due to difference in mph and effort between mountain and road i record training, sorry riding in hours and over the past five years this has been as follows:-

2005 438.75 hours

2006 457.75

2007 418.75

2008 403.75

2009 425.50.

still a bit dodgy as 90 mins in a race is alot more exhausting that a five hour ride with mates that involves stoping to chat, map read and so on. i do try to exclude time spent not peddling but not a science. above is a mix of mtb, road and mtb on road commuting. overall ave of say 14 mph would give 6,000 miles or 115 a week that feels about right. for every trans wales or marmotte (i did both in 2009) there is a week drinking, tired, too much work, awful weather etc).

Stayed in Rose & Crown last month and was very good but not grand. Nice rooms, bike store, hose pipe, great beer and v friendly punters and owner. Breakfast and evening meals were good too. Would def go back.

"£3,000 on a bike?!"

"yes, thats less than your season rail ticket and that only lasts a year"

I think the rest have been covered. Peoples' amazement at riding in rain never ceases to er… amaze me. Why don't they realise we have the kit for it – they are in suits and with smart hair that gets trashed by even small amounts of rain unlike my riding kit.

And pointing out politely to all the fatties in the office how much more than them I can and do eat and yet still weigh less than them.

Just booked in for key hole on my shoulder on dec 18th – off bike for 3 months apparently and no argy bargy for 3 more after that. Hope to be back on road bike by end of march if only because i enjoy my commute by bike and no 38 bus is not as quick or convenient.

For unfussy old school pubs try Clerkenwell or Bloomsbury Check out fancyapint.com – it has an easy search and good advice. There are literally dozens of decent pubs, good beer, places to sit, no piped sh1te music, interesting buildings, etc.

For a curry you could pop over to Brick Lane or go back towards Paddington and check out around Fitzroy and Whitfield Sts – lots of unpretentious eats aimed at students and others looking for value and not brand obsessed.

Enjoy – I know I would.

My older brother told me that stones grew. Only if they were left under the soil, obviously.

I remember being rather shocked to discover that France was bigger than Britain. Noone had misled me I was just a bit jingoist at 6 yrs or whatever I was. Ditto that Jesus hadn't been British.

just followed up loads of threads on it and it looks awesome but I cannot find out an address for entries. I gather its a lottery and 31 january is the deadline but thats it. Any suggestions. Could form the centrepiece of a good summer holiday.

I understand your angst – I always support local businesses and will def compromise on brand of car, tv, bike and loads more just to support local and independent. Local is not necessarily more expensive, mMy LBS gives me 10% off everything (club member) so that reduces the gap a fair bit and the service make up alot of difference as well. If purely price driven then supermarkets, halfords and www normally win but you are screwing society IMO.

My LBS will fix my bikes at a moments notice, order stuff in and if they can't get it (say Endura was a recent example) then at least they've had first chance and no harm done. Although small they deal with most suppliers / importers / distributors so can get most stuff in.

If a bike co won't supply them I would probably find another that would or buy the frame only and give shop a chance to provide all the other parts.

I like loyalty and service.

report him. if not in breach nowt to fear but probably taking the mick.

Much better than points esp if you pay your own insurance.

Everyone was bored looking at the start but most people found it Ok I think. I learnt a fair bit and it has slowed me down (18 months and counting).

cycle fit in covent garden do more than wedges. they corrected my general bike set up and made a massive improvement. 3 pain free years and counting.

Transwales would be grim at this time of year. It was Ok in a dry week in August.

If I commuted on my road bike in stop start traffic I would put on spds as so much easier to engage and disengage, (I stop at red lights – sorry). On the open road i accepted pressure from bike shop and fashion police to have road spds due to er fashion, larger contact area and stiffer shoes. Road spds have less play than mtb so saddle height and general set up is more key than ever but then one doesn't often drop ones road saddle for a descent.

