My 1 series was terrible in the snow. When it snowed I just left it parked on the drive, as it would embarrassingly get stranded on the slightest incline.

In the event of a write off the GAP insurance on my car only pays out on the difference between the insurance payout on the car and the amount owed to the finance company – probably only an issue for the first 12 months or so of the lease agreement. Given the amount of hassle I had after having a lease car stolen and never recovered I can’t believe anyone would deliberately write off their car to claim on a GAP policy. A year later I am still getting random bills off the lease company.

When I got the Passat I did look at the Mazda 6, for some reason lease and servicing costs on the Mazda seemed very expensive. That may not be an issue if you are getting it as a company car.

I have been driving a Passat Estate for just over a year, doing about 25k per year. I can’t remember the spec, but it is the business model with leather seats etc. All good so far. Comfy to drive long distances. Servicing comes around every 18k miles, which isn’t too bad. Loads of space in the back and the boot.

This summer we drove none stop to the South of France with the car fully loaded, and three bikes on the roof plus a roof box. The car didn’t miss a beat, and it was a fairly comfy car to spend that amount of time in, although mpg dropped a little on that trip.

The Superb looks like a great car for the money. When I got the Passat I did have a look at them, but there were no good deals around at the time.

The car I sort of regret selling was my MR2, pretty sad when that was driven away by it’s new owner. It was a Jap import turbo version with a custom interior. A great car to drive and much quicker than the UK version.

Replaced with a Westfield, which was great fun (and very glad I have had chance to own) but it had to go once kids arrived.

Luckily the replacement ‘family’ car was something I had always wanted to own.

For some reason the cars I have now have seem to be proper family motors. 🙁

I ‘bought’ a new 1 series a couple of years ago. It was really purchased via a lease scheme mainly paid for by my employer. With the lease I pay a monthly payment and then hand the car back after four years – I actually never got to hand it back as it was stolen off the drive before the lease was up, so maybe that is how some afford them!

As the residuals on BMWs are better than other brands like Ford and Vauxhall they make more sense as a lease car, especially if the car is likely to do high mileage. I had a Skoda before the BMW, now drive a VW.

I ran my CX bike with the 46cm ones for a while. In the end I switched back to normal drop bars, can’t really remember why, I think I found the Woodchippers moved my bodyweight to far forward when on the drops (or something?).

I keep meaning to sell mine as they are sat gathering dust in the garage, drop me an email if you are interested. They are the 46cm OS ones.

I never quite broke 6:30. I think I got down to 6:31 at one of the Indoor Championships. I needed to loose about 5kg to make myself a light weight, but was never that dedicated! I was generally better at the 5k or 10k distnaces, but maybe that was because less people did them?

I haven’t been on a Concept2 for 3 or 4 years, but would hope I could knock out a sub 7:00 2k if I had a go now.

If you haven’t got the motivation to use the turbo trainer, you will probably struggle with the indoor rower too.

When I used to be a paid up gym member I did use the Concept2 alot (furthest I ever did in one sitting was a marathon distance), it gives an excellent all round work, however you do need the motivation to push yourself on it. On something like a running machine you can set the speed and just hang on until the end. On the C2 you have to give it 100% on every stroke.

Personally I would look at finding some motivation for the turbo trainer. Have you looked at Sufferfest films?

I think the Scale is a better frame than the Whippet, but whether it is worth the extra cash I am not sure.

I have a Scale 35 and my wife has a Whippet, so I can sort of compare them against each other. The Scale seems to stand up to lots of use without too many marks, whereas the finish on the Whippet does seem to be a bit softer. My wife has ridden hers pretty hard around trail centres and it has actually stood up to rocks strikes without too many issues, I have another bike I use for trail centre stuff, so my Scale hasn’t had this sort of abuse. She has ridden hers in quite a few races this year and has been on the podium at Mayhem, Bontrager 24:12 and Torq 12:12 so seems to work well as a race bike. Mud clearance is better on the Whippet than the Scale. Scale weighs 300g or so less than the Whippet.

