Thanks

Excellent news – kept checking yesterday just in case there was an update.

Best wishes!

Presumably the 4 figures include the pence?

Return it.

Did mine in 2001. Flipping agony, were out for about 6 months on and off. I remember that when I was pretty much giving up the will to live, they suddenly started to ease a bit. Then I tried biking which made a huge improvement. Haven't stopped since and I have a perfect excuse!

Ended up turning out of the 200mph headwind around Claerwen reservoir to go north just before Claerwen farm, as described by Nostoc. Indistinct and frankly sh**ty (in every sense) sheep track, but the Monk's track at the top was OK, if a touch boggy. It was a great day out exploring, haven't done something like that for ages and it's excellent to get right out there. I did realise though that Conti Speed Kings were waaaaaay out of their depth in bog!

Thanks for all the advice.

Best of luck on Friday, Mark. We'll all on here be thinking of you, and by Saturday you'll be into the next phase.

Best wishes too, Megan. You'll have even more grumbling to contend with than when "Man-flu" strikes!!

Ononeorange

Been there a number of times. Don't spend long in Manila – maybe a couple of days max. Big, chaotic, noisy and dirty city. It's interesting enough, but it soon becomes "too much". It has a strong US background to the culture. A great day-trip is to go up to Mt Pinatubo, to get to it you have to go in some quite mental off-road 4×4's then a good trek up to the edge of the cone which is full of water. Stunning – and you go get some peace! (Noise is everywhere in the country!).

Carlos Celdran runs highly entertainign and interesting tours of Manila link below – thoroughly recommended.

http://celdrantours.blogspot.com/

What sort of thing are you looking for? Ther country is made up of literally thousands of islands, and they vary in "feel" hugely. You're probably advised to treat Mindanao (south) with great care, as there's a civil war going on and westerners do get kidnapped. In terms of "wow", my favourite is Bohol – very environmentally-aware (compared with the rest of the country which is not at all!), beautiful scenery, people are really laid back. It's got the chocolate hills which are spectacular. I'm not a great fan of Borocay, which has now become too touristy and is frankly a bit tacky.

I've not been, but I understand Palawan (long thin island to the west) is absolutely glorious.

Don't expect anything to happen quickly or even necessarily logically, just go with the flow otherwise it can get frustrating. People are unfailingly pleasant and polite, and tend to be exuberant. Enjoy – it's really worth making the effort to discover.

Excellent photos! Warms the heart………

Also like them here – haven't tried them in heavy mud though.

Not had any particular problems spinning out uphill on loose stuff either with a bit of control. Only used in the south though, so no idea what they're like on rock.

Thanks everyone – if we go for it, I'll let you know ecky.

Cheers

Slightly belated congratulations on the engagement, both – fantastic news!

+1 on the stag do (have own bald head to bring!).

Keep up the fight – there's this whole forum right behind you.

All the best to you both.

+1 on the ticket, Tracker1972. Quite agree.

S/s inbred usually comes out (or the P7 which has monster tyres on)

OrangeEvo yes it was a good group. I was on the Ti 456 (rigid rear-end, which is what I've had since) and my buddy was on the black Orange 5. At that junction, it was incredibly difficult to actually decide which way to go rather than just stare into the middle distance….! Good to ride with you, see you next year.

Just put one together this week for the first time. Am going to put all this stuff to the test at the weekend.

As above, the ridiculous use of "like" in every sentence which once noticed then drives me crazy.

"For free". No, it's free of charge.

Never watched Big Brother / that dancing thing.

Never ridden like a god.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Hurt a lot today though! Not as fit as this lot (above), as it took 7 and a half hours.

Hats off to the chap on the s/s who effortlessly drifted past on the first long climb, and to the tandem couple. OrangeEvo, I think we rode with you for a long stretch as we made the cutoff with a whole minute to spare. Plenty.

And a huge round of applause to the wonderful lady handing out nuts and jelly babies at the first/second rest stop. You were a heroine!

