Think I’ve answered my own question with Strava.  Looks like with the diversion you just climb past the start of Pink Heifer and carry straight on down a bridleway to come out near the fireroad/road crossroads near the start of Hermon, so a slightly better option than my plan.

If you’ve not followed a structured training schedule and are just jumping into hard workouts then you may well have the power but not the capacity to complete the workouts.  ie. you’re FTP may be accurate, but you haven’t got the capacity to repeat above-threshold (or longer sub-threshold) intervals more than a certain number of times.

Can’t help with either of those two, but I’ve found the Jawbreakers to be excellent mountain biking glasses.  Easily changeable lenses, no field of vision restriction, goggle levels of protection and coverage, minimal fogging, no slipping – basically nothing to complain about.  I just use clear lenses on the MTB and clear or Prizm Road on the road.  Would like to try the Prizm Trail and Prizm Low Light lenses for mountain biking.

Very impressed with our new Dyson cordless.  Spendy though.

How often do you weigh yourself?  I’m making a concerted effort to lose weight at the moment and have been weighing myself daily.  I find it useful as rather than comparing one weigh-in to the next, I’ve got a clearer picture of the fluctuations that go on and the general trend.  For example, if I just pick two days within the last month that are 17 days apart, I could see a loss of anywhere between 5 and 14 lbs.  However, If I look at the general trend over the 7 weeks that I’ve been recording my weight daily then I can see that on average I’ve lost 2.8 lbs per week.

Also, how are you measuring calorie expenditure?  If power-based then it’s likely to be pretty accurate, heart-rate-based a bit less so (but better than the stab in the dark of duration/intensity calculations).  Edit: you answered this while I was typing!

FWIW, I’ve been using MFP with a calorie target for losing 2lbs per week (gives me an allowance of 1500 kcal per day + whatever I expend through exercise).  Religiously sticking to under this target and using power-based expenditure calculations has worked for me with what sounds like a similar amount of training to you (6-12 hours per week, generally around 9 hours, training stress score of ~400-600 per week).  This is a bigger calorie deficit than you though.  My FTP has dropped very slightly, although increased in terms of W/kg.

We’ve got 2 kids – a baby and a 2-year-old.  I’d say that our Passat estate was only just big enough.  If we had a third then I’d be looking for something significantly bigger.  We looked at a Touran (previous generation to current) before buying the Passat but didn’t feel like it gained us anything over the estate as the boot was tiny with rear seats up and not that big with them down.  However, new Touran might be better and I believe it has 3 full size rear seats.

I guess it all depends on how much stuff you cart around with you and the kids – plenty of people with more kids than us manage with equally-sized / smaller cars.

Nope, and not worried about it to be honest.

Presumably not, otherwise it would be a Cat C or a complete write off I’d have thought. Windscreen fits fine and you really have to stare hard to see that it’s bent.

Meh, Cat D cars are Cat D for a reason. They’re cheap and therefore sometimes worth a punt. We previously had a Cat D BMW 320d that was trouble-free until the turbo went bang at 170K miles (completely unrelated to Cat D status).  If you want a perfect car then best to avoid them,but you can get a very good car for the money sometimes.

I can’t help with your issue but at the risk of sounding cheeky, why? There must be hundreds of Polos for sale at anyone time, why take the gamble with a newish car.

Because you can’t get a non-cat-D 3-year old Polo with 20k on the clock for £4k.  Of course you get what you pay for, but mechanically the car is sound.  I have no doubt that it will serve as our run around for many years to come.

Drilling a hole would stop the water collecting, but wouldn’t stop the carpet getting wet / musty / covered in lovely furry mould as the water would have to soak through it first.  That 3M tape looks like it’s worth a go.  Will also check behind the door cards.  Cheers.

Disagree totally with that hols2.

And I disagree totally with that!  My childhood OTB experiences taught me about weight shifts and brake control.  A big old handful of rear brake isn’t going to do a great deal to help you out in most emergency braking situations.

Another vote for the Gore shake dry stuff if it’s road specific and you’re not wearing a pack (and if money isn’t an object).  I’ve got the 7Mesh Oro.  Packs down to nothing – can easily fit in a road jersey pocket with room to spare.  Incredibly breathable.  I wore mine for the entirety of a 12 hour, 200 mile ride with biblical rain and at times humid conditions.  Kept me completely comfortable and dry throughout.  The breathability really is incredible.  The fit of the 7Mesh is spot on for me – bought a medium based on the size guide, no sizing up/down required.

I have the same issue: kids in bed, dinner made & eaten – run around flinging kit on trying to make the start time.

