Rode top chief at the weekend (been 12 years since I rode it and forgot just how good it was) and a mate and his wife did the blue. They both said it was fine but needs finishing. Aslo a few too many hero’s flying down it with not enough regard for others.

The lecture at the window about folk being airlifted off set i think a bad tone and maybe got some people anxious about the trail anyway even more nervous. I did however see a massively wide range of bikes getting the gondola up, all the ususal monsters but lots of hardtails and xc looking bikes and a lot of folk looked far more on the beginner stage of the scale. This is great and brill to see so many folk enjoying it.

Have to say Nevis was mobbed, busiest I have ever seen it bar bluebird snow days.

Hopefully they now realise the massive market here, build a red and link in more of the excellent trails at the bottom of the trail and also a dedicated green my toddlers can ride, which would be very welcome.

The 34 quid to ride up a couple of times is not cheap, but if you do 5 runs over the course of the day it works out not too bad.

I have always said there is a huge gap for a competent rider, who to use golfie trails can do repeat offender fine but walks some of waterworld, to have a race.

I thought enjoyro was meant to be this. If you are paying for a race (not a sportive type event) but people are offended you wanted to actually race then whats the point?

Crush washers replaced?

Hudson are a payment provider who get round IR35.

This is a growing market, lots of industrial/blue collar used to be cis or ltd company but were really in disguised employment, the IR35 reforms were meant to change this by shifting liability but companies like Hudson Contracts set up scope of works contracts (that pass paper inspection but reality differs…) to keep people self employed.

Quarter of sweets. 12oz steak. Its the pesky metric thats putting you off?

I now feel symptom free but my fitness and power are both in the bin. Been out for a few rides and really noticing struggling up parts I easy cleared before. Its a process!.

Mate has a sentinel and i have ridden it a few times. Very capable, more enduro/trail than trail/enduro. Quick steering with the fork offset but still stable enough.

He did however say something about “want more travel” the other day so hmm.

Have you looked at other options? Deviate Highlander 150 might suit…

Mate has bought 3 trannies from Pedals in Edinburgh. Really sound guys, who are also the rarest of things, a hope bikes dealer.

We are really starting to see the effects of mass positve tests.

So many people off work, new starters unable to start and this is putting pressure on other staff, which will likely mean more off with burnout/stress.

This is on the back of a labour shortage due to Brexit, some tough times ahead for sure.

Best compliment i can give her is i didnt hear her playing, it was just part of the usual amazing foos performance she fitted in so well. Amazing, although Dave maybe needs to cut the MFers down a bit with a 10yr old on stage lol.

Whenever we have a discussion about jobs I always see misinformstion about agencies and umbrella companies, so will help clear this up.

Umbrealla is not self employed, its PAYE.

Umbrella cannot roll up rates, that is against the conduct regulations. Holiday pay is accrued for exactly that, to pay when on holiday (the client wont pay the agency when the worker is off)

The things an umbrella company take off the headline rate are the same things an employer has to pay, you just dont see the employers Ni and cost of holiday pay, these are some of the reasons it cost approximately 1.5 times the salary to employ someone.

Thier fee is to process your tax. No agency should be forcing someone down umbrella as again this is against regulations, if offered a job umbrella ask to be straight PAYE. The rate will be lower as Umbrella is a gross rate (like ltd company).

Umbrella companies used to be able to offset tax against expenses and it was worth it, change in legislation means this is no longer the case. They still have a use as can provide insurances and look like continuous employment for things like mortgage applications.

Agencies use umbrella rates to advertise as they look higher/workers think its higher. Its not, the paye rate is what should be the barometer. Always ask what this is (£10 umbrella is very close to being under min wage….)

Example

Sir David McAlpinedescent are a (fictional) main contractor.

They win a contract to build a school. To do this they need 500 employees, most of which they dont have.

They hire some perm staff but need agency labour as schedules vary week to week and they need the flexibility. It costs more but they know its more beneficial in the long run.

They bid for another school contract which would start at the end of this one they are building, but the job is won by Balfour Warren Beatty who in need of work to sustain thier perm workforce, bid the job at cost.

Sir David need to downman about 400 people. Most are agency so its a week notice and no redundancy costs.

