I’ve been driving in Scotland for 13 years and have to say I don’t agree either.

Only ever had this when it was fully deserved. I head up and down to the borders from Edinburgh fairly often and have used the A702 quite a few times and can’t say I’ve ever seen this happen unless it was deserved.

I don’t tend to hang about either and will overtake as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

No idea why you are getting this treatment, not got an England flag on the car boot do you???? ;-)

tend to use my left foot to brake in an auto

Why would you do that?

Why not? Not having a clutch frees up the left foot meaning it’s doing nothing. Means each foot has one job. Probably not much of an advantage but why have a lazy foot getting away with a free ride while the other has to work hard???

Changing from a manual to an auto there will be a moment where you go for the clutch. If it turns out ok it is amusing to see the looks of ‘Why the emergency stop?’!

My Volvo is an auto. It kind of suits it as it’s got a shed load of power. Would I swap it for a manual? Hell yeah!

Not sure I agree it’s that much better in traffic, tend to use my left foot to brake in an auto and I find it gets more tired than normal sitting on the brake instead of the clutch.

I’m not sure getting signed off with stress is your solution for this one.

If you do that you’re going to have a nice break, enjoy the first part and start panicing about returning about half way through. Nothing will change this way.

Take a break with your holidays now and when you return SPEAK TO SOMEONE.

Your manager is obviously new in the job and trying to impress. That’s understandable but they obviously are going about it the wrong way. When things settle down they’ll probably look back and realise that.

If you can’t speak to your manager, speak to their manager. If not them then HR or your union. You never know, they might be able to move you to another team. It is of no benefit of them to have you underperforming and off sick.

Get it on the record that you feel like this then if it doesn’t get better and you’re off sick they are completely to blame.

I know how difficult it can be to speak up sometimes but with the way it is now, what harm can it do?????

What were the HT and roadie you were comparing?

If it was a lightweight carbon HT with slicks against an old roadie with rubbish tyres then there wouldn’t be much difference.

After getting on a road bike that’s the right size and getting used to it you’d really notice a big difference.

35 minutes should be achievable for a flat 10 miles on a roadie with a basic level of mtb fitness. With the figures you’re posting you should be able to do 10 in 30 minutes with a couple more goes.

West highland way or the Southern upland way. Never tried either but fancied both.

Trip round Skye would be pretty spectacular, Arran is meant to be good too but maybe not enough riding there for three days.

Just be grateful if you get midgies, that means it’s not raining!

The force of a standing climb and swinging side to side has to go somewhere.

Best case scenario is the trainer absorbs the forces.

More likely scenario is your frame, wheel or hub is absorbing the side to side force.

Not something I like to subject my bike to so I’d personally say it’s a bad idea.

If you think the Mazda 6 is nice but too slow have a look at the MPS. You might get a bit of a surprise!

If you’re thinking Subaru, the Legacy does the whole looking discreet but being quick thing very well.

Volvo have some cracking stealth cars that look classy. For something quick look at the T5 (turbo petrol) range, bit of pace but good economy, the D5 range (diesel). Great bike carriers too.

BMW 330 diesels are meant to be a fantastic compromise between speed (probably as quick as most hot hatches) and ecomony. The 130i gets raves about too but it’s a bit marmite – I don’t like the look of it at all.

Focus ST, if he doesn’t like the Mondeo this is probably out.
Audi S4
VW passat W8 or R36 (not sure if they’re in budget or you could find one but one of the best sleepers around)
Golf R32/GTI – from mark 5 onwards they’ve got the GTI right again, R32 is 4 wheel drive with a very nice sound too
Saab 9-3/9-5 aero variant

How about keeping the two seater and getting a van/Volvo estate for biking trips?

Nice dilema to have!

That’s probably the second time they’ve been washed and that was cos they smelled far too bad! Can’t even remember when I bought them so it’s not a common thing!

Think they got a two day soaking without being dried which has turned them!

Febreeze just seems to have angered them…..

New odour spray will be getting bought tomorrow, or new shoes ;-)

How would you ever get 5 10s dry if not on a radiator? They’re lucky to dry off in a week if they’re not on it!!!

I’ll try the bicarbonate of soda when I get the chance to get some.

Cheers

No they don’t. With every meal being the boring green sh!t that real people only in small quantities to keep bowel movements regular they just tend to give up. A nice steak or chicken curry, or xmas dinner, keeps us normals going much longer.

