We have the older style Berghaus Air 8, it’s good but even with a footprint one stoney pitch in Annecey destroyed the groundsheet. Prior to that I had quite a few Decathlon Base pop ups and never had that problem without a footprint. Although the Berghaus is most used used in Southern Europe it has survived some biblical thunderstorms and didn’t leak dispite it been surrounded in foot deep water after a 24 hour storm.

I’m out in France and the moment and on this site 2/3 of the tents are Decathlon air tents and gazebos. I really like the look of the 6.3 which I may get when this one dies.

Bike looks great, I have an original GT grade and you can just squeeze 35mm gravel kings on it. I’m currently 16st and it’s fine and I ride some pretty rough trails on it. You wife will be fine, interested why someone wouldn’t accept a bike like that.

As well as adding a bigger cassette and smaller chainring, this is a bit clunky but it looks like you could stick a 22 on the 64bcd inner as it was originally a triple and manually drop the chain. I’m on hols in the Pyrenees and I’ve used it a couple of times on really big climbs to take the pressure of my injured knee.

It mostly about using a road shifters with mountain bike cassette and/or mech to get more range due to the fact that road/gravel groupsets do not have enough range.

I’ve just put the jet bmx cranks linked above on my sons bike they are 4 bolt 104BCD and work fine.

I just bought a set of M2 off eBay direct from Clarks for £50. Im sure they be more than fine for a 10st boy.

Spend the day travelling from Spain to France in my PJs as Mrs Pants packed the clothes I left out to change into away and it would have been a 1h 30 unpack and repack to get them. Apparently it was my fault for not taking them out of the tent.

I don’t usually drink and when I out drink AF beer or decaf coffee. I adon’t want a sugary or caffeinated drink so AF beer Is often the best solution. It’s not gassy like coke and you drink it at the same pace as beer, soft drink i tend to neck.

I also drink AF beer time home usually as I actually like some of them and don’t want alcohol.

@spekkie I sprained my MCL just before we set off, so proper mountain biking has been out of the question for me just the green routes with the kids. We’ve been here throughout the heatwave and the missus has been riding road riding at 7am every other day. This area is amazing we did canoeing and canyoning which completely did my knee in even though i don’t jump. We’ve spent most days in the rivers to keep cool.

We had some amazing food in the restaurants in town but also the surrounding villages.

We did try the blue from Ainsa and Boltana and it’s clear though the kids can do reds in the UK they aren’t used to the more natural feel of the terrain here and it spooked the youngest. Also there riding at home has been limited due to the fact I’ve been injured all year.

It was never going to be the holiday we planned as my knee swells up like a ballon after each ride but we will definitely be back in a couple of years, we come out to the Pyrenees most years. I’ll spend more time with the kids in the peaks and less time at trail centres, improve my non existent Spanish. I can speak French we are usually over in Luchon or Argeles Gazost. I’m also also going to get over my fear of jumping into water so I can do canyoning with the kids.

This is an amazing place for mountain biking and the infrastructure put in place for biking is first rate. I’d throughly recommend anyone to come here as change to to the usual mountain biking destinations. It’s also easy to get to from the Santander or Bilbao ferries much easier than driving to the alps from Calais or Caen.

@Paul0 we are doing the same via the coop tonight to get into France from Spain for the two eldest. I’ll let you know how we get on. They are ridiculous as you can just extract the swab without doing the test to get the control line and send the photo to get the certificate.

10 days in and get back in a fortnight absolutely no regrets about heading off to Spain and France. The worse thing so far was the sea crossing from Portsmouth to Santander which was super choppy and semi-isolating the kids before we headed.

It’s been around 40C in Ainsa for the past week and combined with me straining my MCL means I’ve been limited to the greens and easy blues with the kids and I’m not riding anything by myself which I usually would. The wife is heading off road riding at 7am and loving it. With the heat we’ve spent more time in rivers than we have riding been kayaking and canyoning (wouldn’t recommend with a knackered knee).
Got two more days here then head to France on Friday.

The testing is a bit of a pain but holidays like this are logistical nightmare anyhow so it’s just another thing to deal with. We’ve had to deal with much tricker situations on the last two hols.

