Thanks for all the replies.

Mowgli. Just sent you a message.

The broadband is actually with Sky, but bt came to update the line….

Complaining would defo be the best bet. If it wasn’t for having to coordinate my Dad to do it. It would turn into a massive life event, and I’d rather buy my way out of it than ensure that experience…..

I’m the original poster…

Exactly that SSS.

I just typed something similar but it took a while and it crashed on hitting submit.

I’m 40. Have lived the text book model life, been with my wife for over 20 years, treadmill of uni, training, holidays, new house, career, promotion, holidays, new house, racing cycling achievements & holidays, pregnancy, baby, another new house, another pregnancy, holidays, another promotion, new bikes, the cycle of fast changing children, comfort through COVID. Now the pace has dropped, no further career or financial aspirations, kids are much more independent, realised my cycling performance is going to go one way as will my health.

I’ve got two healthy children, a wife that loves me, a comfortable well paid job, my (realistic) dream house, good friends and a real love of cycling. Electric garage doors. Money in the bank.

Then I had an affair out of no where with a lady who was better matched, lots in common, lots of fun, more athletic and felt like my dream partner. We got caught. We left our partners to be together under a haze of pressure. A week later I asked my wife for forgiveness. A week later my wife isnt sure whether she can forgive and I am struggling to decide what I actually want from life and have asked for some time to appraise.

I knew I wasnt entirely happy, but having let this happen I’ve experienced masses of excitement that its hard to imagine never having again, and it forces you to reflect and appraise…

How do you work this stuff out? My needs verses the family’s? What I know verses absolutely no idea who I’ll meet or where things will go?

Thanks for all the replies and fungi-love!

I’m going to try some of this for sure….

Seemingly credible options (ignoring GP meds)

Curanail
Potassium permanganate
Apple Cider vinegar
Vicks vapour rub
Tea tree oil

I’m going to start with the Vicks as there is some in the cupboard!

Got to be Canaries for the weather.

We stayed in Las America’s last year, virtually on the road onto Tiede. I can recommend a bike hire place – “Cycling in Tenerife”, think I paid 32e for a day, delivered to my hotel the night before and picked up about 5pm. If you want to ride every day you might get bored or Tiede, but the different ways up (and down) are all quite different.

Also done the Gran Canaria, staying in the South, which is very different to Tenerife, lots more variety, some flat, seems like more trees, more rolling stuff and more loop options.

You’ll all have a great time anyhow.

I hadnt heard anything more about this so followed up with them earlier in the week.

They are insisting that they ship me a cardboard box, I package bike, they collect it, fit new forks and return the bike to me.

They refuse to just ship me the new forks.

Its a massive faff considering the forks are probably absolutely fine, but better go through the motions…..

Surely no one is stupid enough to sell stolen bikes with their real facebook profile that lists their employer? He only has 5 friends, doesnt look like a real profile if you ask me.

Getting the roof repaired is obviously on the cards, but is part of a wider project that wont happen for a little while.

A botch is exactly what I’m looking for!

We’ve got a mid 90s Anglian conservatory, the roof is an issue so had someone around. He used some gadget on the glass to check its efficiency and said the windows are fine and we just need a new roof.

My point might be that there was a range of quality of windows in the 90s and age might not automatically mean they are rubbish.

I’ve always used Jagwire slick stainless cables from ebay, economical and seem to work well enough?

I have used these guys twice now:

Home

Easy drop off and collection from my hotel. Was e35 for one day, dropped off the night before so can get out early. I’m more of a roadie and wanted to ride up Teide, so have done that twice, which is great, 3 hours of constant gradient from Los Cristianos. There is MTB on the island, but I know nothing about it tbh.

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for my late gratitude.

Had a great week.

Did Siam (twice) as had inclusive tickets with our hotel.

Did a boat trip (Mustcat) which was great, saw dolphins and pilot whales.

Snorkelled at yellow mountain at low tide on recommendation from one of the boat trip crew, going in by the nudist beach, twice, saw most of the fish you mentioned (no barracuda or turtles) and found lots of sea urchin shells which my daughters loved.

I cycled up Teide (again) but only got to the highest road point this year before turning and rolling 22 miles back. Asked the family if they wanted to go and see it but they chose extra pool time instead.

Had a go on a banana boat at Fanabe, lesson is to tell the driver not to go easy on your kids, because he did and it was fairly boring.

Random thoughts from me:

Wear an eye mask (deluxe 3d one)
Ear plugs if noise bugs you
Never check the time when you wake up, just tell yourself its still night, try to keep one eye shut when going for a wee and not engaging your brain
If you’ve got up and gone downstairs you’re not going to go back to sleep, you’ve committed to that being morning
Find subjects to think about that help you go back to sleep, eg if you start thinking about work as soon as you wake at 4am then you wont sleep, but intensively trying to remember the dream you were just having might work
Cut out caffeine 100%
Cut out alcohol 100%
Don’t eat late
Lose weight? (If required)
See your doc – something underlying? No idea.
Do yoga

I dont understand, the link posted above says that the old style will be “still be valid until 31 January 2023”, so why are they issuing the fee to pay notifications now?

