Oakley Jawbreakers work with the TLD Stages FF, and all the other helmets I’ve tried them with for that matter. Get some cheap clear lenses for them from Amazon so you don’t have to worry so much about them getting scratched up in the winter.

I don’t like bibs either. If needed I just layer up a pair of generic sports tights over my cycling shorts (and under my trousers/shorts). Just search somewhere like Sports Direct for ‘men’s tights’.

I find the bead clip on the Rotae Tech tyre lever really helpful.

https://www.rotae-tech.com/tyre-lever-set

I got one from BikeInn a while ago, and they seem to still have them in stock.

Are they even necessary? My XX1 AXS derailleur from 2020 doesn’t have one and it’s never been an issue.

The latest R0 (transmissibility) is roughly the same as measles, which is quite frankly insane.

That estimate was based on a flawed calculation, which the author has accepted:

“In hindsight, I realize that my calculation is unlikely to be correct and the true value of R0 for BA.5 is likely to be much lower.”

https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-r0-measles-covid-variants-infectiousness-423007125020

It increases the total length of the queue, which could have knock on effects if it grows to span junctions behind you.

When a queue is forming I always leave a gap for people in the right hand lane to pull into. It never gets taken , the scumbags always want to go right to the front.

Zip-merging is much more efficient than a single file queue, and is taught as the correct way to drive in some other countries. Our British obsession with queuing doesn’t do us any favours here.

If the retailer won’t help I’d get in touch with DMR. They’re a UK company and have a phone number on their website.

If you’re looking to replace it then I’d recommend the OneUp Guide. I’ve used it on three bikes over the last 3 or so years and it’s been faultless.

I like @BruceWee’s internet analogy. On a personal level, I’m excited about the possibility of sleeping in automated vehicles as they transport me overnight.

A favourite loop of mine from Innerleithen is to start with a few trails at Golfie, head down to the cafe at Walkerburn for lunch, then over the river to Glenbenna and back in to the Innerleithen trails from the South East corner. Can make it as ‘epic’ as you like depending on how many trails you ride in each area.

Not a hotel, but we stayed here for a night last week: https://www.horngarth.co.uk/ Very conveniently located for everything you might want in Whitby and nicely done up. If you go to Whitby I recommend the Magpie Cafe for fish and chips.

I’ve both and would go DT350 over Hope Pro 4 hubs due to ease of service. The bearings are easier to replace in the DT Swiss hubs and the ratchets don’t wear out anywhere near as quickly as the paws in the Hopes.

That’s quite interesting – when being coached I’ve been told to keep some bend in the elbow / get low over the middle of the bike on tricky steep stuff. I guess that puts more strain on your upper legs. I feel way more in control of the bike in that position though. Perhaps I could stand up a bit taller on less tech stuff to ease the pressure on my legs a bit.

I think bikenski is talking about straightening your legs a bit, not your arms. The natural fear response on a bike tends to been straight arms and bent legs, when what you really want to do it bend your arms and straighten (but not fully lock out) your legs.

It is being updated but it’s not fully up to date.

Do you know if No Social and 2nd Date are clear? Strava snooping suggest the former is, but the latter is so close to other trails it’s hard to tell.

I think a lot of people ride primarily for the downhills, but also don’t want to just uplift. If that’s what you want then you can get a lot more of it on a single hillside with a fire road to climb and multiple tracks going down than you would on a trail centre loop. See Barry Sidings, Golfie, numerous areas in FoD etc, Afan masts. If you want to ride a big loop and don’t mind/prefer fire road and road climbs then you can do that in South Wales and FoD without going anywhere near a trail centre, and with more varied and exciting downhill trails. Can’t remember the last time I went to a trail centre to ride the marked trails.

But thats the wrong way round isnt it? the longer offset fork should be making the steering feel lighter and more sensitive.

Agreed, all things being equal. Reducing trail should make the steering ‘quicker’. However, it also increases wheelbase which increases the turning circle. devash doesn’t mention other attributes that could cause the bikes to feel different, like wheelbase and chain stay length.

One of the trails that starts from the forestry track on the border between the woods and felled areas is quite badly blocked at Afan, but everything else is fine. Everything fine in Staunton.

I can’t see any indication in the Highway Code that says the speed limit automatically rises by 10mph just because there’s two lanes for a very short stretch.

A dual carriage way is a road with a central reservation separating the opposing flows of traffic. It’s nothing to do with how many lanes the road has.

I was up there a couple of weeks ago. No forestry works in progress as far as I could see and the Rhyslyn car park is open again. The two riders left most trails off the fire road on the boarder between the woods and the felled upper area had lots of trees down, but everything else was clear. There was as nice new looking flow trail off to the right just before you get out of the woods on the main climb.

Breakfast #1, after getting up but before early morning ride or gym: muesli, frozen strawberries and blueberries, yoghurt and soy milk. Made the night before and put in the fridge.

