A bit of a classic would be to take the lanes East from Crickhowell via Llanbedr to Stanton then head North over the Gospel Pass to Hay-on-Wye then loop West and South via Talgarth and Llangorse to Bwlch then drop down to the Brecon & Mon canal and follow the lane back to Crickhowell. Scenic route, quiet roads and the rather strenuous climb over Gospel Pass,

I use SPDs on the road, makes swapping bikes/shoes so much easier, although I have used road clipless systems in the past.

The only thing I’ve noticed really is that for long, hard road rides then road systems let you clip in tighter and the larger contact area can reduce ‘hot spots’.

You’re pretty much correct in what you say.

Location plan – usually 1:1250 scale

Block Plan (Site Plan) – usually 1:500 or 1:200 scale

Yes, I shall be there. I think £30 for the full weekend including camping is pretty good value and there is no charge for  my grandchildren (under 13).

If I was was just riding in on my own for a day I’d probably sneak in along the Ridgeway or from Bronsil though ;-)

Meanwhile, I don’t think the BBC (either TV or Radio) even realised the event was on or that there were UK riders taking part ….

30 000ft of climb

= 30 000ft of downhill. Don’t touch the rotors, they’ll be hot !!

Have a good trip.

If you wanted to start of near the Forest of Dean, Monmouth is do-able. You could do a circuit from there via Grosmont or Skenfrith but, again, its lumpy and the route would be in excess of 80 miles.

I sometimes do a loop from Monmouth going out via Rockfield, Newcastle, Cross Ash, Llanvihangel Crucorney then over the pass to Hay-on-Wye and back along the Golden Valley through Peterchurch to Ewyas Harold and then back to Monmouth via Grosmont and Skenfrith. About 86 miles and what you might call, erm, undulating.

(Which end of the valley are you Welshfarmer? Used to spend a lot of time in the Queens and the Abbey with the Bevans (farming family) from Stanton many years ago).

If you’re looking for trail centre riding you have Cwmcarn on the doorstep, plus Afan (Neath), Bike Park Wales (Merthyr), & Forest of Dean within an hour’s drive.

Ride from the door, natural trails? Any of the hills north of the city have a number of tracks and trails along and across them but you’ll need a map to link them together (unless anyone comes up with GPX or Strava for you?)

Did you know that there are over 10 places called Newport in UK?

[irony alert] People  on a cycling forum attempting to rationalise other people’s irrational cycling hatreds on a thread about irrational cycling hatreds. Is it rational to try and rationalise on a thread about irrational things something that someone finds irrational? [/irony alert]

BW is Bob (Whitehouse) but it looks like he’s bailed and heading for Corrour Station :-(

Riders that wear helmets. Are you that cr@p a rider that you’re going to fall off?

benp1

Subscriber
Why don’t we have a STW jersey? (Unless there’s already one and excluded 🙂 )

There have been two or three over the years. Used to hang a black jersey with white singletrack lettering up in the window of the bunkhouse of STW weekends we used to have a few years ago. Still wear it but it seems to have shrunk around the belly…

perchypanther

Member
Does she smell of actual cinnamon?

I don’t know but she’s like a hurricane and has a heart of gold.

bigblackshed

Subscriber
It was £1.38 at a Texaco in Coleford, FOD, this morning.

That garage is always 6p or so higher than others in FoD, eg Cinderford, Lydney. Only garage in town so seem to get away with it. 1.29.9 -1.30.9 elsewhere in FoD at the moment.

I’ve met quite a few, even Nettles. They were all much younger then though.

Just seen this (thanks for the bounce rOcKeTdOg!) but unfortunately can’t make it due to other commitments, Hope those of you who join in have a great ride.

Dean Forest Cycles is a good meeting place but like qwerty suggests park in the village and roll down to the café/shop. Parking just by DFC is a bloody nuisance on the bend there! They do have another car park just the other side of the crossroads (opposite the Post Office) if you’re spending money in the shop/café. Enjoy an ice cream afterwards! Plan your route right and you can start on singletrack out the front door and end on singletrack to the back(side) door. Have fun.

( just to clarify, she doesn’t actually have a post office account, her pension is just withdrawn there)

Are you sure she doesn’t have a PO Card Account? As far as I’m aware, these days Pension is paid 4-weekly directly into an account and those that collect their pension from the PO actually have it paid into a PO Card Account and then withdraw it from that when they visit their PO. May be exceptions though, (in true STW fashion, I’m no expert!).

 I wear shorts everyday, all year round…

I have 4x raceface, 2x endura, 1x 661 and a couple of others

Are you only talking cycling shorts? There are plenty of “less expensive” shorts out there if you take cycling specific out of the equation. Workwear shorts are hardwearing, available in larger sizes and start at about £20. Shorts start at around £10 at places like Go Outdoors.

