My 125 lasted me 4 months before I realised I wanted a proper bike with a proper headlight.

At the time of buying the 125 I was happy that it was going to be a cheap way to work.  But realistically it’ll be time and money wasted.  Although good 125’s hold value.

I wouldn’t have bothered with the 125 know what I do now.

I wouldn’t bother with owning a 125.  Go for the full  licence straight away and ASAP before its winter.

Most schools will give you a taster, alternatively do a CBT to get the feel for it but if you can ride a push bike competently you can ride a motorbike.

As for commuting – I don’t find it too bad.  The difference is having the right kit for the conditions and heated grips.  My suit goes over my work clothes so it takes less than 5 minutes to get ready.

I enjoy for the most part.  You don’t need to spend a fortune on bikes or kit either.

Compared to £4 for a pissy pint of lager I’d pay £8 all day.  Cloudwater is nice.

Local off licence does 3 for £5 on slightly out of best before date.

Slow and heavy on road and uncomfortable off road.  But able to ride on road to some light xc trails which suits me sometimes.

They only check the failed items on the retest to see if they’ve been fixed I believe.  So hopefully it won’t take long to do.

Certain foods may have an effect on you too.

I have Chrons (pretty mild) and when it does flare up I switch to a low residue diet and avoid foods that are hard to digest.

I’m on azathioprine at the mo plus just finishing a course of budenofalk (steroid).  Steriods don’t seem to affect me too much.

I feel low sometimes but that could also have a lot to do with other events in my life.

But I don’t ever really feel down about it.  There are treatments out there so you’re on the road to managing your condition.  Worse thing is ignoring it.

3 interviews/tests for a school admin role.  Seems a lot for the level of job.

Depends on what type of riding you do.

If you want to ride from your door you are pretty limited to a few woodland spots.  But with a bit of road riding you can get onto bridleways that link to the south downs.  That’s if you have an XC orientated bike.  Usually it’s easier to chuck the bike in the car to the places mentioned above.

If she isn’t interested in a subject it’s not worth her doing it.  It’s wise to have an idea of career options but unless you want to be a doctor or engineer there’s not much point aiming for something too specific these days.

Not everything is about money either.  If an Academic career is an option, although tough at times it can be good fun.

There are plenty of skills that are taught in humanities degrees that are useful for a wide range of jobs.  Report writing, analysis, assessing, interpretation…  It’s a good basis to get into lots of careers.  And remember most employers aren’t looking at an entry grade graduate to come in and be up and running immediately.  You’re only getting your foot in the door and employers know that.

I have a degree in Geography.  I am not employed directly related to my subject but the skills I learnt got me a job I enjoy.

I liked going to Uni.  But given costs of tuition fees I would have thought very carefully about going to Uni and what to do which I didn’t before.  But it’s worked out ok.

Reality is I didn’t really know to do at that stage in my life.  Not many do and the other options were pretty much get some apprenticeship which were mostly trades which I had no interest in back then.

What’s the route like OP?

As for gear you can get textiles that go over your work wear so changing takes a minute or two.  I’ve also found that you end up buying loads of gear for different seasons (mainly gloves).

I’m not sure it saves me much time over a car or cycle but I don’t have to have a shower twice a day so that’s a good amount of time saved.  And parking at work is good rather than park and ride.

And filtering is satisfying.  But you need to be careful.

It felt like a good achievement passing my DAS and getting my licence so well worth doing anyway.

Looking forward to going on some tours on a bike but finding the time is hard!  Certainly feels more like an adventure than a car.

If you’re commute isn’t that long have you thought about an E bike though?

I really like those.  Looks like you can take it for some light green laneing too.

I had offset bushings in mine and I really liked it.  But jumping onto my next bike with bigger wheels, carbon, better suspension and updated geometry really showed up the Pitch if I’m honest.  It was like night and day.

Bikes have come on a lot in the 10 years since the pitch was introduced.

The trouble with upgrading for you will be your non tapered head tube.

Upgrading forks isn’t going to be cheap.  If it was me I’d sell it and spend a bit more (not a lot more than buying new forks etc) on a second hand Enduro 29/650b etc which are available for about £1k for base spec ones.

Had pressfit on my last bike.  Don’t have it on new bike and the BB lasts as long (read not long) but with pressfit replacing them is easy peasy.

It wouldn’t put me off one.

No.  Your reverb uses 2.5 wt suspension fluid.  Your brakes uses a mineral brake/clutch fluid.  different fluids for different things

Sell it and buy a new bike. No point in spending hundreds on wheels and forks on something that old when a newer bike probably wont be much more.

I suspect our mileage getting to trails substantially supersedes any difference in materials.

If the environment is truly your concern, you probably need to turn off your computer, your lights, quit biking/driving, stop eating anything from a shop.  Do your bit but society needs to overhaul how we do things

Space is a pretty broad aspiration.  He needs to narrow it down.  I’m guessing he needed to have strong aptitude for school to be involved in research though.

