Can someone explain what a “DNA-based security solution” is?

I can think of a way of leaving my DNA all over my bikes, but I’m sure they’re not talking about that!!

Bigger cogs need a longer chain (assuming singlespeed), making more weight, making it tougher when climbing.

Otherwise I’d say it’s down to wear (more on smaller cogs).

Oh, the other point is that if it’s on a bike with suspension, the cog size will change the chainline and potentially affect the linkage, giving a reduction in efficiency.

We’ve got half a dozen hens and they’re really quite hassle free. You need to accept that they will basically decimate any ground that you let them loose on – we used to let ours roam the whole bottom garden and after a couple of months there wasn’t a blade of grass down there, we have since penned them into a smaller area (with an electric fence for fox proofing) to allow the grass to regrow (which it is doing with vigour due to the fertilizer-effect of the poo). They to a fantastic job of scarifying the lawn and removing things like dandelions, but same as if you spend all day going over your lawn with a scarifier you wouldn’t have much lawn left if you did it all day, so I would recommend you have a confined, secure area that they spend most time in, and let them out for a couple of hours if you want them to give the rest of the garden a good going over – they LOVE slugs, which is great if you’re growing veg, but the also like veg seedings/plants so it’s a bit of a double edged sword.

Red-mite is usually only a problem associated with any house that uses roofing felt for the roof. A completely wooden or plastic house or one with an Onduline roof does not have this problem. We have a completely wooden house and have never had a problem with red-mite.

They basically only need food and water. We use layers pellets most of the time and usually chuck a few handfuls of corn out in the morning and evening. When it’s cold, they get hot layers mash in the evening which keeps them warm and happy through even the coldest nights (like this winter when it was minus 10 degrees). You can feed them just scraps and kitchen waste, they will basically eat anything edible, but the quality and number of eggs they produce will be proportional to the quality (and quantity) of food they have access to. Our current 6 are laying 5 or 6 eggs a day, which is pretty good, but they are only about a year old and I expect this to drop off when they go into moult. When they moult, the lose some feathers, sometimes it’s loads, sometimes it’s only a few – when they do this, they basically stop laying as they keep their energy and nutrient stores for making new feathers, rather than making eggs. This is why farmed or battery chickens that you can buy look so ropey, it’s not because they’ve necessarily been maltreated, it’s that once they go into moult and stop laying the farm wants rid of them as they’re not producing, only consuming.

You’ll need a supply of straw (NOT hay, due to dust) for the nest-box area and wood shavings for the rest of the coop. They’ll need mucking out about once a week, I mix the shavings, straw and poo into my compost heap.

That’s about it. If you’re on the iDave diet, the supply of eggs is a godsend!

I don't get the same feeling of exploration/adventure at a trail centre.

If I'm going to ride say 20 miles, I'd like that 20 miles to be spread out over an area a lot bigger than a couple of square miles switching back and forth.

Although the terrain generally more interesting/challenging due to it being manufactured, I don't get the same feeling of satisfaction looking back over an open moorland or rolling hills and think "wow, I rode from all the way over there".

Black in both cases: Better contrast and colour in my opinion.

I certainly don't mind getting my spanners out and getting my hands dirty fixing mechanical stuff that breaks, but electronics that fail are a different matter to diagnose/fix.

I really like the idea of a 90 Defender with fold-up seats in the back, most of the time there'll be one or 2 in the vehicle with a load of gear in the back, but it'd be nice to flop out an extra seat (or 4!) if I need to carry some additional passengers. None of the less agricultural 4x4s seem to have a similar setup, as normal split/fold rear seats don't leave you with a such a truck-type rear compartment – unless anyone can think of something? Don't really want a twin-cab pick up as I'd tend to be using either the rear seats OR the flatbed which seems a bit of a waste – dual purpose makes more sense.

I've heard that Defenders are very prone to being pinched? Is that a myth, or is there anything that can be done to help deter the scum – I guess that the more agricultural it is, the less attractive it is, or perhaps it's the muddy hi-lift off-roaders that get swiped?

Scoob Forrester would be a good compromise if we only had one vehicle, but I've got another car that's used for long-distance cruising, so that capability isn't high on the list.

