If I was in the market for a second hand full suspension frame I’d prefer to buy one without a shock as it’s the part (of the full sus frame/shock combo) that’s the hardest to determine the condition of.

the false positive rate for asymptomatic people is something like 90% – so they’re going to ‘pick up’ a lot of people who haven’t got it at all.

You’re confusing the false positive rate with the proportion of people who return a positive test who don’t have COVID.

So if you did 100 tests on people without COVID, 90 would come back positive?

Or out of 100 positive tests from general population (say 10,000 people tested), 90 would be false and 10 real?

If you tested 1000 people of which 1 actually had COVID but got 10 positive results – including the person who actually had it – then the false positive rate would be 0.9%, but the proportion of positive results that are wrong would be 90%.

What’s happening to the pistons? I’m wondering if they’re retracting too far. The first couple of pulls could reset them, but then they slowly retract into the caliper. Could be that the seals need replacing. The spares seems to be available, but I’ve never had to do it myself.

I use one of these:

https://spinewallet.com/

I can’t see how it could be slimmer, unless you did away with the metal plate and just used an elastic band.

Metal One-Up pedals I really like that they are all cartridge bearings with no bushes and the self extracting bearing replacement is great. Only trouble is I’m not so keen on the shape or skinny pins

They’ve now replaced the outer bearings with a brass bushing. I like the pedals, but had two instances of the outer bearings imploding and score the axle and inside of the pedal.

O-rings! That’s the word I needed. Thanks.

no. Its the other option to put a half link in but are they not a bit shit?

Never used them myself, but Google would suggest they might be.

What about an eccentric bottom bracket? You can get versions that fit some normal BB shells:

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Wheels-Manufacturing/BB30-Eccentric-22mm-GXP-Bottom-Bracket/EQA4

https://www.bike-components.de/en/Trickstuff/Exzentriker-Bottom-Bracket-p25947/

Have you tried a half link chain?

If we take as a given that breaches to the Coronavirus Act are likely to increase both the chances of catching and spreading Coronavirus perhaps we should prioritise vaccinating those caught in breach of it? We’d obviously need to be careful that this didn’t incentivise breaking the law, so we’d also need to increase the punishments too. Perhaps an automatic prison sentence, which would dovetail nicely with prioritising vaccinating prisoners in general. :)

looks pretty similar to another tyre, can’t think which one though

Quite similar to the WTB Verdict:

https://www.wtb.com/products/verdict-verdict-wet-2-5

The 29 inch Maxx Terra is listed as Exo casing so I suspect the 27.5 inch Maxx Terra being marked at DD is a mistake, especially considering the relative weights.

On weight training: I think it’s something that everyone should do from a health perspective, especially as we get older to help maintain muscle mass and bone density. From a cycling performance point of view I think the gains are probably marginal unless you’re a track sprinter but it’s still worthwhile to address imbalances and as “armour building”, since mountain biking is occasionally a contact sport.

Apart from being the Torygraph it’s behind a pay wall

That’s why I quoted the important bit. It being the Torygraph, they might have better sources than others within the current administration.

Exclusive: Covid lockdown to continue until cases drop below 1,000 a day

A senior Whitehall source said: “For any significant relaxation of lockdown, household mixing and reopening pubs, case numbers have to be in the hundreds, not thousands.

“The numbers are coming down quite fast, but the plan is likely to be high level and set out the tests that have to be met for restrictions to be released. There is real reluctance about committing to specific dates without knowing what the case numbers are doing.”

– https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/16/covidlockdown-continue-cases-drop-1000-day/

Vaccine passports are nothing new, look up yellow fever. You have to be able to prove your have had the vaccine for yellow fever if traveling from an endemic area into somewhere like India

Pretty sure there’s only one yellow fever vaccine, which provides long lasting protection and is close to 100% effective. So quite a different situation to the Covid vaccines.

In practise I can’t see vaccination “passports” being much like passports. If anything along those lines happens I think it’s more likely there will agreements between specific countries, part of which will require documented evidence of vaccination to travel between them. And possibly evidence of a vaccination with a subset of the vaccines available if one of the countries hasn’t approved all of the vaccines used in the other.

I’d consider the MegNeg as an alternative. I have it on a Bronson v3 and it has really improved the progression of the shock. Before I fitted it I struggled to find a balance of a supple early stroke and bottom out support.

I would echo the short life span of the Trickstuff pads. I wore a pair down to the backing plate over a wet weekend of riding at Risca and BPW.

+1 Uberbike Race Matrix.

I’ll come back to the nut allergy.
If you know that if you come into contact with nuts, you could face serious health implications.
Would it not make sense to avoid those situations?

In this allergy analogy can the nuts turn other things in to nuts and do the nuts somethings display no visibly signs of being nuts?

We’ve have one of these as our main sofa and extra guest bed.

https://www.futoncompany.co.uk/sofa-beds/size/double-3-seaters/sofa-bed-futon-company-3-seater-double-sofa-beds-oke.html

It always gets commented on favourably by guests who’ve sleep on it and I’m perfectly happy to sleep on it, but then again I sleep on a futon mattress on my bed too. Very solid, even after being dismantled a couple of times for moves.

We’ve swapped things like measles and cholera for type 2 diabetes, and asthma, so things that killed you, for things that, managed, will limit your life, but you’ll still have years (that you wouldn’t have had pre war).

Perhaps things that kill you place a lower burben on the health services than chronic non-fatal conditions that need managing?

+1 for the Kona Chute. I had one the 1999 model.

I think he was referring to the tax relief on the money paid in, rather than coming out.

It’s even worse with wrist based barometers. Pretty much useless all the time.

@wobbliscott – I agree. I was more thinking about being cautious about the rate of growth and inflation why drawing down, independent of how long you decide you’re doing to be drawing down on your pot.

