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I've really enjoyed getting into running this year, but now the weather has turned I'm not enjoying coming home with wet feet every time. Not to mention my trainers are constantly filthy from road grime. What do you guys do for winter trainers? Suck it up, or are waterproof running shoes worth it?

didn't finish the packet

Savage

Doesn't sound ideal! Not sure what the technically right answer is, I guess Dolan maybe shouldn't have 'cashed' the voucher/your deductions shouldn't have started until they were in a position to supply your bike?

Do you actually want to cancel and get a new voucher/buy a bike from elsewhere? How good is the loaner bike?

You also save the NI, so a £10k sal sac deduction on £125k would change your net take home by £3,800. This site is helpful if you want to take a closer look at the tax impact.

I reckon the M3 bolts would work fine - they will surely be strong enough for this? - but you'd need to ditch the PDW-supplied M5 retaining 'nuts' on the inside face of the mudguard, and use an M3 nut/retainer instead.

I think the main issue is that you need to remove some material from the existing go pro mount so that there is a 'tunnel' for the PDW arm to go through (ie you need to drill a hole in the go pro mount where the brand name is on your pic). Someone like MagCad would could probably 3d print a go pro mount with a recess easily enough, but they might not have enough interest to warrant it.

You can see the silver spacer on pics 7 and 8. I'm sure someone asked them about it in the comments but I can't see it on my phone now.

Hopefully the link works, blocked on this machine. Its one of their recent posts of a black Strael 3.0

Fairlight's official* fitting guide for the PDW's on the Strael is to drill the rear guard and direct mount. One of their recent insta posts shows some spacers they've made up to mount the guards with.

Mounting the light on the rear fender is a cool idea. It would be neat if you could combine the light mount with the little bracket that holds the arms for the mudguards (shit terminology, sorry), save drilling new holes.

Anyone doing much with gilts to avoid taxed interest on savings/possible CGT on shares outside a SIPP?

'Bed and breakfasting' is the term for selling and rebuying investments to crystallise a gain to use your CGT allowance (could also be done to create a loss to offset other gains). In order to avoid CGT you need to wait 30 days before you rebuy, buy a different share, or rebuy the same share but inside your ISA. If it doesn't go into your ISA then the value they rebuy at is then used as the tax cost for the purposes of next years calc (repeat next year assuming you've made gains/can stay under the CGT threshold).

If you haven't used your ISA allowance then it makes sense to get them into your ISA. If you have already used your allowance then it could be worth doing before the Labour budget, but I'm not certain it will be helpful - it depends if they decide to amend the current year tax rules (including the portion of the tax year thats already happened) or whether it would only impact future tax years.

EDIT - missed the subsequent posts, late to the game, soz

The theroetical benefit of the ISA is that once the money is in the ISA, every year of gains/interest will be tax free afterwards (assuming Labour don't move the goalposts). The interest on your savings accounts (or gains on stocks and shares) outside an ISA would be taxable every year.

If your savings are pretty static and you know the level of interest you are generating you might not be worried. If you are looking to increase your savings then getting it into a tax-sheltered ISA might be beneficial. For stocks and shares its a bit of a no-brainer because why run the risk of getting taxed when you don't need to (again, assuming Labour don't change the rules)? But for cash savings products its a bit more complicated because the bonus savers rates might be higher than a cash ISA, which might negate the tax you would pay.

We ate at an excellent little restaurant that specialised in tinned fish etc. It was unplanned and we got a table from a no-show, but its not saved in my google maps so I'll have to ask my other half if she can remember. We also had dinner at Boa Bao which was good, but not so good I would rush back if I was there again.

There is a Time Out style food market on the other side of the river near the port houses, which is good for an easy lunch option if you do any port tasting.

You will get recommend a Franceshina at some point (an enourmous hot sandwich filled with meats and cheese, served hot in a dish covered in grazy with an egg on top). It was good but very heavy... if you fancy trying one I'd suggest sharing one if you can.