I had one this weekend, paid the £1.50, no idea what it is as its not been delivered yet.

To follow up on my post above, the letter was delivered today and the sender hadnt added enough postage, so a completely legitimate case of RM charging the additional £1.50, in my case.

Its £1.50 for insufficient postage paid, and £2.50 for no postage paid.

https://www.royalmail.com/receiving-mail/pay-a-fee

I dont understand, the link posted above says that the old style will be “still be valid until 31 January 2023”, so why are they issuing the fee to pay notifications now?

I had one this weekend, paid the £1.50, no idea what it is as its not been delivered yet.

We got one when ours failed about 18 months ago.

Think was less than £100 more than a normal one at the time. Wife happy. It seems fine in use. Not used it for last 3 or 4 months though. Job done, seems like a no brainer.

They make their super profits from selling the commodity they get from the ground wholesale, not from the retail sales.

The wholesale prices are supply and demand, reduced supply, increased demand = massive price rises and massive profits.

If they kept the price down then there wouldnt be enough supply because demand would increase more. The increased price controls demand.

If the gov said that all the UK profits from wholesale selling should be given back to subsidise the sale price, then those companies would probably reduce supply to the UK and sell it elsewhere.

The bike shop you hire the bike from should provide insurance?

If you want to buy stuff that may make you a bit faster then go for it, but dont expect miracles as has been said.

This thread has probably said everything, apart from asking what terrain you are riding and where your difference in ability becomes an issue.

If he is dropping you on climbs then some super lightweight wheels might help a little but realistically not the difference between being dropped or not.

If he is dropping you on the flats then you need to learn to hold a wheel better. Flats are where an aero wheelset will help most, but its benefit will be negligible if you are sat on his wheel.

You also need to ask what type of ride you are doing together, is it a gentle ride where you are chatting side by side or is it a balls out training ride? If the former then he should be happy to slow down, if the latter then just sit on his wheel and let him do the work.

This sort of scenario comes up all the time in dysfunctional groups, the stronger riders attack on the hills dropping the weaker / heavier riders, the weaker guys kill themselves, but then once over the top the stronger guys sit in and let the weaker guys do the work until the next hill, and so it repeats. If you’re the stronger ride you need to do your work when it benefits the group (on the flats), not when it allows you to swing your c0ck the most and if you know your not the strongest, stay off the front!

I fitted engineered when we first moved in here nearly 5 years ago.

As said got loads of samples from various online places and eventually ordered one, the best value wide and long one I could find. Was about £2.5k for the entire downstairs. Used a foam underlay.

I didnt level but it wasnt too bad.

It does creak a bit.

Fitted new skirtings as well (also online, pre painted) but remember you’ll still need to cut down the bottom of the door frames and almost definitely the doors.

I’ve never reoiled it, but probably should at some point, its not a job that I look forward to. There are a few stains (thanks to the children) that I should rub back and hope that the reoiling covers.

Overall very happy with it. In the kitchen I used a wood glue on the joints to seal it, the rest was just click and play.

Bought a dumb Eufy about 4 years ago. Works fairly well, but we hardly ever use it because of the effort in picking everything up off the floor first, so if you dont have kids, great, if you do and your house is generally a bit of a mess, dont.

Works well when floors are clear and for poking under the beds etc.

This is a rare post where people are buying things they dont need to add weight, not take it away!

Have you any examples of steerer tube failure due to inadequate bungs?

I’ve got a 12’6 Gladiator SUP that is fine with my 10 and 8 year olds on too, one front, one back.

I sometimes wear a wetsuit, depending on conditions. If I dont think I’ll fall in or its really warm I wont bother, but I dont have any issues with wearing my shortie.

One of my girls wears her wetsuit all the time, the other hates it. Both seem happy.

I can stand with the 3 of us on the board, but do wear the wetsuit if thats on the cards.

Both kids are happy paddling around on their own, not going anywhere in particular. Both on the board working together paddling pretty much matches me on my own speed wise.

Or wife + child paddling = me

If you get more than one vessel get a cord of some sort so you can tow the kids if you need to.

Clip top tuperware style box for your stuff that doesnt want to get wet.

Watch youtube videos on technique.

58 minutes remaining as close to threshold as possible

That’s threshold HR not threshold power?

Power will be up and down with the course.

Typical course will have lots of small sections that you dont pedal, followed by high torque turns out of corners, lots of massive effort steep ramps and rolls down the other side etc.

Its very on / off and your training should reflect that.

I’ve just ridden down the steepest hill near my house and squeezed the lever as hard as physically possible and pumped it, and the front brake came through the hideous squealing and came back to life. Few more sprint / brakes and it seems good.

