Are these things cast iron like their pots? If so daft idea…

Tablet? Holy sh1t….

Cheese and oatcakes then Dark Chocolate

*tumbleweed*

On a serious note, not a Fifer but after the recent weather I cant imagine anywhere that will fit your specific criteria 😉

‘cept perhaps the Fife coastal path – must be many sections of that over sandy soil?

>board it and skim it, £300 ish? i’ll do it…<

Waste of money imo.

Just get it skimmed, it’s no big deal.

>Anyone use spesh defrosters? Any good at keeping water out?<

Yes and most definitely no.

The cuff, such as it is, is all but useless at keeping water out. As others have pointed out they aren’t even efficient at keeping out the cold. If you get them wet inside (highly likely)plan on using them only once a week because that’s how long it takes to dry the bl@@dy things.

I’ve tried every combination going: two pairs of socks, Goretex socks, socks plus neoprene kayak boots. However, once you start riding in continous wheel spray I’ve not found anything that will stop it running down your leg. Winter boots are excellent at keeping water in – once freezing cold water fills them you’re getting cold feet. Seems to me that most of the product designers had brain freeze when they got to the cuff 😉 The answer has to lie with some form of gaiter that will provide a watertight seal around your bare leg – anyone know if any of the running Gaiters do such a thing?

>He reckons he’s lucky if he gets 500 miles out of mtb cassettes and he runs XTs.<

For comparison I run XT and alternate 2 x Sram PC991 chains every 250 / 300 miles. I’d say circa 50% of my riding is done in wet & muddy conditions (Central Scotland & the Highlands) My bike very rarely comes back dry and I get at least 2000 miles out of a Cassette! 500 miles is like 15 or so rides to me so I’m struggling to see what kind of weather and soil conditions you’d need to be riding in to be down at that level.

7 vegeatables? Streuth, hope they lie their Greens 😉

Ditch the bread sauce – there’s one saving for you.

“Wild” boar you say.

What country do you live in?

Aye, I’d rather drink Night Nurse than some of that other guff 😉

Whisky Mac is a nice winter tipple for the old bike rides…

Some of these are quite nice (old smokey and captains claret)

http://www.inverlochcheese.co.uk/home.htm

>Funny thing that. I wore my Extreme Smock whilst sitting around on a cold exposed airfield for 2 days last week. Worked a treat. <

Yup I find that equally funny – never, ever been cold standing around in my Extreme Smock.

Does need to be properly cold though for mtb use. As a matter of fact I wore it last night for the first time this winter, minus 6 in the Pentlands…

Genuinely bombproof piece of kit.

That’s a good point – I’d rather quaff a Stella than waste money having to pour the Coke down the sink 😉

Depends on whether a Coke can is 0.7 or not 😉

USE and others do them in that size I’m sure…

Sh1t happens.

AFAICS you’re so preoccupied with flaming the Courier you’ve neglected to tell us whether there was anything actually missing or damaged!

Been using something similar for a year now to mitigate the crippling cost of insuring my teenage sons:

http://www.co-operativeinsurance.co.uk/servlet/Satellite/1286521010203,CFSweb/Page/Insurance-Car

Three benefits really: 1.) lower cost insurance 2.) improved mpg 3.) kids who drive responsibly.

As for cameras – far too many of these already, not in favour of.

>Most dog owners are idiots and have never socialised or trained their dogs,<

Of course…

Any sentence with a forward slash in it. That and two – penneth.

>Some people didn’t read my OP. There were 2 dogs & believe it or not It’s hard to look one in the eye while the other is nibbling your ankles (or appearing to want to)<

To be fair, your OP didn’t actually describe dogs trying to bite you. I get dogs running towards me and barking almost every time I’m out on the bike. 99.999% of the time it’s just that. A situation easily disarmed by stopping and “talking to the dog” If that fails to work I “talk” to the owner. If neither option is available I’ll defend myself.

Dogs in barking and running towards you shocker….

