My personal sleeping pref is a super lightweight sleeping bag (I’ve got an ME Dewline) with light down gilet/jacket, bit more useful around camp than just a big sleeping bag.

+ 1 on that. Similarly, I have an ME Dewline and have used it on the OMM at the end of October several times. Combined with a Montane Prism vest, termal tights, dry socks and a beanie I’ve always been toasty

Nice work PeterPoddy. Good social history lesson which I recall having heard before.

Lady Gresley … little pinky in the air I guess! … but we’re talking real man’s tea here, aka builders tea!!

No one dare mention fruit teas!!…

Ah … a mention of Taylors Yorkshire Tea … top marks!!

And time to confess … milk in first if it’s made properly in a pot, but slum it when camping/out the back of the van and its tea bag in the mug and then milk, but only AFTER it’s brewed and the tea bag removed…standards please!

Good work mrblobby!

As it’s now the afternoon I’ve now switched to drinking tea. My Moka will be out again in the morning, but can I love it the same again?! :-D

[/quote]If you put it in first you’re a ****!

ouch! :-)

Agree … sugar in tea is the Devil’s work.

Now we’ve mentioned milk … milk in first or last?

[/quote]Mid afternoon pot of tea made with proper tea leaves and served in a bone china mug. I can then pretend to be a lady.

LOL … proper tea leaves rather than teabags. How sophistcated … but no mention of cake!

Oh no … coffee first thing! How could you!

It’s got to be tea … preferably in bed!!

Normally manage to produce a coffee with a decent creme.

Just to keep the debate going, isn’t a Moka the original espresso maker? (invented by Luigi De Ponti who made the news recently when he died)

Thanks for the explanation

Looks at Bank Balance and brings out Moka :-)

Clue is in the title… Espresso?

Doesn’t a Moka produce coffee by passing boiling water pressurized by steam through ground coffee? Surely that’s the same process as any of the machines?

Or is it that my coffee snobiness is behind the curve here? :D

Wot … no mention of the good old fashion stove top Moka yet?

I love commuting the whole year round. Kind of keeps you in touch with the seasons more.

Have similar experiences to all of the above, herons on the towpath, sneaky bits of single track in the local woods with the deer etc, but best wildlife has to be when riding in the woods in the dark the owl that always flies in front of me in my headtorch beamevery time I ride by him/her.

Other favourites are watching the sunrise/set, the sound of icy puddles cracking as I ride over them, noticing how grumpy car drivers look as I pass them on the cycle path, the smell of the earth in the woods,and feeling energised by the time I get to my desk and already looking forward to the ride home!

Flippin’ lovely this cycle commuting lark!

I sense the frustration … I have to change my work password every month and have a similar set of rules.My simple tip is to have a bit of a system. For example:

Always start the password with a special character that you can remember (eg #)

Second character a capital letter

Substitute letters with easily remembered characters (eg $ for S, £ for L, @ for A etc)

Replace an easily remembered date with the special characters on the keyboard eg, 1966 becomes !(^^

I bought a Whyte Saxon cross last year and it’s become my go to bike of choice and my regular commuter replacing my winter road bike. Just love being able to mix the rides up – bridleways, farm tracks, forest tracks, canal towpaths and back country lanes are great fun on the CX, whereas an MTB is a bit over-biked and a road bike just can’t hack it.

Definitely go tubeless. The Saxon Cross came tubeless ready and after about six weeks I made the switch.

Go for it and you won’t regret it!

Coyote – Member
I’ve agreed that a TV can be setup in the office for the match. As long as it doesn’t have an adverse effect on operations then a bit of goodwill does no harm.

Likewise here …our offical policy is for TVs to be tuned to BBC News, but all managers are pretty flexible and there’s always sport of some sort on most of the screens. Stops people throwing sickies!!

Thanks Guys … some good tips there.

IHN – Member

Bacon

Now that’s taking it too far.