Breakfast #2, when I get to my desk: chicken, rocket and tomato bagel, sometimes with saucisson.

And who doesn’t love feeling dirty after wolfing down a Double sausage and egg McMuffin and a hash brown

That or a Greggs breakfast roll frequently replace breakfast #2 on the drive to the trails at the weekend.

They might well not change their restaurant order, but once recorded in the app they know not to go home and have a late-night sweaty kebab.

As someone who tracks what I eat, this is exactly why restaurant labelling is useful to me. It’s unlikely to change what I eat in the restaurant, but it’ll allow me to plan the rest of the day according to my goals.

This will be very helpful for those who are already monitoring their calorie intake. Previously eating out was often largely guess work in that respect. But if you’re not already doing that, then I can’t see it making much difference.

The Giro Tyrant is good but warm. I’m on my second. Having had a Fox Proframe I wouldn’t get a Dropframe due to the lack of an adjustable cradle. I picked up a TLD A3 in the sales which has a good level of coverage and fits me well, but I haven’t ridden in it yet.

It lists internal length as 125cm so it’s not going to fit anything with a reasonably long wheelbase. Evoc lists max wheelbase as 126cm for the standard bag and 130cm for the pro, with the internal dimensions 5-6cm more, I’d guess max 120cm wheelbase for the Merlin.

Maccy Ds – 99p cheese burger:
1200 calories all the basic food groups covered.

You’re mixing up your units. It’s ~1200kJ, so only ~300kcal. Better have three of them :)

Thanks for the tip. I got in touch with the bike shop there and they said that most of the trails are now clear.

They are as appropriate for use on pavements as bikes are. We have a rental scheme here and one of the headline rules is: “Don’t ride on the pavement – only cycle lanes and roads”.

I’m not a big fan of barrel aged beers, but for balance that one is Marble’s second highest rated beer on Untapped: https://untappd.com/MarbleBeers/beer?sort=highest_abv As far as the strength goes, I think strong beers need to drunk more like wine.

I paid a UK shop to process a warranty claim with SRAM rather than deal with the Brexit customs shite around sending it back to the original shop in Germany.

I plug for MacroFactor as an alternative to MFP. It simplifies things by calculating energy expenditure based on weight change and calorie intake, so you don’t need to worry about estimating and logging expenditure from exercise. It’s paid for, but I think it’s great.

MacroFactor app – Diet sidekick and macro tracker

Sorry to hear that. I’d keep it. You can kill a bit of time stripping it down and servicing it before putting it in the loft, then when you get the all clear you’ve got a bike ready to go straight away.

Mr Brain’s Faggots. Not had them in a good 25+ years.

Not quite what I meant – I was talking about physical dimensions in the mathematical sense.

The only two physical dimensions are human and animals. In them are all things 5 senses can associate with.

This is just semantics. Physics defines three physical dimensions (up/down, left/right, forwards/backwards), you’re defining two physical dimensions that are human and animals. There is no overlap here. The word ‘dimensions’ is being used for two different concepts and its meaningless to use one to argue against the other.

If you were sending a message back in time you’d do it for the previous few days so that the event would be fresh in people’s minds, not 30 years. And why target a TV transmitter in rural Mid Wales? If you wanted to find out about the results of the experiment you’d need to do something that loads of people would notice and write about.

Somewhere, somewhen, someone is reading this with a big smile on their face, relieved to finally have confirmation that their experiment worked.

From someone posting with the username NaughtyNorthumbrian on a different and colourful bike site:

“We’ve been told forest operational work won’t be starting until August, and we are bound by the 1981 wildlife act on some trails – so we would have had to clear them before March, then stop work until August first, even if a chain saw would suffice. Sadly, it needs big machinery. While Forestry England aren’t perfect, we have a good relationship with them, and they are stretched across the board on this one. Sadly this forest is a lower priority tier as it isn’t under visitor pressure like Kielder, Thrunton and Simonside are, and as mentioned there are a swathe of protected birds living in there. We totally and respectfully accept their position on this, however shit it is for the event”

@chewkw, and echoing @blokeuptheroad, I’d be really interested in hearing about the background to your views.

I just removed all the air and noticed the fork is still naturally at full extension, with no weight applied.

I had the same symptoms with mine.

Had similar recently with a fairly new Zeb. Air was leaking in to the lowers and it was fixed under warranty.

We’ve done that, she’s back at school, does she recommence the 3 times a week testing is the question, hopefully her school will have an answer.

It was the case that people confirmed positive didn’t need to test but now it’s confused to say the least.

I couldn’t find a definitive answer to this when I looked at the end of December. I ended my isolation after 10 days, at which point I was still testing positive on LTFs. I then continued to test every day or two until I tested negative so that I knew when I could start meaningfully testing again. I think I started testing negative around day 15 or 16. I didn’t report any of the positive results after my initial one.