Honestly don’t think much will change my end, been working from home since like March and like everyone else not taken any holiday. But just feel lucky to have a job these days. Exercise seems a little up in the air unsure if you’re “allowed” to travel for exercise ie drive to surrey for a bike ride, if its proper lockdown it will be weekend gravel rides from my house.

As a slight hijack, how small a fanny pack are people able to get a packable jacket into?

I have an 3L Evoc hip race pro and stuff a packable jacket (endura shell) into one of the water bottle holders I use a bladder so really don’t miss any lack of water carrying.

Going down from a backpack to a hip pack did mean I sorta had to rethink all the stuff I put in my bag. Needed a new pump, allen key, tyre levers and some on bike storage but its all sweet now.

Evoc Hip Pro will carry all the stuff you want and the buckle / close system is pretty much the best around is never bobs up and down. Have you checked out the dakine hot laps?

I agree that if we are allowed to travel next year, we shouldn’t. And certainly not without enforced quarantine

I think there are a few ways to look at this. If people don’t travel a whole lot of people will be left unemployed which isn’t good. You can only control yourself (and maybe any potential family members) so go on holiday stay safe and isolate on your return. Chances are you could go on holiday somewhere with a lower Covid rate than here which is what my partner did this year. Also with a decent track, trace and testing system set up people should be able to live a “normal” life.

I feel like now we are getting back into lockdown judging others actions is already starting again.

What’s more shocking is people not self isolating when they have been told they should be or even worse when they know they are positive

What Kelvin said! Us people on a salary can isolate no problem but someone paid by the hour on a zero hours contract with rent to pay, they don’t really have much choice. Gotta go to work.

This was brought up a few months ago and Handcocks answer was well there is national sick pay or some nonsense which is like 30quid a week or something stupid.

every high street bank in the UK is currently NOT accepting applications for new business accounts.

Its not really a surprise, every bank (i work for one) is being extremely risk averse right now. The most basic thing i would check out is how much money can they insure, for example when Monzo first started they could only insure a customer 2k or something.

I will never ever use a turbo, if I got an hour to ride a turbo I got an hour to ride a real bike. Lockdown rules are unclear but it doesn’t seem to say you can’t travel to exercise just gotta do it on your own or 1 other person. Its only a month so I will likely be back out on the gravel bike.

If Trump wins I think I will lose all faith in humanity how can someone be so bad at their job but still win… Actually Boris seems to have managed it. What ever way this goes I really go think its gonna be all out riots in the states people wont be happy so this so much built up frustration, anger, hurt and hate on both sides its never going to end well.

Used it a few times and found is iffy if I need a plan a route (mainly for gravel rides) I use Komoot or ride with gps as they are so much better. Route feature feels like a bit of an after thought addition for Strava.

That former president is still making him look bad.

Obama getting buckets! Lefty too. My favourite thing about him is how he played ball before election results.

Evoc hip pack pro user and bloody love it. If you get the Evoc make sure you get the newest one its got a better buckle closing system which stops it bumping around. I would say I use it for 99% of my rides, only time I didn’t use it was Ardmoors and Ardrock because they have limited water stops. I use the bladder and store a few bits on my bike but would say its pretty much been a revelations and will never use a big back pack again.

Summary?

Get reading

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november?fbclid=IwAR3tZ1R6fvf-mwakRW6yqwVprN_EDE5YtOL04Kx1-F4Js_3MF_rFTx1Ag3w

Love this one “You must not travel if you are experiencing any coronavirus symptoms, are self-isolating as a result of coronavirus symptoms, are sharing a household or support bubble with somebody with symptoms” erm… Cummings anyone.

Wasn’t it 30 minutes per day during the very initial lockdown?

I think it all depended on where you lived but the general rule for the UK seemed to be an hour at first and ending with the exercise must be longer than the drive. I feel like the exercise rules won’t change so I could still drive to Surrey (1.5hr drive) simply because we now know how important it is to stay healthy to fight covid.

I’d feel slightly silly riding an Atherton branded bike.

