http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/despicableme/images/5/5a/HerbOverkill.jpeg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/2000?cb=20160514175332

centralscrutinizer, how could I forget! Caramel Logs are also fantastic, but messy.

Flapjack is another winner, omnomnomnom

cdoc, but the hair… 😯

A more recent song here, discovered this one today; song goes

“Baby I don’t need dollar bills to have fun tonight (Have fun take pills)”

Thought it was interesting that this wasn’t censored on the radio.

Turns out it’s “(I love cheap thrills)”

Song name?

Cheap Thrills – Sia ft Sean Paul. *facepalm*

Cheers all!

I’m doing mine this Sat 😯

Format:
-“on behalf of my wife and I…”
-story of how we met
-soppy bit about how great she is
-named thankyous to everyone involved (lots of family doing us favours like flowers, photos (he’s a pro), cake (she’s a pro), invites, music, chaufferring…)
-get everyone to check out the bridesmaids
-toast bridesmaids

Best of luck! Writing this made me realise I hadn’t actually written down the photographer for a thankyou, oops..

I’d recommend winging it for the story of you meeting her, and then listing out the names of folks that’ve done stuff. You only get one shot, and auntie Brenda needs to be on that list.

Eggs. Heinz Baked Beans. Grapes.

On rare occasion I accidentally consume all three within a day.

It’s baad.

I’ve done either this loop or something very similar; started at the Linn of Dee, headed west till we reached Glen Feshie, then north and bivvied at Loch an Eilein. The following morning we headed up through Glenmore and up past An Lochan Uaine (on the SE foot of Meall a’ Bhuachaille), slogged up the shoulder towards An Lurg in proper blowy wind, headed to the Fords of Avon refuge and then finished by following the Derry Burn/Lui Water back to the Linn of Dee.

If that’s the route you’re after, I have gpx split into three (battery issues on day 1). It involves a couple of instances of us getting lost, but the route is generally easy to follow.

In terms of terrain, the route was 90% rideable for two 18 year olds on battered hardtails; the hardest part by far was heading south just after the Fords of Avon refuge, where the path is so rough it’s unrideable. Couple of miles of walking, and it makes you really appreciate the sweet singletrack in Glen Derry once you reach it. It took us a very relaxed 1.5-2 days, including getting lost, waiting for shops to open in Glenmore and getting blown over a lot towards An Lurg.

100% would recommend.

I intend to do it again some day soon, but am considering diverting west at the Fords of Avon, following the shore of Loch Avon towards Macdui and reappearing on the original route with the Coire Etchachan Burn. May not be any better, but from memory that would cut out the worst bit of the super-rough track. Opens up the option to turn it into a three day trek, summitting Macdui on day 2 before bivvying on the lower slopes and riding back out on day 3.

I’ve emailed you pal

M6/M74 for me as well.

FYI Tesco just off jn43 (Carlisle) of M6 is way cheaper than all the service stations, plus it’s got loos etc.

I’m heading up that way overnight tonight, holiday on Mull for a week wahey!

You might get lucky…

I was driving for the uni 3 day end-of-year mtb trip this year, hired a minibus through the uni. For the duration of the trip I was the only sober bloke there (I was designated driver), so that van took quite some abuse… Think folk dancing on the roof/playing “round the van”/trying to ride bikes down the bonnet.

The poor van took a bit of a beating, big dents on the roof and scratches all over, quite a few smashed bottles of Peroni inside as well.

One of the lads had a sucker mount for his GoPro that we used to pull the worst of the dents out, and when I got home I gave the van a proper wash/polish to try to get rid of/hide some of the scratches. Swept it out and sprayed plenty deo inside to try and get rid of the beery aroma.

Handed the van back the next morning, and waited inside like a man at the gallows while the bloke inspected the van outside. He came back in, informed me it was perfect, and bade me farewell.

You never know, your inspector might be half asleep when you hand the car back in!

