Didn’t do it last year, but looking at this too.  TrainerRoad has gravel plans but they don’t look much different to road century or general FTP increase plans.

Depends how tight money is, but personally I’d happily accept that £200 is a small price to pay for being able to spend quality time with my son doing something I love and would rather have the peace of mind that there is no structural damage to the wheel.  If the money is an issue then how about just buying a new rim and transferring it yourself – switching a rim over is much easier than building from scratch and I’ve done it in the past without any tools other than a spoke key with the resulting wheel lasting for many years.

I’ve had good success with Rema Tip Top puncture repair patches.  Preparation is key – make sure the area is clean, roughed up, and the rubber cement has gone tacky before applying.

No issues with the amitriptyline.  Take it last thing at night to avoid drowsiness as prescribed by the doc.  I’m on 30mg, which I believe is a relatively low dose compared to when it’s prescribed for other reasons.

Quick update on this.

Just after my last post I had a massive setback – was worse than it was in the first place, couldn’t get out of bed for three days, could only walk a few steps at a time, couldn’t stand for longer than a minute.  I went to see a spinal consultant who looked at my MRI results – he laid out the options but his parting words were “well done, they don’t normally slip that much!”.  I was pretty much ready to push the button on surgery, but after a couple of weeks I was starting to make some good progress and so decided to hold off.  My plan was to stick it out but that if it got worse again then I would go ahead with surgery.  At about this time I also managed to speak to a GP who seemed to have a clue what she was talking about – she switched out the codeine (which was doing nothing) for amitriptyline.

Progress has been slow but there have been noticeable gains most weeks – one or two minor setbacks but nothing significant.  Anyway, long-story-short:  I’m now back on the bike and for the most part pain-free.  Certain things still cause pain – bending in a certain way, car journeys, etc. – but the pain is short-lived and not particularly severe.  Regular physio, with daily exercises as prescribed by the physio, plus walking as much as possible has been the way forward for me.

I’m still taking the amitriptyline and taking things slowly.  Mostly I’m just doing low- to moderate-intensity turbo sessions, but I’ve done a few gravel rides of up to a couple of hours.  Being back on the bike has done wonders for my mental health – that has been the hardest part of the whole thing.  Thanks to everyone that posted encouragement and tips above – it was a real help.

I’d be really interested to hear what Jenny Graham thinks of tihs attempt. It’s got a lot of differences to her approach but also a lot of similarities. I strongly suspect she’d be nothing but suportive.

Very much this.  In her book Jenny explains her self imposed rules that would have made it harder for herself.  She did the record the way that she wanted to do it, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to do it that way.  I don’t think this takes anything away from Jenny’s record or anyone else’s attempt. Is Marc Beaumant’s record less valid because he had a support crew and large budget?  I find the idea of “the spirit of things” for a world record a bit ridiculous.  Either it’s within the rules or it’s not.  If you really care about the record then you will do everything in your power to take the quickest, easiest route to give you the best chance of success and not be beaten by someone else who pushes every rule to its limit.

Can’t help you with recommendations for gravel, as I’m in the ‘SPD for gravel’ camp.  However, on the mountain bike I used to suffer with painful feet when using flats on long rides.  For me, what solved it was to buy pedals with a larger platform to accommodate my size 12s.  That may help if you have big feet – I’m not sure what kind of monkey your username refers to.

Might not work.
Laurels are Hardy.

That deserved more(cambe and wise)

It’s really hit me today.  Autism makes any social occasion draining, especially when it’s not just people whose company I actually enjoy. This year compounded by a knackered back and no sleep.  Feel like a failure as I want to be jolly and Christmassy for the kids, but I have zero energy and just can’t face being around anyone apart from my wife and kids. Since my wife’s family are all here, that means hiding myself away – they’re all of the extrovert extra jolly type, which just makes me feel like more of a failure.

Good to hear some positive stories, it’s helping to start to drag me out of the pit of depression I’ve been in for the last couple of weeks.  All the suggestions are great too – I appreciate that everyone reacts to things differently and these injuries are not all alike, but a list of stuff to check out and try is very helpful.

I certainly don’t think I’m in as bad a place as it sounds like some of you were. I can now walk for around 45 minutes without too much pain (at least once I’ve loosened up a bit).  Putting my socks on is a different story though!

