Glad to hear you’re ok. Sounds bad though; crutches is serious. You’re pleased it’s not worse; that doesn;t mean you’re good though.

Write down your account now – you’ll be retelling it time and time again.

keep a diary of ALL pain. score it from 0-10. however minor. In 4 weeks/ months a Dr will be asking you and it will be a strange memory.

I still suffer from a 2010 crash. I wish I had understood how the system worked better. Not to play it but to use it.

Disco 3. ~ 9L/ 100 km. Brilliant car, great boot. Keep a bit for maintenance at 7.5k though.

More economical than my previous 520i. (or a ferrari)

I don’t and haven’t lived in Brighton for a decade. Still got a lot of friends there though. My guess is that i will become gentrified.

Look at google maps – it’s trapped by the sea and the national park. New houses can’t be built. So old ones will be developed. Dr P is right, It has been skipped but everything else between Saltdean and Worthing is either established or being gentrified.

Do you want to retire close to Brighton/ the sea. That’s the decision to make; not whether house prices are likely to improve…

I was personally worried about his failure to install a suitable guardrail around the plum pudding mixture.

Look it’s been reported as a near miss and H&S is never about blame. Until it is, of course.

custom covers on ebay. very pleased with the one i got (not for a berlingo) for £32.

I went with one that only went up the back of the seats as I can fold them down individually. It does mean i still need a tarp to protect the seat thats up and the back of the fronts. They have other options that will cover more – but not split 30/40/30

Couple of friends had them:

love/ hate. it was great similar geo to my 26 inbred but just generally tidier all round – the cable routing worked for a start ;)

Mk1 alpine – was brilliant at the time, I think it would be dated (short) now – i think it;s still in my mates garage near my parents – might have to see…

I would love to upgrade my BMX frame to M20R or FTB steel frame. Also balance bike for the boy!

I bought a atera giro af. Very happy with it.

I needed to carry bmx, mtb, road bike and bikes with mudguards. Mud guards ruled out axle mounted and front wheel mounts.

I was worried about changing the clamp to fit all the bikes but it takes seconds.

Can you afford to. The starting pay is dismally low.

Love a rigid bike. I like the sharper handling (lower a2c) and the response on turn in.

I find you flow differently as you take different lines to try and ride smooth – it amplifies the skill of weighting each wheel.   You’d expect the front wheel to feel different but the rear also feels more rigid IME, I think the fork can’t absorb you slamming the back wheel into stuff.

I normally change when the clocks go back – so that’ll be this weekend.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb9k1LgDoVX/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Fixed. Sorry for the crappy photo. PS it’s not the one with the basket of lavender.  It normally sports a specialized rack bag for commuting.

Pinnacle LTD (assuming its the same frame) is fairly tight with conti 50mm tyres on. I’ve got guards on top – which suggests you’ll get a 2.2.

I’d be surprised if you’ll get 2.35.

Have you measured the width? IIRC chainstay are the narrowest part.

The fork will probably be fine.

Can anyone say riding BMX has improved/honed their MTB skills?

Good training for pumping & jumping.

BMX made me much more aware of weight placement, on the tiny wheels you have to really get forward to weight the front – transfers to conering on a the MTB.

take the safest/ most enjoyable route.

I took the short route this morning – it was surprisingly pleasant – normally its “Southampton’s very own how many closes passes in 4 km world record challenge.”

I normally double double the distance (of that first half) and take the scenic bike path along the coast.

I realised a few years ago that i commute for enjoyment, i enjoy a pleasant cycle- not dicing with traffic

This book is useful – not a light read though.

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/books/enette-larson-meyer/vegetarian-sports-nutrition/GOR002190925?keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAjwjIHeBRAnEiwAhYT2h4n5MOXwoo3dUwyQhmmEsF-mljcHcGS0XTlcOktm_vdguxDOT5hQzxoCLHQQAvD_BwE

For what you’re describing i’d take my CX/ gravel bike.

