kerley 😂 it may be easy, but that was the last thing on my mind!

Drac well I had lots of similar situations to yours too. In fact the majority of my interactions with dogs and their dog owners are like that. When riding I am always considerate around dogs, I slow down and take my time when passing them, as I never want to scare/spook a dog in case I reacts badly. But last night was nearly a change of underwear moment. I was genuinely worried the dog was going to bite me if it had caught me.

Out on cross bike last night, riding through a forest and on an adjacent path about 30 to 40ft away I could hear a women shouting frantically to try and control her angry barking dog.

I Didn’t think much of it until I looked behind and the same big angry barking dog started chasing after me. Probably only lasted for 10s, but it started closing at one point and I was getting very worried. I’m a dog owner, so use to dogs, must be even worse for someone who is scared of dogs.

Would hate to think what would have happened if it caught me, or worse still if it had chased a child that couldn’t ride fast enough to get away from it. It really didn’t look like it was friendly and chasing me for cuddles.

The woman really didn’t have any control over her dog.

TJ I agree with you about riding without helmet. As I don’t think it should be compulsory, and it would have a massive negative impact if they were made compulsory.

However regarding your defensive cycling. That is great for you, you have many years of experience and knowledge how to do that. But unfortunately many other cyclists don’t have the knowledge, skills or confidence to ride like that. So they may unfortunately find themselves in more dangerous positions than you would.

Especially more so now with the increased uptake in cycling. Lots of very inexperienced riders are on the roads. And they seem to ride in ways that puts themselves at risk. In this case maybe compulsory helmet use would be beneficial for their safety. But I wouldn’t want to see them put off by having to wear one.

Regarding the insurance. The cycling club I’m in (and believe many other clubs are the same) insist that you have some form of 3rd party insurance (usually British Cycling membership or Cycling UK) if you want to become a member and take part in group rides. If you cause a crash that is your fault with another rider or multiple riders, they could be left out of pocket with thousands of pounds of damage to bikes.

Also if you don’t have insurance and you cause an accident with a motorist they can claim off you personally.

My advice is Take out some cycle insurance. They also provide legal cover so in the event of you being in a non fault accident they will look after you.

Additionally the likes of British Cycling membership provides you with discounts to certain things. So it can work out that you can save the cost of membership on savings you have made throughout the year

Compulsory helmet use for cycling would see a detrimental effect on cycle use. Which as minority road users, we need more people to cycle for the government to invest in safer cycling infrastructure. So it would be a bad thing for all cyclists.

Currently helmet use is not compulsory. Therefore it is a personal choice and that should be the end of it. You may not agree that someone thinks its safe to cycle without a helmet, whilst you think it is dangerous and risky. It is thier choice.

As an example, I know plenty of motorbike riders that won’t ride a motorbike in anything other than full power rangers set of leathers with body armour, as this offers the best protection in the event of a crash, no matter how short their journey is. Whereas I’m more than happy to ride my motorbike around town in jeans and t-shirt. Some might say it’s dangerous and a risk and I shouldn’t do it. But to me, doing 30mph round town on a motorbike is less of a risk, than riding my road bike downhill at 45+mph in nothing more for body protection than lycra. And that is my personal choice. If it became compulsory to wear some form of protective clothing for motorbiking I could see that having a massive reduction on motorbike journeys made. I Know I’d certainly use mine less.

Probably 95% of my bike rides I wear a helmet, but there is the occasional time I pop to the shops where I won’t bother. For those occasions I just don’t see the need to wear one.

Cheers for the suggestions.
A lot of them look good, and I’ll be making some purchases

Do you have space around the snapped bolt to use a small set of stilsons? Like a 4inch set? The 2 to 3mm of stud sticking out should be enough to grip the stud providing you have space to get the jaws in.

I know plenty of KOM hunters, especially on the road bikes and cross/gravel bikes. Always planning their ride around favourable wind directions for the segments.

One particular local rider will notice what KOMs other riders they follow have recently taken and within a few days he will go out just with the aim to take off their KOMs. He always seems to target the same few riders as well. Very strange.

@NewRetroTom no I definitely haven’t. I never really thought about implication by denial.

What i can’t understand in this whole case, is why has none of the riders or staff that were/are still at either Team Sky (now Ineos)/British Cycling ever come forward to defend either Dr Freeman or the team, and deny that there was ever any doping going on.

By staying silent it feels like all are guilty and hoping it will all pass over before they get implicated.

If I was a clean rider from one of these teams I’d be shouting from the rooftops that I’d never seen or been involved in doping, as I wouldn’t want my reputation tarnished.

Or maybe there has been some serious institutional doping going on.

Whatever tyres you go for they have to be Tan wall on a road bike!

Absolute great idea. Especially your plan of using the connection of the old railway line cycle paths to get there.

However without sounding a bit negative, the point of people being and to cycle there could possibly put off any investment. Without majority of users using the car parks where would the council/woodland trust get any revenue to build and maintain it? One thing that Hamsterley does is bring in a lot of revenue through the car parks. Which the forestry commission can then use for trail building and maintenance.

