Currently on the sun deck of the Stena Hollandica catching the rays on the North Sea! Love ship wifi….

Notes from the Flatlands (Fear and Loathing on the Canal Trail):

– Cycling without a helmet feels odd.

– You just can’t anticipate which way a teenage girl on a bike is going turn. It’s safer not to try to overtake ever.

– Singlespeed is the correct speed.

– Don’t bother trying to follow a ‘National Cycle Path’ they follow no logical route whatsoever. Pick a road and use the cyclepath next to it.

– Don’t rely on the ‘Ride with GPS’ app to get you through The Hague.

– After a few miles even the incline over a canal will seem like Scafell Pike.

Nice one. Thanks all.

Take my old phone with a pay-as-you-go sim in it that only my wife has the number. It’s small enough to go in the little back pocket on my tights.

Cheers.

Cheers will do. Is that because the bb will screw too far into the cups if not? Or the central tube will be too long? Or another reason.

The woodland may be protected by the local planning authority under a Tree Preservation Order or Conservation area. Check with them first.

If you plan to fell trees you’ll need to talk to the Forestry Commission aboit a felling license.

As for keeping pigs in an ancient woodland? A handful might not be too harmful if you regularly rotate them around large compartments as per the New Forest pannage rights or even wild boar populations in Northern Europe. But in my experience pigs kill woodlands. They eat young roots killing trees and wipe out the delicate soil ecology. In an ancient woodland it is likely to be a bit of a disaster unless very carefully managed. I’d recommend you do a bit of reading up on the nature of an ancient woodland before introducing piggies into one. It’s not just the trees that are at risk.

If the local planning authority get wind of it they may well try to stop you by serving a Preservation Order which would leave you liable to criminal prosecution if even so much as a sapling gets trodden on.

The Woodland Trust is a good placw to start as well as your regional Forestry Commission office.

G-Shock Vanden Plas…

I have the same issue as the OP. As i got older my ability to drink has waned and the hangovers i get now are biblical in there ferocity (old Testament).

Unfortunately a few of my good pals seem to have got better at drinking as we’ve aged and now everything is an excuse to crack open a can or 5. It’s very hard for them to accept that i don’t want to get on it at 3pm just because we can!

I’m strictly quality over quantity nowadays!

I have a Shwalbe BA 2.35 spare if you need. It’s new and is the old tread type. Got it through an ordering balls up as i run them on my 29er ss in road configuration…

Email in my profile if you want to get in touch.

Yeah they do make a swipey noise on the up that’s true.

Ahh… So I’m not going mad! Thanks Ramsey Neil.

Bought the 40mm alloy stem. It hasn’t killed me yet.

My oldest bestest mate has one. He’s a bit of a specialist, he also has a R32 GTST (i think) and a 90’s Porsche 911 (whatever they were called back then). He rebuilds gearboxes for fun.

I love gtr’s ever since Gran Tourismo. Got to drive a 400+bhp R33 when i was in my 20’s. Got a corner all wrong down a country lane and actually closed my eyes and braced for impact but the car sorted it out and got around the corner for me! My mate asked me along to a charity track day in November at Silverstone with Abbey Motorsport who used to be the GTR importers back in the era of R32/33/34. Loads of R34/35 but 32’s are rare nowadays.

I’ve spent years wondering whether i should get one seeing as i have a mate who knows how to fix them, but everytime i ask him he strongly advises me against the whole idea. He reckons they are horribly complicated and expensive to fix when they go wrong. Eg. He was telling me about a braking issue that had prevented him taking it to track for 6 months. He couldn’t fix it, Abbey didn’t know, another specialist was flummoxed, the forums were at a loss. My mate spent £10,000s changing every part of the braking system and abs and I think it still plays up!

It makes my bits of carbon i buy for the bike seem an absolute bargain! So i suppose it comes down to how deep your pockets.

I use 1″ Gorilla tape from Halfords. No need for it to go to the rims and it may cause seating probs if it does (as commented above).

You might be on the verge of coming down with something. Sends my body temp haywire. Next thing i know I’ve got a cold or stomach bug.

+1 for Vango Nitestar.

If you don’t want to buy a dedicated ss machine then a chain tensioner is a good option. On One do a cheap ‘doofer’, but the Gusset Squire is better. On One, Uber and Superstar do cheap hub spacers and sprockets.

Chains are cheap. You should be abke to convert for under £40 easily.

It’s definitely worth a go. A lot easier than you’d think to ride too. One thing that really smoothed things out for me was an Absolute Black oval chainring. It really helps to get up the hills out of the saddle as it makes you feel like you’re on a gym step machine.

Have fun!

I’ve got a remote recon lever and crown top if you figure out a way of doing it. Drop me a mail. Email in profile.

I converted mine the other way.

Haha, not me but I’ll take a look!

Unfortunately recovering from a horrible bout of food poisoning so I’ll pass on this weekend but I’ll drop you a line fornthe future.