Just stop and clap my thigh / encourage them to come towards me. Easier said than done admittedly if you are scared of dogs.

Bad luck on the injury but either Oranges hangers are made of cheese or you’re a bit clumsy or you’re running too short a chain. Perhaps an unlucky mixture of all of these…

Haven’t ridden a recent O5 or Heckler but doubt they’ll have changed that radically over the last 5 years – both go uphill pretty well but I’d rate the Heckler over the Orange. Besides the Orange would need to be pretty damn special to make me want to buy something that fugly 😉 SC used to have a thing about mech hangers – they didn’t use them. Reckoned they were largely responsible for shifting issues so they simply used big ass dropouts. That still the case?

Had the same problem as Shibboleth with the Montane Ice Grip – great glove but the inner reverses out of the outer when you remove your hand. Worse still they invert completely if you bung them in the washing machine (as they recommend)

Currently back with Montane and awaiting a response…

Or Stable>Derry>Lairig Ghru> Picadilly = c. 40k

7k? Golspie needs to preface that with “purpose built” 😉

There are singletrack descents off Braeriach, Macdui and Beinn a Bhuird which are all nearly double that. Dozens more I could name.

Bynack stable to Derry is probably sub 20. Picadilly to White Bridge must be cracking on for 25. Edit, last few kliks are double track iirc but certainly > 20. Alas, not all rideable…

Knocked in quite a few in Wester Ross / Sutherland which must be pushing the 30 mark. Portage in there too though.

>Any thoughts?<

Watch this:

http://www.mwis.org.uk/bsdqkyoxlkdgl/EH.PDF

Laiogh / Feshie is a big day – even in Summer.
Laiogh / Ghru is technical. If you have standing water on that and it freezes (likely by the looks of it) it takes on a different complexion entirely.

7.5hrs daylight, testy terrain, freezing and solo so prob best avoided tbh

Mattock, axe, elbow grease.

Aye no beers and worse…………bottled water in the wine rack.

Also – what is this “season” of which you speak?

iphone surely? Two birds / one stone.

😉

>i’m not adverse to a little suffering to find that<

Go find them yourself then instead of being a lazy b and scrounging them on here

😉

BBQ? Would that be of the outdoor oven variety or a proper BBQ with charcoal?

If the latter – brave man and good luck 😉

What DezB said……

this river don’t go to Aintree boy

Yup – worst I can remember.

Road bike might be a bridge too far but some hard frosts would be good.

Aye they get on my t1ts and not just in forests. I have started taking my phone in the last year or so but it’s in aircraft mode logging the ride.

I’m out on the bike partially to escape external contact – I do not feel the need to be connected 24/7. Can’t really envisage a home scenario where I’m going to be able to boot it home and save a life – we got by without them in them old days 😉

Almost ran over one last night by coincidence. I often encounter them and they always run as fast as their wee legs can carry them. The chances of finding yourself in an aggressive Badger situation whilst out on your bike must be next to nothing.

OP – more likely a dog?

I have good news – 66 is nothing. Many guys that age could probably whup your ass 😉

It’s all explained here Project:

btw – bet you’ve never played it or you are simply sh1te at it 😉

Surprised there are any Lobster’s left on the Mull of Kintyre 🙁

Are you on a wild bbq mission around Scotland?

>pack the car, and head North up the M6.,<

Yeah it looks ok – for England 😉

I’ll stick to heading North up the A9 😉

Sheers? What if he uses the bricks?

Very nice but you need to split them in half before you cook them

Certainly not for biking.

Looks to be around 5 times the size of my bivvying solution and that includes cookware:

http://www.optimusstoves.com/en/optimus-products/products/katadynshopconnect/optimus-outdoor-kocher/optimus-crux-lite-solo-kochsystem/

So, bulky, heavy, expensive, needs a fuel source (Finding dry sticks in the middle of a Scottish winter? In fact just finding any sticks could be an issue:-)

And charging phones etc is of no interest so that trump card is of no use to me personally.