My girlfriend has switched us to:
Bamboo Toothbrushes
Shampoo bar
Conditioner bar (Lush)
Face wash bar
Metal razor (Naked Necessities)
Powder deodorant (Lush)

Also we have found a local shop (The Bare Alternative in Sheffield) for refilling washing up liquid, cooking oil, herbs&spices, rice, pasta, etc.

The toiletries are ordered online if not bought from Lush or our local zero waste store.
Good websites:
http://www.plasticfreedom.co.uk
http://www.thekindstoreonline.co.uk
Most products last well, are similarly priced and the websites above don’t deliver in plastic.

Initially it can take time but once you have started it is easy.

*For those who say you can just recycle the plastic bottles, consider watching the current BBC show with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall War on Waste. Our ‘recycling’ is basically being put on ships and dumped in developing countries to leach into the rivers and oceans.

As well as the diameter you should also check how the U bar bit locks into the bit with the key.

If it locks in on both ends then the U bar bit will need cutting twice to remove it from the bike (presuming it’s not thin enough to be bent).

If only one end locks and the other end is just rotated to remove it then it only requires 1 cut to remove.

Checkout The LockPickingLawyer on YouTube.

More information required about the NAS. Make/model. Model of HDD in it.

Had a 105 spec one (@sarawak, comes with hydro brakes) for a few weeks. Liking it so far, even more so that I got a nice discount through my cousin working for Ribble.

Shipped my bike out on a slow boat as we were/are here for 2 years. When we came on holiday for 3 weeks prior to that we bought 2nd hand bikes here and sold them after we left (I have a brother here so that made logistics much easier). In total (depreciation and fees) that only cost us £250 for 2 ~2015 GT Sensor Elites.

I’m not sure what I would do in your case, depends how much you like riding YOUR bike.

Here are my tips. I’m no pro but I’ve gotten a few reasonable shots (out of hundreds on the day), I even got a like from Sick Mick Hannah.

1) Faster shutter speed will help a little but too fast and the resulting image will look like the rider was going really slow (unless they are doing something awesome that doesn’t need to look fast). You need to practice to find a shutter speed that the motion blur isn’t too bad and you need to move your camera with the motion of the rider (Google whip pan).

2) Open up your lens, lower the F number to open up the aperture. You’ll need to do this if you’re shutter speed is too high and the images are dark but it will also give a subjectively nicer image by narrowing the focus field (blurring the background and the foreground). Shooting wide open does make it harder to nail the focus point on the rider though.

3) Editing. Bring out some colour, give it a little pop. More than likely brighten it up a little (faster shutter speed in the woods = dark image (keep the ISO down as much as you can or the image will get grainy)).

You can see some examples of what I got doing whip pans at Crankworx Rotorua earlier this year:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgdD49NAvUD/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgiYoZQAq1o/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgk4j4-A_cW/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

(couldn’t figure out Instagram embedding)

This technique is the only way I’ve managed to get good looking MTB photos so far.

I did it with my GF who was pretty new to riding at the time and didn’t exercise very often. We stayed at Lyell saddle hut and then at Stern Valley.

The elevation profile on the website is very deceptive. Try and check elevation profiles on peoples Strava rides of it.

A Tesla Model X can easily pull your caravan. Most people can’t easily afford one of them though.

Dethleffs (I think it was them) showed off a concept small caravan with its own massive battery and electric drivetrain to reduce the load on the towing vehicle. I think they had an BMW i3 towing it.

That’s an interesting concept that could solve your caravan problem on the future.

Bonus points if you can hook the caravan up to your house for the 95% of the year you don’t use it and utilize the batteries for your house use.

“On a more serious note – on approaching the roundabout in the left (or perhaps middle) lane, he accelerated out of the lane into the right hand lane, which is normally used for turning right on a roundabout. He then accelerated past traffic already on the roundabout (which might well have been continuing round to the next exit), then cut across them to exit straight on. That he didn;t hit anything or cause an accident is good luck, not good judgment and not nearly good driving.” – nbt

There are loads of roundabouts that are signed (on the road) telling you to use both lanes to go straight on.

