Thanks for the replies. I will take extra kit on the day, but I’m tending towards running in cycling bibshorts. None of the runs are actually that long. There is no transition as such, just a requirement that it must be completed in 24 hours.

Did a 14 mile offroad run with a lot of climbing and descending this morning and my faithful old shoes have blistered my arches. The shoes are well overdue replacement. Anyone got experience with On Running?

I’m an awful bottom feeder. Happy to hoover up the slightly older model either NOS or good used. Who’d have thought it, but some of the high end used stuff looks hardly used at all…

I couldn’t bring myself to spend £600 on a fork. I have no connection with either shop but jejames and Winstanleys often have terrific deals on.

Good stuff. Keep at it.
I went there a few months back. It’s a real gem and shows what great things can be done within a relatively confined space with a bit of imagination and a willing local council.

Cycled past Cadair Idris today on the road. Still lots of snow up top.

Hmmm, just read the WCA build thread. Impressive work, but not quite what I had in mind. After something more like righog’s suggestion, but less round so it won’t roll down our very steep field if occupants ‘get jiggy’ (unless they’re up for some sort of impromptu hot coital zorbing experience).

I’m thinking something a bit more folky in design, but using some new technology. Got my mate who is an off grid expert coming round to see if we can power this thing off solar.

Ah, the old sex den aspect always has to be taken into account with anything that melds steaminess and Scandinavia. There’s a public footpath running next to where I’m thinking of building it. I could build in some secret speakers playing a loop of sexy noises – see if we attract any new punters (to our holiday cottages).
Thanks for your help.

Just been round the houses with this one as our great (but not very fast) 4X4 Renault scenic is reaching the end of its life. Looked at vans, Subaru Foz, Isuzu Trooper, even a Dacia Duster – but ended up buying another used Renault scenic. Quite fast enough for my needs, you can completely remove the rear seats and fit bikes in with the wheels on. For my woodworking business it also serves as a van but is a lot more comfortable and quieter to drive. Also, only £30/year to tax.
Still quite fancy a Foz though.

Considered a vintage pocket watch? Much more intimidating if you are in some sort of overseer role.

You’d probably have a bit of money left over, which you could spend on a custom made stovepipe hat – in the shape of a Mont Blanc pen top.

I’m disappointed that this thread isn’t about the rather dull Dacia car that I am going to test drive this morning.

Attempts massive thread hijack… Anyone got one?

I’ve been out on some long runs in horrible weather over the winter in my SPECIAL shorts – More Mile weatherproof ones. Bit sweaty but keep the thighs warm.

A link to one of my ramblings on the pleasure in wrongness and how the beer tastes better when it’s over here[/url]

I like my chicken levers. Very handy for getting my weight back on steep descents. On my bike that’s 100mm further back compared to riding on hoods. That makes a big difference.

Lusso every time for me.

I don’t get that. Those aero extensions with no ability to brake on them are potentially lethal. It’s the limitations of a CX bike that make it a stimulating ride. That is the point.

People (like me and some of my friends) are riding steep rocky stuff on cross bikes because we like to cover a lot of ground at decent speed. We like to ride out of the front door and maybe ride some road sections to get to remote offroad loops.

You can ride a CX bike – especially a modern one with disc brakes, tubeless tyres, slightly slacker geometry – most places and where you can’t ride you can easily carry.

It’s the same idea with the spring classics on the road. Clearly riding a road bike on cobbles isn’t going to be comfortable. It is great sport though.

I don’t think a CX bike is a compromise or balance. Part of the pleasure of riding a CX bike on tricky terrain is the wrongness of it – there’s certainly an element of nursing the bike and I suppose you either get that or you don’t. It’s exactly the right bike for lots of my riding but then I also have a mountain bike and a couple of road bikes if needed. If I had to have only one bike it would be the crosser.

All this gravel/adventure niche creation is tiresome though.

