Hope he doesn’t get the mardy arse cow telling him not to ride on harden moor like I get a lot of the time… It’s being ruined don’t you know.

I have a road bike, a CX bike, a 29″ hardtail, a 650b hardtail and a full sus 29er. I bet I could ride all of them over the same bit of ‘gravel’ trail with times within 5 seconds of each other. Unless you are challenging for the world championship of gravel riding it can’t make that much difference Shirley? A £4k bike is worth keeping hold of, just change the tyres to suit what you’re riding at the moment maybe…

What happens if you ride a mountain bike on gravel? Do the tyres explode or something?

Me and the wife have just had three years of miscarriages. The first at 7 weeks was so upsetting as we were so excited and we had the same situation where they couldn’t be certain, so they ask to do another scan a week later. It took them three further scans before they would finally say for definite. Then the second one happened at 14 weeks which convinced my wife there was something wrong with her. There was no telling her. They don’t investigate until the third as this is when the probabilities get too high to be coincidence. So we tried again, and again we lost the baby. We were referred to St Marys in London. Their investigations suggested my wife had a blood clotting disorder – the remedy was aspirin. I didn’t believe it, neither did my wife. But we tried, and got pregnant again, and everything seemed to be OK, until the same pains and the same bleeding, so off we go to the epau again, expecting the worst. We were both staggered to be told it was still there, still fighting. After what must have been a record number of scans for one pregnancy, we finally were induced 2 weeks early. A wee man was born 12 weeks ago tomorrow. Our own little miracle.

We got through somehow. My wife was in pieces most days, and I was sure she had depression at some points of the three years. But all through it I kept telling her that until someone says we can’t have babies, then there is no reason why it won’t happen. I was definitely the shoulder to cry on, all my emotions were about trying to be there for her. I was always feeling it must be so much worse for her, this was her body rejecting the one thing she wanted so much.

So don’t give up. It really is possible to get through the initial pain and emotions. The best thing we found to do was to go for a walk somewhere new, during the week when there was no one else about, and just wander and talk and cry. I think we are a lot closer now than we were before all this happened.

We used Motel One for a long weekend last year, excellent quality rooms for the price, but they too whack the prices up for Oktoberfest.

http://www.motel-one.com/en/

They have several hotels in Munich, so there could be some options for staying further away for a bit less money…

On my Pro3s, when I changed to 15mm I think the QR end caps just unscrewed.

I got one of these for Christmas, it is brilliant. I have started to taste all the flavours in the espresso, and only need to boil the kettle to make it, which is good cause the wifey only drinks tea…

http://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/Presso-Coffee-Maker.html

Hello,
Here’s the links to Garmin connect for the route I did in July. Did it over 3 days, starting in RHB after doing a road version in the more traditional direction a couple of days before. I used a Garmin Edge 800 for navigation and didn’t get lost once – an excellent piece of kit. I had back up maps of the whole route but didn’t need them at all.
The only bad time I had was toward the end of the last day after trying to cross the whole of the lakes in a day. I gave up at Wasdale Head and took the road back to St Bees rather than going over Black Sails Pass in the (pouring) rain.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/100073602

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/100073794

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/100073959

Hope it helps, let me know if you would like any further info.
Cheers,
Chris

I like Howies becuase it provides quality. £25 for a t-shirt is not overpriced if it last 5 times longer than a typical high street one that shrinks, mis shapes or fades within six months. I bought a BFJ from them, it is the best item of clothing I have ever owned. It works brilliantly and it makes me feel slightly better about myself knowing that it is made from recycled plastics.

But by far the best thing I have had from Howies was a small booklet last September about the way teenagers think and live their lives. It inspired me to know that a group of young people that receive such a bad image in this country can have such mature, relevant, interesting points of view. For Howies to make that booklet and make those in it happy is worth me paying a little extra for postage etc.

On the other hand, I don’t buy Howies bike clothes because I choose Endura instead. I like their fit, and the value. Everybody has a choice to make on whether to buy from one company or the next.