I guess he’s an august child like me, so done and received gcse’s but all his mates are 16. I didn’t go inter-railing, but started work in Morrisons on the checkout out and stacking shelves! Too young by their rule book, but accepted because I’d got my gcse’s.

I know people who sent their daughter to Leeds festival at 15. I’d be more worried  about those few days than weeks around several different countries!

No ON:FLY’s in the sale though …. Took one for a spin at Ardrock, a little sale discount might be enough to tempt me!

A creak on my cotic Jeht was eventually traced to rear wheel bearing. Sounded awful, creaking and cracking whilst pedalling along, particularly spinning on an incline.

My daughter’s primary school has a real good knack of keeping the gates shut for an extra 2-3 minutes when it’s raining, just to make sure everyone (kids and parents) gets a thorough soaking before the day starts ?

@kryton57 we can’t believe how quiet it is, some days wandering round the town there’s hardly anyone about, coz we’re with an 8yr old we’re out a bit earlier than others for tea and others no problem getting in anywhere. Went to the water park t’ other day and it was relatively quiet, virtually no queues, no fight for sunbeds, no problem getting food etc. compared to the Sandcastle back home which is unbearable in the season.

Sky foreboding again…. Hope the last couple of days of our holiday aren’t a washout.

We’re up beyond the lighthouse a bit, it’s generally pretty peaceful

@kryton57 – we’re in C n B, Had to eat our lunch indoors ?

Watched the lightning for a bit on the prom near the villa, now back by the pool and hoping to BBQ in a bit!!

Edit – emoji replaced with question mark ?

The sky Q UI is nice, don’t know how it compares to sky+.

I was going to cancel sky due to the ever increasing cost, they didn’t offer me anything decent to stay so after 30 days, it went off. Found out at that point that the Q box also acts as a WiFi booster, so then discovered we no longer had coverage all round the house, it was a right ball ache.

Phoned Sky, they said this happens all the time, how about we make your monthly payment £40 for TV and super fast broadband. Took the offer, makes life easy!

Thundering in menorca this morning, still bloody roasting!

Went about ten years ago, end of may early June I think. Got train from Sorrento. No problems, trains fine, didn’t book, wasn’t busy, no guide just wandered about. Did herculaneum by train as well, it is a bit odd as you get off and wander through a suburb that’s all built up then all of a sudden there’s this ancient historical site between the shops. It might feel a bit rough, but then so do the mean streets of Blackpool!

If only there was a different kind of enduro, that was say, a 6h timed route round some cool trails, a bit like an MTB sportive… it’d never catch on ;-)

Sounds like the Ardrock sport to me. That’s the type of event I’d like there to be more of, so I can ride the marshalled, waymarked route of trails i’m not normally able to ride, plus get all the festival vibes alongside it, without feeling the need to compete or worry too much about the odd arsehole that takes it too seriously and gets the hump if I’m in the way.

the worst life expectancy was a part if Blackpool, but that’s 66.6 for males,

Can confirm this is correct, I’m just a short distance outside this particular postcode, hopefully means I’ve got a few more than 20 years left ?‍?

Love a Salvatore gannacci video, don’t be fooled by the fact he’s punching an old lady…..

This tickle anyone’s fancy?

https://www.wethepeoplebmx.de/bikes/swamp-master

Ok, decision made! Thanks everyone

Documentary on BBC2 t’other night called something like Kyle: America’s most divisive gunman.

Story surrounding a young lad who shot some protestors in self defence. What happens is absolutely tragic, but the aftermath is gobsmacking and in this instance, proves the US has barely moved on since the wild west.

There’s also the yha up at grinton, I stay up there as i’m by myself and not bothered about the night time stuff!

@dlr I did the sprint and the sport this year. The sprint is stages 1-3, approx 20 miles, 3000ft climbing. Sport all 7 stages, 25 miles and 5000ft.

