I left an office job in my late twenties for a career change into arboriculture. A good place to start is the Arboricuiltural Association.

You’ll need to get trained on chainsaws, wood cutting, felling, and climbing with a saw. Probably best you get aerial rescue too.

It is very physically demanding and you’ll take perhaps 5 years to be well skilled and experienced. I lost two stone in the first year. But then I probably needed too!

Good luck – I haven’t looked back but I’m now in my forties and don’t work on the tools anymore. Still working in the industry though.

Happy to answer any specifics if you want to email (in profile).

A mix of chainsaw chain oil and white spirits. Its a little mucky but I ride in all conditions and it keeps working no matter what the conditions.

At the end of the winter i strip everything and deep clean and use dry lube until the mud appears again in November.

I live in South Farnham. There’s a few regular rides out with various groups. Occasional Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Email is in my profile if you want more details.

Yup Dark Matter scared me! Also F G Cottam stories are ok.

I go out riding in the Forest at night. The horses/cows/donkeys/deer just don’t move as I come down the trail.

The NF ‘Defence Association’ is probably Dr Hockley and his wife sitting in their triple glazed house of an evening and not venturing out to see what really goes on after dark because of all the hoodies lurking behind every clump of gorse or tree stump.

Hallucinogen – The Lone Deranger

Sets a good pace for a quick 5 miles.

RP’s last album was his best since Manic Nirvana imo. The ‘Somebody’s There’ track is glorious.

Youtube linky

I wouldn’t risk cutting roots that close. Best off changing foundation design or removing tree.

Or you could hire a man with a compressed air lance to excavate to about a metre to check. But that might not be feasible with soil conditions etc.

(I’m a Chartered Arboriculturist so feel free to ignore me :lol: )

Super smashing great.

Cheers – just looking at one of those now.

Erdinger do a half decent one. It’s a bit gassy though. Either Sainsburys or Tesco do a Czech one which is quite swiggable.

I quite like them. Gives me that instant beer relaxation feeling but means I can drive to pick up my teenager from whatever late night gathering she’s at. (Think Uncle Buck).

Beware… Moto g5 plus doesn’t have a compass chip. I nearly bought one but i use my phone with OS maps a lot.

They’re fairly indestructible but you’ll struggle to get them in a small rucksack as they’re bulky and they’re just not breathable enough to wear all the time.

I’ve heard of people taking the trousers and converting to shorts. That sounds like a good plan that I might try.

Basically, in my experience they are great for standing about in but not good for sweating in.

BTW – the hoodless mtp pattern jacket with the arm pockets has ridiculously short arms! And if you’re going for a hooded one with chest pockets then bear in mind they’re designed to go over army kit, so order smaller but longer than you’d think if you want a tightish fit that will still cover your wrists.

Nah, i do it all the time. My in laws are quite used to me turning up muddy.

You can set up another user profile and you can control what apps are available on it. My old android tab has my account (control), one for my wife which has access to everything and another for my 7 yr old that basically has a bunch of games and nowt else. You just choose which user you want to sign in as form the standby lock screen.

I’ve heard the Amazon Fire tablets are very good for this too but never used one,

Nice one! Glad you’re ok. And the good thing is that the scenery gets even better on the second half.

I do it every year in July over two days. I start counting down the months from January. There’s nothing quite like the SDW!

Earth to poopscoop. Come in poopscoop…..

How did it all go? Are you ok?!

Send us a sign!

I’m on holiday so can’t even wander down to soak up the atmosphere sadly. Good luck all!

What was left of my forks came back from TF Tuned like that. At first I thought it was a bit odd, but I think it is a great way to recycle clean materials. I even found a use for a couple of the bits of foam!

Pinnacle Ramin 3. I run mine with 29er wheels. EBB so flexible if you decide to get gears. Or 650bb wheels.

No music. Nice!

+1 for the Polar M400. I went from a Microsoft Band with a HR monitor to the Polar without. Less faff and more battery life. But then i couldn’t interpret my HR data if i wanted to.

Been at it 25 years. Had a break and got fat in my mid 20’s. Then another little break when i had kids in my mid 30’s. Rapidly approaching mid 40’s and can’t see myself stopping. Although i do quite fancy a walking holiday where I don’t have to think about gearing and tyre choice.

Marmot exum ridge gore active.

Bought one of these recently and so far I’m very impressed. Notably more breathable then my old paclite.

Sportspursuit have them atm.

Amazing! Thanks for posting. Gonna start saving now.

Mine’s lingering later then normal. Been bad this year.

Bugger, I’ve ridden with Kinger. He’s the only man to have ever thrown half a banana at me. I stopped mid trail and parked him behind me. Totally deserved a banana in the face.

Poor fella. Poor family.

:cry:

Do you get Google Keep on ios? That’s exactly what that app does. I use it for everything. Site notes, sketches, photos, meeting notes, memos etc.

Export to anything you want. Including WhatsApp so your wife can ping you the shopping list…

Well done all of you. It’s a right ******* of a ride.

IT band info

This saved me a lot of time, money and pain.

Still running!

FWIW – I sent two Flips back as they had faulty screens before settling on my Acer R11. Slighly larger but it hasn’t missed a beat in about 3 months.

We did thanks! And cake and tea at QECP, Truleigh Hill YHA and at Southease YHA.

We even squeezed a pint in at Alfriston. But then we took about 24 hours longer!

Ha! You flew past me just before Harting Down… I wondered if you were on a mission. Nice one, top work.

(I was the bloke on the Stanton who said “I’ve got those same forks”, as you disappeared of into the distance. My mate was on th ff29)

Good luck chaps, I did it in 14 hours last month. Back again for a more leisurely pace this thursday/friday. I’ll stash some Haribo’s behind a tap for you!

It’s worth printing out the route profile if you’ve never done it before. At least you’ll know how many hills left. I’ve always found half the battle is in my mind with the SDW.

Route profile

I’ve got a Felt 29er frame with On One rigid carbon forks in my garage that I’m about to advertise?

My email is in my profile if you want details.

tomhoward – thanks. They sound good. I was put off by the decsription on the Maxxis website. I might give them a go.

Northwind –

because conti are dicks

:lol:

Basil – I like the look of the xr3 but it appears to be in the ‘unavailable’ category, for the 29 x 2.4 at least. EDIT – found some on the Trek UK website!

Had ruled out the Ardents as they’re not xc enough. Gonna be dragging them over 60-70 miles in a day.

Rarely use the stuff but did the South Downs Way last weekend in the 30 degree heat. On a hardtail too. CtBM Bum Butter was amazingly good. Much better than the ‘Century Cream’ I’ve used on previous SDW outings.

Last time I ordered was a couple of years back but all was good and I got a farily quick email response.

I think there is only a couple of them, so maybe they were down the pub.

Ditto to most of the above. It’s pissing down with pollen. I just remember all those hours sat in exams at school with a pile of tissues next to me. I reckon I would have been the next Steven Hawking if it hadn’t been for my hayfever…