Currently happy that the rib I bruised three weeks ago seems to have settled down after riling it last weekend. Bike is mostly packed, tomorrow involves some last minute faffing, things thrown in van, get some more food and decide when to start fighting the m25. Please can it be like this in Wales a...

Right, due to a complete lack of time and organisation since sneaking in off the reserves list i have no plans other than to drive to wales on friday. So i will be heading up from caterham at some point on friday with one empty seat. Current plan is probably to crash in the back if the van at the pu...

OHs niece isn't even on a balance bike yet or I'd be all over that Islabike! What actually fits in the tiny tiny frame bag?

Charlie- as above, dependent on entry, but I'm only over in Caterham so if no other arrangments take place that could work?

Andrew- me too :(. I hadn't clocked you were on here! Might be down your way next week for work!

I'm only on the reserves as yet but if i get 'in' I'll be driving over from the south east. If you could make it to somewhere on or near the m4 corridor i might be able to help?

Does anyone have stashed in a corner somewhere a rigid disk fork? I'd like to be able to run a dynamo on my roadrat for winter commuting, but the current fork has the old style 'backwards' disc mount and apparently mounting dynamo hubs that way round can cause them to take themselves apart, which I'...

I can't believe it's been three months, but I finally got around to sorting out some of the photos from this- https://www.flickr.com/photos/80976333@N08/albums/72157672637333495 There was definitely gravel- https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8376/28788337400_b189b614c2_c.jpg Gravel, all the way to the ho...

Ian wrote: No matter which tool, or which area of the bike you're working on, if you drop anything it always lands on the opposite side of the bike to the one your on

Yes, this i believe is caused by a force not properly understood by science but loosely related to the mechanism that causes fridge suck

...for every time I've had a wheel in the stand and, on leaning forward to get a closer look at the guage, got a spinning wheel in the forehead/nose, I'd be a good few pence richer. More to the point, I'd be less annoyed with myself for doing the same mildly painful stupid thing repeatedly. So do te...

A bit of a haul of odds and sods- some decathlon bibs and a silk liner, new grips for the OH and i, a kom i21 rim because the crest on the back of the crosser is looking knackered and some alpkit running socks. Also popped down to the bike shop to use a tool (i took biscuits) and came back with some...

tempted to go for Schwalbe Thunder Burts I've been very unimpressed with the wear rate on the thunder burt I've been using this year- a lot of the knobs appear to be falling off. Pretty sure it went on in april. The small block it replaced was starting its fourth summer of similar use and still loo...

Decathlon have 700 bib shorts at 25 quid again, in slightly more restrained colours than the blue-and-pink-trimmings I had last year. Missed buying a second pair last year, so this time I've bought two! Done solid work on the commute, recommended. http://www.decathlon.co.uk/700-cycling-bib-shorts-bl...

I dont have blunts but i do have a pair of blunt ss('s?) . They seem fairly well made so i wouldn't have a problem looking at other velocity rims. Perhaps the blunt ss is a bit light for lugging loads around on a regular basis? You could also look at the wtb asym. The frequencies are tough as anythi...

It was a fair few years ago (and possibly before I started using gps) but I started a mini-tour in Oxford that went past bromsgrove. Seem to remember I just picked it off a map and it turned out OK, the countryside is quite nice round there. I'll see if I did use a gpx when I get home if you're inte...

Amboise in stereo
by MatGoesSomewhere, on Flickr

From last week's very lazy touring trip down the Loire, just started going through photos and rather happy with this one

Chain reaction also have 29er WTB frequency rims at i19 and i23 for 25 quid each. The i23s I have on the big bike and they've proved to be extremely tough, used for riding around and uplift days. I've bought a pair of the i19s and am planning on swapping them out for the superstar rims on my roadrat...

Not the cheapest but I've found the Trail 42 'Tech T shirt' to work very well. After getting one in a prize bag at a race I now have three- a t shirt and a couple of jersey style things. Haven't done much riding in them but I've worn them a lot in the last few years for camping, outdoors and more g...

although the jacket was OK it was not as good as new and I no longer trust it !! The best result I've had to date with the wash in stuff was to wash the jacket properly, with the proper cleaning stuff, let it dry, wash it with the proofer, let it dry and then wash it with a half dose of proofer aga...

Fairly normal, if you're usually a medium buy a medium

Cracking, cheers, just have to hope I make it in to earn one now- gutted to have missed it!

Crikey. Sold out on the first day- get distracted at work and miss it! Stu, please could you put me on the reserves list?

Thanks!

Mat

Any idea what the T-Shirt sizing is like?

Interesting that neither of those chinese frames get the chainstays as short as the stache- they all seem to be longer in the short position than the stache is in the long. I don't know how much of the 'total package' of the stache is down to the chainstay length, but copying one might not be as sim...

Is that specifically rim brake rims or rims in general? I've seen a few who won't touch rim brake rims but seem open to disc, different loading cases I suppose.

My OH has a carbon pivot that she bought (very) cheap ex demo because it had a crack running from the bottom of the seatclamp slot. Got it repaired here- http://www.carboncyclerepairs.co.uk/index.html You wouldn't even know it had been done and it's been going two and a half years with no problem. I...

Pickers, I'd be interested in that file if you're willing?

Nasty! That descent was pretty loose- I was more or less sliding on loose chalk with both wheels locked trying to go round some walkers at one point.

He must have hit the deck pretty hard