If it was my money I would probably go for the Whippet and put the money I have saved towards some decent wheels.

I didn’t see too many discarded wrappers on the course, just lots around the bins.

The main thing I noticed was the inner tube and CO2 cartridge than somebody had left on the tarmac section shortly after crossing over the big bridge. Surely they wouldn’t have lost much time by carrying them back to the start?

The rule should be DQ if you are seen dropping litter.

My third time doing it solo and I thought it was an excellent event. Given the amount of rain the course seemed to hold up really well and stayed 100% rideable for the duration of the race. The few tweaks to the course the Gorrick team had made seemed to have worked well.

The mist on the meadow was great.

I had a slight sense of humour failure when my chain snapped on Pheasant Plucker Hill about six hours into the race. I then found the spare Power Link I was carrying wouldn’t open up properly. Luckily a bodge involving a much shorter chain and not changing gear got me to the finish on that lap!

I would agree that the rider etiquette was great. Everyone was friendly and whether I was passing others, or being passed myself everyone was cooperative.

The DJ was really good, and rather than just playing tunes was encouraging every rider who went passed. A shame they didn’t hang around under the bridge until the very end, but I know they had to get back to the marquee.

Looking forward to next year.

I have used them five or six times and they have always been good. Often very competitive on price too.

The relay on the short course would be a good idea, but rather than teams of 4 friends how about pulling names out of a hat to form the teams? That way you should get a fair mix of people in each team (should give more people a chance to get on the podium), and no one needs to worry about sorting out a team of four.

I bought a previous years version of the Scale 35 at a bargain price, stripped it down and rebuilt it with light components. It is an excellent bike, I really have no concerns over the strength or durability of the frame. I have previously broken Ali, Steel and Ti frames. The inital components on the Scale 35 where a strange mix with some very heavy bit, noticably the wheels. For the price I paid for it and the money I got back from selling the new parts it was a bargain.

My wife has a Whippet. I don’t think the frame quailty is quite as good as the Scale, the finish is softer so shows a lot more scratches. Weight wise it is a little bit heavier than my Scale frame (19″ Scale vs 16″ Whippet). I can’t remember the exact figure, maybe 150g. However for the price the Whippet is great, and my wife seems to win loads more races than I ever will!

We (me, wife, 6 year old & 2 year old) all had a great time. This was the 3rd BBB we have been to, and probably the best so far.

Good to see the legacy the previous events have left with the new pump track and gravity track. I can’t think of any other event I have been to where something really positive has been created from the proceeds.

The highlights for the kids were the bales of hay, they loved them. I think I might buy them some for Christmas! My daughter really liked the craft tent too.

Great to see Shortcut on the top step of the podium, something those who know him thought we would never see. 😀

The xc course was interesting with the ever changing ditches and comedy boggy bits. We had a few novice riders in our group and they had a go at the 1 lap races and seemed to enjoy it, yet it was still challenging for more experienced riders.

Well done Nick and Louis (and everyone else who helped) for putting on a superb event.

So what is the date for next year?

We have a campinggaz one too. Fairly quiet, maybe a mild hum – not noticeable when in the car.

It is worth getting a 240v converter as well. Normally we plug the box into the mains the night before we go away, that way it is well chilled when we start putting food and drinks into it.

My wife and me use our turbo trainer a fair amount (3-4 hours a week), with a couple of young kids it is difficult for us both to get a decent amount of time out on the bike.

Originally we had a Tacx Swing, which self destructed after a year or two. We replaced that with a Cycleops Fluid 2 which is an excellent turbo trianer, and much much better than the Tacx.

Have a look at the Sufferfest films for some good turbo trainer motivation.

