Depends on your fitness and what you’re after.

Basically just outside Bristol you have Ashton Court and Leigh Woods. Both trail centres for the main, and fairly flat so Fitness wouldnt be an issue. Amusing for a lap or so of each, but no meaningful downhills. There is some off piste in Leigh Woods but I imagine it’ll be really muddy. Ashton Hill I’ve heard is shut to protect the trails as it’s all mud.

If it were me I think I’d go to Cwmcarn. Try and do one lap of Cafell and one lap of the Twych. Cafell first perhaps as the climb is a real lung burner. The downhill se too. Is brilliant though. Twych has a nice bit of swoopy jumps / berms at the top that I really love.

I’ve never been to Forest of Dean to comment on what those trails are like, but a definite option.

Probably too late to get booked in, but if you fancied uplift then Flyup 417 project at Cheltenham is fun. Only 3 trails though, and heard the black one is shut. Has a 4x track and dirt jumps both inside and outside.

I thought they should be screwed it to the wall before the glass units get put into the frame. Then either expanding foam or silicone (or both) to seal it tight against the wall.

Pet plan for us. Molly had a sick incident and had to go to vets out of hours on a Sunday night (very expensive). They paid up promptly with no problem at all.

Annual renewal isn’t until Feb so will see if cost goes up accordingly!

Used Epic bleed kits and been ok. I’ve used one for Magura hs33’s, and I’ve got another which I use on my sram guides. Both have done the job just fine. Think the sram compatible one is £12.99 on eBay at the moment.

Maybe just take your shock bushing kit to the place with you to check 8mm definitely is the correct diameter. Hard to measure it just with a tape measure!

There are 2 sizes of shock mountings – but they aren’t just a nut and bolt. Appears to be a shaft with an Allen head and one end, then an Allen head bolt that screws into the shaft from the other side.

The shafts both seem to be 8mm in diameter. The longer bolt is the rear most shock mount to the linkage. The short bolt is the one at the front that bolts through the frame.

Hope this helps.

My Gxp on the full suss is really gritty after 1.5 years. No idea how long bb’s should last though.

Luckily it coincided with me going 1×10 so the Sram 1000 crank was no good anyway as 120 bcd.

Buggys are generally the quickest and best handling for messing about on lots of different surfaces. I used to race then abit and something like an old Losi XX would be good fun and pretty sturdy.

I started off in RC cars with a Tamiya Mudblaster- loads of fun but a lot of very easily broken plastic suspension parts (it was a monster truck type thing).

Years later I got a nitro truck – think it was an HPI Rush. That thing was bonkers – it was classed as a stadium truck and it took so much abuse and was rapid. It could do massive drifts as it was rear wheel drive and a mate and I used to launch it off ramps at the local skate park. Hardly ever broke despite stupid things done with it.

If HPI make a similar electric truck these days then I’d go for something like that. I imagine electric motors and batteries have come on a lot since about 15+ years ago so are probably great now. I remember my Losi XX with a 13 double wound electric motor was really quick.

Yes I probably would buy mine again. Nothing close to the price does the same thing as well.

Only thing that needs maintaining are the suspension pivots. But no more than any other 4 bar suspension system.

If you could get the later turquoise one then I think it has a slightly slacker head angle and if it’s a whole bike than you’ve got pikes as well instead of Revelations.

Although my forks so far have been pretty good – mine are now running 150mm travel instead of 130mm. All you need to change is the air leg to extend them.

My last skate shoes were ‘Soviets’ from Sportsdirect. Think they were £19.99 and a fake leather (brown) sort of thing. Still use them when it’s really mucky out and they’re ok. Grip is fine, but the soles aren’t very stiff so I find my feet get tired on long downhill runs. Also found they started to rip up a bit.

Now got 5-10’s which I think we’re about £70 from Evans in a sale a few months back. Freerider Elements – they’re definitely grippier on the pedals and I like the stiffer feeling in the sole.

If I get a chance tomorrow to go in the garage I’ll see if I can whip one out (a bolt to clarify) and measure the length of it.

Not aware my rear axle has ever loosened itself…..

Which year Boardman have you got? Is it silver and green or turquoise and black?