We’ve got our details into the French app today and going getting lat flows for the older kids tomorrow. We will have spent about £600 on testing by the time we get home so about 10% of the total cost of the holiday which seems an OK premium to avoid spending three weeks in the rain in the UK.

One of my best friends is from Kashmir and is a devout Muslim. He absolutely hates the extreme Islam you see in Afghanistan etc. His view was this was a small extremist sect that would still be that if oil hadn’t been found in Saudi Arabia. They’ve spent billion exporting their ideology. The blame for 9/11 and 7/7 firmly lies at their door but the west won’t take them on and good Muslims around the world get tarred with the same brush.

In my office the day after Brexit was like a wake most people have PhDs and clearly not one voted Brexit. At my sons football it’s the complete opposite they nearly all voted for Brexit and they all had different reasons. At the end of the day it was a democratic vote and leave on by 1.3 million votes. Not everyone voted for racist reasons, some for example were not comfortable with the direction of the European project was heading.

All I can say in recent History it tends to end badly when the right wing get the support of the working classes Hilter, Thatcher and Trump and it’s usually those folk who suffer most.

Just asked the wife who runs the a global graduate fast track program for a large pharma company and she says for her there’s no difference but she can select the best from 1000s of applicants. So maybe at that level you don’t get any weak candidates.

There was a great episode of science of sport podcast from a couple of years ago that goes into the level of doping still going on at the Olympics. In an anonymous survey I think 40% admitted to doping.

Podcast

It’s all scheduled away from competition and the since you’ve got three shots with out of competition testing you just don’t answer the door. So you’d have to messed up to get caught or taken something inadvertently as Tired said.

We started drinking in pubs as soon as we’d finished our GCSEs, those saying 10 pints and a couple of whiskies is a lot for a week we’d regularly drink that each night at the weekend and sometimes more.

I definitely wasn’t a alcoholic just came from a culture of heavy drinking. I’d occasionally cut back and get fit but drift back into it carried on through my 20s and 30s.

Might not be beer but up until about 6-7 , years ago could easily have a night drinking 3 bottles of wine each with the missus and her family or mates.

About 5 or 6 years ago I stopped not teetotal but almost just fed up with it and wanted a good marathon time. I still occasionally drink and go for it don’t see the point in a having just one beer especially in the past year or so with injuries meaning I’m not racing. But we are a week onto our hols and I haven’t drank since the ferry

I don’t know if that hard drinking culture in teens is as prevalent as it was or maybe its just I’m in a different demographic these days and don’t see it. I tend to go to the sort of pubs that teenagers wouldnt be seen dead in and I’m usually drinking Nanny Stare or a Decaff coffee.

Slick snd slide in Macclesfield did a steerer swap for me a few weeks ago it was about £130. That was a straight swop not for a different size

Ive got wotking on two kids bikes using 2 quid roadlink copies you can get from ebay shifts perfectly.

Turning Japanese This was in 1992-5 they ckearly didnt update the tracks very often.

@ELVino where are you travelling. Youre daughter doesnt need a test to get into France if both parents are vaccinated. If you’re going to spain you need either a PCR or a lamp test an antigen test(lat flow) isnt good enough. You only need antigen test to get back to the UK which you can gwt locally at a pharmacy or get a self test from coop for £25 each and PCR at day 2. Randox are probably the chespest with a small discountvfrom the ferry company they are about £45.

@countzero the difference is that football is a business and people have a choice to subscribe to Sky or go to a football game.

The national lottery cash is is effectively a tax on gambling and therefore public money. If lottery money was spend on Harry Kane’s wages then you’d have a point.

24 million pounds for two rowing golds or 12 urban bike parks or dozens of BMX tracks and skate parks. What would make the biggest difference to more people’s lives. I’m glad you enjoyed the Olympics it’s cost the UK a quarter of billion to get those medals a quarter of a billion to ensure that those few are they best at their hobbies in the world.

@mattbee what have you done to recover your MCL did mine about the same time, my knee is ballooning up every time I walk or ride.

Grace Jones Slave to the Rhythm and Pet shop boys Left to my Own Devices are two of my favourites. But the ABC and Frankie stuff is brilliant too.