That’s a bit truncated.

Just been out the gate to check. 8 paces, so about 6m away.

Genuine singletrack, too. One bike’s width, drops from the cottage then rooty singletrack through woods, can put together a day’s riding from the door and the only tarmac I’ll see is crossing roads.

Have pretty much always lived in the area off-and-on and part of the reason for choosing my cottage is because it’s in the woods.

Anyone who used to come on the old FoD STW weekends will remember my previous house; that did involve a mile or so of tarmac to get to the good stuff but was next door to the village pub! Good weekends, good fun (“,)

Do you suffer with anxiety?

You’ve created in your head a confrontation that didn’t happen. This has then progressed to a series of hypothetical scenarios that probably wouldn’t happen. Then you’ve felt it necessary to pose this randomness on a cycling forum (albeit in the chat section) seeking some kind of absolution and ending with a suggestion that you immobilise the obstructing vehicle to ensure you are trapped ad-infinitum. In your own head….

You should have fired up the afterburners and gone over the top of them.

Pah, this sort of stuff never used to happen when kids walked to and from school !

I’d have got in my car, reversed into his front bumper then had a right pop at him for parking too close to you.

Rear racks are available that don’t require pre-drilled frame mounts, e.g. axle mounted racks which could open up your choice to oooh, lots and lots of options…!

When you going?

You rent the van to get your stuff to Malta and cover the return ferry costs. I’m sure you could find someone willing to join you who could get a few days MTBing in Malta and then drive the van back covering fuel costs for the return journey. MTBing holiday in Malta for someone for the cost of fuel one way only, what’s not to like!

n0b0dy0ftheg0at

Member
Genesis
Feeder
Wham
Take That
Manic Street Preachers
Too tired to think of others!

Too tired to think of others? Three off that list had already been mentioned and I’m pretty sure Wham didn’t continue after a member died/left.

!

Rolling Stones

Fleetwood Mac

Pink Floyd

Notwithstanding the current political point-scoring furore I am surprised *no, scrub that, I’m not surprised really*, it seems a great shame that UK Citizenship wasn’t given to these people and their forebears during the previous 40 odd years by any governing party. Then it could truly be said that none of the current situation needed to have arisen.

Last second win in the semis for the England girls (are we allowed to say ‘girls’!), last second win in the final. Edge of the seat stuff. Like Rockape63 said, sport doesn’t get any better than that.

“The service was undertaken by the dealer to preserve her warranty”

That’s the critical thing here. If the manufacturer’s service schedule says change at 24 months then doing that preserves the warranty. Whether it needs to be changed or not is an entirely different debate!

I just nourish mine. Last night I nourished it with spaghetti carbonara. Tomato soup is particularly good but a good banjo egg bap tops the lot.

Within 2m of the boundary then 2.5m is the maximum overall height.

If the shed/summerhouse is more than 2m from the boundary then the maximum eaves height is 2.5m and maximum overall height for apex roof is 4m and for pent/flat roof is 3m.

Unfortunately, the maximum overall height of 2.5m applies to the whole building if any part of it is within 2m of the boundary so you can’t keep it below 2.5m height for 2m and then build further up to 4m for example. Unless they are two totally separate buildings….

Permitted Development: Within 2m of the boundary you have a maximum height restriction of 2.5m to be Permitted Development and you can cover up to 50% of the curtilage of the original dwelling. Has to be back garden, not between dwelling and a highway, and (as above) not in Conservation Area/Listed Building. There are a few other obscure restrictions and it can’t be a separate living unit! (As always, you should check with blah blah first blah blah ;-) )

“Right, it’s looking like I can bag a monday-friday in May,”

“It’ll be the 23-28th May”

Well, that’s a Wednesday to Monday! And it is the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend so good luck with hostels without pre-booking these days!

There is so much to do in the Lake District that all I can suggest is buy some 1:25,000 scale OS maps, study them and enjoy.

It’s a very grey area. Assuming you’re not in a Conservation Area or the curtilage of a Listed Building then Permitted Development rights will allow you to build up to 4m in total height as long as not less than 2m of a boundary and a floor plan of up to 30m2. But, and it’s a big but… any platform over 300mm (12 inches) above ground level technically needs Planning Permission. That includes probably 75%+ of the decking in England & Wales which has been built without Planning Permission!!

It really is a case of going under the radar as a temporary structure and hope you don’t have busy-body neighbours or taking your drawings to the Planning Dept. to discuss.

I thought it might have been some sort of alternative jelly that is less wobbly.

When I had Land Rovers I seem to remember the schedule was 24months/24000 miles so on that basis, although it is a very low mileage, the 24 months would be on the dealer schedule.

What’s a ridgid?

I see Salamander (OK, not Scandi) is due to start again (after the current painfully slow Saturday night BBC4 offering ends next week).