Lockable cycle storage 1

Bike washing facilities 3 (a basic garden hose will do, no need for pressure washer)

Kit washing and drying facilities Drying 2, washing 10)

Basic bike spares (tubes etc) 10

Easy Access to Pub/local amenities 2 (off sales if no pub)

Food and energy drinks for the next days ride 10

Drying room repeat? 2

Locally sourced food for evening meal and breakfast 2 (why wouldn't it be local?)

En-suite 2

TV 10 (FFS)

I have some Howies, Icebreaker and ground effect and its all great. Overall Icebreaker is particularly good but more on technical side rather than casual.

Nirvana. I was old enough just slow getting into them. Next thing I know he's dead.

The Clash. Too young.

I have never noticed Audis being badly driven esp re cyclists, certainly no more than any other make. The worst drivers are mini cab drivers (in London they have little blue stickers in rear windscreen) – esp in people carriers, too big, not enough use of mirrors and indicators, going to fast, using too many resi roads and generally scaring the pooh out of me on my bike. Beemers are always arrogant, too fast and generally pushy and that is about as far as my prejudices go.

Whether Audis are worth their premium price is a valid question nonetheless. I expect most are company cars.

nevegals are one of the best tyres in recent years (I recall the singletrack mega test a few years ago was an early fan). For general XC / trail use it is a true all rounder and not noticeably heavy or draggy. Not as good as a mud tyre in er mud or a semi slick on dry hard pack but a good all year, all rounder. Spain, Lakes, the south in winter, racing (not seriously), natural and man made Wales, all good.

Had two sets over about 3 yrs, wore out v quickly and not intersted in taking to pieces and fixing etc. They are light and I never had any problems re engagement or coming unclipped and they are light and look good. I even used on a hire road bike once (fashion error acknowledged) and found 'em fine. They are just not very long lasting. WMB wote a pursuasive article about how even most pros used spds because of their reliability in use and lifetime and that swung it for me next time they started to play loose. Nasty american cack! Crank bros pump was nifty but fell to pieces as well. I'm not buying their wheels any time soon!

Great article – Tim Hilton in his book 'One more kilometre and we're in the showers' talks about the mass appeal of riding in the 30s and 50s before cars became common place. Sleeping in hay barns the night before races and the sheer epicness of people with really hard manual jobs who still did 15-20 hours of riding every week.

Best descent is going S to N but coming back up again from the north its a good climb if you like that sort of thing.

Alot of people here have previously spoken highly of Optilabs. Mine were a poor fit (its a website) but they do a big range of prescriptions and frames and lenses so wortha try. You may get on better than I did.

There are lots of others – Swindon, Bracknall, all Medway towns, most of Oxford, Aylesbury, Luton, all of east kent except perhaps Whitstable. I guess these places are at least near to decent places to work and ride so living there could be tolerated (but still, why not move?) whereas if you live in a lancashire ex mill / industrial town say, all your nearby towns are crap as well.

It is rather sad how much of this supposedly affluent country is pretty much uninhabitable. No wonder everyone wants to move to the west country (Bridgewater excepted).

I was thinking same thing. Just swapped a racing ralph for high roller on the front but was no good at all on dirt on sunday. Not quite what i expected from such a revered 'all rounder'.

I've been involved with a hospital that specialises in aquired brain injuries that tends to mean a severe physichal disability following a brain injury. Its a sad place being full of blokes in 20s – 40s most of whom I am told result from road accidents but no doubt rugby, horses, diving, para gliding, base jumping, bouncy castles, DIY and so on have there results as well.

It is shocking how often the air ambulance atends bike events (3 x this year at trans wales) but i get impression is just being cautious (quite rightly to I'm sure) and most are out and about pretty soon. When I was knocked over and unconscious as a kid in 1970s the teacher put me in back of his car and drove me 20 miles to A&E.

