I’m a disciple: if you’re going to do something then surely you have to stick to it to make sure it works? Since the end of July I’ve lost two stone and gained a hell of a lot of definition. With eating sensible portions and following the guidance on carbs before and during exercise I haven’t had any problems at all with my energy levels. In fact (as someone mentions above) I’ve noticed that I need far less while I’m riding or running than I used to. So, for example, whereas I might have had a couple of flapjacks before a night ride last year and then another one while I was out, now just one energy gel will do the job.

Yes that’s exactly right Flow, I’m not at all familiar with the English language or the offensive, abusive and homophobic contexts in which that term is used.

B&M on my Peregrine here too: it’s superb for a mix of commuting and lanes on the long way home.

Bike Snob of NYC:

I prefer to receive information from the amply-bearded, for beards are authoritative and lend the wearer’s words additional credence and gravitas. In fact, when told something by the smoothly-shaven or naturally hairless, I am usually skeptical and will often seek out a bearded person for corroboration.

Yours sincerely
Man with Beard

I’m in: keeping crispedwheel smiling and stopping pedalhead riding too quickly.

Anyone got a pair of bolt croppers I could borrow? And an oyster card…

I do need a new sleeping mat…

Missed that completely in my POE mat induced rage Flatfish! Do I get a prize?!

For sure! Just seen that thread about the POE mats: bloody hell…

Ha! Crispedwheel is up to his old tricks…

Interesting about the seams. I guess it could be that though would need to do the bath check to work out properly. Would last June count as the first batch though? I thought it had been out for a while by then.

Meant to say as well: I’m expecting my new frame to arrive at some point this week. Once it’s here and I’ve had chance to see if your bag fits I should be able to either get it back to you / opportunistically take it off your hands.

Probably not: I bought it when my back was screwed (ahem) so there was about six months between purchase and first use. Going on the Thermarests I’ve had they’re normally fixable.

What mat are you on now? I was out with my POE Peak Elite AC just before Christmas: very comfortable and warm but it kept deflating on me…

Potentially very interested in that Slugwash

crispedwheel – Member
I think we need to get together for some overnighters before WRT

Yep, agree with that! I’ve got a few new bits and pieces to try out as well.

+ 2

You’re going through bivvy bags faster than I go through pies on a non-iDave day Mark.

one_happy_hippy – Member
I know the video isn’t much cop – it obviously has to be shot as a plea from a desperate backpacker.

So it’s a con trick?

Bloody awful thing to happen but I’m really not sure which Cowley Road some people on here are talking about.

Thank you here also: down two stone since the end of last July.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with approaching an agent at this stage. My agent wasn’t great so I quickly moved on but then I work in a different field where having an agent isn’t so important.

Like Emsz says though: self-publishing can be a good way forward. Interesting article in the Guardian last week about someone in the US who has been hugely successful going down that route.

Up to a point, yes: if they’re interested in the project then they *might* provide guidance on the best way to develop through to a completed manuscript. That depends entirely on the agent though. Remember that as an unpublished author the chances are that you are worth very little to them so they’re unlikely to commit a huge amount of time and energy. The agent I worked with sent things to external readers for feedback as well.

What they will do is approach publishers on your behalf: that’s basically their job.

Not necessarily: you can often work with a sample chapter and a synopsis of the book as a whole. It will depend on the agent though. I would probably recommend going through an agent rather than approaching a publisher directly.

If you get chance, take a look at Max Jones, The Last Great Quest – one of the best books about the Edwardian generation let alone polar expeditions.

Lovely bike!

What are those bar ends btw?

I’m sorry TJ but as I read it Elf has not been ‘purged’ because he is a dissenter nor because he is a freethinker who dares to challenge received thinking: to present the situation in that way is self-aggrandizing and indulgent on your part. You might well be right in that there is no single incident or post that can be identified as crucial here. But that isn’t really the point in the context of what appears to many people on here (not just the vocal minority) to be a sustained posting history marked by aggressive and disruptive behaviour.

Given Elf’s approach to those who disagreed (dissented?) with him I think his behaviour has everything to do with bullying even if his banning did not.

For what it’s worth my politics tends to be in agreement with both his and yours. My sense of how we should conduct ourselves on a public forum most certainly isn’t though.

And I bet these ‘immigrants’ can’t even write the Queen’s English and spell and use grammatically correct sentences right OP?

deadlydarcy – Member
Ftfy, TJ.
Oh how clever of you. You wouldn’t know racism if it stuck a mallet up its arse and bit yours flashy. I hazard you’ve never experienced it, along with a lot of posters on here today that have concreted their knickers, such was the mix of sand and bodily fluids. The two things uppermost in your mind are a) she’s in the labour party and b) another chance to gang up and bully TeeJ. How the Jeebus he puts up with it I have no idea.

This exactly: eight pages of it.

That sounds pretty conclusive trail_rat! I want something for very long days out and bikepacking so this looks perfect.

Hmm dilemmas now… I think I’ll have to take a drive down to Charlie’s to try for size before committing either way.

Thanks Stu!

Thanks guys. Nice looking bike Rob!

Do you have a photo of yours you could post up please Stu? It would be useful to see how it looks in terms of seatpost / stem etc.

It’s rather nice to use autism as a source of humour and trolling

It’s frustrating. There are whole branded chains that sell nothing iDave compliant. I think iDave should write to these people and get them to up their game!

I hear what you’re saying… Even the independents around me are complete no-go areas. I need blinkers every time I nip in to grab a coffee.

Some gram flour stuff is grim but we found some pretty good dosa recipes: they’re great with curries or chillies and that kind of stuff. Mashed swede and celeriac is great and you can still go all out with the roast vegetables on a Sunday.

I’m down two stone since mid-July.

Still can’t wait for a burrito and some beers and the Cinnamon Club in London tomorrow though…

It gets easier. Sort of… I’ve stuck to it for four months now. Planning seems to be the trick for me. The hardest moments are when you’re looking to grab lunch and all the sandwich shops just become a seething mass of out of bounds temptation. As long as I know what I’m doing in the middle of the day evenings tend to be ok. Like people have already said, cooking can turn into a real voyage of discovery. Also stopped smoking a few years back and the feeling is similar.

Or you could reach for the Book of Kate Moss: “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Not quite sure about that but for me lighter = faster and admiring attention from my younger partner.

Great video! That brought back a few memories. I think we picked up your map then caught up with you to give it back after a couple of hours — the three bearded blokes plodding up the fire road @ c. 0.31.

Wet but brilliant for sure.

Not sure what size you are but this is currently on the classifieds:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cotic-x-cyclocross-bike-56cm-12-months-old-600

Fruit loop.

From Gary Younge in the Guardian a while back:

I don’t have a phobia about Tories. That would suggest an irrational response. I hate them for a reason. For lots of reasons, actually. For the miners, apartheid, Bobby Sands, Greenham Common, selling council houses, Section 28, lining the pockets of the rich and hammering the poor – to name but a few. I hate them because they hate people I care about. As a young man Cameron looked out on the social carnage of pit closures and mass unemployment, looked at Margaret Thatcher’s government and thought, these are my people. When all the debating is done, that is really all I need to know.

Apologies for the advertising but…

Cotic X for sale

I went from a small car to a Transit Connect (LWB / high roof): no regrets at all. Although I don’t use it everyday, it isn’t big enough to make any real difference around town and the fact that I can’t really give people lifts is more than outweighed by its practicality.

1. Yes.

2. Middle aged man in not-getting-youth-culture shock.

3. It’s a funny vid mind.