Is the OP currently paddling his canoe to the Phillipines?

Did you forget the patch kit?

‘Fraid so!

Cut down the carbs and sugar to lose weight.

Oh, that really is doughnuts innit. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news :-(

If you are riding “about the same amount” your calorie burn will “be about the same amount”. So you won’t really lose much weight if you aren’t watching your calorie intake scientifically.

So to lose weight, you really need to drop a few calories from your intake.

I’d suggest dropping a few carbs. It will take a few weeks to have an effect.

Where are you?

I’ve got one sitting round gathering dust. If you are anywhere near mid Wales you can have it for £100.

Can’t remember the make and it’s dark outside.

Email in,profile and I can send you more details.

4 hours? 4 hours?!

Ya big wuss. I’ve spent the last 4 weeks every spare hour cutting and splitting 5 huge fir trees that we had taken down.

And I had to build 3 new log stores to put them in to season.

Absolutely love it. Next year I’ll buy some fresh cut timber and do it all again (no more big trees of our own need to come down).

And yes, you sure do get 3 warms

Done it a couple of times on the same day.

A bit nerve wracking but had no problems including the current house where we moved from Derbyshire to Wales, so we’re sat outside the new house with the removals firm before we even exchanged!

We had no deposit money up front. The mortgage companies/solicitors etc sorted that from the equity in the house we were selling.

You could use a slightly bigger screw. As in fatter not longer.

Or can you drill a new hole 10mm to the side of the existing hole and so have a new fastening place?

Probably fits one of those old 3 speed sturdy archer gear shifters too.

@ Bregante – that made me laugh out loud! :-)

Really Really sorry! Couldn’t get a pumpkin! Looks a bit like Donald Trump!

[/url]Nearly Pumpkin by bodgematic[/url], on Flickr[/img]

That Forme is a killer deal.

I got some stuff from Start Fitness a couple of months back. All good.

Checked in this morning to see if you made it out.

Well done. It’s great innit.

I really miss my 25 mile each way twice a week commute. 75 miles each way now so not really feasible ??

Mind you don’t get mistaken for one of the punters

And best wishes to both of you.

@stoner – it is indeed that one :-)

I’m a bit wary of taking on The Laughing Dog. OP knows where it is too!

I managed about 20 minutes. Utter dross.

WTF do you lot normally watch if that was supposed to be good?

I get this too. Sounds like a truck ticking over outside.

It’s not that as we live on a very quiet rural lane.

Mostly notice it at night/early morning when it’s very quiet.

Not found the source yet, but do wonder if it is “the hum”!

Our local summer series is hilly TTs. Around the Elan Valley.

Best of both worlds. A TT. Some proper hills.

First one I did I got overtaken by my minute man…..well….it was a 13 year old lad, and his mum! He was allowed to ride if escorted by a parent. They both passed me!

And the local 60+ age groupers are many minutes quicker than me.

Have I sold it to you yet?

There is tea and cake and banter at the shop afterwards tho.

Some better lighter forks.

I only built up my hardtail coz I was given some Recon 29er forks. I had a few parts knocking around, but. Nothing 29er so ended up buying an Orange Clockwork frame and a few other bits.

It’s great for the local more xc-ish under 2 hour rides and night rides, but it weighs over 30lbs.

A Reba is over a pound lighter than the Recon, and probably performs better.

So a lighter better fork would be nice.

But I’m a bit short at the moment trying to pay off the mortgage while helping my grown up lad financially as he has a young family and is on crap temping money etc

I live on the fringes of the happiest town in Wales. It’s official. In a report out today.

We have the national cycle museum. And some great road and mtb riding in the environs.

A small number of very nice restaurants and pubs, including CAMRA best in Wales.

I have a Diablo. I gave up on trying to understand all the fuel light stuff.

Just charge it up, use it, recharge it.

I did 4 years commuting 25 miles each way twice per week, on back lanes, mixed bridle ways and towpaths.

Schwalbe Marathons handled it all no problem and not a single puncture. More important for the commute is puncture resistance over speed.

Unless you have lots of muddy stretches or sections of mtb type trails, then just go with a tough slick type tyre.