Saturday: Somehwere on the way to N Wales (tbd)
Sunday: Ruthin Merida. Ti 456 or Orange 5 dilemma.

Take a look at her mother first

and

You can't beat the brewer

Thanks Trailrider Jim. Was planning to use a Conti Speed King, don't think they do that in UST, so it's back to endless tyre discussions in my head….! (I don't get on with Schwalbe tyres – I just destroy them).

Thanks everyone. Like Judderman I was horribly confused by the various kinds of type and what I actually needed.

schmiken: My LBS looked rather blank – they'd not "heard" of tubeless and told me that valves only come built into inner tubes. Which is why I use the internet…..!!

Cheers

4
Monster Camelbak for me (HAWG?) plus a little tiny one for short rides, elderly Blowfish which has really died and Mrs has one but I can't remember the name.

FWIW I tried fitting a Jones ACX onto an ordinary Mavic 719 rim last week with tube, and could not get the ****er over the rim. Gave up after snapping two levers and making an utter mess of the tube.

Got some Stan's Flows rims coming (arrived today!), will try with that.

Did someone call?!

Married no kids.

My wife is fantastic, let's me go (within reason) when I want, but the limting factor is work (and commuting – too far to ride, nowhere to leave bike at work etc). Go out with local group 6.30am Saturday morning (so they're back when their kids are up) for 2-3 hours, usually get a Sunday blast in and try to get out for a night ride in the week.

Superb! That's a lovely job. I wouldn't have thought of orange as a colour beforehand, but it works really well.

Impressive shed/garage/workshop, too.

I'm up for it and have done it the last few years. IMO it's their best Welsh course, lots of climbing but not as technical as the others and well marshalled.

Not tried the camping so can't comment.

Which distance are you going for?

It doesn't look like you enjoyed the distilleries….!!

Excellent pics. I want to be there NOW!

Sigh! Sounds fantastic. I'm on the poxy train at 6.30 every day….

It's a plan that I very much want to do John, but live in the South so need to make it a "special operation" when I can find the time. How long would you plan to take for it?

As above make it easy – and also make sure she knows (as far as it's possible) that whenever she's had enough, you can go home – never ever pull a tantrum of your own if you feel you've just got started!

By following the above rules, I taught my GF to ride a bike (she'd never even done that before, amazing) and now we're married and biking together regularly, so I think I got it right!

I know it's not a film, but Friends brings out all of the anger described above and more. Loathsome, detestable, smug, unfunny, little ****s, the lot of them.

Had a similar thing to TJ recently, triglycerides through the roof – 8% I think – (I don't smoke, don't drink much, thought diet was good etc) and it was suggested I get re-tested soon with a view to going onto the dodgy chloresterol-reducing drugs, which I don't want to do, so I've sort of put off getting re-tested. Everything else came out good, but Dr implied I may last another 5 mins at best or maybe 10 if I was really lucky.

Hadn't heard about this Qrisk thing – I'll look into this before getting re-tested.

I hadn't realised porridge is good – that's excellent news as I love it but thought it may me fat so made myself avoid it. Upped veg intake and fish, but then the fish (I think) kicked off gout….! Painful.

Any other diet suggestions from the nutritionists on here?

Ready for the SPAM XX chainset

Keep posting! It's a real inspiration.

Thanks chaps.

They came like it (second-hand buy off the classifieds), I'm using a Hope rotor that I had knocking around, which I'm guessing is just a tad thicker than the previous one used.

Thanks for the tips.

Thanks Paulio, that's h a helpful video, but my problem is that all the psitons are so far out that I have to really push the rotor between the pads just to get it in. And none want to move back……

Ti29er – they are all black rabbits up on the Common, aren't they? Is that your home turf? I live backing onto the Common (and will be blatting round trying to miss the black bunnies in about 2 hours!)

Headsets, wheelbuilding, forks / rear suspension units. Cannot for the life of me work out Pro II hubs – I know it's me though. Always end up at the shop with a bag load of bits! Determined to crack them one day, though.