This 100%. I feel like they have gone the Athertons are well known lets put their name on a bike, but they have forgotten being well known isnt the same as cool. They should have just been the face of a new brand to customers but owners at the back.

No one has claimed anyone was ‘seeding anti-semitism’,

To quote another person on this forum “Corbyn’s problem was that his near miss in 2017 terrified the tory and labour establishment so much that they deployed the issue of anti-semitism to defeat him.” it would be nice to get clarity on the wording of “deployed” but it normally means do something, take action and so on so suggests someone was doing something to “deploy” anti semitism within the Labour party.

There was a concerted effort by right wing press, right wing of labour party and the Tory party to ‘get’ Corbyn by making out anti semitism was somehow exclusively a trait of his supporters.

It’s a hysterical witchhunt stirred up very successfully by people who have benefitted politically from it. It’s got nothing to do with racism, anti-semitism or anything else. It’s politics, plain and simple

Can you not even for a second reflect on how comments actually sounds. How do you think people who have been victims of this would feel? It sounds like these claims are just being denied. Corbyn was head of the table he should have put a better structure in place but didn’t so its his fault.

If you can find a single instance of me saying those complaints were unfounded or should be ignored then go for it. I promise you won’t find any. I’m not disputing the existence of AS in labour, or anywhere else for that matter.

Perhaps not but what it sounds like is you are trying to make excuses for a group of people who have behaved appallingly by claiming there was some tory / labour ploy in the background seeding these anti semitic views and comments to people like its some big game to get rid of Corbyn. And its that which basically makes you sound like your denying it happened. I just don’t understand when he was the leader of the party you can’t see that its his fault. Corbyn simply didn’t do enough.

There we go again with the racism accusation. It’s done a disservice to those people in actual fact because once it was unleashed it stoked the flames and amplified the problem. It’s not hard to mobilise the mob, especially on such a historically inflammatory subject. The use of AS as a stick to beat Corbyn made the problem much worse than it was.

You know what, what ever gets you through the day. Its hard to admit the party you support (myself included) have had a racist undertone for so long its not the ideals or behaviour i align with. Difference seems to be I can admit its a problem and that problem wasn’t solved by Corbyn you seem unable to for what ever reason.

For the record I never accused you of being racist I simply said it sounds like you fail to acknowledge it and are passing the blame to the Tories / ring wing part of politics. Fact is there are racists in the Labour party and those people need to go, if people want to deny it they are simply supporting those people too so they can also go… AND that includes Corbyn.

If this was JRM, Raab or any of the other Tories we would be calling for resignations so we have to expect the same when our own party fall short

Corbyn’s problem was that his near miss in 2017 terrified the tory and labour establishment so much that they deployed the issue of anti-semitism to defeat him. They could have done so in 2015 but they didn’t because they thought they could defeat him easily without resorting to such low tactics

oh my god come on! The anti semitism in the labour party wasn’t created as some ploy to get rid of Corbyn this is a real issue. This just sounds like you’re totally pushing aside people that have been racially discriminated and passing it off as some conspiracy theory.

Aside from there is repeated evidence of procedures being improved whilst he was in office.
Again many of the “political intervention” examples were his office actually forcing more aggressive action against antisemites.

but it wasn’t enough its that simple. Fact is he was in charge when all this happened so its his fault.

Have you read the report.
It is pretty much entirely procedural around how they didnt have an effective system in place for managing complaints although it looks like some bits were improved over time. Its curious how many of the examples of “political interference” are the LOTO pushing for more aggressive intervention.

No I haven’t read the full report, I have read bits of it, read news articles and watched some bits, but if its all procedural there is one person as fault at the end of the day and thats Corbyn he was in charge. Do I think Corbyn is racist no (i haven’t seen anything that suggests so), do I think his lack of action made the issue worse 100%. He should have lead by example he said there was no place for racism in the labour party but didn’t take the steps to kick all these people out. That is my issue with him, he didn’t do enough.

Well I’m better off under the Tories, so just look on with astonishment as the left, whilst pretending to care about the poor, put their own egos front and centre and sell the poor out.

