It looks like Angus didn’t stop at all. He would have missed Contin Stores so must have plenty snacks to get to Drumbeg!

Any news on Oonagh Thin? She was storming but her tracker is stuck at Fort Augustus. The other front five women are within 5 miles of each other. Naomi Freireich dropped her bike early on and broke (I’m not sure if that means bent or snapped) a brake lever.

Has Rich Rothwell really pulled out? He seemed to stop quite early so possibly trashed a bit of kit? What a bugger.

The two Frenchmen are going well. I suppose this time tomorrow is the test of who has paced it well.

Cracking bit of dotwatching!

Thanks @stwhannah !! Great work :-)

Cool! No huge urgency – just popped into my head @kcal.

Cheers

YES!!

Thanks Cougar. Unfortunately the image links are dead.

Cheers!

In response to a previous comment I’d like to point out we have only eradicated two diseases: Smallpox and Rinderpest. Smallpox is the only one affecting human beans.

It’s not that we don’t have the ability. It’s just some humans being barstewards.

I’d love to see us all stop fighting but until caveman brain is eradicated we’ll often resort to the punch in the face response before logic.

I think the toilets are still open. I’m sure my wife told me a friend of our’s had their dog kept in there last weekend after it ran back to the car park halfway round the blue!

The people who ran the café did a good job and gave it a good crack. Here’s hoping someone else can take it on.

The Greyhound in Penkhull was great. Nice beers on tap, quite a small place so easy to get chatting to folk. Thanks STW!

So far Stoke people have been friendly and helpful! Thanks for all the advice. Will try one or two of the above mentioned pubs tonight.

Thanks for the suggestions. I’m looking for a characterful local really. Somewhere with good enough food and an atmosphere suited to reading.

Thanks Steve.

That’s helpful to hear. The system can be quite complex and our use of it will (initially) be quite simple.  I’m happy enough with the costs, it’s more the time required as this is fall mostly on me and I don’t want to end up struggling to deliver!

Cheers.

Thanks BWD! Just what I was hoping to hear.

I’ve a nice purple TEST Tundra saddle which will be on eBay presently!

We had an issue with the irrigation which is why it’s a bit short and weak. The soil is so shallow its basically a giant hydroponic system so relies on irrigation the whole time. We use distillery cooling water for that.

It’s only custard after 3 years maturation. We just make the albumin… ;-)

90% of your energy will be for distillation (assuming 2 pot still batch process).

How you heat the still will impact the flavour and ease of control.

Kit: in terms of dealing with your waste you’ll be able to feed draff to the coos, pot ale spread to land (though needs a fair amount of admin – speak to SAC), spent lees and washings need to be treated.

As said above, balancing tank (spent lees – pH ~3, caustic washings pH ~ 11) should help get it close to 7. Then a simple reed bed or I have heard of small sites like yours letting it run down long grassy slopes.

I suggest speaking with Brian Eaton. He is an independent but knows everyone and the nicest guy you’ll meet. Email in my profile if you want his details or a technical chat on anything.

I work for Edrington.

Cheers!

I find it takes a year+ to get accustomed to the fatigue of a 2 x 30mins+ commute each day plus a normal life outside of work. (ie biking and doing stuff in free time, not lying in bed!)

Keep at it. Leave earlier. Ride slower. Take nicer, lower traffic routes. Invest in full mudguards and a rack and tough, wide tyres. Eat massive lunches. Plan for weather, especially wind.

Biking to work is brilliant. Healthy, cheap, life enriching.
Driving is an expensive luxury!

ps, biking a good distance every day will sort out your sleep problems!

Thanks so much for all the responses. Looks like it’s going to be a fantastic weekend!!!

Enjoy your riding…

Tumble dried my Helly Hansen for too long and returned to the machine with 12 socks stuck to a ball of polyproylene!

thorpey – you can add your own info. Its dead easy if you’re only adding a couple of frames.

I did this for every MTB I’ve ever owned.

Try this website built by my friends: Geometry Geeks[/url]

I just used an old bearing as a spacer and it works fine.

The hitch slips round on my wife’s bike which is a 9mm QR.
I’d save your money and find a way to space the standard hitch out from the frame.

That said, I have no idea about hubs that aren’t 135mm.

Good luck!

