Hello Mr & Mrs Druc,

I do indeed live in Northants, up in Kettering these days.

I had 8 weeks with a loaned pair of really stiff orthosis (Interpod Control Flex) which whilst they didn’t make it any worse didn’t make it any better. I’ve also tried a pair of Superfeet inserts which feel like they are the wrong shape for my feet and make everything ache. I’ve also used a pair of arch supports for cycling for the past couple of years after a stress fracture in my foot

in terms of arches – quite fallen on the rhs and not great on the lhs, pain getting worse on the lhs

I’ve been seeing John Chapman (podiatrist) at the County Clinic since March and Julian Northover (Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon) at NGH. I’ll have a look at the podiatry clinic, keen to avoid surgery.

thanks again
Matthew

thanks all, some good and highly valid points.
I’ve been seeing a well recommended podiatrist since March who is also a triathlete (but no-one is perfect), I was pushing him for a plan B which involved him sucking air through his teeth, scratching his head and coming back to either surgery or living with the pain and inconvenience. Having experimented with various orthosis I’m not convinced that is the answer either.
I’m scheduled to see the surgeon mid Nov and will push for a second opinion before pressing the button. I had some shoulder reconstruction a few years ago which was unfeasibly painful, I’m imagining this would be worse and extremely inconvenient.

getting old is pants!

thanks
Matthew

The first time I came across Jenn was at D2D in 2006 (I think, same year as the first trans-wales), I crawled over the finish line feeling substandard whilst she appeared to be downing a beer having put 50 miles into me. I raced against her many times thereafter, always polite when she lapped me and always instructive to follow her line until I couldn’t keep up. Being stupid i got thinner and faster and thinner and faster until my body gave out, her unprompted email suggesting ways to remedy the situation touched me and seems to reflect the experiences of many others.
Thought to all her family and friends.
Matthew

Thanks, will check out the rothwell guys, had very mixed experiences with KGH treating my son, concerned they may try to extract revenge

i have a co-pilot on one bike which my (petite) 5yr old daugher loves, since she can see where she is going, play with my disney princess bell (the shame) and pull the brakes on when I’m least expecting it.

I have a Humax on the back of my 29er which my 2yr old son loves, he’s got cerbral palsy so the co-pilot is a bit of a non-starter since he’s not got the necessary stability and can’t use one arm yet. that said he yesterday demonstrated the abilty to pinch monster munch from the pocket of my cycling jersey with his less affected hand

I used to find my daughter would get bored in the Humax and fall asleep, no such issues when on the front.

Thanks chaps, will have a play

Used to do 46 miles 1 way 2 – 3 times per week with a train ride home, periodically doubling up, was properly fit!

Then the office moved to Birmingham, 56 miles on unpleasant roads with no shower option and no viable train ride home means I’m now scrabbling for mid week miles at antisocial hours.

You need tyres that Don’t puncture, robust wheels, travel light and get lots of sleep / food.

I did the event in 2010 when I was fit and had a lovely full-suss XC flying machine. I’m now older, signficantly less fit and have an additional child in tow, as such I compensated by riding a single speed singular swift (still questioning the logic).

Solo’d round to 14 laps and loved nearly all of it (retching in the bushes at around 5pm wasn’t nice), great course which let you hurt yourself as much as you wanted to, bit battered today but that’s all part of the game.

Best overtake was a ‘rapid’ chap coming behind with the shout “on your……whatever” which I didn’t find hugely helpful.

awesome!

9 laps on the single speed and still smiling, or is it a grimace…. anyway beer is helping

Thanks to the organisers, it was well worth 6 hours in the car

Matthew

thanks all, will have a look.
referred to a podiatrist by the GP, will see what they suggest

Matthew

My first event on a single speed, 31st in the 7 lappers. Nice ride on a punishing course, Lord knows how the guys on rigid bikes are feeling, I hurt!

Roomed with him at transportugal a few years ago, he’s rather good at riding a long way quickly and ignoring pain

Looking forward to his write up

i’ve been advised by a very experienced whiskey drinking scotsman that when drinking cask strength (in a proper tasting glass, obviously) that you start with adding a small drop of water, then for each sip add the equivalent amount of water into the glass. The flavour changes as you drink more.

yet to try this out, but it sounds like a cunning plan

I also met a guy in a Dublin whiskey shop recommending specific types of bottled water to go with specific malts, possibly taking things a bit far

i was reticent in going for ABs and the doc noted i’d yaken very few previously.

proper GP, avid cyclist who spent most of (quite a long consultation) discussing various sportifs we’d both done.

sleep is the order of the day, just need to convince the kids……

Ooooo that sounds distinctly grim, anything you would have done differently whilst ill?
Coming back too early and going straight back into 12 hour days at work was my mistake

I thought everyone would come back with ’emporers new clothes’ looks like its a winner.