Sorry if that sounds negative, but just making a point that may get brought up when you propose it. But i really like your plans and ambition, I think it would be a great location and use of the land. I drove past there the other day and thought it could definitely have some good riding built in it

Thing is cycling is such a brutal sport at the top level, that I don’t think it will ever be clean. I think it is a lot cleaner than it was, especially compared to the crazy EPO era. But someone will always try to break the rules.

There will be riders and/or staff that will know who this was for, but nobody will say anything unless they are desperate to sell a story. A bit like Floyd Landis, if he had been given a spot on the team with Amrstrong after his doping ban ended he would have never spilled the beans and nobody would be any more the wiser and Armstrong would still be regarded as a major cycling hero.

Got plenty of mates who have been happy to drive to Hamsterley, they probably vary with driving anything from 15 to 25miles to get there. And from a lot of their strava posts the place is absolutely rammed on a weekend at present.

I’ve stayed away and just stuck to road bike. But looking forward to going back soon. Miss riding the mtb. Only done 1 night ride this winter, whereas its normally A weekly ride

I’ve think you will. Think you will even see it with an aero design too.

Looks really nice. Would have really liked that back in the day.

Would be good to have a modern day version of it.

It may be acceptable, if it is secured to the existing scaffold, but not sure, I’d have to check but not currently able to.

But my concern is the told to get on with it when you have raised an issue. As an ex-maintenance manager I would not be telling anyone to get on with it if they weren’t happy and I couldn’t prove it was a safe method for working. At the end of the day it is your life that is at risk not theirs.

Also do your have a certificate for erecting a mobile scaffold tower? If not you are not allowed to do it.

Yeah, I’m struggling big time. Was working from home before lockdown, but usually on average I would be out at least once a week to various locations across the country for meetings etc, sometimes it could be 2 or 3 timea a week.

But for a year now, all I’ve done is look at same 4 walls and its driving me insane. Apart from talking to wife when she gets home I have no other daily face to face interactions. A trip to the supermarket once a week is my social highlight and I normallyhate going to them!!

I do the regular zoom/teams meetings but its not the same as face to face. I was always happy in my own company before and didn’t think I was that social, but turns out I do need to see other people. So much so last year I’d planned a few small solo touring trips, but in the end I couldn’t face going away by myself, whereas I normally jump at the chance.

Just wear my road bike helmet when on my cross bike. But then I also wear it on my road bike, touring bike and mtb.

Never had a mtb specific mtb helmet.

I think (you best check though) that you should be able to fit a Surly Straggler fork. And that has disc mounts

https://surlybikes.com/parts/straggler_fork

I have a few bits. Nothing worse than needing to do quick repair and not having spares and having to wait to get the parts. Got a few bikes, so can usually keep riding.

Rim brake pads, both road and mountain (probably won’t need to buy anymore for the next 5 years)
Disc brake pads.
Gear and brake cables (inners and outers)
Inner tubes
Chains. 1 11spd about 5 9spd. Need to order a 12spd for new bike thats on order.
Replacement mech hangers, not for every bike, so need to get some more ordered.
Possibly some 9spd jockey wheels

Don’t think I keep any other new spare parts, but I have a box of old parts that still have a few miles left in them in that could be used to temporarily fix a bike

Not sure of those specific pedals. But the shimano ones are very easy to service. So if they are anything like them it should be no problem.

I just use a multi purpose grease. Only a few quid from screwfix https://www.screwfix.com/p/granville-multipurpose-grease-400ml/8436P?tc=GA9&ds_kid=92700046638549236&ds_rl=1243318&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1245250&gclid=Cj0KCQiAst2BBhDJARIsAGo2ldUY4zphP3r8gS9Cx48yUk6X4m7yXbL1MrQ0TgFbYaGN2huSC2zJbA4aAhYpEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Only wear contacts for cycling. Glasses all other times. Been using them for over 20 years now.

I normally wear some form of eye protection when cycling, but don’t find it necessary. I can happily ride without them, even in very muddy conditions like during cyclocross races, despite getting mud in the eye they have never been an issue

Look at that, either 10minutes and a bit of adjustment and a bit of chain lube and it will be ok.

Or (more than likely) its going to be a can of worms and you’ll be regretting offering your service

I’m going for 8 faults

Raced as 2nd cat on road for several seasons. Even at my peak I doubt I’d get close to 350W for 5 min, nevermind 500W. Thats was at 75kg (I’m not even close to that nowadays)

Looking at some of the charts previously linked my power numbers wouldn’t have been good enough to be classed as a 4th cat never mind 2nd cat. Seem to have really low ftp and and always done badly on any stationary bike tests.

However put me in a race and I could suffer all race and still have a decent sprint at end of race. Power numbers aren’t always everything.

Good luck to anyone trying 500W for 5 min, not my idea of fun and no chance I’d even try it.

