Smartarse think-I’m-clever pun on wild boar

I’ve suffered from panic attacks for years and they can be very scarey. The key for me was realising they are generated internally not by external circumstances. Once I knew that I treated them like a sneezing fit or similar, just get through it, reset, carry on. This begins to shrink their power

I really feel for you, and for my wife who went through a similar time a few years ago when I suffered a depressive episode. It takes a while, and it can seem it just gets deeper and deeper, but the thing is it does pass eventually. My wife felt just like you at times, it’s only human, but she supported me through it and although she may not have known at the time this was crucial, and we have come out better than ever. Hang in there mate, you are an important part of her solution

They aren’t reusable and can be hard to get off. I bought a chain link tool recently to do mine, basically a thin nosed pliers that can get in between the links

I do the ‘riding a fave trail ‘ thing to distract myself from busy thoughts, often at night when trying to sleep. Only trouble is I get all excited and wake myself up more!

Drill a small hole under the bb to let out all the water that’ll flood in too

It sounds likely that the contamination is causing the noise. Don’t be deceived by where you think the noise may be coming from, that can be deceptive. You can clean the rotors but contaminated pads usually need replacing. Before you do so, just check that the caliper and rotor are tight/properly aligned as this can cause squealing.

You will get rust on these sort of points on a steel frame. Suggest you rub it down to clean it off, as it’s most likely just on the surface. You can treat it with rust remedy to prevent it coming back but this discolours the frame to a dark blue which may affect the finish if you want to respray it. Had lots of steel frames, they all rust but never known it to be more than cosmetic. I do tend to treat the inside with waxoyl though

Sainsburys has Glen Moray peated and Aberlour 10 yo both at £22

Dunno what will work, watching replies with interest. I can tell you superglue won’t because I tried that a few years ago to refit the head badge on my Superlight, it just fell off. Badge still in my toolbox ready for another go

Haha yes I’d already done that but the £3 ones are brass not stainless steel. I guess what I mean is if you need new valves check first you don’t have any old spesh tubes, save yourself the price of a pint and a half

Sympathy to you, no medical advice. This is how I would handle it, try to ignore it away until forced to deal with it. Blokes eh?

KMC chains come with the linkythingy

Made my hovel (next to the shed so that was one side done already) using palettes as the sides, gives some weather protection but allows airflow. For the roof I used the floor of an old shed and covered it with old floor vinyl. The fact it looks such an eyesore and therefore annoys my grumpy neighbour is a bonus

My Cannondale R1000 road bike drums it’s fingers and yawns when spinning but comes alive on downs and flies up hills.
My Superlight and my Bronson are just perfect and make me feel dead lucky every time I ride. All 3 are keepers don’t do n+1 any more

I bought one years ago from Germany, broke it on Snowdon, Beics Betwys sent it to SRAM for me, got a brand new replacement

Great shots! Hoping for a snowy Peaks ride tomorrow

I went through a phase of crashing a few years ago when my son would see what he could goad me into. Worst was a 30ft railway bank otb and I cartwheeled down before using a tree as a brake. While flying through the air I bizarrely thought “Oh f*#k, I forgot to get any more mayonnaise”. When I landed I was having hallucinations unsurpassed since my student days

This happened recently to a couple of my mates. One returned the post as it was under warranty and got a replacement, t ‘ other lad had it happen on NYE and has also sent it back. Don’t think you’re supposed to pull it up by hand as this can suck oil past the seals I’ve heard. If it’s less than two years old, send it back,sram will almost certainly send you a new post

I went with Shimano cranks when I went 11sp because I was hoping for better chain retention than I was getting with a N/W ring. This has proved to be the case, haven’t dropped the chain once in 3 months whereas I would unship it 2-3 times per ride before. I have covered them with sticky plastic which has stopped me scuffing them up like my old cranks

I have xt 11sp after years of ghetto 10sp and I love it. Chain ring? Depends how low a gear you want. I ride mostly Peaks and have old legs so run a 30t ring with a 42 cassette. This combo gives you a similar low gear to your current set up. A long cage rear mech is needed to cope with the wide range of gears. Shimano shifters come with cables and outers. Hope this helps

Junkyard, shouldn’t that final sentence have a full stop?

What free hub? Shimano disposable ones can develop a fair bit of play before you have to chuck it. If it’s a Hope or something maybe service pawls and springs?

Hopes are lovely but can’t match shimano performance. It’s either disposable shimanos or beautiful rebuildable hopes

Shimano seals don’t last long and you can’t rebuild as spares not available. Once they begin to go ditch em.

Clean then spray ends with wd40 before putting away?

Let me know closer to the weekend and I’ll give you details if you fancy joining us. Dunno if you’re on twitter but if so ‘@KoftheP’ is a good source of info on up to date trail conditions

Best all weather Peaks circuit is the classic Roych Clough/Jacobs Ladder route. Me and mates did it in two and a half hours recently by shortening the start to avoid the Mam Tor ridge. Start at Upper Booth (free car park), climb up Chapel Gate, then head towards Roych Clough and descend towards Hayfield but turn off to climb Coldwell Clough which takes you up to the top of Jacobs Ladder for a fantastic descent before a gentle spin back to your car. Alternatively you could join me and my mates who are planning a ride from Hope early Sunday morning (8.30 meet) You’d be welcome to join us

New bike time

Are you the chap with a transit van? I had a thule which was great on my old vw transporter but when I got a transit I found the square back meant the bars hit the back of the van unless turned sideways. Being a lazy are I just sling the bikes in the back now

Had a mountain morph for ages, replaced it with the lezyne cos it looked similar but better but soon bought another mountain morph for MTB cos I found the alloy lezyne gets a bit sticky to pump in bad conditions when you always seem to need a pump. Only thing wrong with the morph is it needs a bit longer hose

To deteriorate at a slower rate. Being 61, my energy/fitness levels are dropping at about the speed of a slow puncture. Enthusiasm remains irritatingly tiggerish though so it doesn’t bother me that much

Yep, got it done by my lbs a while back, £35 for a new air shaft and they fitted it free. Mind you, they like to keep me sweet cos I spend all my money on bikes. It’s a fairly simple job to do yourself if you have the tools, I just CBA

Any circuit is flat on average.

Running a sram chain with xt1x11, all works fine

Check the carrier for the sprockets, I once tried to fit a ratio expander to a cheaper cassette only to find it wouldn’t work due to the cassette having 5 ‘arms’ whereas the expander sprocket only had 4, meant the expander wouldn’t sit in line. Maybe take it to a lbs and get them to see if one will fit first?

Always been keen on hr2, but the last 650b one I got was v sketchy when I went to Snowdon, and even a bit iffy on gritstone. swopped it for a hans dampf which I’ve found v confidence inspiring, hasn’t scared me once over the last 6 wet weeks

It takes at least a couple of hours to push up, quite tiring. Very technical, rocky descent

At Langley Mill pick up the Erewash canal past Ilkeston then link onto the Nottm canal to Bramcote. Minor streets towards Wollaton park, through the park and round the back of QMC on the council’s cycle route to/along Castle Boulevard to link up with city centre. Last part of the route (Wollaton park on) is on a map of cycle routes available from info centre on old market square

I’m 6’2″ and have an old 26″ 456 and it fits me well, wouldn’t want a 20″