I guess those against the digging have never and will never visit a trail centre or purpose built MTB trail in the UK?

What a place.
The nearest comparison in the UK is behind Nationwide in Swindon I hear.

Loved the write ups Hannah.

Mrs_oab and I just watched the highlights – here’s to more women riding like absolute legends at such events…

I always thought they must have made it anyway.

Me too.
I think they put everything into reaching the summit, only to be utterly spent physically and cognitively on a treacherous descent…

Owning three houses in 2008 as I joined the ‘doing up houses and being a landlord’ craze…. That cost me £140k, nearly my marriage, nearly lost my main home, and a lot of respect and confidence in myself.

Do i really need a landline these days anyway?

Nope. Get rid.

Just remember when you bundle together these things it can be harder to untangle them.
IME, shopping for SIM only or better mobile deals saves enough money to make a bit of hassle worthwhile.
There’s much, much cheaper mobile deals than EE or BT will offer, go look at Money saving expert….

Oooh, cracking (if butt ugly) prize…

1. Minimum wage applies pre-sacrifice. You earn £11.42 per hour. If you want to pay £50/month for a bike through C2W you can. That’s better for you than buying it from your post tax salary.

2. C2W increases your tax free allowance by the amount ‘borrowed’, rather than reducing your salary and so affecting the top rate of tax that you pay. So everyone saves bottom rate tax, even if you’re an STW IT director on £500k.

I like.

But I would go further and say anyone below the average wage gets a £100 voucher to spend at any bike shop annually. This can contribute to a new bike, servicing & parts, helmet or clothing.

Does that chain damper have a way of ‘locking out’ when you pedal? Because otherwise it will feel weird when you go for a ‘stomp’ of legs and find it is like pedalling an elastic band, no?

Me neither, I don’t think anyone mentioned riding wear? Just winter outdoor casual wear. Maybe for winter walks.

Sorry, missed that bit!

The Barbour one(s) I have are very nice, but not as warm as youngest_oab’s Rab or Dakine wintery warm shirts…

A far simpler option is surely to remove VAT from bikes? Make it a 20% saving for everyone regardless of tax band.

But once again offers bigger savings the more you spend, so the wealthier benefit more…

I agree it does not work for shops, it does not work for those on lower pay, and something different needs to be created…

Barbour have a selection

I am wearing one now. I wear it a lot but have never thought to wear it riding.

@dafydd17

Just go on the listing on Google Maps on a browser – click on it and then scroll down there is a ‘Suggest an Edit’ button.

Shhh, I haven’t read that article yet, the magazine only arrived last night…

We have a couple of Robens mattresses. As light and as warm as ‘bigger names’, very little noise. One is very long (bought for 6’3″ son) and one a tad too narrow. I think one is a PrimaCore the other a AirImpact

Dickhaed Dads pushing their sprog because they think they’re going to be the next Cav or Ali Brownlee or whatever, when they themselves were sh1t

Thing is, the kids and families who really can ride trend to let their riding do the talking and tend to ‘get’ cycling culture / Rule No.1.

I think that to have loose trousers while legs are spinning round looses some of the benefit of insulation. Have you tried really warm tights or long John’s under a trouser or short?

There’s winter tights and properly warm winter tights, and even then in real cold I still have warmer shorts or even cycling trousers to keep wind chill off.

What are you wearing on feet and body as well?

Isn’t it great? Even an ill mrs_oab dragged herself out to see them. It never grows old or mundane.

Later it was well visible by the naked eye from inside our house in Dunblane – which has a streetlight outside directly to the north! That’s a first – we’ve seen vague, greenish colour from the house before, but this was much more vibrant.

Car MOT day

Only the OP has any idea if it was used in an offensive context.

I knew too.

So do we think just dick move on Dad’s part or is it more serious due to the potential implications for us as a club and his kid as an individual?

Entitled dick move IMO, and a precursor of what else he will do while a member of the club.

I would be very direct back to them – kid is not of age, speak to us when he is, by the way we have club rules and expect all children and parents to adhere to them. Other clubs are available if you won’t get on board with our club and the way it operates.