This is so true! (apart from the tory bit) The left and I see myself as left want to hammer down anyone whos opinions are wrong but as soon as their actions are challenged its due to politics, conspiracy theories some other nonsense. There is a book by Darren McGarvey called Poverty Safari where he touches on this – its a brilliant book which everyone should read.

This warrants a book titled “why I don’t talk about anti-semitism with labour voters”. On the other hand, it’s time the Labour Party starts behaving like a real alternative to BoJo and not hook themselves to the leader that delivered them their biggest defeat in many decades.

100%! Its actually shocking the amount of people here who are defending whats been happening claiming its not racism “its political” stop sipping the kool-aid people! Its not nice to admit people we thought were good did something wrong… actually horrific. Ultimately its about how does that make me, us, you, the collective we look, did I / do I support an anti semitic party. Kier is 100% right these people have no place in the Labour party. If people want to deny the findings of this report just leave and start your own party. We got 4 years or so to build a better labour party, I don’t care if the unions leave if they want to deny peoples legit lived experiences because how it makes them look just go now.

its not enough to not be racist we have to be anti racist and make people aware there is no place for this behaviour in our society! The standards we hold the opposition to on issues such as islamophobia are the same standards we must hold ourselves too.

It’s a hysterical witchhunt stirred up very successfully by people who have benefitted politically from it. It’s got nothing to do with racism, anti-semitism or anything else. It’s politics, plain and simple, and in this case the Labour Party have been massively damaged because many within it were too ready to side with those on the other side and others weren’t willing to defend themselves for fear of being called racists.

This really seems like you are just denying peoples legit experiences of working for / with the Labour party and its not on. Racism is racism and I don’t want those people in a party im a member of. Denying racism is as bad as being racist!

Its now come to light the labour party has a deep rooted problem with anti semitism something as a long term Labour supporter really shocks me and makes me reflect on the man I championed so much. Fact is Corbyn was in charge didn’t act (or do enough) so its his fault, he may not be racist but his lack of leadership allowed these people to make other peoples lives an absolute misery.

A joyful day for all decent working people who despise the lefties who tried to destroy our great party. Anyone with a half a brain cell could see Corbyn was an actual Nazi, fueled by a rabid hatred of Jews.

As someone whos mothers surname is Burlikowska (its polish) I really think you should use your words a lot more carefully Corbyn isnt a Nazi. It really annoys me how people jsut throw the Nazi word around like its nothing its the reason I have never met the majority of my family.

I don’t believe that he is, but some of his comments were idiotic.

This is such a stupid thing to say. If you say something racist your racist end of. Don’t excuse his behaviour away.

im 6ft 3″ on a XL Rocket which I demoed and fell in love with after a few years on a large bird aeris (mk1) which gave me back pain which i thought was normal for a day out on a bike. (sub text too small for me). The bikes fit so well a few months after owning my rocket I sold 2 bikes to fund a XL Solaris max that i brought without even demoing. For me the biggest plus of Cotic is Cy is also a tall bloke so I feel like he shares our pain for awful fitting bikes. As said I wouldnt look at anything with less tan 500mm reach but if you want a really long bike how about a Geometron?

Very inaccurate from a historical perspective, but a fine drama with some very good performances. I don’t find it slow at all.

The quality of production is outstanding

basically sums it up for me. Zero interest in the royal family but the level production and detail is unreal. I feel like everyone should at least try it.

Agree with the XFusion, im running the 140mm Trace36 HLR on my SolarisMax if you want to adjust your suspension for days its not the one but if you want to fit and forget its perfect. Tyres wise im running a 2.4/2.5 WTBs verdict / trail boss front and back combo. Wheel wise I have some Hope Fortus26 which do the job totally fine but I would rather have some wider DtSwiss 511s after getting some for my Rocket.

is inside IR35 so I have to use an umbrella company. Does this sound right or are they trying to blanket asses me?

I think its a lot to do with the company you’re working for but my last place took a blanket approach for all freelancers and said go through an umbrella company or leave. I think you could come to an agreement with your employer and agree that you sit outside IR36 but that would be require a chat with HR.

