I was going to ask the same question. Currently use an Anthem for summer races and Inbred single speed for winter races/training. I'm thinking of going ali hardtail, with 1×9 gears. I need to work out what's the smallest chainring I can use.
I think you need to plan for the last 20 miles even if it means a less then ideal bike for the first 80.

paulrockliffe,
I think you're a bit over the top here. The question is 'How do you protect your phone when riding'
It's a perfectly valid answer to say 'Leave it at home' You may not agree but that doesn't mean it's wrong.

Punk, if you're feeling brave.

I use these and Speed Kings 100% of the time and for my riding (mostly Thetford plus races like 24/12 and Enduro 6) they have been very good. In the last 3 years I've had 2 punctures, that's in training rides (3-4 hours a week) and races (maybe a total of 60 hours) which I think is pretty good. Clearly it depends on the conditions but Thetford is famous for flint mining and there's some sharp bits around, it's not all mud!

Yes but the Three Kings is a s**t pub unless you're eating. Better off free wheeling down to the Cherry Tree. (what we do on a Thursday night: 5/6 pubs in the local area, back to the Cherry Tree just as the pools/darts match is finishing and help tidy up the food.)

We had chips in Manea once on one of our Thursday night pub runs. I think they used tractor oil to fry them. Worst chips over.

Speaking of Chatteris, who's heard a great song by Half Man Half Biscuit, 'For what is Chatteris…'?
Has the great line:
'what's Chatteris if you're not there?
I may as well be in Ely or Saint Ives.'

Yes, you're right, it's aaaaaaddenam, but the 'boy' is optional unless your company car is a tractor.
Best place round here is called Way Head. Just a few farms but a very strange place.
Grunty Fen is also a bit odd, dead straight roads with 90 deg corners that suddenly appear. Also has it's own travellers camp so not a good place to break down.

Grahamt,
No, I'm in Haddenham, maybe there's competition for the highest village award.

I did a port tasting last year and the best was a 1995 LBV Smith Woodhouse at £15. Also tried 1982 Ferreira and 1977 Warre which cost alot more but not as good. Also tried eating things other than cheese so my supper is a glass of port, dark choc and rasins.

Yes, I live in the Fens, or rather, the highest village in the Fens, a dizzy 30 metres above sea level. But last time I checked my lawnmower was still in the shed.

Just plug it all in and see what doesn't work. It's unlikely to explode/ignite so quickly you won't have time to turn it off/run.

I've also got a Stuart taylor kitcar, mines got a Fireblade engine in it. I've had it for about 5 years and it's still mad to drive, Red line about 12000 rpm and gear changes so quick you don't have time to think. Just a bit noisy, after an hour your ears are bleeding. No reverse, but never needed one (apart from parking)
I know someone building an Ultima and from the look of the bits it's very impressive.

Don't forget there will be other things to photo apart from the landscape. A long lense is good for candid shots of the locals. I found it was well worth lugging it up the mountains.

Book shops (if that's your thing)
Scott Polar (Has Scott's last hand written letter found in his tent. Very moving)

Both of you have a good one tomorrow. All the best,
Richard

What material?
I've done a few in carbon.

Dougal,
I've got a Current Cost 128 which plugs into the PC's serial port. Then a bit of nerdness and I can check the house power useage from anywhere on the internet. Not my idea, got lots of hints here[/url]

I've installed it on two machines, an old desktop which dual boots with XP so we have a 'secure' pc for internet banking, and a small mini itx motherboard I use for power monitoring. Both installed fine, no problems. Even got an old wireless usb stick to work, which failed badly with XP.
Depends what you need from a PC. Seems ok for the basic stuff, plus will run on older hardware.

Do you ride the Brandon side? That's about it really, no hidden hills! The most damage I've sustained is riding the uncut stuff during the summer, nettles and brambles but nothing worse.