I have had a pair for the last few weeks. I have ridden about 200 miles in them so far, including 100 miles at the Thetford Summer Enduro on Saturday. I have found them very comfy and they are wearing well. I don’t have the Finchdeans from last year, but do have a pair of last years Earnley bib-shorts which I don’t like as the pad seems to be too far forward. I also have a few pairs of olders DHB bib shorts (I am not sure of which model they are, probably Finchdean) the one problem I have found with the older ones is the padding in the pad will eventually start to break down, the one in the new ones looks to be a higher quality.

The white stripes on the legs may not be to everyones taste.

Unless you have to have Assos I don’t think you will go wrong with these.

I thought it was rubbish:
Too dusty
Too much singletrack (where were the grassy fields?)
Too hot in the sun
The atmosphere was far too friendly for a competitive event.

Apart from that it was all good.

Well done on putting it together pants. 😉

I would definitely recommend the referral option. As mentioned above it means you are not sat in a class room/bottom of swimming pool while on holiday. However I think the biggest benefit is that in UK you have a bit more time to correct minor problems, once you are at an overseas resort it can be a bit of a conveyor belt operation with you having to have the qualification before going home. I have seen a few people diving who I am amazed have been through the course…

The Advanced Open Water is worth doing if you can fit that into the holiday too. A lot of the other PADI speciality courses are a bit of a waste of money – don’t be forced into these.

It sounds like a bad job, but I am no expert.

If you don’t get a response off here, try posting the question in the tiling section on http://www.diynot.com/forums/index.php There are some very helpful professional tilers on there. Post some pictures and you will probably get a better response.

I fitted a Yale wireless system to our house last year. Very easy to fit and seems to be reliable. I don’t think the signal from the sensors can be easily jammed, but I guess it is possible.

One handy feature on the system we have is that the control panel can beep if certain sensors are triggered even when the alarm isn’t set. This way if somebody broke into the garage while we were in the house (garage at the side of the house) we would know about it.

I thought that was a very good route, obviously helped by the fantastic weather. The course seemed to suit mtb and cx bikes equally, I am not sure which was best? I was pleased with my decision to take the mtb, I think the SS CX bike would have been hard work – tough on the climbs and mega spinney on the roads. Having fatter tyres was a bonus on some of the descents.

The signage generally seemed to be very good, although a few signs had disappeared around the course, the GPS helped on these bits. I still managed one wrong turn.

The little party happening on the Ridgeway was a surprise, I thought I was hallucinating as I rode through the crowds!

I got around the long route in just over 5 hours, it would have been a bit faster but I put a big cut into my tubeless rear tyre about halfway around, it almost sealed but in the end it needed an inner tube fitting.

A good day out.

I am doing the 100km route. I am taking the mtb this time, the only cx bike I have is a ss and I found it a bit spinny on the last one of these.

The route looks good, I think there is more off road than the last one. Plus a nice hill at the start to warm up on.

Weather should be good too.

FSA Cranks will fit a Shimano external bottom bracket, although it is a tight fit. I have that combination on my CX bike. I am not sure about after market bottom bracket options, I think I read somewhere that Hope aren’t compatible.

I wasn’t racing this year, but was there looking after the kids while my wife raced on a ladies team.

Best bits:
-The course running around the campsite, which made it easy to get a view of the race without dragging the kids to and from the arena.
-The change to a noon start made the packing up on the Sunday much more relaxed.
-Shutting the road through the campsite seemed a good move. That has always got very busy when cars have been driving along it during the race.
-The weather being much better than the original forecast, and not having to mess around switching tyres over.
-One of the girls on the team being lent a tube by an unknown rider on one her night laps. Somehow she had two punctures and only had the one spare tube on her. If that was you thank you 🙂
-Lots of shower gel!
-Wife’s team keeping the pressure on the the Scott ladies until the early hours of the morning when punctures and crashes caused a 40 minute gap to open up.

