I run T-track aero bars with a Enkei Dolphin roofbox and a Thule rack. Both have been great, can be fiddly getting the box to line up with the tracks due to the size/weight of it so it’s good to have assistance on hand for that.

All were purchased from FB Marketplace and forums, as ever search around and you’ll find a “used once” type of deal

As others have said, the rubber inlays for T-tracks are crappy. I just set the rails/box/rack up I without the inlays and then gaffa tape over the gaps in the tracks to stop the wind whistle noise

HTH

Well done you for getting medical help and asking others for advice. I don’t know if it was a “nervous” one that I had but I did have a breakdown of sorts a few weeks ago – sat crying in the corner of our utility room after reaching (or rather, being pushed over) my limit one day.

My GP has been helpful and I’m now on medication and have joined talking therapy – the point being that whilst these tactics might not be the right ones for you and your situation, and I don’t know yet that they are for me – time will tell, help is out there and you are doing totally the right thing by reaching out; you’ve come to the same conclusion that I did which is that nothing will change or get better without assistance and have gone to get it – well done you

As others have said there are lots of independent channels you can use such as CALM, Samaritans, Dave – don’t be afraid to try them, no-one will judge you and one of them will yield results for you. Other things too like the Headspace and Calm apps can really help. And without wishing to sound trite, as best you can look after your health, diet and hygiene – these things might even give you a bit of (temporary) focus and distraction from it all

Good luck, best wishes and DM me if I can help at all

Firstly, what a great and thought-provoking article – well done Hannah. It certainly rang some bells with me
Does cycling have a drink problem? IMO, no, not per se. Do some members of society? Yes. And some members of society cycle. So in a Venn diagram kind of way, there are cyclists who drink. Some drink one or two, some much more
It’s the same in the climbing and mountaineering world – the “well earned one” after a tough climb or a long day out on the hill are present and correct in that arena too. As are the two, three, four earned ones plus the ones afterwards back at the campsite or hut, bunkhouse etc.
Snowsports are the same – apres-ski happy hour, anyone?
For whatever reason, some activities that involve a fair bit of physical effort and that call for a bit of a wind down and chat about the day afterwards seem to have a “let’s have a drink/two/n” attitude to go with it. Rightly or wrongly this pervades and unfortunately it sucks some people in a bit too deep.
Speaking as someone who has now had 6+ months of counselling to try to kick their (excessive) habit and isn’t really much further forward, it’s a very slippery downward slope that is very hard to get back up. As my counsellor said to me, “It’s an addictive, depressive, carcinogenic, sedative toxin – why would you put it in your body?” – and yet for some reason we do …

I’m with @johnnystorm here. A while ago the Classic Ride was shown in the mag on an OS map print and they gave you a link to a gpx. No account needed with a 3rd party provider and even if you couldn’t get the gpx, you could work out the route from the map and make your own gpx or use the old fashioned highlighter-pen-and-paper method. Then it got sporadic, then non-existent, then moved to komoot which despite the claims, does not have all the routes available and the squiggly line now shown in the mag is frankly useless. I’ve been in touch with them about this but no response. Yet membership is advertised as having the benefit of hundreds of routes available … nope. I can think of other bike mags that do a better job than this. Don’t get me wrong, I know paying for OS services costs money as does hosting gpxes somewhere in the ether, but please don’t advertise a service that is not actually available, that is effectively false advertising

Surely writing “Aircage” on it is a bit of a giveaway … or is that the point?!

I have an ’08 plate Octavia 2.0 TDI vRS (the old PD one, not the CR) and it is great at swallowing tons of stuff and driving a long way easily. Bikes go in well, I can get my 26″ HT, gravel and road bikes in there with all wheels still on. Have to drop the front wheel off for my SolarisMAX but that is a looooonnnngggg bike
I get 55 mpg (600+ miles out of a tank) and it has passed 9 MoTs in a row for me!
As mentioned above the back seat is not great for 5 due to the shape, also the bodyshell was designed for 4wd which means there is a transmission tunnel restricting the middle person’s footroom/legroom
But highly recommended nonetheless

