I just use a strip of gorilla tape. Working well so far.

Feel quite glad, but we’re a fairly flawed lot. I enjoy some vague ideas of decency and politeness though acknowledge that probably never really existed in a meaningful sense – just a load of repressed/violent nutcases underneath the veneer of civility. As an idea Britain still has a lot to make up for – global slavery, buggering up various economies with colonialism and then further screwing up of regions with hasty and ill-considered withdrawal from said colonialism.

What I will never take for granted is that I was born in and live in a country where most people have the opportunity to shape how they want to live their lives. We are eminently pragmatic and I feel that generally we have a tendency to limit the excesses of power. What I am definitely not proud of is a growing sense of material inequality in modern Britain.

Some Sony fans then… Have either of you worked how to stop the phone filling up its internal memory with unwanted updates? Bloody thing doesn’t seem to want to let me save big stuff to the sd card.

Right, well good news.
After a protracted phone call to Virgin they have agreed to repair my phone for free.

Agree with you nickjb – won’t be buying a Sony again. Beyond the fact that the camera’s packed up I find the phone to be the most irritating I’ve ever owned.

Thanks STW mind – once again you’ve sorted me out.

Thanks for the information – didn’t realise that waterproof meant ‘not really waterproof at all’. That’s kind of the worst of all worlds as I have been really careful with previous phones, buying otterboxes for them. I’m maybe too trusting.

Only 16 months old so it may still have some warranty cover. Will look into it.

I have also learnt that I really do not like dealing with Virgin Media.

Henry

Beware gusset sag. Seen a number of people snag a low hanging gusset on the nose of the saddle during mounting and catapult themselves off the bike.

Singletrack did a polite but ultimately damning review of some magnetic pedals a while back that made me chuckle.

Our holiday cottages in fairly remote North Wales sometimes get marked down in reviews for not being near the shops… Sigh.

I grew up with dogs and I have a dog now. Even though our dog has a lovely nature and genuinely would never harm anyone i am extremely conscious that many people do not like dogs. If you have a dog it is absolutely your responsibility to control that dog either by good training or by restraint. You should really never presume that it is a parent’s responsibility to train their children to deal with a dog or blame some other poor victim’s inappropriate response to a dog approaching them. As a person who ‘owns’ a dog it is me that is introducing my dog into any given scenario.
Walking with a dog on a lead is tiresome especially if your dog is not very well behaved. So people let their dogs run free. Dogs are dogs, some have nice natures, some are aggressive, all have the potential to behave erratically and have the teeth and claws to do damage. Ultimately, you want to own a dog it is your look out.
As someone who has been attacked by dogs I would never blame the dog.

When I lived in S London I couldn’t go for a run or ride without being chased by a pitbull type dog. One day I was running through Sydenham woods when one of them started chasing me. I did the correct thing of stopping, thinking it might give up, but no, it jumped up and latched it’s jaws round my forearm and just sort of hung there. It wasn’t exactly biting but it had a firm grip. Anyway its owner appeared a few seconds later and all she said to me in a rather cooing way was ‘oooh he does like to play’. She then managed to coax him into releasing me. I was so flummoxed that I didn’t even manage to swear at her. Anyway, I got away with fang punctures in my waterproof and a bruised arm. A mate of mine (who is a massive wind up merchant) told me later that the best way to get a dog like that to release (its jaws) is to stick a finger up its behind. Would have been just my luck to have tried it and have the only beat officer on duty in S London turn up to see me anally probing a dog in the woods.
So anyway, I’ve tried the not running and much as I am a great dog lover (not in a pervy way) my response since has been a firm boot in the chops and ask questions later.

I am so glad you picked up on my subliminal goat fellating message. There are so many insensitive types around these days who pay no heed to subtle hints.