Balfour Warren Beatty then take on most of these workers as they have good experience building schools.

The cycle repeats.

Leftfield but are your chainstays straight? No way you could have bent them a bit?

Worth a check…

I predict some sort of lockdown announced for Wednesday. Tomorrows figures will be so bad in terms of infections and hospitalisations that there will be no choice. The fact that Nicola said “no circuit breaker” even gives strenght to it in my eyes….

I know so many people who have it/had it now its scary, all of them careful types who wont have been fast and lose (myself included)

Spitfire doing laps in Stirling today. Brill to see and hear

The labour market is very complicated.

Companies are not a level amount of “busy” all the time. Workload peaks and troughs. You win work, you recruit (or try to). You dont win work you cannot afford to train. You cannot see 10 years in advance to put enough people through apprenticeship and tlearn how to actually do the job productively on the hope that the future work you win (which goes to the lowest bidder remember) will pay for them. So, who pays for training?

Companies struggling for labour put up wages to attract staff from other companies as takes too long/too expensive to train. All wages go up as companies dont want to lose staff. All costs go up and the low bar raises. This is why someone earing average salary now would be considered rich even 20 years ago. So costs and therefore prices go up and the cycle starts all over again.

Paying more isnt the answer. Companies need a stable workload to properly plan and high productivity.

On top of above (which has been a problem for years) there have been 3 new big factors affecting the uk labour market to get to this position, IR35 changes, brexit and covid. All 3 happened at almost the same time.

I think the next 2 years will be a constant struggle to get all this fixed, its not easy and you have so many viewpoints.

I manage resourcing for a major engineering company and we have major shortages of people in several areas. We pay well, have good working conditions and unionised workforce. Doesnt matter, the skills we need dont exist in the uk.

Original or aftermarket pads? Recent Uberbike pads are gaining notoriety for squeeling

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTIDXgPMwm_/?utm_medium=copy_link

Took my lad up Dumyat on the macride. Half down, with some local trails thrown in.

He loved it even more than I did!

I had a big thread about this a few weeks ago. Used race matrix before and were fine. Due to no 4 pot shimano pads on existence bought 2 pairs. Both terrible, one knackered my disc. Squeeling, glazed, ineffective. Went to the extent of buying a new caliper to get genuine pads. Compared the 2 and the Uberbike ones were a slightly different shape, thicker backplate and you can see how they might move in the caliper.

Complained to Uberbike, they said they would take the pads back and test them, they never sent anything (despite promising) and never heard from them after that….

I didnt completely loose sense of smell, but constantly had an alkali smell in my nose so lots were masked. 5 weeks on still kinda there.

Taste was wierd. Couple things changed, like nuts tasted very strange and i definelty lost taste of a lot of foods. Mainly back now.

I missed the window on my sram eagle, chain at .8 it has done over 1000 miles in all scottish weather’s though but i do look after it. Advice is to run it till it snaps and change ring/casette and chain at same time. Hopeful to get to next year on it as i dont have the 500quid or so to replace it all right now!

Thanks. We def booking, juat where is the question. Only there for the one night (a Sunday) so hopeful it will be quieter, worst case I liked the sit in chippy (a nice trade winds with my smoked sausage was not bad)

I will take volume over fine dining so long as it doesn’t wreck my stomach, i want to be able to fart with confidence

Nb its 2 blokes so no need for ambiance;)

What about the Tamanna? I see quite mixed reviews?

As per usual

Sorry to hear your troubles. I was diagnosed with covid aboit 5 weeks ago and after initially thinking I was all better have struggled for the last couple of weeks and have experienced some symptoms not unlike yours, albeit nowhere near as severe.

I made the mistake of googling long covid and seem to have every symptom going! So doing all i can, eating well, resting when i need to and doing good but light exercise every day seems to be helping.

If you reasearch back, 100 years ago life expectancy was in the 50s so it shows what advances in medicine and diet have done to nearly double this and I think diet has a lot to do with it. (Source ons https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/articles/howhaslifeexpectancychangedovertime/2015-09-09)

Veganism for all its merits does mean missing a lot of essential nutrients and without some serious supplements, many vegans show deficiencies. I think the combination of this, plus a nasty, not fully understood disease and being over 40 wont be helping.