I make a dressing of something like the following (no strict measurements just adjust to taste really):

Extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a little soy sauce, pepper, paprika, a dash of habanero sauce and sometimes a little bit of tomato puree. I also often fry up a little bacon or chorizo and mix that in with the beans to give some nuggets of flavour.

Mix it all up and drizzle it all over them, makes them quite flavoursome and I have been doing that for lunches for weeks and I'm not bored of it yet.

If the phone is out of contract, then you can go into the shop for the network that it's locked to and get it unlocked for free. I've done this to 2 Vodafone locked N95s – popped into Vodafone, had a chat to them, 5 minutes later and I had 2 unlocked phones and my wallet was still full.

Trainers, at school, not a chance, not in my day. We didn't even have trainers for PE. If you were normal you had black slip on plimsolls, then if you were a bit cooler you had black lace up plimsolls, then white lace ups and the coolest of the cool had Dunlop green flash.

… and this one cost about £700.

Because it's got a min focal length of 14mm (pretty wide angle)

Wide angle lenses are more expensive as the optics need to be of considerably better quality to avoid distortion (eg vignetting/bending in the corners of the frame) distortion.

Personally, when I wrap bars, I do a "dry run" without removing the adhesive cover strip so that I can work out the most appropriate wrap for the bars (in particular around the hoods), assuming that I find a wrap route and over lap that works, then I remove the backing and apply the tape.

If the OP had done that, then it would have been clear it was too short, and could effectively be returned as unused.

Anyway, bit late for hindsight, but I also think that the OP side of the e-mail thread degraded into a frustrated rant which certainly wouldn't make we want to rush to go out of my way to help if I was the recipient.

Love the gurn in picture 3!

Weighed in this morning: 15st4lb. That's a total of somewhere around 13 pounds loss in 3 weeks (hard to be precise as I started the plan without really getting a base weight, but it was over 16st). The loss has slowed in week 3, but I've been doing less cycling last week as in week 1 and 2 I was getting miles in for the Exmoor Explorer.

Have made tried to make saturdays my day off, the last couple of weekends it's been from Friday night to after lunch Saturday because of various social plans, but on those days off I tend only to stray slightly and have porridge in the morning, maybe a couple of biscuits or a pizza or something through the day and a couple of beers in the evening. Would like to see the weight continue to drop to around 14st.

I am still trying to work out how to manage eating around exercise as I do find that I have less endurance, but I have read that lower-carb diets can take 2-4 weeks for your body to acclimatise to so I'm sticking with it for now and seeing if things improve. My thoughts are to continue with the healthier style of eating but to perhaps start to introduce some carbs back into the diet in moderation, and take simpler carbs for fuel during workouts.

A couple of questions though:
* People seem to be still eating porridge, is that allowed with something like Soya milk on?
* As someone mentioned above, is couscous allowed? I've been saying no as it's durum wheat, just like pasta, but all the low-gi reading I've seen say it's low-gi? What about Quinoa?
* What is the idea behind banning dairy, is it the fat content or something else? The lack of cheese is the thing I miss the most and the thing I enjoy most on my days off.

My local hut has tortilla chips that work prettyl well

Between a 26" and 29" it won't be significant.

The volume of a torus is 2(pi^2)R(r^2) where R is the radius to the centreline of the torus (lets assume this to be the radius of the wheel, it's not quite, but it's close enough to get an order of magnitude difference in volume) and r is the radius of the "donut" in this case the tyre/tube.

If r is the same between the 2 tyres (eg both using say a 2" tyre width), and the only variable is R then everything cancels out and the volume ratio of the 2 tyres is purely 29"/26" = 1.115 or approx 11.5% more volume in the 29" tyre.

So a given volumetric distortion % (lets call that X) there will be 0.115X more increase in pressure in the 26" tyre.

I can't be bothered to work out exactly what that will equate to, but if say the tyre volume changes by 5% (a pretty high estimate to be honest) then there will be about +0.5% (5% x 0.115) difference in pressure change between the 2 tyres. So to then use the example above if they both started at 40psi, one would end up at 42psi (40×1.05) and the other would be 42.24psi (40×1.05×1.00575).

For a 160lb rider, this makes the contact patches 3.809sqin and 3.788sqin for the 29er and 26er respectively.

Completely insignificant and unnoticeable I happily admit, but still theoretically slightly greater for the 29er.

