3/4 will rub on your knees and be really annoying. I had some slightly long shorts and they drove me crazy!

the transworlds are amazing – super cheap and great MTB road touring tyres. Heavy but last forever.

But got some summer tubeless xc tyres a while back and a bit disappointed. Really heavy and didn’t really ‘feel’ right.

Excellent, I love the South…

hmm, thanks Mr Udder. And which of the trails would you say a Mrs Udder would enjoy first time round. I was hoping to do either W2 or Skyline.

She is pretty fit – does triathlon and open water swimming and she’s not the kind of girl to moan when she’s tired. But she might if she falls off!

Some fair points cheers – don’t want to be racing up because I’ve only got one speed so think it’s either gear down or hire. Just never a big fan of hire bikes. They used to have some quite nice Dawgs there but think they’ve downgraded a bit now. Anyone hired there recently? I know Skyline have Orange for test rides but they charge crazy money for them.

well I guess that was part of the point of my post…

In the old days it was all about getting cold, wet and muddy with my mates and then the beers in the pub afterwards mocking each others general inability to ride.

And now it’s turned into ‘getting the miles in’ to stay fit in the hopes that one day I might get back out in the hills soon

thanks guys – some useful tips there and it looks like I don’t have to fork about a whole £10 on a new chain. More beer then.

+1 for pink raleigh mustang. loved it. First experience of bike related grief when someone ran it over repeatedly in the train station car park because they couldn’t get the lock off to steal it.

FInsbury park is the nearest train station so Ireckon the Tring plan could work. The trails easy to find? She saiys she’s happy to get wet and muddy…

I tried Epping Forest before but didn’t really find the trails – or if I did they were rubbish! Need that local knowledge

Brynteg House in Cymmer and The Queens in Glyncorryg. Both are great and very reasonable

Tear half way across and then suck real hard and stuff empties up lycra shorts – lovely sticky mess at end of ride. Or carry an empty waterbottle without a lid in your bottle cage and use it as a handy bin. Obviously I would never actually intend to do this but someone stole my bottle top at a feed station during a race the other day. Yes, they really did steal it. Very odd. But did mean I had a handy bin for the rest of the race

+1 for meehaja's suggestion.

Teach her the value of money and reward her by topping it up every now and again. Might actually cost you more in the long run but will make for a better rounded kid who knows a lot more about the world

there's a traffic free cycle path all the way from Bordeaux to Montpellier that basically follows the Canal du Midi. It's dead flat (obviously as it's canal) with just the little jumps up at locks. Perfect for family riding. I spent a week doing it with a non-cycling girlfriend. Works particularly well as it's all shaded too. can get a bit boring for the 'cyclist' in the family though…

I'd agree with keeping it simple. Get a cheap but rugged speedo and then maybe get a basic heart rate monitor. Or you can get a combo of the two but ends up more expensive. Personally I'm always more interested in how hard I've worked and for how long (which is why I use an HRM) than the distance I've covered… But then I'm geeky like that.

Thanks guys – I thought I would probably have missed the season but was hoping they might run a little later. It being warm out there and all that. Ciclocorss ain't my thing just yet. Maybe next year…

It's quite easy riding – beautiful though. I did it in Feb in thick snow a few years back and that was ace. Made it a bit more challenging too!

surfing and worrying about not being ready for the 100 next weekend…

Hope vision makes a great country road light. And if you've got the nerve it'll happily take you off road too…

Cheap(ish) takes AA batteries (and doesn't guzzle them) and looks OK too

pasta and three day old chilli that is just about on the turn…

Thanks – that's few quid saved then…

Shandy – you could try this to fit a bottle cage http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=13892 I put one on this weekend and whilst it looks horrible it worked well. That coupled with a large ortlieb saddle bag to carry waterproof and tools with a couple of sarnies and some gels in back pockets. Ready to go…

I used to have 140mm Pikes before some scumbag stole the forks off my bike when I left it locked up for 45 mins. I now have 100mm Pace and it just doesn't feel the same. If I could afford to buy new pair of 140mm I definitely would.