I rode the Dorset Gravel Dash this year. (100 miles 50:50 on:off road) There where a few sections where my XC hardtail would have been much more appropriate and quicker; steep & rough descents.  Some fire road bits where it;d be an even match and 50 miles of road where the CX bike is faster.

A lot of it’s down to comfort though – my XC bike is fine for 100 miles off road but even 10 road miles it starts to seem inefficient and slightly annoying.

Gearing also plays a part in this. MTBs tend to be geared lower.

Are you sure? The CAADX range tends to be just approximately 10kg as standard.

No – my spreadsheet is at home. It only retains frame fork/ headset as original every other part upgraded, and a lot are quite light. I took over 2 kilos off the vaya, then moved most of the parts over.

Just do it, you’ll regret it if you don’t.

I’d make a big effort to improve your french between now and then – that will only be seen as a positive by anyone; including at the interview.

get some XC race tyres. don’t fit CX tyres ime. My XC hardtail is horrible on Cx tyres – no better on road and worse off road.

Forks will feel better but not a lot of difference.

Flats are ok assuming your decent at pedaling them

Did you have enough gearing? My 1×9 HT runs out of gears quickly on tarmac.

got carbon forks painted at a spray shop.  I prepped they painted. standard 2 pack.

My vaya with steel frame. cheap wheels. 47c tyres was over 12kg

My CaadX with alu frame, mid range wheels and 38c tyres is ~8kg.

Not a gravel bikes are the same.

Lots of bikes have really heavy wheels- especially ~£1k – you can loose a lot of weight even with cheap upgrade wheels.

What sort of tourer?

I’ve asked – but honestly – i don;t think he knows.

Just wondering what other peoples ideas of tourers might look like.  I’m likely to go all esoteric hipster and try and build something to get me on the radavist.

Some good ideas so far. Cheers.

Recently my fitness caught up with my skills; unfortunately they’re now both rock bottom!

I’ve sold my car so lots of commuting and regular MTB should see both improve a little.

I find BMX is one of the most intense ways to work fitness and skills – an hour at the track is plenty. I just need to get a routine in.

Last year I rode several cross races and improved (slightly) in each one.  I’m probably only going to ride 2/3 this season as it’s not worth the time/ cost when i was already dragging round the back.

Most of the ones i’ve sold – none of the ones I own – except the two that are on the way out!

Meta 5.5 – just never gelled  – heavy & didn’t climb well, ok on singletrack, great on really slow gnarly descents (of which there are zero locally) I realised it had to go when i decided to take a hardtail to the alps in preference.

Raleigh MTB converted to hub gear commuter bike – fell in love with dutch bikes in Amsterdam; I must have been high; I can’t build one from a 1992 Raleigh and/or they don’t work in Southampton.

Salsa Vaya. the front is too high. I spent £100s of bars, stems and having the headtube shortened. It still didn’t fit!

Ha, as a massive coincidence, I’m wearing a Feebal branded tshirt today too!

one of my “you can’t throw that away” t-shirts that the wife loves so much!

synthetic base layer. Roubaix mid layer. Wind proof/ waterproof on top. If it’s really cold i might add a SS jersey ontop of the baselayer.  Bit more warmth and a bit more adjustment round the neck area.

For longer rides I’ll take a windproof and waterproof – I find waterproof too sweaty most of the time but don;t want to go without it. Some of my mates will happily ride 3 hours+ in a waterproof when it;s not raining.  My idea of hell.

Also try not to sweat (take a layer off) the coldest I’ve ever been is when the sweat on my baselayer froze!

Full length tights – I had a friend say ‘i thought they were just for roadies’ – whilst his feet turned blue!

missing bean for a great coffee

pitt rivers for shrunken heads – I’d recomend not looking at everything; My mind was frazzled by it.  I wish I’d looked up the collection and focussed a bit.

college tour

Tolkien exhibition at the weston library is pretty cool – if you’ve read the books or seen the films – free & doesn’t take too long.  A real insight into his creative mind

Punting if warm

I rode a lot of trials when i was younger – mostly on converted MTBs that got smaller and smaller (frames) – it worked in the 90s but I’d have something better now.