Plan is to do the seals/oil and see if that fixes them. It’s just the very first 40mm of travel that take a bit of force before they suddenly give and blow through, it just isn’t very smooth/predictable.

If not, I’ll punt them and give in to my desire for a set of Pikes!

My name’s poltheball and I’m a heat moaner.

Disgustingly hot here (ginger Scotsman in a non airconditioned office underneath a skylight that’s focussing the sunlight to melt my skin).

Going home at 3, can’t hack this heat. The ride home is like biking through a sauna to me (probably fine to everyone else, I’m ginger remember).

Probably very unscientific link that proves I’m suffering more than you

Ah well, home and a cold beer in a hammock up a tree beckons, possibly with some bike fiddling chucked in for good measure. Could be worse!

put chainwhip on middle cog at about 3 o clock and cassette removal tool with spanner at about 9 o clock. Hold wheel with left hand vertically in front of you. Jump onto the wheel landing both feet at the same time on the spanner/chainwhip. Miss with one foot and gouge left shin with tool, whilst unbalancing and falling forwards to smack head on floor. Throw wheel across garden.
Retrieve wheel.
Refit chainwhip on middle cog at about 3 o clock and cassette removal tool with spanner at about 9 o clock. Hold wheel with left hand vertically in front of you. Put one foot tentatively on chainwhip. Hold onto a wall and carefully move your other foot onto the cassette removal tool spanner. Balance like this for half a second then fall flat on face. Boot wheel over wall and sulk for 15 minutes.

Still laughing at this 😆

Cheers for the suggestions so far, she’s liking the sound of cafe/pub facilities 😆

However dubious it may be, all competing times are equally as dubious, so technically it’s still a level playing field for that particular squiggle of GPS data and I uphold my claim 😆

I’ve ridden a bit of Delamere with a mate before, but we were doing some of the off piste stuff- wasn’t sure how much easy stuff there was? Will have a look, cheers!

B-e-a-utiful. If anyone’s up there tomorrow from lunchtime onwards I’m the big ginger on the Spesh!

The Mango own-brand stuff is made of cheese unfortunately, everyone I know that has one has had no end of bother with them.

Are you adverse to buying second hand? Decent road bike could be had for that money. What sort of commute is it? On-road/ canal towpath/ off-road/ all of the above?

Is this the mystery dropper?

tomhoward, the bloke who bought the bike isn’t even on STW; I know him from the uni team and he got in touch after I posted on the private Facebook page last night.

So yeah, direct correlation 😆

Just sold the bike for £400, there is hope! Sold to a boy from uni who put his money where his mouth was and bought the proverbial Aston Martin.

Some fair comments here; it’s unfortunate really, as I know I’d potentially make more from splitting the bike, but don’t have the time and need the money quickly!

As for hora’s troll, the bike was actually built over several years on a paper boys wage for function over form, so everything on the bike was the best part available for the least money when buying. That excludes the strap on mustache that normally adorns the bars of course 😆

Had a couple of offers overnight, one from a chap from uni and another through an advert, so looks like £450 might be the selling price.

Just as well, I’m bankrupt and the new bike arrives tomorrow 8)

Those photos were taken post-polish; it’s not a particularly flashy or shiny bike, so obviously won’t attract that type of buyer. Fair enough with the old standards, if that sort of thing bothers you then it’s not worth much. However if you’re keen on cheap spares and don’t mind having an unfashionable bike it’s a prime opportunity 😆

What could be done better with regards photos? Bike was cleaned, polished, placed against a neutral background in good lighting conditions and photos were taken of the important bits. Genuine question, as I thought the pictures were pretty good.

Cables are just there to do a job, however I’m willing to negotiate on the stick 😆

It’s funny the different values folks put on things- I’ve had several of the lads at uni tell me they’d bite my hand off at £450 if they could afford it.

It’s sat on pinkbike a good £200-300 cheaper than near-identical bikes, so it can only be a matter of time really!

Didn’t intend for this thread to become a “how much is my bike worth..” one..