Slight tangent but we were recommended the parque das virtudes as a good spot to take a bottle of wine and watch sunset before dinner.

Edit: I found it. We went to Tabua Rasa which I really enjoyed.

For cash or stocks and shares? Tonts has posted a link for cash ISA. For stocks and shares I'd look at Monevator depending on what you want to invest in, how much you want to invest, and whether you already have investments with anyone.

Vanguard is a cheap starter for a fresh ISA as long as you are happy with one of their funds (no app available). iWeb is reasonably priced/good selection but looks very dated and no app. I think Interactive Investor is a good compromise of selection/price/usability, but I have less experience with the app-only stuff like Freetrade etc.

You can get referred to Interactive Investor - I think you get a year free and the referrer gets £200. I can refer you or there's plenty other people on here with ii as well (DM someone your email address).

I assumed it started as a joke to see how much they can charge someone to wear cycling kit that says PeNiS?

Glad I read this thread just for this. Amazing!

But do they wave?!

For such a bike-loving country it was more unexpected than anything - especially when the drivers were so friendly!

We decided that UK road cyclists are generally friendly to each other because there's a silent recognition that we all slightly crazy to risk cycling with UK drivers. You must have it too easy!

Ouch, I bet going down it was interesting if you did the cobbles! I don't think they race down the cobbles anymore, too dangerous. The recommended route goes up the Kemmelberg from all directions, but the downhills avoided the cobbles except a short stretch on the final descent (I think).

Thought I should update after our visit earlier this month.

We had a great few days completing completing the Flandrien Challenge. We followed the recommended routes although we stayed outside Oudenaarde, so we joined some of them in the middle of the route. The 59 Flandrien segments you have to hit have start/finish lines painted on the road and a little box naming the segment, length, average and max gradient - it was a nice touch knowing what climbs you were doing and recognising some of the big names/knowing what you were up against. We did the Ypres section on the way from the Tunnel, and then we stayed at the Flandrien Hotel which had an amazing collection of ex-pro bikes and was designed for cyclists (the owner used to run a cycling team).

Belgian drivers were a dream. I think you are supposed to use the cycle lanes if they exist, but most of the routes are on country lanes and the few cycles lanes we had to use were all much better quality than in the UK.

Its a beautiful and quiet part of the world, but on the slight downside, Belgian cyclists generally ignored you ('they are all too serious thinking they are the next Remco') and there weren't as many village cafes/shops etc open outside of Oudenaarde/Geraardsbergen as we were expecting for lunch/snacks/drinks. We also got turned away from a couple of restaurants in the evening where we didn't have a reservation - apparently we should have planned further ahead, or planned to eat in the bigger towns instead.

Would thoroughly recommend for a few days of good riding - or a single day, if you are as mad as the guy we met on the way round!

Thanks for the recommendation (on the previous page). Never tried of them but just started a new box this morning so will see how I get on.

Sepp Kuss ruled out of the tour (not recovered from covid?!). Visma bad luck strikes again.

Frankly this sounds awful! Very impressive. Presume its a winding staircase as well?

You might find RunRepeat.com helpful if you are loooking - they have nearly 100 pairs of running trainers listed at sub 250g (which they weigh themselves).

Agree the trend is definitely to have big soles which are much less packable unfortunately, but a few options I saw from RunRepeat at a quick look:
New Balance Minimus TR £73.50
Nike Free run 50 £110
Adidas Pure Motion £41

Whats the deal with this, is it a folding frame?? No mention in the add but assume thats what the two silver bits are for?

Ricky Feather's website blocked at work

This is awesome, where did you get this from please?

Can any of the recent visitors share anything on their trips? A mate and I are looking at a few days riding in Belgium in early August, thinking we might stay in the Oudenaarde area and pick up some of the Flanders routes similar to @elswick mentioned above. Any experiences/suggestions anyone can share?