Hang your head in shame and leave the forum immediately :D

kerley – Member

but what did we do before mobile phones?

People got on with their lives just the same but didn’t feel the need/pressure to be always there and were subsequently happier for it.

If I was going out for a ride then I would arrange it before hand and meet up as agreed. If they don’t turn up, big deal, just ride on your own or go home.
Phone someone up at home, they are not in – nevermind just do something else, go out with someone else etc,.

Can see how alien that would be to people today but it genuinely wasn’t a problem at the time.
I love the look of panic on peoples’ faces when there’s no mobile signal!!

Just a bit of a rhetorical question … but what did we do before mobile phones?

Steps back and waits for insults and hears daughter saying “that’s such an old persons’ thing to say!”

If I even take my phone on a ride it’s usually switched off. The only exception is if I’m on a long ride on my own when I’ll switch it on to call my wife as an “I’m fine” type call.

ah … the voice of common sense!

perchypanther – Member
You need to upgrade to iDGAS 10.2

… think you need to explain that one to me!!

What purpose does the watch need to serve?

To tell the time, stop watch function up to 24 hours … that’s all!

When you say “Cheap and Cheerful” what is your definition? I know it varies a bit round these parts…

was think £50 max

Apparently there are these things called mountain bikes that have bouncy bits at both ends, or sometimes just one end (usually the front end) that might suit your needs.

And possible even ones with the same size wheels as CX bikes !

True, but they’re a PITA on the road and weigh more than an CX bike

Natural trails? … how about something that incorporates The Old Coach Road or somewhere round the Back of Skiddaw

Am I the only cynic on here? Use by and best before dates are just a ploy to get us to throw stuff away and buy more?

Maybe just a bit like the gel manufactures who suggest “three per hour of exercise” …just some marketing ploy to get us to buy more?! Do the math … that’s 12 gels on a four hour ride … for one, my guts would know about that!!

As above: if the packaging is undamaged and they taste okay they’ll be fine. Sugar is a preservative.

The whole best before and use by date thing really boils my piss. I have a constant battle at home with my teenage daughter who’s been brainwashed at school in Home Economics about best before and use by dates. I am aware of the difference between use by and best before dates, but FFS any common sense is removed from decision making and so much food gets wasted just because of a date printed on it. So much so that I’ve started removing or obliterating dates … no one has died and we haven’t had any food poisoning.

She’s an intelligent kid (straight A stars predicted at GCSE) but last night this really took the biscuit. I was presented with a punnet of perfectly ripe and delicious strawberries I’d picked up from the farm shop on the way home: “Dad, are these safe to eat? There’s no use by date on them”.

Mrs Hairylegs agrees with Mrs beanZ re: Gore being not a silly baggy fit and is also a big plus one for Endura Singletrack and Hum Vees.

Her advice is go for one with a removable liner and buy a couple of spare pairs of liners

Thanks for all the advice. The Adventure CT1 on ebay is worth a punt at that price and I’ll just have to see if I can solve the QR axle issue or just stick it on the back of my wife’s bike and she can lug the load!!

looks interesting;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adventure-CT1-Folding-Bike-Cargo-Trailer-Assembled-but-Never-Used-/262453674197?hash=item3d1b7540d5:g:U4UAAOSw7ehXRbIW#ht_513wt_959

any thoughts from experienced trailer users?

Have a look on the SJS site

… good shout … thanks

@highlandman … thanks … good advice from someone who’s obviously used one! I’ve got DT Swiss bolt through axles on the rear though. Is there another option?

Like B.A.Nana I pretty much own/have owned all the variants and each have their uses — it really is “horses for courses” Ultra lightweight stuff like the Koro or Pocket Rocket, or high spec multi fuel stoves are a bit OTT for car camping and going for a weight weeny beer can stove would just be ridiculous

For me it would depend on how big a tent I’d be using, how long I was staying for and what I was wanting to prepare on the stove. For a weekend car camping trip it’s a camping gaz two ring burner because we’ve got the space and don’t need to compromise on space/size or what we can or can’t cook on it.