I’ve added STW to my Zwift name (Mark QT) – I’ll maybe see you disappearing off into the distance sometime soon!

I’m sure this has been answered before somewhere in this thread, but there’s no way I’m searching 233 pages, so apologies, but ….

What race series would you guys recommend?

I’ve only done a couple of Zwift Academy Races so far, and finished towards the bottom end of Group B.  ZwiftPower seems to think I should be racing Group C based on my stats, but my FTP is around 3.4 W/kg so I reckon Group B is right.  I was probably a bit fatigued when doing those races (they were done mainly to complete the Academy, rather than treating them like proper races), so dropping to Group C would probably be sandbagging somewhat – plus, I’m not really bothered about where I finish as I’ll just be using Zwift races as part of my ‘training’.

Ideally looking for races that start around 8pm on weekdays.

Also, just wondering how much people treat these like real races.  Do you make sure you’re rested beforehand, do you fuel properly, etc.?  I’m focussing on weight loss at the moment and am training daily, so I’m coming into everything a bit tired and in calorie deficit.

Only driven a 1-Series briefly, but after a few years of owning a 3-series and a 5-series I’d say that a leather-trimmed BMW is a very comfortable place to be with an enjoyable driving experience.  Given that, I’d be looking at a 1-Series first.

Recently changed to a Passat with leather interior and ‘comfort seats’, and my wife has previously had Golfs with sporty cloth interior (GTD then TDi with R-Line spec).  They’ve all been very comfortable and enjoyable enough to drive, so perhaps a Golf would be an option. Our non-sporty Polo is not exactly comfortable though – not sure if this is a result of it being a Polo, or the basic trim level.

The only A3 I’ve driven was admittedly a few years old, but I hated it.  Centre console got in the way, couldn’t find a good driving position, not very comfortable at all.

Dunkirk is pretty good on blue-ray with a decent sound system, the opening few shots will have you during behind the sofa

And the rest of the film will have you asleep on it.

Replace “water” with “sandwich” and “mountain rescue” with “sportive feed station” and nobody would be surprised that they told you to do one.  Don’t see any difference here really.  I’m sure if you were out of water and needed help to finish your ride or get to an alternative water source then they would have obliged.

If you’re out on your own then you should be expected to carry everything you need (as you did), if you’re taking part in an event then you might be relying upon resources at a feed station.

If you had enough water then why even bother asking for more?

Hope we get to see Cav at his best again in the future. A great rider and an entertaining personality.

Cheers nobeerinthefridge.  It wasn’t all in one go, and there have been a few slip-ups along the way, but each time I’ve caught it before I reached the previous proportions of lardiness and gone on to lose the weight again plus a bit more.

Another tip is to weigh yourself often.  At the moment I weigh myself every day.  It has taught me that there will be periods when I stay the same weight, or gain weight, even when sticking to my calorie goals.  However, as long as I stick to my goals the trend is always downwards, so I don’t get disheartened by this.  It’s easy when weighing yourself infrequently to see a massive drop in weight that may just be a fluctuation – you then think you can treat yourself and quickly undo the work that you’ve done.

Is there any point in getting bogged down in the semantics of exactly what constitutes a ‘diet’.  I think it’s clear that what the above posters are getting at is that some diet plans advocate cutting down on particular foods or food groups, whereas perhaps a better approach is to focus on eating less of a balanced diet.

I’d echo the sentiments of many of the above posters that one of the best things you can do is monitor your calorie intake / expenditure, and MyFitnessPal does this very effectively (although take calorie expenditure with a pinch of salt, especially if not using a heart rate monitor / power meter to calculate this).

You have to be rigorous with it though, including all the little things like cooking oil, butter on your toast, etc., and weighing the food that you prepare.  It’s a bit of a pain at first, but soon becomes easy as most of the things you will want to enter will pop up in your recent foods.  You’ll soon learn how much you can eat and stay within your calorie intake goals, and more importantly you’ll learn what foods you can eat and that will leave you satisfied while meeting your goals and what foods will leave you hungry and craving bad food.  You end up with a diet that works for you and your lifestyle rather than trying to adapt to a diet plan than just may not be suited for you.

Without fail, whenever I’ve monitored my food/exercise in this way consistently over a significant period of time I have lost weight.  As soon as I stop, I stay consistent for a while but then the inevitable slip in diet and weight gain starts.

I used to weigh nearly 25 stone, I now weigh just over 13.  I did get down to under 12, but then I stopped monitoring and combined with low-level illness (endless colds) leading to poor eating because I was feeling sorry for myself, and lack of exercise, my weight crept back up to 15 over the course of a year!  As soon as I started monitoring my calories again the weight started coming off again.

