It was Pink who said she’d cover any fines.

Cannondale Scalpel SE 1.

£5100, XT kit, 120mm. 67 degrees HA, Rockshox fork, dropper.

My large weighs 11.4kg.

Press fit though….

Max’s pre qualy interview was horrendous. Has no one pointed out to him that there are lots of crashes in F1, and he isn’t a special case. Just because he has crashed does not prevent the presentations and celebrations.

As others have said, his dad and Karen seem to be fuelling his belief that the world revolves around him.

Someone needs to get his feet back on the ground pronto.

Qualy has to have been very sweet for Mercedes.

I used to quite like Horner for his honesty, but he has got whingier and whingier over the last few seasons.

He was really annoying me by his repeated use of the phrase ‘chucking a wheel up the inside’, implying that Hamilton out raked himself into the corner when in fact he had been much further up the inside and was essentially backing out/braking when Max turned in. And to keep going on about the consequences making a 10 sec penalty unjust is ridiculous – there have been hundreds of incidents that ended one driver’s race penalised with a 5 or 10 sec penalty previously. I’m sure Max has caused more than a few himself.

I’m sure a lot of the drivers are not too upset that finally someone stood up to Max, who has long been someone known for giving no quarter. Quite incredible that Hamilton drove away with virtually no damage.

Great that Max is ok, and should make the rest of the season even more interesting.

Yep, Luz-Ardiden is a lovely climb.

Might be a bit busier than this today though….

IMG_2136 by Tim Russon[/url], on Flickr

Push some through their letter box.
Put some on their car door handles.
Post some in a box to them.
Stick bombs in their car air vents.

Jeez, it’s horrible I know, but that last one seems a bit harsh!

@Rich_s, Sheffield.

Cheers for all the info, I’ve been looking to get a PS5 to replace my PS3 since before Christmas, but never seen one in stock. Sounds like Argos on Thursday is the next chance.

Kites used to be known as Shitehawks, they are basically scavengers despite their looks.

They are getting regularly seen over Sheffield and the Peak, hopefully breed here soon.

My favourite kite shot, just off the M40. What you can’t see is the pile of chips and cafe rubbish just out of shot that it was going for:

IMGL8176 by Tim Russon[/url], on Flickr

Tassels off the end of a rug in the garage. Maybe not so weird, but it had also made its nest in a sack of bird peanuts and then proceeded to line it with random nails, screws and bits of concrete from under the house.

True enough – I only watched the first minute or two.

Both quite tight roads in a fast car – I’ve always thought Puig would be a lot of fun to drive, wider road and often cambered in the driver/rider’s favour.

Cap Formentor, not Sa Calobra.

They must have closed off certain sections or filmed at about 5am! At least any errant walkers would have heard him coming.

I have similar problem (different helmet). I cut a cm or so off the arms of my Oakleys. Sorted.

And arms over straps, always.

Ah, that makes a massive difference.

Most of the above quoted figures will be net loss to take home pay, so you can’t compare your figures to those.

Actual cost to you will depend on tax band and code.

Something a bit awry there! Those numbers are way off.

Wife’s iD3 is £200 a month salary sacrifice, insurance and servicing included, 3 years, 8,000 miles.

Are your figures the gross salary reduction rather than the net take-home difference?

Why do they ever NOT enforce track limits? – surely that would be the most consistent and transparent thing to do on all corners on all tracks. Here’s the grey stuff, cars must remain on it at all times, now off you go.

If an accident or near-miss or mistake means exceeding them then no advantage can be gained otherwise its a penalty.

Jeepers, what are you doing with them? Mine is over 3 years old, used at least 4 times a week and pretty much looks like new!

Yep, I worked for Outside at the time, we didn’t capitulate either. What a lovely way to run his business.

Tuboflard – I know exactly which flats and landlord you are talking about. Top work. He’s not a popular chap.

It will be horrendous, and Ladybower is probably one of the worst areas to go that I can think of. Go sonewhere else. Anywhere else. The moors around Abney are usually not too bad in that area maybe?

I was out yesterday briefly and it was so busy. The moor above Gardoms was set alight, but sounds like fire brigade managed to put it out.

…any ebike!

Another environmental downside to e-mtbs is the extra wear they place on the countryside.

One of the benefits of ebikes is the extra mileage or added laps you can do in a ride, so adding more wear per ride/rider. Not only that, but as ebikes tend to have more suspension, more aggressive tyres and hence can be ridden ‘harder’, this must also be more damaging than me mincing around on my XC bike.

“If there are going to be arguments of why you cant do something, make it credible and relevant to waht’s going on, otherwise people just say “what evs” and carry on un-educated.”

Erm, how much more credible and relevant than the well documented, mountain bike-specific example I gave would you like?

Copied and pasted my comments from this in the mag:

“Unfortunately, birds, animals, and other flora and fauna don’t just exist in SSSIs and nature reserves. There is a good reason why most developments have to undertake an extensive survey by professionals and experts before being allowed to go ahead. The aborted Radmires trails are a good example – nesting nightjars (secretive rare birds) would have been unlikely to be noticed by stealth trail builders. And as the chap in the article himself notes, it’s social media and the associated numbers of riders that exacerbate the issue greatly – a couple of kids messing about in their local woods really isn’t much of an issue and has been going on forever, but Audis full of Strava-wielding stormtroopers on 160mm bikes can have a very negative impact, both on the environment, the wider locale and the reputation of mountain bikers as a whole.”