Njee – spent 6 hours at thetford in a 44 once, the advent of children has increased the wear on the middle ring….

On our own this Christmas, me better half (hugely pregnant and due to be induced 28th) and 2yr old daughter. In laws stuck up north an MIL currently hospitalised, my family on a bender at my parents. Currently on daily monitoring at the hospital to keep tabs on baby’s health. Feeling rather frustrated at probably having to rely on our childminder should things kick off early.
Quite fancy a ride to chill out but leaving the ladies alone is probably rather bad form.

Time to MTFU and wait for the big event

Strange Christmas, and spectacularly sober 🙂

Had mine a few months now and have commuted via train 3-4 times a week with it, circa 12 miles a day. It’s handling is ‘quirky’ but it makes me smile when I ride it. Compared to squeezing myself onto a tube at rush hour it is streets ahead. I almost felt guilty riding thru Hyde park between meetings the other day, but not for long.

Nothing has broken yet
Some of the bits are cheap
2 gears and a flat bar works
It’s flexy as chuff when you give it the berries to make sure you catch a train
My cotic rides better, my road bike is faster but neither of them fold up which is why I bought it

Also if you are not in London other brompton riders will generally talk to you

Bottom line, they work and are fun

Rocky Mountain Element, it just what a bike should do and does it quickly. Everything from 4hrs to 24hrs without issues

Have also done 6hr races and an 8 day stage race on a cotic soul which is equally as capable and more fun when it gets steep and rocky

by bike whenever possible, its 46 miles to work and try and do that when I’m in the office (2-3 times a week) then train home, unless I’m feeling V keen.

I travel a lot by train with work and recently bought a brompton which is getting substantial use around london, waaaaay better than the tube and probably quicker. felt a little guilty riding through hyde park in the sun this week but it better for the soul than looking at a crackberry on the underground

Got round in 11:02, fair to say it was hard work. Riding through rivers and sludge the whole way, not a barrel of laughs to be honest and wetter than the first one.
Did it all on 1 set of pads, Clarks sintered ones which cost me £7 a set 🙂

struggling to think of another event I’ve done where its been that wet and the riding has been that good.
excellent course and organisation that “just worked” which no doubt means a lot of effort went into it behind the scenes.

managed to squeeze in 13 laps in the vets category, having fended and foraged for myself during the whole event I would put a bit crew at the top of the do differently list for next time 🙂

Matthew

i had one of the early ones which was loverly, it snapped after 2.5yrs on the seat tube between the pivots.
Silverfish (importers) sorted me out with a replacement frame with the beefed up seatpost, slightly slacker head angle and again a fantastic bike, survived trans-wales, transportugal and La Ruta.
That snapped just below all the beefing up plates on the seat tube indicating where the new weak point was
I was out of warranty by that stage but Silverfish offered me a new front triangle free of charge or 50% off an Element, took the element option as I fancied a change

so overall the ETSX is great to ride, the adjustable suspension works although i really think you need to play around with shock pressures to get it to work right at 4″. Mine weighed in a 7lbs with headset which I think is pretty hefty. if the last one hadn’t broken I’d still be riding it

Matthew

Did 4hrs in the old knacker category, it would have been an awesome course in the dry, as it was i thought it hit the mark perfectly, although got a bit sketchy after the hail.

for the first time ever I rode the starting bit prior to the race, it was pretty obvious it was going to be “entertaining” round the first corner so I nailed it from the gun, unfortunately I continued to nail it for the first 3 laps then died something of a slow, horrible, painful death for the next 5.

drive train was spectacularly well degreased when I cleaned the bike at home…….

roll on next year, another year older, fatter and slower 🙂

Matthew

Beer

and some more beer

Hucknall was great in midfield for Fulchester United

I benefitted massively from the guidance of Matt Hart at Torq over a 3 year period.

I had a days assessment with him Dec 2006 after doing transwales and deciding that stage racing was the thing for cuddly 78kg me, based on his input i made my own plan up and did transportugal in 2007 without dying.
Then got serious at the rate of £130 for each 6 month block of training plans (which invariably resulted in a sharp intake of breath when they arrived in the inbox) over the next 2 years. Basically I systematically got thinner (rather lean 69kg by the end) and a lot faster. I did get pissed off with riding in given heart rate zones at an early stage, but then really got into the process of training and going faster.

1 year old daughter has changed priorities significantly but I learnt a huge amount about how to structure training and get maximum reward from the effort I was able to put in, far more so than reading various books and trying to work it all out for myself.

Its a relatively inexpensive way of going faster, 1 year of coaching will cost you a lot less than a fancy pair of wheels and make a bigger difference.

