I quite like riding round normally on zwift, especially on a pleasant route like sand and sequoias. It’s just like riding a familiar route outside as long as you’ve got a smart turbo only with no cars and no rain.

I like racing too, but some races are pointless, I’m never going to even bother the top half on a hilly route.

I bought a spoon as an emergency get me home saddle when I couldn’t face any more of the break on process on my brooks one Friday commute. Never took it off, comfiest saddle I’ve ever had.

You’ve reminded me I was looking for a new one, I’ve lost mine somewhere down the line somehow.

I’m guessing the UCI moving to mywhoosh for the official virtual cycling competition will have hit them financially, I fear this will be the beginning of the end for Zwift unless they get bought by a sport washing state. A lot of the  big cycling brandssuppliers from when I came back to the sport in 2009 have gone the same way, it’s a shame really.

I really enjoyed Zwift during Covid and used it a lot the following years but I only used it for a couple of months last winter, and at £18 a month I’ll stick with the gym down the road for £15 a month.

Anyone want to buy a cheap smart turbo?

My Strom is the 1000, are the forks interchangeable? Looks like most people are asking about going the other way. Used forks would probably the best answer tbh, it’s getting difficult to get someone to take my money to sort these at the moment. Guessing everyone is trying to get bikes on the road now.

I’ve turned the in focus off and its much better, in fact I think I prefer it now because I don’t have to scroll down so much to see what’s going on. I can see that my HRV has tanked straight away now, and tallies with how crap I feel

My forks are scored on my cheapo Vstrom and I’m weighing up the pros and cons of paying £500 to get it fixed vs part ex-ing it for something new.

I’ve quite enjoyed the extra power over the old Meteor, but not the fuel costs so much as a commuter. My local dealer is pumping out the old ones at £4000 which seems like a bargain, are they still useful? Or should I hang on fix the Vstrom and get something different in 2025?

Or is there anything else good, cheap (£5k or less) and reliable for a year round commuter?

We watched Barbenheimer on a transatlantic flight, the first half was a great popcorn film, but the second act was pretty heavy going.

Brave creative choice.

Notable mention for all of the Fast and Furious films from 5 onwards.

And Cold Pursuit, the most fun of Liam Neeson’s Action Uncle series.

Nothing new to add other than to say non shimano QRs (cheap alternatives anyway) are universally crap. I had to replace the QR on my Bizango years ago because I pulled the rear wheel out of the dropout several times under my enormous power.

They’re cheap and ugly but effective.

Add me to the pile of I’m Glad It’s Not Just Mes.

41M names won’t come to me when I want them, however I still remember my girlfriends phone number from 1998 and the one from 2000-2002.

Also bank account and sort code numbers for personal and joint account numbers, all I think car reg numbers going back to 2000, but not he one that on the drive at the moment.

I’ve been worried because my wife is 5 years older than me and is displaying none of this, however she has been a stay at home mom for 14 years and does sudoku, I come home from work and stare into the abyss.

Cannock? Close enough to the M6 but probably not far enough north

I’ve got one, wife is on second. My only issue with it is the battery life. I’m quite a heavy user though, and came to it from a larger iPhone 11. I think I’ll probably get rid before long now and go back to a bigger phone. I’ve still got almost a year left on the contract but it doesn’t really work for me.

I’ve got some that I paid £6 for off ebay. I use them for kayaking more than anything else but will use them for running if I need to – events and such. They’re decent enough

I’d like to try some proper shokz ones, but I know they’re not going to be as good as airpods, so I might as well just buy £6 ones for when I fall in the canal wearing them.

I guess vdP has to go when Pog goes but I wonder what would have happened if he hadn’t gone so deep to close that gap over the top of the Poggio

I think when he saw Phillipsen was with the group at the finish his job was done. Jesper had been in the press earlier in the week saying he wasn’t sure if his future was as Alpecin, I think the end would have been hastened if VdP had sprinted against him, especially as he (Phillipsen) had the best chance of the two of them.

It was impressive the way VdP closed the gap to Pog though, Flanders will be interesting.

You can buy in date ones? I suppose I must’ve done once, but I’m still working through some I bought well before COVID times

I went on holiday to Oban last summer, wouldn’t go there on holiday again soon. Would happily move there.

No advice though, I just had a jolly time, but weirdly unaccommodating to tourists, couldn’t get a drink and a cake in the afternoon, especially with kids, D&G is much better for that. But it’s a lovely place, wouldn’t tire of the view from McCaigs Tower in several lifetimes. If I had cake at home all would be well.