Too right on what M&S or M&M have online and easy.

I am currently ‘rocking’ some Penguin (brand, not imagery) leather clogs and warms socks if needed.

Agreed that raising it up was the correct thing to do. I behave differently at work than I do at home, there’s professional standards and integrity needed in a different way.
(That’s not too say I’m a racist bigot at home BTW!)

sent the money via bank transfer, ( idiot I know), he replied with an apology for the delay in posting, then nothing.

But this is the issue – FB is a ‘global’ thing, but I use marketplace as a local buying thing. Face to face, bank transfer or cash only….

+1 on a human at HMRC can be helpful.

That said, I have experienced amazing incompetence and what I considered deliberate nastiness from HMRC, leading to both investigation of 4 years of my self employment (I was 33p out over 4 years, in my favour, all documented) and all sorts of weird shenanigans around tax credits as well. The final Tax Credit conversation with a manager made me realise that there a different levels of both competence and authority within HMRC, with the manager finally admitting that no-one really understood the calculations or why a computer said we owed money still, when in fact it was likely I have overpaid back again and seeing as it was 5 years in the past we should all move on….

While we’re on it…

Insulated and water resistant flat pedal boot suggestions please.
And they need to be in size 3…

So far I think the Vaude Mid Winter and Fizik Artica..?

And yes, standard Shimano pad sizing.

Mrs_oab has been unwell so no riding unfortunately.
I’ve ridden up and down street at they grab well and have more power than her old Acera / non group set level brakes before, and broadly on par with Deore 4 pots. I haven’t tested to limits though.
I’ve not had to bleed, but I’ve a very cheap ‘every brake’ bleed kit and imagine things will fit. Bleed port is placed similarly to Shimano.

As others have said, don’t place her in a position where she heats her room at the expense of others. A very quick way to alienate her from housemates.
Would it not be cheaper for you to offer to just foot some of a heating bill for 6 months?
We did this with one of ours who also lived in a ‘2 hours heating a day’ upstairs, dormer in roof tenement with no insulation and single glazing….It worked well as the 6 of them just benefitted from a bit more heat all round, and no personal heaters needed. IMO it was cheaper for us to commit to £50 a month for gas than buy a big enough heater and pay a much bigger cost in electricity….

For heat when studying, an electric slanket is good as is a great pair of slippers and a rug under feet.

it’s no different from a small ad on a card in the supermarket

The difference being that back in the day an actual human ‘sense checked’ the adverts before they were put up and any deal was done in person.
I struggle with FB marketplace. On one hand I keep buying things I want from it, so it’s useful.
But the useful ads in my area seem to be near 50:50 with scams for beds, cars and stolen bikes. And it is so blatant.
But ‘the algorithm’ checks anything I complain about and it doesn’t get removed.
At what point is FB liable for assisting scammers?

Mrs_oab has been 50-60kg all her life and every fork is over damped.

Best we had was a headshok which was given different shims and lighter oil.

Since then I’ve always experimented with lighter oils – I mix different weights if needed. Mrs_oab can feel the difference when the oil is lighter.

Fundamentally though this is a sticking plaster and a good suspension tuning company is the answer.

That’s a huge seat to bars drop sir!

Most people say mine

Sorry Tasha.

I read it as ass hat……

*Oops emoji*

“Right to Roam” is a poor phrase, and doesn’t exist anywhere.

“A right to responsible access” does exist.

In my view the English campaigns around Right to Roam will founder because of this inappropriate phrasing.

You should have seen the baby face who was flying my plane back from Belgium this spring…

What’s really worried me is that I’ve two sons same age as when mrs_oab and I met…

I’m just reading a list of 51 songs he wrote for others – including Joe Cocker…

who can name the other one?

Like anyone is going to own up to knowing that…

Have you pumped up to at least maximum pressure on the sidewall and left for a day or so?

I just had the Maxxis Minions on my new bike refuse to stay up / sidewalls stay put. I cleaned the rim as best I can with alcohol. Then they were left 4 days at 50+psi….And now stay put.