Thanks for posting this. Good to know that you didn’t die halfway up since I’ve not climbed anything much bigger than the Cat & Fiddle myself and I’m going to be riding the Ventoux two weeks today.

I was experimenting with this myself because I was scared of Winnats Pass. I couldn’t get it to work properly but I think this was down to a not quite straight mech hanger as lots of other people have got it working. I might try again now I’ve had the hanger straightened. The people who did get it working suggested that shifting at the extremes of the cassette might not be quite as smooth as with a narrower range cassette.

In the end I got up Winnats with a 12-28 though I’m now considering my options for the Ventoux next month (mtb cassette and rear mech are looking rather attractive).

What shimano are doing making an ultegra cassette which doesn’t (according to them) work with any ultegra mechs I don’t know :roll:

which generation ultegra? bear in mind that long cage is about how much loose chain it can take up (forget the correct term) not about how big a sprocket it can accommodate. The ultegra on my bike states a max of 28 tooth sprocket.

EDIT: what was said above about B tension may well do enough to make it work – sometimes the stated range is conservative

Bare love for the Playground

are you paedo bear in disguise?

that reminds me of Dennis Mitchell’s excuse

Mitchell appealed to the US Track and Field doping panel, claiming that the only reason his testosterone levels were high was because, the night before the test, he had drunk six bottles of beer, and had sex with his wife four times. He told the panel, ‘It was the lady’s birthday; she deserved a treat.’

i always believed that the accuracy of skinfolds is down to the skill of the person using them but I guess if they’re electronic they look after that. Maybe there is an alternative to the “what hole is my belt on” method :-)

they work quite well considering.

does this mean you’ve validated them against an appropriate benchmark or that the result is approximately believeable and maybe a little bit lower than you expected?

if you do do it will you promise to post videos of drunks, small children and dogs walking into it in a comical (and not at all staged) manner?

unless you’re very talented and already play other instruments then you’ll get on a lot better with tuition. It shouldn’t be stressful but you do need to put the work in if you want to improve. For me, it was a lot more enjoyable when I got good enough that it sounded like music.

are you thinking about a specific instrument?

matt_outandabout – Member

Just a shame they don’t do these big barges in estate versions.

Close…

this is closer albeit not cheap

nickjb – Member
There’s some good mtb trails in the area too. By all means do the road climb if you like that sort of thing but personally I’d be playing on the mountain bike.

Any directions on where to look? My folks have a place in Lafare and keep encouraging me to go down. I went there years ago and struggled to find routes.

molgrips – thanks for the tip, will check them out tonight

peterfile – I read the grid plus was specifically aimed at wet European conditions and has a more robust inner than Marmot’s other tents for this reason

Anyone have any experience of the Marmot Grid Plus?

I bought one a few weeks ago. I’ll admit a big factor was a huge discount at Cotswold but it seemed to tick all the boxes. Although there’s probably a reason it was discounted I assume that was because Marmot are less well known in the UK for tents. I was hoping to get more tent for my money than something at RRP and it seems to have lots of features (only time will tell about build quality).

Only used it once but so far I can say:
+ lots of the sorts of features you get on high end tents such as tensioning straps so you don’t need to keep re-pegging
+ it pitches all in one (if you packed it that way) and doesn’t need guys to stand up so it goes up very fast despite the poles looking complicated at first glance
+ good sized porch – you won’t fit a bike in but plenty of space to cook or stash other kit
+ lots of vents
+ feels very robust though it’s not been tested properly yet
– only one entrance
– inner is not generous for two, especially at the foot end (sleeping mats would overlap and you won’t get a double air mattress in)
– good luck finding a footprint (I need to get round to cutting down a cheap groundsheet)
– why do manufacturers insist on supplying a bag that makes re-packing the tent some sort of twisted 3d spatial skills test?

Your first offer needs to embarrass you. If it doesn’t, you’ve gone in too high. Ours did and I literally cringed when I said it to the estate agent.

depends what the market is doing. Very good advice in a slow market, not so good if it’s moving quickly. Last time I bought they were all going for the asking price within days of coming on the market.

edhornby – turning it up to 11 works great for the noisy stuff but less good for something quiet (think Grinderman vs Boatman’s Call).

dmorts – I was thinking I might get a suggestion of pointing the speakers down the room from the bay window. That will definitely be tried.

The links above seem to be telling me that acoustic absorption is putting panels on the walls at the reflection points. I’m open to giving that a go, depending on price (I know I’ve seen other threads on here on that topic).

While we’re here… what would be the step after that for low frequency response? it’s almost certainly further than I’d want to go since this is my house and not a recording studio but I’m interested to know what comes next.

@dmorts – are you going to suggest I stick egg boxes all over the walls?

it would have been a bit weird for someone called cinnamon girl to have no interest in music :D (even if the hi-fi side can get a bit geeky)

@wwaswas – it might have been one of those “i think this is boring so I’ll snark at people” comments but what can you do? I can’t say I find it especially interesting per se but listening to music makes me happy and listening to music that doesn’t sound like half the band have been locked in a cupboard makes me more happy.

