thanks, yes i am on strava so i will have a good look.

thanks everyone, from comments and advice i am now thinkinking sids with blackbox or some durins.

thanks all, looks like i’m after an f100 RLC or RLT

classic, i’m doing the same but taking the old school route in 26″ flavour.

i had a yeti arc from around 2005/8’ish some years ago as my lightweight long range bike, loved it, and always regretted selling it so quite fancying another bike to do some exploring on i saw a 2011 arc frame for sale the other week and grabbed it. slight prob is that all i have left from my original arc is the hope wheelset so now i’m on the hunt for 100mm forks, brakes, xt drivetrain etc etc.

i originally had spesh comp road shoes, very old now and i still use them on my indoor bike, they were and are great. however in a winter sale a few years back i saw a very good deal on some sworks road shoes, first ride out i went minutes faster up a long local hill without trying, so yes i would say better is better.

thanks for all the suggestions, looking about rockshox and fox seem to still be easy to get spares for so i will start looking on ebay. ive found an old xc frame and hopefully i can find a suitable pair that will keep it pretty light.

nickdavies thanks for the kind offer but i’m right down in cornwall.

Rebas are less flexy. How heavy are you?

75/76kg

any love for Fox 32 RLC ? ive had manitou, magura and rockshox but never tried fox.

thanks for the replies, i might try some dexshells as per petedee’s recomendation, quite a bit cheaper than the sealskinz i was looking at.

Thanks all, great advice and comments, one pot vegetarian seems to be the way to go that interests me, that and finding the desire to exercise again.

I know how to lose weight, I was fat all my life, despite being very active, and 10 years ago started on a route that lost me 5-6 stone.

What I am looking for are food/diet orientated suggestions so I can research and plan an easy to cook day to day menu for the new year.

Thanks nobeerinthefridge, the Thai/Viet suggestion is exactly the sort of thing I am looking for.

I’ve been a member for years, not a regular as I drift in and out, but popping on now primarily to ask a question (another reason I love this group for the knowledgeable responses on pretty much anything) and seeing this thread really does show what an amazing group of folk singletrack magazine has created with these forums.

head onto ebay and buy a box full of Commando comics, ideally 60s and 70s if you want the real Commando experience. they dont make em’ like that any longer!! ; )

I’m still in shock after opening the crc Black Friday email last week, first time in 2 years I had looked at prices, and saw the same speed/spec road cassettes I last paid 30quid for now close to 70. I fell off my chair!

Nparker im still in shock from Friday when I received the crc Black Friday sale email, I haven’t looked at prices for at least two years, 70quid for the same speed and spec cassette for my road bike I used to buy for 30! I fell off my chair!!

IMHO the far better vid of the period was the Vision Agent Orange vid, much more raw and gnarly skating… says the chap who would always fast Fwrd the Mullen section because freestyle was just too lame!

I did the same pre Xmas, and asked the same on audio groups, the answer is yes but the overwhelming view was that streaming services seem to be ahead of the actual kit… though I have to say at that stage I got lost in bit rates and stuff.

Bluetooth is definitely not the way to go, if you have a jack plug and the output is suffient to support hi quality it is much better. with an iPhone/iPad you can get an adapter for your lightening port that works well, certainly better than the jack output.

Overall though, for me, it took me three days to realise that what I loved about music was not skipping about but playing an lp as it was intended plus the whole physical nature of selecting an lp off the shelf and enjoying its design.

So as good as the amazon service was my records were, to my ears, better.

I looked at doing this for ages but ended up getting an audiophonics raspdac i-sabre that I use with moode controlled from my phone or iPad.

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/network-audio-players-raspdac/audiophonics-raspdac-kit-diy-network-player-raspberry-pi-20-dac-sabre-v3-p-10384.html

It’s a stunning bit of kit for the cash, I have all my cd burnt to flac and play from a usb stick, the sound is amazing too.

If you do Facebook search for the audiophiles UK group and if you join that there is tons of info on them if you search.

uh-oh! be warned, some years ago i made a very similar post on here saying the same after digging my old TT, amp and speakers (from student days in the 90s), and then i asked about a better turntable, then an amp… and now 3 or 4 years later one wall of my home office looks like a record shop and the other end is dominated by my system.

its a slippery slope i tell you.

you dont need a tri suit or tri laces at all, yes its easier but for a first attempt at what i assume will be a sprint distance just go for it and get changed at transition to cycling kit, i did, didnt ruin me for life.

tips though… super bright towel on the floor of your area (if its not raining of course) so you can see where you are as you enter.

meticulously lay said kit onto your mat in preparation of arrival.

if its even vaguely wet plastic box with lid for your kit.

fill, and i mean literally fill, your road bike shoes and your trainers with talc so your feet slip in when wet.

