@nickc How often are you wearing your lenses? I have the same set up but wonder whether wearing them so infrequently means I’m not used to the switching required.

Ask your optician if it’s suitable for you.

That’s what I have at the moment. It’s certainly better than what I had before where I couldn’t see anything closer than the end of my arm!

the joy of getting older

Very much this, I fear.

In response to a few points above: I have varifocals for my day to day specs. My riding glasses are just distance corrected as I can always take them off to look at a map or whatever. As I said, the view through the middle of the lens is A1, it’s just the glances up the trail lifting just my eyes rather than my head which are the problem.

I acknowledge that I only wear my contacts a couple of times a month, so maybe I’m just not used to making the choice between which eye to prioritise depending on my point of focus.

I use a local optician who have always been great and I’m sure will have useful advice, but as they don’t ride I wondered whether there was a magic, moon on a stick option that I ought to be aware of.

To defend the more slope style runs, there was very little room for error in them. When you’re landing a 40ft back flip drop onto a rideable piece of track a meter wide with scrub, rock, and dust to either side, the consequences for failure are pretty big.

Fairclough’s line was the one I liked best but Semenuk’s second run was spectacular.

Little 18″ failed out step thing here. Also useful for sitting on to put shoes on.

Clear Waters Rising by Nick Crane is a good read. It must be the first of the genre trust I ever read

I sold a car on Motorway a couple of years ago. Lots of pictures, clear description, and you should be good. I was offered more than I was expecting initially. A guy came with a trailer and went over the car and had a test drive. He knocked me down a few hundred quid for worn discs but that was all. Payment made on the sort and the car was gone. All very easy.

Same for Reading, which has apparently been moved to the surface of Venus if the wind speed is too be believed.

I’ve got a pair each of Humvee trousers and the MT500 Spray. The latter has a much more generous fit at the bottom of the leg so they sit nicely over my winter boots. The Humvee trouser is a much closer fit at the ankle by comparison.

When he was tripoding down the ledge with one hand on the bars I did think ‘this is how things go badly wrong’.

Along with everyone above, I’ve been very happy with Speedrockers on my gravel bike. Once fitted nice and snug they’ve been grand. When I was using that bike for commuting last winter I put Bontrager NCS full guards on it. The sliding stay adjusters made fitting very easy and they are lovely and long guards. Just had to drill a hole for the fork mount, as has already been mentioned.

I know we’ve seen it all before, but you can’t take away from the sheer skill and audacity of some of those high consequence tricks. I shall feel suitably inadequate as I potter round my local loop later today.

Happy days! I still need to get the last Mint print I bought framed.

A series of drawn out plot lines all culminating in a finale that sets up further seasons. As I think had been mentioned before, the total lack of jeopardy when we know the main protagonists futures does take away from the experience. This second season has certainly been better than the first though.

A few enforced months of the bike over winter? One could almost view that as a blessing, of sorts. Good luck with it all.

That’s a good boots on the ground report of the state of things. It rather lays bare how our society teeters on a knife edge in terms of things working because everything else is working.

There’s a good interview with the Lauf CEO and one of their engineers on the Escape Collective podcast relating to this launch.

I have 2 pot SLX on my hardtail and they’re fine. However the 4 pot XTs I have on the FS have more power and better modulation. The Merlin price is very tempting by way of an upgrade.

The guy on the Path Less Pedaled had cover it I think, as has one of the kit writers on NSMB. They might be worth a look.

Back on form. After a couple of series that I’ve watched out of habit, this was a real pleasure.

Ride the Bonty post until it fails and then do the swap? I had issues with 31.6 Line posts in a Fuel EX and bought a Revive in the end. The 34.9 Line post in my present Top Fuel has been fine for two years though.

It only rained for a brief spell, but the ground in the Chilterns is getting progressively more wet.

Has anyone complained about how dark some of the filming is? I tried to watch some at lunch today and there were bits (Barrow Downs for example) where I had no idea wtf was going on. Couldn’t see a thing. Will have to try again once it’s dark out.

I’ve used the Hydrapack bladder in the past, but found the C.bak one to be easier to use. Well, until it inevitably refuses to couple hose to bladder. Then it’s not nice to use at all

I found myself waiting for a final run that would tie it all together, which never came. The highest consequence section seemed to be getting a group off an unfamiliar mountain in the dark. Beautiful scenery though and amazing footage that would have been unthinkable a decade ago when a helicopter would have been required.

Wife just turned ours on.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022ssr

Let’s see if this link works.

And this is why I need to expand my trail repertoire. For the alt cake stops.

The only advice that I can offer is that we had OralBs for a while. We then bought a less expensive thing which was total rubbish. Didn’t clean, crucially. Reverted to an OralB with a load of features that we never use. The kids have cheaper OralB ones that work fine but take 24hrs to charge, which is a pain.

@andos – if you’d be happy to play guide at some point, that would be great. Can’t beat some local knowledge.

Cheers folks. Somewhere to start. I fancy it’s going to be a case of doing the hard work of riding and seeing what works.

Send that picture over to mbuk for the ‘ that’s gotta hurt’ feature?

I had an annoying puncture that wouldn’t seal last year. Tubeless had been totally reliable for ages, to the point that I had to cut my seat pack open with a key as the zip had corroded. On trying to fit the tube it turned out to have perished and split. For those carrying tubes that never get used, check them at the same time you carry out the annual seatpost grease.

One of those quiet guys with great ideas, who never really got the rewards they deserved. Enjoy the Eternal Trail, Geoff.

Read the Guardian article, can’t work out if she has been treated terribly or whether there is some pro level whinging going on!

She was in the cycling program at the peak of ‘win at all costs’ and well before staff welfare was the consideration that it is today. I think she will have been treated terribly under a mentality of “if you don’t like the heat, get out of the kitchen”, rather than “let’s help you achieve your obvious and maximum potential”.

I’ve had two of these. First time out I was in the assessment waiting room and passed out when they took my blood. A bit embarrassing, but the doc said, “well you’re in a bed now so shall we just go ahead and operate?” Don’t buy the end of the day. Second one I was given the option by my GP of NHS or private treatment within the NHS. Easy choice and it was done in a few weeks. No lasting ill effects aside from a couple of scars.

I had some after a redundancy last year. It was useful to the extent that it forced me to ask some questions about what I wanted that I didn’t really know needed asking and highlighted some personal behaviours that might have held me back. Now it didn’t get me my dream job, but perhaps a direction of travel.

Here’s to new governments, new websites, and bikes generally.

This article surprised me. Bob is clearly a guy who does not sit still for long not rest on his laurels.