I feel a bit the other way about this. I came to modern mountain bikes from a background of road and CX. My first CX race was the 3 peaks (after a night of drunken bantering). I really had no idea what I had signed up to. After that CX league races seemed a bit tame – still shattering though.
CX bikes are great. For things like SDW in a day there’s no way I’d want the extra heft of a mountain bike.

The newer wider tubeless tyres for CX bikes have widened my range of relatively extreme rocky XC riding here in N Wales as the chance of pinch flats is so reduced. Also planning to put a dropper post on the CX bike when funds allow.

There’s no way I’d take my CX bike to CyB or Penmachno – much as I enjoy CX based masochism that would just be silly.

Now I just need to stop riding my Spicy like a CX bike…

Got ‘professionally’ fitted a few years ago and ended up with a pair of shoes that were never right. Went back to my old Nikes. Pretty worn now but still very very comfortable. I’d echo the comments above re comfort – if you haven’t got any problems go with what you know.

Pretty much anything with Chevy Chase. ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ still makes me laugh a lot.
I also still find ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ hits the spot. I’m pathetic really.

Bought Mrs wynne the alloy version of this and she loves it. Yours looks a beauty (although it seems a touch small for you – let me know if you’re thinking of selling it…).

Aye, Lusso is my go to cycling kit. The quality has really improved over the last few years which is great to see.

This doesn’t have to be all about Lancashire – I meant local to anyone in the UK…

I’ve had two pairs of northwaves over the last 15 years, a pair of gaernes and a pair of diadoras but just got the road version of the Specialized defroster. The spesh shoes are by far the warmest and most weatherproof I’ve used and the boa closure is excellent. The northwaves were good. The gaernes were also good but had a zip up the front – I think the mavics have one too: I would avoid any boots with a zip as they can be really problematic in the clag and it failed long before the rest of the boot wore out. I normally love diadora bike shoes but the winter boots were crap.

Our new local ‘super dairy’ in Bala thinks it’s fine to put electric fences across country lanes to direct their massive herds of cattle in their grazing – which then leave inches deep shit across the roads. Not a person seems able to touch them because the bloke who runs the farm is the local squire. Phoned the council about it as it’s a real hazard – but I is just a serf dude.

@brooess. You Dulwich Paragon then? Me and my wife are both still second claim members and moved from Sydenham Hill to North Wales nearly four years ago with no regrets.

My wife bought a 2 bed flat in a not very nice part of SE London in the late 1990s for £50k. Her mate told her yesterday that her old place just sold for £440k. Alas, she moved out some years ago. I know it’s London but by any standards it’s insane. I’ve no idea how the average punter manages to buy any more. Even trying to save for a deposit is more difficult due to the miniscule interest rate and crippling rental costs. It’s very very tough and I can see why people despair and, nightmare of nightmares, move back in with their parents.

We’ve got a two year old Miele in our holiday let laundry that seems to be working very well despite customers washing all sorts of filthy stuff. We bought the Miele because it was recommended for use in an unheated outbuilding. In the house we’ve got a Siemens that has been great over the last four years. Siemens seems to have a reputation for quality without the Miele price tag (not far off though).

Thanks, I still visit very often, and like I said there’s lots of nice bits – it’s just not an area/region that I’d want to live in. I’ve ridden round almost all of it, enjoyed racing cross in Piece Hall, watched films at the Elland Rex, been out all night in Leeds etc. I think for me it’s a bit too urbanised. Just an opinion to try and help the OP, not intended to offend.

I lived on the outskirts of Huddersfield for ten years. There’s some nice places round abouts but I never really acquired a taste for West Yorkshire. I subsequently lived in London for nearly twenty years before moving to North Wales about three years ago. The only other place we strongly considered moving to was in or around Skipton. It’s a lovely neck of the woods and you’ve got the Dales on your doorstep and the Lakes, Peak District and North Yorks Moors within easy reach.

Return to the usual reassuring drivel…

Rob gone off to run the Prince museum apparently.

