‘New’ obviously has a different meaning in Daily Mail world. Realtree camo has been round for years (first licensed in 1986)

And according to the ever reliable Daily Express

CHRISTMAS will be ruined for tens of millions of people as the worst winter storms in recorded HISTORY rip through Britain, forecasters warned today.

No, they heard Bono was turning up.

Had to turn it off as my urine reached boiling point
“I try to stop my son over eating but he steals crisps and sweets from the cupboard”
Er, don’t buy crisps and sweets?
“My daughter was driven to overeating because all the girls at school were skinnier than her”
She’s fat because other kids aren’t?
And more drivel in that vein.

Still dead. Guests at the memorial service include Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Bono and Naomi Campbell.

this does appear to be the norm in certain traditional frame building circles

A world of difference between having your name hand painted by the frame builder and buying a sticker off ebay

“Sexytime Explosion”

I bet Jens Voigt is kicking himself for not having thought of that one :-)

@kazafaza – :D Nice one!

Almost as cool as having a No Fear sticker on the back of your pimped up Saxo.

A friend in Edmonton has just sent me this (presumably in a pathetic attempt to elicit sympathy)
Wind Chill Warning for Northern Alberta

Frigid temperatures combined with moderate winds are bringing extreme wind chill values below minus 40 this morning. Wind chills will moderate somewhat this afternoon but are expected to once again reach warning levels in the minus forties overnight and into Saturday morning.
At these extreme wind chill values frostbite on exposed skin may occur in less than 10 minutes.

A bit bracing then :-)

Better get used to it (apparently)
Climate change warning: Killer winter storms for next THIRTY years

PUSSYWILLOW’S BACK!

Yeh! Now we just need richmtbguru to join in as well and we’re sorted. Or would that use up the world’s entire supply of awesomeness in one go?

I love this one – appears to be the union flag re-designed by Grayson Perry

Try UkBikeStore

I go to Edmonton on a regular basis for work. Cold in winter, flat in summer about sums it up. It’s got quite a nice vibe to it, with a fair number of young professionals, but it’s hardly the most interesting place in Canada. Definitely not to be confused with places like Jasper or Calgary; more like Milton Keynes, only bigger and colder. And the winter is very cold and very long.

Step 3 – sell the old bike and buy a nicer one.

A small error crept in there

Show me an Audax with 2000 folk doing it and I’ll agree

Fair enough. I know of an Audax in January that had 2 riders in it, and one of them was the organiser!
I think a key difference is that Audax results just show who finished within the time limit(s), in alphabetical order of name. No times given, so none of the pretend race feeling of a Sportive.

OP asked for sportives, not road races or audax

What’s the difference between an Audax and a Sportive (apart from the entrance fee usually)? Genuine question, not trying to be difficult.

But don’t forget that you need to have ridden a number of qualifying events to get in to the PBP

The Audax UK calendar of qualifying events is good source of ‘tough’ events in the UK for 2014
http://www.aukweb.net/events/?Category=BRM (need to adjust the date range, STW doesn’t like the URL format)

If you can wait until August 2015, there’s the Paris-Brest-Paris. 1200km with maximum time limits of 80, 84 or 90 hours. Tough enough?

What the hell goes through people’s heads when they park across 2 spaces.

Annoying isn’t it. With a bit of thought you can get 2 cars in 1 space

What the Met Office says

By midweek, it is likely that most parts will become colder than of late, with more widespread overnight frosts and temperatures a little below average by day.

What the Daily Mail says

Temperatures are set to plunge in Britain next week with snow and gales bringing parts of the country to a standstill, forecasters warned today. Freezing weather sweeping in from the North Pole threatens to whip up freezing winds, winter storms and widespread frosts, it was predicted.

:-)

Laying a hedge properly is a skill that shouldn’t be lost.
If it’s done right it’ll last a long time and has way more benefit than just flailing it. Just because somethin isn’t quick and easy doesn’t make it a worse option.

You make hedge laying and hedge cutting sound like mutually exclusive options. They aren’t. Laying is used to restore a hedge that is open and straggly, usually because it hasn’t been cut regularly/properly in the first place. Once a hedge has been laid it will need annual trimming to maintain it. And unless you can find an army of peasants to cut them by hand this means using tractors and flail cutters.

