I commute mainly on my 29er HT with Conti MK 2.2s. It’s 6 miles on road and 12 miles off road. Does the job well. Admittedly I run the tyres quite hard.

Yeah, not bad, way better than expected. Obvs the adverts are a pain. Noel bloke is crap though. Could do without him.

Or maybe the ROI could join the UK?

@metalheart

I was generalising about ALL political leaders, as you well know. But your over zealous Corbyn defence makes my point quite well, thanks.

CFH has a point.

When will our ‘leaders’ start calling out wrong for being wrong, no matter what side it’s from and without concern for their own poitical aspirations?

If we don’t, is democracy dead in the UK?

Was called a ‘lycra lout’ once (whilst commuting home in my jeans).

After explaining that I had kids to get home to and that I didn’t wish to talk to him any longer, I mentioned that I though he was a very strange little man.

Did the job shockingly well.

Do you men types not like being called strange or little? lol

https://www.evanscycles.com/pinnacle-ramin-4-2017-mountain-bike-EV275648

Thoroughly enjoyed reading that over my morning coffee, sounds like a fantastic trip!

Super, thanks scotroutes, I’ll check those out 🙂

Islay is great! Port Ellen is always our first stop on our 3 week sailing holiday in July. Here are a few ramblings which may or may not be helpful 🙂

There’s now a walking/cycle path pretty much the whole way from Port Ellen to Ardbeg, so about 3 miles (with 3 distilleries in that distance), hard gravel surface, so fine for kids on bikes. If you’re into whisky and want to do tours, they generally allow kids over 7, but the rules on under 7’s change a bit, so worth checking. The Ardbeg Cafe is good for lunch. The cyber bistro in port ellen is good for fish and chips and the new(ish) sea salt bistro on port ellen main street is good for pizza/burger/seafood.

A cycle/walk round to the lighthouse at the other side of port ellen bay is nice and there’s quite a nice wee beach there if it’s not to windy or at least an offshore wind. The singing sands beach is signposted from there and is a short walk just over the hill.

We usually do a day trip to Bowmore on the bus (I think we’ll cycle it this year with the kids), it’s about 10 miles one way. There’s a swimming pool in Bowmore – the mactaggart leisure centre, just check opening times. Heated from the waste heat from Bowmore distillery next door apparently.

A cycle trip out to the Kildalton cross is about 12 ish miles round trip from port ellen and takes you past some seals, a house which keeps peacocks, a few short but steep hills and ends with an honesty box cafe (picnic table). The road is singletrack and very quiet, although we have met the occasional deer, the odd tourist car going to the same place as us and once a very very very old man on a very very very old digger.

Crab line fishing off the pier/marina pontoons in port ellen – say hi to the friendly swans.

Hang on, CELERY is an allergen these days?

Anyway…

I had smashed avocado on toast for breakfast once, I am therefore middle class.

Looking forward to a day in a poorly air conditioned office under fluorescent lights 🙁

You should all just be thankful the TUV don’t hold the balance of power 😆

This is brilliant, thanks for the share 🙂

As much as I’m a unionist, who has no interest in a united Ireland, the DUP are a massive bunch of arrogant gobshites! They’re just a bunch of angry men in suits who think it’s still 1974. You’ve no idea how backward we are in NI, I hope we don’t infect the rest of yas!

B: Toast, butter, blackcurrant jam
L: No time for lunch, so snacks of nuts and mozzarella cheese
D: Beef brisket and macaroni cheese

Beerz

The tables in the reception were each named after a cat from her life…

You are a terrible friend.

I don’t think he’s senile or a twit…have you ever tried to conduct an interview live on the radio? Asking questions, recalling facts, reading bits of paper shoved under your nose, engaging with the interviewee, all while a producer shouts in your ear? I doubt somebody senile and ‘a twit’ could manage that.

I’ll admit he can be a bit irritating in his questioning at times, but he should stay, mainly because I would miss Eddie Mair at 5pm if he left PM and went to Today.