Of course I’m just kidding and don’t have a clue who lasts longer.

Yeah they can do you for being in charge of a motor vehicle. One of my mates says he got done taking his jacket out his driver seat but seeing as he was always driving drunk I never quiet believed it.

If you have to sleep in your car drunk make sure you’re nowhere near the driver seat, possibly putting something on it showing you’re not intending to drive and leave the keys in a bag or well hidden away. Should be ok unless the cop is in a really bad mood!

Not sure what the deal is legally with campervans…

I was looking to get a 456 as an eBay purchase and completely by chance I got a Saracen Zen 631 steel hardtail for £70. Thought it was worth a punt for an occasional hardtail built up of parts but I was wrong. It ended up worth a punt to chuck well over twice my budget on it and it to be my go-to-bike!!

It’s definitely an overlooked one as it’s a Saracen but I think it makes a cracking bike, might just be cos it’s my first long travel, steel ht.

Doesn’t sound like a good time, and echoing everyone else’s good wishes.

Try to look for the silver lining in the clouds too. With your wife gone no one to nag you about spending time/money on the bike(s)!

Keep your head up, not sure there is such a thing as rock bottom as things can ALWAYS be worse.

There’s a set in my work that I would absolutely love to ride. Problem is they’re in a building, we’re not allowed bikes inside and they end right by the security desk.

I also keep thinking about trying the set in my flat. It’s only about 10 steps then a tight turn, 10 more, another tight turn and so on. Get the feeling they’re that steep it would be straight into the wall but if it worked….

Dunkeld is a lot closer than Perth and an awful lot more interesting on the bike than Kinoull Hill. Not sure what’s around Blair though.

Dunkeld is a really nice place, plenty of places to spend a couple of hours, especially if your missus likes walking. I’d aim for there, see if she’ll either look around or walk for a few hours and explore the area around the hermitage, that’s the best place for walking too.

The Anthem has such short travel anyway it’s not a bad bike for the type of riding you describe and could be used when you get the chance to go off-road too. Don’t really see much advantage of a steel HT tbh.

Why not pick up a second hand rigid bike for the rainy days when you don’t want your nice bike to get dirty? You don’t actually need the steel HTs you mentioned either for the type of riding you’re talking about but it is always nice to have a nice bike!

It’s been a while since I got my PIN number wrong 3 times (drunk student days probably) but does it not swallow your card after the third attempt?

I would still get a new one issued if I had any doubt but if the guy had the knowledge to clone it you’d have lost money by now – unless he’s waiting for a while with the details so it’s not so easily linked to him. Actually, that could very easily be what’s happening.

Get the card cancelled!!

Same for me. Ordered something that wasn’t fragile and would’ve fitted in a standard envelope. Was a bit miffed when I had to go to the post office to pick up a shoe box size box that wouldn’t fit through my letter box. Forgot to complain about that one.

Looking forward to see what size box my forks come in, something to look forward to!

I know the feeling but I keep looking at Discos. The Defender is just too agricultural to consider it unless it’s spending most of it’s life off-road. The disco or other 4x4s will probably be more fun but sounds like a van is the best option.

From an earlier post:

“i bought a citroen berlingo instead

cheap to run and fun to drive.”

A berlingo fun to drive? Practical maybe but a defender would be more fun!!!

Well I almost bought that bike! Went to click on the watch button and nearly clicked Buy it now, that would’ve been a huuuuuge mistake!

Was having a good laugh at the thread and it kind of took the edge off it with the people telling us off ;-)

Poor guy has obviously thought he had a get rich quick scheme that’s backfired. Guessing he’s gambled a lot in this so kind of feel sorry for him, it’s still a funny thread though!

Only reason I can see for doing it is that it’s meant to be a lot cleaner if you fall off and rip the skin off a leg.

Even then, I’d rather keep my leg hairs! Plenty of other places I can reduce weight and increase aerodynamicism (think I may have made up a new word there…)

DH – session 10
FR/AM – Iron Horse 6.4
XC/FR/AM – Saracen Zen HT built from spare parts (go to bike now)
XC FS – Boardman Team FS
Road – Giant SCR 1.5
Commuter/not used – Muddy Fox Adventurer, first proper mtb

Two broken FS parts bikes around too.

Want
Carbon road bike – frame will probably be bought soon
XC short travel HT – probably a bad idea but fancy a event/race bike.

