EXA SpeedUp dropper post came with a bike I bought in Sept. I’ve just fitted the 3rd replacement. 1st one would work only occasionally, 2nd one wouldn’t stay up, 3rd wouldn’t drop. Am I optimistic about no.4? No but hoping to be proved wrong in my opinion

Oh and salt. Don’t forget the salt.

Bateda. Fry some cumin and coriander seeds, add ginger garlic turmeric chillies and wedges or cubes of potato. Simmer with a lid on till cooked

I would happily road ride quiet lanes but where I am I’d have a few miles of busy roads to get to the nice stuff, whereas I can be off road in 500m from my door so it’s a no brainer really.
Bad luck for your long wait for the new knee. I was well impressed that I opted for a replacement in March and had the op in August, I just feel incredibly lucky to live in a time and place where this is possible. Bust your knee? Here, have a new one, free of charge

The scar, and how it has raised my cred with the under-8s, was worth the op alone. Off road so far is field bridleways and towpaths. I thought I’d be limited to road riding but I’m more nervous about traffic than dog turds

I too am in my 60s (just had my 64th birthday) and still love all kinds of riding. Fave is the techy stuff, and I mostly ride in the Peak with a bunch of 30-40year olds, but lately I’ve been limited to tamer trails by a knee replacement so since the summer I’ve been loving my gravel bike with my 70 year old riding pal. He’s just bought an ebike and he is now pestering me to get my Bronson out and get back to the rocky terrain. Been riding for nearly 30 years and I’m sure I won’t stop until I have to. I’d be up for a STW OAP ride, always looking for new excuses to ride

Mate of mine has built up a Vitus cx frame using a flat bar (685cm) and he laughs at me for riding drop bars off road. He is 70 mind, and does it for the more upright position

Sainsburys are doing Tamnavulin at £22

She’s right though, isn’t she

Got a Bronson mk2 that I had to swop the bearings after one year because just one of the upper link bearings had rusted/seized, all the others were fine but my lbs swopped them anyway. Since then I’ve checked the bearings regularly and found the same one has a tendency to rust. I just get it moving again and crack on and the bike hasn’t had a bearing change in 3 years. Thinking of getting it done anyway before the bearings seize in the linkages. BTW I’m a serial bike washer

I’ve recently used Cyclesent to post a bike. They collect one day and deliver the next for £25+insurance (varies depending on the value of the bike, I paid £20 to insure it for £750). You do need to have the bike packed in a standard size bike box though

Hardtailonly, I have a spare cassette tool. Lost mine for months so I eventually bought a new one, which as we know is the cue to find the original. I’ll pop it in the post if you email me your address (grumpytechnophobe@gmail.com) but can’t promise I won’t ask for it straight back when I lose mine when I no longer have a spare

I’ve started getting this today, every few minutes. Pages jump around all the time too, that’s been happening for ages

Like you OP I’m not the most natural mechanic but over the years I’ve learned how to do most basic jobs. I still have to visualise a clock face before I do up/undo a bolt. Yesterday I took my rear mech off and bent the hanger back into workable shape. Felt well pleased, especially as the black dog was hanging round

I find Decathlon’s sole too sketchy for flatties so I stuck to my 5.10s and use waterproof socks. Mate has a pair of walking shoes (Merrell I think) with a vibram sole and he reckons those work. He is notoriously unbothered by such technicalities as grip though

Crash test dummy

Ooh, Simpson 2, I had a testicle removed there last year.

Nothing to do with my wife, we met on a blind date at a Wishbone Ash concert on midsummer night in 1971. Neither of us wanted to go. She was along to help cool the ardour of her friend’s boyfriend, my brother. He took me to divert the gooseberry

Don’t go for the Ramblers. I use them on my gravel bike and  they are fine in dry conditions but sketchy in mud. Like you, I have some mud tyres but am looking for a sort of mid – mud tyre for general use. The Ramblers are not that tyre

I have one that came with my gravel bike. From new it felt rough and crude, I thought it was faulty and sent it back. 2nd one wouldn’t stay up so that went back. 3rd one I almost sent back as it felt like the 1st, but my LBS persuaded me to try and loosen it up by using it. Since I stopped expecting it to be like a proper dropper and just accept it’s a bit crude it’s been fine. It always feels a bit rough. Occasionally it binds, but a shift in weight sorts it. Overall the jury is still out, but if it proves reliable through the winter I may allow it to stay. It’s better than a qr but not as good as a proper dropper

