We rode the disused railway line at the top end of Keswick (starts behind the leisure centre) to Threlkeld. Had a pub lunch in Threlkeld and then rode back.

I think it's eight miles in total, but there's the option to add more miles by using a different route back from Threlkeld.

It's almost completely flat, so it should be okay with the trailer. My two kids, who were 4 and 6 at the time, had no problems with it.

There are plenty of places to stop on the route, where the kids can play by the river, and a few bridges where they can play 'pooh sticks' – a favourite game of our two!.

More info here: Keswick Dismantled Railway

Having to buy a nasal hair trimmer, or learn how to plait a moustache!

I was staying near Barmouth recently and did Coed-y-Brenin and Pont Scethin. I enjoyed blasting around the trail centre, but the ride up to Pont Scethin and back was a lot more fun.

Spent all day walking up and down pit lane at the Czech Republic Grand Prix in Brno asking stupid questions of MotoGP/250/125 riders.

It was stupid hot, with no shade, and I think I lost about three kilos in body fluids in three hours!

More of the same today, but the weather is even hotter.

Mind you, the Czech brolly girls are certainly some consolation!

I've just spent a week in Wales and did the Mawddach trail with the kids a few times. Both kids have bells on their bikes to warn walkers, and both have been shown how to use them.

Due to the fact I run a Hope ProII rear hub on the hardtail, most walkers had already moved over to the side of the trail before we were in 'bell distance' and the kids only got to use their bells for the walkers who weren't going to move over for any reason.

One bloke was really upset about us using the trail on bikes, and passed comment about 'bloody bikers' as we came past (fairly slowly, as my 7 year old daughter isn't that fast). Just as he said it his dog, which was on one of those reel lead things, ran across in front of me and the lead got wrapped around my front disc.

I was going slowly enough that I didn't fall off, but his face was a real picture. I think he was going to have a right go, until he realised that I was a lot taller stood up than I was leant over the handlebars.

Anyway, I gave him a cheery 'no harm done' and went on my way. If I thought it would have made any difference then I'd have explained that we were on a shared trail and that maybe he should remember that in future, but it was obvious that he just wasn't interested.

To be fair to regular walkers, it did look like this was his annual 'holiday' walk and not something he'd be doing on a frequent basis.

Played Rugby at quite a high level until an injury put paid to that. The good thing about my life in the army was getting to try lots of different sports that you maybe wouldn't have the opportunity to try in normal life.

I tend to get really into a sport or hobby for a few years, to the exclusion of almost everything else, and then move on to something new.

Thanks to the military and this approach to life, I've got to a pretty good level at freefall parachuting, rock climbing, sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, shooting (competition and clay pigeon), downhill skiing and crosscountry skiing.

With the exception of skiing (downhill) and windsurfing I don't do any of these sports regularly now.

Thanks for all the advice, all of which will be considered.

I have thought about not riding, and maybe concentrating on windsurfing and sailing. Actually, it might be a good chance to teach the kids how to sail now they're a bit older, and there's plenty of time between now and then to knock up a mirror dinghy in the garage!

Built up a couple of weeks ago and then used on a holiday in Wales.

Picked up an Endorfin Speed II frame on eBay for a really good price, and had all the other parts in the garage.

First hardtail I've owned for a while, and I love it!

I work in motorsport – MotoGP – and the riders are subjected to random drug testing on an infrequent basis. I seem to remember that our riders, none of whom won a race, were tested twice during the season on average, immediately after a race.

It can be a bit boring sitting with a rider after a race in places like Mugello and Qatar (before it was a night race) watching then consume litres of water as they try desparately to fill the bottle!

To be honest, there wouldn't be much point in performance enhancing drugs in MotoGP, as it's not an endurance sport and the required level of fitness is fairly easy to achieve.

Whether banned substances are used for injury recovery in MotoGP, I don't really know. All I do know is that having had three very injury prone riders, none of them were given any suspicious substances to aid their recovery.