@cinnamon girl – there are lots of rules but they’re not always very practical unless you build a dedicated listening room

@rockhopper – speaker height and positioning chairs relative to the speakers is OK, it’s where I put that triangle in the room that’s the problem

@Milkie – currently planning redecoration and furniture – the tv is in a corner at the other end but could go on a wall – no glass coffee tables but I do have a pair of hyoooge 70s chairs which are probably totally wrong for serious listening as they curve round either side of your head.

I think my question is whether I should be trying to have the speakers pointing down the room instead of across it but I’m not sure how it would work in reality :?

EDIT: maybe I should be shopping for quality headphones

jump leads?

For some reason drivers in the UK just don’t seem to understand how to use a motorway correctly.

try driving in the states. They only change lanes when there is something in front or they want the exit and happily overtake on either side. Makes UK drivers look like the Swiss (a German workmate lives in Basel and complains about how rule-obsessed they are…)

skips seem to have a weird effect on people. Half the world wants to rummage in it (maybe understandably given the finds above), the other half tries to fill it with their own stuff (a skip on my street had a sign saying “please don’t put bags of dog crap in here”)

assuming that you’re not stuck in some sort of time vortex, this all happened yesterday. It’s probably reasonable to think that if you’ve not yet suffered some terrible gut curdling fate it’s all going to be OK. On the other hand, if you do die can i have your bikes?

Hora, can I borrow your Westie brain for the weekend?

I thought this was going to be the (possibly apocryphal) sledge directed at Phil Tuffnell: “Hey Tuffers, lend me your brain – I’m building an idiot”

My mum used to have a collie. The problem with trying to tire the dog out with exercise is that you just end up with a very fit dog who wants even more exercise. I was told that brain exercise is the key. Kong toys include things that can be filled with treats which the dog has to work out how to get to.

I once saw a tv programme about how intelligent different dog breeds are. They hid food under paper cups with the dog watching then filmed what the dog did. Half of them just looked baffled, another one tried every cup in turn, the collie went straight to the right cup like it was all too easy.

I second the old town for a bit of history. The Mutter museum is interesting too in a macabre kind of way. And obviously at some point you’ll get a cheese steak and eat it with grease dripping off your fingers.

If you’re in the centre and want to go for a run then the riverside past the art museum steps is very nice. Just don’t trip over and arrive back at your hotel dripping blood like I did

I like the look of those steps at 1:15 :twisted:

maybe not on that bike though

My scary moment – on the Aiguille du Midi arete in crappy slushy summer afternoon snow, roped to people I didn’t have confidence in. Just prior to this the guide had been reciting the guidebook piece about “1000m below you to your right is the town of Chamonix, it is advisable to keep it at this distance”. Been back since with people i trusted and it was far less bad, albeit not something I particularly enjoyed.

And more importantly – all the best for Wednesday, Ton

extra thick thermarest type things are very good for all the reasons stated above. Alpkit fat airic for me.

My Garmin watch defaults to running. This probably fires off KOM lost emails as soon as I upload a ride, before I then go and change it to a ride.

interesting thought… I could be causing untold distress to various runner types in the interval between changing activity type :twisted:

you can’t change the activity type on the cheaper forerunners, you need to change it when you upload (it’s not difficult). I usually find mine get flagged automatically with a “you appear to have been using a vehicle” message.

BTW – the estimated times stuff doesn’t seem to work. My times are credible *if* i was a good runner but I know I’m not that fast any more and when I click on the links it goes to a ride.

on an s4 it could be a battery issue [/url]

you really don’t need to carry a spare tyre (tries not to use obvious joke about half of STW carrying a spare tyre everywhere they go). Tube or two is sensible, maybe a tyre boot. Even some zip ties if you’re worried.

You’d have to be very unlucky to destroy a tyre to the extent you can’t limp it home with that lot.

most likely is that you’ll carry a spare tube then find it’s got a puncture or the valve has gone :evil:

Someone on here had a RM Slayer he’d named Buffy. is this the sort of thing you’re thinking of?

yup, me and theonlywayisup did it. Some harsh climbs there, even as someone who’s used to the peak. very satisfying though

quite tired and a bit sunburnt now. my legs hurt and I know I’m hungry but I don’t feel like eating…

Doolittle if you want to pick only one

I got “is it true all cyclists are illiterate?” from a dog walker. I’m not sure where she thought the conversation was going to go after that. I reassured her that I could read the sign but had chosen to ignore it and she looked ready to pop. She was absolutely convinced all the mud in the field was the fault of bikes – nothing to do with hundreds of walkers or the stream running down the middle, all the fault of a handful of footpath poaching mtbers. :roll:

when I rode out to watch the tour I was wearing mtb gear – baggies, camebak, shoes i can walk in – on the road bike. Some lycra clad roadie looked me up and down making a dismissive pffff noise as I rode slowly past. I could have been ashamed but I was comforted by being able to sit down on the grass without getting my arse spiked by gorse or getting damp.

See here for more reading on WHY your doctor may not suggest you have a ‘PSA Screen’ if you ask for it..

When you have a PSA test you should not have:
?? ejaculated in the last 48 hours;
?? exercised heavily in the last 48 hours;

I can see why one or other of those reasons could be an issue for many on here…