(BTW I don't ride a 29er, I'm not an evangelist, just a bored ex-engineer)

Get some armoured undershorts with Cocyx protection. If you're learning to board, you will crash and land on your arse, hard. A couple of nasty wipeouts and you can seriously lose the enthusiasm to continue. Cheap knee pads (I have some neoprene gardening ones) can also save some pain in your knees from kneeling down when you come to a stop facing up the slope.

I still wear mine to this day and I've been boarding for years.

Been (sadly) thinking about this and I have to disagree.

I can certainly get my head round theory that for a given unladen pressure (eg 40psi) 2 identical width tyres, (26" and 29" dia, x 2" width) would distort under an identical load (say 160lb) until the contact patches are both the same – in this instance, 4sqin.

HOWEVER, if we take into account the dynamics of the distortion process, a 26" tyre would need to distort (squash) more than the 29" in order to achieve the same 4sqin contact patch, therefore there would be a greater percentage change (reduction) in volume of the 26" tyre and corresponding increase in pressure within the 26" tyre which means that the net contact patch required to maintain equilibrium would in fact be smaller.

Ergo, unless the tyre pressure is measures when the bike is laden, for a given tyre pressure, and identical rider conditions, the contact patch on a larger wheel WILL in fact be larger.

Well done Chris, I saw you. You were going through the tea stop for a second time after completing the extra loop, just as I was leaving the tea stop for the first time, about the start the extra loop!

cheers, they only have large though

Interesting, the ad is for a Med…

Perhaps a bit of self congratulation, to swell the noggin to fit a large?!

Try E-Bay. I got one (a large in brown/gold) next day from this guy.

Is it just me, or do the files not work properly?

I'm into my second week on the plan and have lost about 9lb so far. I've stuck to the plan pretty religiously; the usual chorizo omelette and black coffee breakfasts, lots of beans, veg, fish, meat lunches and meals and no booze. My days off (only one so far) have not been a binge, just eating and drinking normally.

I've been doing more cycling than I was before I was on the plan (~100 miles/wk now vs ~20 miles before), partly as I'm getting some training in before the Exmoor Explorer at the weekend, but also as I want to get fitter as well as lose weight. I've found that although my energy levels are fine through the day doing sedentary work, I run out of steam on the bike quickly (after maybe 1.5 hrs). However, I went out for a ride on Monday and felt great though, but I think that that was probably due to a store of carbs from my saturday off perhaps, as last nights ride was back to running out of energy. I'm not taking on any carbs before, during or after riding so I expect that that is the cause, but I want to stick to the plan properly for the 3 weeks before I start tweaking it.

For the Explorer at the weekend, I'll be carb loading during my day off on saturday which still complies to the plan(!), but I'll definitely take some flapjacks or something with me on the day.

At that price, I'm tempted to buy a spare one, or perhaps a blue one, so I can change my bike colour as my mood takes me!

I've got an Otterbox Defender. In fact I'm typing this reply through it! Not tried mounting it on the bike but it's a nice tough ruggedised housing for the phone itself. Not properly waterproof, but keep most dust and splashes out.

I grew up just outside Rudgwick and used to use the link all the time. The hill just north of Rudgwick goes over a tunnel (Baynards Tunnel) that you have to go to the left of and over (not directly over, there's a left/right turn at the top which heads you down towards where the Baynards station used to be (a pub I used to frequent called the Thurlow Arms)

I believe that the tunnel is protected (and locked up) as it homes a lot of bats.

It may be a bit flat and boring, but it's more interesting and direct than the road.

What are other peoples experience/advice regarding energy levels and endurance on the diet?

I started on this on Monday and went out for my first off-road ride last night since being on the plan – I felt good and had plenty of power for most of the ride, but I felt my endurance was well down and nearly bonked after a long climb. Last week on the same route, I had less power (sun/mon road riding probably helped increase that) but had no problem with the endurance.

I've stuck to the plan, so didn't take any additional carbs to those allowed through the "approved" food types.

The weight is dropping already (about 4lb in a week), and I feel slimmer too so I'm keen to stick with the exercise and diet, but am concerned that I may not be able to do as much exercise as I want to do with the energy provided by the diet? Doing the Exmoor explorer in just over a week so I need to make sure I will have enough endurance for that – should I maybe make my off-day the day before so that I can load up on "banned" carbs ready for the long ride?