I've also never heard of stem cells being used to aid recovery of broken bones in MotoGP.

It's difficult to tell from the photo what it is, but it might be worth isolating it now when you can get to it, just in case it's a mantis.

Pistol shrimps are harmless, but a mantis can cause havoc in a marine tank as they're not adverse to eating your fish or your hermit crabs, depending on the species.

You might get more detailed information from Ultimate Reef – the Singletrack of the marine world[/url]

I was at Coed-y-Brenin yesterday and got held up on one of the trails by a group of lads who looked like they were doing a basic introduction to orienteering.

It was no drama, as we were going pretty slow, but it would have been a different matter if they'd have been orienteering up one of the descents.

What was worrying was that they looked like they were part of an organised adventure training group, who obviously hadn't been adequately briefed about the dangers of wandering along clearly marked MTB trails.

ransos said:
…would it be acceptable for the Northern Ireland secretary to go to a private party, dressed as an IRA terrorist?

I don't know about a private party, but if it was a works do he'd fit right in over here!

I've used Donhost for the last four years, and they've been spot on. Not sure how they compare pricewise to other offerings.

Never had any problems with mine. Bled them as a precautionary measure before a big trip, and it was easy enough with the Formula bleed kit.

Good brakes, and I prefer them to the Avid Ultimates I have on the other bike.

GeForce Junky said:
I love my G9 and it can do funky things too like motion detection which is great for things like lightning and loner biking photos.

Did you have to change the firmware to use motion detection to take photos, or is it hidden somewhere in the menu system? Had a search around on the web, but can't find any info on triggering the shutter using motion detection on the G9.

The Big Bouncy Bike

The XC Bike

The Road Bike

I’ve stayed at the Glan Aber hotel a few times, and they also have a bunkhouse within the hotel courtyard. Don’t know how good it is, because I was in the main hotel the two times I visited, but the bar and food were spot on after a day on the bike.

Glan Aber Hotel & Bunkhouse

Staff were very friendly and let me park the bike in the cellar.

Sadly, no more…

French Revolutions by Tim Moore – one of the only books that made me laugh out loud.

Dog In A Hat by Joe Parkin – Good insight into what it takes to become a pro rider in Europe, and what they have to do to survive when they’re not one of the Peleton’s superstars.

In Search Of Robert Millar by Richard Moore – Very interesting book, about a very interesting character.

The Full Cycle by Vin Denson – Denson wasn’t a superstar of the peleton, but he worked for some of the biggest names in the sport. Very interesting read.

Honda’s Billy Mackenzie models the accepted method of wearing goggles in this year’s World MX Championship.

Logs with bits in…

Maybe just a little bit under 35lbs…

I called their helpline the other day, as I need a letter confirming my company is registered in the UK. I got the same reply, that their system is currently being upgraded, which would delay their response by two weeks, on top of the four week delay due to a backlog of work.

Les Hiddins, the orignal bush tucker man, is the daddy. Mears and Grylls aren’t fit to tie his shoelaces…

Which would be made from vines, obviously 🙂

I stayed here a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.greenlanterns.co.uk

Has rooms, a bar and a restaurant, which were all pretty good. About £45 a night

Strangely, ‘Allo, Allo’ is/was very popular in Holland.

The first time I went I only noticed the box because I lent my bike against it, but donated before starting, so A

Since then, I always put a few quid in – it’s worth it if it does something to secure the use of a really good trail for the future.

I’ve found the best way to put routes onto the 705 is to plan the route at http://www.bikehike.co.uk[/url%5D and then upload it to your 705 as a GPXX file (which is 705 specific).

The good thing about http://www.bikehike.co.uk is that you plan the route on Google Maps, but there’s an OS map window as well, which contains more detail.

Hmm, another very good point. I can see I have a lot to learn!

One positive, is there just aren’t any high end shops close to us at the moment, especially for dark side kit.