The big one is quite obvious as it lines up with the other holes. The smaller one goes on the end of the shaft which has the circlip on it. Mine is pretty tatty so I’m replacing too. Going to change the oil when I get a chance and see if that makes any difference. If that doesn’t fit it, then its crack it open time!

These are the paper gaskets.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hub-spares/rohloff-paper-gasket-kit-for-axle-ring-for-speedhub-50014-8710/

I carried all my own food then dropped my last sandwich in a puddle two hours from Winchester! A guy in the car park at QECP saved my life (may be exaggerating) with half a packet of 5 year old Dextro Energy tablets from the bottom of his glove box!

Know where the taps are. Then plan for half of them not to work.

It’s a great day on the bike. Just don’t go too fast and don’t stop!

Almost certainly.

Can’t say when though.

sq225917 – the Rohloff has about 12ml of oil inside them. You change the oil by first draining what will freely come out. Then add in a low viscosity cleaning oil. Ride around a bit changing gears to get all the crap out of the insides. Drain that out. Then add 25ml fresh oil (but I only add half that).

Well, annoyingly it still skips in the highest gear! I may crack it open to have a look but will first change the oil. Going to have to use my wife’s wheel after all.

If I do open it up I’ll post some updates here so you don’t make the same mistakes ;-)

Bump for the morning crew

This is what we’re dealing with:

and the hub gets no love at all:

Took off the gearbox and torsion bit and underneath here:

I changed the springs which are at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock in this image:

The little blighters I took out:

There is no timing of gears associated with the gearbox so this is a low risk bit of maintenance. Just be careful not to damage the paper gasket in there.

I have no idea what these springs do. They might help engage drive rings within the hub or it might just be holding the indexing of each gear. I dunno but its solved my issue.

Yes it does seem fast!

I’ve been singlespeed for many years now so quite used to riding it all day. I think I’ll get a Niner fork in time.

Where in Sweden were you riding DanW? I’m guessing that’s west coast? I lived in Stockholm until recently and bloody loved the rocky granite trails. Really missed the big long climbs of Scotland though. Never satisfied!

Totally agree on the lack of tyre clearance. I’m lucky that 32 x 19 sits the wheel seemingly perfectly but if the CS was shorter I think it’d be trouble.

Are you bringing your Superfly to the SSEC in May? SSEC 2017[/url]

Superfly was on my list (especially for the carbon fork) as well but the Santa Cruz dropout sold it to me and the Superfly is pressfit BB. Or SmashFit as my mate calls it!

£15 from eBay for a brand new Tundra 2!
I don’t see it when I’m riding ;-)

Wayhay! Had two rides now and really enjoying it. XL frame so makes the wheels look small. Excuse the uncut steerer and unfashionale amount of space between headtube and stem.

The wide rims (26mm internal) make a huge difference to how the tyres perform. I’d say it’s got more grip than a 29+ with the 2.3 on “wideish” rims – will depend on terrain I guess.

The singlespeed dropout is really well designed and it’s very simple to adjust and get the wheel centred.

Also enjoying the RS Oneloc – never turned lockout on and off so much!

Our whole office get these phone calls, seemingly on rotation.

Our stock response is, “yes, I hit a deer”.

Since deer don’t have insurance they usual give up at that point ;-)

Go and spend £9 on Roger Musson’s brilliant pdf book. It has answers to all the questions.

http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/

Happy fettling!

What Jamie said. We did this last year to get to the Islay ferry. me and the kids went to sleep at 19:00. my wife packed the car. I got up at 23:30, poured the kids into their seats, wife slept, I drove. Met no cars for a 90minute period, didn’t stop. Great drive as the sun was coming up.

It’s a state of mind man.

I had exactly the same problem so ended up buying a new frame.

It’ll last longer than a 2nd hand one. . . I keep telling myself!

Ordered a metal one Swavis.

I wasn’t sure between large or XL (I’m 6’3″) but went for XL and I’m confident that was the right choice (especially the above chat).

27.2 suits me as I don’t use a dropper and already have a 27.2 thomson – probably good for absorbing some bumps too.

Need to finish front wheel tonight, check I have the right brake adapters. Then collect the frame tomorrow and aim to get it built tomorrow night to ride to work on Thursday.

Will post a photo when I’m done :-)