Rode back up the ba s tard hill and did it again for the rear!

Doesnt make complete sense to me, but it seems good enough now.

I’ve just found some replacement pads that fitted and swapped the rotor. Still exactly the same.

Seems like the lever / calliper cant produce enough “squeeze”.

No signs of any leaks. Its the same both ends.

Is it fair to assume they are knackered?

Those Clarks are a great price, especially with discs and pads, but annoyingly I’m selling the bike and could do without spending anything….

Interesting, thanks. So which is best if you dont want to keep anything frozen, you want it to act like a fridge for as long as possible?

As count says above, you’d only focus the vaccine on the at risk populations.

Inner city folk who never leave their apartment block – no point

Walkers, mountain bikers, farmers – dose them up!

My daughter loves horses and ponies and was happily stroking a wild dartmoor pony last summer. I got close and realised its whole face was riddled in ticks, gross. No more stroking pony!

I’ve been running Hutchinson Fusion Galacktic’s in 25mm on my good bike. They are super lightweight, ride well, not had any issues with punctures but have had a bit of an issue with air getting between the carcass and outer rubber, causing what looks like small blisters in patches. I’ve just popped them with a pin and they’ve gone away no issue.

I have had similar issues with other Hutchinsons (fusion 11) and Sigma have warrantied them (send them in when they’re nearly worn out for free replacements).

My next tyres are likely to be the tubular Veloflex’s, in either standard or race, whichever comes into stock in the right size / colour first.

GP5000s review well but are so, predictable?

As said, the Hopes tend to get fitted when Shimano fail (I did).

Hopes work faultlessly and are beautifully bling. If you want them get them, but you might not need them.

The biggest braking fail I had on a CX bike brakes was fitting super lightweight rotors that cook quickly.

Lydford Gorge is a good shout if you’re happy to drive down the A386 a bit. Dog friendly and quite exciting for kids.

If you’ve got bikes you could pick up the Granite Way cycle path from Sourton – head south toward Lydford. If you’ve not got bikes you could still do this, dog friendly, head towards Meldon Reservoir.

You could easily kill a few hours by the Quay in Exeter with a walk / ice cream.

Dingles vintage fairground near Launceston is meant to be ok, grandparents have taken my kids there when they were young. Also Launceston Castle (not been).

I bought a Lidl Mistral board last summer – queued outside at opening time to get one. It was one board per customer and not everyone in the queue got one.

Fast fwd a year and I noticed a pallet of untouched boards in the middle isle in my local store on Monday tea time.

FYI, my board developed a few bubbles under the foam pad, so I emailed Lidl customer support and they gave me a refund as no replacements were available. Turns out the bubbles have gone away and the board is still going strong…..

I had an issue recently, unpaired my phone via the app and then added it as a new phone and its been great since.

My Wahoo also did an update yesterday, so if you’ve not done that yet it might be causing an issue.

When I said Geneva, I meant Girona!

(Have also done Geneva to Nice, but that was a looked after package trip)

I flew to Geneva with my Dad, with our bikes in cardboard boxes. We ditched the boxes and cycled back through the Pyrenees and came back on the ferry from Santander to Plymouth.

We each took one of big alpkit saddle bags. Bearing in mind the weather is changeable in the mountains, and it isnt always possible to clean and dry your kit over night, and we wanted to eat out in the evenings, and didnt want sunburn or infected groins, my packing list is below.

Bag:
Bib Shorts
Jersey
Light rain jacket
L/S Base layer
Cycling cap
Neck tube
Velotoze shoe covers
Chamois cream sachets
Swiss Army knife
Zip ties
Phone charger
Computer charger
Toothbrush & paste
Suncream
Chain oil
Ibruprofen
Germoline

Wear on plane:
S/S Shirt
Shorts
Flip flops
Boxers
Socks
Headphones
Passport
Print out of itinerary
Ferry tickets
Boarding passes
Credit cards

Jersey Pockets:
Arm Warmers
Gillet
Phone
Gels x2
multi tool
Spare tubes x 2
puncture kit
Chain links

Wear on bike:
Gloves
Helmet
Computer
Sunglasses
Shoes
Socks
Bib shorts
Jersey
Vest
HR strap

So 2 jerseys and 2 bib shorts….

Thanks.

Lots of options but not much availability!

I just bought a Force 1 crankset on ebay thinking it was dub but its GXP!

Just building my frame up, can someone confirm that it should have a full length outer gear cable, from mech to shifter, please?

I’ll try it later!

I just picked up a frame from the wiggle outlet – the black and purple one, should arrive today.

Planning to swap the kit over from my Giant TCX for a new CX race bike.

I would have got the new etap one if I could do the cycle to work scheme through Wiggle, that would have been a lot of bike for not much money!!

Burgtec Bartender Pro Greg Minnaar Signature Grip