Shoe goo is ace. We’ve even repaired a cracked kayak with it.

Tharavadu curry house on Mill Hill near the station is very good, and not as run-of-the-mill as a few others. Bundobust just up from there is good for street food and a few beers. Tapped has a cracking selection of ales on.

Bar-wise, Smokestack, Mook, North Bar and the HiFi Club are my fairly regular haunts.

I use one of the Specialized ones – the Zee – and it’s good as long as it’s a Specialized bottle you’re using, other makes can be hit-and-miss.

Not so much of the actual skier, but this screenshot from Candide Thovex works pretty well today. Not actually much snow and a bunch of people out riding anyway…

Of course, this one’s quite appropriate for Britain too:

I found it, but it was one of them pretentious wooden twaddly things, so I re-arranged it to say ‘VOLE’ instead.

Pictures of cats doing funny things? They always seem to go down well.

Or something about tattoos.

brian1001 – Member
it’s definitely a trend I have seen it in all kinds of interior magazines and such. If i ever put one in my home it would be something sarcastic like ‘Guests are nice because they leave’

My folks have a mug that reads “All visitors bring joy to this house. Some do it when they arrive, some when they leave”. It gets given to one of my sisters as a slightly pointed hint every now and again…

One in my local’s bogs reads:
“Behave yourself: What you do tonight ends up on Facebook tomorrow”

I still keep getting all of my landlord’s post. That’s the truth.

What GHill said

I’d agree.

While I do like Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, there’s a whole sort of genre of comedy I hate, that just makes me uncomfortable and twitchy: The humour that’s based on exaggeration of character traits and inevitable, predictable outcomes. Hence, I can’t stand whole swathes of modern comedy, from Alan Partridge, through The Office and The Inbetweeners, to Mrs Brown, not to say stuff like Arrested Development and Parks & Rec that my other half loves. It’s not funny to me, it’s just irritating…

Cheers gents, that was the plan. I know the drag right out to the far end of the route isn’t worth it so just heading up the tarmac to Gomez was on the cards. It’s still an ‘orrible climb!

That’s the one, cheers. Hope the new owners kept it trading, it was lovely last time I was there but that was a few years back!

Hoping it’ll be open on Saturday, we’re doing a bit of a mix of the trails on that side and it’ll come just before the ‘orrible climb to the top of the Addams Family.

I’m not. I like it muddy.

Is swiping on tinder after a couple of months in a relationship equivalent to cheating given I wasn’t going to do anything about it?

Apparently yes to your (now) ex.

Finger crossed for him, RNP.

No vomit, but was definitely getting the white haze in my vision for the last couple of minutes of the second interval. Numbers are up a bit on the last time I did one, but that was 18 months ago on a different bike and a different trainer, so I’m not counting it as an ‘improvement’ as such!

Cheers for the tips, will see how we get on. Looking at my old Garmin data, I tend to grind at 65-70rpm most of the time on climbs – sat in that range for the whole forest road climb up to Deadwater summit on Kielder, a couple of Km of constant gradient. Just been bought a bargain gym membership, so might try a spin class or two as well, see if that helps.

New trainer setup and 8min FTP test for me this evening (he says, coming it really late to this thread). I started one earlier in the week but the trainer was far too tight on the tyre and I nearly threw up before I’d even got to the actual assessment intervals, much better tonight after doing some research on setup. Results are probably mediocre, but hey. I’m starting on Sweet Spot Base I as the first time I’ve ever done any sort of guided training, lining up with longer gravel event plans for the year, not expecting miracles but want to increase my chances of at least finishing.

One thing was noticeable tonight though – I’ve got really crap control at high cadence. Trying to do the first couple of spin intervals during the warm up it was a real fight not to bounce all over the shop. They talk about a ‘gentle but fast spin’ being 90-ish, whereas I’m more comfortable at 70-80. Anyone got any good tips for working on leg speed, or is that something that will develop as I go?

Hardtail: Ardent/Beaver or Ardent/Crossmark
Full Suss: Hans Dampf/Beaver or Ikon/Crossmark
Cross: 35c CX-Kings or 40c Gravel Roads
Road: 32c Gravel Kings or 32c Ultrasports

Optimus Prime’s new form

Training venue for an elite otter SWAT team

I wouldn’t ignore a thread based on who posted it (don’t pay that much attention).

BUT: I do ignore/not read/not post on threads on certain subjects because I can fairly accurately predict what kind of a response I’ll get from certain people, and it’ll generally not be a positive one.