Unless I’m reading it wrong, that implies or accepts that you shouldn’t have kids if you’re already know you’re struggling financially. Better to say that we live in an extremely rich country, where everyone should have enough wealth to be able to support a family?

Sorry that was poorly worded on my part. (keyboard rage) I basically mean what you said. Personal finance should’t dictate if your “allowed” to have kids or not and if people need extra support it should be there no questions asked.

To further add to my rage some moron Tory was on tv this morning claiming the reason he voted the deal down was because of how late Labour put it forwards. Its all some political game to them they are in their parliament bubble of free meals and fail to see the consequences of their actions.

6T user and starting to think about upgrading. How about the Nord? im not sure I even need half the stuff in a “premium” phone any more when the budget ones are so good.

I got my eye on an Arcteryx Parka, but right now im like do I really want to spend 600 on a jacket when im spending so much time at home. https://arcteryx.com/gb/en/shop/mens/therme-parka. Come to realise over the years jackets are crazy expensive. Last one cost me like 300 quid and lasted me about 5 or 6 years.

They’ve doubled down on the ‘all poor people are scroungers’ rhetoric, obviously, but then also that all poor people are crack-whores, and then somewhat unbelievably gone on to say how some businesses generosity is somehow proof of economic recovery.

The myth that everyone on benefits is either a scrounger or addict (I know you’re not saying this) is truly disgusting. The other one of oh don’t have kids if you can’t afford them is also shocking, like yeh because everyone thinks I wont have kids because in a few years time I might be hit with really tough time where I can’t afford to eat. It must be nice for them up in that ivory tower. It drives me absolutely mad to the point of rage. Im getting to the point where I can see the logic of people cheering when Thatcher died.

So this morning Handcock comes out and says the PM and Rashford have been talking on BBC news (in regards to a u-turn) only for Rashford to tweet a gew hours later they haven’t spoken since june! the rate at which this gov’ lies is truly shocking. Its like they don’t even care when they get found out.

Maybe the Wild Enduro is a bit too much tyre.

I run Wild Endros for riding in surrey. I travel a fair bit for riding (pre covid) but I find the biggest plus of the WE is how predictable they are, no matter the surface they seem to behave the same. I wouldn’t run anything if i could get a wild gravel tyre for my gravel bike i would.

running them on my hardtail with hope hubs not really had any problems with them. Although if I was getting another set of rims I would get ex511s from dr swiss, got a 27.5 set on my big bike and they are amazing.

Check out Marcus’s Twitter feed, what a hero

Im 100% with Marcus on this kids need food and as a poor kid growing up myself it makes me so mad that this is happening. Not content with taking milk away they now want to take all the food! What annoys me even more is like some old bloke walking in his garden to fund the NHS we now have local people stepping in on mass to make up for the short coming of our gov.’ its shocking!

Like Tom says the MPs who voted again this should be made to explain their decision, why do they hate kids and want them to go without food.

im on my second set of Teravail Rutlands, down south there is very little gravel its all woodland bridal way so gets very muddy this time on year. I absolutely love this tire little slow on the road im running 42s on some gr 531which is a nice wide rim. https://teravail.com/tires/rutland#TR2673

Cotic are sick thats amazing they did all that for you! My story isnt as good as yours they did massively help me when LBS said the pivot bolt in the seat tube had ovalized at that point the bike was about 10 months old. Cotic had the frame sent back to them and Cy stripped it and rebuilt it himself. Im sure hes got better things to do with his day than put my bike back together. Woman of steel, general shouting about current social issues and amazing bikes are just some of the reasons i have 2 of them… and will likely upgrade to a RocketMax at some point.

So yesterday Rayner called a Tory MP scum (apparently) and then they vote against giving kids some food…. On reflection she should have said something worse. If I was Kier my first question next week would be why does the PM hate children so much he thinks they should go without food.

For those that voted for the Tories I would really love to know how you feel about this, are these the policies you believe in, ideals you aspire too and what you want from our country kids going without? And especially those who votes for their Tory MP who voted against feeding kids.