For digging and building and skip filling I’d just calculate it as a disc to the depth of the sphere bit and that would allow for the increase in volume due to digging out.

Just put the tyre on.

If logos/valve alignment isn’t satisfactory, send it back for warranty replacement.

I’ve been to the cinema about 5 times in the last 20 years. All of those times because the missis wanted to go!

Seeing as she is a Bladerunner fan from the first time round, we are booked in to see the new version on Thursday.

It’s on at the local mid Wales rural town cinema. Didn’t seem to get a choice of 3D or IMAX. In fact it didn’t even give me the option to choose seats!

I must be a real cheapskate!

I’m perfectly happy with my SRAM NX 11 speed shifter and mech, with a Shimano 42 cassette and SRAM chain, plus Superstar N/W oval ring.

Can’t fault any of it.

Think it was less than £100 for the lot.

I like Erdinger. Not a fan of Becks Blue.

The problem with soft drinks like pop, j20, and the rest, is that they are all sweet. Sometimes I might be out for a night but need to drive, or drive early the next day, or like recently in the very last few days before doing Ironman Wales, had to attend a bbq for a few hours. Didn’t want to drink alcohol so close to the big race, didn’t want lots of sweet sugary pop, so a few bottles of Erdinger for £1 a bottle on offer at Tesco was great.

Ice cold on a warm evening, drive home, well hydrated, no hangover.

Great.

Oh, and I like beer too, and brandy, and whisky, and rum sometimes.

I use a Diablo as my helmet light. It replaced a joystick. I don’t notice any difference in weight.

We have 3 IKEA ones. They are very good. 3 years use so far and no problems.

Can get a bit expensive if you need to go longer than their standard length, which is around 2.4 m. We needed a 2.6m one and it was double the £200 that the 2.4 was. The missis refused to have a join

I recently had to do some drilling into some very tough masonry and stone.

Ordinary hammer drill won’t even scratch the stone in our house walls.

Big SDS with tct bit wouldn’t touch it. Bought a couple of De Walt bits, one was a fairly standard tct type with a more arrow shaped end. That was better, but only got so far before it stopped.

For about £6.50 I also bought a DeWalt Extreme (or some such) with a point that was more like a cross than a point. That just blitzed through everything.

Get one of those.

Bottle of Dettol, or supermarket own brand equivalent for half the price.

Follow instructions for adding to washing machine – basically dilute it before chucking some in the powder drawer, add powder and wash as normal.

Repeat every few months when it gets mangy again.

TiRed – which model Durano you been using? Was thinking DD (Double Defence) but they might be overkill if I have no problem with GP4000s.

Not used Gatorskins, I use GP4000s II all year round, no “issues”, riding rural mid-Wales on pretty rough back lanes etc.

Used GP4 Seasons for winter a while back and they were good if a tad slower.

Currently looking at some new 28mm tyres for the winter bike, and might go for Duranos this time, on the back of a recent good experience on a Schwalbe One following a last minute wheel swap for Ironman Wales.

Probably not a lot help am I!!!

GP4000 fan here.

However, last minute wheel swap for Ironman Wales at the weekend due to high winds. My shallow wheels have a Schwalbe One on the front and it was absolutely spot on. Tubed though.

I would say either will be fine. I would probably go for the tuneless Ones, just to give it a go seeing as you have the opportunity.

Was watching this last night.

Well done Molgrips.

Looking forward to the ride report.

Ooer!. And that post seems to have been clipped too! I typed loads more!

I give up! Stick with 32 hole.

Yetidave – apologies – just re-read this thread and my earlier post seems to have been clipped. Think there have been some issues looking at the number of double posts etc.

My first comment was meant to end with a smiley

I’m 6’4″ and 12st 12 lb – you got plenty to lose

I built a retaining wall that size with sleepers on edge, with 25mm diameter metal rods going through them and in to the ground. They are still good 10 years on.

Laying flat is better as its more stable. Use timber lock screws to hold them together.

Steps will be fine made from sleepers. Depending on the amount of foot traffic they might wear a bit over a couple of years so factor that in to the design to make the treads easily replaceable.