I’ve got a Sony TCK-661S patiently waiting for me to list it on eBay. Email me if interested.

Love them, especially the light blue

In recent action 🙂

Lakeland hike-a-bike May 2016 by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

Is the big tide starting to turn back, I wonder?

My thoughts too. It’s telling that the mag had a review of XC bikes recently and I have a knack of being ahead of the curve in my thinking a sheep waiting to be manipulated by the market trends

[edit] part of me – the roadie part – is tempted to do a bit of racing and I can’t help but feel I’d need a better tool to do so

Granted it was way back in 1998/99 that I was there and I was only there for a day or two, but I didn’t find Bogota any more intimidating than many other big cities I’ve travelled to. Colombia itself is beautiful and the people I met were incredibly friendly. I’m sure there are safer countries to go to but in my experience it was worth visiting.

The problem is that the difference between a good experience and a bad experience is as much down to luck as it is being prepared. Maybe if I’d turned left instead of right I’d have a different story to tell…

Transition would claim the Bandit (my bike) *is* their XC bike in their range. At the time they did nothing more XC than that 😆

Realistically I’m not going to buy a new bike, but have my eye on some different tyres. I’ve got a Spesh Purgatory on the back at the moment which is very draggy. Thinking of replacing it with a Ground Control or the new Slaughter which gets rave reviews.

A CX bike is very tempting to be honest and may be just what I need. I’ve always thought my Bandit was the perfect “do anything” MTB for me, but when I did a couple of longs days where the riding was rarely technical (and there was quite a bit of quiet country lane) I realised it’s not as perfect as I thought and I’d definitely like something that I can stomp on the pedals with a bit more urgency and propulsion.

I had a Boxster for 18 months and it was an absolute joy. Barely a week goes by when I don’t miss it. I’m lucky enough that my drive to the office is across quiet country roads in the Peak District but, if snow and ice was forecast, I simply choose to work from home. In other words, it was a worthy “everyday” car provided you have flexibility to avoid the true winter days.

That said, I did get rid of it for the fear of big bills. As someone said above, the parts aren’t too bad (I needed a new clutch) but the engine is buried under a sea of carpet and cloth. In the 18 months I owned it I never even saw the engine! You can’t just open a bonnet and have a look.

I looked at and test drove 4 (?) before settling on this one. I’m no car expert, but it was easy to tell the ones that had been looked after from those that hadn’t.

My Boxster by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

Dazh you have my sympathy. I adore the Lakes and have had some fantastic days riding, climbing and walking there, but hike-a-bike is possibly my least favourite outdoor activity. I think I was having a bit of an off-day, but my recent hike up Nan BIeld was not rewarded with the top quality descent I hoped for.

I confess I’ve been lucky enough to do some awesome riding in Spain that may have made me a bit spoilt when it comes to quality descents without the hike-a-bike 😀

If anyone sees anything like this, take a quick pic and email it to Peak District MTB infoATpeakdistrictmtb.org for our hall of shame.

FTFY

I’d regard the northern descent of Nan Bield to be superior, it’s really techy.

I’d regard the northern descent as being mostly a walk 😆 I’ve come to the conclusion that steep, rocky, technical descents are not my forte nor my preference. It was bad enough going up, although in this pic the descent looks quite manageable. Many of the other sections I wouldn’t even attempt to ride. I value my face and my bones too much 😉

Lakeland hike-a-bike May 2016 by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

Not allowing enough time to tackle Garburn Pass and having to head home after only doing Gatescarth and Nan Bield. It’s such a shame driving away from a stunning Lakeland day, knowing they’re few and far between.

Did one of those “I’m in a rush” overtaking manoeuvres on the way home that made me have a word with myself.

Technically not a riding shot, but in amongst the hike-a-biking we did get some time in the saddle. This is the slog up to Nan Bield Pass in the Lakes.

Lakeland hike-a-bike May 2016 by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

I had a hot day hike-a-biking in the Lakes yesterday and, having run out of “proper” chamois cream, I used some nappy cream. I was very impressed to be honest. I’ll look up the brand if you want.

^that’s on the South Peak loop

Contrary to some responses up there, I think you’re in a good spot for some “mountain biking lite”. You’re within spitting distance of the Pennine Bridleway and – as Ian says – the South Peak loop, which Monyash is slap bang in the middle of:

I did a little review of the South Peak loop if you want some inspiration:

The South Peak Loop – is it any good?

5-15 seconds, enough to get the boiler to kick in, and burn off a few quids worth of gas

You need your boiler servicing 😉

I agree Apple are not great at creating simple and effective cloud solutions; it’s always nerve-wracking turning stuff like this on. However, they are addressing the problem differently from someone like Dropbox. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Dropbox is “just” cloud storage, whereas Apple are tightly integrating their apps with their cloud service which brings with it additional complications both for user and, judging by the mistakes they seem to make, Apple.

