Stunning pics, well jealous!

Long bit of stiff-ish wire.

You should be able to thread it down the down tube ok, then poke the wire up from the dropout to the bottom bracket. Remove bottom bracket and tape the cable to the wire and pull it through.

The cheaper Defy with the carbon fork, I think maybe the 3 or 3.5 is a great buy at £500 ish.

Plenty of others in the £500 ish bracket too.

If you want a bit of do it all! Look for a frame that can take mudguards.

I have 3 Planet X bikes and they are great for the money. The most versatile is my Uncle John CX bike with discs, carbon fork and mudguards. Can also fit a rack for commuting with panniers.

Those Decathlon ones are pretty good too if you want to keep the cost down.

Good work Ton.

Nearly double my mileage. I’m not fat, ticker is in good nick, but I am a grandad 🙂

I could do with a new night ride buddy. A mate has just got some new lights too and is gagging to use them.

Which nights are generally good for you?

I’m in Belper.

288 here. Missed a couple of long road rides due to weather, but not bad for January.

Lets see what we can do in Feb as it’s a shorter month and often sees the worst of the winter.

scotroutes – Member
Built-in obsolesence

😆

Others lower down seem to have missed this.

I thought it was 😆 and I’m from south of the border!

Edit: I’d not seen one so googled it. Tacky as ****, you should buy one 😈

Relax, slow your stroke down a touch, and don’t snatch at your breath! Take a nice steady breath in, hence slowing your stroke down a bit.

It took me a year to really relax and be comfortable and controlled. Now happy doing 3-4km open water swims.

Just keep practicing and it will come.

I did my first half mara a couple of years ago having run no further than 10 miles in training. So she doesn’t need to do the full distance.

Just work out a steady progression from now to the race, which should help avoid the dreaded injuries.

Back off the miles in the week before the race and she’ll be good to go.

I hope you and the kids will be supporting on the day.

Had a couple of goes but no joy, CBA.

Gun smoke. Or red.

I used Sheldon Brown and have built a few wheels now, all running well and get a good hammering, especially my panniered up commuter that does a 25 mile each way commute with half of that off road.

I did the cut down old spoke method to work out spoke length, as per Sheldon.

Last set I built I got spokes from Rose Bikes in Germany. Cheapest for DT Swiss double butted.

I also built my own wheel jig using an online guide. Although first pair I just used the frame, flipping the wheel to check that it was centred rather than using a dishing tool.

It’s pretty straightforward if you are fairly handy.

As a direct comparison, I have two very similar road bikes, both with same groupset, but one with full outers (the commuter) and one with exposed inner sections.

The one with exposed inners has a much lighter feel to gear changing, whereas the commuter feels heavier and stiff.

I like to fettle my bikes, and prefer the exposed inners, as I can unhook the outer from the stops and slide the cable around and lube the inners easily.

With full outers I lube thoroughly on assembly and normally get a “season” of riding before they need attention, when I just fit a new inner and lube thoroughly. I’m a tightwad so I save the rear mech inner to cut down and use as the front mech inner. 🙂

I’m erring back towards favouring split outers.

Heres a couple more ideas

Px Turbo sessions

I built up some Open Pros onto Hope Pro2 Evo rear and Deore front.

Came out quite nice.

Hope hub is more noticeable on the roadie, but it just reminds me that I’m not pedalling enough. Can’t draft anyone stealthily either 👿

Full on nuke proof!

Mine gets a tough life on my on/off road commute. Can just squeeze 35mm tyres in but not with full guards.

My Erde one stands upright in the corner of the garage.

Only got the soft cover, but used it for camping gear etc. Also great for taking smelly/dirty stuff to the tip etc

What spooky says.

The locking collar controls how far up the post can go (and stops it popping all the way out) so you need to unwind it a bit at a time until the pin clicks in and holds the post up.

Watched last weeks, and it shows what can be done. Especially the old guy, he really picked it up by the event, I thought he might have a hearty at first when he couldn’t manage the assessment exercises.

I did think a couple of times that it would be dangerous to let the bloke who couldn’t ride a bike go down a mountain descent. Fortunately he was happy to stop at the top of the first climb. Still a good effort in 12 weeks.

Got WI on SKY+ to watch after tonights turbo fest.

I won’t ride on roads if there is a risk of ice. I don’t mind cold, wind rain etc. My commute has lots of minor un-gritted roads, as well as country park tarmac paths, but also some towpath and farm tracks that don’t get affected by ice much

One day last winter I arrived at the office after 25 mile commute covered in frost, which amused people when I walked into the office with ice all over me!

This year seems to be a bit of a black ice winter. mates have had crashes on black ice twice this year right in front of me, and I have had just enough reaction time to get feet down, but had long slides whilst doing so.

So I think I’ve ridden my luck this winter.

Was due to commute this morning, but ice and fog again, so I’m working from home.

If it clears I’ll sneak an hour in at lunchtime, but it looks like a turbo session is on the cards!