A sadly disappointing and female-biased article for the father figure in this household who works full time, carries out all the “Mental Load” tasks and much more besides, yet still finds a way to clock up 100mi+ every week only after putting everyone else first and having everyone else put me last

+1 for Ribble CGR 725. I’ve owned one for 18months and it is great, an incredibly versatile and capable bike for the money. As mentioned above get Shimano not SRAM groupset. Would also recommend 650b over 700c for when it gets rough. Finally helitape it or get it invisiframe’d, mine has a lot of chips and bits of paint flaked off – PM me if you want to discuss

I have it. Mostly hands, though got it today in a foot. Layering up to stay warm is key, as is keeping wrists warm as has been mentioned. I also find a critical factor is not layering up so much you sweat loads (I ride hot), because as soon as you stop on a cold day those warm wet clothes chill right down – this is usually the worst time for me, I often survive rides fine and then the Reynauds kicks in when I get home and stop pedalling. Having some warm dry clothes or a big thick jacket you can throw on as soon as you get back is a good idea, as is carrying a packable synthetic duvet for mid ride stops. Overall though I would say that a bit of experimentation to see what does and doesn’t work for you will be required. For some bizarre reason mine did get better after a bout of chemotherapy, but I wouldn’t recommend that as a treatment …!

+1 for Aviva, don’t have to declare individual bikes below £2k-ish regardless of quantity. I have 6 covered. Be sure to check the T&Cs regarding locking up/securing to immovable objects though
FWIW I also have a large sum of contents away from home covered. I challenged the standard amount when my renewal came through on account of the value of my now-wife’s wedding ring, managed to get it upped by £1k for no increase in premium. So worth talking to them about that for your kit, GPS, tools, etc etc
SD

Thanks for all the comments/suggestions. A few new ideas in there and I hadn’t thought of Stooge – I’ll take a look

Thanks for the Tarn 10 tip off too :)

+1 twist

Can we have the old one back please

I’d like to be able to see more than 6 words on a line and 2 lines without scrolling

It wasn’t broken so why has it been “fixed”?

Apologies if this has already been mentioned (didn’t see it as I scanned the posts) but make sure you don’t get out of the car with the keys in the ignition! Easily done, you know, “we’ll just pull over here so you can drive it”, you jump out and off they go in it …

Hello. Plus 1 for everyone who says get it checked out. Hopefully it will turn out to be nothing (too) untoward but even if it is something sinister, far better that you find out ASAP so that it can be sorted
Whilst I hope this isn’t going to be the case for you, my lump and discomfort turned out to be the big bad C so I’m damn glad I went to the docs and ultimately got it seen to. PM me if I can help at all
SpiderDan

“B- could do better” as a teacher might say
Stage 1 was about survival after crashing there in practise
Off on Stage 2, then flatted at the start of Stage 5 so rode it on the rim
~23mins all in, more pleased with ~3h40 for the whole thing so maybe I should have done the sport instead?!
Great event though, loved the riding and the whole festival vibe

I’m just back from snowboarding in Andorra. We stayed in La Massana – quiet town (during ski season anyway) but there is a big gondola lift straight up to the bike park, it goes up where route 66 is. Stayed in Hotel Magic Ski[/url], the gondola station is attached to the hotel! We couldn’t hear it from our room, so it did not disturb us. Hotel was good, decent sized rooms, comfortable, has it’s own lounge and bar (€1.65/pint in happy hour :D). Had a 1/2 board deal, massive amounts of food and loads of variety. There was a good bar just on the end of the building too, right beneath where the gondola comes in, all the lift attendants went there after work

You might want to look for a summer package deal, we got flights transfers and the 1/2 board for £400 from Crystal Ski

Arinsal had much better apres ski, bars were more lively and there were more of them, but doesn’t look well placed for the uplifts

Flew via Toulouse, same as any other airport really – not quick, not slow. About 3.5hrs transfer time by coach