Matthew

thanks all, was convinced I'd be ripped off by the big S but obviously not

My dad was down at the weekend helping out in the garden, left his wellies outside and was concerned about 11pm (after a few beers) they may get wet overnight. I fetched them inside and commented that wellies take a long time to dry out, he then came out with a corking anecdote of how he pissed in a mates wellies at a house party in 1962 and over the course of the evening managed to leave them brimful.

still chortling about it now, quality chap!

thanks all, halfords / pets 'r 'us here we come

i did it in 9:54 last year, its a cracking day out.
my approach was basically:

Bike : Rocky Mountain Element

Tyres : Kenda Nevegal on the front, IRC serac on the rear (was looking for the equivalent of sturdy outdoor shoes)

Food : set off with 2 bottles full of Torq and about 2 litres of torq in the camelbak with 6 torq single shot cannisters for more fluids (I like to know what I'm consuming) loads of gels and bars. Take Torq caffiene gels, they are ideal for the "dying on your arse with 20 miles to go" moment provided you don't give them to knackered single speeders…..

Also in the bag : a couple of tubes, pump, CO2 cannisters, multitool, all the essential safety stuff, lightweight waterproof.

Clothes : MT500 shorts, merino short sleeved baselayer, short sleeve cycling jersey, arm warmers and gore windstopper gillet. Thought I would remove the armwarmers and gillet after we got going but didn't.

Pace : didn't go balls out like I would have done in a laps event, figured exploding in the middle of the arse end of no-where would be a bad thing, ultimately I think I could have gone quicker but rode that last 30 miles with Paul Errington (on his SS) and it was good to catch up having not seen him for ages. My aim was to stop as little as possible and just consume energy drink the whole day, think I stopped for the first time at around 45 miles, just before that huge puddle….

Terrain : its fairly rolling with a couple of steep bits, nothing hideous and will be fast if its dry

didn't bother with the bag drop as I figured it would take more time to find your bits and pieces than it would save, don't know if this is true but it was one less thing to worry about

All of you doing it have fun, go steady and have loads of cake when you come back across the border, its a life saver!

Matthew

it can't possibly be as wet as last year, the cut offs are doable if you focus on keeping moving.
Its not a walk in the park but worth it for the warm glow afterwards

had a similar issue myself the other week, wanted to get to Chester from Milton Keynes for 10am, a return ticket was £154. Ended up buying a single up there for £54 and another single back in the afternoon for £17.50. Work were paying but explaining the cost would be interesting.

on the flip side my normal commute of kettering – loughborough works out cheaper on the train (with season ticket) than petrol to drive would, and I get to ride my bike to the station 🙂

i've got a soul which is fantastic, the question I keep coming up with is "how could the Ti version be ~£1000 better?" appreciate its a bit lighter and won't rust, but is the Soda really that much better?

and yes I do want one, but seem to be emotionally attached to the Soul

resist – or you end up with Japanese imports of Ride live in Tokyo, and other delights that you never listen to again because it was 'back in the day'

congratulations, hope it goes smoothly.
our daughter is 4.5month old now and I'm getting back out on the bike a bit more, even managed a day pass out to the peaks!
we had a weird introduction to parenthood in that she was in hospital for 10 weeks (3 months premature) so could go out riding for a couple of hours saturday / sunday to seek sanity. Once she came home it was on a backburner for a while, now I tend to do the night feeds on friday / saturday then go out for 2-3 hours whilst my better half catches up on her sleep, also riding 90minutes a day for commutes.

have to second the point about being organised, get your kit sorted the day before then no faffing – when you get the chance get out the door sharpish and go hard and make the most of it

Matthew

depends on how much and what you are burning in it. I had singed some chunks of wood I had on top of mine yesterday which were drying out, so probably fairly hot.

do the job right, you are quite literally playing with fire

King Kurt at Leeds ploy many moons ago, a young lady from the audience oraly pleasured a fellow audience member on stage prior to the musical mayhem. My mate and I had significant kudos in double physics the following morning, particularly as he was sporting a major black eye from where someone clattered him in the carnage of the mosh pit.

T'Pau – there was some controversy after a young lady made me take her to see them in Liverpool in the early 90's. it was awful!

after a few beers following a rugby match at uni………
a friend & I were dangling a team mate by his ankles from the top of the stairs at a house party when we both looked at each other and decided it would be hilariously funny to drop fat boy, head first, onto the girls sat on the stairs about 10 feet below. Sobered-up rather fast as we saw him plummet head first to certain death. Fortunately he landed a a cuddly lady and was ok and more or less saw the funny side.
In retrospect killing your housemate at the age of 19 would have been somewhat career limiting, fortunatley I'm now a mature sensible adult. still puts the wind up me when I think about what could have happened

did it over 3 weeks a few years ago on a trip organised by saddle skedaddle, a lazy way of doing it but it gave us loads of time to take a look around along the way. Thoroughly recommend this approach since its unlikely you'll do it twice and its a great way of seeing your country.

Also I'd recommend finishing at JOG, the disappointment associated with arriving at tat-central which is Lands end after 1000 or so miles must be crushing