Dedicated bikes are much easier to do trials on (ie stand on one wheel) but they are much more difficult to ride on 2 – BB is above the axles on some bikes:  This makes them weirdly unstable on 2 wheels.

I’ve never ridden anything as modern as an Inspired or similar…

what about a cage – like an office/ station bike store. bolt it to the wall.

It’ll probably need fabbing up but engineering firms are surprisingly cheap.

Stack id from BB to headtube.  Important to me as a fully signed up stem slammer.

Most of my bikes have slammed stems and in the past i’ve cut a headtube down.  I don’t like high front ends. Sizing up always leaves me too tall at the front and therefore uncomfortable.

EDIT:  after chopping the headtube on the bike – several stems and  sets of bars later,  I sold it as I still couldn’t get it to fit.

540mm vs 550 mm so theoretically only a 10mm shorter stem.

it’s 10mm to get to

certainly the reach felt too much

so you need to take 20 mm off minimum. so that means 70 mm which is about as short as I’d expect to see on a road bike.  [Exceptions with short stems, wide bars, and slack geo aside]

you could fit a short bar but you’re only going to find 5 mm or so.

what tyres? – i’m not aware of any 28c knobblies.

No, it won’t, stop talking bollocks.

Come ride my bike then tell me again! works perfectly.

most of my bikes have the stems slammed.

For comfort and control I’d say drop should be roughly zero

I disagree – bars that high and there’s not enough weight on the front for me to have control. It’s personal.

As a start halfway between zero and slammed. See what you think.

For me it;s the weighting of the front wheel on turn in that i feel for.

10 speed casette will be fine with 11sp shifters.  there’s just an extra click.

and neither tyre has retail packinging which is fine. But neither tyre says ‘Protection Apex’ on them. All my other continental protection apex tyres say they are on the side walls ( admittedly not trail kings)these just say protection.

On One passing off cheap tyres as an expensive version is standard practice. I’ve been burnt too many times – I don’t even consider tyres from them anymore.  It’s deception – plain and simple.

Cheers fellas.

The only downside is that, because it clamps the wheel, it’s not very mudguard-friendly, but I would say that this is its only drawback.

That’s going to be an issue.  Never even thought about that.  Might rule out fork mount too.

The Thule racks are easy to adjust for different bikes – like a couple of seconds

I’m learning so much!

Few years back people were resoling walking boots with 5:10 material. Never tried it myself.

Approach and Mountain Bike Shoe Repairs and Resoles

It is Tour de Moor, in Dartmoor – organised by St Luke’s Hospice

If you do ride then donate £25. Easy.

I’ve come to like a test ride – made some bike errors in the past!

Last MTB i bought i demoed a few bikes – i ruled some out as the cost to demoing them was way too high. (it doesn’t need to to be the best on the market – just meet my requirements/ be good enough).

I rode a few – the first few went against magazine reviews (i didn’t like the t-130).  And gave me some idea of what i wanted.

I ‘ve previously built a bike then struggled to ride it due to local terrain/ the bike/ what my mates ride.  I’ve also bought bikes which whilst the right size can’t be made to fit – I chopped the Head tube off a salsa to drop the bars, and still sold it.

I’ve just bought a commuter – I knew which one i wanted – test rode it for 5 mins up and down the street. Haven’t test ridden anything else.

Fundamentally this comes down to wheter you think of your self as an individual or a member of society.

As an individual, you’re doing no harm.  However if everyone did this there’d be no event for anyone to enter.

I once rode past a feed station when i was hungry on a solo training ride.  I bonked a bit later and spent the slow hour home wishing i’d just gone in and asked!

Pedalcover are good. the price is higher than most ‘comparethemarket’ firms but what they’re offering is pretty good.

They’re also helpful, and will do what they can to talk you through the cover you need.