Let’s face it the Olympics for the past few has been a international peeing up the wall contest funded my poor people’s gambling. I have serious issues with using this money to fund people’s hobbies. We’ve all seen the horrendous behaviour that medal based funding had brought cycling and rowing. The body shaming that goes on in gymnastics. I also hate talent identification programs finding kids that have the physical potential in a sport to gain medals for medals sake rather than developing kids who are passionate about a sport who might not be as good strikes me as a bit Rocky IV.

What from Leeds will lead to more people from a more diverse background mountain biking Leeds Urban bike park or Tom Pidcocks gold. Forget the Olympics and fund grassroots sport and local facilities.

I spent 5 hours on Tuesday night doing the forms and working out what we needed as we enter Spain travel to France and comeback via Spain. Added stress the wife’s NHS vaccine record has disappeared from the app luckily we downloaded a copy last week.

If you’re fully vaccinated you just need to fill out a declaration from the French government website, no test needed and to come back you just need a lat flow test from a pharmacy in France, not the NHS one, and fill out the UK passenger locator form.

Vans packed, kids are away at Machester airport getting their LAMP tests and I’m so glad I held my nerve over France and didn’t swap the holiday around, 2 weeks in Ainsa and 10 days in Argeles Gazost. Just got to load the bikes on and drive to Portsmouth which is always the most stressful part of the trip.

Had quick flick through the PDF looks like a good issue. Hopefully it will on the doorstep before I head on hols Thursday afternoon.

Mine was due early July still have not heard anything but since I can’t get half the components I want for it I’m not really stressing about it. I’ve gone for the new sage coulour which looks ace.

We have bought our last few from Costco, had one where the bezel started delaminating after a year took it back in got given what we paid back in cash. Walked around the shop and bought that year’s equivalent model but better spec’d for £100 less. You have to go through the concierge service now for return as people were abusing the returns policy but if you have a genuine reason to return it i’m sure they’ll be excellent. My father-in-law took back a btoken suitcase after 9 years and got his money back.

I’m there for two weeks government permitted in a week, unfortunately I’ve buggered up my knee so I’ll just be doing the blues and greens with the kids. So if anyone has recommendedations of the best ones to do with kids( they can ride easy reds like Glebtress, Cannock and Llandegla)

Just do it in the evening when there’s no one around.

From the 2nd there is no need to isolate just an antigen test 72 hours before and a 2 day PCR.

looks like you’ll fine from the 2nd

We regularly holiday in the FOD and my kids all did the blue at that age so long as they can climb and buy and a comfortable going a a bit of speed they’ll be fine. There no drop offs and everything can be rollled, just take your time and plenty of sweets as rewards/bribes. I’ve seen kids as young as 4 on it. Edit didn’t see it didn’t work out it’s a nice place to spend some time anyhow

COVID cases down today though they aren’t really are they as that’s not how exponential growth works. We are seeing the next big problem. People are not reporting cases or going for PCRs during the holidays and and now the schools are not chasing. My son was a likely close contact of someone at school earlier this week who had a positive lat flow. School said to us to take daily lat flows and come in as it’s not their responsibility anymore and wait for track and trace. Turns out he’s not gone for a PCR so no track and trace. I suspect that this is happening all over the country as people don’t want to isolate their households during the hols.

I’ve now got a long list of injuries probably all caused by lack of flexibility, non firing glutes and weak lower abs. If I had my time again I’d drop half the running and cycling I’ve done in the past five years and replace it with Pilates, stretching and strength work. That’s certainly what I’ll do when I get through this next set of physio. I’ve got three different physios working on me at the moment.

I’d do something now to ensure that stiffness doesn’t end up with a nasty injury.

Had this happen to me a few months ago, won’t buy pedals without flats for a spanner again.

I’d never head of these until now, just checked them out some companies you do the test supervised over teams, some of them you just send a photo of the result and they issue you with a certificate. Definitely open to abuse.

I think I’ll get these rather than go through the hassle 5 of us doing it in a Pharmacy in France/Spain.

Ive had it since Feb first time despite running ultras etc in the past. Did walking too much after shoulder surgery when I couldn’t run. I changed physios and I’m now getting shockwave therapy on it second round tomorrow. The treatment is bloddy painfull hopefully it will work.

Its the Beta variant (south african) they are worried about rather than the Delta variant we currently have.

Cheers @Spekkie Ill take you up on that :)