haven’t put sensible safety measures in in advance ie the ability to extract people off the hillside if needed. Just make sure you only crash at the bottom….

Good to see the womens event happening though !

I’ll probably try and get into the motivation stuff in another article,

That would be great if you can. I used to jump off cliffs on skis for the fun and challenge of it so I can see the attraction. Indeed having watched Brenda Faircloughs, Ben Deakins and Olly Wilkins YouTube vids I get that in some ways the biking is a small part of it.

However it still does worry me that some people would be prepared to push further than they would otherwise if it wasnt for sponsorship and TV etc.

Plus I am not mad keen on this raping and pillaging a mountain to make it rideable on a bike. Would much prefer it if they had to pick a natural line, or to be fair just got a bulldozer and built a slope style course

Just had a conversation with my Trusts Pension team, and I have been left even more confused.

There long answer was speak to a Tax Accountant.

The slightly shorter answer was:

I can buy additional pension through the NHS, but I cant just do it as a one off ie put £2000 in to my existing pension pot. They said I would have to keep contributing to the point I retire.

All very confused now, and I am not sure what is right or wrong !?!

I think COVID and social media have been the perfect storm.

I cant even begin to explain why COVID impacted on kids so much ie you would think being at home all day, less school work etc would be a bonus for them, but maybe it just confirms they need social interaction to develop as human beings.

It appears now that most early teens social life is on a phone, which is stressful / not real / not good for your mental health.

Snap Chat needs banning, or at least the element of getting a score for how many snaps you have sent per day, and a record for how many continuous days you have been on it.

It will be interesting when COVID kids turn in to adults. Will they be able to perform and function in the real world?

The polestar is a hefty, fast, powerful car..that I drive up and down the a27 with me and my kids on several times a week… It’s been so wet, with standing water, over the past few years, that I’ve ALWAYS erred on the side of caution and stuck decent (i.e branded all season) tyres on my cars

Why not just get rain tyres which will be a better all round all season tyre for the south of Britain where it rarely falls below 7 deg?

Swapped out 4 Goodyear eagle asymmetrics for 4 Goodyear vector 4seasons gen 3 a few months ago as my front eagles needed replacing, plus I felt uneasy at how the eagles ‘clunk’ about when the roads get cold, then looking at the reviews noticed how terrible the performance tyres were for braking in the cold and wet.

But you have bought the wrong tyres for the driving you do. They need a bit of heat in them to work well, and are designed for ‘pressing on’. No wonder they were no good if you just pootle around. Agree they get a bit harsh in winter too, but again get the heat in them, or leave them cold and do lots of fun skidz.

Bookmarking for reference for when my ebike finally arrives

Wouldnt be for me but fair enough if he enjoys it.

I’ve had a few vids pop up recently of people skiing down the arete of the Aiguille du Midi and lots of people saying its too dangerous etc etc. 20 years ago I ‘skied’ down it in my ski boots carrying my skis as I was told it was too dangerous to ski, but for me it was less dangerous than walking down the silly roped path.

Randomly as part of another thread, this is a genuine good deal although I’m sure I paid considerably less about 5 years ago

https://amzn.eu/d/hAgz4XH

linky thing not working

Air flow shoe dryer. Makes your shoes last longer and not smell

we have one of these, actually not bad value n Amazon today. It always has a pair of football boots, trainers drying on it

https://amzn.eu/d/fL5Osrg

So far looked at

IPhone 16 pro max – no cheaper

Sony 700 ear buds – no cheaper

Circulon oven tray – no cheaper

Craghopper Kiwi Pro Trousers – no cheaper

Hydrosoft Salt – no cheaper

Compeed – no cheaper

There must be something I do need cheaper ?

I usually wait until after prime day when the same item will be cheaper

Dont forget camelcamelcamel

I think you have to be careful with the just use a webpage to decide for you.

They dont always have the best deals, and they dont tell you the lending criteria of the organisation.

Case in point, we did this and applied for a mortgage with HSBC direct. We were turned down despite both stable well paid jobs for years in the NHS and no risk factors.

Turns out that because we had moved house in the least 5 years we would not get the rate they stipulated.

However that did mean we had gone through 1 credit check.

We then went through our IFA who got us the same deal with a different lender where, with the same rates that we couldnt find online.

But then not all IFAs are created equal either.

Are there no doors separating the conservatory from the dining room? If not put some asap as you will be burning money heating the room.

Or knock the conservatory down

Looks old fashioned to me

lines ” I’m anxious but I still present for my FTSE 100 company” or ” my son was anxious but still won the debating prize for Oxford”

My point of the example is I couldn’t put my kid in a situation which exacerbates the situation. I’m no psychologist but letting a kid sit at the back of a class not answering questions for 2 years isn’t doing anything to support removing the anxiety it just reinforces it and multiplies it

As a parent I would be trying to ask what can I do to help my daughter improve, not just sweep the issue under the carpet with an easy solution. That is not a criticism of OP.