are the cables new? could be sticking if they’re old and dirty

what he said ^

a month or so ago I saw a Sky car (no riders) out in the white peak. Hope they weren’t on a reccy since it’s nowhere near the route.

i have the idave stuff one i get to work.
i need something good prior to setting off

do it the other way round? idave at home then porridge or muesli when you get there to refuel after?

There’s a faint whiff of snobbery and testosterone in the air!

I suspect there’s a whiff of something else too. The people on here who I know do impressive rides don’t go in for crass willy waving (take terrahawk as an example but there are others)

what would iDave recommend? something with eggs and chorizo or beans?

It’s omelette for me most days but if I’m going to be pedalling I find porridge gets a good balance between giving energy to ride but not leaving me starving again 30 minutes later.

It does depend on what you’re doing when you’re working and whether being at home will mean not hearing another human voice all day (Jeremy Kyle doesn’t count). I spend big chunks of every day on teleconferences so I’ve done enough talking outside of them. I’ve also got the box-room set up as an office which helps a lot with discipline.

I don’t actually work with anyone in the same office as me so I’ve often wondered how long it would take for someone to notice if I moved abroad without saying anything. I reckon so long as I kept appearing online at the right times it could be some weeks…

EDIT: to answer the original question – if I don’t spend time commuting there’s at least a chance I’ll get an extra ride in. for a while when work was less manic I used to go bouldering (indoors) at lunch. Overall, for me, it’s great. Might not be so good if I had kids to be distracting, mind.

I had one. It didn’t crack and I bloody loved it until it was nicked. Was slightly too short (my fault for buying a medium not a large) but the suspension was great, especially climbing.

sighing isn’t the problem, it’s that little chuckle that makes me feel murderous :x

I keep an accurate record of fuel purchased, mileage covered and date.

I see an increase of approx’ 10% as the Summer months arrive.

When I plotted Miles per Gallon Vs Date…

don’t take this the wrong way, but have you considered getting yourself a hobby? something like riding bikes maybe

and it’s more aerodynamic to not wear gloves

while we’re talking cows… what do we (especially treefeller who presumably knows a lot more than the townies amongst us) think of farmers having cows, calves and bulls in a field with a bridleway running through it? Cows can get a bit feisty if they’ve got young (they can probably see me thinking “mmm,steak…”), should I worry about the bull? Are they likely to get protective of their littluns or just stand back and let their wimmin act first?

Never happened to me and we regularly ride passed cows.

IME if they’ve passed they’re unlikely to react much. it’s the live ones you need to look out for

[/STW pedant mode]

I rode through Bakewell on saturday. Felt quite out of place riding a modern bike and not wearing my sister’s rolled up jeans and a natty retro cycle cap.

I always thought they were for cx style climbing up short steep muddy banks with your bike on your back. I try to avoid that sort of stuff but YMMV. Agreed that they’re unlikely to be useful for the Pyrenees.

the other thing to add to Samuri’s list (if you use daily lenses) is that at some point you will drink too much, leave the lenses in when you fall asleep and then be very confused in the morning by the fact you can now see better without your glasses than with them. Took some time to figure that out through a hangover :oops:

I find that a wall shelf is about the best upgrade you can make to a TT for not much money, even a home made one is streets ahead of having it on a floor stand or bit of furniture.

is a wall shelf really that much better than a dedicated hi-fi floor stand? I know that random bits of furniture sound crap and when I got a proper stand it was a huge improvement. Is a wall shelf going to be better still? (I’m going to be making changes to my system and furniture and would make different plans if a shelf is going to be a lot better than a stand)

another fan here of Deuchars IPA as reliably good. Not that I’m going to find it in yorkshire. And I guess it could have turned to pish in the last 15 years, but I used to like it. Maybe best to ignore me…

As said above (and may times before on these threads), if you’re expecting something more than a slight nod or raised finger you’re too needy.

what I find strange is the roadies who say hello as they overtake. It would be nice and friendly if it wasn’t done very loudly right down my lughole from as close as possible. A bit more elbow room, or from a bit further back, or a whole lot quieter would be fine but last time I nearly went into the ditch. Before anyone asks, I’ve not said anything because a. they’ve just dropped me and b. I don’t want to look a fin de cloche.

you should all bear in mind that when @theonlywayisup rates JEJ he is using Dave Hinde as a comparator (to be fair it does sound like they did a good job this time)

