Lots of replies and overall it looks like it's worth a shot then.
I've got no problem joining a club if I have to. I just checked my local club's website and it's £15 a year. I can spend more than that driving to one distant MTB event, so if it gets me in to several local TTs, it's worth it.
I also found this on their site in the Beginner's Guide bit…

In all but club events, any clothing worn can only bear the name of the manufacturer or the club, any third party name or product is not permitted.

Sounds a bit stuffy to me. I think team kit looks silly if you're not in that team, but banning it is a bit over the top.

I don't get this comparison of riding TTs on an MTB with riding DH on a TT bike. Most mountain bikers will join up the trails with a bit of road riding, road riders won't normally take a short cut off road.
It's a personal challenge. If there's other MTBers there, I'll be racing them. If not, I'll set myself a standard, then try to beat it next time.

When I mentioned buying a TT bike, I actually had a CX bike in mind that would be more suitable for TTs than an MTB.
I live about 1km from the nearest tarmac road, so a lightweight racing bike wouldn't be ideal for me. I reckon most of my commute would be easy enough on a CX bike, so I'd been thinking about getting one anyway.

I scored 40. 8)
I read about Asperger's a long time ago, before it was trendy, and recognised I had a few of the "symptoms". I think not considering it a problem was one of the symptoms. :wink:

Do they eat Yorkshire puddings ?

Do they eat Scotch eggs ?
Er, no, hang on…

Essential for tippers so as not to contaminate a load of sand with the dregs of the last load of topsoil, for example.
Also useful on curtainsiders for sweeping out all the bits of packaging, spilled loads and broken pallet that accumulate in the trailer.

I think some people are getting "England" and "Britain" confused again.

What's the percentage for all parties, and what would it be if we had proportional representation ?
I suspect a lot more people would vote for the minority parties if they didn't see it as a wasted vote.
The current system keeps government alternating between the two main parties and helps maintain the illusion of democracy.

That's a "worker's cottage" ? ^^^ 8O

I want to see him do a miracle.

I've ridden the cycle path over the old (M48) bridge.
Pawsy_Bear, are you sure there's a cycle path over the new (M4) bridge ?

29er Rohloff. Taken with the map board still on straight after a trailquest.

I was born in '62.
As I was approaching school leaving age, we were constantly warned that unemployment was almost 1 million and we would have to do well in our exams if we wanted a job.
Then came 1979 and the "Labour isn't working" posters.
Within a couple of years, the Conservatives had unemployment up to 4 million.

Big employers like Cadbury closing is a major news story now.
I can remember a feature on the end of the TV news every night listing all the job losses. Every day there were factories and businesses closing with the loss of hundreds or thousands of jobs.

Trying to claim the Brixton and Handsworth riots were "race" riots.

Raising funds by selling off nationalised industries.

I live in a wooden bungalow in the Wyre Forest.
I want to replace the wobbly brick pillars it stands on with a brick plinth wall, replace most of the sagging floor joists, replace a lot of the structural timber and cladding boards, replace the sagging timber and felt pitched roof and fit all new windows, doors and frames. There won't be much of the old building left besides the existing brick chimney when I've finished.
As it's officially a holiday home, there are some strict rules on what I can and can't do, mainly regarding alterations and appearance. Strangely though, it's not covered by building regs, so I could lay the bricks straight on the ground with no footings or damp course if I wanted to, but I couldn't fit a dormer window.

Do you have the knowledge & skills to do major works? Not being funny, but if you don't know where to get the materials sugests you don't have much experience of this kind of thing.

I used to work for a builder in Birmingham doing refurbs on old terraced houses for housing associations. I've done most of the jobs that need doing before. I've been a truck, plant or bus mechanic for the last 18 years though.

get your trade card first.

I looked at that and I think you need to be a member of a trade organisation to get one and I think there was a minimum spend per month as well. I'll have another look to check. I remember it wasn't as simple as getting a Halfords trade card.
Conflicting opinions on who's cheapest then. Looks like I'll have to go in to B&Q and write a few prices down, then try some local builder's merchants to see if they can beat them.

50kg nose weight for a Defender does sound low now you mention it. I've tried searching and can't find the correct figure on line.
If you've got that little suspension travel, I would guess it's the rubber torsion block type.
They normally bolt directly on to the chassis. Maybe you could sandwich a steel plate between the rear suspension units and chassis with some longer bolts to tilt the trailer forward.

jon1973, you're assuming each party wants to claim the wall.
Maybe they are both trying to shift the responsibility on to the other. :-)

Or put some smaller tyres on the trailer. :-)

My car transporter trailer originally had separate leaf spring suspension for each axle.
As I had to lift the nose up to reach the hitch on a 110 with no drop plate, it put all the weight on the rear axle and hitch, the front axle was almost suspended between the two.
I converted the suspension to leaf springs with a balance beam between the two. This allows a much greater variation in hitch height while automatically splitting the load 50/50 between the axles.
If you haven't got a balance beam on the trailer and can't easily alter the tow hitch height on the van, could you space one of the axles away from it's spring to tilt the trailer ?
I take it you've got leaf springs on a 3500kg trailer ?
If it's the rubber block type, could you space the suspension units away from the chassis ?

