There was a whole saga to the tune of “The English Civil War”, but I’m buggered if I can remember the words.

There is the tale of Robin Hood, though…

“Guess this answers the debate about whether I need a neck brace or not… I definitely do…”

Shifter shouldn’t matter, Ian, as long as the mech can cope with the range (ie, short cage mech might not work, Med or Long should.)

There’s 3 options for mtn cable discs/v-brakes with drop levers. The RL520 are one, there’s Dia-Compe 287V’s and Cane Creek Drop-V. Or you can use standard road levers with a Travel Agent, or with road BB7s.

Kingmaker – Best Possible Taste.

I’m based in Headingley, but due to idiotic amounts of commitments, wunt be getting any decent riding in until late Sept. Be good to meet up and ride after that, though!

In their excitement keeno first aiders have managed to inject their own thumbs,

Or in the case of a mate of mine, jab themselves in the thigh with what they thought was a dummy pen, which wasn’t. Sky-high heart rate and a serious whang-on, apparently.

As far as it goes*, YOU shouldn’t be administering it, only helping her to.
FWIW, in my limited experience they’re a case of wrap their hand around it, thumb on top, remove the safety cap and either whap firmly into the thigh for the impact to trigger or whap in and use their thumb to press the trigger button on top

*nb: That’s the legal version anyway. As a first aider you’re not trained to administer medication. I’ve ended up ‘helping them administer it’ twice.

What sort of time could the top men do the SUW in do you reckon?

’bout the same as the top women, I reckon ;)

Look at the Cam High and West Cam road, and the route from Dentdale over the back of Whernside to Ribblehead. They make for a good fig-8/lollipop type route so leaves some good long/short option possibilities.

I’ve had the same thing in kayaking, completely lost my bottle and spend more time sh*tting myself on the harder stuff than enjoying it. My solution has been just to drop back, paddle easier water and just enjoy what I’m doing without thinking “i used to be better than this”

If you want agood read that might help, look for “Inner Skiing” by Tim Gallwey. I’ve found it to be good for sorting out the head games going on.

Has it actually been ridden ‘non stop’ yet ?? without sleep ??

Not successfully, it seems Paul! You up next?

Whether or not it was a minor injury and a wee bit of damage, he shouldn’t have pulled across in front of you. If it were a car, he’d have waited, to go just because (exaggerated) “Oh, it’s only a cyclist” is just plain wrong. Whether you’re injured or not, it’s an RTA.

Spin – you and me both!

Hells – not sure. Both Rob Lee and Rich Rothwell dropped out on their first sub-24 attempts. They’re both phenomenally good riders, and from Rich’s report he was so, so close.

Including the hack down the back of the loch? I’m sorry, but I have to say I don’t believe you.

As far as the records I’ve found go, the records stand at:
Joe Whittaker, supported M, 41:50
Gary T, unsupported M 38:01
Nic M, unsupported F, 38:01

They’re obviously there to be beaten, and there’s some great riders out there to give it a go. Rob Lee has tried and failed once, and I haven’t found any other successful records.

If Barnsley classes as a jewel, someone finally worked out how to polish a turd.

No, the whole idea was to do the WHW in both directions, back-to-back. The 24hr is just a target. Judging by the number of fail-to-completes, i’d say it was still a worthy challenge, whatever the time.

Don’t think either of them blog, but comment from Nic’s FB page:

“in a rare weather window, we decided to sneak/bash/haul both ways up and down the West Highland Way unsupported. It took us 38 hours and one minute at cruise pace, with a wee sleep (in a delaminated foil blanket!) and plenty of food, drink and craic. Team adidas TERREX have a big race in Scotland next week so I was keen to stay uninjured and (relatively) comfortable… but the whole affair still took much longer than we expected mainly cos the track is usually ridiculously technical and we had to haul/ carry bikes for hours in a few places. The East side of Loch Lomond deserves a special mention as it is a boulder/cliff fest and took more than five hours each way! TThat said, we enjoyed WORLD CLASS single track, postcard mountains, torturous climbs, swooping descents and ridiculously quality riding on most of the trail. We met loads of walkers who were very gracious in clearing the way for us… and a few bikers. My favourite 2 are the lad on the rigid cyclocross bike near bridge of Orchy (ouch!) and the lovely bloke who gave me midge repellant (my teddies were flying from the pram). Gary was a legend… a great partner in crime: full of stories (and archaeological miscellany) and cheerful even during the hard bits. A certain Joe Whitaker is the one person to have made it all the way to the finish before. Hats off. Some other quality athletes have come close but, for whatever reason, have not made it all the way. I think going faster would be ‘easy’, especially for a rider with a support crew, but I am prepared to send a bottle of good champagne to anyone who manages sub 24!….”

You got a paddle? You had it easy, we had to swim along naked, propelled only by flailing a slightly ripped and dubiously stained previously neon 5mm wetsuit… ;)

South East mostly probably

Ahem…

I use my righteous indignation to good effect, Yeti ;)

This morning as I left the house.

That could be because I own one, though.

Wild Swimming… Marketing cobblers.

I’ve been swimming in lakes, rivers and the sea for years, mostly just in my skids. Never bothered with a wetsuit, never had to give it a silly “lifestyle” brand-activity-name, never had to buy the gear, drink the kool-aid and say to a neighbour over the fence “oh yes, i’m a wild swimmer” while munching on my lifestyle-brand granola with lifestyle-brand skimmed milk. FFS…

Once upon a time it was just “swimming”, try getting back to it being that way.

</rant>

Ahem… Got all those bits for sale cheap. Email in profile…

Kinesio Tape. Unverified scientifically, but supposedly lifts skin and helps blood flow in the area.

Probably a placebo.

Cheers Graham, was a good morning. A small, select bunch of sellers (ermmm…) but a fairly wide range of stuff on offer. Should make the next one, if I can, and it’d be good to see more folks there.

Have to say, the coffee and cakes in the Cycle Hub were excellent as well :)

Drac – give it a go next month!

I drove up from Leeds with a wee box full of bits. Been planning to get to a jumble but Bristol’s too blooming far to go. Got to The Cycle Hub a bit early to find they’s already opened the cafe, so a well earned (and very nice, very welcome) cappuccino before setting the stall up. There were only a handful of sellers, but a massive range of gear between us, some awesome bargains and (if all else failed) a really nice cafe to retreat to. I probably spent everything I made selling, but it was definitely worth the drive up.

Just read on the FB page that they’re going to make it monthly, so woulda be excellent to see a few more people next time!

Maybe he did the Lister method. Threw everything at the wall and wore what didn’t stick.

No, i’m glad they’re paying attention and asking, rather than ignoring it and going back to the cricket/football/golf/cricket dullness.

part time promotional contract

there’s no way in this world I could talk about a tobacco related product in anything other than a wholly negative light.

That’s the relevant bits to me. It’s the conflict of interest, as you say. Not a moral high-horse, just a straight “i could not do this job to the level you require”. If I were in the same position, I’d do the same thing.

Thinking of heading up from Leeds as I’ve a bunch of sorted bike bits to shift before I move house. Any other Yorkshire dwellers want to split fuel?

Cougar +1

Only other query would be whether he has athlete’s feet.

NavFree worked for me. It’s driving directions can be a bit funky sometimes, but it works.

Do kids still do Cycling Proficiency at school?

You learn something new every day.

Most of it’s useless, but still…

Does ‘e ?

Thought it was in West Yorkshire?

Barwick-in-Elmet is.

Just bearing with you. Nothing to add.

Missed it last year, will try not to this year!

(translated – Aye. Count me in.)