Glad your starting getting sorted Op.
It’s like climbing a mountain at first.
Good speed to you.

Not posted under this pseudonym for a while.
But here goes..

I’m not in a great place. Bikes are no help. Work is crap, no drive to do anything but sit & mull. Used to be that work or home, in any order, would balance out the other when one was crap. Feel like I’m watching myself, slowly sinking. When I was depressed before it was like a fog, triggered by discovering a partner was cheating then her walking out. Slowly, very slowly at first, the fog cleared. Half a day at a time. It’s like that in reverse at the moment, This time of year I’m normally full of beans. Christ, I’ve a Wife, two kids, a well paid decent job with plenty of responsibility, hell we’ve even got a dog. I should be up there, living the life. Instead I’m wondering how things would run without me. Head is full to bursting but can’t talk to anyone. Health isn’t great, quite overweight, out of breath a lot. All I want to do is curl up & cry. How the hell do I even start to unravel this one.

Thanks for all the replies.
Turns out her original dissertation mentor left mid way, but support up to that point, compared to her fellow students; had (she felt) fallen short in terms of guidance in the suitability of her research material. She was assigned another mentor who was unable to fit her in before she herself went on holiday. No alternative support was offered when asked for.

She met with the head of adult nursing today who’s basically said in two weeks, after the next exam board, that she will be officially off the course.!!!
He’s basically said speak to student services.
No opportunity to re-do the last year, & the dissertation is a requirement of the course, so short of points in that respect.

So, her last hope is an appeal, assisted by student services, but I can’t help think it’s a done deal.
The rustler home is not a great place to be right now.

I think its her course leader she has been speaking to.
There was a different member of staff assigned to her to mentor her through her dissertation, that was the one who disappeared on holiday.
Thinking back to when I did my degree, I had a course leader but a different staff member who I met for support during my dissertation.

With it being a nursing degree, (funded by the NHS), I’m not sure if it works differently.

On a lighter note…I did a 10 mile ride around our local town yesterday, about 40 of us, of all age groups from 4 yrs to probably 70 yrs plus. We had appointed marshals zipping ahead to stop traffic & can honestly say we didn’t encounter a single bit of abuse from any drivers who were held up.

“commute to Swinton?” I avoided that thread just on those three words. 😕

Wear a tie yer scruff bag.

My lads got a Hotrock24, but according to him that green Carrera up there^^^ is a better ride.
Best advice, lose the heavy fork & stick an Exotic alloy on there, with a nice big tyre.

On-One fatty.

MidlandTrailquestsGraham…a few rigid forks will take a Surly Knard, running a 29+ up front might be a cheaper option. Knard is £63 at all-terrain-cycles, & Dually rim is only 5mm narrower than a Rabbit Hole at £104.

I tried a Krampus at Cannock & loved it, as did the lads I was riding with.
I thought the Krampus frame was a bit of a lump though, & £650 is a lot of cash for a plain cro-moly frameset.

Be good when there are a few more options available.

What is it with anything 29+ & estimated vs actual release dates… 🙂

I bet it will be good when it arrives.

Niners carbon post is designed to flex & give a comfy ride.

I have Mavic TN719’s on Surly hubs, the rear being a screw on freewheel type, with a White Industries freewheel. They built in to a lovely strong set of wheels, that have taken a right hammering. Tyres go on & off easily also. I’m just about to re-build the front with a Dually rim, so I can run a Knard up front.

Late edit: as good as the rear has been, I’d use a regular hub next time though, so I could pop a cassette on if needed.

Those Genesis are lovely in the flesh.
That’s where my money would go.
Commuting is just so much better with full (proper) guards & a rack.

Not saying there’s anything wrong with PlanetX. I’ve bought from them a few times & not had an issue. Trouble is, it only takes one spiteful web whinger to post a couple of dodgy reviews under different guises & folk start to walk away. If the Disco fits the bill I’d go for it.
Hell, Mick Hall rode one around the world in 90 or so days…!!!

I’ve often thought they should print a code on each receipt, that needed to be entered in order to leave a review.

I rember an article in a mag in the early 90’s, where the chap did a 100 mile ride around the North East.
Didn’t Haro do something similar…

Great album that.
“Alaskan pipeline” ace track.

One for my many lady fans…

Yeah, I is bad.

My trusty commuter.

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IMAG2673[/url] by pten2106[/url], on Flickr

Well they started a niche in 29+ tyres, & 2 yrs later still the only one actually on sale.
Oh…hang on, yes, there’s all those 29+ tyres we see in glossy pics, that are coming out soon…
Grrrrf.

