Ooh – just noticed you can link it to Strava too!

Didn’t know you could do that! Although I take my strava rides (use a HR monitor) and copy into MFP, I only enter 75% of the calories into MFP though.

Erg, forgot how hard commuting can be when running on fumes. Need to have my afternoon snack later on to prevent bonking on the climb up home! That wasn’t pleasant in the pissing rain and dark last night. :cry:

I like them, they aren’t waterproof after a few uses in my experience (5 pairs!), but as has already been said above, they keep your damp feet toasty warm regardless. That’ll do for me!

I’m currently finding thick wool socks and thick neoprene overshoes to be better. The overshoes dry out much faster than soaked shoes, so better for the evening commute after a wet ride into work in the morning.

Commute in was fine, bit of drizzle and some wind, but not too bad.

Wouldn’t want to be out in the gale we had in the middle of the night though!

Holy shit! I was estimating between 100 and 101kg as I was hovering around 100 before xmas – this mornings weigh in puts me at 103kg! :oops:

that was a heavy Christmas! 97 was my lowest last year, so super motivated to hit that at least.

Anyone have any good tips for keeping the motivation going and resisting temptation, not MFP I find that pretty shit, I am thinking more of personal psychological tricks.

Weigh yourself every day

Agree – worked well for me. Just don’t expect a drop every day, look for a general downward trend. If it goes up 3 or 4 days in a row, you can quickly re-adjust your diet until it goes down again.

Also, weigh in first thing in the morning and keep it the same time each day. That way you minimise any fluctuations from dehydration etc..

As for psychological tricks, I’m trying to remember myself! :?: But think for me thinking about food rather than just mindlessly shovelling was the key – forcing myself to use MFP worked really well to do this. It meant that every time I wanted to eat something, I HAD to enter it on MFP first. Most of the time this just makes you think before you eat, and other times it stopped me eating something all together because I couldn’t be bothered to log in to MFP!

Getting into a routine also helps, when I was on top of it I was simply copying the MFP entries from the same day last week, as I was eating the same for breakfast, lunch and snacks every day, and tea was always the same every Monday, then the same on Tuesdays etc…

The boss is out for the rest of the week, so I’m listening to absolute 80s and browsing for the day! Pretty bored already though…

Is it lunch time yet?

After a pretty poor show over the last few months, I’m up for the challenge now, so I’ll be in if you’ll have me Rob. Need to repeat my success from last January and hit 90kg!

Will email you in a bit.

Cheers.

Not after a full sus at the moment, but I’d go straight for a Bossnut if I was.

I’ve got a dune, and although the brakes got replaced for hydros, the 8 speed gears, square taper cranks and basic sealed hubs etc.. have been fine, I don’t feel the need to upgrade to 1×11 and a fancy chainset as I wont get £200/300 extra fun out of the bike.

Some things like good brakes/tyres give massive performance upgrades to a bike, but most upgrades are just for the joy of upgrading. Not saying that’s a bad thing, we all do it, but it’s not necessary to have a fun and usable bike.

Singletrack 7 solo.
Go touring.

That’s it so far…

Sounds rubbish, hope you heal up well. Had a very near miss last night with a chump in a nakerd old golf, who overtook me into a narrow road with oncoming traffic, scared the shit out of me!

I’d get in touch with your insurer/legal advice (if you have it?), the driver and the police. Better to contact too many people than not enough…

My old Cannndale bad boy 26″ needs some attention, and I’m intending to tour on it in the spring so needs some new bits.

It’s currently 1×9 with a 40t chainring and 11-32 cassette, which is fine for Sheffield/Peak hills, but probably not when fully loaded! I want to put triple gears back on the front.

Currently the mudguard fixings are very rusty, so I need to try and get those out and replace with stainless to fit a front and rear rack. I’ll likely drill the threads out of the bosses and use button heads and lock nuts to avoid it happening again.

Rear hub (hope pro 2) has a bit of play, so new bearing have been ordered.

Built a cotic roadrat in the spring, but riding the cannondale this winter has reminded me how much I love it, and actually prefer it to the roadrat. :) It’s done 9 winters now though, hopefully the ally frame has a bit more life left in it!