First time on the MTB this year, first time on the MTB for about 6 months!

Steady couple of hours around the Belper trails.

All the best mate. Keep positive.

Swim more, it will then take longer to appear.

155 miles so far, would have been 200 if it wasn’t for last week’s black ice fetching a few of us off on the Sunday morning road ride, we took an early bath!

Should add another 150 miles this week if I get my commutes and Sunday ride in 🙂

I CBA with Strava and Endo, as I already upload to Garmin, or is there an easy way of automatically copying it over?

Was that in store or online?

They’ve always price matched for me in store, with some significant savings.

It’ll end in tears, yours. You will suffer long time!

If you pass two old blokes sweating their way up the Chenin about 9:45 in the morning, do say hello 🙂

I use a compressor, but I already had one.

Some people manage with a decent track pump, put plenty of soapy water around the tyre to help it slip into place.

Not sure if those rims need taping, they will do if they have spoke holes. I use a few wraps of electrical tape.

I do 25 miles each way once or twice per week. Twice per week is very doable.

Either two consecutive days, take two days kit in on first day, ride home with no baggage then back the following day with no baggage, and home on 2nd day with your stuff.

Or I sometimes do a Tuesday and a Thursday.

I don’t have a fixed desk at work and no storage so I have to carry laptop, clothes, shoes, toiletries, change of clothes etc, hence the consecutive days are nice as I don’t have to lug my kit around for a couple of the journeys.

And we’ve just dropped to one car. Not noticed yet 🙂

vincienup – Member
… um …

That ‘mileage allowance’ is for business use and *not* commuting… If you visit clients or site via personal transport in work time you can claim it – from your workplace, not your home.

Not claiming for the commute, but giving an example of “official” costings that compare bike mileage allowance to car mileage allowance, thus gives a fairly reliable comparison.

My commute is on “challenging terrain” and so my commute bike gets a fair bit of abuse. Still on my 2nd pair of tyres in 3 odd years, got through maybe 6 tubes (4 in one day due to split tyre). Still on same drivetrain (new BB bearings) which gets lubed each ride. 1 set of brake pads. Full mudguards help keep the mud off so clothing lasts longer.

@ Rockhopperbike – yep, and it means I don’t get moaned at for going out on the bike all the time 🙂

And back OT…..;-)

My firm pay 20p per mile for cycling mileage (that will be the HMRC approved rate I guess).

I’ve been cycling the 25 miles each way once or twice a week for over 3 years, and I reckon that just about covers it.

That compares to the 45p per mile car mileage allowance.

So I make the assertion that some clever person in HMRC (sic!) has done some complex calculation, and it costs about half as much by bike as it does by car.

Incidentally, my wife travels to the same location by train. If we leave the house at the same time in the morning, I get there 20 minutes before she does 🙂

And it saves time in the week as I don’t need to go out training in my spare time.

Shave your head.

£10 for a set of clippers, never pay for a haircut again.

You’ll save on shampoo and other hair products. Also spend less time in the shower, thus saving on water and heating it up, as well as getting some additional free time.

I reckon you’d average £15 per month in savings.

It suits you though 😉

A couple of oldies of my li’l lad (he’s all grown up with a baby now!) I love the squish on suspension and tyres on the bottom one.

[/url]
Jesse at Ae 09[/url] by bodgematic[/url], on Flickr

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Jesse at Mabie 10[/url] by bodgematic[/url], on Flickr

I had an ITB massage from a physio, the chatty conversation tailed off about halfway through coz I couldn’t speak. Painful, but only for 10 minutes or so of the 20 minute massage.

Followed up by rolling on a piece of 5″ pipe (I use 5″ underground soil pipe wrapped in a layer of sleepmat}. Hurts when you start, I could manage about 3 rolls. I now do 20 rolls each leg 3 times a week with no pain, and more importantly, no ITB problems.

Occasional sports massage on my legs, and plenty of stretching and core work and bodyweight strength exercises. Seems that when you get to my age it’s the only way to keep going!

I’m alive!

Went very nicely on some digestives, that blend of salty cheese on a sweet biscuit mmmmmm.

More regular cheeses enjoyed with some of next door’s home made picalilli. NB they gave me a jar, honest, I didn’t break in and steal it, although I might have to do a dawn raid as this jar is now empty.

Nice one Frank, and good luck.

Yep, cut out the “in betweenies” , don’t buy biscuits and cakes, eat healthy and exercise, and you’ll be reet.

Zerfas have lifetime guarantee.

Daily disposable contacts with normal goggles. Swim then remove the lenses and bin ’em.

I have seen Specsavers do prescription goggles for £25.

My eyes aren’t that bad that I need to use either, so no real experience, just what I have seen and heard.

I think BB30 is different to PF30.

I use a PF30 adapter to use HT2 BB cups with XT cranks.

Try the links suggested for the adapters for BB30.

Nirvana Unplugged – Where did you sleep last night

Haunting, especially when Kurt topped himself shortly after.