Thanks all for the advice and comments.  A quick Google suggests that Gabapentin may be a better option than codeine – I’ll raise it with the docs and see what they think.  The percutaeneous discectomy also sounds like a great option if there’s no improvement through non-operative options, so thanks for that.

@relapsed_mandalorian – the conditioning guide would be much appreciated, I’ve sent you a DM.

Yeah, I should just try the trainer.  The only issue is that it’s not set up at the moment and clearing the garage enough to do so is not something I’m able to do right now – I just need to persuade my wife that it may not be the worst idea in the world.

I’m hoping it won’t come to surgery.  My osteopath has said that is a last resort, which makes sense because of the obvious risks.

Trying to get painkillers out of my GP is like getting blood out of a stone.  I understand the caution around opioids but at the moment they are only prescribing a maximum of 30mg of codeine and they expect 56 15mg tablets to last a month – if I took their maximum stated dosage of 2 x 15 mg tablets up to 4 times a day then that would only last a week, so I have to ration them out even further despite being in severe pain a lot of the time.  The ridiculous thing is that they seem happy to prescribe double the dosage in large quantities to my mum indefinitely for much lower level pain.

I got this to replace my previous zipped Topeak, due to exactly the issues you’re talking about.  Very happy with it.

https://www.wiggle.com/p/topeak-drybag-wedge-strap-mount-saddle-bag

Off the top of my head, I seem to recall that 29er equivalents of 650b bikes have typically had about 15mm to 20mm less travel, but as others have said I’d focus more on geometry and intended use of the bike – that will make far more difference than 10 or 20 mm here or there.

For a vegan option, stick some extra virgin olive oil in the freezer.  You need to take it out to soften a bit in the fridge before use, so there is some extra faffing involved.  You can add salt if you desire (I prefer to just sprinkle a little salt on the bread after spreading rather than mixing it with the oil).  Of course you could just drizzle some straight from the bottle rather than messing about with freezing and thawing, although I tend to find that results in more being used.  In terms of healthiness we’re probably talking marginal gains here – far better to really limit spread use as much as possible.

https://www.wiggle.com/p/camelbak-podium-mud-cap?color=smoke&sizeStandard=One+Size&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=WGL_UK_GGL_PMX_SMA_MAN_CYC_ALL_NA_NA_NA_TIER2_NA_NA_Endgame_Newstructure&utm_medium=base&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgK2qBhCHARIsAGACuzkTCgctxQ_e-whtSjdM7QxW1UxY7exd30Z4yNo8Js6ny60AyjF0m3caArF4EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Description says it fits all Podium bottles

 GravelKing SK 43mm in orange with brown sidewalls, a pair of Raceface Chester pedals in orange and orange highlighted bottle cages to complete the look

Sometimes you realise that some people just can’t be helped.

These were the ultimate slip-ons.  I wore my pair until they had holes in the soles and uppers.  Wish I could find another pair to embarrass my wife with (although she did end up marrying me despite me wearing them on our first date, so she can’t have hated them as much as she claims).

Thanks all, some good pointers here.

Impressive that you managed to post about your outrage at the removal of use-by-dates on milk meaning you would have no idea how fresh milk would be in the shop and that this would surely lead to more wastage, before even reading the very first line of the article that you linked to:

The dates, which are meant to tell customers when food is safe to eat, will be replaced by best-before dates instead, which are recommendations on freshness.

Actually I would go further. It’s impossible to live without a carbon footprint. Anyone who chooses to continue living should face massive punitive penalties in order to encourage as many people as possible to kill themselves.

Did I win Whataboutery Top Trumps?

@BruceWee – No, but you’re well on the way to winning #TOTW (and the T isn’t for thread)

I’m not really surprised by a lot of the responses on here, but it does remind me why I haven’t bothered contributing to much on here of late (or even reading that much).

I get it, SUVs are bad. I’ve driven a few borrowed ones in my time and I kind of see the appeal, but I wouldn’t want to own one as a) I care about the environment; b) wouldn’t want the ridiculous fuel costs; and c) they’re no fun to drive (apart from actually driving them off road, where most of them really aren’t that good anyway).