The other thing I meant to say is that whilst I think clutch mechs are great on the mountain bike I’m not convinced you need them for CX. I have done a lot of extreme CX riding and racing in the rockiest bits of N Wales and have yet to drop a chain. I do have a narrow wide chain ring on the bike though, but that’s mainly because it came with the SRAM chainset I bought.

I use Ultegra 10 speed shifters with an older 9 speed XT mech on 11-36 10 speed cassette. All works well as the 9 speed mechs have the same pull ratio as the 10 speed road stuff.

I wouldn’t consider myself a stoic as such, but Marcus Aurelius’ book ‘Meditations’ is one I read over and over. It’s as fresh today as the day it was written.

I’ve got quite a fancy Philips shaver that my wife bought me to try and encourage me to shave a bit more often. Needless to say I used it once, half heartedly, and then put it in a cupboard.
Think it was about £150 a few months ago. Yours for £40 if any good to you. I can look up the model number later if of interest.

Ah ha, thanks for that. I scanned the first page of the chat forum and didn’t see it. Was sure I wouldn’t be the only one irritated by it.

Done various sections of it on a long tour. It’s lovely, but can be very windy even in summer. We rode east to west and had a horrendous headwind. Something to think about.

I only have a basic knowledge of N Ireland politics, but my understanding is that the 1921 agreement that started the process of creating what is now the Republic of Ireland was only ever a ‘temporary’ fix. If things get funny with the Conservatives and the DUP divvying things up then Sinn Fein could I think call for the renegotiation of the division of the island of Ireland. I am happy to be corrected if I’ve got the wrong end the stick but Theresa May needs to tread very carefully in terms of what she goes round promising – but on the basis of her recent performances I think she has all the qualities needed to really foul things up. I hope her odious regime falls on its arse before she does real damage.

Exactly miketually. If anyone has ever suffered stress or anxiety then they would sympathise with DA. I can’t pretend I was always her greatest fan but the more I learn about her the greater my respect for her becomes.

Whatever happens next I wake up this morning with a huge sense of relief. I’m probably going to look like a naive fool in a few months but this does seem like the most astonishing from-near-death-comeback for integrity and a humane approach to politics. Well done JC, Diane Abbott et al for weathering the absolutely debilitating sh**storm of hatred to stick by your beliefs and retain enough self confidence to make this happen.

Our two cottages are near Bala – right between North Wales’ finest…
Discount for Singletrack subscribers as well if you ever head this way again.
We’re http://www.tybeic.com

Rich

McHamish I have built a timber framed workshop at the back of our house for my commercial woodworking. I put an Oakfire sawdust burning stove in – works a treat. Just make sure you follow installation guide and allow the safe distances around the stove and flue.

That said, no one will insure my shed now…

Also, on the garden stove idea I’ve been using the drum out of an old washing machine as a portable firepit. Works a treat.

Horizon by Guy Laroche was a bluebottle number. Doesn’t sound so good when described like that but it smelt lovely. Still got a drop left. I don’t wear perfumes much these days but I do give it a sniff now and again.

I think his white kit looks smart though I’m glad I don’t have to do his laundry.

It’s his head that looks odd in that shot – maybe it has swelled.

Started off with the very first Shimano spds then moved to crank bros, then after a few of them failing went back to spds. After getting some knee pain with spds on my winter road bike I bought some atacs – just couldn’t get on with them at all. The engagement felt really wishy washy. Strange as I ride speedplays on my summer road bike and loved crank bros (apart from them falling apart), so no stranger to floaty pedals. My wife swears by time and rides them on all her bikes. For some reason they’re just not for me.

Recently entered a duathlon and have been struggling replace my favourite old runners. I bought them in the clearance section of Lillywhites in Picaddilly late at night after having a few pints in Soho. They have been brilliant. Bought the same model name shoe but it’s been completely redesigned and bears to resemblance to the original. Struggling to replicate the experience now I live in rural N Wales… Have bought and sent back a few pairs to Wiggle in an increasingly desperate attempt to find “the shoe”.
One shoe I thought was going to be the one is a Pearl Izumi trail m2. Turns out not to have enough support for my needs – if anyone wants a UK 9.5 used only 3 times for £40 then let me know…

Still loving my fiskars x27. Gives me a good work out too.