(this forums quoting functionality is so busted)

He went straight on (unless the video was poorly cut) so indicating would have been wrong! (a broken watch is right twice a day and all that)

What did the white BMW do wrong?

Ouch. £170 for that is steep, even if you factor in reinstalling OSX.

Yeah I still use mine for walking but you do end up pretty soggy at the waist.

I have one. Really like it. I never use the thumb bit in the cuff, that’s probably the one bit of the jacket I don’t like, it feels like its the wrong size, perhaps the sleeves are marginally too short for my arms. Sticking my whole hand through the main cuff is fine though.

Czech bike company Superior Bikes certainly strongly suggested that women couldn’t do proper mountain biking back in 2015:

https://www.outsideonline.com/1991986/worlds-most-sexist-bike-company

Jeep track? No Jeep is getting up any of the Old Ghost Road.

What are you hoping for? Trail wise?

It’s a good adventure trail but it’s not particularly tricky, just takes a lot of effort.

I’ve ridden the whole thing over 3 days and we were passing by one end last year so I rode up the trail a bit, turned around and came back. It was fun but there a better trails around NZ if you aren’t bothered about the bike packing, being out in the middle of nohwnow part.

If you are flush, you can get a helicopter drop at one of the peaks and ride out.

I’m currently parked up in Rotorua in the bus we bought a year ago. Love the trails here.

I typically ride on my own, my GF rides but she’s more of a beginner so goes off on her own on the easier trails. I’ve ridden a bunch of places around the country, I bagged a couple of shuttles of some people at Coronet Peak and rode Rude Rock with them. Other than that though whilst I have had a few conversations with people out and about I haven’t actually ridden with them. That’s probably more just me though.

So I’ve been out for a bunch more rides and the MM is performing great, I am no longer worried about the front end sliding in the corners so much.

Thank you for the recommendation STW!

I’m 1 year into a 2 year version of this. We ended up with a very big van.. it’s actually a bus that we converted into a motorhome. Our insurance for that covers the bikes… well part of their value.

What were the trails you rode there?

Today I rode (in order of the description above): Challenge, Corridor, Turkish Delight and New Exit.

First ride report: Positive but inconclusive due to a change in conditions

It rained yesterday and I went out early this morning so couple that with the yet to evaporate morning dew and the conditions were quite different to my last ride. (Riding in the Whakarewarewa forest whilst all the moisture is evaporating is pretty sweet sight).

The first trail was one I rode the other day (when it became apparent my HR2 had less grip than the hire bike). It’s a mellow flow train, void of any roots and I think the surface actually gets slightly grippier if it’s damp compared to bone dry. The MM was faultless, no slips of hints of losing grip. According to Strava I beat Tuesdays time by 10s with what felt like a similar level of input effort. I’m about 45s down on my PR but my fitness is way down on what it was when I was here in the summer and theres a pedally uphill bit in the middle of that trail.

The second trail starts off similar and the MM was doing fine, it then goes under tighter tree cover and starts getting a bit rooty, the MM was fine here too. Then the trail starts getting a lot steeper and because of the tight tree cover and dew it was pretty damn; the steepness means its also rutted more and that exposes more mud. I had a few slides on some roots and made some mistakes, I know for sure that the issue in those situations is with what is on the end of my brake levers and no tyre can fix that.

The third trail was another rooty affair but much more mellow and therefore less rutted and muddy. MM performed without fault.

I took a different route out of the forest, down a trail I’ve only ridden once before, mostly open (trees have been logged) and barely any roots. MM was fine here too. I smashed my previous time by 41s.. and that was with traffic.. but I think I was riding with my other half last time I rode this trail so I wouldn’t have been going fast then.

All in, I need more data to make a verdict, oh well I guess I’ll just have to go ride more :)

I weigh 95kgs kitted up, I would rip the tyre clean off the rim at 19 PSI. I previously ran lower than I do now but it rolled and burped too often.