Top marks. 🙂

He’ll be fine DrP.
Just measured my lads inside leg at 47cm & he’s been riding his for over a year.
The saddle has gone up several times, about 4″ from minimum now.
He went up from a Cnoc14 that was running at max.

TriBan3 here, the red one.
Lovely bike.
Don’t know much about the Merlin.

Google ?
Bound to be on the Spesh site somewhere.

To the original question…yes.
And I’ve been married for almost 10 years.
Two amazing children, who are the only thing that keep me around. She sure as hell doesn’t.
If the children weren’t here we’d have split for sure.
The only thing that keeps me going…the thought that one day it will end, for whatever reason. In my head it’s the day after the youngest is 16. That will be my release date.

Houns, don’t pine for it chap.
If I was single now I’d be the happiest chap in town.
Women…they could **** right off. I’ve had my fill of them.

Start again.
Put the cone & locknut on one side. Screw the nut down until only about 3-4mm of thread is showing from the outside face of the nut to the end of the axle. Then carefully unscrew the cone until it touches the nut. Then put the cone spanners on & lock them together, really tight. Best if you clamp the centre of the axle in a vice if you have one. If not just be careful you don’t screw the nut down the axle any more when tightening them together. To check offer it up to the dropout on the bike. With the nut on the inside of the dropout, the end of the axle should be a mm or two in from the outside face of the dropout. If it’s flush, or protruding the skewer won’t do up.

When done grease the balls in place & pop back in. Then the remaining cone & locknut, but leave loose for now. Then put the wheel on the outside of the dropout & tighten up tightly with the skewer. Then adjust the cone to take out any play, pop the cone spanner on & gently screw the locknut up. Then tighten. Might need to practise a few times. Be sure to check the dropout on the non side drive, in case the cones need be adjusted.

I’d have a V70. If they’re good enough for rolling roadblocking drug dealers on the M6 then I figure my kids would be safe in one.
Wife hates them though.
So we have a Galaxy.
🙁

After trying many…Salsa fliplock.

Does the sound only manifest itself when riding over this bridge…

If so its the bridge. Its notorious for creaking.

Without going into detail, councelling had only a limited effect for me. It was good to talk to someone, but I got more support from folk on HERE. Reading what some go through makes you realise how low you can get. Still get dark days, & this time of year doesnt help. I can recognise the thought patterns that can kick it off now though, & I know what to do to get over it. As kind as folk are, unless you’ve gone through it its hard to fully understand. Hope you get through it mate.

Gripshift ?
(Do they still make them?)

Wrap the weakest member of the group in Bacofoil & run away from him/her.

I’ve never noticed much difference.

I shall employ a delivery driver to follow with the bikes. 🙂

70mm x 0deg here, with lo-rise Monkey-Lites. Keen to try some flats but I like the extra bit of give than a non O/S riser gives when I’m running mine with a rigid fork.

You cant beat the way stainless spokes look after a good wash, so for me stainless every time.

Well clobber me…Clobber’s clobbered Clubbers forks…

Carbon rigids work far better on a 29er. If you can borrow some give them a try, you might be surprised. The Exotic ones are finished a lot better than On-One One’s.

Or save your cash & wait till some maxle Reba Teams come up. They really are brilliant.

Never got any further unfortunetley.

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21032010287[/url] by pten2106[/url], on Flickr

Lezyne Alloy-Drive is the one to have.

Lovely bike, but the Ti fireplace is a bit too flash.

Slightly different scenario, but not too far removed, my Wife has been trying to get a uni place for midwifery. She scored about as high grades as its possible to get on the Access to Health course, & got through to the interview stage for all three elected unis, but sadly no offers.
The sheer numbers of applicants amazed her…pretty much 100 > 1 according to one of the unis. Whats annoyed me is the yarn these students have been spun by the colleges offering the access courses, & the uni’s themselves when they do the open days. They are enticed into studying for a qualification that it now seems offers little more than a remote chance of actually winning a place. For example, the largest uni offering midwifery places around here took on 30 students & half of those places were allocated to deferals from those offered places last year, but then subsequently rescinded when they had the budget cut.
Its looking like her, & thousands like her, have spent two years, & over £1.5k studying hard for somtehing that is simply was never going to happen because of the chronic amount of funding available. And yet the statistics supposedly suggest that 65% of midwives will retire in the next ten years. 😕

[mini-rant over} 🙂

Same here, he’s almost 4 & right on the limit of his Priorifix. We went for a Britax Isofix for his bigger brother which was very expensive but after having the unfortunate experience of seeing my two hanging upside down in their seats when our car overturned on the motorway, I just wasnt going to scrimp.

My only recomendation would be make sure he’s ready physically, whilst they can fit a bigger seat (IMO) they are beter protected in the stage two seats.