Search found 1171 matches

by LittleGreyCat
30 Jan 2024, 8:36pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Post Boxes
Replies: 44
Views: 2548

Re: Post Boxes

Pebble wrote: 29 Jan 2024, 7:53pm whats going on here
Come across an EIIR post box in Scotland! these were completely outlawed north of the border in the 1950s (Lizzy the first was just an English monarch)
one was even blown up in protest
https://news.stv.tv/east-central/pillar ... r-insignia

I can see there is a small sign saying 'private post box' but what does that mean, this box is at the side of the road, it looks like a proper in-use post box
Image
I assume that it is somewhere you post your privates.
Or am I just a bad person? :lol:
by LittleGreyCat
30 Jan 2024, 8:25pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Security on Ferries
Replies: 23
Views: 1444

Re: Security on Ferries

Paranoid me took all the panniers (4) and the bar bag up to the cabin with me and locked the bike to the rail it was leaning against (insurance requirement).
I was "intrigued" to note that most people left most of their stuff on the bikes.
My first (and only, so far) bike tour abroad on the Harwich to Hook of Holland overnight ferry.

So probably OK to leave stuff.

However I would be really fed up if I was the only one in 20 years to have stuff nicked. :shock:
by LittleGreyCat
30 Jan 2024, 7:23pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: English cycles Range Rider
Replies: 42
Views: 4096

Re: English cycles Range Rider

I once had the use of a very early Muddy Fox which had what sounds like a similar set up.
Low gearing and a very high "sit up and beg" riding position.
It would climb quite steep inclines slowly and easily.
Nothing like the later Muddy Fox.
by LittleGreyCat
20 Jan 2024, 8:09pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Is there a problem with CUK logins
Replies: 26
Views: 1513

Re: Is there a problem with CUK logins

One thing perhaps not specifically called out.

Using a different type of device, that is PC/tablet/phone gives you different underlying browser software.
In addition, if you use a tablet or phone over a mobile network (not on your home WiFi/LAN) then it will generally follow a completely different network route to the target web site which also helps in diagnosing problems.
by LittleGreyCat
20 Jan 2024, 7:53pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Which One Are You?
Replies: 34
Views: 2435

Re: Which One Are You?

For me the riding is the main thing, however it does need to be the right bike.
So that doesn't quite fit the narrow categories in the poll.

Once I have a bike that will fit me then that is more or less it.
I will expect to ride it for years until it wears out (but my MTB is from 1995) or something makes it impractical to own.

I struggle to relate to people who change bikes every year or so (I can relate to people who are always aiming for N+1).
As with cars, once bought then there is usually very little reason to change for the next decade or so.
by LittleGreyCat
19 Jan 2024, 8:58pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Tyre choice for intermittent black ice?
Replies: 47
Views: 8759

Re: Tyre choice for intermittent black ice?

In flat(ish) areas the fields tend to drain into the roads for some considerable times, and the roadside banks often have small springs for a long time after a prolonged period of rain.
Out in the car today (me culpa) for a walk in the countryside and quite a few lanes which were shaded by the embankments were leaking water like a {better not say} into the road.
The road was covered in ice, in some cases quite high ridges from where cars had moved water into the middle of the road.

I thought myself lucky not to be on a bike (at least without winter tyres) as the whole setup looked lethal.

Probably only applies where roads are sunk below field level.
by LittleGreyCat
8 Jan 2024, 5:07pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Cycling, carbs, the bonk and ketones - in that order
Replies: 26
Views: 2231

Re: Cycling, carbs, the bonk and ketones - in that order

horizon wrote: 5 Jan 2024, 10:16pm
LittleGreyCat wrote: 5 Jan 2024, 7:54pm There are two different aspects to this:

(1) You start out using glucose as fuel, then switch dynamically to using ketones - this can be difficult to impossible for some people. You can have more initial energy but less stamina. The switch over point can be harsh.

(2) You start and remain in ketosis - that is you have been eating very low carbohydrate so that your body has to produce ketones for your basic daily energy requirements. This IMHO is a better way to operate. You have less initial energy but more stamina. You don't have the pain of transition between energy modes.
AIUI, the body uses glucose for heavy-duty, anaerobic exercise - you tear off at speed, keep up a fast pace and charge up the hills. Obviously, you then have to re-charge quite soon.

Alternatively, you set off at a moderate pace, use some glucose to get you going and then transition slowly to ketones. A sprint up the odd hill might involve a burst of glucose but then you are back in steady mode. So really this transition depends not so much on your existing diet/regime but on your approach to the riding itself - you pass seamlessly through the bonk.