You’re lucky. I nearly ate a woodlouse the other day thinking it was a pumpkin seed. Didn’t have my specs on. Managed to spit it out before swallowing. And me 30 years a vegetarian.

Most of my ambitions are based on bad puns.
Always fancied having a mobile catering van called Tiffany’s and parking it up at Brechfa (which is lacking facilities).

My Estonian friend told me they have an insult that basically means “excuse me but I think your mother still owes me money for the sex she had with my dog”. Bit longwinded for general use though.

Also, I really enjoyed a twitter description of Michael Gove during the latter stages of the EU referendum ‘debate’ which was him looking “like a haunted pork mannequin”.

Lastly, learning Welsh at the moment, I enjoy “tumfatt” which means fool.

I used to go out with a fishmonger’s daughter. It was a love/hake relationship.

One of my closest friends describes me as a failed misanthrope. I always thought I wanted total solitude, but I actually really like seeing people – just not all the time.

As an only child I was used to keeping myself entertained for hours on end and I still have that capacity.

Having lived in London for twenty years my wife and I moved to N Wales three years ago and I love the opportunities we have here for solitude. I take myself off on remote and quite often bleak and brutal bike rides and runs out of the door and I really enjoy them. When I start out on these things my mind is normally buzzing with thoughts and by the end, if I’ve pushed myself, my head is empty. For me this seems like a perfectly normal and necessary thing to do.

I am lucky that I am married to someone who understands and shares my desire for such things. That said, with the limited self knowledge I’ve accumulated, if I had a partner who was not supportive I think I would still do these things as I know the long term wellbeing benefits to the relationship would outweigh the conflicts (probably).

I still love seeing friends and visiting cities, and sometimes I crave a crowded place, but in the knowledge I can always head back to the hills.

In summary, you’re perfectly normal, but that’s being said by a man who ran 15 miles on Sunday, 4 miles of which was through a knee deep bog. Make of that what you will.

Another big John Finnemore fan here. Alexei Sayle’s thing was good too. The rest seems pretty dismal to me – I’ve even fallen out of love with the News Quiz.

Ours sleeps on his bed in the kitchen, but has recently been allowed upstairs in the daytime. He’s allowed in the bedroom, but not on the bed. This, however, is about to change. The hairy parasite has just taken to pining outside our bedroom door at 4am. And I have had enough. Since we have no door between our kitchen and the stairs he is going to start sleeping in his crate in the hallway. I haven’t told him yet and he’s not going to like it and likely it’ll be me who ends up sleeping in the crate in the hallway…

I will watch this. I have just finished reading ‘Chernobyl Prayer’ – someone else mentioned it above. It’s the most moving book I’ve ever read, drawing on testimony from a wide range of people affected by the incident. I just hadn’t understood the enormity of the physical, environmental, social, psychological, biological, political (I could go on) impacts of the Chernobyl explosion.
Like someone else said, it’s an event that I so clearly recall hearing of. Those TV images of the poor sods clearing the debris off the roof were seared into my childhood brain. Unlucky, fatalistic, vodka-fuelled heroes who, though no one had the decency to tell them, knew they faced a certain awful death as a result of their actions. The horrible complacency and cynical manipulation of information that surrounded the crisis only amplifies the debt of gratitude I feel towards those brave people.

Oh, and Henry’s got eyes. EYES!!!
Bloody brilliant.

Had Dyson, used a Meile for a while at my parents and now have a Henry. All round I reckon Henry is the best – simplest to use (v stupid Dyson gimmicks), perfectly powerful, has bags (I find bagless a pain), plenty of spares cheap and available and British made.

Plus that Dyson bloke is odious.

As far I know burgtec bars are not UK made and nor are USE bars. Like Renthal, they make some bits in the UK, but bars are made elsewhere. Though I didn’t mention it in my original post UK origin is important to me.

Couldn’t agree more on WC – had a very good experience with them on a Magura warranty and a terrific deal on a new Orbea Occam.