I used to use a bum bag but it knackered my back on long day rides. Thought of using a big saddle bag? I use the lage ortlieb one and it fits waterproof, tools and snacks in nicely. And you don't notice it anywhere near as much as you'd think. Anything else in the back pocket of a jersey.

fetish london eh? Not sure I can offer you that but I think you might find that up the road in Muswell hill…

if you want any more info on the flat drop me an email

thanks.

weird. I just put up a post saying I was looking for a flat mate. I'm in Crouch End (North London) and have a large two bed flat with two sitting rooms and a very large garden with shed. One of the sitting rooms is basically for my bikes but plenty of room for more. Looking for about £675 all in. i.e. no bills on top.

My riding is either on the South Downs or getting train up to peaks or lakes. Or I do road training sessions from Potters Bar to Cambridge and the surrounding area.

thanks guys – very helpful!

Thanks Mikeutually, you've made me feel a load better about Kielder! Almost everything I've heard about it has been horror stories and recently every other day it feels like someone else has pulled out because they've not trained enough! I reckon I'm on roughly 200 miles a month (probably more with road miles) but have not done any off road trips over 60 miles for a long time. The odd 100 mile road ride.

Going to take heed and keep stuff of the back and have a big ortlieb saddle bag. Anyone got any ideas for where to store an extra waterbottle as my frame only takes one small one? Have tried back pocket before which is OK but can bounce around a bit…

Have you considered working for charities? I work in fundraising and marketing for a charity which is basically exactly the same as BD (in fact there's a fair amount involved) but instead of making some git at the top richer you're making a difference to other people's lives. Sounds sanctimonius I know but it is a good option for sales folk who wnat something different out of life. There are lots of different fundraising 'disciplines' too so you can work out which suits your sales skills best. I do a lot of B2B work for example. In other wwrds setting up mutually beneficial relationships between companies and the charity I work for. The pay is also not as bad as people think.

Having said all that after 7 years of doing it I'm looking to go back into the private sector as I'm after a bit of a change. Job swap?!

Excellent – thank you all!

Thanks for your patience! The rims are ZTR Olympic. WHich say no-tubes but I believe still need the tape etc. They have this but do I need to replace when putting on new tyres? The tyres are XCR Dry II tubeless.

So by the sound of it I need sealant don't I?

As everyone has said, it's really boring. Don't bother, unless you're trying to 'get the miles in' on the way to a few hills. Best advice if you're going to do it would be to ride it fast until you hit the section where it crosses the South Dwons way and then get up there and do a few miles along to Ditchling Beacon or furhter and then when you're bored of the South Downs Way (it's a bit boring too I'm afraid) you can head back and down into Shoreham.

+1 for Bax Castle as a decent pub too

Alpkit are great value for money but not sure how durable…used one on a recent bivvy adventure and the rub from being strapped under my bars gave it two big rips. which meant for a chilly night!

So, if I manage to find a small enough tyre I should get away with it by the sound of it. By biggest concern was snapping the frame or forks but I won't be doing anything too rough just need to get far enough down a bridle way to find a decent place to sleep for the night! Any tips on where t ofind skinny, skinny cyclocross tyres then?

London shops…only good for coloured rims and fixing up your free hub. Moose cycles looks good but bit far away for me

So the tool it is. BETD OK or can anyone recommend another? Links would be ace.

Thanks mudpup will try moose cycles. I went to Mosquito bikes (who I thought were supposed to know a thing or two) and they said the'd have to send it off.

so…waterproof shorts and a crud catcher. I thought I was the only one who thought about buying cheapo army surplus trousers and cutting them up. Genius.

turns out the police do have something http://www.bikeregister.com/ anyone here ever actually registered on it?

reckon it'd need all of the online forums to get behind it and then somehow have to tackle the old 'Local Bike Shop' that probably inadvertently fences off the gear too.

I can tell you for a start that a load of stolen bieks end up in Brick Lane. If you ever want to get yourself worked up into an angry frenzy visit Brick Lane on the weekend. There is a yard which is rammed full of bikes which I am pretty confident do not belong to the guys selling them!