Can’t believe the price of these.
My dad is a hoarder and has loads. He sold a few a couple of years ago for peanuts. Could a made a bit of money at these prices.

He also has a few anvils and swage blocks that he’s keeping for me, just need a decent workshop where I can put them

Been suffering for over 10 years with back injuries.

Sometimes I’ve been laid up for weeks not able to do much. But once the pain eases, the best thing I have found is regular stretching and core exercises. But keep at it.

Once you feel you are better its easy to forget or miss doing your stretching/core exercise for a day, which then turns into a week then a month etc then I’d hurt my back again. So I need to keep doing it often.

Tight hamstrings has always caused me problems, if I have poor flexibility in these and don’t do stretching then I know I will be in pain in a few days time with my lower back.

I use to do a lot of heavy lifting, and found wearing a back support helps. This helps in 2 ways, gives a bit of support, but mainly acts as reminder to have good posture when lifting, makes me use knees more than bending my back.

Hope you get better soon

No idea, sorry I can’t help with the route.

But when you get round to doing it, post up a link for sponsorship and I’ll be happy to donate.

Sounds like a great idea and a great cause. Good luck 👍

My parents had several offers to buy some of their land. Neighbours always wanted to pay very low price for as much land as possible. Plus they were often not fully truthful with what they wanted the land for.

So my advice would be. Be as open and honest of what your plans are once you get the land, then offer them a reasonable price (it will differ to what they want to sell it for) but don’t offer a crazy low price, be reasonable and get near to what you think wouldn’t be insulting to them, you need to be able to get in a friendly negotiation position with them.

Silly low offers will just annoy the land owner and they will be more inclined to put price up or not sell it at all.

Just remember its their land, they don’t have to sell it to you and if they they do sell it is devaluing their land, so they need to be financially compensated for selling it. Just because you are a neighbour they don’t owe you a favour so don’t expect some cheap mates rates deal.

Kryton, from the WMC’s I’ve been it it would be ok for a pint with some mates or a quiet drink by yourself. But not sure they are type of place I’d be wanting to take the family to.

@oldmanmtb2 you are a braver man than me. I never had the nerve to go in there!

I’d imagine there will be a relevant British Standard that would need to be followed for table lamps

So I’d make sure anything he makes to sell confirms to the correct BS. Sure that would be something he would be asked about in a court of law if one if his lamps caused someone to be electrocuted

Sorry i can’t help, and sorry to take this slightly off topic, but this just highlights the poor level of safe cycling infrastructure in the UK.

Planning a long distance ride with your 10 year old and having to try and rely on canal towpaths to get a safe route and hoping the towpaths are all rideable. When there are no other long distance safe cycle paths that could be used.

Not knocking the riding on towpaths, wish it was something I could do, but unfortunately none near me.

Enjoy your ride. Hopefully you will get a nice safe route sorted

Its difficult. You are staying in same company, so yes it benefits them, but they pay your wages so it benefits you too, if they weren’t there you wouldn’t have a job after all. As you are staying with the company you don’t want to annoy the them and need to keep things civil, no point getting a black mark against your name for being a trouble maker.

It happened to me back when I worked in NHS. I was changing departments and my manager wasn’t happy I was moving on (he said it was staffing issues but it still took over 9 months to replace me after I left), so he applied to director to keep me in role for longer than notice period, and director agreed, so they paid me at the higher rate of new job for 2 months. I wasn’t happy, as I really disliked my job and was desperate to leave. But i just had to get on with it. Worked out well for me as I needed an operation so spent a month of it on the sick at the higher rate of pay, which annoyed my manager even more :-)

Thanks for sharing. Great video!
Good luck to the bloke. Hope he manages to do them all and do them safely.

Wish I had 50% of his riding talent. Would be about 200% better than what I have

Rocky (all of them)
But mainly Rocky 3 when Mickey died

@ferrals thats probably what I need to do to push myself. I have an old turbo with powermeter, but its not a smart one so can’t get onto zwift (or similar). Been after one but getting hold of one is difficult and the price increases have put me off as I can’t really justify buying one.

Always remember doing ramp tests in uni labs. Much easier to get to end and push yourself as much as possible as others were there watching, so always wanted to go as long as possible and do the best effort.

However when trying it on turbo by myself, I just find I bail out early. Get to a point and think whats the point of suffering so much. Very mentally difficult.

Think that is one of the reasons I have poor ftp results. Just don’t seem to like suffering on turbo. But put me in a road race and I can go very deep suffering all race and then come out with a good result

We had this. Wife used a company and they came and picked it up. Sorry can’t remember the company. But there should be companies out there who will do this.

Always thought webuyanycar came out to you? I’ve never used them but some mates have and said that they came out, inspected vehicle and took it away

Just tried that my fitness pal app. Maybe I do eat a bit more than I thought I did 😳 always thought I was pretty healthy and not eating too much.

Also need to cut down on the amount of coffee I drink. 2 sugars in each cup doesn’t help! Only had 2 cups so far, but usually have a few more in the afternoon.