Bookmarked to read the whole thing later.

Only had a quick skim of the website, but this looks like an epic trip with a nice write up and set of photos. Thanks for sharing.

Very jealous BTW! :D

It snowed, settled and then melted in the rain overnight in Sheffield, leaving a thick layer of slush.

It wasn’t icy or slippery though… until I hit a corner while daydreaming about work and went down! Sliding a few metres through ice cold slush wasn’t fun, I’ve never been so wet and cold on the bike. :( Not hurt though, so that’s ok.

You wouldn’t believe how much work I’ve got done today!

Was ok in Sheffield this morning, bit of frozen show up in Grenoside, but ok everywhere else. I normally take an indirect route to work, but took with the straight-ish route as it’s all on roadside cycle paths that get the grit from the road. Didn’t have any car issues as they where all going pretty slow.

Would have taken the car, but the heater is broke at the min. :(

Was also disappointed with the snow we had at the weekend, was looking forward to riding the fat bike through deep snow, but we just had a dusting. :(

Calibre Dune. Can take a rear rack and almost meets all your criteria, except it’s got 2×8 gears.

I’d leave it as is until after winter once the existing stuff is all worn out. 1X is nice, but it’s far from necessary.

Then get a new chain, cassette and narrow/wide chainring in a size that suits where you ride. For the cassette you can get 11-40 10 speed now, or stick with 11-36 if you’re fit enough.

I didn’t even know you could get insurance for that sort of thing. As far as I was aware, you crash it, you live with the damage.

Just say you’re not happy with the finish, as you aren’t. I’m not sure you can argue a repaired frame puts you in worse position than a replacement based on resale value. I’m sure the insurance is designed to keep your bike functional, not valuable.

Well next years goals so far are go bikepacking and solo Singletrack 7. That’s it. Maybe need to find some other stuff…

Ooo, just had an email from the Scott MTB Marathon series. Doing all of them could be a goal.

Awesome thread! Well done STW. :D

All the best for today Wiggles.

Notice how videos and photographs of UFOs, ghosts and big foot etc.. and disappeared since almost everyone carries around an easily accessible, low light mode, high definition camera in their pocket? Even though we take substantially more photos/videos now? :-)

The aliens and ghosts must have had a thing for crappy old cameras…

I did well on daily weigh ins, so would recommend. If you’re a bit delicate mentally then I can see how it may cause problems, but you just have to accept and remind yourself that it wont always go down.

I’m with you by the way, I’m up a couple of kg from what I hit at the end of the chub club. I’m fine with it for now though, I’m keeping an eye on what I eat as much as possible, enjoying just riding for fun instead of slogging my guts out, and intend to go on another proper diet in the new year. Hopefully I’ll break the 90kg barrier then. :D

My fitness pal is also your friend, if you commit to using it.

And don’t be too hard on yourself!

Update on the first month of trials riding –

Tore holes in my hands on the first ride that took nearly a week to heal up, pulled my back in the second week, after getting my first good hour ride in on it I couldn’t walk or move properly for a few days after, and this week trapped a nerve in my hand and it hurts like hell every now and then! So its going well. :D Balance is coming along, and so is the list of things “I can do, but badly and need to get better/smoother at”.

Can happily ride the thing for a hour every other day now, which as I’m on my own is pretty continual riding for the hour, no standing around/talking/looking at phones etc…

I’m still finding my upper body is taking a beating though, and doing any kind of line that requires linking one thing to another with back hops is super draining and can finish me off in a few goes. Those guys on youtube make it look so effortless! Although I’m pretty sure my back hop technique isn’t very efficient at the moment…

Yea, new ford vans are shit. Our work vans have been done over a few times – apparently you just turn the outer bezel of the drivers door lock and the alarm disengages (if fitted) and the central locking opens all the doors! We’ve fitted after market locks that can’t be tampered with/rotated.

Seems very odd to be moving that much stuff around in one go, even for a bike mag?

BMX would be more fun I reckon. I haven’t ridden one for years, but I was never a fan of jump bikes, I’m sure they’d be good for sketchy dirt jumps and 4x tracks etc.., but a BMX was always better for parks and nice jumps IMO.