I can confirm there is 1 rock in Rotorua. It’s a big one. Cardrona on the other hand, that place tore my minion SS to shreds.

Roto in winter? Minion dhf up front and something faster at the back  Worked every time for me, roots however is confidence technique gets you down those 5’s off the back without death.

I certainly need to improve my technique on wet roots, however I noticed a distinct difference on the berms of the blue flow trails like Challenge and Corners.

I picked up a MM (the super gravity soft version) today, will test it out tomorrow and report back.

I was mistaken it is a 2.4 inch HR2, the 3C MaxTerra EXO model. I typically run it around 27/28 PSI on a 25mm rim.

I’ll see if I can find either a 2.5 DHF or a MM in the shops and report back…. is it sacrilege to run different brand tyres?

There is only 1 vaguely challenging down hill bit on the L2BOR. When I did it it was so busy that you basically had to get off and walk because everyone else does. If you want to be the maniac who flies past everyone shouting to get out of the way so he can try and hit it at race pace then I hope you crash (in to a tree, not in to anyone else).

For me it ranks as the worst ride I’ve ever done. The old railway line from about 40  to 60 miles was so dull. Make sure you have super fast rolling tyres, if you have a gravel bike, ride that.

I rode that trail a few years back, the repairs do look like they’ve totally mellowed it out from a riding perspective. My zero experience of path/road/trail repairs lead me to agree that with a bit of rain and use it’ll get transformed into something rough again.

You watched this video too? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZAc5t2lkvo

Gyroscopic forces have pretty much zero effect on a bicycle staying upright

Even if you cancel them out with a wheel spinning in the opposite direction mounted close to each wheel, bicycles still stay upright.

As a kid (maybe early teens) I was riding along the pavement, chain slipped and threw my foot off the pedal (chainring dug into my calf). I ended up in the middle of a 40mph road on a blind bend on the floor. Luckily I managed to get up and get to the side of the road before getting hit by any cars.

To me it feels like there is a stat missing from this report that is pretty key to the headline.

It says that “A quarter of the cyclists [who died] were on e-bikes” but it doesn’t say what proportion of cyclists as a whole ride e-bikes, yes, it’s not going to be 25% of all cyclist ride e-bikes but without providing that statistic it’s not good form to claim that e-bikes are making up a disproportionate percentage of the deaths.

I did 5000 miles on my commuter with a Shimano 105 drivetrain. The BB was totally shot at the end of that but the rest seemed ok. I’ve never had a chain wear indicator so who knows if it actually needed changing. I used to clean it and lube it every so often when it was sounding particularly rough.

When I get part way up a long climb; “just keep spinning, just keep spinning” in the voice of Dory from Finding Nemo

weather not really a problem down here in NZ

5’8″ and a bit. Medium Race. Do your measurements properly and use their size calculator.

When we visited NZ last year we ended up buying 2nd trail bikes and selling them when we left. Cost £250 for 2 bikes for 3 weeks. Cheaper than getting our own bikes here (without sacrificing our entire luggage).

Currently out here for 2 years so shipped my bike over (took 100 days) and bought the GF an immaculate 2nd hand one here.

I had the non drop version for 2 years as my London commuter. I paid £250 for an as new 2nd hand one. It served me well without fault, however for that price it would have had to have been terrible for me to have cared much.

My Canyon Strive came with a 200mm rotor on the 160mm pikes… so yeah you’ll be fine.

Went in April.

Rotorua was awesome.
Rode the Old Ghost Road over 3 day, first real bike packing trip, very hard but enjoyable
Queenstown was good but didn’t get to do as much riding as I wanted as I came off and broke my finger.
Wanaka.. wanted to ride but couldn’t because of the finger.

Didn’t ride in Christchurch but it is perfectly fine to visit (in reference to above comment). Still lots of construction going on but that’s only in the city centre.

IIRC there was only one fireroad up the course which started in the event area. I did see some people on the adjacent hill to the right of the course(too far to see anything) but getting from there to the track would have been very hard.