HTH, PM me if you want more info

This stinks. Not that you need telling that. Someone did something similar on a trail near me, at about waist height. I managed to stop before impaling my stomach on the barbs thanks to my eagle-eye riding buddy calling out, but badly strained both wrists that I had dropped on the bars just in time. Bye bye winter climbing season … :( :evil:

Good call on the NSX. Needs to be a Type R though ;) Still have a soft spot for these, owned 2 in my time. Fold down back seats meant they were dead good for getting 2 people to biking (and climbing, and camping, and etc etc) in a hurry

Just stumbled across this post … very intriuging. I have a 160mm Pike on a Canyon Strive. Every time I read about the Pike it is praised for its small bump sensitivity (or words to that effect), well my fork doesn’t have that characteristic – the forks don’t appear to move over small bumps at all. Fine going off drops, step downs etc but riding on, say, fire road transitions between sections at a trail centre or bits of bridleway between natural terrain there is nothing going on except chatter into my arms. Have adjusted damping and pressures and lubed the stanchions, but not played with tokens or oil levels. Until now I had assumed I’d just not hit the “sweet spot” but now I’m not so sure …

If you’re thinking about a Canyon, do it with your eyes open. Fantastic VFM for sure but terrible quality and customer service. The Strive I’ve had since mid August has spent more time broken than working and I’m still waiting for the shapeshifter failure I experienced 2 months ago to be rectified … this wouldn’t be acceptable on a £200 Halfords special never mind something costing more than 10x as much

Thanks for all the replies people. Have opted to get a replacement shifter … fingers crossed this will sort it (and is the last thing that needs dealing with!!!)

FWIW I had a similar debate. Went for a Skoda Octavia TDi estate and it’s been brilliant, if you take the base of the rear seats out (a 10second job) then the backrest folds down pretty flat and you can get a ton of bikes and kit in there. Split fold rear seat means 3 people + bikes + weekend kit is feasible. Also great for camping, skiing, taking junk to the tip, etc etc …

Think I may have solved my own problem, routes are on FB at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/arranbikeclub/files/

@doubledunter – thanks :)

@thegman – doublethanks :) :) – umm dumbo question but how do I message you? Or can you mail me at djdennehy@hotmail.co.uk?

cheers

Honda Integra Type-R. Big boot, big power, big rev limit, and Evo magazine’s best handling front wheel drive car ever. And being a Honda, doesn’t know the meaning of unreliable. Which is more than can be said for the Clio 172 Cup I owned later …

The MkII CRX VTEC was good too, OK it’s titchy but the back seat folds down to give a pretty decent sized boot. And plenty of that VTEC power

"Alien for Christmas" by Fountains of Wayne.

I want an alien for Christmas
Bring me an alien this year
I want a little green guy
About three feet high
With seventeen eyes
Who knows how to fly
I want an alien for Christmas this year

(see You Tube, etc). Class

Stoner

Cheers dude, I like the DIY route :idea:
Looking at the ready-made things on the market, I'm not convinced that any of them won't cause some sort of damage to the bike, so might well knock my own thing up.

Thanks for all the ideas folks, seems there's lots to pick from, gotta get one that'll work with my bike (i.e. not squash cables against frames, pull the brake levers, etc)

Thanks for the replies guys … I wasn't after anything specific, I just wondered if I was missing anything that should have come with the bike. Sounds like the answer is "no"

But since you ask, then :wink:
1) Any general tips for setting the saddle fore/aft position & tilt angle and bar rotation to get a good riding postion (I'm planning to get it comfy, ride it, and fiddle as I go)
2) Recommend me a pump for the front shcok (Reba SL)

It arrived today – wooohooo :D

Thanks for all the help folks … just ordered a Cube Ltd Team from ChainReaction. It should be here in 2 weeks when I'm back from a work trip, can't wait :D

Went to Cov Cycle Centre today. No Cube MTBs! All the '09s gone, no '10s in yet. But then a chap came in with his LTD Team for some work doing to it, and he let me have a quick go – cheers fella :D. So it's looking like a LTD team for me now, just need to find a green one in stock somewhere!

Thanks for the help guys.
Coventry Cycle Centre are nearest but their website doesn't list any hardtails (which is what I want)