Prolapsed Disc.

Done that, been there. Hurt like hell. It took a few goes to get it sorted properly (my fault for riding too soon, playing footie and rugby with the kids too soon etc)but once the physio had it sorted out I was fine.

I thought I had done it again after falling off a ‘technical trail feature’ onto my head but luckily not.

Good luck.

@MoreCashThanDash….try explaining that one to SWMBO!

Yes dear, I found it while I was out on my bike.

There was a trail in Thetford (in the days before it became popular)when I would frequently find erm….ladies undergarments and hosiery. It was generally on Sunday mornings so I guess the ‘action’ was taking place on Saturday evening.

Other than that….a tenner just blowing about on a cycle trail. There was no one else in sight, I hadn’t passed anyone coming the other way so I claimed it.

Gloves….hundreds of them. Probably off lorries.One roadie I used to ride with would religiously gather them all up and take them home. I have no idea what he did with so many gloves but he was one of those roadies who was ‘careful’ with him money!

Thanks

I did not get on with Tigas for some reason though I would often be passed by folk on them (while I was on the Sunset).

I never got to Vassiliki but did two trips to Turkey (Yallikavak and Bodrum) where it was supposed to be constant high winds (force 4+) from about 11 am every day. Suffice to say, neither delivered and we spent two lots of two weeks musing on goat droppings and the number of unused and unusable board on offer).

Boo

LOL!

I am firmly of the belief that it is a load of old tosh and until someone proves it is beneficial outside of long haul flights and post operative recovery, I am not going to be parting with my hard earned.

Anyone else have a Stinger?

I remember my first time on it. It was blowing fairly well (5 to 6). As it was a full on sinker under my (then) 16 stone, it needed a good stiff breeze to get fired up. Anyway, I stuck my Gaastra 5m on it (the ones with the yellow external camber inducers), hooked in and was totally blown away by the speed. I had never sailed anything so mind numbingly fast, you only had to think to make it carve….talk about getting a buzz. The thing is, if the wind dropped I was stuffed.

Sadly, I left it with the LBS (local board shop????) for a repair to the pads and some bleep burned the place down and my board went with it.

The highs were awesome, the bad days were pooh!

I still have my Sunset Slalom sitting in my shed. The Mistral Stinger and F2 Lightning World Cup Race and quiver of sails have gone long ago. I still hanker after it, conveniently forgetting the hours of driving to the coast only to sit there waiting for the wind….any wind and returning home all grumpy because I had spent a whole day sitting around doing nothing.

I am riding more road nowadays than I used to.

I stopped riding on the road some years ago when a girl in front of me was hit and died of her injuries (very unpleasant sight). This was on a TT on a trunk road (A14).

When I ride on the road now, I use very rural roads and I choose my times carefully. Mainly weekends, early in the morning before people are up and about.

You still get close shaves and intolerant, aggressive drivers, just fewer of them.

My MTB riding does take in road sections as I link routes up so I can’t really avoid it unless I spend all my time getting dizzy riding round the same old tracks, week after week in Thetford.

hels’ comment…. +1

Thanks.

Now to dig out my old lights to see if I have any illumination for the time that they are away.

He’s being optimistic then…thought so

So to do 8 hours he would have to be bloomin’ good or is being a tad optimistic.

Get to the start two hours early. Stand right at the front of the grid. Stay there. Get people to feed you food and coffee, hold your coat, act as a proxy when you need a pee.

Go off like the hounds of hell are chasing you at the start, stick your elbows out at every corner. Be grumpy to everyone else on the course and practice shouting levelled rider coming through’ as loud as you can.

Well, it seems to work for someone I know.

My Paramo jacket has to the best one I have ever bought. Warm and waterproof. Did I say warm? IME warmer than an equivalent weight Goretex. I don’t know why, but that is how it feels anyway.

Thanks….waiting mode engaged!

Yes. A mate had a DH, well he tried to. There were all sorts of manufacturing issues and he rejected three frames in the end (cracking, badly aligned stays and what is best described as a wonky headset). OO gave him his money back in the end.

The Lurchers it seems, are not plagued by these problems.

He loved the way the frame rode, just not the product itself.

Oh….and there aren’t any DHs around anyway!

Having said that, reading up they say they are good for ‘smaller riders’ and small I ain’t! Unless of course, 14 stone and 6ft 4 is small nowadays.

I’d be interested to see pix etc. They are Shimano and clincher?

What are the hubs like on those Chinese Wheels? Would you use them or upgrade to DT?