This particular area just looks like an area of scrubby clearfell, with no indication of its biodiversity. I’m sure I wouldn’t have given it a second thought if trail building had been allowed here. UK and worldwide wildlife is in catastrophic decline, pushing any of it any closer to the brink for the sake of a few folk playing on bikes seems to be the wrong priority to me.

You’ve been cycling for 6 weeks and have a coach already? That is pretty committed!

One Man and his Dog…

Small point of order, but the NHS pension is subject to the same 1.07 million limit as all other pensions, not 2 million as claimed above.

https://www.bma.org.uk/pay-and-contracts/pensions/tax/nhs-pension-lifetime-allowance

Ah ha. Thank you, that does answer my query.

Yes, reading on iPad so wrongly thought iBooks was the best format to use.

I had no idea the versions varied.

Just to add a bit of info regarding MPB regarding their used kit ratings; definitely don’t be put off by “well used” or high shutter counts, particularly on pro bodies like the Canon 1 series or 5 series. These bodies were built to last, and a few scuffs and scratches make no difference at all.

Same with high shutter counts on these bodies – 100k is nothing to be concerned about unless you plan on taking a huge amount of images. Recently I have owned a 170k 1d4, 140k 5d2, 130k 1dX and 100k 5d3. That’s probably approaching £18k when new, I paid less than £3k for the lot and got some money back when selling on. I think all these were rated “well used”, but have been great, and I probably take upwards of 20,000 shots a year.

My one line suggestion for a cheap body would be a Canon 5d2. Bombproof, full manual but with custom presets and dust cleaning.

Then bung as much money as you can at a lens or two, that is where the real image difference can be seen.

Pssst. Anyone want a Canon 70-200 L f4 is before it goes to MPB….?

What electricity supplier/tarif are folk using?

We have an iD3 on order and a charger, but are currently with Bulb who don’t do cheaper power overnight.

Nearly all A, bit of B and C.

Although for the last 12 months mainly Z. For Zwift.

Don’t forget that if all the basics are covered, then a couple of part time shifts in the local Co Op or whatever can make a big difference to spare income and gives a bit of structure.

Or go part time at your current job. I went down to 4 days many years ago; 3 day weekends are great. I’ll look at going down to 2 or 3 days soonish I think rather than stopping completely.

Ultimately only you know how frugal you can be – 40 years of retirement with no nice holidays or new bikes is a long time. Work less, play more is a great mantra, but play usually costs money.

Fairly standard count for us:

Great tit
Blue tit
Coal tit
Pidgeon
Collared Dove
Crow
Magpie
Starling
Dunnock
Bullfinch

MIA were chaffinch, robin, wren, goldfinch and long tailed tit, all of which are very frequent visitors. Treecreeper, nuthatch, siskin and great spotted woodpecker would have been nice possibles. It is still -2 degrees here though, so maybe they have more sense.

Lump sum 100%.

You are still at liberty to invest it back into the same funds your pension is in, or any other funds so you don’t miss out on growth. But you have access to the cash if you need it.

Plus, what happens to your pension if you die unexpectedly? Dependants normally get a percentage of a direct benefit pension but would get 100% of the lump sum if you had taken it it.

No love for the Scalpel SE?

The SE 1 is XT equipped, 120mm, around 11kg and ‘only’ £4,400. Much cheaper than Epic Evo or Blur TR.

I don’t have one, but I am very tempted by it for some endurance races and rocky trails.

Something sounds very wrong there. 4.2w/kg is not recently retired ex-pro level. As you say, plenty of folk on here could beat that. Whether it’s his turbo or Zwift algorithms, I guess the main takeaway is don’t take Zwift too seriously.

Hi-five, fellow VG model. Did Andy Heading do your photos too? I recently rediscovered the CD of images he sent us, hving thought I’d lost it. You’re probalby on there.

Cheers @NBT – I’ve got the old editions too so you will be in there somewhere by the sounds of it.

No, I meant I took the photos, including the cover shot – I did a bit of photo work for VP on a few of their climbing and riding guidebooks over the years. I think there are some shots of me in some of them though too.

Definitely that Vertebrate Publishing book – quite a few of my pictures in it and my wife on the cover!

AdZ without a doubt for me. The hairpins and ascent breakdown will really help I imagine. Ven Top is a grind (just like in real life). AdZ would work much better for me I think.

I’d consider showering while the bike descends after every few ascents, and maybe even changing saddles or bikes – that length of time on a turbo can’t be good for the arse, back or undercarriage.

Not cheap, but I use the non-heated version of these all winter on the bike.

The base glove is excellent. Fits well, dexterous and the long cuff works well, so I’m sure the heated version would be amazing.

https://www.trekkinn.com/outdoor-mountain/outdoor-research-stormtracker-heated-sensor/137196510/p