I’ve recently started riding a local park on a street trials bike. So much fun just pumping around. :D Plus I can have quite a lot of fun just learning trials type stuff on a high kerb or bench near home.

Also, If I could find one, this would be next –

Take a week off work, buy a cheap phone to leave in the bottom of the bag (turned off) in case of emergency, get some bike packing kit, and just go. No facebook, no texting, just a week on your own with your bike, a tent/tarp/bivi bag and £100 to buy food etc..

It’ll probably be enough for most people to reset and learn about yourself.

I plan to do it next spring, and I think leaving behind any contact with my friends/family is the key, that way I can really forget about everyday life for the week.

It may be good, may be bad, but it’s only a week so wont impact anything irreversibly. If it’s a good experience, than it’ll be two weeks the next time. :wink:

Does buying a top of the range* trials bike at 32 count? Hope it does, Mrs wont be happy if there’s another mid life crisis big spend any time soon…

(*Not as expensive as a top of the range MTB, but still a fair amount!)

More punk than metal, but-

Distillers get my vote, Spinnerette weren’t as heavy as early Distillers but still good IMO.

Angry Amputees are cool, and Tsunami Bomb have a few good albums.

Didn’t know what on was until I looked it up… What’s the point in that then?

Buy him a trials bike instead?

Having become addicted to the delonghi coffee machine at work, I’ve given this a go. Will report back on how I find it.

We got our deeds when we bought the house, so approx. 15years before the mortgage will be paid off!

I’m gona cross the cracked frame bridge if/when it appears, but an ICT frame and fork would be the first idea.

But yea, that chainset is terrible for chainsuck until it wears a bit.

I had a brief go with RC helicopters. God they crash a lot!

Once you get the hang of it, and use a bigger, more stable heli, it’s good fun.

It was learning to fly it nose in (front point towards you) that did me in, some of the controls are reversed in that scenario and I just couldn’t get it. The cycle of crash – order bits – repair – calibrate got boring.

I think a plane would be far easier, but start with something cheap and easy to fix.

but I’m not into fancy flavoured rubbish.

Milk and sugar?

Milk is ok. Not into sugar though.

Fat – good to go (very muddy though!)
MTB – good to go
Trials – good to go
Roadrat commuter/road bike – no pedals
Winter commuter – good to go (has the roadrat’s pedals)
motorbike – Needs new chain and sprockets! :cry:

Edit:
The Mrs’s MTB – good to go
The Mrs’s old MTB – rusty heap in the workshop corner, needs new chain, new cables, front brake adapter* and headset spacers*
The Mrs’s road bike – on the turbo trainer in the front room and hasn’t been used for over a year, good to go I think…

(*I stole these for other bikes!)

I like mine strong, in a massive mug, and preferably available on an hourly basis. :-)

Don’t really care what type of standard tea bag is used, but I’m not into fancy flavoured rubbish.

The Dune has been a great bike for £550.

A few things needed changing –

Cable brakes – upgrade to hydros, I used some old avids.
Bars – Thick, narrow and harsh, get some cheap trail bars for it.
Seat post is very short – Get a cheap 400mm one.
Tyres – Kenda’s are good for summer, but get some minions for proper wet grip.

That lot will add about £150 to £200, but it’s still a pretty light and good bike for £750. If you cant live with 2×8, its a frame/fork/wheel combo that’s well worth upgrading to 1×11.

Alpkit bikepacking bags ready for a holiday in the spring.

Not sure If there’s anything similar now? Seems you can get as much craziness from brushless motors now.

I’ve left the steering rack soaking overnight and today, the steel bushes the steering linkage arms swing on are stuck solid. No replacements available for either bit, so I at least need to get the bushes out (can easily be re-made) and save the plastic arms.

Diff, gearbox and top and of drive shaft where stripped and cleaned last night, greased then re-assembled.

The last ting I want to do before committing any money to it is get the wheel bearing out of the hubs – the backs look like they just need pressing out, the front are clamped in two cast halves. The screw heads have rusted to almost nothing..

If I can get the steering rack apart and those hubs, then It’s just a case of new fixings, cleaning, painting the chassis plate and getting the engine running. I’ll buy a new shell last.