Friday order: ‘processing’

Michelin Pro4 Endurance V2 are £23 on CRC. V good rolling resistance

Just get a Gabba from Evans if they have your size. I look at Evans’ own brand. Not as nice but still good, good reviews https://www.evanscycles.com/fwe-king-of-the-downs-softshell-jacket-EV275962

I dropped 1kg swapping my stock wheels/tyres, which is a massive difference on a (then) 9kg bike. Less stark, still noticeable but unsure if it made me any faster – the new wheels also felt much stiffer, which was nice.

See what weight you could drop

roadie? I’ve this softshell

Halfords do one for around a tenner if I recall.

It is only 4 weeks to wait for Back Friday so hang fire

if you are a Small you can get the Gore one for £145 from Millets (I am and have)

I went snowboarding in a cast three weeks after breaking scaphoid, 2 fingers, 2 metacarpals. I was very careful – hung the offending hand as far away from me as possible. ie not really very careful at all. But I did cancel the first snowboarding holiday almost three weeks previous, which would have been the day after the breaks.

I had a 661 guard for once back on the bike but rarely used it as the protection would have been minimal and it didn’t sit right for bar grippage

our work mobiles are EE. Today we had an email warning of EE network issues

I used to work at Edinburgh’s Psy Dept as a research fellow and p/t lecturer. It is very competitive to get in. I say consider Heriot or Napier if set on living in Edinburgh. I’ve pals still working in the Psy depts at all 3. Edinburgh uni has a better research rating, but that kinda only impacts on masters/phd students, not really undergrads. The specific uni is only part of the overall uni experience for undergrads

I put a Lezyne Chinese copy through the wash last month. Still alright

The Torchy duel beam all-in-one. One floody, one narrow, controlled independently. 900 lumen. Only £35

Vittoria Cross XL or XM. The latter if it is really muddy. But there are tube and tubeless version. Clement PDX didn’t shed claggy mud well for me but I use them if faster rolling is required.

And I’m way too tight to go for Limus or Grifo because I ride road/gravel, which wears them prematurely, to get to where I would ride cross

I converted a cheap Charge hybrid 29er to a drop-barred frankenbike commuting destroyer.

BB5 MTB brakes, existing 9-speed MTB drivechain but with a single Superstar O/I chainring, Midge bars, shorter stem, don’t recall what roadie levers – cheap ones with brake levers but no shifters, bar-end friction shifter

the first one

A fortnight ago. South to North. 80 miles the first day and then the remaining 40 the morning after. I’ll not be rushing back (living in Scotland there are better rides to do) – the first third was death by a 1000 gates; farmers field / gate / farmers field / gate / farmers field / repeat. Rigid 29er although I slightly wish I’d used my CX

Me, I’d hazard a wee question of what his next plans are.

building a new beastie, to mark 25 years and then draw a line under it and move on to realising the various inventions he’s been thinking up over the years

And not a very nice part of Kilmarnock, still I guess if you’re brought up in Galston then Killi must be like Vegas.

He said that he chose the exact street he lives at because of the perfect location (in his eyes) to the riding that he wants access to

Merak – Member

I can’t help but feel he’s missed out. He spoke recently about not taking money from an energy drinks provider because he didn’t believe in it.

I clearly have the morals of an alley cat but I’d be taking the money. He’s not exactly living the high life in a flat in Kilmarnock. (No offense Kilmarnock)
He was selling posters from The Flying Scotsman for £10 or £20 if he signed it.

It’s quite a juxtaposition when you look at Chris Boardman and the success he has enjoyed after his career. I’ve no doubt Graham Obree is his own man but as much as that worked for him when he was riding he could have taken some sage advice after his riding days were over, maybe he would be where I believe he should be, with a brand of bikes bearing his name, commentating on Eurosport and not having to be a public speaker, hawking 20 year old posters to make ends meet.

There’s not even one poster of him in the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome.

The only hour record holder we (Scotland)are ever likely to produce.

I saw him at the Edinburgh Festival, bought his wife’s book and a signed poster off him afterwards. He spent a while chatting to everyone who did such that the queue was backing up. What a wonderful man.