Funnily enough I have always despised private medicine but for a few years now I have qualified for a a PPP Axa scheme at work – no immediate cash cost just a loss of a few £'00 personal allowance but no cash alternative so I took it and never really thought about it too much – I've always been really lucky with health. Then I started mtbing 10 yrs ago and the falls onto my outstretched right hand have ended up in a repeatedly dislocating shoulder and I made my first claim today for an initial scan thingy. Appointment booked for two weeks time. Its all call centre based that is rather tedious but efficient and polite so far.

back in Tory days of endless waits my dad paid a kings ransom for a private hip replacement – not well done and had to be redone 3 yrs later (this time NHS waiting lists under good control) and nhs did a proper job.

jobsworth should be dragged out by hair, shot f**ked and eaten. King useless muppets.

Crank Bros – pump fell to bits, pedals likewise. I don't want to have to service pedals ffs.

Specialized / Trek – I'm a snob

Altura – its worn by speccy commuter types. Far too practical and good value for money;

A bit wary of Hope brakes (but love the hubs and headsets), race face bbs and anything by pace simply on reputation for being totally unreliable.

Stuff thats good is Fox forks, ground effect stuff, mavic stuff, my lbs, anything by shimano, anything by thomson, hope hub and headsets.

I wouldn't use evans again if you paid me. I've had v good wheels builds in CS spitalfields and Holborn. I would def use CS or an independent if there is one near. Mosquito, Brixton, Condor?

Surely its all pretty much irrelevant. If they weren't given a freeze what would they get? 1%, 2% max I expect and as a public sector worker said on Newsnight earlier this week it is only for one year.

FWIW I agree with Stumpjons original comments that they should be paid better but there should be less of them. LAs are stuffed full of people doing pointless jobs and they should all go. And no new contracts should get a final salary pension but of course existing contracts have to be honoured. No way should newbies still be getting such pensions.

FWIW 2 I had a 10% cut this year. (and no bonus!!)

don't buy the DT Swiss titanium skwers then – £120 a pair and they are pants IME. I can't believe I fell for them but you live and learn (hopefully!!).

What time on Boxing Day?

You ask for motivation. Well for me its pride in not being beaten, its curiously a more intense experience in heavy rain, it keeps you fit, it burns calories and last but not least it saves money. And makes me feel super self righteous! When others at work express disbelief that I have just ridden 'in that'. (Nearly as good as when you tell them you're ridden a 24 hour race or D2D etc – they have no idea about real life)

Alfred's Tower, Boxing Day, thats 2 miles from me – what is planned? Are we all invited?

I thought it was great but the generator and whining dog (both on other side of the main track that leads in from the road were the low point. Its not that i was trying to sleep its that mountain biking should be about getting away from engines. And just to power some bloke's turbo – ride solo if you want more exercise! Or have a designated and separate area for noisy feckers! Ideally on an industrial estate up north.

Olympics on DT 240 hubs and racing ralphs tubeless – very light, very king expensive but tough enough so far.

tubeless is def worth it unless you like changing tyres every few weeks. I've found UST easier to get up and as the tyres tend to be thicker they should be better for knarly duties but the range of rims and tyes is much more limited. I would say the secret of tubeless whether UST or Stans (I've both) is lots of latex. Firstly cos it seems to get spilt alot; secondly because it is the latex / wheelmilk that makes tyres stick to the rim, thirdly it makes the whole thing air tight and fourthly because when you do hit a thorn its the latex that reseals the tyre (often w/o you being aware of the incident).

The Stans website has a video download of the fitting process.

You do need some patience as they rarely go on and inflate first time or without a bit of spilt latex. I wouldn't want to fit a tubeless in public!

he's not worth it however wrong he may be.

as Arnie said, "relax, you'll live longer".

I'll put some money your way mate, don't worry. The turkish shops around here sell a v poor range of beer and even sainsburys is pretty limited.

The bike shop / hire centre at Glyncorreg at Afan said all their full suss Konas for hire were broken. Could have been bearings needing routine maintenance I guess.