Wiggle are doing the Reynolds Attack wheelsets, reduced from just over £1k to £714. Tempting but a bit over budget.

Can’t find them at that price tbh. Must keep looking I guess…unless you have a handy link? ;o)

eeek!

LHS has conned us into discussing it! 😯

Flippant reply…..after 3 years of fun like I had? Too damned right I would.

More considered reply…I am not sure an Arts Degree has equipped me for the current job market. Fortunately, in the early 1980s, graduates were somewhat thinner on the ground so the job market was less competitive. Having said that, I started working for myself within months and have never looked back.

I’m not sure it is a case of no one giving two hoots OP. I’m not sure what can be achieved apart from some gratuitous hand wringing as another Middle Eastern country goes down the Swannee.

Someone on the TV the other night reported on the events and suggested the problem was that the (at least) Egyptian take on democracy was ‘winner takes all’ hence the chap representing the Muslim Brotherhood was allegedly turning the country into a proto Islamic theocracy and ‘everyone else can go hang’ (to quote another Dear Leader) whereas the Army, and significant portions of the populace, favour a more secular approach. Whether the army’s position is at all influenced by the amount of aid received from the US is a moot point but, it seems they want this to be the national model and the Muslim Brotherhood can ‘go hang’.

So….their respective socio-political stances are quite polarised.

Quite what we might achieve by debating it or interfering (as a nation) is beyond me. Two camps with intractable difference, both seemingly with a predilection for violence as a means to an end….. IMHO best to keep out of it.

Hi Graham

Have you tried goat milk? I had all sorts of congestion problems with cow’s milk but once I switched it went away quite quickly and has never returned. This was >5 years ago so it isn’t some overnight aberration. Worth a try.

I found the St Helen’s semi skimmed the most palatable – no strong flavours and not that much fat. Ironically, the skimmed version made me quite burpy so I went back to the green.

Anyway, it is great in porridge, and I frequently neck a litre when I get home from a ride.

Fulcrum Quattros at £270 might be worth a peep. I’m 14 and a half stone and I do my best to give my wheels a hard time. I have never had any brake rub (brakes are set very close) no matter how hard I push them.

I had one…..but never fitted it. Sold it to some German chap off here. He emailed me back and said it was wonderful.

I guess they are stiffer than the old skool style carbon fork. I am running some of these on my Swift and love them to bits.

Not sure if that is any help.

If you are fitting them to a 29er, the general opinion seems to be that they are a bit low (a to c). I’d have thought they’d be fine for a 26 inch wheel but that’s an assumption only.

Why are you asking me questions and then speaking over me as I try to answer?

Apparently I have started doing this to SWMBO 😯

Must stop, must stop, must stop ad nauseum!

I understand it is quite annoying!

OK

My recommendation then is to respond to the letter, thanking him for his assistance and recommendation. Then add a comment to the effect that you have adequate cover which you have effected elsewhere. It means you have acted in a businesslike fashion, and he is seen to have fulfilled his responsibilities to you. Job done. You are happy, he is happy.

So…have you declined to take out life insurance to cover your debt if you die before the end of the term? If you have made that decision wtf are you prevaricating about?

If you have adequate life cover elsewhere, where is your problem? Sign the piece of paper and go on your way.

You expect your mortgage broker to be professional but you choose to act like a twit?

Shakes head in despair

There’s a (Strava) 4th Cat climb a few miles away. The times up it are incredible.

That might be because you have to climb about 100 feet in 0.6 miles.

Not sure how this one got categorised as a climb!

I’m not sold on the disc only option yet. Having said that, the brakes on my crosser may as well not even be there for all the good they do.

HIJACK – any recommendations for reasonable, inexpensive brakes for a crosser?

oooh….lamping for bunnies. What you do in the winter at night, when you aren’t out riding.

Bird Scarer + 1 probably.

Otherwise, someone expending a lot of powder and lead. As said before, if they have a licence and permission to shoot on the land they can bang away to their heart’s content or until they run out of money.

I’d say what you have experienced is confirmation bias when viewing the kit people use.

To an extent I’d agree but when you have been riding side by side with someone over various segments and they invariably end up with faster times than you, it does raise one’s suspicions somewhat.

Been away for a bit. Thnaks for the answers….I’ll have a proper read and see what happens.

HDD have masses of room left….maybe 100GB

Black Ark in Dub….by erm Black Ark

If Strava did anything useful they should write an algorithm that takes account sampling rates for different devices. It is strange how a lot of the fastest people (but not all) use smart phones to record their rides. Not saying this is a deliberate ploy to get KOM but it does seem to crop up quite a lot.