An Alpkit Brukit is a permanent fixture in the back of our car – great for a quick brew on a road trip or at the end of the day.

For bikepacking it’s a Bearbones meths stove, for winter mountaineering it’s an Alpkit Koro (much prefer that design for stability and being able to invert the canister), whereas for more remote/foreign trips and sea kayaking it’s been the MSR whisperlite.

Whatever you choose there will always be the naysayers … the important thing is to get out and enjoy whatever it is you do. “Go nice places, do good things”!!

@highlandman … thanks, good advice. Any views on axle or seat post connections. I think I’d prefer a seat post connection.

If you are just setting up base camps could you do it with rack and panniers?

was wanting to avoid using rack and panniers off road (a) because I thick a rigid type set up would be more prone to breaking, and (b) I don’t think I’d be able to fit onto my MTB.

The problem with all these packs, (and it’s sadly true of all of them) is that they’re not waterproof. which for a mountain bike rucksack is pretty bad really.

sort of a dry bag with a rucsac harness fitted your not going to get a waterproof backpack. The dry bag type rucsacs lack sophistication but are fine for lugging paddling kit on portages but I won’t want to ride with one

@Kayak23 – thanks for the link. Was thinking of splashing a bit more cash more along the lines of

http://www.adventure-cycling-guide.co.uk/trailers.htm

Give a photographer a mobile and he’ll take better photos than somebody who has just bought several grands worth of ‘proper’ camera.

True …(ATGBNI … same applies to loads of stuff, bikes included :lol:) but

The difference is between “snaps” that are passed off as photographs and proper photographs. If you want total control over shutter speed, aperture, ISO settings etc then it’s got to be a camera

was from the perspective of a photographer!

More photo snobbery content coming up!!

The difference is between “snaps” that are passed off as photographs and proper photographs. If you want total control over shutter speed, aperture, ISO settings etc then it’s got to be a camera

I’ve got a Fuji XP (something or the other) waterproof camera which has taken more abuse and dunkings than any smartphone would take. Also has a much longer battery life.

Results wise? … far better than any smartphone, no too far off a DSLR but far more robust.

hanging dog sh*t in hedges!

A few years back I did a stint as a volutary ranger in a National Park. One day I challenged a women who was hanging a bag of dog pooh on a tree. Her answer was “I thought it would make it easier for the wardens to pick it up” … FFS, the mentality of some people!

Agree with the comment about having entered a race or sportive gives some immunity against littering.

I never feel awkward about challenging anyone I see dropping litter. You might get a bit of abuse, but most people become very embarrassed that they’ve been caught.

Shoes are ok in the summer but a pair of winter boots makes all the difference when it’s cold and wet

+1 for the winter boots. Only just stopped using mine regularly.

CX, disc brakes

again, a big +1 here. A CX will give extra versitility when choosing route — canal tow paths, bridleways, farm and forest tracks etc and just generally handle sh*tty country lanes better

As with instant hit, I get up an extra hour early to get a longer ride in rather than going direct by route 1, or running in and and enjoying some quiet time at my desk before all the interuptions start.

Used to hate early mornings, but stick with it and you’ll habituate to it and not only is it the best time of the day but that old alpinist’s saying of “an hour in the morning is worth two in the afternnon” becomes so true.

Mudguards, pure luxury.

On a commuter … absolutely essential. Might not seem so at this time of the year, but having commuting through the winter I wouldn’t be without.

Leave as much gear at work as you can, take in on Monday and home on Friday

Good advice. How about driving in on Monday with a full set of clothes for the week and just bringing dirty laundry home in the evenings, or if you’re close enough and have access drop everything off Sunday evening.

That heavy lock can stay locked to the cycle rack at work!