Whilst the stages themselves are great, the transitions between 1,2 and 3 and relatively long and arduous and the ride back after 3 just felt like superfluous punishment! It’s a great day out, but it’s a lot of effort and you miss out on the remaining stages which come much quicker once you’ve got to stage 4.  I’ve done the sport several times now and I think it’s worth that extra effort, personally I wouldn’t do the sprint again.

The intro is 4-7 I think, not done this one as it runs on the Sunday alongside the sport

I’ll be staying in cala n Bosch so I think you’re likely heading over the route I would potentially ride, let us know how it is!

@akira what bike shop you using?

I’m in menorca myself in the next couple of weeks and may look at bike hire

Lidl had a load in last time I was in there

Why does image posting not work anymore?

Just finished the sport and snaffled a pint and some gyros.

Last year was brutal, this year a different kind of brutal! Great to ride it in the dry though ?

Just shy of 6hrs elapsed time, I’ve drunk several litres of water with hydration tabs, a pint of coke, some red bull and nailed a magic rock highwire grapefruit. Not been for a wee for over 6 hrs!

Done practice laps on Friday, sprint on sat and sport today, might be a bit tired tomorrow!

Rain mostly stayed off today, couple of showers. Being picky, it’s a bit hard to prepare for, bit chilly with just a t-shirt on knocking about at the start but too hot for more layers once you get going!! Tomorrow looks ☀️☀️☀️ so single layer all the way!

Did the sprint today, I didn’t look too hard into it, didn’t realise it was stage 1,2 and 3. For some reason I thought it was 1,2 and 7 and all a bit closer together. Wasn’t Banking on dragging out to stage 3 and back!! Got the sport tomorrow, I’m already pretty weary, need a good kip tonight!

Got a selfie with Joe Barnes so my daughter will be well impressed with that ??

Not off to a great start, got bike off car, set off towards the arena and the rear mech has seized up completely (all working fine at the beginning of the week!)

Bike currently with the Shimano service guys, hopefully they’ll get it going again!

Given me time to demo the canyon on:fly though…… Wowzer

This is way easier said than done… but you possibly need to try not engaging with him at all. The fact you go in his room and hang around means he thinks you’re there for good times so he’s not going to sleep because of FOMO!

Make sure there’s no distractions available to him in his room, when he wakes go in, settle him a bit. Say “back to sleep” and leave. Leave him for a few minutes and repeat if necessary,  minimal interaction every time and extend how long you leave him each time by a few minutes.

It’s bloody hard, but he has to learn that night time is boring and the best thing to do is sleep because the good stuff happens during the day. This obviously takes quite a few nights to set in!

I hated people telling me “it gets better” and “it’s just a phase” because that doesn’t help right now, but like someone said up there, you will look back eventually and not feel it all quite as intensely as you do now. Plus there’ll be someone else on here asking questions that you’ll be able to advise on

You just have to take the frame bag off when you put the bike up on the bike carrier, that’s what I did when I had a roof mount. Tow ball carrier holds the frame at a different point so the bag can stay on.

I do sympathise with those involved and the 3 day notice thing is obviously pretty sh-tty, but I find it odd I’m reading about the plight of 90 workers thousands of miles away, like why it’s really newsworthy?

I work for the NHS, my discipline is being centralised in locations all round the country, moving it from the local hospitals into central hubs. When it happens to us, the lower paid bands won’t be able to justify the commute and will either have to relocate or move. Hundreds of staff across the NW will be affected, and over the last few years hundreds more will have gone through the same nation wide. I doubt it will even make the local newspapers.

Scratch that. It’s just changed, left is back in business

I thought that was normal…. My right nostril is currently doing all the breathing as I type this

Gary O’Donoghue on bbc just quoted a passer by as saying (they fired first, this is f*cking war!” It’s certainly going to embolden him and his supporters, assuming he’s ok.

Just watched this one the BBC news channel, a documentary following Francis Bourgeois around, a pleasant way to wile away half an hour ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001zl23

It was dry-ish when I did it last year,

Haha… You must’ve done the Saturday then!? Sunday was horrific!