If you do have the opportunity, please could you ask this? I was wanting to but had the queue behind me so moved on to give others a chance too. In the talk he was asked what motived him to go for the hour, continue despite superman rule changes, etc, etc, despite the knockbacks and he said [paraphrased] “fear, fear of failing, fear of others seeing me fail”. Please could you explore this?

no, you need a computer to install and run the ‘game ‘ on. The phone app just controls some of the options on the ‘game’

swainy90 – Member

Jamie P brilliant thank you. Is it worth getting the one from wiggle on offer or is it not as good as the tacx one? I was going to set the turbo up in the garage is ant+ something you would still recommend?

The one on wiggle is better, but I am querying if you actually need one that much better for your intended use. The Tacx Flow and the Wiggle one are both ‘ Smart’ ie electronic, requiring to be plugged in – do you have garage power? it may be that you simply want a ‘dumb’ one to grind out miles while staring at the wall(?)

ANT+ is like Bluetooth, to connect the turbo to a computer to run training programmes like Zwift or TrainerRoad. These make smashing out turbo miles actually be fun and so you will be more likely to do a session. See this thread.

Tacx Flow turbo from Halfords (dozens of us on here bought this last year, search for the threads) and a £300 B’Twin Triban bike from Decathlon. You don’t need anything fancier than these. You’ll also need a ANT+ dongle (£10-15) to connect to your PC if you want to run Zwift, TrainerRoad etc , which you should as it is more fun

torchy the battery boy on ebay

I’ve 3 year old rival22 on a CX bike and 1 year old on a road bike. Both still look perfect, not even any heel rub

Saturday just gone, we had a CW writer and a photographer join our Club rides to do one of these pieces on our Club. We look forward to seeing the write-up

the new one has been classified a motorway so they don’t have to make ped/cycle provision, rather than vice versa. There is no intrinsic requirement for motorwaying it. Hrmph

this one

I am very impressed by the sound and bass of the v2 of the Anker SoundCore bluetooth speaker. As recommend on here. I never realised I needed one but now use it pretty much every evening. Playing music off the laptop, phone or tablet depending on what I happen to be using atthattime. Bluetooth makes it though the thick stone walls of my Edinburgh tenement flat. 24+ hrs battery

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-SoundCore-Bluetooth-Playtime-Resistance/dp/B01MTB55WH

PHD bags are very warm vs their size/weight.
But if you cant spend that cash, Alpkit have 15% off until Monday AUGUST15

Broke two, plus two fingers and one wrist bone. I got laughed at for suggesting I’d be ok to go on a snowboarding holiday the next day*.

Took 4-6 weeks to heal without serious ill effects. That said, the metacarpals fused squint. That hand is now a different shape, the finger span is 1inch wider than the other. I now struggle to open jars; hand easily gets tired doing stuff like sawing. And my handwriting is now shit. This sometimes happens without a full hand plaster cast.

But that is better than surgery to plate them – there’s a lot going on in there without a whole lot of room, surgery could damage the nerves or tendons packed in there, which may impact on motor movement if damaged.

* I still went on another snowboarding holiday 3 weeks later, with cast

I’d prefer just to remeasure it using the big ring big sprocket method

The 900lum dual beam for £35 from torchy the battery boy is da bomb for the money

It is entirely reasonable that specific context would be a trigger whereas other contexts would not. Your boss need to be reminded that mental health issues are also HEALTH issues. I would be doing so in writing, copying OH

probably Tiso or Cotswold Outdoor, both on Rose St, in the city centre. I don’t really think there is currently any issue with midges in this area

edit: ensure you stock up with supplies/water by Selkirk because there aren’t many options for a while after that

The route doesn’t get that boggy. I’d just be checking the wind, which should be gone by Sunday, as it can be a slog if windy around the Lammermuir Hills wind farm (of course) (not that it would stop your ride, just tire to out early into the ride)

it is this one, yes?
https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/archive/2012/gyro_black-gold/

I got a black one in their last ‘sale’. It is great, especially for the money. Waterproof and massive capacity

mr potatohead – Member

I grew up around Chesterfield and it was rough as a bear’s arse- good fighting town.Gentrified now but can’t see it being worth more than half a day’s visit.I’d be looking at bakewell, Tideswell, Baslow etc, lots of pretty villages/ towns with access to the peaks and near to Chatsworth if you like stately homes.Just get a map of the peaks and stick a pin in a map, just don’t stick in Chesterfield.

This. I am from there but moved out at 20, which is 23 years ago. All my family still stay there. It isn’t a ‘holiday’ destination and much of its charm as a ‘market town’ with oldey worldy ‘shambles’ is long gone from when I lived there

“incumbent”?