Lenzyne Super GPS is great!

I’ll be buying a new FS sometime in the next year. It’ll be wagon wheels. I have 2 x 26″ HT and 1 x 29″ HT and I’m just not willing to embrace another wheel size and the resultant spares.

Also, after only using the 29er for commuting and XC for a couple of years, I recently stuck a dropper on it and the more I ride it on proper trails, the more I love the big wheels.

I just sold my FS. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve ridden it in the last couple of years. Tbh, it was never the bike for me – superb for pointing DH, but I like a pedal too and it was a total slog for that.

There’s very little you can’t ride on a HT IMO.

Happy hardtail hunting!

Daughter came home with a note from school about some special healthy day coming up where the kids have to bring in a healthy break to share with the rest of the class. The suggestions were:

Avocado
Humous
Passionfruit

WTF is wrong with a banana????

No chance of hanging onto the FS?

I love my BFe, I do most of my riding on it, a very fun and capable bike. But I sold my FS today and I feel a little bit sad that it’s no longer in the garage should I feel like a bit of bounce or in case somebody organises an uplift day.

*new bike research sweats*

I hope all those who think there would be no return to the troubles are correct. But having lived here all my life and seen the worst of this place, I struggle to believe our future would be peaceful after a united Ireland referendum.

Having a united Ireland referendum is the first move to starting the troubles again (no matter what the outcome).

It’ll be cheerio sunken boat story and GoT hooded fans. Hello bombs and bullets.

Let’s just keep plodding along, living mainly in the past and with a futile devolved government…

****’ moles

Had a half hearted attempt at selling my 2013 Commencal Meta but decided it was worth more to me in spares (for my other 2 26″ bikes).

Thanks all 🙂

No “they’re awful, don’t do it” replies, so that’s good. Only thing I can see needs changed is the shifter (she’s likes thumb shifters).

The LBS do them, so I’ll be able to get her a test ride.

I was hoping to buy a cheap as chips 3×9 groupset for a bike build recently, no joy.

I bought my first proper MTB 4 years ago. It’s so out of date now, I might as well have bought a penny farthing. Good time to come back, hopefully standards will, y’know, standardise, for a while now.

Ignore it. He knows he gets a reaction. Like all kids, he doesn’t want to go to bed. He’ll pee, you’ll ignore it, he’ll eventually fall asleep, you’ll clean it up when he’s totally out for the count. In his eyes it hasn’t provoked a reaction and therefore it won’t be long before he decides it isn’t worth doing.

Feta, beetroot (in a separate sandwich bag), leaves, scallions.

Tuna mayo, Egg, leaves etc

Roast peppers from a jar, red onion, avocado, mozzarella

Humous, ham, leaves etc

Sweetcorn is often overlooked in salads, it’s great.

I really should go back to eating salads at lunchtime again…

Redbull Foxhunt, been quite a while since I had the full facer on!

Hard to go wrong with the Pinnacle Ramin for value for money IMO.

Dawes discovery 501 circa 2004.

Hasn’t been ridden in about 2 years, but it was my engagement present from my now husband and such a flawless workhorse, I couldn’t possibly part with it. I do feel I owe it a thorough clean and grease for it’s retirement years ahead.

I’ll be living elsewhere if we leave the UK/get a united Ireland. You think Westminster are a shower of useless gits who couldn’t run a p**s up in a brewery? You should visit Stormont.

You think the BBC could communicate and deliver a pan-BBC fake news agenda? Hahaha! Have you watched W1A?

Zero effort the last 10 days, so still at a total loss of 3lbs! But that’s OK, I only have 15 lbs to lose in total, so 0.5lbs a week average for now isn’t catastrophic, it’ll increase as the nights get lighter and it gets into full distance commute weather 🙂

Well done fat fighters!

We got an all staff email the other day telling us we’ve got a new ‘Head of platforms’

I didn’t read any further, so I’m not sure if it meant head of platform boots or head of platforms you perform on or what.