you just have to do what you can

keep your undercarriage clean as much as you can (use public washrooms) and if you have the luxury of a second pair of shorts wash one pair wherever possible and dry on the bike as you wear the other and alternate

if you’re stopped for any length of time take your cycling shorts off and turn them inside out to let them (and your bits) breathe a bit

if you use chamois cream decant some into a carriable pot and maybe do the same with some Sudocrem in case things get nasty down there

a treat ball for cats would work

but another vote for proper food instead of sugary sweets

“Get the geese off”

that was his as well

while you can use Sudocrem (and suchlike) as a chamois cream and as a certain barrier layer downstairs it’s designed as a healing cream to treat sores and rashes, and the zinc oxide in it is very good at drying skin, which is not necessarily the best thing to put between yourself and a saddle

chamois creams are specifically designed to be lubricating and anti-bacterial to prevent discomfort and nasties

some people will swear by it, some people manage without

Vaseline would be greasy, sweaty and unpleasant, many of them have anti-bacterial ingredients and things that are meant to be beneficial your skin whilst in the saddle, there are cheaper altrnatives to Assos

one thing that’s alluded to a few times up there but i think is vitally important, having being involved in and accompanied several failed attempts is not faffing

start as early as you can and keep stops to a minimum, and when you do keep them smooth and efficient, don’t sit down for a nice big lunch for example.
there are also 100 gates along the SDW so stopping at each of them and having a chat/haribo/look at the view (as mountainbikers are want to do) is best avoided, just keep rolling all the time, it doesn’t have to be fast, just always moving, you can save a lot of time this way

echoing most of the above, weather and trail conditions will make the biggest difference, ride what you’re most comfortable on, it’s a long day, and if you can do 100 road miles you can do the SDW, just don’t underestimate it

oh, and don’t go the wrong way in the places everyone goes the wrong way

Haflinger felt clogs seconded and freelance approved

it’s East

the bit at the bottom is in the South and the bit at the top is in the North

do you still have the bin though?

if someone found my phone at an airport and gave it back to me i’d probably give them £20 as grateful thanks

i’d try to get it out now, give everything a good clean and then put back in with some grease instead of carbon paste

iainc – Member
Would be interesting to know how many who are opting for A or B have previously had serious crashes that involved smashing their helmets to bits.

in 30+ years of cycling and *loads* of crashes i’ve never once smashed a helmet, or even given one a dent big enough to consider replacing it. i’ve broken a few bones (and bikes) though but no-one clamours for full body-armour all the time you’re on a bike…

i did however brain myself on a kitchen cupboard the door a couple of weeks ago, big hole in head, lots of blood, tidy scar forming, but no-one says you should wear a helmet all the time you’re indoors, even though it would prevent more head injuries

A

statistically you’re more likely to suffer a head injury on the drive to the trailhead (and doing C or D is only going to make this worse), so if you’ve survived the car journey you’ll probably be ok on the ride

(lights blue touch-paper and retires)

they’ve just reached Scotland according to twitter

crack on lasses and lad

yes you will

HyRds are great but they can be fiddly to set up and get working well and as they’re cable actuated that cable eventually get contaminated and lowers the performance of the brake and needs looking after

you’ll find the performance on the Shimanos smoother and more powerful and performance on full hydro brakes is consistently more predictable and pretty much maintenance fee

adding the Velocity trousers[/url] to the mix, cut nice and slim for cycling and look like a normal pair of trousers when off the bike

my eyes aren’t so good but it could be Rotor

i could do with some flat bars for my 29er, let me know

is there any reason (aside from the validation of your peers) you can’t just, you know, try it to see if you can get on with the feel and aesthetics?

if i know i’m going to be (but with the chance of procrastinating to fail) riding later but wearing normal clothes up till then i’ll pull on the socks i’m going to be cycling in when i get dressed in the morning, it’s a small yet remarkably effective mental nudge

because tri-suits are designed to stay on for a swim and then a bike ride and then a run in they tend not to have a chamois in, which can hold onto moisture from the first bit and chafe somewhat

fasthaggis – Member

It’s as if lots and lots of some people struggle with using a TV remote.

it’s not as remote as it would have you believe you know

there’s a glowing review just up on road.cc if you haven’t seen

Ceeway[/url] would be my first ask

it’s been 40 minutes, the OP has probably calmed down by now

by overuse it’s generally day-on-day big distance that can bring it on so it sounds like it’s not that, especially if you’ve been doing the same thing for quite a while

having ridden with achilles pain (from overuse) that felt like someone stabbing ice cold knives into the back of my heels i hope you get it sorted soon :-)

the onset of a sore achilles in cycling is commonly an over-use problem, are you doing longer weekend rides or are you riding/commuting in the week?

lowering the saddle and moving your cleats back can help, but go and see a sports physio that understands cyclists, or go and see a bikefitter, the problem could be elsewhere and only making itself known via your achilles, getting useful advice that will help your specific problem over the internet is a bit like throwing darts at a football field and hoping to hit the centre spot, whilst wearing a blindfold and standing in the car-park

there was one of those Talbot Matras in red on my walk to school and i always desired it immensely

closest i got was a Talbot Horizon which was the best jalopy ever, you don’t get jalopies these days

and the damage to the car is the headline, FFS

Moore Large[/url] are the UK importer

tjagain – Member
Its a race disguised to not be one legally so as to avoid insurance / roads policing issues

i’ve done proper road races and i’ve done sportives, sportives are not in any way races, no matter what the people who treat them as such might think

If someone’s too lazy to even learn how to pedal a bike properly, I’d be doubtful if they’d learnt how to handle it down a hill or in a group etc.

they’ll fit right in then

as an aside, Alison Krauss would probably give anyone a decent punch in the face for calling her Country and Western

the Slate because the AWOL weighs as much as a small planet

watched a rider leave two water bottles at the bottom of Ditchling Beacon before strava-ing the shit out of the climb*
considered moving them a bit, for bantz

*hardly bothering the leaderboard

120mm (track spacing) which is annoying

throwing my gels out of the pram…

so, you’re the one that leaves them in the gutter

you should have worked the system and then you’d have got your free t-shirt advertising a magazine that you don’t really read any more

ransos – Member
Having an extra descent near the finish when the riders are knackered

they’re not knackered

ignore the ‘women’s specific’ marketing and just look for a bike that fits, a change of saddle and thinner grips is sometimes all that’s required and maybe fiddling with the suspension forks to suit a smaller lighter person (not necessarily a woman)