Absolutely agree with you junkyard, as does my placid wife. Take the cars off the road and the freaks off the street and everyone is safe.

Following a further 30 mins of tense discussion we have reached a point where I think I understand where she is coming from. Basically the infrastructure in the UK is not safe for cyclists so cyclists for their own self preservation should not ride on roads.

Nothing against cyclists, just that a cyclist will never win against a car so why take the risk.

Make sure you wear a base layer, the frozen food section gets a bit chilly

Apparently the cyclists need to get off and push until they get to the park and then they can play round the park as long as they avoid the dog walkers.

Oh dear. Made the mistake of showing it to my non cycling wife and her response was that the cyclist started it and the 4×4 was no closer than the yellow car. Needless to say the atmosphere in the kitchen is now somewhat tense.

Thanks Andy 🙂 a view from QECP before starting the blue climb

Picture sent to gmail account jambalaya.

Off to swinley tomorrow and then maybe QECP Friday afternoon, unfortunately Saturday I am on childcare duties as wife is away.

I have been falling off a lot CG. Mainly at the QECP day/night Enduro, in retrospect it was great fun and very well organised, at the time I was a little annoyed with myself.

It was you Matt, I was number 30 and you were waiting for your wife to make an appearance from stage 2 :-). Nice to have met you briefly.

Brilliant stuff from yourself and your wife Mattbee. Was it you I was chatting with at the start of 3? Bit of a beard? Think you must have been number 28 or 29?

Too late for this I am writing to you from the bottom of a skip, I hear the crusher coming now, ahhhhhh the end is nigh!

BPW you say? *digs his way out of skip and jumps back on bike*

News Flash! I came last in the fun category. This is an all time low for me, I have never ever taken last place in any physical event ever in my life until now. I feel this achievement should be marked by something significant, I need to go to the tip, think I willl chuck myself in the skip marked ‘Washed up old athletes, please remove all pride and self esteem before jumping in’

I hurt this morning. My 42 yr old body isn’t equipped to endure 6 offs in one evening. I think the most impressive tumble was on stage 2 where I did a large number of rolly polly’s, of which my children would be proud. The most painful was on the section of stage 3 just before you drop onto the fire road. Rode across some roots, just before the drop down, and whoosh, wheels slipped sideways from under me and my slightly overweight body thudded down onto the roots.
Bike was thrown down to the fire road in discust and I rode the rest of it like a pansy.

Most unfortunate thing was when my hired exposure light came loose on section 4 and suddenly I was blinded by the light as it swung round on the bars. Had to remove it and then put my back up light on, cost me 10 mins. Apologies to the rider who had my light glaring at them as I was trying to sort it, must’ve been annoying but no need to swear at me. Thanks to the one rider out of a bunch of them who asked if I was ok 🙂

On reflection it was a great event, well organised but outside of my skill set, I need to learn how to ride off camber!

Thanks to the guys who did all the hard work, the collective has done many top things at QECP and this is another example that should be applauded.

Marp, I am happy to commute to Sydney if you pick up the plane fare 🙂

Sorry I misunderstood’ I thought you meant going to a Pilates and yoga class. Didn’t think about doing it at home, that’s less of an issue.

Couple of things, first, thanks for all the advice, some links to try when I get home tomorrow. Secondly, quit your bickering 🙂

Cool, will check out the saddle angle thanks. As for all the other stuff, I will start stretching but I find it hard enough to get time to ride never mind Pilates and yoga 🙂

South Downs where looking lovely yesterday. I have a pic but can never get it right trying to upload on here 🙁

Sorry dv can’t help with North Hants but the trails at QECP are ace at the moment.

I was broken by tonight’s ride, too many ups for my poor legs. Shown up on the final hills by my riding partner and some other speedy types who don’t know the meaning of being knackered. Was chased down the final descent as well which was mildly amusing as I ballsed up the top berm and then went down the rest slower than my grandma.

Great to be out in the evening sun, really enjoyed it.

We have power up on the wall where the TV will go so that’s one cable issue out of the way. Like the idea of the single amp to run everything. Might need to take a trip to a specialist media shop to talk to an expert, if possible I want it all wireless but no r sure if possible. Thanks for the comments.

Stick to the roads CG, don’t stray, you never know what is out there 🙂

Doh! Never think 2nd hand where the children are concerned, not like it’s a birthday present or anything is it! Hydraulic it is, Shimano 2nd hand

I am intrigued CG, 1000 visitors to a church, our local struggles to get 10, how did they do it?

Took both. Holden up to QECP yesterday, it was heaving! Managed to get a parking space eventually and H tried out his skills on the red and blue trail using his newly inherited 24 Cube. He struggled bless him, but for a 7yr old he did ok, said he had fun and only fell off 3 times so all good.

Daughter has a 16″ whippet, stem is too long at the moment but apart from that she is fine on it age 10 and around 150cm

I have boat loads of 26 inch tyres which I can donate and possibly a stem and some bars plus a saddle.

That’s just so wrong, what kind of scrote goes looking to steal from outside hospitals FFS! Will keep an eye out around Fareham.

Assuming it’s a milestone birthday such as 40, because there is no other valid reason for an adult to want a party, I would just bin the idea and buy a new bike with the money saved. Wife will then make you a lovely dinner full of all your favourite foods like mine did and invite only your closest and best friends. I had a great 40th but I am a bit of an introvert.

On behalf of this thread I tried a range of Twinings teas today. Strong breakfast was good, Darjeeling without milk was nice but with milk was too light, English Afternoon was good, Everyday was average. And then I had a sneaky high mountain oolong from Taiwan, that was lovely.

That’s shitty markend, sorry to hear. Will keep an eye out around Andover and Fareham plus QECP if the dirty, theiving gits actually ride them before selling on.

Fairly traded or ethically sourced? The latter may possible be the better option according to some sources.

Tea is quite a high cost as well in comparison to a standard blend CHB however, yes, the packaging is special, very much a gift item unless you can drink it for free like moi!!!! 🙂

Yes, this Signature Blend Assam Linky

Qecp again this morning, very different from last weekend, wet and slippy and fell off twice. Also got shown up on the hills by two others, but they do say that you only get better by being ritually humiliated hill after hill!

Ended up at QECP late this afternoon just for an hour of riding. Saw some of the collective coming down the final decent as I started the ride, were you one of them Singletrackmind? Trails were indeed running well and I bagged myself some Strava PR’s on the downs, none on the ups because I am rubbish 🙂

Nice pics CG, Wiltshire is looking fine 🙂

Gahhhhhhhh life gets in the way of bike again

I think I am going to go for the bike in boot and off to hills option Bregante. You never know when the rain will come back and make everything soggy again.

Thanks LoCo. Bearing in mind I have just done a basic service with the fox kit, what additional work would you guys carry out and will it make render my efforts worthless!

After Friday’s fun I am now torn between taking the Sherpa out for a long one or making the most of the dry trails and mucking around on the Rocket! Decisions decisions

So when we speak of transitions I think of the changeover between run and ride in a duathalon. Would I be correct in assuming that the transition in this case is the period of time between reaching the bottom of one hill and returning to the start of the next?

Ahh right. Secret stuff *taps nose*

Anyway, this slogging back up thing? How big a part of the race is this? I ask because I am more rubbish at this than I am going down.