Just remembered – not a trail centre but the toughest climb I’ve ever done was on holiday in Spain a couple of years back. Was stating about an hour from Marbella and online suggested some good routes straight out the back of Marbella. Found a bike shop that hired me a bike and Garmin gps – they downloaded a 32 mile ride off-road for me and off I went. Didn’t really think it through 32 miles, not kms and 35 degree heat. Apparently it was do-able in 3.5 hours (maybe by an elite cyclist perhaps).

Luckily I took a 2 litre camelbak reservoir and a large water bottle. The halfway round place to get more fluid didn’t materialise, and 5 hours in I got to the lunch stop at a village. Had pretty much run out of fluid about 30 mins before then. Never been so grateful for some tarmac to cycle on at that point either.

Turned out from there it was only another hour back to the hire shop. Beautiful scenery all round. It was more concentrated on surviving!

I tried finding an airshaft myself and the US was all that came up with them. RS dealer your best option.

Weber briquettes burn quite slowly for a long time. I’d probably split the coals to each side and put a foil container of water between them. Make sure the turkey is above the water not the coals. Try not to put too much fuel in at a time to control the heat – don’t want to burn it but equally don’t cook too low or it’ll take forever.

I’d slit the skin at one end over the breast and stuff thin slices of orange all under it and pack it in. Might be worth sticking a load of chopped onion in the cavity too. Should keep it moist that way.

Badass bikes just outside Bristol got me a new air keg for my Revelations. Although any rockshox official retailer should be able to get you one. Might take a while to arrive though.

I’ve got a spare 130mm I could sell, but doubt that’s enough of a reduction in travel for you to notice.

Jamie – officially it’s 4 weeks until you can drive I believe. Although you should check with the surgeon and your insurance co. I really needed to drive for work so did exactly on 4 weeks but have to admit it wasn’t that comfy. From 5 weeks felt much more stable for me.

Had a racer on the turbo for exercise fromabout 3 weeks ish – but had to pedal sat upright for the first couple of weeks and then started doing a couple of mins on the bars then 5 off and built it up.

Been road riding on a hardtail for about 3 weeks ish now I think. That feels fine now – planning a flat / easy off road ride towards end of Jan I reckon. So about 4 months post op.

I’m not great at uphill – I’m more about surviving the climbs to do the fun bit of descending.

I normally make it all the way up cafell at Cwmcarn, but never clear the twych climb. I can do the technical aspect of it – I’m just never fresh enough in the legs to be bothered to battle through so I get off and push. Actually easier than riding.

Hated whites at Afan- just torture.

I have one mate who lives for climbing and just doesn’t get my hate for it. Another mate won’t ride uphill at all – he’ll only do uplift days and smashes the downhill.

I have to try and live with both!

Maybe my fork is different, but to change the travel on a solo air revelation I had to get a different length air leg (I went from 130 to 150mm travel).

Jamie – yes feel free to ask some questions on shoulder when you want. I was really nervous about having it done, but so far really glad I did. Recovery hasn’t been too bad – better so far than I thought.

That driver in this case should definitely be done with driving with no insurance and leaving the scene of an accident if there is sufficient evidence to prove it was him driving though. Sounds a bit like pond life imo.

Aracer- how can it possibly be not the cyclists fault if they inappropriately wheely and that causes an accident? If they do something reckless that causes someone to have to take evasive action then the consequence is very much the cyclist’s fault.

I saw that after I ordered!

I’ve got a Boardman Pro Fs from the model before the one you’d be looking at. So 2×10 and Revelations instead of 1×11 and pikes. Upped the fork travel to 150mm with a longer air leg. I use it for general trail stuff like the XC/ DH routes at Cwmcarn/ Ashton Court / Adan, plus done a couple of uplift days at Bike Park Wales and Flyup 417. Been good so far apart from a few creaks. After a year and a bit I’ve just replaced some of the suspension bearings and all good again.

I had an arthroscopy on my shoulder 20th September. Feels tip top now – having to hold myself back from doing too much with it too early.

A racer – 2 points on what’s going to happen if the cyclist hits someone.

A) they swerve and knock down a pedestrian on or off the road.

B) the car that has to swerve round them mounts a pavement and knocks down a pedestrian – or swerves into the path of another incoming vehicle.. I note the article says the car in front had to swerve left, so there’s every chance they may have mounted the pavement.

I’m not fully in agreement here. Yes the guy shouldn’t be too close, but at potentially 40mph that gap would close very quickly if the guy in front swerved last minute. It could also be that the cyclist encroached even further into the road after the other car served, making it even more difficult to avoid him.