So sure, for the majority of SUV owners it is nothing more than a status symbol. Maybe that says other things about their personality, or maybe they just haven’t thought about or don’t understand the impact of their choice of vehicle. Or maybe, just maybe, they do have a semi-valid reason for having one. Who knows.

However, letting tyres down is a dick move. I’d expect that sort of thing from scrotes out to do nothing more than piss people off, but from people that have taken the time to think about the environment and their actions I’d expect better.

Who cares how awful a choice of car it is and who that person is or what they do – every now and then a person’s car (any person, any car) can be a lifeline. Anyone can have an emergency of some kind where the quickest way to get help is in their own car, or could need to respond to someone else’s emergency. It is conceivable that coming out of your house to find your tyres have been let down could actually be the difference between life and death (miniscule probability, sure, but possible).

So, despite my dislike of SUVs and some SUV owners, I do not think that this is a valid way to try and educate people on their choices. If you really need to go down the route of inconveniencing SUV drivers (which personally I think is ridiculous and will only reinforce the divide between those that care about the environment and those that don’t) then there are a hundred different ways that it could be done without compromising the ability for the vehicle to be used in an emergency and without damaging property.

I’ve had the most success with Conti GP4000 / GP5000 tyres. Once the tyres are too worn then you suddenly start getting lots of punctures, but until that point I’ve found them to be the most resilient without sacrificing handling or ride quality.

I didn’t have a great experience with Roy’s. Didn’t get the model I reserved, ended up with a much lower spec bike. Had to return it after a day as the freewheel seized.

Digi 5 on my Fenix 3.

Some good shouts here. At first I dismissed hels’ idea of giving home-made Baileys as a gift (I’m not vegan because I don’t like meat/dairy – I’m vegan because I don’t want to support the meat/dairy industry, blah, blah, blah, boring, boring, boring). However, turns out it’s dead simple to make vegan Baileys and apparently it’s proper nice!

Okay, maybe I shouldn’t assume it’s filth – and actually that bloke’s review makes it sound quite nice. I will try some at some point to see if it’s as bad as I fear. However, I like the idea of the fruit cake if I can come up with a vegan recipe conversion. At 3 tbsp per cake, I’m going to have to make a lot of cakes to get through 2 litres though. The hot drink options are also possibly a good shout once we get into autumn and winter (although it already feels like winter here in North Wales).

I’m vegan so you lost me at “steak or duck”. I do like a whisky sour though.

Thanks for the input. I got sick of thinking about it and went back to plan A and ordered a Simba!

I see your point Cougar, but I’m not sure I’d really be able to tell much from lying on a bunch of mattresses for a few minutes. Our current mattress is perfectly comfortable for a 30 minute nap, but we wake every morning feeling like someone has come in and kicked the crap out of us! Also, don’t particularly fancy the idea of rolling around on a bunch of potentially COVID-ridden display beds!

A friend of ours praised their Tempur, but Holy Jeebus they’re expensive! I’m vegan, so not inclined to go with the wool room ones. However, many mattresses have some wool layers and I’m willing to put my principles to one side if there are no alternatives of equal/better comfort for similar price.

Should have said, Mrs QTip is against the idea of a pure memory foam mattress, so it’s hybrid or spring only.

God, I’m even boring myself with this (and I like chatting about some pretty boring stuff).

Thanks all. Think I’ll try removing the cranks so he can get used to the bike first. He wants to ride his new bike, but gets frustrated within a couple of minutes and wants to go back to his balance bike (which is fine except that he is getting bored by it and I don’t want him to get bored of bike riding all together). Hopefully the new bike will be enough to recapture his interest even if he’s still scooting at first.

Cheers plumble. I’m not starting down there for a couple of months, but good to know there’s some fellow bikers around.

Qtip working at the Sanger?

Close – working at the EBI. I worked for a year at the Sanger before, so I’m well aware of the need to travel for mountain biking.

I don’t mind a fair bit of driving for a decent day of riding – with 2 kids under school age I only get the chance to go mountain biking every month or two. We currently live on Anglesey, so most decent mountain biking is 1.5-2 hours drive away despite being in North Wales. Was just wondering if there’s anywhere worth exploring that’s a bit closer than the Peaks.

I think Peaslake might be my first port of call, unless anyone can give some good Chilterns suggestions.

What’s Cannock Chase like these days? I’ve only been once, many years ago.