Had a new knee in August, so part of me is only 2 months old

Anyone remember George Hincapie snapping a stem on a cobbled section of Paris Roubaix a few years ago? I was well impressed with how he handled it

So did you vary the route across the North Yorkshire Moors? We did that bit in two days and my memory of Osmotherley to Rosedale is of 4 or 5 winches up onto a rigg on doubletrack then a descent on lovely rocky single track of a km or two, each one different but better than the one before. Rosedale to Ravenscar (we then detoured to Robin Hoods Bay to dip our wheels in the sea) was a bit meh in comparison

I’m due to pick up my new Whyte Gisburn today to help me recover from a knee op. It comes with Maxxis Rambler which will be fine for the mostly road/light off road riding I’ll be doing until I recover a bit more, and I’ve ordered some Victoria mud tyres (can’t remember the name ) in 35 mm for when it gets sloppy at about the time I’ll be doing more off road stuff. Being new to gravel bikes, what pressures are people running? I’ll be setting it up tubeless.  Assume around 40 psi? Bit more for road – heavy rides, bit less for off road?

Mate of mine just spent £650 on a Vitus frame and Hunt wheels, swopped all the kit from his old hardtail and created a winter gravel bike. I was so jealous I went and blew a lot more than that on a Whyte Gisburn!

I was talking to my mate who I did the coast to coast with about this thread and about our experience. We decided that we needed to do it again with a different/better route which we have a few ideas for (such as a bus across the vale of york)

(cough)

This is bringing back so many memories, details I’d forgotten such as the uncrossable river on stage 3 (like you, we spoke to some farmworkers who couldn’t remember anyone ever using the ford), the climb out of Hawes, the feeling of being underwhelmed by the route across the Dales, etc. Looking forward to hearing what you made of the next leg through Richmond. We gave up with muddy flat overgrown bridleways and got to the North Yorks Moors on minor roads. It felt more like sanity – preservation than cheating though

I’ve just had a knee replacement, in the run – up to the op I discussed support with my physio who was also a mountainbiker. According to him, knee supports are not capable of providing enough support to be worthwhile. He reckons the main benefit of supports is in keeping your knees warm

I too was about to say Maxxis, I’ve always found them to be on the edge of “too baggy”. Might be your rim?

Yep, a good read, it’s making me relive our coast to coast. Keep it coming!

Yes, your experience with trains kind of sums up why we didn’t want to have to rely on public transport. Our trip only became a real goer once we had an offer of support. We had spent years wanting to do it but couldn’t work out the logistics.

Sounds like you may also just be out of the habit of riding. I’ve had a couple of enforced layoffs in the last 2 years and found it hard to get back into. For a while I just made myself do a fitness ride once a week and once that began to come back I started to regain my mojo. Then I had a knee op and the cycle begins again

Shame you missed out on the Ravenglass -Coniston route, when we did it that was a real epic day with some tricky navigation over boggy fells to start the day, then some great tracks over to Walna Scar Road

I had an issue with earwax for years but eventually my GP stopped syringing ears because it can lead to worse problems. He suggested I just used the shower, letting the water spray directly into each ear for about a minute. It took a few weeks to clear but gradually my hearing sorted itself. I still do this and I haven’t had any problems for years now

+1 for Coniston Hall, basic site with views over Coniston.

Gillside in Glenridding is a lovely friendly site sat just under Helvellyn

+1 for updates please. I did the same route in 2014 though me and my mate had the luxury of support so didn’t have to carry our stuff. I’m interested to hear how you got on

Alright then, Grisedale,

We did Grizedale Forest/Dollywaggon / Helvellyn /Sticks from Glenridding a while back and it took us about 6 hours, but I was spectacularly unfit at the time after an op, and slowed the ride considerably

I put my Oakley through the washing machine a while back. Ruined the lenses

Gotta be clockwise if you enjoy your downhills. Rushup is a nice bit of singletrack if you ride on the banking on the left, then the descent of Roych, then from South Head, then Jacobs as a grand finale, got to be the fun way to ride it. The anticlockwise option used to be the recommended route in the 90s when it was all about tech climbs, then bikes got good