I’ve ordered a new Big Betty for the rear in case there’s a repeat of last year…. So for that reason I’m predicting it will be dry and dusty

I’m a lanky 6’2, currently got some endura singletrack and mt500 from sport pursuit for a 30″ waist, they both fit good. Always wore raceface ambush shorts before these but don’t seem to be able to find them at a reasonable price anymore.

https://www.merlincycles.com/zefal-wiiz-plastic-2-side-opening-bottle-cage-316831.html?utm_source=PHG&app_clickref=1101lyJzunID&source=PHG&utm_medium=Affiliates&utm_campaign=genieshopping

This is what I use. It’s not pretty, but it works well. And it’s £2.

I can fit an 850ml bottle in a large frame, not sure if it’ll be the same for a small.

Enjoy!

No, it’s not having it

I’m a Jeht owner for the last couple of years. I have the blue colour in the gold level XT build.

It is a beautiful thing, the colour is lovely. It is heavy-ish, 15.something kilos, but it rides uphill absolutely fine. Sitting and spinning up something is no problem at all. It’s a great winch and plummet machine.

It’s definitely made me more confident than my previous (transition scout.) Can happily bomb down stuff I would never have tackled before, very stable on steep stuff. But….. to be clear I am perfectly aware I am the weak point here, I’ve never been entirely happy with suspension set up. It has fox 36 and the ccdbil. I’ve never got it quite right, the fork never feels lively enough and the rear I find can be full of pedal bob and a bit wallowy but then all of sudden will feel rock hard when hitting a big root or something. This will be my failings though, I just think I would be better with a simpler Pike and a less complicated rear shock tbh. On the right trail at the right (high) speed though, it does come together and feel amazing.

I generally ride a mix of trail centre, Lakes, Rivington most frequently. Done Ardrock 2-3 times on it and will be there again in a few weeks. Did the Golfie for the first time a few weeks ago.

Also, I did have a local LBS chasing an horrendous creak for a few weeks a while ago. It sounded horrific. This resulted in a bearing change (some were dry – again my poor maintenance plays a part here rather than the build) but eventually a rear wheel bearing change sorted it out and now it’s lovely and quiet again.

Other things of note, large frame holds a large bottle easily in a side loading cage, the cotic own brand saddle is the comfiest I’ve ever had (YMMV) and the restrap frame bag is a neat touch.

Pic upload doesn’t seem to work like it used to? Not sure if I’m doing that wrong.

Not sure if this is already in the thread somewhere, but figured it was worth a post anyway! Not the most intricate build, but it’s pretty cool! ?

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/jaws-21350

At about 5pm today Labour sent a text saying that about 100 seats were too close to call and wanted everyone available to help get the vote out; don’t know if that was a genuine concern or a bit of scare-mongering.

Our local Labour candidate was down our street with a gang of followers at 6pm this evening, first time I’ve seen anyone out canvassing, and the first leaflet I’ve received throughout the whole thing. There were 8 candidates on the ballot, not heard of 6 of them before today!

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I’ve had a few phew’s recently, and lost my streak a few days ago

I’ve done personal leases on cars for the last 15 yrs or so. It’s probably not the most sensible way forward financially, but I just look at it as a monthly payment that goes out like a bill. For that, I’ve been able to get a new car every 2-3 yrs, so never gone out of warranty, never had any mechanical issues, never had to MOT them, they’ve always been either no VED or very cheap, mostly been 2 yr service intervals, front tyres might need changing before the lease is up if unlucky. Set a budget for the monthly payment and if you’re happy with it, don’t over think it!

However…! This lease is up at the end of the year and I’m not seeing anything that’s jumping out as a particularly good deal at the moment. I’m after a full EV, but the monthly’s are too expensive as it stands.

Currently in an Octavia iV through Simpsons Skoda, they sometimes have some pretty good offers.

My 8 yr old (and me) are looking forward to Jessie Ware and Confidence Man.

Hopefully Idles will do the stick song so I can show that to her as well 🤭