I rode Smiths Combe yesterday for the first time in 5 years.  I remember it being pretty smooth and was caught unawares as it enters the first tree section as it’s turned into a messy rocky motorway!  Can’t believe its erosion from bikes but maybe e-bikes.  The lower parts are still ok but yes the climb (walk!) out is hideous.

Weacombe is still the best imho.

The Chimney in Great Wood is epic still

https://www.facebook.com/739324342838427/posts/4849292191841601/

And if you are driving and see a stranded cyclist, stop and offer a lift on your roof rack for extra karma points!

I’ve loved commuting this winter. It gets easier if you do it lots and it becomes a habit rather than organising it from scratch each time. Riding in the dark morning and night is the best.
My tips – Leave as much stuff as you can at work. One day a week drive in with clean clothes and take home dirties. Tools and tube in saddle bag as usual. Sandwich and an apple in jersey pocket. Water bottle on bike. Lights charged at work but stay on bike at home.

I found going out with other people really helped. Find a beginner and go out with them and you can show them the skills and your fitness doesn’t matter. Your skills should still be there so pass it on. You will feel good about seeing their progress. Alternatively join a volunteer bike workshop to fix other people’s bikes. You have loads of other cycling related skills. Give something back. Then you’ll get your mojo back and you can start to push yourself. Worked for me!

@munkeymadness Guys can you lot stop tagging me in these posts! My user name is robbo but you mean robbo1234biking! Very interesting but… :-)

Cwm Carn… https://naturalresources.wales/days-out/places-to-visit/south-east-wales/cwmcarn-forest/?lang=en

Detail on each centres websites apparently… Afan http://www.afanforestpark.co.uk/?lang=en-gb

Massive Attack – O2 Arena London last year – so dull

Skysea Camping and Caravan Park on the Gower peninsula. On the beach!!!! With Fish n Chip shops within easy reach and good pub too…

https://www.porteynon.com/

Prime video now works with Chromecast. Tried it last night to watch the Children Act. At last

Cracker with original cast

Good luck ton. I had mine replaced five years ago. I lost lots of strength because I was ‘hipless’ for 6 months while the infection cleared, but I was back on the bike within 6 weeks and back at work teaching in 6 weeks. Took over a year to get the power even between the legs again.

Get down the gym and on the machines as quickly as you can. Walking in water is a very good early exercise to get going.

The only advice the doctors gave me was to not try to learn anything new (like skiing, para gliding) where there is a high fall risk – they said If I used to be fine then it would be ok. I’ve taken a few falls including being hit by a VW Golf at speed and not had any issues.

My advice is to do as much strength work before the op so that you are as strong and fit as you can be to make recovery quicker.

I now hardly notice it!

I got in last year so I’m trying Velo Birmingham as a target event this year. Same idea but a bit hillier!

I had a similar situation with my teenage daughter. Stole £600 cash over 5 weeks. She fessed up immediately though and we rebuilt trust again over time and reduced allowance!

If she’s not admitting it then there is something very wrong somewhere or she is in fact not stealing from you. You don’t trust her and/or she doesn’t trust you enough to tell you. Either way you need a break from each other and maybe some mediation as was suggested earlier. Not sure if working with your ex will work – it didn’t for me and in fact made things worse.

My situation is improving as she moved out to her Mum’s flat and we only have ‘nice’ visits now.

As one of the Banjo Series organisers and ex SouthernXC I think there isn’t really a problem with the format of XC racing or the structure of the events. We saw numbers growing over the last few years post 2012 after we put a lot of promotional effort into getting the races known out there. We always pushed Banjo as starter races for a laugh but the Southerns were deliberately aimed at the really keen racers so they didn’t overlap with Gorricks. There was a progression through the series – Banjo, Gorrick, Southerns, Nationals. And it worked on bringing through talent but needed loads of effort in media and promotion.

Numbers have dropped in the last two years as we ran out of man-power and time to sustain the growth. The growth of CX has taken some riders especially at Banjo and Gorrick races but that is OK because they should cross over back to XC in the spring/summer. CX works because everybody sees it as a duty for the organising club to help out at at least one round so the workload is spread out.

The big problem I see is lack of organisers for entry level races or bigger one off events. Everyone seems to want to start off too big then panic when they don’t get pre-entries and cancel. People need to step up and start taking over from the old organisers (well done Adam btw).

And anyway is it really a problem that XC racing doesn’t get big participation. As long as people are riding bikes!

Read a book (kindles don’t get soggy…)

I had a good discussion with the insurance company today and they are just not geared up to handle bike repair claims like they do for cars. I was expecting them to take control, assess, fix at an approved centre and pay for it direct just like they did when I had a car accident. They were actually apologetic and we’ve worked out a generous cash sum to pay for the parts, new helmet and shorts but I have to order the parts and organise the rebuild.