Once again, thanks for all the very useful information.

I went to have a look at some potential premises today, and one place really stood out. Reasonable size, reasonable rent and enough parking right out front. Not directly on a main road, but I’m looking at more of a ‘high-end’ type shop, so will be aimed at enthusiasts rather than people walking in ‘off the street’ as it were.

Will be booking an appointment on Monday to go and speak to the Business Link people about business plans and financing, so I’ll see how that goes.

Once again, thanks for the information and for the encouragement.

rogerthecat, many thanks for the very useful information.

You’ve certainly given me a few things to think about, but I’m definitely going to look into the possibility of doing this.

I’m lucky in that it wouldn’t be an all or nothing deal, as there is probably enough freelance work in motorsports PR and Marketing to pay the mortgage while I sort things out.

Sure, it will mean some long hours, but so did the last job – 220 days away from home and 10 hour days when I was home – but then I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

I don’t know how it started, but one evening when I was a single soldier a few of us had a ‘who can withstand right guard deodorant sprayed on the nipple for the longest’ competition.

We discovered, as you do, that if you can withstand it for about 15 seconds then the nipple goes numb and you can hold out until the can is empty.

A winner was declared, and we all repaired to the bar.

Now, Catterick Garrison isn’t the warmest place in the world, even in July, but the Doctor was quite surprised to find six people outside his office the next day, all suffering from frostnip on one nipple. All the top layer of skin on mine turned black and fell off!

Thankfully for us, there isn’t enough deodorant in a can of Right Guard to give you deep frostbite, even on the nipple, and we’d all recovered within the week!

Oh how we laughed…

Thanks for all the advice. I’m definitely going to look into the possibility of doing this, and I’ve found quite a bit of useful information on the web already.

While I’m collecting all the information I might do a certified bicycle mechanics course, as I’ve got a bit of time on my hands at the moment.

Thanks for your input.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Do you like working really hard?

I am a bit of a workaholic by choice, so this doesn’t bother me. And, to be honest, I’d still see more of the family that I would if I went back to what I was doing before.

Do you like not having weekends to go riding with your mates?

Not such an issue, due to mates not really being into riding, with the result that I normally end up riding on my own anyway.

Do you like having to lose your love of cycling because you’re immersed in it all day?

This might be a bit of an issue.

Might be worth majoring on servicing at first, building up custom and slowly build up stock.

This isn’t such a bad idea, as the only real alternative near to us is Halfords!

I’ve kept Marine fish for a few years, and the general rule is that the smaller the tank, the harder they are to keep.

I had a progression of tanks, and the bigger they got the easier it was to maintain the water quality, which is all-important for marine fish.

A good forum to check out for information can be found at Ultimate Reef[/url]

My tank, with a large sump system located in the garage.

The number place PEN15 is owned by former Grand Prix bike racer, Steve Parrish. He used to run it on an old hearse once!

Ah, the Macc Lads. I was a big fan when I was 18, back in 1985. Saw them in concert a few times, but then I grew up. Or at least I thought I had, until I gave into the urge to download their greatest hits from iTunes, and now it’s the album most listened to on the bike.

Seems we never really grow up at all!

For Italian landline numbers you need to leave the 0 in. It’s only on Italian mobile numbers that you drop the 0

I used to take my kids camping all the time when they were the same age as yours.

I used a Khyam tent – Khyam Tents in the UK[/url] – because I could put it up on my own, which meant I wasn’t subjected to ‘help’ from the missus!

There are a number of different models of “QE” – Quick Erect – tents. We had the classic XL with two inner bedrooms, but they don’t do it anymore.

Good tent, quick to erect and you could stand up in the centre of it, which is important for me.

I was grovelling my way up Mont Ventoux on the road bike last year, and got passed by a group of six runners.

That I could probably have handled okay, but the fact that they all looked to be over 60 was a bit hard to bear!