(The article Paton linked is very similar to a number of peer reviewed articles I read when a fad succccitable friend went full raw diet and we were trying to advise against)

It sounds like you have a decent gp and you are doing all you can so really good luck.

The feeling of being far fitter than most then not wanting to do anything cant be great, so you have my sympathies.

Yet another friend has caught covid. For 18 months it was all friends of friends etc. Now thats 4 families i know well all positive, and they are all double vaccinated adults/generally safe and advice abiding.

Thankfully noone in hospital.

You have described 80 % of scotland outside of the cities.

Dumfries is lovely, so are the scottish borders. Kirkcudbright is a personal fav.

Also check dates, our tattie picking holidays are in october…

Cant rate mine high enough either. Expensive but so, so worth it.

I have some small good news, if you bought from pnw direct all taxes are already paid. I had nothing additional on my loam that just arrived.

Op, have you watched Forged in Fire?

Several seasons, big following and loads of intetesting techniques :)

Every time there is a thread about hope brakes, we get 2 very different schools of thought.

Person type 1. Hope are the best. User error making them crap. I ride gnarr all day and they stop me on a dime…

Person type 2. Im an experienced mtber who rides steep and fast schralp, they lacked power and shimano/sram/trickstuff/magura betterer.

This sounds more like a quality issue. Are some people getting friday afternoon brake sets???

When user experience is polar opposite, what else can you conclude?

This review is exactly how mine felt and nearly made me sell a bike i now love…

https://www.perpetualdisappointment.co.uk/2018-hope-tech-e3-long-term-review/

I am a big hope fan, bought an entire hope bike after all but I hated the brakes. (E4)

Felt they seriously lacked power and initial bite, i had to pull the levers so hard to effectively slow down, giving sore arms and lack of confidence. I tried different pads, bleeds etc to no success.

Swapped for slx 4 pots which are amazing, loads of modulation and effortless power.

Sold the brakes for what i paid for new slx so happy with that :)

I was pretty much better, still some slight smell issues but generally all good.

Woke up this morning with the worst sore throat i can remember, chesty caugh, headache, fatigue and its sore to eat.

I have barely seen anyone or been anywhere bar outdoor stuff like the park with kids.

Wonder if covid wrecks your immune system so really susceptible to new virus/infections?

Very right handed, right footed but I snowboard goofy. I also slide across a wooden floor in my socks goofy.

Training myself to do both left and right foot forward when riding for better gnar turns :)

It was a bike shop who replaced the bearings, which were replaced as the creak really sounded like the bb. They just didnt do it right….

Its a sram crank, i heard lots of horror stories about the hope cranks needing stupid levels of torque!

Tensioner was too loose. I said the bb was checked and crank was tight. It was!

Just shows, take it to a good bike shop.

Bike shop called. So i now know. This will not be cheap…

The tensioner on the crank wasnt done up right. This has gubbed the brand new bearings, possibly the shell as well. All needs replaced. This was the creak. No winners? So I will donate to the air ambulance.

The freehub is almost knackerd, the seal wasn’t pressed back in right. I never had it off??

The shock mounting hardware is worn and needs replaced.

The chain (factory supplied?) has too many links and the mech (i haven’t touched) not set up right.

So all in its a lot!

Bike been in shop for 2 days, no feedback yet!

Gears are X01 eagle so no Gx issues.

I only started checking parts after the creak, so as ham fisted as i am its not of my doing.

I dont powerwash but have ridden it constantly in Scotland for over a year, so anything is possible re grease not being in the right place.

Will update as soon as i know, if no one has correct answer will chuck some cash to the air ambulance :)

Oh and rider swap to try to work out where it was coming from rules out my knees, hands, wrists, thumbs, incompetence etc.

I fully suspect its something that has been checked or replaced.

For another clue its loud enough to hear by a rider beside me.

Pedlas are flats, hopes and checked by swapping them out.

Frame bearings were checked by removing, visual/turn by hand and replaced.

Thats what made the bb be replaced, it had a slight notch…

Just read we will match the 2012 medal haul. Thats brilliant, no home advantage and to do this with all the challenges athletes faced over the last year and a half is so great to see.

@singletrackmind hope has the 1200g wheels, the giant is running a ground control front and racing ralph rear.