Negatives:
-Add me to the bring back Wilf’s petition. I didn’t bother with Quavers this year.
– The kids race on Saturday morning was a bit tough for the smaller children. Something a bit easier (and a bit more fun) for the under eights would have better.

Got four mens mtb tickets. Didn’t get the track cycling, athletics or opening ceremony (didn’t think there was much chance with those) tickets.

If I had known how over subscribed it was going to be I would have applied for more, but I guess that applies to most people.

We have a Nevada M. It is a great tent, we use it for the four of us(2 adults, 2 kids) and there is loads of room. We have the front extension which adds a lot of space to the tent and stops any rain entering the tent when you open and close the doors. It is easy to put up, and not too many pegs – great for when it is put up in the rain, like at Mayhem on Friday! The design seems to stand up well to heavy wind. Quality of the components seems good too.

We got ours from Go Outdoors, I managed to find it much cheaper on line and they gave me a further 10% off.

I think it has got too big with all the add on events this year. It is a big and successful mountain bike event, does it really need a running race and a dog event on at the same time? The none bike stuff on Friday evening has really limited the time the course is open to practice on – although I doubt too many people will bother with a practice lap in the rain anyway…

Unless they limited it to a very small number of riders, the course will get trashed in the wet anyway.

Just looked and it is 8Nm.

I think on the Q&A section on the Whippet frame page on On-One’s site there is a recommended torque figure.

On my wife’s Whippet I just greased the bolts and did them up fairly tight and it has been fine.

My wife has been driving one for about a year now. It was a slightly rushed purchase as her other car was stolen, and she needed a car fairly quickly for work. Despite not spending ages looking for one, the one we bought seems good.

Our is a 04 TDi 150. With about 100k on the clock. I don’t drive it much, but it seems comfy to drive, probably better sat on the motorway than tearing around country lanes. When you sit in it it feels like a solid car. Economy is good, I think it does about 50mpg. The tax disc is cheap. Performance is ok, my wife previously had a Impreza, obviously it is not a patch on that, but it is not bad for a diesel.

There is a common fault with the front fans not working, this had failed on ours when we bought it, but I got it fixed at the sellers cost. Worth checking if you do buy one. It has had a couple of minor electrical problems that I have fixed. Other than that it has been fine.

Only caught the 2nd half. Good viewing

[edited – mod]

Yes you can. I have a Thule Pacific 500 box, and can fit that on my roof bars with three bike carriers. It is a bit of a squeeze but does fit. That is on a Passat Estate, I am pretty sure mine are the 120cm Thule aero bars.

What were you riding Jason?

I was on black and white carbon Scott Scale, with gold Crank Bros wheels. I was riding with my wife, who was on an On-One Whippet.

pedalhead, I think we leaped frogged you a few times between the the two feed stops. You were going well up the hills on the singlespeed.

I thought it was all pretty good. We got around the long route in 7:20, and legs are feeling it a bit now. It seemed to be the long route extension that had the decent hills in, the way there and back were fairly rolling. I agree about the signing, I think we missed three turns, and added a couple of miles onto the overall distance.

Food stops were good, I was very glad to see the 2nd one.

Thankful I wasn’t on a CX bike, it was bumpy enough with front suspension!

Sort of ready. Kids with the baby sitters (In-laws). Bikes both sorted and ready to roll. Route on GPS. Just need to think about food now.

I am on a Scott Scale, and my wife is on an On-One Whippet. As for tyres, we have one Rocket Ron and three Crossmarks between us. I had to bin one of my Rocket Rons earlier as it had so many splits in it I didn’t think it would survive the route!

I replaced our euro locks with CISA ones, when I looked into it they seemed the best security for the money. I did spend a bit of time investigating as we had just been broken into (luckily only the two cars taken…) and I was slightly paranoid about security.

The scary thing is I replaced one of the euro locks on a set of sliding doors in the house. I didn’t have the key for it so had to break it out – worrying easy to open when you know how.