Gelatoburger is fantastic.

I’m with the OP too, **** hate mtbing in the wet, every pedal stroke and wheel revolution just sounds like pennies being drained from my bank account.

Also can’t be arsed sorting out wet and muddy kit and and I hate the Cannock chase grinding paste getting everywhere.

if it carried on indefinitely I wouldn’t quit, but I’d probably get rid of the full suss and run a hardtail with big permanent mudguards. And a gravel bike.

slackboyFull Member
I’d buy it just for the name. maybe.

THis one looks more interesting though – £1500 for a ebike commuter

https://www.planetx.co.uk/pages/the-all-new-envoy

Hadn’t seen that, if it had drop bars I’d be all over it. Looks good that, would prefer mid motor for wheel swaps, but I think cheap mid motors don’t exist.

I started reading the email and immediately checked the date. Still march so assume just a daft name.

Looks like a laugh, but the idea of a heavy aggro e-hardtail sounds like a money making scheme for rear wheel makers and chiropractors.

I’ll be following the reviews closely though for when they start doing an e-freeranger or e-rujo

Tried to cycle to work yesterday down the same route that I used to do 5 days a week. Still fit into all my gear but something has happened to my fitness when I hit 40. Took me about 15-20 mins longer in each direction, and what was zone 2 is now top end of z4 as a minimum.

Going to have to ease back into that if I want to pick it up again. Not sure Mrs P would be keen on me rolling in at 7 again though, need an e-bike.

I’m an insurance underwriter, basic qualifications required are some school but not sure how essential that is to be honest. You just need to have some common sense and be a bit pessimistic and able to see what could go wrong.

What is a weakness when it comes to mountain biking has made me a comfortable living in the end, which I seem to spend mostly on bikes.

If you like your wired headphones so much why not just get a wireless receiver?

I’ve used things like this in the past, they’re good enough.

I got some airpods pros at Christmas and they’re great, but before that was using some Mpow M30s which are also great but the touch sensitive controls aren’t great in the rain, and I’ve got some soundcore airpod shaped things which are surprisingly good (I use them for teams calls now) – edit these are soundcore p2i still available for £28

How gruesome is this? Looks good, but the wife is put off by the 18+ rating, she’s ok with war, so band of brother/pacific is fine, The boys – not so much.

I’ve got the cheapest higher state ones and use a cheap stretchy belt for my phone

https://www.sportsshoes.com/product/hst1459/higher-state-mens-2-in-1-7-inch-running-short/#sku-hst1461

For £40 you could get a phone holder belt and 5 pairs of shorts.

I’ve got something like this on my hybrid commuter, that I have used as a gravel bike test mule and they’re great at keeping mud off you and most of the bike, wobble a bit but haven’t broken. The only part of the bike that gets really dirty is the front mech, remember them? Retro.

I’ve been struggling recently, I used to be in bed by 10.45ish, up at 5.30 run/ride/weights before work. But now can’t haul myself out of bed.

I’ve realised it’s because of the kids getting older (14 & 16 now) they’re not in bed at 8pm anymore, so me and the Mrs aren’t getting to settle in until 10, so not getting to bed until 11.30 most nights in the week and getting even 7 hours sleep is a fanciful dream. It’s particularly difficult in the winter, and further not helped by the fact that Mrs P is not a morning person, so is happy to stay up later in the evenings.

Come the summer, hopefully I’ll be back to it, there have been times on holiday in Scotland in May that I’ve been up with cows in the morning and at the trailhead before 5am, rode Ae & Mabie one year and was back at the farm with takeaway coffee for 9am.

Sore this morning, feeling proper grot.

Popped it out (the denture) this morning to clean the porridge off it, gap feels weird too, but according to the wife it doesn’t look bad so will have to see which is least worse.

Clean your teeth kids!

I’ve been using Jefit on and off for about 15 years. There might be better ones our there, but it does what I want and it’s free.

Stronglifts is good too if that’s what you’re doing, but it’s less versatile.

The maps  pre installed are only the base maps, but you do get the full maps included, they’re just not pre installed you have to do it either over wifi or using Garmin express. Wifi takes forever, express merely takes ages. 