It’s good he’s showing some form of motivation though

And having  any old job isn’t always worth it so while he’s young it’s a good time to do something when things such as apprenticeships, uni etc is available.

You succeeded in it being judgemental.

Different sports/different people.  I don’t see that a high IQ would help in either so it’s a bit irrelevant.

It’s great saying everyone should drive to the conditions, but I just wonder how well everyone can see mud on the road in the dark?

Good luck with it OP.

As others have eluded to.  I would be surprised if the was any traffic regulation order enforcing the restriction of the private access so you shouldn’t be breaching any traffic regulation orders by using the private access as there shouldn’t be a TRO for a private access.  It is for them to secure their own barrier and therefore you can dispute that you weren’t there.

Is there still any debate over Kane vs Lukaku?

It all manifests differently from one person to another I think.  Sorry to hear your news.

I struggle two years on still from losing my dad in a car crash.  I think I repressed a lot of my grief as I didnt have time to deal with it back then.

Life is normal, grief seems to be always there under the surface.

But as I say, everyones circumstances are different

Transporter or something equivalent that isn’t too van like if it’s your daily. A modern transit would also be reasonable and you could get a custom for you’re money.

What gets me is the road noise even when insulated.

But I have built a single bed out of wood and have lift off slats so I can stow stuff. It also gets me off the floor and I have a foam mattress so it’s not too cold. Bikes go on the side door side of the van.

Most vans that have been done usually have double beds and you have no idea how they’ve done things such as the insulation. I suppose you could sell the bed and build your own thing.

If you’re planning on having it as a daily and sleep in it I would insulate it and carpet line too.

Stop buying weird bikes and expecting everyone to know what they are.

Go somewhere with a 7-8hour time difference. Get used to their time and then when here don’t switch back to our time.

Maybe just get some plans for the weekend so you don’t go out.

If a night out is a social thing just go out less often and skip rounds or drink slower.

I think the key to bangernomics is being able to fix stuff yourself. Most info and help is online and it isn’t hard to do.

Otherwise you will be paying bills or replacing cars quite a lot. And the worst of that is you get all that cost while driving a shitter.

Do you believe in fairies too?

Was Jesus the first major weed dealer?

Why do you need faith? Does the possibility of no after life scare you?

Has dog ever spoken to you? In fact why do you need to have faith.

The thing is no one intends to crash. Crashes don’t just happen because you’re doing huge jumps or gnar either and a lot of the time they happen while riding normally.

And if you’re on trails without one you’re a nob. If something serious happens you’re potentially risking the trails. A helmet minimises that risk.

Sounds like you’re not preparing enough or not familiar enough with the role they are asking you to do.

All I can say is brush up, smile, and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. It’s not like you’re unemployed.

And you’re obviously capable of doing something as you’re employed so have some confidence in yourself

Is there anything online about it? I can’t see your image.

Yeah that is useful.

I had the intentions of doing two days guiding and the rest I’d ride up but the first drive up put me off the idea.

I don’t generally mind riding uphill but I’d rather experience the downs there than the ups… The island isn’t far off the size of the isle of Wight but it has 2000m peaks in the middle.

But anyway, funchal is a good place to stay with lots of places to eat. We did some whale watching too and actually saw some.

I can’t see the image. Where are you getting the info from?

Doesn’t really make sense when their South P+R is never even half full…

Doesn’t seem fair. I imagine clearing mature woodland will be difficult and the levels would be expensive.

Need to bear in mind Barton Farm will also have a P+R in the future.

You’ll waste the majority of your day climbing. Fine if it’s your thing but the way up to the riding from Funchal is over half an hour of going straight up in a van, there are no off road routes up.

If you’re determined to do it yourself you could use strava and look for segments, or follow the EWS route. But the routes are not marked or on a map and it would be very easy to miss a section and get lost. But getting a lift out of funchal is essential IMO. If you can be dropped off (hire cars aren’t expensive) around poiso north of funchal you could do some laps.

Guiding isn’t expensive and you’ll be guaranteed good riding which is pretty essential when you’ve gone that far!

the camshafts on VW’s are very sensitive to the correct oil so you need those spec VW numbers listed on the oil.

Is saving £10 really worth borking your engine?

The news has come out three months after the test as Team Sky have been trying to explain it so I think it isn’t explainable otherwise they wouldn’t have released it like this.

Porto are very good at the moment. Liverpool shouldn’t be thinking ‘slip up’.

Can only speak about my 2015 bike. Very capable.
My Bronson is better all round and quicker over a traol but I definitely feel as if the Enduro was better able to cope when it got really rough.

They are fun bikes though and I like the look of the new ones a lot.

How do you commute now? Do you get more interaction with other people now?