BC are however following up the injury claim ;-)

I could b r but I want the insurance company to sort it

I’ve tried the bike rental ploy already!

I’m in British Cycling and will get in touch with them tomorrow. What is the usual process here? Has anyone else had the same problem? Should I just be talking to the driver?

I’ve started using it on the road bike with voice instructions and the phone in my pocket. Just about gets the directions in time but saves having the phone on a mount on the bike.. Did notice it used quite a bit of data during two trips. You can check on the Data Usage settings page.

I had a bout two years ago. No drugs just CBT and it helped. But it really made me realise that it was the setup of my life that was causing the depression. Your mental state is influenced by your environment – people, places, things. And really if you don’t tackle that it doesn’t matter what drugs you take it what CBT you do. It’s hard but worth it.

I’ve divorced, moved house, changed friendship groups, adjusted family ties and am much happier.

Change the people around you, change your work, change your location, change your bike! Maybe not all at once but at least one thing. And if that doesn’t work change something else. Even if the changes result in disaster you’ll be in control and you’ll be learning.

Good luck.

Must say I’m impressed. All stages live streaming on BBC website. Enter Shikari soon on John Peel.

Herbivore, stay strong. About this time last year I was feeling pretty suicidal too. Now I’m divorced and have a hot date for nye which I’m so excited about! You never now what’s around the corner!

Its raining in Blaenau Ffestiniog. No snow.

Go south if you can. Skeggs is great and Saratoga Gap fun with great views. Soquel Demo Forest if you can get to Highway 9 into Santa Cruz. Jealous…

I got the 5800 equipped one for Christmas. Only one ride so far but very impressed with the ride. They’re not pretty up front but the rear end looks great. I got the 56 which the size guide says was too big for me but I have short legs and long body and like to stretch. Assembly was very good.

Only Planet X and Dolan come close on spec but I went for the 11 speed 105 and newer design frame. Don’t think either do 4600 level bikes.

Be selfish. Think about yourself only. Be cold. Think if you get guilt tripped to stay it will get harder next time and you’ll end up doing the same thing for the next 30 years.

But don’t be a dick. Maybe stop paying for stuff in a few months to give her time to make other arrangements.

Good luck!

If you’re using a plane never plane off the edge or you’ll tear the sides as you’re planing across the grain. Always go in towards the centre of the door. Probably also applies to saws! Biggest pain is not being confident enough to take enough off and having to rehang the door each time to check it! Electric planes are easy if you’re doing it horizontally so the door is upside down and you are standing on a chair, then you can see under the plane as its cutting and keep it level. Good luck!

Oh come on. Just fit a new jockey wheel to the mech. It’s just the mech with the problem not the bike. Nothing to do with Specialized. Two weeks!

@chakaping well they are not personal once they’re uploaded to youtube. Only use them on your own devices is probably fair use like putting copies of mp3s on your iPod.

Just dont use ripped off music! There’s plenty of OK soundtrack music out there for free. Vimeo even have their own music store were you can get tracks. I get then from Vimeo then post on Youtube and its fine! Or host it on Facebook?

Be careful is my advice. Winston had it spot on – the guilt on spending any money on yourself is hard even if you are earning. There is a reason so many stay at home mums go ‘mad’ after giving up their careers for their men. It’s not good for your self esteem. I’ve done it for 11 years working full time as well and its destroyed our marriage as she flew off on a stellar career and I stayed behind in a different world. Just be careful…

There’s another thread suggesting LibreOffice or OpenOffice as alternative to MS Office, both free. An alternative to Publisher would be Serif PagePlus, about £10 for old versions.

Good shop! Which one?

Good luck with getting compensation from CRC!

I ‘like’ the notion that there is a ‘management’ in a school. Teachers are not managers of people but they are the ones promoted to be ‘in charge’. Management is about getting the best out of the people you’ve got – in schools its more about getting shot of the people you don’t want and getting more cannon fodder in!

I’m a Maths Teacher and I’m getting back to loving it. You have to do your job and its a hard nasty job – marking 30 books all with the same comments makes your head spin. Most kids care and try hard but some don’t (usually because of other outside issues which you shouldn’t get into if you want to maintain your sanity). The buzz when a whole group of 30 click is amazing but be prepared to be very tired most of the time.

Good luck

Best thing about the Quantocks is no need for a map. Ride the length of the ridge, drop down a combe, ride back up, and repeat until you’re knackered. Can’t get lost. Brill

Second the idea of parking in Westfield. Cheap and convenient…

Being able to recognise that dividing is just making a fraction and that decimals are just a special way of writing fractions is important to her understanding of number. And these calculators really help see the link. I wish they used them in primary school more. So many talented math students still resort to long division to give answers as decimals rather than fractions and waste time doing it!

Is it mymaths.co.UK online homework BTW? That is even more frustrating as it needs decimals all the time and expects you to round without telling you too.

Keep talking Maths to her and she’ll do great :-)