Had about 1km of road-side hedging laid a few years back, by an old bloke who mainly used his bare hands and a bill-hook. My son and I helped him and after 2 days we were on our knees with fatigue. Respect to the old time country boys who can do this.
The hedges have now recovered and thickened up so that they can be properly trimmed by a neighbour with a flail cutter. So if you’ve had a puncture in the Brechfa area it may be my fault.

You’ll get an awful lot of beet for £500

Probably the wrong tyres size wheels

:-)

Got some San Miguel in the fridge, but Mrs Rusty bought me a bottle of this for tonight. Don’t know what it tastes like but it’s worth it for the label – a naked lady and a bicycle!

That’s got to be Obree’s bike. Surely he’s the only person in the world who could actually pedal it?

Liebniz are the biz

Got to be plain chocolate though

Ordered a Hope ceramic from Halfords at the weekend – £77 minus an extra 10% meaning £69.30 (think the offer is still on today) which is pretty good value. Stainless ones at £56, £50.40 with discount.
Need to get the adapters separately though.

Ah, I think you’re right Stiggy. Thanks

Think you guys have persuaded me… Sounds just right to me

Excellent, go for it! The nearest analogy I can think of is having a Caterham Kit car, or something like that – not sensible, not safe, not comfortable, but gets the endorphins running like nothing else.

Reckon the stock stem being shortened’ll sort the downhill side of the ride

No, it’s not that simple. At all. You need to get used to riding like this :

If you’re comfortable descending in a position like this it could be just the bike for you!

Light, stiff and very lively. Not a comfortable trail center pootling machine though. Great uphill but can be a bit too exciting on steep technical descents. I love mine, but now use a Cotic Soul as my regular ride which is luxurious by comparison.

I did the BC MBLA2 this year and can assure you that there’s a lot more involved than carrying some sweeties and tubes! It’s not about guiding, it’s about leadership, based on the long running Mountain Leader award, and is designed to impart the skills necessary to lead a group somewhere you don’t know like the back of your hand. A big difference.
Route cards are useful IMO because the actual exercise of preparing them is useful in itself – where are the hazards, escape routes, stopping points etc – and because whilst you may not need them they can be invaluable if things go wrong.
The current mess of similar but competing qualifications is a pain, but BC are attempting to unify them all, and have the clout and financial backing to do so (or take over the world depending on your viewpoint :-) )

Not marketing speak.

Yes, marketing speak, because ‘open tubular’ is an oxymoron. A tyre is either a tub or an hp (to avoid the ghastly Americanism of ‘clincher’). What they’re trying to convey is that the tyre is made using a high TPI cotton (or silk) carcasse with a cold fixed tread, like a tubular, but fitted to an open rim with a bead rather than being sown up and glued to the rim.

As Challenge explain it :

Tubulars and open tubulars: Tubular tires are, well, tubular. They are sewn shut around a seamless latex tube, already in a tube shape, and are mounted and glued directly on a rim, rather than around a tube. However, they require a purpose-made tubular rim that would usually only be used on race day to precent damage. Open tubulars mount like a standard clincher, but are made in the same artisan handmade process as the tubulars and are not stiff like most clinchers, maintaining most of the ride quality gained from a handmade tubular.

Non-vulcanized: Ultimately the major difference between a handmade tubular or open tubular and the majority of clinchers is that it will avoid the heat and pressure process called vulcanization, which most tires undergo in production. It is used to bind the materials, but compromises the ride quality when the rubber gets tougher and dried out. Challenge tubulars and open tubulars are hand-glued, and the latex and rubber maintain its ideal quality.

It’s the ‘artisan handmade process’ see?

You can get open tubulars but I thought all clinchers were open

Manufacturers like Grifo and Deda use ‘open tubulars’ to refer to clinchers that are made from the same materials used for their tubular equivalent, mainly the good quality, high thread count casings. Just marketing speak really.

XG Pros here as well. Used for on/off road mixes (‘MTB Lite’) rather than CX racing.

I regularly bounce up and down on a pair of big fat Rubber Queens and find it very satisfying :-)
(2.4 front, 2.2 rear)

From the NYA newsletter :

Can I go mountain biking or horse riding in Bwlch Nant yr Arian whilst the larch trees are being felled?
No, unfortunately all the mountain bike and horse riding trails will be closed for approximately three months from October 2013