not bad!

they definitely price match:

http://www.alansbmx.com

http://www.alpinebikes.com

http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk

http://www.bikes2udirect.com

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com

http://www.cyclesurgery.com

http://www.cyclesuk.com

http://www.cyclestore.co.uk

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com

http://www.halfords.com

http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk

http://www.leisurelakesbikes.com

http://www.merlincycles.com

http://www.parker-international.co.uk

http://www.probikekit.com

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk

http://www.rutlandcycling.com

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk

http://www.tredz.co.uk

http://www.ukbikestore.co.uk

http://www.wiggle.co.uk

http://www.winstanleysbmx.com

which can be pretty useful at times!

50 mile loop, you can vary the first part to carrington a lot.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2187158
Also going through north middleton at the a7 there are great (steep) roads around there, borthwick and crichton castle and around gorebridge.

or at middleton, keep going over the granites down to innerleithen – good road to come back on too.

up to gifford and up redstone rigg to whitadder reservoir and the lammermuirs is good.

a70 west down the pentlands is ok for a “big” road and a good lead to biggar and the rest, or smaller roads back round the east side of the pentlands

tbh though just going and getting lost in east lothian is probably best – tons of small roads, no killer hills that will sneak up on you unplanned..

I saw what i thought was a lizard cross in front of me on the moors last weekend, it scarpered across just in front of me and was fairly quick so couldn’t get a propper look at it.

I thought we don’t get lizards over here, maybe its a newt?

It was black with yellow stripes or spots, had a quick search on google and this salamander came up, do we get them here in the UK?

You do get lizards all over the uk – can be reasonably varied colours inc. yellow/green, and look very “lizardy”, move fast.

but nowhere near as distinctive as that salamander – not native or recognised alien species, so if you saw similar to that, no idea.

I’m into mtb’ing. That’s where it ends.

All elements of mountain biking? fat bikes? fixed gear off road? XC orienteering? cyclocross?

It was probably useful at some point (and for the occasional jens voigt), but it’s main purpose is sponsorship, which it does quite well!

contador might spin but he does an awful lot of it out the saddle, for what it’s worth.

yeah though obviously you might have issues if wanting big fat tyres with your current rims

midges are awful, of course.

bring a net and a spare net.

I could quite happily ride an entire trail with stuff like that in. (Although when I say ride I really mean fall down)

have a couple goes round drumlanrig black. well actually i’ve only been once but from memory it was mostly pick-your-way-through roots

yeah they are pretty hard working hubs and bearings usually, i would ask – and if not, replacement bearings are only a tenner.

what’s it for?

from facebook photos today, really **** snowy.

x = 60

i don’t think this is a useful rephrasing.

well it’s a lot easier to go the same speed, but you won’t be doing that.

it will be just as hard as it is right now, but you will end up further away.

nice, johnston terrace qualifiers is cool. tbh i’d prefer it to be up there!

well i use a sandwich bag, but i’m not sure he’d be too impressed with that as a gift.

kind of depends how it continues tonight.. right now it would be great.

don’t think it’s supposed to keep snowing all night, but who knows.

if you do much walking around supermarkets when road riding, stick to the shoes with soles!

i was looking into this a little on behalf of my uncle yesterday – didn’t get too far i have to admit, but i did discover that you can apparently get open street map (OSM) onto them – for free obviously.

Would be very interested to know how anyone who has used them got on.

here’s some blurb http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin and there seem to be a few sites that generate map areas for you ( http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ is the first i found – i don’t have a garmin so can’t try it out)

been well above freezing for about a week. wet, but that’s never too much of a problem there.

if you want it reasonably comfortable, stay at kingshouse, second at beinglas and take the last day to struggle down the loch and over conic hill. that’s what i would do if i was doing it again.

the loch lomond carry bit is a killer. if you’re doing that, add a full afternoon on imo – and you won’t want to do any more after. i think i’m pretty fit, and i was **** after it.

used to make pretty scary looking glued cx frames.. no doubt bought out a few times since then though (i don’t know that though)

ok the ghost chainring blew my mind for a bit! it’s quite cunning.

get used to getting off!

it’s much more of a test of your stamina on steeper stuff, because you have no option but to maintain a certain speed, and in that state it doesn’t take a whole lot to bring you to a halt

it’s pretty much pointless, i don’t really understand why i do it to be honest.

leave until the ice melts and all the mud falls off in a nice little pile on the hall floor.

i got these wellgo ones recently – £30 and relatively light (320g advertised) http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=85577

however they have no pins near the inside centre – normally fine, but a couple of times night riding i’ve got water on them and they’ve frozen over – feels like they could do with an extra one in there. it’s probably a fairly niche problem though.. they seem fine in mud etc.

**** sake, edinburgh would have been much better! (and ahem much closer)

regarding the lobster mitts – i discovered last night that there’s actually plenty room for 3 fingers in one side, so you can fairly easily switch to one-finger braking for descents..

yeah – it is a better idea than reality ;) a lot of the red bull stuff is kind of like that though..

i do like that it has no brakes though.

i’ve had that before – didn’t piss in it, but if i did i would want to be turning it pretty quickly or you’re just going to end up more frozen..

for sub zero i use the sealskinz lobster mitt things – can’t do one finger braking, and they are bulky, but they work!

it’s about the same length and there’s near 1.5km more vertically, but the gradients are pretty sane. you just need to get used to spending an hour going up one hill.

fair enough. i suppose that makes sense though i can’t say i’ve had a problem before. it is nice and shiny anyway.

edit: carbon steerer makes a lot more sense!

it says the average they are looking for is £8k.

those tracks are dodgy as hell, especially right now when they direct you right along them (east end) – have to do some pretty nimble maneuvering and swerving which is not always easy in traffic, and at night.

i came off in the winter a couple years back when they were covered by slush.. imo they are pretty shitty if they’re not going to block them off, they should be marked with lines or something.

all this makes “popping” the bike with spds sound pretty fun i have to say! should give it a go..

that’s it! thanks.

i imagine terror gangs of OAPs still lurk in the car parks, but i’ve never had a problem with walkers.

will be muddy as shit right now though, i’d probably wait for it to freeze for a more enjoyable return.

ash seedlings require mature ash trees!