But out of interest, what does the STW massive value an unfashionable 26″ hardtail at nowadays? More specifically, my unfashionable Ragley?

It’s well worth the money to the right buyer; you’d spend that sort of money on a dropper post and set of brakes nowadays without wincing!

Just need to find a similarly proportioned bloke who doesn’t mind riding an “old” standard wheel size 😆

😆

But seriously, two minutes it took to get me a reply on this thread. Two minutes. Been trying to sell my bike for two weeks without a bite. Argh!

Don’t bother spending anything like that amount of dollah.

Yes, building a bike helps massively with understanding how everything works, so well worth it.

No experience of Capel, but I’ve done Kilbo several times. I’ve approached from both Prosen and Clova, and it’s definitely a quicker ride/more accessible from Clova. Park in the Glen Doll carpark, ride up to Corrie Fee, climb the corrie backwall enjoying the cracking views, have a bite to eat on top of Mayar with a smashing view, fire across and top Driesh if you can be bothered, then blast down Kilbo. As has been mentioned, techy while you follow of the side of the Shank of Drumfollow, but so, so satisfying when you nail it. Ride through the forest at the bottom is brilliant. By far my favourite natural ride so far!

FYI it’s about a 2 hour ride if you don’t stop, 2.5hr if you enjoy the view from the top Strava link[/url]

Haharr! I’ve had the same issue on my bike, and just went and checked. Mine is the rivets. I was feart about the state of my freehub too, but couldn’t find the tool to whip the cassette off the other night so didn’t get as far as finding out what it was!

Cheers chickenman

Cheers for the suggestions!

I had actually looked at stupid cars, like an old Merc/Jag for a laugh, but knowing me it’d go horribly wrong and I’d end up with another dead & worthless car 😛

That polo could be worth a look, cheers for the heads up- I’m keeping an eye out on gumtree and auto trader for anything that pops up locally.

Ah ha !
This could be your lucky day !
I have a micra 1L Auto 3 door that Im sticking on eBay this eve !
W reg
40000 miles from new lots of battle scars but has been well looked after (owned by my friend till I bought it 7 years ago) I have used it for purely going to work and back !
MOT till end of June
Yours for £350 (cheaper than renting )
Im in London
With the seats down it will take 3 bikes and kit !
Give me a shout if interested !

If you weren’t in London and it was a manual (being picky now..) I’d have had that off you! Based in Glasgow/Manchester just now.

So the consensus is long MOT and whatever I fancy really, probably Japanese.

It’s useless stipulating a make/model at this price. Find the best car within 10miles and buy that on condition/history.

Very good point, probably overthinking it.

Haven’t read everything that’s been posted, so I’ll assume that I’m repeating stuff that others have said – it’s worth saying again though.

My fiancee has anxiety depression, she’s got family history of it but it hit her like a train when she moved a couple of hours away from home (and five hours from me) to study midwifery at uni. Crying all the time, panic attacks where she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, zero motivation, constant tiredness, physical pain (mostly in her stomach), insomnia.. This went on for a while, and it really wasn’t fun.

Much like your missus, she didn’t want to go to the GP – she didn’t have time to waste on that sort of thing, plus she was too strong for that, and having a mental illness is so… embarrassing.

First thing to note: your wife is awesome to have coped for so long. Like, really awesome, and so, so strong.

Talking about having depression anxiety isn’t about admitting to having a weakness, it’s about showing how strong you’ve been and getting help to make things easier.

So yeah, GP is a good call; she deserves all the help she can get. Just don’t forget that no matter how many therapists or doctors she sees, no matter how many drugs she tries, you’ll always be the biggest help to her, even if you feel totally out of your depth and useless.

I’m doing an engineering degree, so everything in my brain has to be logical. Depression anxiety isn’t logical, and there isn’t a way to model it or predict behaviour based on past experience – there is no specific cause, there is no definite effect; all you know is that it’ll be rubbish every time but that it’ll pass. So don’t waste time trying to get your head around it, just hug her/talk to her/rub her back/sit in silence with her until she feels better – different methods will work better on different days.