Is this a phase that I will probably push through after more time on the diet?

Any similar findings or comments appreciated.

Cats hate citrus, so I'd refrain from using any kind of citrus-based degreaser as the smell of that may well send the cat off in a mad frenzy.

I guess it depends on how much your cats like being handled, ours are pretty good, but I still wouldn't try and get them in the bath to clean them. I'd try some sort of technique that you can perform as part of your usual petting process so as to not make a big episode of cleaning them up – perhaps use a paper towel with a bit of washing up liquid and warm water on to stroke the cat in the affected area to see if that removes of softens it.

The joy of Di2, is that the front mech automatically feathers to keep the chain line perfect. It's effing impressive!

I used to be able to do that with my down-tube mounted friction front shifter, before I went STI (which does at least have a half-click to do this, which it seems MTB shifters don't have)

I did, a while back.

Paid about $30 for shipping and then had to pay £32 in import tax based on the value that the seller had put on the item which was $199 rather than the retail of $299.

Took about a week or so to arrive. I also bought a cheap 32GB card from Hong Kong – apparently these can be risky, but mine seems to work fine. So all in all, including the camera, postage, taxes and a 32GB card from HK, I paid a total of something like £250.

No issue of PAL/NTSC as you can set this in the options on the camera.

What about a little bum-bag?

I know it's rather 1980's, but I use a little one sometimes if I'm not wearing a jersey with pockets, can get as much in it as I can in a small seatpack.

You can set the waist strap loose enough that the pack just sits on the top of your cheeks, doesn't constrict and is nice and out of the way.

This is a route I quite often do that takes in a lot of good singletrack and as little fireroad as possible just to get between the good singletrack sections. Nothing too extreme in this route either.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-kingdom/woodbury-common/893127687620085265

That's pretty conclusive! Conventional swing it is then.

The steering weight is how hard it is to move the bars, the steering speed is how quickly you can move the bars, there's a subtle difference.

Generally my understanding is the bar width generally impacts the weight of the steering (longer bar = more leverage = less weight) whereas the stem length changes the speed (shorter stem = less steering arc = more speed). However a change to one will impact the other slightly.

Bars are pretty wide: 710mm hi-rise – that would certainly slow down the steering compared to narrower bars, but its more the weight than the speed I'd like to change.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the installation process?

I can imagine that the bushes are fitted then gradually expanded until the fit is correct. Maybe it's a one-way process (ie once you expand them it's a pain or impossible to reduce them again?) and so sometimes they "overshoot" a bit and reducing would necessitate removal and starting again perhaps even with a new pair of bushes?

I'm just speculating here, I don't know the in's and out's of the installation process and also importantly I'm not implying that TFT would in any way chose to do a less than perfect job because the process might be a PITA.

I had an LG and it was excellent – had it for 10 years, electronic one with lots of options and programs and a large 7kg capacity, never missed a beat and is currently stored in the garage awaiting re-fitment when I'm in a house without a build in one!

but when our white goods man came around to fix our dishwasher* I was chatting to him about white goods, as you do and I mentioned that "I liked the look of them LG's", his face immediately fell and took on a serious cast, "don't touch em mate

I'd not take any pointers about machine reliability from a man who makes his living out of fixing broken ones, he'd be doing himself out of a job if he recommended a reliable manufacturer!

I've got coil U-turn Lyriks on my Remedy and I also have a modicum of play and it's only mildly annoying. I spoke to TFT about it and was also told that this was common and nothing to worry about unless it seems to be getting worse.

I've removed several tucks from our cats by gently running circles with my finger on the back end of the tick. Don't press hard at all or you'll squeeze guts into the wound, but after a few minutes of doing this they either get dizzy or they release for a better grip and just fall off without leaving anything behind.

Of course a tool is better, but in it's absence, I've found the above works.

Onza HO clipless pedals that used elastomers to "tune" the release tension and offered 2 different float settings with a 90degree turn of the cleat..
Chainstay mounted U-Brakes.
Suntour XC Pro thumbies are still some of the best shifters I've ever used.

I like the "percussive assembly tool" on the coffee table