Personally I gave up using them after far too many instances when they made it clear they had little interest in my money. I didn’t think I was being overly demanding in insisting that a test ride around the car park should be on the size of bike I wanted to buy not the one they had on display, or in wanting them to put somewhere near the right amount of air in the shock and fork first. I got hacked off with being spoken to like an idiot and took my money to EBC.

on the subject of the comfort. If they’re well-fitted they should be comfortable though you need to get used to the sensation of having something in your ear. Some companies use a softer material than others. I think the ACS ones guitarhero has use a soft material (silicon not acrylic?). Mine had the option of a softer material for the ear canal piece which I went for and I think it helps. I’ve worn them for hours on a long flight and they were great.

I’ve got some from 1964 ears, bought through here[/url]. Very happy with them. I do recommend going somewhere you can listen to different models. The sound was quite different from one manufacturer to the next.

@PeterPoddy – thanks for the encouragement. Sounds like if I can fit headsets (I’ve done a few) then I’m good here.

Now to see about bearing replacement. I may be off down Attercliffe tomorrow. The instructions for the bearing shop run something like “turn left at the massage parlour, then left again after the pub with no windows and if you reach the strip club turn back…” 8O

I think the mechanic had the hump because he was trying to go home and someone made him talk to a customer. To be fair, every other time I’ve been in they’ve been very helpful.

I might well end up doing it myself. It would be the first time I’ve not fitted a BB myself. How easy is it to get the old bearings out? I’m nervous about hammer tactics near a carbon frame. my homemade headset press can be called into action if bearings need to be pressed in

we’ve mentioned bar ends but they need to be the ones that have a bend in. Pointed to the sky with the rider holding the bent over bit 6″ above the actual bars so they can steer the monstrosity but have no chance of using the brakes without first letting go of the bars and moving their hand

I do wonder how Wiggo would have coped with the post-Armstrong inquisition that Froome faced at the Tour

lots of pottymouth and an epic flounce, probably

I like it, but it’s missing the brown finger ends on the roadie

I always wear glasses of some sort. Getting mud out of the eye without also removing my contacts is tricky. Photochromic lenses are fantastic for days with patchy sun (or in and out of trees) and I’m about to get some with a higher light transmission rate for overcast days.

I will be riding out from Sheffield – does that count?

it says on the website that deactivation can’t be reversed. I would guess that if you want to get rid of all your leaderboard times your only option is to delete all your data (not sure if this is possible without deactivating the account). Is this what you want to do?

2.25 advantage is a lot bigger than 2.1 fire xc, 2.1 is a bit bigger. I’ve used all 3 at different times.

I found the photos of me and theonlywayisup doing a sportive in the peak. Being told your riding style is like a TdF winner sounds good. When that means you look like Chris Froome looking at stems (but fatter) that’s not so good. I won’t be getting copies.

I tried to post this earlier and it got lost :x

for those using “that” diet or similar (i.e. slow carb)… how do you manage when riding? I had good success on it a couple of years ago but I wasn’t riding much at the time. I’m now back on the bike and a lot fitter but if I don’t tuck into the carbs I feel like I’m continually about to bonk. What works for 3-4hr rides with plenty of climbing? Or is it just that I need to lay off them after the immediate re-fuel?

started eating a few too many bad carbs, thinking that the extra miles would keep me on track.

that’s always my downfall. Come home starving hungry, fill my face with anything I can find because I’ve “earned it” then continue in the same vein for the next 24hrs.

Impressive mileage though, puts most of the rest of us to shame

Seen a WC XC rider? A hell of a lot lighter than any trail centre rider I’ve seen.

Edit: they’re usually a lot more skilful than they’re given credit for too

Stopping distance from 40mph with V-brakes?

better than my stopping distance from 40mph with calipers on the road bike (downhill obviously)

i was hoping for some sort of camel vs leopard fracas. Is disappoint

they are a bit like an environmental BNP. They have no sensible policy, just lots of nice ideas

I hope you’re not saying the BNP have lots of nice ideas. I assume not, but it seems to be implied [/pedant]

does his cabin have a chimney?

“A friend…” sure, we believe you

dannyh, brakes, theotherjonv – Castle, Hild/Bede and Cuth’s and you’re arguing about who’s the rah? Surely all of you are appearing somewhere on here[/url]?

I was one of the plebs from up the hill