Getting older doesn’t stop you doing things, stopping doing things makes you older.

Possible other side of this story

As a test I put mine airplane mode, clicked on music, my music and hit play. All the songs I’ve stored are playing

Conversely, I lined up a load of albums for offline listening on Apple Music when I went to Oz last year. Turned on my iPhone on the ‘plane – in airplane mode of course – and NOTHING played. Nothing.

I seem to remember similar stories when Apple Music was launched and I’m sure it wasn’t as dark and nefarious as this thread makes out.

I’ve just had a look in iTunes at some music I know I ripped onto my Mac from CD. It’s still there on my hard drive with a modified date of 2011. I would assume if Apple had uploaded and then downloaded it again, the modified date would be much later.

My MTB tools live in neat little compartments in my Evoc bag, ready to ride. Conversely my road tools/spares live in a waterproof GPS bag that I can fit in my jersey pocket.

PCC only. Having read each of the respect candidates pitch I’m even less inclined to vote than I was before, which is saying something!

Finished work last night, kids and I had dinner, did homework together, ran around in the sun playing footie on the school field, bath, read to them in bed. I then went to the pub. Top evening 🙂

Argh! Drac comes in with the knockout blow 😆

You can’t use TDF speeds for anything

Except perhaps for highlighting why you doubt a non-pro solo rider “…can tap out 25mph on the flat pretty easy for miles on end.” 🙂

EDIT beaten to it ^

^lol I thought it looked impressive 🙂

EDIT: re-read gravity slave’s post and realised he wasn’t talking about himself and some mates. D’oh! 😳

TdY Stage 2 – not much up and down – 26.8mph with some fast mates and closed roads : https://www.strava.com/activities/561136295

…and a bucket load of Strava trophies and KOMs suggests you’re possibly a little faster than most 😉

On lunch break. I had my ride at 7am this morning in the glorious early morning Sun.

40kph taking it easy on a £500 bike! If I were you I’d get in touch with Sir Dave Brailsford.

😆

Dodgy bike computer or blissfully unaware of how fit and capable he/she is? Average speed for a Tour de France rider on flat terrain is 25 – 28mph according to my quick bit of Googling (link)

get a grip

I tried but my inner wuss has blossomed far too big and brightly in recent years

It’s not as if you’re riding any longer than a big day out off road.

The point someone made up there – and I agree with – is that on a typical MTB ride you’re moving around a lot more and spending less time actually in the saddle, whereas you could easily be spending several hours sat down in the same position on a road bike.

I rode the South Peak loop recently and one section was 11km of ever so slightly uphill. Completely untechnical but was really a sit down and pedal job. It was genuinely uncomfortable being in the same pedalling position on my MTB for that long, whereas that distance/time sat on my road bike wouldn’t cause me any discomfort at all. I’d never previously viewed my MTB as being uncomfy until that day and that’s mainly cos I’ve never done a ride on my MTB that required so much pedalling in the same position for so long.

We stayed in a holiday cottage where I watched her father walk across the kitchen, get a saucer, walk back, put the saucer on the counter, then put the teabag on it. The bin was right next to the counter.

Well, this is quite a good idea and we do similar. You see, teabags are wet when you take them out of a mug. Wet tea bags can – and do – drip on the floor when carrying to the bin. Whack them on a saucer to dry out and then put them in the (compost) bin. Less mess. Easy.

What is it with men and stacking dishwashers?

Whilst my wife is a superstar when it comes to the boring housework, washing up usually falls to me. Anything that doesn’t fit in the dishwasher ends up being washed up by hand, ergo the importance of ME being satisfied that the dishwasher is optimally loaded.

I couldn’t begin to imagine the discomfort I’d feel riding my MTB over the distances I’ve done on a road bike.

this

My desire to simplify and declutter is at complete odds with my wife’s desire to collect and horde. Sadly it seems these are traits we’ve both inherited so I can’t see it ending well 😆

Citroen Berlingo? They are quite wide so should fit the bill if you don’t actually need 7 seats. Sliding doors too 🙂

4. I severely doubt they’ll be instructing the mods to remove links to video content from the forum, I suspect some of you have added two and two and got six there.

We’ll see.

The big difference between the forum and, say, the home page is that the vast majority of the engagement and discussion from Joe Public is on the forum. If Akrigg produces a new video, it’s often on the forum before the home page and it’s the forum that I – and I guess most of us – go to to discuss it (and to build up those views). I could be wrong and it’d be interesting to see the stats either way, but the forum is currently very much a “free pass” for the content Singletrack otherwise wants paying for. Unless of course two and two does indeed equal four 😉

EDIT same sentiment^. Beaten to it 🙁

That’s my bike 🙂

I know some of the PHP lot and they asked if I had any photos I could share with them. Maybe that photo will be replaced now the route is officially open and gets some horses on it, although it will be interesting to see the mix of cyclists v horse riders that do this loop.