Nepal

Rowing was my first 'real' sport that I took part in seriously. Ergos are just the boring bit of rowing, but can still be very competitive, as well as one of the best ways to get fit.
When I stopped rowing on the water I did a fair bit on the ergo, ended up doing the indor rowing champs. Just bear in mind it's one of the hardest training sessions you can do; I think it's because you always have that little display right in you face which detects any sign of weakness!

My Pompino:
On-One chainset, 48T (square taper)
16T shimano freewheel and spocket
3/32 chain (I had spare)
Rear hub is a Mavic from about 20 years ago I had in the loft. Fits the 120mm spacing fine, I just needed to make up some spacers to ensure the chainline was right.

Been working well for at least 2 weeks!

We ride to pubs in the summer, usually do 5/6 pubs (=pints) a night, typical ride will be 20 miles. One night it was raining really hard so we spent the night going between the two pubs in our village. Still 5 pints but only about a mile.

Not sure I understand about the '9v-style' connectors. Mine have co-axal type connectors, with a little 'D' moulded in. Are you talking about the rechargable type?

Yes.
Looking at the bits I got when I ordered a 200 and 600 set from On-One a few years ago I've got two extension cables, both 1 metre long.
Not sure if there's a UK supplier now, On-One have a few bits left. Try the Dinotte web site, they ship to the UK and have always been very helpful. (I emailed them last year and got a response back within an hour, on a saturday afternoon!)
Dinotte website[/url]

Like others here I feel privileged to be reading your posts. I just hope that somehow all that inspiration you have generated helps you and Meg in the coming months and years.
All the best(but that sounds so inadequate).

This has been mentioned (not this case, gagging orders ingeneral) in Private Eye. They are often granted by 'new' judges, who get the late night watch. Hence less experiances and less likely to stand up to aggresive representivies from the damaged party.

Best news I've heard for months. All the best.

Has to be Shane MacGowan. So cool he doesn't have to try any more:

Looking forward to your next post. All the best.

I'm with smugmug here. It's not $40 for the basic, more like $20 I think, but still unlimited. I know you can get free accounts, but I'd rather pay a bit as they should be around a bit longer (hopefully). I use it to back up all my photos as you can set up private areas for stuff you don't want the whole web to see.

If it's 100% that DHL are coming, and let's say they will arrive before 5pm, then the chance of them coming in any 2 minute period is going up as you get closer to 5pm, so go now!
(but don't blame me if you miss them.)

(I could be wrong but this is what I understand)
1/8 and 3/32 refers to the thickness of the teeth on the chainwheel and/or sprocket, so if you have a 1/8 chainwheel, you'll need a 1/8 chain, but you can use 1/8 chain on 3/32 chainwheel/sprocket, or have 1/8 chainwheel, 3/32 sprocket and 1/8 chain.
1/8 chains (I think) were 'standard' on bikes such as 3 speed gear hubs, but multi speed rear blocks need narrower chains, hench 3/32. I'm not such why track stuff still use 1/8.

We have some good names here in the Fens:
Way Head
Prickwillow
Queen Adelaide

When I was designing my carbon suspension bike I looked into all this. I even paid out money on some software Linkage[/url] to check out my designs. I also looked a a load of reviews and tried to match the reviewers comments with different types of suspension. I came to the conclusion that it was all boll**ks.
The only thing that matters is the it gets stiffer (ooh!)towards the end of travel, but that's just common sense.
So I think it's just marketing stuff.

I'm just waiting for those 24 people who 'guessed' the numbers to get together and try and do it again and loose lots of money!

Yes he 'did it'. Picked all six numbers. And yes, it was a trick. Supposed to be telling how he did it on Friday night.
Would have been better if we'd seen the numbers he picked before the lottery, but he had some reason why he couldn't.

Like said above, if it's wet, you'll need to keep warm when not riding. I did it solo last year in the rain and I felt sorry for the people waiting to ride. At least I was warm (plus a bit wet).