There’s a stupid stigma surrounding mental health; people don’t really know how to deal with it when they see someone with a problem that’s not visible like a broken leg. I’m pretty sure the statistic is something like 1 in 10 have anxiety depression, so also make sure she knows she’s not alone. We found that it helped to just be up front and honest about it, and talk about it as if it was just a broken leg. For instance, if someone asked her how she was, she got in the habit of actually telling them honestly how she’d been as opposed to the normal “I’m fine”; that helped her a lot as the amount of people that offered support, or actually mentioned that they’d been through something similar was staggering, and it really made her feel a lot more at ease.

It will end, and you will come out the other side stronger both individually and as a couple – just don’t give up, find what works for you and get all the medical help that you can.

Back to my lady, a couple of years down the line, she patched the uni course as it was only making things worse and moved back home. I then moved down to hers for the summer to do a work placement, and she improved dramatically over the summer (she’s on sertraline now as well which helps, with a tiny dosage of diazepam for when she’s feeling edgy). Where we’re at now, she’s bagged herself a retail job and although she has the occasional wobbly, she’s absolutely nailing it and is already being trained to be a supervisor.

So, tell your wife she’s awesome and that she can do it; just look at the support she’s received on some random bike forum on teh internets..

Focus on getting better first, and everything else will fall into place. If that means time off work/reduced hours, then so be it. We only get to live for a short while, not worth wasting that time slogging away at a job if it’s detrimental to your health!

FWIW, I interviewed at Strathclyde a couple of years back in a shirt & jeans, with a nice jumper over the shirt so that if I arrived and everyone was wearing a shirt I could whip off the jumper, and if it was more casual I could keep it on and not feel over dressed. Not a suit in sight – I’d lean towards a shirt & chinos/similar. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wears a suit at uni, no academics, no students (unless it’s Suit Tuesdays, but that’s a different story).

Tell him to wear what’s comfy – at most uni interviews you’ve pretty much already got the position and they’re just meeting you to confirm that you’re not a total twonk in person/lying through your teeth on your personal statement. That said, my interview was purely a chat with an academic, his might be more of a “chat and competency test” style gig – even then, wear what you’d wear to uni.

I’ll never forget my first day on placement last summer.. I was on the railways, and turned up in a suit & tie the first day. Everyone else in the office was in polos/scruffy jeans, and thought I’d come to inspect them 😆

19yo speaking here; adding parents on as named drivers knocked down the premium every time.

If he’s going to do low mileage then stick about 6000mi in, it worked out as the cheapest for me – any less, then you’re a higher risk because you don’t gain as much experience over the year; any more, and you’ve more chances to wrap the car round a tree.

Try unexpected cars for a teenager, none of this Corsa/Polo rubbish. Insurance for them will be through the roof.

Look at older but equally practical cars, like wee Suzuki Alto/Wagon R (he’ll hate you), Audi A2 (I have one), Subaru/Jags from the 02 era if you’re not bothered about tax&fuel economy. If you’d rather he had a newer car, just avoid the wee cars that his mates are all driving, as insurance companies will charge through the roof for a boy-racer whip.

I did a lot of research over a large period of time and chose the diesel A2 because:
-£30 tax
-60-70mpg
-Diesel is cheap at the mo
-Active owner’s club/forum
-Value forecast to increase
-Insurance for an 18yo was about £700 in a rough area of Glasgow
-It was way comfier/better built than anything else I could afford

Shop around but think past just insurance and cost price.

Might be interested if you’re selling, although they’re a pig to get on my current rims. Rims will be changing soon though!

Email if you’re selling: poltheball at hotmail dot com

Cheers
Paul

Reported to move to bike forum, you might get more joy with answers 😉

I have an A6 estate. Just using it as a mobile shed really for my bike.

Drat, I thought my detective hat was working! 😆