Get yourself over to reddit.com/r/keto. I’ve been on Keto which is a fancy way of saying fat adapted since October. I’ve lost about 17kg, 107kg down to around 90 but my scales ran out of battery two weeks ago so can’t give an up to date account.

I started the diet to lose weight after finishing my first and very painful half iron man at 107kg and deciding that enough was enough. Losing the weight has been great but the biggest advantage has been not needing to eat during extended exercise. I can now get back from a cycle in the morning with no more than some eggs for breakfast and forget to eat lunch, where before if I didn’t eat every hour on a ride I would feel awful.

YMMV and IAMNAD etc etc but it worked for me!

It’s not till September, if I started regimented training this early I’d be setting myself up to fail! Set a date that you want to start “serious” training, 12 weeks before the event is pretty much my max. Then find yourself a training plan for the mileage you want to achieve over the time period you’ve set yourself. This will normally tell you what base fitness is expected prior to starting the plan. Then set yourself goals to get the base miles in before that point like “get out twice a week” or “do 30 miles minimum a week” and even mix in some running, swimming or whatever else you enjoy so that when you start training seriously you have the base fitness to build on but aren’t totally sick of training. Most of all have fun, at least until the training starts proper.

YMMV but this is what works for me generally.

Can’t make it to Monmouth but I’ve been wanting to try one of these for ages, must book myself on to one!

OK so I took the two MBR routes from Lynton (which seems to be lots of road) and Porlock and made a Porlock to Porlock route taking in Exford, Simonsbath and linking to the Two Moors way.

Please comment/roast as you feel fit.

http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=ckiherbqrkvmttwq

I struggled with the Lynton to Porlock part but hopefully I’ve made a fairly sensible route.

It’s in preparation for a 100 miler (not on exmoor). That 150 looks like it could be bodged into a shorter ride, but does it represent exmoor riding well or is it all doubletrack

I bought them from this guy for £33 last month although he seems to have put his prices up

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clarks-M2-Hydraulic-brake-system-for-bikes-mtb-/112299160988?

Got to say they’ve been absolutely brilliant, sure they aren’t as powerful as more expensive ones but value wise they’re excellent.

On One Pompino? Tyre clearance seems to be limited to about 35c nobblies but apart from that it would seem to tick the boxes?

I’ll be trying out the local 10 miler. Recently moved from Loughborough down to Taunton and there seems to be a lot less in the way of TTs down here.

Blast round the quantocks Sunday morning. Undecided on what to do Saturday, may try the local man made stuff at orchard portman/Wych lodge.

Just the sort of information I was looking for 5lab thank you very much. Now just the question of has anyone ridden both frames and able to comment on if one is significantly better than the other?

What are we talking on bb drop? It might even help with running longer forks which people normally seem to suggest raise the bb to much?

Giro Foray Mips, £45 at Wiggle.

Same as the Synthe but they’ve opened the aero bits into vents so it’s £100 less, suits me!

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/giro-foray-road-helmet-mips/

By far the most comfortable helmet I’ve ever had and the extra protection of MIPS can only be an advantage.

All good options but all a fair bit over budget with a suspension fork apart from the pine mountain which is looking like a strong contender!

Cheers Bob, that rules that out!

On Tuesday night I had a deer bounding along in front of me for a very long 10 seconds (OK so it was a fire Road but it was still awesome!)

I wouldn’t recommend it. Just bought issue 7 and now going to have to buy all 6 back orders and 8 and a subscription out of my “new frame” fund. How inconsiderate of Cranked.

Unlucky buddy, let us know when you attempt it again! Also please make it easy for us to donate!

Muppet, if you did that wouldn’t it just look like every other road bike?

That’s with an Android phone and Macbook pro just to be clear.

I beg to disagree, I connect my phone to my speed/cadence sensor (bontrager duotrap) and that transmits to my mac. Only thing that I’d say is that I have about a 2 second lag so start sprinting before the start of a sprint etc to compensate.

Not sure about MTB but on shimano road the 11 speed pins can’t be reused, you have to use a new one with a tab that you break off after inserting it. After about an hour of trying to get an old pin back in I can confirm they aren’t reusable! I always managed to reuse 9 speed pins.

Vredestein fortezza senso xtreme are hands down the safest and comfiest 25s I’ve ever used in the winter. Can’t recommend them highly enough and everyone that I’ve suggested them to has been impressed! I’ve only tried the 25 but would go 28 if you can fit them in. Rolling resistance isn’t to bad considering!

Link: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vredestein-fortezza-senso-xtreme-weather-clincher-road-tyre/

Bottle Openers, I have hundreds of the things that I’ve acquired yet the only one I can ever find when I want a beer is the massive corkscrew opener that stays in the kitchen draw at all times (because if I didn’t religiously put it back I’d have to go back to opening my beer with a spoon).

Also, to clear up a point you are at the back of an industrial estate, as is B&Q and a decent craft Brewer! I don’t see a problem with this presumably it’s part of how you keep prices low!

Despite the horrible reply from unicycles that has done nothing to improve the doubts one might have reading this thread, I’d have no problem recommending their service or their bikes based on friends experiences. I’ll be heading there when I’m ready to pick up a winter beater.

That Sonder is really nice, definitely adding it to the possibles list! The genesis seems very expensive for a rigid forked, 2×10 bike. The mud here seems to be mostly of the thick clay stuff so I’m hoping that staying on top of it would be a good thing!!