Word of warning, there’s no multiband gps on this one, but I’ve found the standard gps loads better than the Fenix 6 pro

It’s a great watch and it’s still getting the latest updates, I’ve on the beta program so have nap tracking and sleep coach turned up this last week or so. If you can afford the new one it’s obviously even better, I wish it had the torch, but I can’t afford £800 on a watch so this will do for me until the pros or whatever is next comes down to my price range. 

If you want ultimate battery life though, mips screen is the way to go. I only get 4 days from mine with an hour or so workout per day with AOD on, but I’ve always been on the low side of battery compared to what others seem to get. 

Yeah they’ve been this price since Black Friday at least. They sold out at the beginning of November and my bank balance breathed a sigh of relief until they came back in stock at the same price in December. Got one then, looks proper dapper with a nice brown ‘leather’ Amazon strap.

I’ve got an Epix, wore a Fenix 6 pro for a year and a bit before. It’s definitely more noticeable than some other watches, had an apple watch for a bit which I found really comfy, but just wasn’t as good.

I do think it’s strap dependent too, I found them better with standard straps than the aftermarket one I currently have but it looks nicer so I’ll live with it. Velcro ones don’t work for me because of the amount of canal water they get soaked in

Week two kids more into it than the first week, I think it’ll find its feet. I think the Beeb has got the timing right on this reboot, the Sky one was too soon, most people that were my age (i.e around 10 the first time round) will have kids about that age now so ripe for proper nostalgia.

Sabre though, death by snu snu comes to mind. Oh yes.

You can’t, I’ve just deleted the apple music app, and it works sort of.

You cant make it just start playing what you were last listening too by clicking your headphones like you can with the apple app. It’s fine though.

I can’t decide whether I loved it or thought it was far too cringe, the kids enjoyed it though, and had to bite my tongue when sabre was trying to pull Kerry off the rings, what I wouldn’t have given to swap places, and strength to weight ratio, and MTB skills.

@Ewan – yes that is what the research is saying, looking very likely that a Kia Sportage will be the best compromise, I think in a year the answer would have been completely different, but unfortunately we need to change this spring.

Part of me is tempted to buy an absolute shitter for a few months and see what happens, but we do spend quite a bit of time in the car at weekends and somewhere nice to be is a nice thing.

Some interesting stuff in here, thanks all please keep it coming.

5lab – i-pace eh? There is one, that weirdly is right in budget, has literally every feature that we would want in a car (even non leather seats!) but is quite a jaunt away and has done a few more miles than is ideal. I will spend the next few days researching that idea to death. Mixed bag reliability wise, but it ticks so many boxes it might be worth a day trip…

Update –

Went to a car supermarket over the weekend (after settling on a Tiguan based on specs and online listings then discovering that all of the ones locally have aged terribly so they’re out) and took the kids to try loads of options for size.

Wife and kids have decided no leather, too cold and shiny – I’m not particularly bothered but I’ve been outvoted so Niro is out, 2 spec one is rare and a bit sparse.

Kona too small

Fords – gearboxes are indeed a gamble I’m not willing to take.

So I think we’re down to a shortlist of 2.

MG ZS EV – can shift the budget based on reduced future bills to get a long range one for £17kish

Kia Sportage – kids favourite, because it’s got heated rear seats.

Really tempted by going electric, but still mildly panicked at the idea. Anyone owned or driven a new MG EV?

Doesn’t tick the great box, although there are some really nice places locally if you have the funds, but you can live on cannock chase and commute into birmingham by train in an hour, bit less on a motorbike, little bit more pedal powered.

I had a Toblerone this year, that was it.

Me and the wife haven’t done presents each other for years due to lack of funds, kids are 13 and 15 now, told them they really should be thinking about other people now, little gits.

I love toblerone though, so it’s all good

I’m WFH, didn’t adjust from normal schedule so wasn’t a bit issue getting up. Went to the gym to make a start on making my clothes baggy for a trip to the states in March. Been laid up with a cold for a last week, the rest of the family tested positive for COVID but it seems I swerved it. 

Meant the MiL couldn’t come for Christmas dinner, shame.

Thanks all, I’m really tempted to go EV, it’s just that leap into the unknown really making me nervous, certainly on any day where we’re not on holiday or racing an EV makes total sense for us, really the ideal would me an EV and a van for racing, but the budget isn’t there.

Not sure the ioniq would work, looks a bit low, Niro would be ideal, but a bit too expensive at the moment, fingers crossed some more come off lease in the new year, but would need to be quick, have to get something sorted by Feb