I'm wondering though whether you would actually have to forego the carbs on the ride itself in order to allow the body to go into ketosis and this I presume is the harsh transition you refer to.
The harsh transition is between using glucose for energy and ketones for energy.
The best way to avoid this is to not eat carbohydrates at all (or say, less than 20g per day) so that you start the ride with your body fuelled by fats, and also fully adapted to being fuelled by fats.
If you change to a keto way of eating it can take a couple of weeks of "keto flu" before you are fully adapted so flipping between carbs and keto on a single ride is an acquired art and can be unpleasant.

This is, I think, what some people aren't really appreciating.
I am not talking about some fuelling by glucose and some by ketones, but virtually all energy coming from ketones for all the ride (and every day as well).
by LittleGreyCat
5 Jan 2024, 8:29pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Best 'forever' touring bicycle with 3K budget?
Replies: 40
Views: 2768

Re: Best 'forever' touring bicycle with 3K budget?

A brief aside on kickstands.

Until recently all my bikes since I was in my early teens have had a kickstand.
I just assumed that was what bikes did.

Come my new Spa Wayfarer I added as an aside (very late in the process) can you fit a kickstand?
I was told the frame was not designed to take one, and it would be inadvisable.
Grumbling on the forum, I was told that nobody needed a kickstand and just lean it up against a gate or something. :lol:
So it is a question to be asked early in the conversation!
by LittleGreyCat
5 Jan 2024, 8:06pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: New Zealand trains
Replies: 6
Views: 505

Re: New Zealand trains

There is very little in the way of trains in NZ apart from around the major cities.
The long distance trips seem to be more of a holiday experience than the commute it would be in the UK.

I've never travelled on the trains, apart from Christchurch to Greymouth and back (tourist day out) and the tourist trip from Dunedin up into the hills (which sadly no longer runs on a regular basis).

As far as I know most long distance trains don't run every day, and you would be advised to book well in advance and check that they will take bikes.
by LittleGreyCat
5 Jan 2024, 7:54pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Cycling, carbs, the bonk and ketones - in that order
Replies: 26
Views: 2231

Re: Cycling, carbs, the bonk and ketones - in that order

There are two different aspects to this:

(1) You start out using glucose as fuel, then switch dynamically to using ketones - this can be difficult to impossible for some people. You can have more initial energy but less stamina. The switch over point can be harsh.

(2) You start and remain in ketosis - that is you have been eating very low carbohydrate so that your body has to produce ketones for your basic daily energy requirements. This IMHO is a better way to operate. You have less initial energy but more stamina. You don't have the pain of transition between energy modes.

I have read that there is a point where your gut cannot take on board enough food (even gels) to replace the blood glucose being used and that is one cause of the "bonk" in riders who keep hydrated and fed. If you are already burning body fat then you don't run out of fuel.

When I'm cycling fit and eating LCHF I can cycle reasonable distances on just a cup of coffee with butter and double cream.
That is, at least 1-2 hours which for me would be 20 miles+.
Cycling companions are desperate for cake after about 1 hour.

There are references such as :
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low- ... 0983490708
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low- ... 983490716/
which are quite old now but lay out the basis of Low Carbohydrate living and exercise.
by LittleGreyCat
30 Dec 2023, 7:21pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Do we really understand what’s happening to the cycle trade?
Replies: 178
Views: 57722

Re: Do we really understand what’s happening to the cycle trade?

As an aside I found out recently that you can get an eBike legally modified and certified to ride without pedalling.
I thought all the whiz about kids were illegal, but apparently not all may be.
by LittleGreyCat
29 Dec 2023, 2:55pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Deep discounting in January sales?
Replies: 9
Views: 1176

Deep discounting in January sales?

There was a puff piece in (I think) the Guardian about deals over the sales.

One item was about bikes, claiming that there was a major over supply and 30-40% price cuts from some retailers.

Does anyone know if this is true?
by LittleGreyCat
8 Dec 2023, 8:34pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Suggestion for 3 day trip in East Anglia?
Replies: 18
Views: 2692

Re: Suggestion for 3 day trip in East Anglia?

We totted up who might be coming and ended up with over 20.
That ruled out trains and linear rides because of unmanageable numbers.

We settled on a log cabin and camp site near Holt as about half of us have caravans and campers, and a mixed location like this allows us to be flexible.

We did similar last year near Hunstanton which worked well.

Might even get a trip on the North Norfolk Railway.
by LittleGreyCat
5 Dec 2023, 8:09pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Suggestion for 3 day trip in East Anglia?
Replies: 18
Views: 2692

Re: Suggestion for 3 day trip in East Anglia?

Just for laughs I looked at train out then cycle back.
3 days at 40 miles gives 120 miles.

Peterborough to Woodbridge looked an interesting option going via Downham Market and Thetford for the two overnight stops.
However I have no idea how pleasant a route this is.

Train travel for more than 4 bikes is also an issue, and two trains at different times might be required.