in the last mile of the bike get into a really low gear and spin your legs, really spin them to loosen them up because when you start running you will not believe how badly your legs will not want to work.

long and short, dont overthink it, do it with what you have got, if you love it then buy kit.

to prove my opening point though, the club i’m in used to do an annual tri. one year a guy entered who upon completing the swim went into the showers, had a full soap and hair clean, did his hair under the drier, dressed, then mounted a gents upright complete with a picnic box on the back containing lunch. lets just say the medals were all presented by the time he finished. but he did it!

great list, really enjoyed working through it… old crow medicine show i shall be buying for myself i think!

any way, elva, aldous harding and joan shelly all were perfect and ive ordered up the CDs.

if anyone is interested amazon have aldous harding designer and joan shelly like the river loves the sea on buy two for 15quid.

Perfect, thanks, good fun checking those out tomorrow.

I had an earlier one than that, high spec turbo diesel with swivel captain seats.

It was typical vw, lots of quirky faults, aircon never worked and cost a lot to run, But despite all that it was one of the best cars I’ve had. At the time I was doing lots of long runs, penzance to London and back in a day sort of stuff, and it was brilliant for that. I also liked being able to remove all the rear seats to make a van, or a camper to sleep in with the bikes.

Great car, I’d buy another.

ok, i asked the very same a long time ago, maybe my boy was a bit older but nontheless…

tamiya mad bull, google it.

really fun to make on boxing day, let the lad loose on painting and decorating the shell, seriously quick and super fun to drive, wheelspinning donuts like a crazy thing, do buy spare batteries though.

easy.

work out how big you want and how much you want to spend.

go into currys or somewhere and just look, make your choice on the picture you see by colour, sharpness etc. make a note of your favourite.

do consider how many hdmi ports you need and if its got l/r audio output if you need that.

then go home and see what it costs on amazon etc.

then look to see if john lewis do it as they offer a 5 year warranty of TVs.

ive just done the above myself an the best pic i saw for my budget was a 50″ LG at 399 from JL.

molgrips I’ve sent you a message

im 5ft11 so a med or large depending on bike.

I had a 29 back when they were the new thing, I much preferred the arc.

26 is fine for me, I’m an mtb Luddite I guess.

FrankConway I have not really thought that hard about it, it’s more an idea for after Xmas, hence the post to get some ideas so I can plot and it’s more a case of what interests me than what I will spend to be honest, the arc was a great bike so certainly no less than something like that. Feel free to drop me a line though I’d be interested to hear what you have.

Great answers, I actually hadn’t considered those issues. I have two pairs of inox8 shoes, talons and some goretex ones, and knowing the route, lots of thick mud climbs with the rain we have, the talons were beginning to seem like the best choice so I’ll quckly look about for some merino socks instead.

I have a hope r2 that I bought a couple of years ago for night running, first race with it was 10miles on the cliffs to lands end in 55mph wind and rain and I had no bother with running that terrain in what otherwise was pitch black so I’d say it was pretty good.

Cons… expensive and bulky compared to other headtorches (for road at night I use an alpkit).

Plus… it gives you daylight.

Music magpie on eBay when they have a regular discount code running for used ones, like now.

Ajax, great link, love detail like that, thanks.

Simonbarnes that is excellent info about the temp, thanks.

I’ve even been making my own peanut butter too recently.

That’s unreal, peanut butter flapjacks, you’ve nailed this thread in one post DexB, utterly perfect.

for what its worth…

i did dry january once, i wouldnt have said i was a heavy drinker but i would drink a couple of bottles of beer/cider, maybe a bottle of wine, a night every night, and just fancied a break.

a month seemed like a massive time to just stop as it was such a habit for me, eat my tea at 9pm get some booze, watch TV for a couple of hours.

so i broke it down, for the first few weeks just focusing on getting through that night and as i started getting used to waking up feeling a heck of a lot better i would add that, the next morning, to my goal as a reward.

i can’t remember at what stage i went from a day to a week, but whatever, when i got to 30 days i was motivated enough to see if i could get to 50 so i carried on. at 50 i jumped to 100.

to this i then frequently worked out how much i had saved, its actually pretty scary to do especially after a few months.

the worst bit, for the first week or so you can get awful headaches as your body withdraws, that actually surprised me as i didn’t consider myself a drinker and i remember seeing quite a few similar posts about it on the dry January page.

stopping for a month is a great thing to do, i found it really gave me a new perspective on drinking, and i havnt drunk for five years now beginning with that one first night.

Thanks for all the replies, it’s all much clearer now. One that controls resistance is definitely what I want, so possibly the Tacx vortex that can be found new for 200 may be the best ‘wife price friendly’ option just now.

Coach Troy has beasted me many a winters night in my shed, if Zwift does not deliver cheesy 80s up beat stock rock and many motivational ‘don’t cheat on me now’ shouts I will have to cancel my subscription.