The focus on downside risk is appropriate as running out of money late in life is hard to recover from.

I hadn’t thought of the tyrant. I always saw it as a jumpy sessioning type lid, but I guess it could be seen as an extended coverage trail helmet. How do you find it for normal trail riding (i.e Mountain biking)?

I haven’t used it in the summer yet, but it’s no warmer than the lightweight full face helmets I’ve used. Fine for winch and plummet type riding, but it wouldn’t be my first choice for a cross country ride. I often take off even lightweight full faces for climbing if it’s a sustained effort and mostly fire road, which is as much to do with ease of eating/drinking/chatting as it warmth.

I’ve had a Bell Super 3r and a Fox Pro Frame, and currently have a TLD Stages and a Giro Tyrant (not full face). I’m not convinced by detachable chin guards, so wouldn’t buy the Super 3r again. I prefer the Stages to the Pro Frame as it’s a better fit for me, but otherwise there isn’t much to separate them. The Tyrant is my favourite of the lot – most of the protection and with better adjustments than the Pro Frame and Stages. I’ve not had a face first crash in a lightweight full face, but I don’t think the chin guards would provide much protection. I think the extra coverage on the side of the head is more important.

I have a 68 reg Octavia Scout estate and my bike (XL SC Bronson) doesn’t fit in with both wheels on. It fits on its side with the front wheel off, or upside down and strapped down with both wheels off. I am a bit disappointed in the lack of headroom in the boot with the backseats folded flat, due to the bit of the backseat you sit on not flipping up. Great car otherwise. I think two big bikes in the hatchback version might be a bit of a squeeze.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true. It’ll depend on how long whatever you eat is hanging around inside you before it comes out the other end.

On the original question:

3.2.5 . Carbohydrate and Energy Value
The carbohydrate fraction is largely made up of undigested cellulose, vegetable fibers, and pentosan (Canfield et al., 1963). Feces do not contain large quantities of carbohydrates as the majority of what is consumed is absorbed; however, undigested and unabsorbed fractions (RS) remain. A median value (n = 10) of 9 g/cap/day carbohydrate in feces was recorded with a range of 4–24 g/cap/day. The vast majority of studies were again conducted in North America and Europe with only one study in Peru presenting values in the center of this range. The calorific content of feces had a median value (n = 14) of 132 kcal/cap/day (range: 49–347 kcal/cap/day). By using the median value of production (32 g/cap/day) a calorific value of 4115 kcal/kg dry solids can be used as a design standard for calorific value of feces. All studies were carried out in North America and Europe therefore no correlation could be made between income and calorific value. However, the largest quantities of fecal energy are shown from diets containing a large amount of unavailable carbohydrates (Southgate and Durnin, 1970), defined as all polysaccharides not hydrolyzed by the intestinal secretions of humans, as opposed to available carbohydrates such as starch and sugars which result in less fecal energy loss (Southgate, 1973).

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500995/

The experimental results show that the dry human faeces had a higher energy content (∼25 MJ/kg) than wood biomass.

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4998016/

If you’re using a tablet for Zwift/Netflix then a music stand works perfectly to prop it up for very little money and space.

I don’t think that “calories in” is a very helpful way to think about it. I prefer to think of “calories absorbed”. Different people might absorb different amounts from the same input for lots of different reasons, including variations in gut length and the microbes they have in their gut to help (or hinder). Measuring calories in and out is at best a proxy for what is really happening, and while it might be useful for tracking and adjusting on a personal level they can’t really be compared between different people. Or even between in and out. For example, if you’re trying to lose weight you could be putting X calories in your mouth and calculating by whatever means that you’re burning Y calories. If X if greater than Y but you’re loosing weight it doesn’t matter what the numbers are in relation to each other.

Has anyone had guided rides on anything other than legal rights of way? I’m wondering if any UK guides have permission from landowners to ride anything else.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0hO38iMVQtWdV5Lt_oI_97UWw

7:30am vs. 9am in the local woods.

Do we know anything about how robust the vaccine supply chain is? What is the risk that the gap between vaccines is pushed beyond 12 weeks for some, due to supply chain issues?

20,000 per year in the UK
These are the typical number of annual deaths related to Flu, and we dont go into Lockdown every winter because of these.

In the future I wonder if flu deaths will drop, as some people who would otherwise have died due to flu end up dying due to Covid.

Many years ago I was skateboarding to the pub when someone in a passing car threw a bottle of tomato ketchup at me. Thankfully a plastic one. No real harm done other than being covered in ketchup. I was running late as it was and didn’t want it let it ruin my night, so carried on while trying to think of where I could clean it off. Shortly afterwards I came to the police station and figured they must have a toilet I could use. The look on the faces of the officers behind the desk when I walked in covered in something red and sticky was priceless.

I’ve done a few days with them, and will do more in the future. Really great bunch of people. A key thing to remember is that I don’t think anyone is insured to guide on unofficial trails, so you won’t get much/any of the typical FoD off piste.

Steep and Natural (2017): 1/2 a day of coaching, 1/2 a day guided off piste but all within Swallowvalents Inclosure. I’m not a big fan of group coaching, but it was good for what it was. The guided afternoon took in a few interesting bits in the area.

FOD Back Country (2019): mostly uplifted day taking in a bunch of interesting descents in the wider Wye Valley area, (almost) all on bridleways. Was a great day out and different to the usual FoD off piste riding. Nice lunch too.

The Good, Bad and the Ugly – Jumps and drops course (2019): did this with a mate, so 2 on 1 coaching ratio, and it was excellent. Great for building confidence.

Also in FoD, I’ve had a couple of coaching sessions with Katy Curd who I would highly recommend.