I bought a cheap 2nd hand Felt Nine 30.

So far it’s been bikepacking ove the SDW and the IoW. It has rack mounts so its done a stint commuting with some road tyres It got me fifth in category at Torq in Your Sleep. It flips from being rigid courtesy of a carbon fork, to various singlespeed incarnations with a Gusset tensioner.

It’s acted as my winter rattler all around Peaslake and the Surrey Hills, ploughing through puddles I’d shy away from on the full-sus…

It isn’t fashionable or beautiful but it just keeps on surprising me.

The brakes are sh*te though.

Yeah i know exactly the spot. I’ve seen people not expect it in the dark and get down it without the loss of front teeth though so you should live to tell the tale even if you muck it right up. Is it the fact that the landing spot is partally obscured by gorse and vegetation so you don’t feel confident to just unweight the front and pop down?

I have this issue on a couple of spots around Peaslake. I call it my ‘sense of death-by-misadventure’ kicking in. It’s led to more injuries from abrupt refusals at the very edge of the drop than rolling it would have!

I live close so drop me a line of you want to go and give it a bloody good thrashing…

Good luck!

Try these, they’re fsa wholesalers but will sell to public:

http://bps-distribution.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

Baggies do help a bit as you plough through the narrow bramble edged path or the stinging nettles but generally they look so much better than lycra shorts in the pub.

Knee pads are good for when you’re getting out of your comfort zone and can prevent a little tumble becoming 6 weeks off the bike and regular trips to the docs. But if your trundling about with both wheels firmly planted on the dirt then i wouldn’t bother.

Got a cold about this time last year that hung around in my chest. Eventually ended up at the docs in Spring and after various tests and x-rays it turned out I’d developed asthma. Which is a nice edition to 37 years with hayfever. I’m hoping for eczema next to complete the hatrick!

And my hip hurts.

Good luck and stay warm! Keep a scarf on. A warm head and neck can prevent the virus taking hold. Or so I’m led to believe.

Whilst we’re reminiscing… I miss my ’84 900 8v turbo. Fast enough to get to Glastonbury in under 3 hours and big enough to sleep in.

And then it developed an unsolvable fuel air problem. Ended up donating it to my mate who was a Saab mechanic. Even be couldn’t fix it.

He had an old 9000 that would do 140+mph. It was stock as far as they could tell. No-one could figure out how it went so fast!

The old ones were good but idiosyncratic. Much like their owners.

I keep a picture of this on my phone which I look at everytime I want to chuck a spanner at something/someone:

Currently looking at it because the link to the office is hanging and I’m not sure if the report I’ve spent an hour writing is lost forever in the digital netherworld…

https://www.painscience.com/tutorials/iliotibial-band-syndrome.php

That is everything you’ll ever need to know aboit ITBS. Although pain at the rear of the knee doesn’t sound like it.

Good luck.

Mussorsgsky – Pictures in a Museum.

It’s the New Statesmen theme (if you’re old eniugh to remember). Good stuff.

Money buys you choices. I’ve had friends enviously talk about my work life balance but i have to point out to them that we didn’t have a family holiday last year because our boiler broke. Or that I don’t drive a nice car because i will never afford one. Or that my kids won’t ever learn to ski. And I’m probably not any happier than you!

But saying that, my brother chose a different career path and has a Porsche and kids in private school and I wouldn’t swap for his salary.

You’ll regret not doing something more than doing it. Good luck.

Neat car shampoo (with wax) through a chain cleaning gizmo. Or white spirits in a tray if i want to get medieval on its links.

I bought a Planet X – XLS for these duties a couple of years back. So far the only downside is that it hasn’t got rack mounts but I’ve done over night trips using Alpkit bikepacking gear strapped on.

Other than that it’s good for 100 mile sportives, bridleways, and the odd bit of singletrack depending on tyre choice.

If i had to choose again I might go an On-One Dirty Disco because it is meant to have a more relaxed frame geo BUT I’ve never ridden one so who knows!

Alao very grey during daylight. Not exactly high viz until nightime and headlights light them up.

+ 1 for the Gelert solo! Great little tent. Change the pegs tho.

Got a one of these in the garage if you want to make me an offer! Brand new, unwanted Christmas presnt. I’ve taken it out the box and paired it to my phone but it’s never been ridden. Email address is in my profile.

http://uk.wahoofitness.com/devices/wahoo-blue-sc-speed-and-cadence-sensor.html

Alpinequest works well with gpx.

Earplugs and take turns with your partner to get an entire night’s sleep. Or if your partner is off work then offer to do the weekend stuff while she catches up on the zzz’s.

That and plenty of exercise helped me. I took up running for a quick fix that didn’t involve a four hour ride. It really helped with the lack of sleep. And meant i didn’t get too unfit for riding when i had the chance.

Good luck!

Thanks Richmars and Chamley. Problem solved.

Sh!t. Hadn’t thought of that. Will it reform when it gets warm?