It works both ways.  As well as knowing when you shouldn’t be eating any more, it allows you to know when you have enough calorie deficit in the bank to treat yourself a little.

Counting calories doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t think about the types of food that you are eating though.  It’s possible to lose weight on a very unhealthy diet (and I have done so in the past).  You’ll feel better if you eat healthier foods.  That’s just common sense though – keep processed foods to a minimum, lots of fruit and veg, healthy fats are good, avoid saturated fats, etc.  Experiment with your meals, trying to use healthy ingredients and you’ll soon find a meal plan that you enjoy, is healthy, and helps you lose weight.

True, but the cadence sensor is more accurate so I’d prefer to use that.  I’m thinking the easiest (and cheapest) way of doing it would be to use my MacBook instead of the iPad and get an ANT+ USB dongle.

A meagre donation as funds are tight, but done.

Nothing constructive to add, but sorry for your loss.

Big fan of some of the UK female MCs at the moment

@mcnultycop – you’re going to see Paddy Power?!

Some great stuff so far.  A few that are new to me, and good to see some videos for tracks that I’m already familiar with.

A stretch of road near us is very narrow, with just about enough space for two cars to pass each other as long as one of them stops. There are dry stone walls either side…..

I’m guessing from your username that you’re talking about Scapegoat Hill in Slaithwaite.  I used to live in Marsden so know it well.  It’s certainly a good spot for observing the total ineptitude of many drivers when it comes to a) squeezing through narrow gaps; b) reversing; and c) having any foresight that pulling in at a wider spot might be a good idea if there’s a big van coming the other way.  The real fun starts when an unwitting HGV-driver scrapes their way down the hill only to find a set of steep, tight S-bends to negotiate at the bottom.

How dare you! This is STW where you must have handmade, artisan breakfast materials or something slightly more obscure than the previous poster

I get the fancy ‘Super Goodness’ ones, if that makes it any better.

I’m starting to feel very inadequate about my daily microwaved Oats So Simple porridge in a pouch.

Plugging up fireroads can get pretty tedious, but a good technical climb can be very enjoyable.

2,428 km.  Happily all outside, but less happily mostly road (2,268 km).

At this point last year I’d done 5,639 km, but constant illness for the first few months of this year, and a toddler and pregnant wife to look after, means I’m way down on stats and fitness.

So, in summary:

Party no. 1 breaks 2 frames, the 2nd certainly after use outside of the remit of the bike (making the circumstances of breakage 1 also seem rather suspicious).

Party 2 hasn’t broken anything, but is worried they’ve made the wrong choice.

Manufacturer goes above and beyond to remedy the situation and ensure that everyone is happy.

Party 1 (the only one that has actually broken anything) is very happy with the outcome.

Party 2 is outraged, despite being offered a refund when not obliged to be given one.

@raybanwomble: I know some people that have had good results from anger management counselling – worth a thought maybe?

I regularly use washing up liquid on my clear and Prism Road Oakley lenses. Definitely helps a bit and hasn’t harmed the lenses.

Not really. Both myself and my better half have noticed we get far less hassling behaviour from drivers of larger, more powerful cars when we’re driving our larger, more powerful car; my other half noticed this markedly after we got rid of her old Polo.

I’ve found the opposite around here.  No bother at all driving around in our Polo, but tailgaters seem much more common when driving our BMW 530d MSport.  People with some sort of point to prove I guess.

Oh, and a kicker? To flat? Is this the 1970’s?

It’s going to be in my garden!  I’ll probably build a landing ramp at some point too, but there’s a couple of spots that I can use with a bit of a downslope for a landing.  It’ll be a fairly mellow kicker, not something that’s going to throw you up too high. The rainbow kicker from the Scotty Cranmer YouTube videos is what gave me the idea (if that means anything to anyone), so thinking of something of similar size and shape.

What thickness ply for the sides and ramp surface?

Latest ones from Bonty are either 820mm or 750mm!!

So buy the 820mm ones and cut 10mm off each end!

Oh yeah, it’s a veritable scrap yard of dangerous pointy things as soon as you stray over a chevron.

Except you shower all the other road users around you with the grit and debris that has accumulated there, due to not many people doing it. Not particularly considerate for everyone else.

Boo hoo!  God forbid you get some grit on your car.

Penmachno will be a lake after the recent rain.  Llandegla and Coed Y Brenin ride the best of all of them after rain. CyB is vastly superior to Llandegla IMO, wet or not.

Maybe taking the tone of giving people a heads up on the busyness of the trail would be better received than ‘respectfully suggesting’ that they stay away.