Combined pin & ball hitch sounds the easiest option, they tend to be a bit taller than a plain ball hitch, I didn't realise they cost £100 though.
If you go for that type, get one where the ball is hollow and the pin drops through the whole lot, forming the centre of the ball.
If you get the type where the ball is the head of the pin, the pin/ball bounces up and down and wears away the R clip at the bottom until the pin eventually jumps out.
Always load a trailer nose heavy. The maximum imposed load on a 3050kg Defender 110 is 50kg, so I would guess it's about the same for a 3000kg van.
If you keep the nose weight somewhere around 10-40kg, the axle weights should be somewhere near right.

I used to think all other Land Rover drivers were waving at me.
Then I realised they were just wiping the condensation of their screens because their heaters don't work either.

Edit;
MilitantGraham in Four other people reply in the time it takes me to type a single sentence making my reply look irrelevant shock

That a boutique frame welded together by a craftsman in Germany/USA/England is better than a mass produced frame welded together by a peasant in Taiwan.

If a muesli bar leaves you hungry, I can't see a drink instead curing that.
Two muesli bars ?

If I had entered a different class, with my lap times, I reckon I would have been top third in Fun, top half in Open or near last in Sports.
"Sport" sounded fast, but I wanted to do 4 laps, so I entered veterans. I just didn't expect them to be that fast as well.

tracknicko, I think you're right. My previous results in marathons have certainly flattered me. I've always known I'm a long way behind the leaders, but there are always plenty of very slow riders to make me look good. Take them away and it's me who's struggling at the back.

Good point. ac282, comparing it with running.
I've noticed a lot of riders at marathons look upon just finishing a 50km or 100km mountainous course as a challenge in itself.
Anyone can ride 4 x 7km laps round a wood, so if you're not up with the leaders, where's the challenge in that ?

KINGTUT, pink lycra jersey and black Santa Cruz. And not a singlespeed, I have got some self respect. It was a Rohloff.

I think I'm getting water vapour and condensation mixed up then.
Condensation is water vapour that has met a cold surface or an area of high pressure, so that the molecules form drops of water. Is that right ?
Most workshops have a water separator in the airline somewhere to remove this condensation, so very little of it will end up inside the tyre.

From that site…

Let's say your standard tyres are 185/65R14 – a good middle-ground, factory-fit tyre. That means the tread width is 18.5cm side to side.

The tread width will be less than 185mm.
Imperial tyres are measured across the tread, metric tyres are measured over the maximum width at the sidewalls. A 7.50" tyre is equivalent width to a 235mm tyre.

http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EventReport.aspx?eventID=63HanchurchWood18/04/2010#Top

Brilliant course. Looks like they picked all the good bits and joined them up with the minimum of fire roads.

And it goes without saying that any water in the gas in the tyre has already boiled unless it's sloshing round

I'm out of my depth here, but this bit doesn't make sense to me.
Surely most air has got water in it, in the form of vapour, well below boiling temperature/above boiling pressure ?
Increasing the pressure reduces air's capacity to hold water as vapour. That's why air braked vehicles have air dryers and workshop compressors have water traps.

Any pics of 156 or 246 anyone ?

That's 10mm AF, a bit more across the points, plus a bit more again for the socket.
I don't know the details of this frame. If there is room for a normal hex head bolt, that would be the easy option.

Is there room for a hex head bolt and a socket ?
Maybe not a fail at all.
Torx drivers are less prone to slipping or rounding than hex drivers.
How about replacing the hex socket bolts with torx bolts.

Oh, OK. So if the nitrogen escapes as well, albeit at a slower rate, it would take more cycles to approach 100% and it reduces one of the supposed benefits of using nitrogen.

5mm hex wrenches don't cost much. Just buy a good quality new one and reserve it for this job so it doesn't get worn elsewhere.

So if air is near enough 80% nitrogen and the oxygen gradually escapes through the tyre, by the time that 20% oxygen has escaped and the tyre has been reinflated with air, it will be 96% nitrogen.
Another deflation/inflation cycle and it's up to 99.2%.
Surely a tyre that's been on a few years will be close to 100% nitrogen anyway.

mmccarthy, have you got a beard too ?

There are separate classes for women, kids and over 40s, because we are supposedly at a disadvantage to men between 18 and 40.
If singlespeeders get their own class because they have chosen to handicap themselves, then why don't fully rigids, hardtails, hub gears and people with the wrong tyres get their own class ?

Can I make another polite request for kind folk to organise rides so as we can enjoy these structures? A culture ride, as it were.

I did and nobody turned up.
If anyone's still interested in seeing the UK's longest steam railway, the UK's only inland funicular railway, the UK's only current driven ferry and the Elan valley pipeline crossing the Severn on it's way to Brum all on one 35km ride, I'll give it another go.
The ground's drying up now. I'll check my diary and pick a Sunday when I'm not trailquesting or racing and see who else can make it.

Getting to Malvern early is no guarantee of avoiding the walkers.
Even ramblers don't like ramblers and they will be there at dawn to avoid themselves.

Nice picture, flatfish, it gives me some ideas.
I take you use the front wheel as a "pole" at the other end ?
Is that guy ropes from the seat ?

Chew, that's kind of what I thought.
My biggest problem is that I always roll off the mat in the night, I thought a hoop at each end might hold me in place. :-)
I've always slept with just the bivi and no basha when I've been on my own. I just zip it up if it rains.
Is everyone else using a basha ? Can you use the bike as a prop somehow to cut down on the number of poles needed ?

I've slept out in a goretex bivi a few times.
I'm thinking of having a go at ultra lightweight camping on the bike and wondered about getting a hooped bivi as a compromise between a bag and a tent.
Best, or worst, of both worlds ?