It all depends how you look at this one.

I’d bet there is more time spent mountain biking per head, per year than there is skiing.

With skiing there are a finite number of days per year you can go, combined with limited locations hence the number of people there on a good snowy weekend. There aren’t many weekends why we can’t get out biking.

This is getting more and more out of control.

The money from the carpark goes back into the trails. Anyone who parks further away or doesn’t pay just to avoid parking charges is out of order and taking the p!$$ using trails they are not prepared to pay for – all IMO.

Threatening to boycott a new business because you liked the old one is also a joke. As pointed out, the new owners are local small business owners. As nice as E&T are and as sorry as I feel for them, trying to put another small business out of business is not the right way forward. They won the tender process, various people who know the people behind the hotel have also said they are nice people too.

Likewise the bike shop comments and swearing not to use it, most of the time I end up in that shop it will be because something has broke and not replacing it means a trip home with limited riding.

The service I’ve received in the Hub has always been first class but so has the service in Alpine. I suspect that we’ll see a lot of the Hub staff in the new Alpine as they’ll be experienced bike mechanics looking for work when a new place opens.

As Alpine is a bigger chain the chance to ride different demo bikes will increase. Sure they’ll have the standard fleet but some of the demo bikes they currently have are pretty awesome.

This nonsense about no development going into the trails is just plain daft too. Most sections on the red have been changed in some way in the last year – look at the difference in the red/black/blue climb in the past two years for example. Whether these have improved it or ticked health and saftey boxes is a different debate!

Most weekends cars are parked on the verges around GT which shows how many people currently use it. If the centre brings in more people FC will have to invest more in the trails.

The development also included the WigWam village, that must bring in extra cash and visitors for the FC.

Sorry about the rant, some of this is just winding me up more and more! Also, apologies to anyone who is of a different opinion, this wasn’t meant to be too aggressive!!!

You will always remember your first car fondly when you look back but with that amount to spend you could remember for the wrong reasons!

There are plenty of good cars out there for that much money but plenty that are crap. One big repair could mean you never use it again or end up broke paying for it. Factor in insurance which will probably be as much as the car and fuel and it’ll cost a hell of a lot.

If you can do without a car I’d suggest the bike. Being Edinburgh based I’d suggest you probably won’t need one during term time but know what it can be like in the Highlands without transport in the summer!

Don’t envy anyone getting their first car now and I only got mine 11 years ago! Flip side is the 2nd hand bikes available at reasonable money now is fantastic.

From what I’ve heard about this anything sold will have a strong contract in place to ensure access is still allowed as it currently is.

The area that they are going to sell aren’t going to be the ones where they can sell trees from, they make too much money to will be leased out. The areas that are sold will be the ones that companies have to find another way to make money from. This may end in more access rather than less.

Of course this is all based on my Sunday night rambling backed up with no facts so may not come to pass ever!

I do feel really sorry for Emma and Tracy and hope they can work out something to move on to next.

GT has been expanding (trails & number of people) at a fantastic rate and the hub has to as well. There was a tender process and they never won, that’s the the way I see it. Like someone else said uf ut was an unfair process I’d sign the petition.

Personally, I’m looking forward to see how things are going to develop there with the new businesses.

Funny how you read some stories and realise you were chatting to that person – Garry at the burger van at the end!!

Great event with great trails. Bit disapointed with the time, should be happy I never messed it up but fitness and more talent would’ve shaved a fair bit more time off.

Think I’m the opposite to everyone else – I loved stage 1 and the fitness kind of spoiled the rest.

I’ve stayed at the wigwams through near Dumfries, they are a good budget place to get your head down. The ones at Glentress are a couple of miles past Peebles so would be a walk back if you wanted to go to the pub or have alchiehol with your meal. The Glentress hotel is right next to GT but no idea if you can get a meal or a beer in there.

If you’re looking for budget accomodation the wigwams are the way forward, if not most of the B&Bs there will be bike friendly.

There is plenty to keep you entertained round the area for a few days. Inners has a lot of secret and downhill trails over the hill, if you speak to the locals most of them will point you towards some of the natural stuff, there is a trail that links GT and Inners but it is a good ride on it’s own.

If you are fit enough to get round trail centres around you there will be no problem. Inners has a long climg to start with 5-6 miles but that’s pretty much it down from there.