Without the full detail however we’re all working on some guesswork.

The cyclist wheelying around erratically in the road is arguably introducing more danger here for me. Not sure what the light conditions were like at the time either. Probably dark at 7.34pm in March? Did the cyclist have lights on / is the road lit / what colour clothes did the cyclist have on etc would have a big bearing on this for me.

Trying to look at this objectively (and ignoring the fact the guy was uninsured and acted like an idiot after the collision), it would be harsh to say it was his fault.

He was said to be driving within the limit and not erratically. The cyclist was wheely-ing in the road near a junction and the drivers view was obscured by the car in front. That car only just avoided the cyclist when they had a clear view. I wouldn’t expect to be held liable for that accident if I were the driver.

That said I’d be fully insured and I would have stopped immediately and called the emergency services. The guys behaviour (assuming it was him at the wheel of the car) was awful.

Good replies!

Bags are packed, the car is fuelled, baby seat is fitted in the car and the pram is in the boot (although we probably won’t need that at the start).

We’ve tried massage, going on long walks, eating curry / pineapple / spicy food / raspberry leaf tea etc. The wife is rubbing different oils on the bump etc and the midwife did a sweep yesterday and said it’s ‘favourable’.

Grrrrr, just cone out baby! Don’t want to be in hospital on xmas day ideally….

I’m liking that feedback – looking forward to the light arriving now. Should be before xmas hopefully.

Changed the stem for a 70mm one instead of the 60mm ish one and the handlebar to a 700mm one from 680mm (think with more sweep and uplift). Both parts I had spare from upgrading my fs to 50mm and 780mm respectively. Hardtail instantly feels better – especially when stood up.

Really need to re-bleed the back magura and rebuild the bombers next. Although just spending time riding it at the moment.

One day overdue on baby so far…… how boring this is getting!

B r – I think think if you choose to leave it is up to a maximum of one months wages you have to pay to exit the lease. If you move job internally to one with no job car there’s no cost. Not sure on the firing aspect I have to admit. Hoping not to get fired….

I tend to take a long term approach to jobs / employers – was with my last employer for over 15 years – intend to at least see out 4 years min with this one. If I didnt take a car I’d lose the £300 allowance, and think I’d only still be able to take 11p per mile on my own car as my choice to go down that route.

The car scheme would be more attractive if I wasn’t a higher rate tax payer, but it’s still attractive enough from the figures I worked out. Plus the novelty of having a brand new car which I’ve never had helps.

It’s killing me not knowing what’s under the trapdoor.

B r – the leasing company is not owned by the bank – believe they got out of fleet leasing / financing before I started there. Will end up being £450 a month total cost (me paying £150 PUC) for the Jag plus company car tax. So for the money I pay on my current near 5 year old car on loan, plus insurance I get a brand new Jag fully insured / maintained etc. It’s an Rsport spec with the 163ps engine, auto gearbox and the only option is split folding rear seats as I need the practicality that gives. This is a 4 year lease / 17,500 miles pa.

Would have liked it in caesium blue paint with the 180ps engine and the 18″ wheels that comes with, but couldn’t get that on my grade at work. Had to go with a free colour and standard 17″ wheels.

Think they put me a grade lower than some other people in the same job to reflect the difference in experience – but because they head hunted me from another bank they had to give me a decent salary. Hoping to get up a grade within a couple of years!

All these rates sound brilliant to me. I guess I’m a lower managerial grade for a bank (although on a salary that really should be in a grade above from what I can make out), and I get a £300pm contribution towards a company car. You can’t take the cash – it literally goes straight towards a lease via a leasing company in place.

So for me company car tax is a big consideration – ordered the lowest co2 rated Jaguar XE which I’m currently waiting for. Think with the PUC in making it’ll still be about £180pm tax first year. Going up year on year with the various tax raises predicted.

Think I then claim back 11p per mile in the company car. Until that car arrives I’m currently claiming 45p a mile driving my current personal car.

Boardman fs pro would be a great choice to fit your description. Whyte t-130 also probably a good fit and they look great / have good reviews. Not sure how much the latter costs though. Boardman has pikes though

Mixed feedback then. Ordered a selector this morning for £16 delivered. For that cost thought it worth a go.