So it’ll continue to be Ford vs Citroen, with no-one else getting a look in. Yawn.

Heard the name a few times but not had a chance to look them up yet, cheers for the recommendation.

And while it may not be strictly kosher, there are various websites that will pull the audio from that YouTube link down as MP3 if you’re wanting to keep a copy.

What are the 2017 regs, for those of us that lost interest some time ago?

I was fairly into WRC, but like bikebouy said, the coverage has been dire over the past couple of years. I enjoyed it when the switch down from 2.0l to 1.6l came in, it opened things up to a few more manufacturers briefly, but last time I managed to catch any it had gone back to 2 main teams and 1 person dominating, which got old quickly…

A pic by a friend who was working out in Nepal as part of his PhD (with his explanation text)

I don’t like Pashupatinath Temple, particularly. Its a fascinating place, but to me too many photographers get far too close to mourners for the sake of their shot – westerners and Nepalis alike. It’s true that cremation is a more public affair here, but mourners shouldn’t be having to bump random photographers out the way, as I saw twice today.

Because of this I’ve always stuck to the far side of the river to the cremations, generally kept the camera away, and so have never taken a shot I’ve been happy with. Today, in the usual place from where I was watching, a group from the Nepal Army came and filled the gap to pay their respects. There was a brief, quiet moment when they bowed their heads before the cremation began. This, I think, is about as close as I ever want to get.

I like the ethics as well as the image, and the respect paid both by the army and by the photographer.

We’re Marley and Marley….

.

…Woooooo!

This will be Christmas Eve for me. My mum and I will be chuckling away merrily, and my Dad will either be trying to act like it’s beneath him, or snoring.

Millcroft have got a few practices, they’d be worth a look. One of their vets at Keswick is an old mate of mine from school. That’s about as much of a recommendation as I can give, since I don’t have any pets!

If I cut my hair too short…

I’d add Athlete to the list, though they are mercifully short-lived in the charts. Elbow and Coldplay, though, totally agree. And the Smiths. And probably the Cure.

More traditional (well, for a given tradition, anyway)

Steeleye Span – Gaudete

Two sets of Hunt wheels, one for the road bike to replace the heavy generic jobbies I’d inherited to keep the build cheap, and one for the ‘cross bike to replace the 29er MTB wheels I’d been using. Both have transformed the feel of the respective bikes.

In for the Dirty 130.

The grassy bit straight ahead or the mucky bit to the left? You’ll struggle on the grass, the only issue with the mucky bit on the left will be the fork crown clagging up with crap.

I’ve got 28c Panaracer Gravel Kings in a 2013-ish Defy 2. Couldn’t go any bigger, but they seem decent and have dealt with the old Peak District railway line tracks just fine

At the risk of sounding alarmingly sensible and mildly antithetical to normal STW etiquette: I don’t think it matters what lens you use, as long as you learn that lens, its advantages and disadvantages, and if it works for you.

I’ve got a small selection of lenses over a small selection of film and digital bodies. I have a couple – the ones listed in a previous post plus my 50mm – that I feel like I know well, and can produce fairly consistent, fairly decent work with, because I use them a lot and know them pretty well. I have others – a 16-35mm f/4 and a 24-85mm – that I struggle with a bit more. Whether that’s related to personal style, preference, whatever, it doesn’t matter. But I know which lenses work best and most naturally for me and which I really have to think about, concentrate on to get decent results out of.

That’s got absolutely nothing to do with the lens itself, they’re all more than capable of producing very good images. It’s got lots to do with the squishy thing pushing the buttons, and the brain and eyes within.

That said, one of my favourite ever kayaking shots (that being what I probably shoot the most of) was taken on a 50mm f/1.8 on a crop sensor body:

Can’t be. Everyone knows you can’t use a 50mm prime lens for sports photography :lol:[/quote]
No-one told me that before I took it, I guess sometimes ignorance is bliss.

I promise not to do it again, though ;)

One lens only? I’d have an 18-500mm f/1.4, easy.

Oh, did you mean it has to be one that actually exists? Darnit…

On my crop body, 17-55mm f/2.8
On my full-frame bodies, 70-200 f/4

That said, one of my favourite ever kayaking shots (that being what I probably shoot the most of) was taken on a 50mm f/1.8 on a crop sensor body:

Eddies in the space-time continuum.

Ha, fair cop! I could probably put this pile away on my own, were it my only meal. But this comes off the back of 3 other courses, and the people involved tend to get competitive in terms of volume and/or richness.