Think Hope would work for you.

Those quotes are horrifying.
Used to use Flint brokers sometimes when insuring commercially. They always seemed to find me a good price.
Can you find a deal that allows you to limit your annual mileage and allocate a certain proportion of business within that? That’s what we do now through Hastings.

Finally admitted defeat trying to get Hutchinson CX tubeless tyres on Haven 29er UST wheels. After trying everything in my arsenal of tubelessness I have reached the conclusion that the bead on the tyre is just too tight to allow all of the tyre to move from the well and seat fully. This was a big problem with some of Hutchinson’s early tubeless CX tyres which resulted in snapped beads and exploding tyres… A problem I thought they had sorted.
That’s 4 hours I’ll never get back.

I have always looked at kite surfers and thought I’d like to have a go. This thread has completely put me off – which is a good thing (I gave up hang gliding after my instructor died crashing into an alp).

It’s fine to meet up. Even if there’s some mild flirtation, that doesn’t mean things have to go any further or indeed that either of you might want things to go any further.

We all have a choice and don’t have to start going at someone’s trouser leg like a dirty dog.

There is no tape – it’s a completely sealed UST rim bed. Other tyres have gone up first time on them with just a track pump and stayed up without sealant.

As I say, more gin should sort it.

After years of relatively easy tubeless tyre usage across MTB, road and CX bikes I am completely stumped by what should be an easy one – Hutchison Toro tubeless ready CX tyres on an Easton Haven UST wheel. Soapy water, Airshot, valve core out, tube in, toestrap to splay the tyre round the valve. Nothing working. Had to give up yesterday and have just had to move them out of my eye line in the workshop to avoid losing more hours of my (working) life.

Might have another go at them tonight, but will be trying more ale with them… Maybe even some gin if things get really sticky.

Quite often used to stop people walking on footpaths round here.

Ah, thanks for that. I’m fully expecting to be hurting in numerous placed at various points. I was thinking that on bike comfort will be the main issue as the runs, though severe, aren’t that long.
Can I ask what GPS you used? Seems to me that battery life is going to be important. Been looking at the various garmins as they seem to do well in reviews. Always stuck a map in the back pocket… So this is a brave new world for me. Ideally, I want to run the sections in advance and commit them to memory.

Thanks for the replies.
Regarding the compression clothing it was advice given by two ironmen whilst on a recce of cadair idris with them. Not having done equivalent events before I’m vulnerable to advice given to me by people who seem more knowledgeable than me. Think their thinking was that it would support my legs on the steep uneven descents.

I’ve not got an overly techy approach to big events. I’m probably overthinking this and I need to go with my gut feelings on kit. I’m getting all sorts of unsought advice on nutrition and hydration and clothing and kit. When I used regularly to ride the big Tour of Flanders sportive (about 290km in 10 hours) I used to stuff my jersey pockets with boiled salted potatoes and that worked for me (whilst others got queasy from energy gels).

Thanks for the recommendations. I’ll try and have a look at them in the flesh. Having done a bit of searching I am really drawn the the La Sportiva mutants.

At that price I was going to say on one as well. Got the one with very muted matt stars on – looks good and structurally inspires confidence. Not much good if they’re not in stock though….

No way I could do an ironman. The idea of doing the run in one massive block after everything else frightens me. Watched my friend do the Tenby one last year and it looked a monster.

Tried to buy the same pair of shoes again – exactly same model and size but in reality it was a completely different shoe. I persisted with it for a bit but relegated it to workshop duties. It was a Nike Alvord something or other. So, think I need to try something new and quickly. I love my Walsh trainers for mud and bogs, but don’t think they’ll be much cop on the rocky trails in the duathlon.